2014.44: The Last Of Us: Remastered

Completed on GROUNDED MODE in 20hours 34mins

Grounded Mode is the way this game is meant to be played in my opinion. I have immensely enjoyed my experience more. When you come up on enemies with one bullet, you really feel your heart in your mouth and it gets really, REALLY tense. 

I felt desperate in nearly all combat situations and it felt soooo good. Also the sections for checkpoints are broken apart more. Now this might annoy you but for me, it added even more tension to the above as I knew I really, REALLY should avoid dying.

All around Grounded Mode really puts you in this world and makes sure you are as tense as you would be if you were in those situations for real, I absolutely loved it. 

Now, add on top of this the silky smooth, technically magnificent 60FPS, graphics that give the game and its assets the shine they deserve and overall this is a fantastic remaster with an addition (grounded mode) that really makes it fantastic,

9/10.

2014.43: Far Cry 4

26hrs 41mins at 72.75% completion

This. Game. Was. A. BLAST! Beautiful scenery and vistas, fantastic gameplay, great variety of missions and side missions and as much of a mind fuck and an interesting story as FC3 (maybe FC3 did it a bit better or maybe it was because that was the first time we've experienced such story).

Add on top of that a map filled to the inch with locations to discover that add to this beautiful world and things to do around every corner (with not penalty if you chose to ignore them), this is a FANTASTIC outing once again for the Far Cry series.

9/10.

2014.38,39,40,41,42: Blackwell Series

The Blackwell Legacy

Blackwell Unbound

Blackwell Convergence

Blackwell Deception

Blackwell Epiphany

Completed in 14 hours total

This series is a very well written, entertaining and intriguing point and click adventure series. The best I've played in a long time in the genre.

Controlling a 'spirit guide' and the ghost as well makes for a very interesting set-up, and the great writing does the rest.

I was completely drawn into the stories and the characters from the first game and enjoyed every game in the series. Not only is the script and story great, game play was the perfect level of difficulty for me. Never got bored and never got stuck in a tediously convoluted puzzle. The fact the systems are smart, like being able to travel around quickly, being able to get information from your phone's search function and so on make all the games a joy to play.

Wadgeteye Games are definitely on my list of favourite developers, and I will check out their other games. 

I bid farewell to the Blackwell series with much love and fond memories, they gave me a fantastic time;

9/10.

2014.37: Call Of Duty: Advanced Warfare

Completed on Veteran

If you are in the mood for a summer blockbuster equivalent in video game format, Call Of Duty is once again a solid choice. With its smooth gunplay and fun set pieces, there is plenty of fun here for everyone. 

I want to touch on this because it was very under whelming. The Exo Suit I felt was really not innovative. Not sure what the buzz about it was. In fact in campaign I never used any of the exo suit features unless the game told me to. The level design isn't particularly upgraded to support their use or anything. Only thing is you can jump on ledges a bit higher than before due to jump boost but other than, 99% of the game would have played the same without the Exo Suits.

It's a Call Of Duty, you know what it is, and surely at some point you'll let your hair down and be in the mood for it. This is a good outing,

6/10.

2014.36: Grand Theft Auto IV: The Lost And Damned

I just can't get enough of this rendition of Liberty City so I went back to my bike gang. It was a great ride full of good dialogue, satisfactory gunplay and a satisfying end.

8/10.

2014.35: Assassin's Creed II

What a fantastic Assassin's Creed game. Ranks very closely behind my favourite Black Flag.

Great characters that are very human, great story with good pace spanning many years and fun and varied mission design that never gets dull.

Enjoyed it very much and found it to be an FANTASTIC AC package overall,

9/10.

2014.34: LEGO Batman 2 (VITA)

I had this via PS+.

This game was really fun. The fact it's on hand held and the levels are short and snappy is a match made in heaven. Gameplay is usual LEGO stuff but it has enough charm to keep you going. I thought it was a fun and good game.

6/10.

2014.33: Destiny

Completed all Story missions, all Strikes (many many times...), and THE RAID. Time played: 50hours 54mins

Let me start by saying the core game is great. The shooting, the universe, the graphics, the art style are all excellent. There was something about it so addictive you'd feel mad playing the same things over and over again but you still would. With very limited amount of content, it's amazing in itself it managed to keep me interested for nearly 51 hours.

The problem? Now I can't even look at the game. I have passed the point of being driven mad by doing the same things over and over again and I guess my limit is under 51 hours.

The game's "saviour", one Bungie pushed, was the PvP, but I'm just not interested in the PvP of this game. There is nothing really wrong with it, I just didn't like it, and I'm not much of a PvP player. If you are not playing PvP, you are playing the same missions over and over. Albeit weekly and daily challenges provide "modified" versions of them (read: Harder). But they are still exactly the same in design / flow / bosses etc. No thank you.

There are also other hooks thrown in an attempt to catch you. Like stranger coins to collect, planets to harvest for materials and upgrades but these all VERY SOON start feeling like grinding for the sake of grinding and get tedious very quick.

Imagine a mobile game designed with transactions in mind, where there is an artificial "play time" of 3 hours before you get something cool. It's exactly like that, but you can't speed up the grind via micro-transactions (which is good, may I add as it shows that's why they didn't design it like that but the design is still shitty). To top that off, you are never guaranteed to get anything good at the end of all that grinding. As Bungie seems to have taken the philosophy that RANDOM IS FUN in this game. Umm. Not sure when week after week people grind the same things in hopes of a 'reward' and they get something crappy that they enjoy that experience, but it's random so lulz. Similar in PvP, how well you do does not reflect on what loot you get. It's all random! Yay!

So there isn't really a feeling of "OK I'll grind this bit out to get this good reward" as you might just get something shit. Why bother. Far as I'm concerned I am done with Destiny. Expansion packs that add 3-4 missions here and there are not interesting to me. Now that The Raid included in the core release, which I considered to be the 'final boss of the game', is done, I can safely say I completed this game and move on.

Destiny has been a crazy and mad ride. And at the end, proves itself to be a great gameplay designed around some very lazy, artificially 'lengthy', grindy and tedious design that eventually will reveal its ugliness to you. For me it was just under 51 hours, for you it might be 20mins, for someone else it might be 100 hours. 

I will say overall it was a Very Good game (granted this feedback was mostly rant but do keep in mind I did play it for 50 hrs + the positives I started the feedback with do hold the game together very well). But please Bungie, more variety, and less insane decisions in the next one.

7/10.

2014.32: CounterSpy

This is a game of randomly (to an extent) generated missions that you do to collect enough intel to achieve your objective. There is the USA and the Russia and you can infiltrate both. They each have a DEFCON level that lowers or higher depending on how you perform in missions. Before selecting a mission you can also see what that missions has so if you want formulas to unlock weapons or officers you can hold up to lower DEFCON level, you can make a decision on which side to infiltrate based on that.

So that's the premise in a basic explanation and you repeat that until you collect enough intel to unlock the final mission, which takes place infiltrating the side with the highest DEFCON level (game allows you to carry on playing normal missions if you want to lower DEFCON levels before doing final mission).

It's a nice structure with a lot of flexibility and the gameplay holds up and doesn't over stay its welcome. It's fun to go back and play now and then due to the good length of missions and it's fun to play and experiment with weapons, one of my favourites being the Dart Persuader which turns the enemy you shot it at against his former allies. To boost his kills coun as Stealth kills, as the enemy doesn't know you triggered his madness. Mwahahaha.

So yeah, overall it's a good game.

6/10.

2014.31: Resident Evil: Revelations

  

Completed in 6hours:15mins on Normal

I always enjoy scenarios where you go to just going investigate a situation. On top of that, I enjoy them when they are isolated in the middle of the ocean, like a ship. Which is where this game takes place and thanks to that immediately hooked me in.

What follows is tense close corridor combat, some big areas where you have to manoeuvre around tough enemies smartly to take them out and a plot that is....Well, Resident Evil in nature.

There was enough entertainment here to keep me going for the 6 hours it took to complete and as it was a port of a portable game, it is broken up to 'easy to bite' chapters which makes stopping and coming back to it easier. Not something I thought I would enjoy playing on the PC, but in this game's case it worked well due to the nature of the gameplay and story as you jump between different characters at different intervals of the story.

You can also investigate environments for nice little secrets in forms of more back story or 'custom parts', which at weapon crates allows you to upgrade weapons with things like more damage, bigger clip size, faster fire rate and so on. These 'parts' can be applied to any weapon of choice and you can mix and match to your heart's desire. Me, myself ended up making a super strong shotgun with a big ass clip and reduced spread. Worked pretty well.

I enjoyed the setting and the action was fun enough, so I think overall this was a GOOD game,

6/10.

2014.30: The Testemant Of Sherlock Holmes

Time Took To Complete: 11hours - Times walkthrough used: 2

This is a rough around the edges (in all aspects) type of adventure game but it more than makes up for it by involving the player more than many adventure games do. You have to pay attention to the people and the evidence and deduct your own logical conclusions to advance most puzzles, it's very fun. There are phases where they are puzzles for the sake of puzzles, especially near the end, but mostly they tie into the game well.

I really enjoyed my time here and look forward to playing more from this developer.

Not much else to say really, a good adventure recommended to point and click / adventure/ puzzle/ detective fans.

6/10.

2014.29: The Walking Dead (Season 2)

Completed in 11 and a half hours

First of all, compliments to Telltale for adding more to the game part. You now have 'drag' actions and QTEs in more action orianted scenerios. It really grows the depth of the gameplay and the experience.

Other than those improvements, season 2 tackles an interesting challenge of you playing as a child. Or, is Clem a child. Depends on your definition. She's definitely seen and experienced as much as the adults. And the player decides to answer a great question: What kind of a 'child' would someone be growing up in a world like this?

Other than one specific time where I thought asking a child for assistance made the least sense possible, when you can have a grown un-injured member of the team to help you; the gamble pays off plenty.

The overall story is not only about how far can a child can get pushed but also men. And it does this magnificently.

To top off all that, I felt I definitely had a bigger input into how the game plays out. And Google'ing other endings, they are vastly different. I hope they don't cheap out with how Season 3 starts (they got a few scenerios to cover just starting that season!).

Fantastic story, adventure with improvements in all the right places. Only thing is the slight pacing issues through Episodes 2-3:

9/10.

2014.28: The Walking Dead (Season 1) + 400 Days (DLC)

Completed in 12 and a half hours

This game didn't get a huge love from me the first time around, though I still liked it. Turns out, all I needed to do was switch off my brain a bit. In that, just enjoy the story. The game teases you that your choices tailor the story at the start of every episode which I took as a challenge when I first played the game and got frustrated when I would restart a checkpoint, make different decisions, and the end goal would be the same. That was frustrating to me but it wasn't until my second playthrough now I realise, it really shouldn't have been.

Sure should an interactive choose your own path type of interactive story have more player input? Maybe. But who am I debating with there really. I should have just tried to enjoy the game.

So, headphones on, brain totally willing to get into the story, ignoring any mechanical investigations (like restarting a checkpoint and trying different combinations), I set out on the harsh world of The Walking Dead once again. And it was a much better experience. 

The characters, the scenes and the dialogue all come across very tight and well written with no scenarios over staying their welcome.

Hard to say anything without spoiling the story but I'm glad I gave this one another go as it was a great experience and a great adventure,

8/10.

2014.27: Binary Domain

Completed in 11.5hourson Hard

This was a bit of a surprise. I really thought the concept of the game was really cool. About robots living among us without us being able to tell they are robots. The main idea of the villain which I won't spoil was interesting and the inner squad relationship system, although pretty basic, was fun to interact with. Having a preferred squad member or not, and being able to let them know really added to the game and made the squad members feel real.

Other than that it's a standard 3rd person affair though in combat there are interesting bits too like shooting a robot's head off makes it fight for you and it has a pretty good upgrade system that actually feels useful. At first I hated my assault rifle as it was a inaccurate useless crap and few upgrades in it was getting better and by end of the game it was ripping its way through everything. Very cool stuff. Same kind of upgrade is also for your squad mates' weapons too and you can see them become more effective in battle as you upgrade their weapons and modifications.

Overall, a good game in its own right,

6/10.

2014.26: Watch_Dogs

This game was your standard Ubisoft affair. Having recently completed ACIV to 100%, I was a bit worn out on chasing activities around the map. Especially as in Watch_Dogs, driving feels really awkward, it's not much fun to drive around at all. My suggestion would be to go and unlock the CTOS towers as quickly as possible so you can fast travel between areas instead of having to drive to them.

The hacking itself is cool at first but is not in depth enough to provide much entertainment past the first couple or so hours. However it is one of the more unique mechanics to be introduced in an open world game. Having such an interactivity with the open world helps it feel like it being open world matters. Just hope they did more exciting things with it (which I'm sure a sequel will address), most hacking activities become standard pretty soon.

The story was pretty dull. Mainly because of Aiden who is the dullest man on screen since Keanu Reeves. It is not "offensively bad", but the story won't be a key contributor for anyone to continue this game I don't think.

Overall it was a good first effort and hopefully the sequel (which will probably come as it was the best selling game in its first week in Ubisoft's history) can take the unique idea of open world + hacking to its true potential and really excite the players more than for two or so hours. I wouldn't mind if we switch to another character set either.

A good first effort, hope to see more;

6/10.

2014:25: Demon's Souls

Completed at SL (Soul Level) 68 - Time took to complete: 16hours

This game has superb character. I absolutely loved how each world had their own unique lore. The game feeds you info through optional NPC dialogues and the lore of each world fills in the rest. That focused lore, and attention to detail in each world is absolutely amazing.

The combat is satisfying and inching through each world step by step is very satisfying. I've played as a magic focused character and I must admit it was a bit too easy. You can cast any spell unlimited times, and you have a separate Mana gauge bar. And if you start with the Royal class, you start with a ring that re-generates (slowly) that mana bar. Though you won't need it much as there is plenty of Old/Fresh Spice to go around (fills MP bar). 

This meant I could get through all bosses pretty easily, with death counts barely in the double digit count. There was one area where you were fighting against ground and a lot of air enemies at the same time that gave me trouble, but other than that - Magic is the master of this universe!

That's not to say I was running around one shooting everyone, you still have to think about your enemy, where you are, what's around you. The game makes sure you are processing a lot of elements during a fight, whatever your style and this always keeps the game fresh.

This was a great game, and I look forward to moving forward in the Souls series.

8/10.

UPDATE: 

Original write of review, in that build I was using magic and the game felt too easy / brainless but doing platinum run (Platinum achieved 28^th Sep 2014), it made me appreciate it much more.  Especially now having completed Dark Souls, I appreciate this game much more.

So I like to give this game an exceptional 10/10!!

2014.24: Broken Sword 5 - The Serpent's Curse

Time Took To Complete: 10.5hours. Walkthrough used; Episode 1: 1, Episode 2: 5.

I haven't played a Broken Sword game in a long time but I definitely remember liking them. So I am not sure how faithful this one was to the series. It might have been a bad one or what I used to enjoy in previous Broken Sword games, I have simply outgrown or don't enjoy any more. Because this game was cheesy as hell. To the point it almost felt like a morning cartoon for the kids. I really didn't enjoy that aspect. A lot of one liners and jokes simply fell flat. Made for a bit of a grind through the story.

Speaking of the story, it is telegrammed to hell and back. You can read everything in seconds and then the game does the "OH SO AMAZING" reveal. Sorry bud, figured it out ages ago. It's not fun when you are always 10 steps ahead of the game. Anyone who has ever read/ seen a mystery story will find the story very predictable.

 

The characters, especially George was a bit of an asshole. A game starts with a very cool touch and makes itself out to be a considerate story, and George to be a caring character. But then there were SO many moments in the game, whether through  gameplay or dialogue that made George an absolute asshole. Not the "oh George!" kind of fun asshole, but a full on "um WTF, I don't want to play as this guy" type of asshole. So really bad balance struck there on that front. Nothing charming about George.

Another big minus for the story for me was it's got religious roots. Which I automatically find really boring. Nothing against religion (believe what you want - may peace with you), I just don't enjoy it as an aspect of my adventures. So that was another misfire.

The gameplay followed in the story's footsteps for the majority of episode 1. Very simple tasks and logics that you just 'click your way through'. Rarely was I switched on, and rarely did solving a puzzle satisfy me. I guess they took feedback from Episode 1 because Episode 2 steps up the 'difficulty'. But of the 5 times I used a walkthrough only couple were "OK you got me, game" kind of deals. The rest were cheap tactics like finding a click-able thing in the environment that was kind of 'out of the way'. Basically a pixel hunter kind of "puzzle".

So I haven't got much satisfaction from gameplay either to be honest.

So why did I finish it is a good question. First of all, the scenery art is absolutely gorgeous. That was one of the things that brought a smile to my face. When a scene loads up and you get the stunning visuals.

Another reason was; I just wanted to finish it :)

But having done so, I am left with not a very memorable adventure and worse, wondering what I liked about this franchise in the first place!

 

Maybe I need to go back to old ones and find that out. But as far as this outing, it was a big fat MEH from me;

4/10.

2014.23: Murdered: Soul Suspect

 

Time Took To Complete: 5.8hours - Times Walkthrough Used: 0

This game starts with a very interesting concept of a man chasing his own killer, and through that, keeps you hooked for the first couple or so hours. After that you kind of realise, it's a mindless marker chaser with very little being left up to the player. Rest assured the times walkthrough used count is of no greatness of mine, it's just the game is very easy and guides you through things very clearly and obviously.

It's a shame too as it has some nice mechanics that give more choice to player than usual adventure games, like after an investigation, the game will ask you "how do you think this or that happened?" and you put the pieces together yourself through the clues you've found. But again, it's pretty damn obvious which clues go with which questions.

The characters are all OK here. The lead detective (Ronan) is the usual grumpy cop kind and the game does a good job balancing his harsh side with his professional detective side. He is mostly tested with his partner acquired during the game, a bitchy young girl, ironically called, Joy. Their relationship is nothing to write home about, it's the usual she doesn't listen to him but they get along type of deal. But it's there and works to add another layer to the game.

The story has a couple of high moments but is not paced particularly well. You tend to 'just find things' and make great progress in the investigation that way. There was no "A-HA!" moments on finding these key clues. There are also a lot of obvious clues that lead to key findings that cops for unexplained reason never seem to find which took a lot of immersion away from the game to be honest. I don't want to give it away but there is especially one item that is at a very obvious place, in an area police set up as a crime scene that will lead them to a very important place - Yet it's just sitting there with no cop noticing it. It's not marked as evidence or anything in the crime scene either. Very odd.

So really it's not dong anything bad, it's just a bit of a mindless wonder. Actually I say it's not doing anything bad, there are these sections where you have to kill demons and this is a very tedious 'stealth' game. Where you jump between hiding spots and try to get behind the demons to take them out. The game uses this a lot in later game, because you gotta get that play time up right! Gets very tedious and feels lazy.

So overall, if you are looking for an adventure game, there are indeed better ones but I don't think you'll full on regret going through this adventure - It's an OK one;

5/10.

2014.22: A New Beginning - Final Cut

Completed in 9hours - Times walkthrough used: ~9

This game has a nice story of a world gone to shit due to global warming and people from the future must travel back in time to warn mankind and ultimately stop the downfall.

You play as both a member of the team from the future gone back in to the past and as Doctor Bent Svensson who holds to key to the future of the mankind as he has produced a power source from natural resources that everyone can host and grow in their own terrace.

Dr Svensson is an interesting character as he has spent his whole life time working on perfecting that technology and through his unhealthy dedication to his work, he has lost everything. He gets into a bad condition medically working himself silly and is forced to retire. This leaves him a cynical and broken man who can't help but think he has wasted his whole life by giving his life, his family, to a project that at the end turned out to be fruitless.

Until the team from the future knock on his door and tell him his technology is the only real hope for the future.

That is the set up of the game and of course Dr isn't convinced straight away and there are more characters and motivations that come to light over the course of the game. Most of these are well realised and the story and characters stay solid until the very end.

The gameplay was mostly good. Of the 9 or so times I have used a walkthrough, only 3 or so I would say were because of the game being just frustrating. One was a straight out bug. After spending 30mins or so on it, I gave in and Googled to find out it was literally impossible for me to solve that puzzle. And the other two "bullshit moments" though not really, were I forgot you can further interact with things in your inventory. This is used rarely enough that it slips your mind it's a possibility.

Overall design usually consists of a 5-6 room area with a goal and most of it is logical, though there are the usual "why not just do this?" moments PnC games can easily fall into (which is where some of my other walkthrough usage came from). And couple of times I remember thinking "um so what am I trying to do?" so there is a bit of unclear objectives going on here as well. But not too bad by any means.

So I think it was a good effort far as the design of the game. I like that you play as different characters, as Fay from the future and as the Dr from 'now' and the overall topic is handled sensibly.

I would give the story and the writing a great (8) score, the design of the game a good (6) score and mix those two up to say this was a VERY GOOD adventure that is worth playing;

7/10.

2014.21: Wolfenstein: The New Order

Completed in about 20 hours (guesstimate) on UBER (very hard) difficulty

This game was a blast from the start. What it does is give you a nice map (filled with secrets and collectibles usually) and lets you get on with it. It directs and gives you ideas, or suggestions rather through the addictive 'perks' system. Where different styles of play (stealth, assault, tactical, explosive) are rewarded with perks (faster crouch movement, endurance, faster reload, less explosive damage etc). You unlock many perks in each category by doing set challenges ranging from throwing knife kills to killing enemies by shooting or making them drop their grenade. 

Combine that system with the freedom of play in majority of the levels, and you are free to switch up your style of play when ever you feel like it. Freedom of play with the added incentive of unlocking those perks. Very addictive stuff. So the map design and the perk system merges perfectly to give you a sense of accomplishment and freedom.

With that solid foundation, the game sprinkles on what must be the most fun to use weapons ranging from shotguns that have bouncing shells to some great energy weapons. Only thing these variety of weapons have in common is it will leave your enemies in pieces. The gore system is super fantastic and greatly satisfying. It is realistic enough to be convincing, yet exaggerated enough to not disgust. A masterful balance they hit with the gore system.

The story is yet another thing the game gets right. The tone and the delivery of the story is fully aware of the overall arc it is delivering and is under no illusion with itself. This makes for a confident, satisfying and well paced story that is actually backed by a pretty well darn written script. Characters are believable through their motives, the events come together well and I was with these guys through to the very end.

The end is worth mentioning because it was very satisfying  both gameplay and story wise. I strongly recommend any shooter fan to play on Uber as it really added a great satisfaction to most sections including the end.

So as the review suggests, this is an EXCELLENT package that gives great attention to everything it does and in return it truly does pay off.

9/10.

2014.20: The Amazing Spider-Man

Time took to complete: 13hrs

Alright this wasn't the 'best game ever made' far as mechanics or variety goes. But you know what, it was still fun as heck being Spidey.

I've finished the game story, did all the side quests, got all Spidey upgrades and even after all that, I went into the stats menu to see if there is anything else I've wanted to do. There wasn't. But the fact I went in there to check and just wanted to be Spidey longer showed it was a very good game in that sense.

The script is light hearted as you'd expect and story is a 'race against time to save humanity (or at least NY City)' kind of deal but it's presented well enough just to keep your interest and links missions well. Key characters were surprisingly well brought forward and fun to be around which adds that bit of an extra layer too. All good stuff.

What wasn't so good was the city is just so dull....I mean the lighting engine is actually pretty damn impressive and swinging through NY during a sunset can look great but that's just the world looking good. City, far as heart and connectivity, nothing. Dull thing there just for you to swing around. Probably the biggest disappointment for me. Now do bear in mind, some things they added like if you walk on the ground people will gather around you, take pics etc, but it just never feels alive as there isn't enough of that stuff and some of that stuff is very cheaply done like the gathering around you and taking a pic is a very stiff animation, phone pops up out of nowhere they take a pic and walk away. And some random "go Spidey!" chants coming from seeming nowhere.

Outside that though, the game does a good job bringing a lot of things together and as I said, it was very fun being Spidey;

7/10.

2014.19: Super Mario 3D World

This game is simply amazing. I am always amazed at how Nintendo seems to come up with so many ideas for platforming. The game just does not let up. It never settles on one gimmick or one idea or one environment. Constantly changing, constantly surprising. A true showcase of Nintendo creativity.

The issue with the game comes from lack of its drive. Or, rather my drive to play it. As much as I enjoy the magic of the game, once that wears off, there is no story to get back to. No characters to attach yourself to. It's just an amazingly crafted game but times like this that makes me realise that really isn't enough anymore to push the game into 9,10 standards but as it is, it's still a game that was created with great care, love and great game design knowledge,

8/10.

2014.18: 1954 Alcatraz

 Time took to complete: 7.5hours
Times walkthrough used: 4

This started as a very promising adventure. Setting? Great. The mechanic of having one character in jail and the other outside helping him out? Great. The rest?.....Bad and or mediocre.

From puzzles to writing to the pace of the game, none of it really had any good execution. The characters are never fully explored, none of them are convincing and you just go through the game 'just to get to the next bit' which is never a good sign.

So yeah I can't really say much else, just wasn't done well at all I'm afraid and despite a promising start, at the end left me with a huge 'meh' feeling,

4/10.

2014.17: BioShock Infinite: Burial At Sea

 Both Episodes completed in 9hours on HARD

Back to the universe that let out its secrets at the end of Infinite. How are we supposed to be engaged again knowing what we know? It was an interesting challenge to tackle and this DLC does a fantastic job. Needless to say, I won't go into any detail but rest assured this is a cool part of the BioShock story that is well worth checking out.

The gameplay packs some surprises too, especially in the form of Episode 2 that has a nice spin to the gameplay that gives the battles a complete different sense of pace and excitement.

And the world, is as fascinating as ever. I was once again checking every crook and cranny for any details I could dig out and it once again does not disappoint. Simply a joy to discover.

So once again, the formula is hit right on the head and while of course it lacks the grandness the main adventures were, these DLCs are still an excellent part of the BioShock experience;

9/10.

2014.16: Rayman Legends

Completed in around ~15hours getting as many extras as possible (first world 100%ed, rest close[ish])

Well what to say, fantastic little platformer game. As charming and joyful as the first outing. Although there was nothing drawing me into the experience day after day (like story or other reasons), when I was in the mood or just wanted to have pure fun, this game gave me what I needed perfectly.

There is also something that is pretty awesome and wish there was more of; music levels. End of each world you play a level that matches an epic song through the actions of what is happening around the level and your jumps/hits etc. It feels super fun and satisfying. It's like guitar hero, but 2D platformer style.

Please make more of those Ubi.

Overall, this was a great enjoyable game that I still open now and then to get more of the extras;

8/10.

2014.15: Infamous: Second Son

Time took to complete: 100% ~14hours as True Hero

The game looks stunning for an early launch game and follow the previous Infamous games formula pretty tight. The gameplay and getting around the city is as fun as ever and it is a great (8/10) experience

However that's part of the issue. There isn't a lot of reinvention here and the city, along with enemy variety lack serious character and variety compared to the other entries in the series. 

If Sucker Punch sticks with the IP, I hope they take it more comic book style and do more fantasy stuff as there wasn't enough character in this one really.

But, it's still the same solid enjoyable Infamous experience and that's definitely a Very Good thing;

7/10.

2014.14: Metal Gear Solid V: Ground Zeroes

My 1st play-through end game stats

This slice of what is looking to be another Masterpiece instalment by Hideo is seriously the best and most exciting thing I've played in a long time.

The genius is all there. It's in the unique story each of your playthrough will bring, it's in the story, it's in the new systems, it's in the new approach, it's in the fact it still somehow feels MGS despite all the drastic changes. Fantastic.

An excellent outing for MGS NewGen;

9/10.

2014.13: South Park: The Stick Of Truth

Completed in 14 hours on HARDCORE

This game captures the South Park spirit perfectly and lets you know, watching South Park humour is one thing, playing South Park humour is another. It encapsulates the offensive and disgusting humour perfectly into game form, and I for one was genuinely shocked at what I was playing and doing in an hilarious way.

It has more than the shock value as overall it is a pretty solid RPG game with lots of variety in power ups, defences vs offences and I found the systems in place have a nice balance to them.

I also like the Obsidian touch of detail like your party member will comment according to the situation and when events hit town, the scenes change accordingly.  It all flows well and makes sense as much as it can. It's a solid experience.

My major complaint was despite playing on Hardcore, I never really felt challenged. If this was an exciting and exchilirating RPG on top of being a solid RPG that is funny, disgusting and shocking with awesome presentation, it would have been exceptional (10).

But even without the challenge, for South Park and RPG fans, this is an EXCELLENT game;

9/10.

Note if you are not a fan of South Park, you might want to drop a point or two as RPG as solid as it is, is not going to give you enough challenge to keep you interested on its own.

2014.12: Metro: Last Light

Completed in 10 hours on Hard

This game tops the first one as far as atmosphere. From better realised metro life to visual cues like bugs getting on your gas mask and you having to wipe them off, the game leaves little to no detail out. 

The big change from the first game is the stealth is a lot easier. The AI just won't see you if you are in the dark and all of them are pretty much deaf. But this matter little as in a game so tense and crazy, those stealth sections offer a welcome change of pace and are varied enough with big maps to find your way through that they can end up being very satisfying despite the AI.

Chapter after chapter, Whether you are travelling along the metro lines or are stuck in a hole with cobwebs and spiders everywhere, the tension just doesn't let up. You'll breathe a sigh of relief after every chapter and that is no bad thing. I absolutely loved the tension and excitement. 

The story is once again top notch and delivered very well. Backed again with great writing and soundtrack and it helps the game looks absolutely stunning visually (played on max on PC) with great art style.

So overall, I find this game to be an excellent game;

9/10.

2014.11: Brütal Legend

Completed in 15hours on HARD with 79% completion

This game has to have one of the most badass universes of all time. Full on metal goodness from the world art to the soundtrack. 

The gameplay is pretty good with 3rd person action adventure axe attack and long range electric guitar attacks. Both of these can be upgrade by doing side missions. I found myself addicted to the side missions and cleared them all before doing the main mission so for me they were fun and varied enough.

One really bad thing for me was the famous RTS sections. These can be frustrating as the controls of your units can get difficult but other than that provide no challenge. Just a bit of needless tediousness.

The story and characters were well written and had that Schafer charm all around. So yeah, quite an enjoyable atmosphere with good mechanics with only one bad let down (RTS parts) which in grand scheme of things don't come up often (though there is one bit it comes up in a row).

Overall. a good adventure;

6/10.

2014.10: KNACK

Completed in 11hrs:37mins on Hard

This game is a good start to something that could have been much more. The charming art style and the idea of growing your character through parts is a good one. The concept really comes alive when it takes you a tough fight to beat an enemy, then at some other point you face that enemy as bigger Knack and basically just walk through them. It's very fun and satisfying.

But other than that it's a drawn out and somewhat tedious adventure. There are way too many chapters for a start, only a handful giving a good sense of context and adventure. And the game does very little to surprise you, as it's always one are of fights after another. I also have to mention frame rate is very, very unstable and in rare instances can cost you a fight (note I said rare but still annoying).

The good thing is, on Hard, the fight mechanics get interesting. It's all about observing your enemies, learning their move patterns and successfully reacting to their moves and finding rooms to attack. There is very little room for mistake on Hard as most enemies can take you down in one or two hits. So you've got to make sure your wits are about you.
Unfortunately the tensions of these fight mechanics wears thin after a while.

You can also build gadgets, which is accomplished by finding secret rooms with treasure chests that give you part of a gadget. There is a unique system here in that if you don't want what you found in the treasure, the game gives you a chance to instead collect one of the items your friends got in that treasure. It adds a very successful community feel to the game.

So overall, wish it was a bit more surprising, and had a bit less chapters, but still, an OK game to spend some time with and I can imagine if you are younger or play co-op, you can have a more enjoyable experience with it.

But for me, a right down the middle OK score of - 5/10.

2014.9: The Last Of Us: Left Behind

Time took to complete: ~3 hours on Survivor

This DLC did a great job digging into Ellie's world and past. Really outlining her relationship with Riley and her character as a whole.

The DLC provides really cool droplets of gameplay and interactivity that draws you into Ellie's world in very special ways. It really got me involved and I've felt strongly connected thanks to those sections.

I can't say much at all, other than I actually enjoyed this little story more than the main game (as great as it was) as it felt really focused, better executed, and there is a cool gameplay element as well that works really well and is great to play around with.

A really solid release, that to boost puts a satisfying dot the the TLOU universe's story. I really hope they don't touch these characters anymore, as they've done a fantastic job closing the universe in a satisfying way.

9/10.

2014.8: DmC: Devil May Cry

Time took to complete: 09hours:39mins on Hard

This game captured the teen angst spirit pretty well through its presentation. Unfortunately, it's a bit hit and miss if what they are going for gives you a nostalgic chuckle or just makes you cringe. Perhaps it would have worked better if that tone wasn't the overlay for such a generic story arc but hey, it's not too disruptive by any means.

After all, we are here for the action. Which I found to be quite simple. Other than the occasions where the game throws different variety of enemies at you. This is not even challenging in the fun sense but more "shit, which combination activated this or that weapon". I had the same problem in Batman with the button combos. You know, Press R1 and Square to throw this, R2 and Square (may not be accurate but I mean the similarity of inputs) for this special move etc. My brain and my muscle memory in the heat of battle can't decide fast enough between those very similar inputs which one is the right one so that may cost me here and there. 

The rest of the challenge just comes via the score. If you don't care about getting a high score, you are not going to enjoy this as much. Where as in a game like Bayonetta, surviving the battle was the first goal, and a good score was the icing on the cake, in this game, all you have is the score for the satisfaction as the fight system doesn't provide it.

I liked Ninja Theory's other games like Enslaved and Heavenly Sword which also didn't have the most advanced fighting systems but I was taken in my the beauty of the story, the pace and the setting so that kind of added a whole new perspective on what I was doing in the game. The execution helped those games a lot, where as here I wasn't really taken in by anything and outside the rare thrill of getting a good combo going (the combos weren't rare, the thrill of them were), it really didn't do much for me.

Still, it had some big ass bosses (though again, they weren't very challenging), one of which was pretty creative and one very good cutscene that was pretty tense. But really, it needed to be at or around those levels more often and it just wasn't.

Still, a good game to play;

6/10.

2014.7: Assassin's Creed IV: Black Flag

Let me quickly say, outside AC2, I didn't enjoy the AC games and gave up on them after 2-3 hours. Let me also say, if you don't enjoy the AC mechanics and find the games to be 'just boring' or what-have-you, I understand and even agree to a point.

However, if you ever wanted to be a pirate, take your ship in hunt for loot and glory, you may become as obsessed as me with ACIV, and enjoy the heck out of it.

So to end, I will post this:

100%'ed the game

And give this game a personal; 9/10.

However, Ubisoft needs to reinvent pretty much every mechanic or evolve them greatly for the next AC game. As even if it's pirate themed again, it is not going to fly (or sail) any more it feels like. Especially now that the new consoles are out and we want some 'new gen' games.

2014.6: Gunpoint

Completed in 3 hours

This game had a unique set of mechanics. One being, you are a spy who has springy trousers and can jump up high, you also like to crash through windows and make other people crash through windows.

The other one is even cooler, where you can link objects in the game via hacking them to solve the puzzles. For example later on you can hack people's guns. Two guards standing next to each other on the floor up with one guard next door? Wire the gun of the guard next door to the gun of the guard facing the other guard upstairs. Go next door, get seen, as he shoots, it triggers the gun of the guard upstairs and he unwillingly kills his colleague. Job well done, proceed to do an evil smile.

The game is full of moments like that and to top it off, it gives you as much control as it makes sense to over things like dialogue (two main story branches it looked like to me, but other options in dialogue make for a genuinely funny game), and you can mostly choose to go lethal / non-lethal, and a total ghost.. Figuring out the latter way of doing things will take a few goes but it's satisfying and fun to pull off.

I really enjoyed my time with this game and yeah it was a bit short but I liked that, the mechanics didn't over stay their welcome and nor did the levels feel repetitive.

A great game,
8/10.

2014.5: Brothers: A Tale of Two Sons

Time took to complete: 4 hours

This is another game in line of ICO, Journey etc that manages to tell its story and evoke emotions through the medium it is in. It uses imagery and interaction and in this case, ingeniously the controller itself to bring together a story and an experience that is simply exceptional.

I can't say much more without spoiling it. Exceptional art speaks for itself.

10/10.

2014.4: Metal Gear Solid: Peace Walker

Time took to complete: 20hours

This game has what I would consider one of the best main story arcs told in a MGS game (very close behind MGS3). It deals with Big Boss, how he dealt with the events of MGS3, the MFS, and events that lead right into V.

So really for such a key game, it needed to deliver, and it definitely did. I love games but rarely do they put me on the edge of my seat when a cut scene starts, where as Peace Walker accomplishes not only that, but also combines it with very fun missions and extra ops that all lead to improving your base, which in turn gives you better items and weapons, which in turn helps you do those missions better.

It's a fun ecosystem where everything feeds each other and it becomes highly addictive and where as most addictive things you keep doing, for no reason other than them being addictive, here you have reasons like seeing the story and improving your base. So it never feels grindy and you really do feel like you are running the MFS.

I'll be honest and say after MGS4, I fell just a little bit out of love with MGS but this game reminded me why I love the series. Combining a compelling story, half based in reality, half fiction, with characters well defined and boldy presented, and gameplay that intertwines the game with the story design flawlessly. Hideo reminded me just how much of a genius he is.

This game came at a great time for me, as now I am awaiting MGSV with full hype.

Overall, I loved my time with PW and nothing is worth noting down as a negative so really it was an EXCEPTIONAL game,
10/10.

2014.3: Contrast

Time took to complete: Around 5 hours

This game had a very cool setting but it just didn't come together well enough. Movement is weird, shifting between shadow and real world proves to be a not so gripping mechanic and it just feels a bit rough around the edges all around.

The story was good enough to carry you through but not something you'll remember for long after you finish it.

An OK game,
5/10.

2014.2: Tearaway

Unique and magical. Those are two words that apply throughout this whole game.

Media Molecule have created an amazing and unique world, great mechanics that use VITA's functions very well and they've done a great job connecting, not only the player to the protagonist but also the game world with 'your' world. Saying exactly how will be taking away the magic so I strongly recommend you find out yourself.

Definitely one of VITA's best and a great joyful experience,

8/10.

2014.1: Metro 2033

Time took to complete: ~9hours on Normal

The amazing soundtrack perfectly sets the mood (recommended you play it while reading this short feedback)

Bit late to the party with this one but this game was oozing with atmosphere. I absolutely loved that aspect. Also it was very Half-Life in that the monsters still felt like monsters by the end, you know. They didn't become 'just a wave of enemies'. The game kept them hidden and away long enough and brought them up in the right places. Very finely tuned.

And I always like it when in an Apocalypse setting  there is a mention of how humans still manage to find a reason to kill each other. This game touched on that nicely. "I thought I was going to fight monsters but so far have killed more of my own kind..." (paraphrased).


The gameplay is well done where you have to scavenge everything even air for your gas mask.


Truly hopeless and a truly dire situation the game puts you in. And you feel it every chapter.

Great game,
8/10.

2013.40: Killzone: Shadow Fall

Completed in about 5 hours (guesstimate) on HARD

Let me get this out the way straight away; terrible story. And terrible writing. Terrible characters too, outside Echo who is a very strong, honest and purposeful character.

So if you are looking to "why"s in your FPS games or some kind a reason to push on, the story ain't gonna give you that. In fact, it kind of made me want to turn off the game.

However, the game is fun as heck to play. Weapons and movement is great. You might get annoyed rarely by accidentally 'sticking' to cover while trying to dodge away somewhere else but outside that it moves and aims great.

The weapons feel unique and satisfying. Though there is nothing here that is Ratchet And Clank fresh, using the LSR44 was an absolute blast. Acts like a fun, powerful, strong Assault Rifle / SMG hybrid in one mode. And in its second mode a rail gun that you charge up and and I on one occasion (on a stream in fact! ;)) got a double kill with it as it railed through two enemies. Very satisfying physics too. Sometimes enemies fly in random directions instead of the way law of physics would tell them to go, but it's still fun as heck making those fuckers fly.

My main gripe with the gameplay was...Well, what is it I always complain about and find the most boring and lazy way of game design? Wave of enemies! This game i later levels does this plenty and it's just fucking annoying. Not annoying like "omg I can't get past it!", honest to god I got it on my 3rd try but annoying as in "Really, Guerilla?!". I thought after KZ2 ended like that and KZ3 "fixed" it, I thought maybe they learnt or realised a few things, but no. Mind you it's no where near as annoyingly long or tedious as KZ2's ending.

Anyway. So I have to give kudos to Guerilla here for making a more open game though their AI fails them quite a bit (not always but very often). And the open-ness kind of downgrades after the first couple of levels. But I liked what I am seeing and I hope they take KZ in that direction.

I also liked OWL though honestly even on Hard he wasn't that useful. As sometimes he deploys a shield where 80% of it is in the ground so it barely provides cover. Just for reviving you (if you have a adrenaline pack) though, he is worth keeping around.


However, let's get rid of the lazy wave design completely and you immersed me well with KZ3 and even Mercenary's story was at least worth the trip. This was a complete disaster but being a launch title and all, and I guess not being a numbered release AND with the gameplay extensions they made to the series, it's quite forgiveable (though my score will reflect it but it won't get as much ranting).


Overall, it's as good a launch title you can expect, but shows it's a launch title in many ways. And provides the DS4 it's first test in a rough around the edges but solid shooter.


6/10.

2013.39: Remember Me

Time took to complete: More than it should have on HARD

This game had a very interesting story, concept and setting. Unfortunately it was wasted opportunity. Characters are bad, writing is dull and as you can tell by the time took to complete line, it drags on a bit. What started as me being 100% involved in the story, checking and admiring every inch of the world, around half way mark turned into a repetitious grind. Very unfortunate.

Combat has 4 combos that you can remix between doing damage, healing, chaining or cooling down your special abilities and this obviously gets tiresome when fight after fight you do the same combos and they start to feel really dull after a while as the animations are always the same as well no matter how you remixed the same 4 combos.

There is also this very cool mechanic where you go into people's memories, and remix them by changing the environment to get them to remember something that wasn't real so they do what you want but this is sadly under utilised. At one point I forgot the game had this and when it came up again I thought "wow, why aren't they using this more!". It's like, no problem using the repetitive combat over and over, but they seldom use the coolest part of the game :/

Not much else to say really, you just walk and fight so those are the only aspects I cover. There is platforming but they draw the path for you with arrows. If you can go off that path, you will get packages to increase your health or focus meter when you find 5 of them.

So yeah, what started as a cool story and cool combat system just turned into feeling like a grind, and the game carried on a few more hours even after that point.

Overall, an OK game;

5/10.

2013.38: Batman: Arkham Origins

Time took to complete: 15 hours on HARD

I'm going to use a bullet pointed format here, I wrote about it in paragraphs long enough and I don't want to go off on a huge rant again. Don't worry, this isn't a super negative feedback post, but I do need to keep it bullet pointed for my sanity.

LIKED

+ The inclusion of Batcave.

+ Alfred was a nice touch.

+ Batsuit is pretty much tank-wear but hey, to me I liked it better than past Arkham games.

+ Couple of boss fights were pretty cool.

DISLIKED

- The fact first two 'Liked' aspects never feel fully explored.

- Timing in combat feels 'off'. Now I thought I could get used to it and yes, in some fights I've got 30+ multiplier but most of the time it is not what I was used to. Counters feel weird and enemies can 'warp' across battlefields like Batman which makes timing really hard as you think you have time for a hit then someone warps next to you. Also sometimes I couldn't tell if the animation ended or it was still going, both of which made me not press a button or press it too early and stopped multiplier or made me get hit. Just felt really frustrating at times...Never had these issues with past Arkham games (and I played City recently).

- Look I got great respect for Rocksteady's masterpiece but this respects it too much. They didn't start this game thinking "we have a great idea to make a game!" they started it thinking "let's make another Arkham game" and that's what it is. Nothing new, nothing exciting, nothing daring in this release. And for a full priced game, they are pushing it value wise.

- Villains lacked intimidation. Despite some of them being cool, they were predictable and easy even on Hard. The game hand helds you, to the point of bringing up which buttons you need to press. Really dude...

- New detective mode is cool in theory, but again ruined because the game literally guides you through every step. What's the point of us playing, seriously. At least give us a few seconds. But no. I am on Hard and the game immediately thinks I am a retard. Makes the detective mode SO pointless.

- Story is passable and one twist they have in there is badly delivered.


HATED

- Bugs bugs bugs, glitches glitches glitches. I raged enough and I'm just going to stop it there. Playable after 2 weeks of release is unacceptable.


OVERALL

It's like past Arkham games, but worse in pretty much every way. Honestly if you want to be the bat, you really are better off just going back to past Arkham games. You will miss literally nothing. Only 'really' new thing you are getting here is the story, which is give or take, you won't miss much there.

Add to that the atrocious state the game was released in, which gave it a very cynical aura, it gets a MEH / pointless release;

4/10.

2013.37: Battlefield 4

Completed in ~6 hours on Normal
SINGLE PLAYER ONLY REVIEW

I really don't know what to write. It's a military shooter. Some negatives worth mentioning though, you play as a squad leader but you are mute and your team mates make 99% of the crucial decisions. Some 'leader' you are.

A.I. is dumb as shit. Both enemy and friendly. I order my team to shoot at an enemy they have a flank on, and they reposition themselves for a head to head fight instead of just firing from the flank :/ That was in few cases here and there though, overall they just react slow as shit.

The enemy A.I only knows how to get out of cover when it is destroyed otherwise same old duck and shoot and I swear they ran past me a couple of times while changing covers lol....You could say it's because I've played on Normal but I have a feeling they would have been the same on Hard but just with super human accuracy.

And I don't know if it's because they showed most of it pre-release or what but the set pieces did not wow me at all. Maybe the idea of set pieces is getting old. Just sit there and watch pretty graphics happen and even on Ultra they didn't wow me.

Overall, as MEH as it gets;

4/10.

2013.36: Killzone: Mercenary

Time took to complete: ~6 hours on VETERAN

The graphics are absolutely amazing. I don't like talking technical stuff too much in games, so let's get that established. They are great to look at as is, and absolutely mind blowing when you think they are being done on VITA. This hardware and these devs are just wow.

The gameplay is awesome. It truly gives you different ways you can approach situations. Not only with weapon selection but also armour and vanguard (perk) selection too. vanguards range from rockets to airstrikes to radar scanning and so on.

A few points on those aspects is I liked that weapons could not have attachments changed. Being able to silence every gun would have been OP and a bit boring. They give you enough options if you want a strong sniper or a silenced uzi or a good old assault rifle and they fit the most sensible attachments on there.
However the balance did get skewed a bit for me in the Ghost perk. This turns you invisible until it runs out (a good 20+ seconds I would guess, feels long anyway) and couple of sections I literally just walked through a section lol. It's nice the game gives you a Stealth Bonus if you go through a section without raising alert. That was an unexpected, but an awesome addition.

However going all stealth, I felt there are some sections that rape you in the ass for making that decision. Basically refer to this comic by Penny Arcade. That's exactly how you feel at times and is becoming a growing concerns with balance in games that give you play style choice. Please devs make sure all styles are applicable in all situations.
Luckily, it wasn't too bad and I did buy a few offensive vanguards just in case, and in the final boss that became to be a very worthy investment (no idea how I could have done it without that!).

The story is eh. Where it does do great is you are playing as a Mercenary. All you care about is getting money and the game doesn't try to delve into meaning of life and whatever and through that, it actually succeeds in having a deep meaning. Wars are profitable and you can fight to get rich and sabotage sides not to win, but to keep the war and your profits going. After all isn't that what war is. Both sides suck, so get rich and gtfo. This is further amplified by you working with ISA and Helghast, showing very well why both sides think why the other side is wrong, and ultimately how no-one is 'right'.

They try to grow that into something more by throwing a kid in there you are supposed to care about I guess but I blanked that part out. I prefer the game was telling me war is an ugly profit game.

Overall, it was a very enjoyable shooter with more variety in style and gameplay than I expected with an enjoyable, money driven story that shines a more neutral light at the Killzone universe,

A 'Very Good' - 7/10.

2013.35: Assassins Creed III: Liberation

This game is a mixed bag! I love it fundamentally, where it takes AC back to the roots but with a fresher than expected result of playing as a female. This gives way to some nice new perspective script and gameplay wise where in the script your gender can come into play both positive and negatively (but never in your face and obnoxious) and in gameplay the persona system brings out the lethality of a femme fatale in three unique and fun ways.

HOWEVER! Thank you Ubisoft for supporting VITA but you could have done much better. I know; resources, priorities and so on, I know you guys have a lot AC games to make and the bigger boys get more attention but guess what!? A paying customer doesn't care, it's not our role to care or worry about that stuff.
So why did I bring that up? Let's start with the minor issue of performance. Framerate I don't think every stays at a solid 30fps. Maybe it does, but it sure as hell doesn't feel like it. Game always has that sluggish feel which you oddly get used to after a while, well I did anyway. But still would have preferred a nice smooth game.

This is the biggie; everything VITA is not tested at all! The game engine QA guys did well. I guess most of the engine was ported over so engine is not bad other than the above issue. There are no engine bugs unique to VITA. But the controls?! Cannoning feels weird as hell, pick pocketing needs some practice because again, it just feels odd, pointing at a "light" source sometimes doesn't like the brightness of THE SUN and the damn tilting in the maze puzzle is TERRIBLE at picking up your calibration to the point where it feels down right broken!

Now why is Ubisoft getting the slack? All these AND MORE worked great in other VITA games. Uncharted mainly did most of that and they were amazing. I could FINE AIM using the tilt in Uncharted where as here I couldn't move a maze in the direction I wanted to it was so god damn badly implemented!

So it is the good old AC without all the bells and whistles (which I mainly find boring in the main series) so that worked for me! Female character worked for me, great touch and overall I really liked it. Story was OK in parts, but a bit lame near the end, but passable.

However the experience is hinder by the mainly technical problems that could have been ironed out if someone at Ubisoft cared a bit more!

Still, I would LOVE another VITA entry from AC, that again keeps it simple, POLISH IT! Ubi, and maybe evolve a couple of the mechanics.

As it is in this one though, it will get an OK stamp, which is guess what?!- OK! I know if IGN or whatever gives game a less than 7 it's the end of the world but I actually use the scale from zero to ten so 5 is ok. You are going to have an ok time with this game. If Ubisoft fine tuned the VITA experience it could have crossed into 'good' but no, they didn't, so OK it is;

5/10.