LO3 - Game previews article: draft

Battlefront:
I've seen as many people critisizing star wars battlefront as I've seen praising it. and I don't understand why people make such a big fuss! I think it might be because the team behind battlefront also make the popular FPS Battlefield and people don't like the fact that a company more known for their explosions than their sci-fi, are 'butchering' their beloved series. After actually playing with Battlefront I can say I enjoyed myself and eagerly await the full release.


Rainbow Six siege:
Next, yet another series that has laid dormant in recent years, First Battlefront now Rainbow six. This time players will find themselves taking control of a special forces operative from a selection of organisations including: the UK's SAS, Russia's Spetsnaz and Frances GIGN to name just a few. Each 'operator' as they're called in the game has unique equipment and weapons to choose from. The equipment is where it gets interesting as the maps in the game are highly destructible. This fact allows players to use breaching charges and other gadgets to make their own path or get the jump on the opposition. I thourougly enjoyed my limited time with the rainbow six siege beta and would reccomend playing the full game to anyone who enjoys a fast-paced tactical shooter.


No Mans Sky:
This game is a bit of a mystery in the gaming world, I'll start with what we do know it's a virtually infinite procedurally generated universe for you to play around in. Technically it's an online game but according to Sean Murray, one of the leading developers on No Mans Sky, the chances of you bumping into another player on your travels are astronomical however it is possible to meet up with friends if you want to. And now we come to the big question, when does it come out? well only the developers at Hello Games have any idea as to a release date, and we can only hope that they can keep their promise of No Mans Sky before the end of 2015.


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Destiny:
While I have owned a copy of destiny since it's initial release I stopped playing about a year after it released even though there was still  a lot to do in the game. Destiny just kind of lost me after a while. I got tired of doing the same strikes and missions to get that weapon me and my friends were after. But almost a full year after I stopped playing Bungie released Destiny: The Taken King Legendary edition which includes the main game, both the Dark Below and House of Wolves expansion and The Taken King expansion. Around the time of the taken kings release I had wanted to get back into destiny so I bought the taken king and put in the disc and I haven't looked back since. I felt like I was playing for the first time again only without the little nagging annoyances I'd had with the vanilla game. And the fact The Taken King also had a good, enjoyable story with actual cutsenes helped considerably as my main issue with the original game was it's lack of a solid story to back up what was happening.

LO3 - Editorial draft

Welcome to the first issue of Digicritic, A magazine dedicated to giving honest reviews with a few of my own opinions thrown in. The magazine will also include previews of upcoming games, for example this issue incudes two reviews, one for the Witcher 3 and one for Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain. While this issues previews include Star Wars Battlefront, Rainbow Six: The Siege, No Mans Sky and more. I want to talk briefly about my reasoning for writing this magazine. reason one, I've always been a gamer my friends are gamers, gaming is part of how I socialise. And reason 2 I've always been good with words so I figured why not make something from the two, and so I decided to start writing review properly, the first of which you will be reading in this very magazine.

LO3 - Witcher 3 review

The Witcher 3 Review

The Witcher 3 wild hunt is one of the most visually impressive games so far in this generation of gaming. With a huge open world and rich story and characters there are very few who could knock this game.

First of all I want to state for the record that I have not played any of the previous Witcher game but after playing the first hour of the wild hunt I felt like I at least knew a bit more about the state this world is in and who the people in it are. The story begins with your character Geralt of Rivia, a Witcher. Witchers are professional monster hunters. Geralt is searching for yennefer of vergerberg (Yes most people’s names follow the ‘someone of something’ formula) Needless to say he finds her and is pulled into a plan to locate his long missing adopted daughter Ciri, Ciri is being hunted by the ghostly riders the wild hunt. So if you’re looking for a deep story with lots of lore then you won’t be disappointed.

It’s not just story that would keep you occupied in the Witcher 3, you could spend hours following side quests as I did. Or you could explore the huge open world of Velen (where the majority of the game takes place), White orchard (where the tutorial takes place) and my personal favourite Skellige (think Beowulf with a bit of Skyrim thrown in for good measure).

One of the most interesting things in the game is the ‘Witcher contract’ quests. As you are playing as a monster hunter don’t be surprised to find a few monsters while you knocking about in the Witcher 3. These quests see you first negotiating a reward for the monsters head with the person who requires your services. Then you must figure out what kind of monster you’re going to be introducing to the business end of your sword, and prepare accordingly by making oils to coat your sword with that do more damage against a specific type of monster. Then follow tracks and scents left by the monster using your heightened Witcher senses. And finally kill it, take a trophy and collect your reward. These are some of the most fun but most challenging activities in the game.

I do have a few problems with the game, such as how the character controls. The slightest movement will make Geralt twitch and when you’re trying to interact with a small object this can be annoying, despite a patch that should have fixed this I still find it to be a problem.

All in all I think that the Witcher 3 gets and 8/10.

LO3 - MGSV review

Mgs V review

As a big fan of the franchise I found myself quite scared of what I would find when I played Metal Gear solid V the phantom pain, what with the full price, half an hour long, standalone prologue that was Ground Zeroes. And also the rumours of hidden microtransactions in the review copies.

And I am happy to say that for the most part metal gear solid V is a worthy addition to the franchise. They took a huge risk taking this game open world and leaving the very linear, story driven narrative and cutscenes that have been a staple of the franchise so far(metal gear solid 4’s hour long final cutscene). However this risk was worth it because MGS V has one of the most enjoyable open worlds I have played in recent memory. With dynamic weather effects and sandstorms that have genuine effects on gameplay, such as a sandstorm passing through that limits enemies vision so you can sneak into a base undetected. Or a storm passing overhead and the rain allows your Taser arm (Yes a prosthetic arm that doubles as a Taser) to reach further and strike multiple enemies at once.

The game does lack in solid story in the first chapter but what is there is pretty good. It’s your basic story of revenge with Big Boss waking up from a 9 year coma and pursuing the people who destroyed his life 9 years previously, while rebuilding his private army from the ground up.

Speaking of Big Boss’s private army, you the player have to ‘recruit’ new men for your army by knocking them out and attaching a balloon to their back so they can be picked up by a helicopter and taken back to base, yeah I’m serious. Building your army, called Diamond Dogs, is one of the most addictive aspects of the game though as is gradually expanding your ‘Mother base’ through acquiring resources in the open world. These resources range from gun placements to cars or cargo containers filled with raw materials.

This leads me to the parts I didn’t like so much which mainly consists of the games F.O.B multiplayer mode, which on paper sounds like a good idea. It allows you to build a secondary base away from your main Mother Base where you put spare materials and soldiers when your main base gets filled up. However this base can be invaded by other players who can steal your staff and resources. This wouldn’t be so bad if it didn’t allow people to do this when you are not even playing the game. The most annoying thing that happened to me is that my base got invaded while I was in the middle of an important story mission. To avoid this I resorted to disconnecting my game from the online servers. While this is annoying it did not negatively impact my experience with the game too much.

So all in all I loved playing through metal gear solid V and will probably continue to play it for a long time. In my opinion this is a strong contender for game of the year. I give Metal gear solid V a 9/10