The Battlefield series has consistently been one of the better multiplayer shooters out there in terms of gameplay, rivalled only by Killzone which has a more sci-fi tilt. Battlefield games are all about spectacle and while Battlefield 4’s ‘levolution‘ is hideous marketing-speak, the concept of having huge set piece moments erupt around you is a sound one. With Hardline’s setting changing to the police rather than the military, will it lose any of the identity Battlefield has worked so hard to cultivate?
Let’s start with the online. Hardline is just as bombastic as its predecessors at times, with cop cars, motorcycles and helicopters all thrown into the mix for bigger maps. As well as the returning Conquest and Deathmatch modes you have a host of new ideas to play with. Heist sees you trying to break into the opposition vault, and is very reminiscent of Rush from previous titles. Blood Money is more fun, a pile of cash in the middle of the map that both teams fight over and return to their getaway vans… the twist being that each team can also rob the opposition van! This leads to some great back and forth gameplay, a hallmark of the series. Another new mode is Hotwire, which I also greatly enjoyed. Like Conquest you have to capture and hold points on the map, the difference being that each control point is a vehicle you’ll need to keep on the move to accrue points. It leads to some frantic car chases and putting in a few ramshackle ramps lends the mode a Smokey and The Bandit/Dukes Of Hazzard feel.
Gameplay wise this is the best the shooting has felt for a while (for veterans as well as noobs – there is a generous auto aim function for new players) and there is a pretty good variety of weapons, which you now buy with Heist money rather than unlocking by rank. Vehicle control is fun and the addition of radios in the car makes a huge difference to the immersion – jumping in the car as a criminal to the strains of KRS-One’s ‘Sound Of Da Police’ still hasn’t gotten old! The music selection is fairly good, although I hope if they return to this for future games they increase the track count so you get less repeats.
Moving on to the single player campaign, which is set around a cop called Nick Mendoza. In true cop show fashion, the game opens with you on your way to federal prison and a guard on the bus berating you for being corrupt. Then we jump back in time and you’re back with a badge and a gun. The most intriguing thing for me about Hardline is that you almost always have options. Some levels have multiple paths through and even those that don’t at least offer the choice of stealth or all out attack.
One of my gripes with the game is that the stealth is a little clunky at times and there were occasions when I felt I had been unfairly spotted. The game works with a Far Cry style awareness meter, so at least you know when you’re about to be spotted! I also felt sometimes that the AI was quite poor, often just filing into a room one by one for me to shoot rather than doing anything tactical to flush me out.
The campaign plays in episodic format so it feels like a TV show, and even lends the ‘Previously On…’ trope that Alone In The Dark used to keep you update on what happened in the last few episodes. I liked that this doesn’t play if you go straight into another episode so it wouldn’t get annoying for people ploughing through the game in one sitting. Personally I played it an episode at a time almost exclusively, it was well paced and I had fun with each episode. The game might have become slightly repetitive if you were playing it in longer sessions.
Graphically for the most part the game looks good, especially in single player, but in multiplayer sometimes the distant skylines seem quite sparse compared to other Battlefield games. There are exceptions of course, the burning town in the background of Hollywood Heights is a real highlight. Facial animation and motion capture for the campaign is great and while I never fully believed I was watching real people, it came close on occasion.
Overall then it’s a pretty good package, but with regards to multiplayer that’s on the basis that you’re done with Battlefield 4 and want more of that Battlefield experience. There are some new modes and the gameplay is improved, so if you’re looking for more then this is the game for you. The campaign is easily the best since Bad Company 2 and while it does have some shortcomings I really enjoyed the way Visceral lent into the cop show vibe.
Now that everyone has had time to digest their turkey and Christmas pudding, it’s a good opportunity to look back at last year’s game offerings and dole out some awards.
So let’s start at the very beginning – well, 2013 to be precise…
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MISSED GEM OF 2013
WINNER: Assassin’s Creed IV: Black Flag (PS4)
Black Flag missed out on a place in last year’s list as the PS4 launch was too late in 2013 for consideration. I was burned out on Assassin’s Creed by 2012’s title which I felt had a poor lead character and not a particularly great story. Black Flag throws the Assassin’s Creed rule book out of the window (well, not the whole book) and gives you a fun character and interesting world to explore, along with decent gameplay to compliment it. The sailing aspect is excellent and I never got bored of my crew striking up a shanty 🙂
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BEST GAME INNOVATION
WINNER: Nemesis System (Middle Earth: Shadow Of Mordor)
There were some cool new ideas in games last year. The prospect of a single player game being online and full of people isn’t a new one, we’ve had quite a few of those trailers over the last few years, where the game pulls back and reveals the other characters are real players (The Division etc.). Despite it’s faults Watch_Dogs was the first game that I thought handled it quite well, with other players able to hack your game and you having to force them out. Photo Mode is one of those things that you can’t believe wasn’t in games before – the ability to pause the action and be able to set up a photo opportunity might not sound that ground-breaking but it changes how you play the game and has led to some amazing in-game shots of titles like The Last Of Us: Remastered, DriveClub and Infamous: Second Son. For me though, the biggest innovation has to be the Nemesis system in Middle Earth: Shadow Of Mordor, which gives personality and meaning to the enemies you encounter throughout the game. Essentially enemies are named and remember the previous times you’ve met in battle. They can also be promoted through the ranks of the opposition army and it’s fun to have some history with opponents. When you clash with them the camera pans in and the enemy will taunt you or threaten you. The other cool thing about this feature is that it isn’t limited to specific characters or events – you can sometimes find yourself in a battle with two or three of these named enemies if they happen to be in the same area you’re fighting in. It’s a great addition to an open world title and gives the game world a huge boost.
RUNNERS UP:
Invasion Multiplayer (Watch Dogs)
Photo Mode (Various PS4 Titles)
Shadow Gameplay (Contrast)
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BEST DLC (CONTENT)
WINNER: Last Of Us – Left Behind (PS3)
The Last Of Us was my game of the year for 2013 and February saw the release of the long awaited story DLC ‘Left Behind’ in which you played as Ellie. Set before the events of the main game it was a look at Ellie’s relationship with her close friend Riley. Well written and with some truly memorable moments this is quite possibly the best DLC I’ve played. Wholly recommended and for you lucky folks who have picked up The Last Of Us Remastered on PS4, this DLC is already included on your disc – enjoy!
RUNNERS UP:
Second Assault (Battlefield 4)
Intercept (Killzone Shadow Fall)
Ignition Pack (DriveClub)
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BEST DOWNLOAD ONLY GAME
WINNER: Transistor
I’ve never played Supergiant Games previous title ‘Bastion’, although I always loved the art style. So when the studio’s follow up for announced as a PS4 exclusive it was a title I was really looking forward to. At that stage I had no idea how much I would fall in love with the world, art, music and gameplay of Transistor. I also thoroughly enjoyed the second season of The Walking Dead and I certainly wasn’t expecting to get as much out of Resogun as I did – I’m looking forward to picking that up on Vita as well when it arrives. A title that didn’t technically land this year but arrived on Vita was the superb Rogue Legacy – if you haven’t checked that out yet then make sure you pick it up!
RUNNERS UP:
The Walking Dead: Season Two
Resogun
Rogue Legacy
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MOST ANTICIPATED GAME OF 2015
WINNER: Uncharted: A Thief’s End
While 2014 might’ve been a little disappointing, with lots of top tier releases being delayed into 2015. On the flip side it means that this year is already full of quality titles just waiting to jump into your PS4 as the months progress 🙂 For me the biggest of these is Uncharted: A Thief’s End. I *love* this series, which never fails to keep me entertained and I can’t get enough of the characters created by the wonderful folks at Naughty Dog. The gameplay reveal in December has left me even more psyched than ever, so roll on November! It was hard to narrow down the runners up to just three when factoring in titles like Batman: Arkham Knight, Bloodborne and No Man’s Sky. However the other three games I’m most excited for have to be Hotline Miami 2, Metal Gear Solid V and the new Rainbow Six game, which I think could be amazing if they nail it.
RUNNERS UP:
Metal Gear Solid V
Rainbow Six Siege
Hotline Miami 2: Wrong Number
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BEST GAME TRAILER
WINNER: Uncharted: A Thief’s End
As mentioned above I’m a huge fan of Uncharted and boy was this reveal trailer impressive. Giving a glimpse at what might be possible for PS4 in the future, even if the gameplay only looks half as good as this it’ll be a huge step up for the series. Cuphead isn’t even scheduled to come to Playstation platforms but I adored this trailer, which reminded me of all the old cartoons I used to watch as a kid – what a great artstyle! If you needed an excuse to get excited for Velocity 2x then this trailer was it, showcasing the new platforming sections as well as the ship based gameplay… and THAT music! Sadly Assassin’s Creed Unity didn’t live up to the hype but the series continued it’s great run of trailers with this gem, scored by Lorde’s version of Tears For Fears.
RUNNERS UP:
Cuphead
Assassin’s Creed Unity
Velocity 2x
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BEST PS VITA GAME
WINNER: Danganronpa: Trigger Happy Havoc
The Vita has had some great games this year, original titles like Murasaki Baby, Freedom Wars and Luftrausers as well as excellent ports like Fez and a solid version of Football Manager. I enjoyed the super addictive Rogue Legacy and Velocity 2x, both requiring a different set of gaming skills while I thoroughly enjoyed the cold war setting and espionage gameplay of CounterSpy. That being said it was a more unusual title that ended up being the one I got the most out of – Danganronpa: Trigger Happy Havoc. Yes, that is a real title and yes, it’s a fantastic game! The story of a group of students who wake up to find themselves trapped in their school. The only escape is to kill another student and get away with it by beating a courtroom judgement. All seemingly masterminded by an evil, robotic teddy bear. Crazy, for sure, but a great gaming experience.
RUNNERS UP:
Rogue Legacy
CounterSpy
Velocity 2X
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BEST GRAPHICS
WINNER: DriveClub
Just look at that picture. Click it to see the full size version. That isn’t a press shot or some PR trick, I took that screenshot during a race using DriveClub’s Photo Mode. It is insane how good this game looked before the weather update added different conditions. And now? Well, it’s certainly one you could show to friends and family to show what the PS4 can do. Big shout outs to Call Of Duty: Advanced Warfare for some ridiculously good facial animation, Destiny for a wonderful art style and Alien: Isolation for an almost perfect recreation of the original film’s world. But this year’s award goes to the DriveClub – possibly the best looking game I’ve ever played.
RUNNERS UP:
Destiny
Call Of Duty: Advanced Warfare
Alien Isolation
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BEST STORYLINE
WINNER: TellTale’s The Walking Dead (Season 2)
The return of Clem, and the fact that you were controlling her, in the second season of The Walking Dead had me in two minds about the direction the game was taking. I loved Clem and felt that maybe she was better left behind in the first season and that the new run of episodes should feature just new characters. How wrong I was, while it stumbled at times, this season of the game was superb and I found myself with a decent resolution by the time the final credits rolled. I really enjoyed the story of Transistor, delving into the back story there was great – although I felt that game was more about the characters than a specific storyline per se. I ended up liking the story of Murdered: Soul Suspect as well, which had some interesting twists and turns. The closest game to beating The Walking Dead though was the superb DLC for The Last Of Us ‘Left Behind’, which as I mentioned earlier looks at the relationship between Ellie and Riley.
RUNNERS UP:
Last Of Us – Left Behind (PS3)
Transistor
Murdered: Soul Suspect
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BEST SOUNDTRACK (SCORE)
WINNER: Transistor
The music in Transistor is a huge part of the game and what an amazing soundtrack. The excellent Darren Korb delivers a brilliant score, with some help from vocalist Ashley Barrett and this is one of those games where you’ll be raving about the music for a long time afterwards. Destiny‘s score had some wonderful moments and the recreation/remix of original music from the Alien film gives Isolation a really strong score element. Child of Light was another title that I thought music played a big part in and the score is definitely worth checking out. Special nod to Velocity 2x as well which I thought was also a great soundtrack.
RUNNERS UP:
Child Of Light
Destiny
Alien Isolation
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BEST SOUNDTRACK (LICENSED)
WINNER: Grand Theft Auto V Remastered
Adding 162 new tracks to an already huge and impressive soundtrack is a great way to help flesh out some of the radio stations in your game. Doing it with quality artists like Jackson Sisters, Creedence Clearwater Revival, Chvrches and Lorde just increases the richness of your world no end. Good lord even Bobby Brown’s ‘On Our Own’ from Ghostbusters II is in here! Just, wow. Watch_Dogs had a good soundtrack but was hampered by the fact you had to unlock tracks in game rather than them all just being on the radio. FIFA 15 delivered again, for the sake of clarity I did help shape the soundtrack to that one a little, but even the stuff I played no part in was great. And Battlefield 4 technically shouldn’t be in here but it missed out last year based on time constraints and deserves a nod for ‘Total Eclipse Of The Heart’.
RUNNERS UP:
Battlefield 4
FIFA 15
Watch_Dogs
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BEST VOICE ACTING
WINNER: Infamous: Second Son
I enjoyed Infamous: Second Son, although I did feel a little let down that the characters weren’t more fleshed out. Having said that what was on display here was seriously impressive in terms of voice casting, with Troy Baker and Laura Bailey doing most of the heavy lifting. Matched with some superb facial animation, Infamous gave us the best voice acting of the year. Both ‘Left Behind’ and ‘Call Of Duty: Advanced Warfare’ weren’t far behind though, the latter also helped by having the fantastic Kevin Spacey on board.
RUNNERS UP:
Last Of Us DLC
Transistor
Call Of Duty: Advanced Warfare
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SINGLE PLAYER GAME OF THE YEAR
WINNER: Transistor
The haunting quality that Supergiant Games gave to the world of Transistor was a big part of why I wanted to explore the world and discover more about the characters but if it didn’t have the gameplay to back it up, this game would not be taking this award. Taking the time to plan out your moves before erasing them and trying a different solution was an addictive process. As you hit ‘go’ to put your plan into action there was a rush of the unknown as you desperately hoped your plan would work as desired. Sometimes it did, sometimes it didn’t but it almost always felt satisfying. Shadow Of Mordor’s main accomplishment is taking various elements from other titles, mixing in the Nemesis system and having everything work together really well. Sadly the story wasn’t up to scratch, a problem which also hampered Advanced Warfare. Again the gameplay in Call Of Duty was strong though and graphically it was excellent. Far Cry 4 delivered more of the same goodness from the previous game and it’s emergent world was great fun to be a part of. Also a quick nod to Dragon Age: Inquisition which I’ve been enjoying but haven’t spent enough time with for serious consideration here.
RUNNERS UP:
Call Of Duty: Advanced Warfare
Middle Earth: Shadow Of Mordor
Far Cry 4
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MULTIPLAYER GAME OF THE YEAR
WINNER: The Last Of Us: Remastered
2014 was a bizarre year for multiplayer games, with most of the year being taken up with last year’s titles like Battlefield 4, Assassin’s Creed IV: Black Flag and Killzone: Shadow Fall. There just wasn’t anything that attractive in the multiplayer space on PS4 – Xbox and PC owners had Titanfall but judging from others comments, even the allure of that wore off fairly quickly. FIFA 15 was up to its usual tricks and I got pulled back into Ultimate Team mode again. Destiny had its hooks into me for a while there as I was really enjoying the multiplayer and more recently (now that it all works) DriveClub has been amazing fun – both in terms of time challenges and straight up races. For me though it was another 2013 title that I ploughed countless hours into. The Last Of Us Remastered hit PS4 this year and with the package containing all previous online maps and the extra Interrogation mode, there wasn’t a better online experience in 2014. The meta-game with your camp remains a really nice touch – meaning that everyone always has something to play for – even if you’re having a bad round the need to get supplies means that you’ll never just write a round off. Added to that the fact the game still looks glorious despite its gritty nature and you have one hell of an online experience on your hands.
Runners Up
Destiny
FIFA 15
DriveClub
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GAME OF THE YEAR
Winner: Transistor
Well, who would’ve thought in the first full year of PS4 it would be a turned based strategy game that would take home Game Of The Year? The simple truth is I got lost in Transistor in a way I simply didn’t in any other game this year. The music, the art, the gameplay… the characters… the world. Wonderful stuff and much deeper, tactically, than you might originally give it credit for. The style of the cut scenes had me hammering the screenshot button again and again. My only complaint would be that I’d have liked a bit more story told through the game rather than unlockables but it’s a small gripe in the grand scheme of things. I can’t wait to see what Supergiant come up with next.
Runners Up:
The Last Of Us: Remastered
Far Cry 4
Middle Earth: Shadow Of Mordor
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So that’s 2014 done and dusted!
I’d love to hear if you agree with any of the choices above and what your favourite games were from last year. Here’s to 2015!
Battlefield 4 has had a lot of problems since it’s release last year – furious gamers not able to connect to the servers or having the game crash whenever they do. Stuttering, laggy, unplayable. There is even a save bug for the campaign. However since I started playing it online (around Christmas) I have had very little problem with it. The occasional bit of lag here and there, yes, but nothing out of the ordinary. I also have never been disconnected from a game or not been able to connect. I don’t doubt people are having problems, I just wanted to flag this up so anyone reading this can take this into account – I’m reviewing the game as I played it and I haven’t had those issues. I’d recommend checking out some other reviews for a more rounded view.
Ok, with that being said let’s get into it. I’ll start with the campaign. Battlefield 4’s single player content is a lot better than the previous game’s offering. Battlefield 3 was painfully average and Battlefield 4 feels like a step up. It is your usual story of the US army, this time facing off against the Chinese. It’s still not the best campaign I’ve ever played but it has some real showstopping moments that showcase the power of the new systems so it’s definitely worth checking out.
Moving on to the main focus of the game – multiplayer. The switch to PS4 means that for the first time, at least for many of us former PS3’ers, we can enjoy the full 32v32 (instead of 12v12) Battlefield online experience. And it makes a huge difference. The maps are bigger, obviously, but also the sense of scale is massively increased. And it is easier than ever to jump in and get involved.
This isn’t due to any ‘dumbing down’ of the gameplay or mechanics – in fact I’d say it’s possibly the opposite. Shooting feels a lot more similar to Bad Company 2 rather than Battlefield 3. Shooting while moving is a lot more difficult which is great as it adds an ebb and flow to the gunplay. The reason the game is more accessible is simply that DICE have done a great job of giving out more points for doing teamwork.
Spotting enemies and vehicles, healing teammates, dropping ammo for allies and anything remotely team based nets you a lot more points than previously. I recently had one round where I went 1/20 (don’t ask!) but racked up thousands of points and came third in my team (out of 32 players) by assisting my squad and capturing flags.
You also have the option of taking on the role of Commander, whereby you’re looking at an overview of the map, distributing aid, advising your team and making high value enemy targets. This can also be played on tablet via the Battlefield app so you can get on the battlefield even if you aren’t at home.
Graphically the game is excellent and the horribly named ‘Leveloution’ is superb, bringing some real drama to rounds. Leveloution is essentially a giant showpiece event that changes the landscape of the game map. We’ve had similar stuff before but never on this level and never with this interactivity. In one map a skyscraper has a capture point on the roof but if the building sustains enough damage the whole thing collapses and the capture point now appears down on ground level in the rubble. The feeling of being on that roof, hearing the warning siren for it’s imminent collapse, jumping off the side of the building and parachuting to safety while it collapses cannot be over stated. DICE are masters of stuff like this (remember the base jump in Damavand Peak on Battlefield 3?!) and it adds something to the experience you simply won’t find elsewhere.
Battlefield 4 on Playstation 4 is a big step up if you’ve only played console Battlefield before, both graphically and in terms of size. There is a decent campaign in the mix here but the glorious multiplayer is where it’s at. However as I said in the opening of the review, a lot of your enjoyment will depend on whether you can actually play the game online due to the issues it has had. Without issues this is a superb offering.
Well what a year it’s been for gaming! With the arrival of new consoles in the Autumn we were left wondering whether the support would still be there for the PS3 and if you needed convincing you only had to look at The Last Of Us, Beyond: Two Souls and Gran Turismo 6 to see there is life in the old dog yet.
As the PS4 didn’t arrive until November 29th (and I didn’t receive mine until early December) nothing for that platform will be eligible for this year’s awards (as they run November to November). Also there were a few games I held off of so I could get the superior PS4 version, namely Assassin’s Creed IV and Battlefield 4, so they also won’t feature.
We start with a new award, that recognizes the fact that I simply can’t play every game within the year. The ‘Missed Gem’ award goes to a game from the previous year that I didn’t play until this year but feel would’ve warranted a mention last time out if I had played it in time.
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MISSED GEM OF 2012
WINNER: Telltale Games’ The Walking Dead (Season 1)
Everyone has rightfully raved about The Walking Dead. I’m one of them (check out my review) and I can safely say it was a fantastic experience. It’s a point and click adventure game, which wouldn’t normally be my cup of tea but the story here is soooo good. Highly recommended.
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BEST GAME INNOVATION
Winner: Grand Theft Auto V (Multi Character Selection)
GTA V was a trend setter in many ways but one of the most impressive aspects of the game was the way you could switch between the main characters at will. With a button press you would be pulled to an overhead view of the map, moved across to wherever the other character was and then plonked down to them. This in itself isn’t a completely original idea, Driver: San Francisco had a similar mechanic that allowed you to swap between vehicles. The difference here are the little character vignettes when you land with a new character; Franklin pulling his friend away from a fight, Michael finishing a coffee and tossing the cup away or Trevor… well God knows what Trevor will be doing! This small touch gives you a real feeling that the world of GTA V is continuing around you at all times. It’s a very nice mechanic.
RUNNERS UP:
Crysis 3 (Multiplayer Highlights)
Bioshock Infinite (Skyhooks)
Metal Gear Rising (Precision Cutting)
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BEST DLC (CONTENT)
WINNER: Mass Effect 3: Citadel
The ending of Mass Effect 3 left a bad taste in many people’s mouths, even with the update Bioware released. If that was the case for you, or if you just loved the game/series then give the Citadel DLC a spin. This is the ‘Christmas Special’ of Mass Effect, a set of side missions that see you fighting off enemies, carrying out a heist and planning a party for your crew… Yes, that’s right organizing and hosting a party 🙂 It. Is. Awesome. And great fan service. The Walking Dead: 400 Days also deserves a mention as it carried on with the hard choices of season 1 straight off the bat, even if the characters were new. Soul Sacrifice on Vita was supported with a ridiculous amount of free DLC post launch which was all really cool so make sure you check that out as well.
RUNNERS UP:
Battlefield 3 – End Game
The Walking Dead – 400 Days
Soul Sacrifice – Various Free DLC Packs
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BEST DOWNLOAD ONLY GAME
WINNER: Hotline Miami (Vita)
Enough people were raving about it on PC last year but 2013 was the year I finally got my hands on Hotline Miami – the super fast, super violent and super challenging top down kill fest. I absolutely loved this game and don’t know anyone who played it that didn’t get hooked. The Vita version looks super crisp and the soundtrack is awesome. Most of the games in this category I played on Vita (though all of these were on PS3 as well) with some great titles like Guacamelee, Thomas Was Alone and Lone Survivor. Another pleasant surprise was Far Cry 3: Blood Dragon – it had Robocop’s gun in it! ROBOCOP’S GUN!! 🙂
RUNNERS UP:
Far Cry 3: Blood Dragon
Guacamelee (Vita)
Thomas Was Alone (Vita)
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MOST ANTICIPATED GAME OF 2014
WINNER: Infamous: Second Son
Well, the clear winner for this in my eyes was Cyberpunk 2077 but it turns out that isn’t arriving until 2015 so I had to have a rethink! A new Uncharted has me interested but so little is known about it at this stage, same goes for Everybody’s Gone To The Rapture. The Witcher 3 and The Order: 1886 are definitely on my radar and No Man’s Sky looked awesome at VGX earlier this month. For me, at the moment, it has to be Infamous: Second Son. The game looks so damn good up close (I wasn’t allowed to play it but watched a hands off level playthrough) I could barely believe it. I’m hyped for this one, roll on March.
RUNNERS UP:
The Witcher 3
The Order: 1886
No Man’s Sky
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BEST GAME TRAILER
*Warning Contains Strong Language*
WINNER: Far Cry 3: Blood Dragon
I’m not sure I need many words here, as someone who grew up in the 1980’s… just watch the Blood Dragon trailer to see why it won 🙂 GTA always has great trailers and the below is no exception, super use of music as well. Love this Last Of Us one, not always a fan of live action stuff but this is clever. And Killzone always looks amazing, Shadow Fall is no different.
RUNNERS UP:
GTA V
Last Of Us
Killzone Shadow Fall
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BEST PS VITA GAME
WINNER: Persona 4 The Golden
If you’d told me a year ago that a Japanese RPG would win my Vita Game Of The Year in a year when a Killzone title came to Vita, I would’ve called you a liar. I haven’t really ever played a JRPG before but then again Persona 4: The Golden isn’t like other JRPG’s. Like The Walking Dead this is a game all about your relationships with characters (Oh Chie) and P4G grabbed me from the start and didn’t let go. Don’t let the fact Killzone: Mercenary didn’t pick up GOTY deter you from grabbing it if you have a Vita – it’s the best handheld shooter ever made. Soul Sacrifice was another title I might not have played on a home console but it just seems like a great fit on Vita and it’s really fun in short bursts. Tearaway was a beautiful game that put you in a superbly realized papercraft world and utilised all of the best Vita features. A charming game.
RUNNERS UP:
Soul Sacrifice
Tearaway
Killzone: Mercenary
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BEST GRAPHICS
WINNER: Beyond: Two Souls
It was a pretty close run race in this category with four superb looking games. The Last Of Us probably came closest to nabbing this with it’s fully realized, if grim, world and characters but while the animation of Beyond: Two Souls might’ve been off at times, graphically the game was stunning. Especially impressive considering they were using actors that people recognize and could more easily spot any faults. Also the fire/flame effects were majorly impressive. Los Santos in GTA V was such a wonder to look at sometimes I would just stop and admire the view – I can’t wait to see what Rockstar deliver on PS4. And while it was stylized, Bioshock Infinite created a beautiful world in Columbia and then filled it with dark, interesting people. Definitely a world to be explored and experienced.
RUNNERS UP:
Bioshock Infinite
GTA V
The Last Of Us
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BEST STORYLINE
WINNER: Bioshock Infinite
There have been some great stories to play through this year and again The Last Of Us came very close to taking this award but this year’s winner is Bioshock Infinite. A title that had me guessing throughout and while I thought I had the twist sussed it turned out to be one of many that, by the time the credits rolled, left me reeling. As I uncovered more and more clues while playing through it was satisfying to put the pieces together. I thought Crystal Dynamics did a great job with the Tomb Raider reboot but the story was strongest in those opening few hours and fell away a bit beyond that. Those few hours though… what a ride. DmC was one of my more pleasant surprises this year (all round in fact) and I enjoyed the game’s story of greed and corruption and thought the world they’d created was very fleshed out.
RUNNERS UP:
The Last Of Us
Tomb Raider
DmC
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BEST SOUNDTRACK (SCORE)
WINNER: Persona 4: The Golden (Vita)
This was a really difficult category to decide on – all four of these are great scores that you should definitely check out. GTA V was the surprise for me as I didn’t expect the score to be so awesome and well suited to the heist aspect of the game. The Last Of Us and Bioshock Infinite were more subtle but packed a big punch when necessary. However the award goes to Persona 4: The Golden for it’s crazy, fun and memorable score, which includes a few songs written for the game that are used during battles. There were plenty of other great scores worth checking out from this year, I’d also recommend Tomb Raider, Far Cry 3: Blood Dragon and Beyond: Two Souls.
RUNNERS UP:
GTA V
Bioshock Infinite
The Last Of Us
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BEST SOUNDTRACK (LICENSED)
WINNER: Hotline Miami (Vita)
I mentioned Hotline Miami last year because I’d heard the soundtrack but hadn’t played the game. Nothing can quite prepare you for what is one of the most powerful collections of tracks in gaming. The songs here perfectly capture the feel of the game and lend a kind of hypnotic vibe to proceedings. Absolutely brilliant. The Grand Theft Auto games always have stellar licensed material and GTA V is no different, featuring great songs across lots of different radio stations. Bioshock Infinite‘s use of tears to play songs was inspired, especially as it also featured ‘Columbia’ versions of them all in game as well. And Far Cry 3, well that M.I.A use was brilliant and the Skrillex track fitted so well with the mission it was used on – just good solid choices.
RUNNERS UP:
Far Cry 3
GTA V
Bioshock Infinite
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BEST VOICE ACTING
WINNER: The Last Of Us
This was another tough category this year as so many games delivered massive performances in terms of acting. The Last Of Us though is a deserving winner, with Troy Baker and Ashley Johnson bringing most to the table with solid support from, among others, Nolan North. Baker delivered another fantastic performance as Booker DeWitt in Bioshock Infinite alongside the excellent Courtnee Draper. Steven Ogg as Trevor gets GTA V a mention just on his own and alongside his other cast members helped to make our stay in Los Santos a memorable one. I suppose when you hire big name actors like Ellen Page and Willem Dafoe you expect big things but as we’ve seen in the past bringing Hollywood to games doesn’t always work out. Luckily for us with Beyond: Two Souls it did this time and Page’s delivery and commitment to the role added real depth to her character Jodie Holmes.
RUNNERS UP:
Bioshock Infinite
GTA V
Beyond: Two Souls
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SINGLE PLAYER GAME OF THE YEAR
WINNER: The Last Of Us
The Last Of Us is one of those games that has to be played to be believed. Titles such as Uncharted 2 and Journey carry the same gravitas and The Last Of Us can be added to that list of games that anyone with a PS3 should play. The journey of Ellie and Joel during the game is astounding and the world is a brutal, beautiful place to (carefully) explore. The Clickers were hideous enemies and the fact they could kill you in one hit just made things worse. Everything works here – the scarcity of ammo/supplies, the confined spaces you’d find yourself in and also little touches like finding the after effects of horrific events and finding out the mini storylines contained within. While GTA V and Persona 4: The Golden are totally different styles of game I stuck almost 60 hours into each of their single player offerings this year, which is a testament to their quality. And while the combat did drag at times in Bioshock Infinite, overall it was just such a great game that you can’t do anything but recommend it.
RUNNERS UP:
GTA V
Bioshock Infinite
Persona 4 The Golden (Vita)
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MULTIPLAYER GAME OF THE YEAR
WINNER: GTA Online
It says a lot about the opening 6 months of 2013 that during that time my most played online games were Killzone 3 (2011), Mass Effect 3 (2012) and Battlefield 3 (2011). The one new thing I played in this time was Far Cry 3, which had a nice co-op online mode and handled really well, in terms of feel of weapons etc. Then June hit and The Last Of Us arrived, with it’s new and fresh idea of what multiplayer could be. Run and gun was out, scavenge and hide was in. I had some very tense rounds of this immensely underrated online offering. Killzone: Mercenary offered Vita owners a glimpse of what an FPS title could do online and it was very fun, despite a few issues with spawn point locations. But the award this year goes to GTA Online. Finally released in October it was… well, broken to be honest. But now that it’s (mainly) fixed it is an absolute blast. Whether doing scripted missions or just messing about with friends it has been some of my most memorable online gaming in the last few years.
RUNNERS UP:
The Last Of Us
Far Cry 3
Killzone Mercenary (Vita)
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GAME OF THE YEAR
WINNER: The Last Of Us
The Last Of Us takes this year’s award – a combination of it’s superlative single player and fantastic online offering is more than enough to justify it’s win. All four nominees are outrageously great games and well worth playing. Bioshock Infinite‘s mix of bright, vibrant colours, stylised graphics and dark, sinister undercurrent make for a compelling game and while Persona 4: The Golden shares some characteristics with Irrational Game’s title it also has a wealth of depth that left me stunned. In GTA V Rockstar have created a living, breathing love/hate letter to L.A that will keep you gripped and amazed both online and offline.
RUNNERS UP:
GTA V
Bioshock Infinite
Persona 4 The Golden (Vita)
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So there you have it!
There were plenty of other decent games that didn’t get nominated but I’d still recommend. Titles like Call Of Juarez: Gunslinger, Splinter Cell: Blacklist, Rain and Puppeteer to name a few.
It’s also been a good year for Vita owners with titles like Retro City Rampage, Guacamelee, Hotline Miami, Thomas Was Alone, Stealth Inc., Lone Survivor and Spluenky making the jump over, along with exclusives like Persona 4 : The Golden, Soul Sacrifice, Killzone: Mercenary and Tearaway. It was nice to see a Vita game crack the nominees list for Game Of The Year for the first time as well.
So what have you guys been playing? What have I missed? What was your favourite game this year?
The Eurogamer Expo grows in size every year and 2013 is no different, with over 70,000 people attending over four days. That is a LOT of people, which also explains why I spent most of the day in queues rather than playing games.
That’s not to say it wasn’t still a blast but by choosing to queue for Titanfall and Battlefield 4 (about 2hrs of queuing between them) we gave up time we could’ve spent queuing for less busy games.
Anyway, I couldn’t pass up the opportunity to give Titanfall a shot – that and Quantum Break are the only two games of interest to me in the XBox One launch line up (although Titanfall doesn’t arrive until 2014).
So here is my round up of what I got hands on with at the Expo:
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Titanfall
First up was Titanfall, voted by most critics as the best thing at E3 2013. Even while we were queuing I was finding it hard to get overly excited – it’s just Call Of Duty with double jump and mechs. Right? Wrong. The game itself is great fun and it was easy to get straight into the action. Movement felt fluid and wall running was easy. I liked the heft of the weapons and the fact they seem to have taken a leaf out of Resistance‘s book with some of the weapon design. I see no reason this won’t come to PS4 further down the line, with the developer already mentioning that a PS4 version is ‘definitely not out of the question’ so I will be picking this up for sure then. But it’s not worth the price of an XBox One for me just to play this. * ‘TITANFALL’ : GREGHORRORSHOW’S MOST PLEASANT SURPRISE – Eurogamer Expo 2013*
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Battlefield 4
Next up was Battlefield 4 and as a big fan of the series I was looking forward to seeing what improvements had been made. Unfortunately, it wasn’t a pleasant experience. Battlefield has never been ‘pick up and play’ and I spent the first three or four minutes of the demo sorting out the sensitivity on the sticks etc. I don’t think having to stand so close to the screen and use an XBox pad did me any favours either but I didn’t enjoy the demo. Recoil on the guns felt insanely over the top, I shot a few guys three or four times without killing them and the map looked similar to some of the stuff on BF3. Of course it’s an alpha build and it was only one round so, recoil aside, it could’ve been bad luck. Nevertheless after queuing for so long this one left a bitter taste in my mouth.
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Killzone Shadow Fall
I’d played Shadow Fall previously but that was the single player component so I was excited to try the mutliplayer offering. Shadow Fall delivers a refined Killzone experience and I can see this being my go to shooter on the PS4. The weapons felt great and the game looked fantastic. At one stage I managed to get behind the enemies and brutal melee’d three of them in a row… the stuff of dreams 😆 It felt competitive and it seems there will be even more depth with the new class abilities. * ‘KILLZONE SHADOW FALL′ : GREGHORRORSHOW’S BEST IN SHOW – Eurogamer Expo 2013*
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Octodad: Dadliest Catch
Octodad is a wonderfully absurd game in which you control an octopus trying to maintain his life pretending to be a man. In this demo I was tasked with getting him ready for his wedding and making sure he gets down the aisle in one piece! Octodad’s legs aRE controlled with L2/R2 and the left stick. When you need to switch to his arms you press L1 and then you move the sticks to control his arms, with R1 picking things up. The tricky controls and crazy animation of Octodad make this a very fun game. Definitely recommended.
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Warframe
Warframe has had my interest since it was announced for PS4 as a free-to-play title. At the expo we were sampling co-op mode, which was a horde mode affair with three of us combining to protect an item in the middle of the map. The game is fast paced and moves smoothly – you can aim and shoot with L2/R2 with R1 bringing out your samurai sword for close encounters. L1 allows you to slide on your knees in the same style as Vanquish. I’m not sure how much more effective that was but it sure looked cool 🙂 You also have special abilities which are triggered by swiping the touchpad on the DualShock 4. We had no problem dispatching wave after wave of enemies and soon the demo was over. I had a couple of issues where it felt like the camera couldn’t actually keep up with the game but hopefully that will be ironed out by launch.
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Velocity 2x (Vita)
I enjoyed Velocity as a mini on my Vita and I have Velocity Ultra (courtesy of Playstation Plus) but haven’t fired it up yet. So when I saw Futurlab were back with another Velocity title I was hoping they’d mix things up a bit. And they certainly have. As well as the spaceship flying that made up the original title we will now be treated to some platforming goodness as well. The game looks and feels fantastic. It’s easy to control and has a really cool style. This looks set to be a masterpiece on Vita (and PS4) when it arrives next year.
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The Crew
Lastly I played The Crew, Ubisoft’s next gen racing offering, and while half the time I didn’t have a clue what was going on (not helped by the game randomly cutting to a title card in amongst everything) it was great fun. This is a more arcadey racer, with nitrous boosts and drifting the norm. We were given a few minutes to drive around before being entered into a race (individually – we were all in a different race in a different part of the gameworld) and then assigned a target car for the four of us playing to take out. Much crashing and hilarity ensued – if they can polish up the presentation angle of the game this could be a great addition to the racing genre.
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While I didn’t get to play them (as they were on PC and I’m not a PC gamer) I also watched people playing Hotline Miami 2: Wrong Number and Volume – both of which will be coming to Vita next year. And both of which looked excellent. Hotline Miami 2 seems to be more of the same which is fine with me and Volume looks like a super interesting take on the stealth genre. Here’s a trailer for that:
So overall it was a good Expo, although the queues seemed to have doubled in size from last year. I suspect next year you might need two days to actually get round and see a decent amount of games. For the most part queuing wasn’t too bad – Titanfall had the nice idea of seating the next batch of people to play in front of a video about the game and Sony‘s booth had content on a big screen that didn’t loop for the entire hour we were queuing.
Did anyone else go this year? Would be good to hear what you played and what you thought of the Expo.
GregHorrorShow 