New details have been announced today on BioWare’s highly anticipated Dragon Age: Inquisition.
Alongside the release of a stunning gameplay trailer, EA confirmed Dragon Age: Inquisition will be released October 10th 2014 across Europe.
Tag: gaming
Review: The Wolf Among Us – The Crooked Mile
Telltale Games has released the latest episode of The Wolf Among Us across Europe, subtitled The Crooked Mile. With the success of The Walking Dead, Telltale have high expectations to reach with The Wolf Among Us, but episodes 1 and 2 proved that they were up to the challenge.
Readers of Culture Shack will know how much I love this series, you can read my full review over at Filmoria.
Platinum Review: The Testament of Sherlock Holmes
Point-and-click games are the holy grail of platinum trophies. Posing no real threat, there are no difficult platforming levels, and often no collectibles to concern yourself with. The Testament of Sherlock Holmes is really no different to the Back to The Future game in this respect, with it’s most difficult moments lying in puzzles.
As the name suggests, The Testament of Sherlock Holmes is based on a Sherlock Holmes adventure. The whole game is one story with smaller mysteries building up to a much larger case, though all are linked and as you solve the mysteries the pieces of the larger puzzle will begin to fit together.
The positives of The Testament of Sherlock Holmes are far outnumbered by the negatives. To try and remain on a positive note for a while longer, the puzzles are challenging without being infuriating, and there are comprehensive guides available online. Though the backgrounds and scenes seem authentic to the Victorian England setting of the game, a below average level of graphics means you’ll never get to enjoy it. The game also suffers from some truly awful voice acting, with the actors playing the children some of the worst I’ve ever heard.
Throughout the course of the game you will control Sherlock Holmes, John Watson and Toby, Holmes’ dog. Each character feels more difficult to control than the last, and at times it feels impossible to get the characters to even look in the direction you want them to. Luckily, the bulk of the game centres around solving puzzles, but the searching for clues often feels very labourious due to the sub-par controls.
Players must be aware that there are a number of missable trophies for this game – six in total. With no chapter select available (the game makes you save your progress manually, I would advise creating multiple save files as a precaution), if you miss one trophy then you’ll have to play right through from the beginning.
Playstation Trophies list the game as a 2/10 difficulty and estimate the game with take around 10 hours to complete. Though I’d agree on difficulty, I’d add that with a guide you can probably complete the game in around 8 hours. Be warned, if you aim to get the platinum on this game, you’ll spend a lot of your time feeling very frustrated!
Release day quandry
Alongside my PlayStation and television there is an ever-growing pile of games I refer to as my “to-complete pile.” Each time a new title is released, the pile grows and I feel a little worse about myself.
As pictured below, the games that I’m so heavily avoiding are some of the best games to be released lately, and LEGO Marvel (which I’ve since obtained the platinum in).
Currently, my pile sits in the order I want to complete the games in; of how annoyed I’ll be if the plots I’ve so carefully been avoiding are suddenly spoiled for me. Not playing these games is exhausting. Constantly on the alert for spoilers from podcasts, articles and loose-lipped friends, these are games I am going to go back to, games that I loved playing. That I will love playing again.
“I’m not going to buy any more games until I’ve finished the ones I’ve got” has become a catchphrase of mine, but as release day for a new game rolls around, I get caught up in the hype and want to be instantly involved. I don’t want to work through the pile just to get the new game, I want it now.
I’ve recently managed to restrain myself from buying both Thief and South Park: Stick of Truth on their own release days, and have made an internal promise that I’ll be caught up with my gaming pile by the time Watch Dogs rolls around.
Using new releases as an incentive brings about it’s own issues. If I really do want to make it through these games before I buy anything new, I have to add new titles to my ever-increasing list of spoiler-blocking.
With game developers bringing out so many worthy games in recent months, the urge to buy new games gets stronger and stronger. With each new release that I deprive myself of, I feel like I’m learning a valuable lesson about the perils of spreading myself too thinly across too many games.
Review: The Wolf Among Us
From Telltale Games, creators of the widely acclaimed The Walking Dead game comes The Wolf Among Us.
Based on hit comic book series Fables, The Wolf Among Us is a re-imagining of classic, much-loved fairytale characters and the life they lead in modern-day Manhattan. The game is set 20 years before the first Fables comic, and it is briefly explained that the characters have had to vacate their fairytale lifestyle to relocate to their own community in New York, Fabletown. In order to blend in with normal citizens (referred to by the Fables as “mundies”), the less human Fables have to take an enchantment known as “glamour”.
The Wolf Among Us follows protagonist Bigby Wolf, also known as the Big, Bad Wolf, who is the appointed police detective of Fabletown. Dressed in a trenchcoat, Bigby is a man of few words, and definitely a man of action. The game opens with Bigby attending a callout to a fellow Fable, Mr. Toad, and the player is able to see from this early encounter and an altercation with the Woodsman, that Bigby is not a man of the people.
Game mechanics are identical to The Walking Dead, with quick-time events forcing players to make quick decisions and act instinctively. The game’s art style also heavily influenced by the game’s predecessor, though having now picked up a copy of the first Fables graphic novel I can see that the design of the characters and set are very loyal to the source text.
Though the first episode, Faith allows the player a short window of time with the game, it is more than enough to get you hooked. As the episode played out, I began to feel myself building an affinity with Bigby, just as I had done with Lee Everett in The Walking Dead. I was sad when Bigby was sad, angry when Bigby was angry, happy.. well, Bigby isn’t ever really happy, but I relished the brief glimpses of happiness that Bigby was shown.
The game plays out as a noir style detective game, with the first episode introducing you to the case you will have to crack over the course of the game. Other well-known fairytale and children’s story characters make appearances, helping and hindering Bigby as he goes on his way. The strands of the case begin to unravel, as you find yourself as Bigby having to investigate smaller cases which may or may not influence the bigger picture.
Like The Walking Dead before it, The Wolf Among Us is near perfection. It is everything I want in a game, and episode one has definitely left me wanting more. Though I don’t have the patience to wait for each installment of the game, the episodic feel really impacts on you, as you have to live with the decisions you have made. I can’t wait to jump back into Bigby’s world. Episode two can’t come quickly enough.
Eurogamer 2013: Assassin’s Creed 4, The Sims 4 and LEGO Marvel
Having gone to Eurogamer with the intentions of sampling some games I might not otherwise entertain, I walked around spying the likes of FIFA 14, Forza, Minecraft, and thought “Not really my thing. Best to stick to what I know I like.”
What I know I like is Assassin’s Creed, so I headed to the demo booth to play the new title, Assassin’s Creed IV: Black Flag. The queue was a little daunting, with some people criticising the gameplay of those already participating the demo. One comment that I overheard was, “That guy’s a retard.. He’s died three times in two minutes.”
As I neared the beginning of the queue I prayed that I would be on a station that others couldn’t see; my assassin skills in AC:3 left a lot to be desired, and I really struggled with the change in combat mechanics. As luck would have it, I was ushered to a TV and console (PS4 again, that race is yours, Sony) which was in full view of the queuing public.
As the demo started, it was a bit of a let down. Not in technical terms, but the demo didn’t really ask you to do anything specific. Whereas Tearaway and Octodad took you through a mission, AC:4 just left you to your own devices. I spent much of my time sailing around, before attacking a passing ship (I won the battle, thankfully), but was all too aware that I wasn’t experiencing much on the ground stuff.
I hopped off the ship and swam to the nearest island. The water mechanics in the game are breathtaking; there was a tide, meaning I had to swim faster just to get anywhere, and there were also some quite big waves. Sitting about a foot away from the scene, I can honestly say I was getting a bit seasick. Once on the island, I headed towards the nearest synchronisation point, because, well, it’s Assassin’s Creed, and you’ve just got to really. As I got to the top of the point and looked around, I could see just how spectacular the graphics were, and just how much effort has gone into the game. Definitely one to get excited about.
Sticking with my theme of “what I know I like”, I joined the main arena and headed to the eight or so computer stations showing The Sims 4. I’d have liked a demo of the gameplay, like in The Sims and The Sims 2, with good old Bella and Mortimer Goth (or their new generation equivalents, but there is plenty of time for that between now and the 2014 release the game is currently slated for.
The demo was in fact, the create-a-Sim screen. Plenty of fun to be had, and I’ve spent more time than I care to mention creating Sims in the past. The create-a-Sim screen of The Sims 4 really shows just how far the game has come. You can customize every inch of your Sim, from pupil size, to the way they walk, as well as some of the same old features; athleticism, bust size etc.
As I’ve already said, I would have liked the demo to show a bit more of the new features the game has to offer, especially surrounding the new ways of interacting with people and how moods affect certain situations. What I did play was enough to get me excited about The Sims 4, and the potential it has.
To round off my Eurogamer experience I spent some time with LEGO Marvel Superheroes. If there’s anything I love, it’s a LEGO game, and LEGO Marvel looks set to build my infatuation.
Capitalising on the continued success of superhero films, LEGO and Travellers Tales have ventured into creating favourite Marvel characters as little blockheads. I was lucky enough to play a level in story mode and then experience all free-play has to offer. Though a lot of the characters were unlocked, I am looking forward to seeing which characters made the cut and we’ll get to experience in LEGO form.
LEGO Marvel follows the same game mechanics as previous LEGO games, continuing with the new introduction of voices for the characters. I anticipate enjoying the game, I’ve never been disappointed with a LEGO title, and with a different trophy lists for PS Vita and PS3, am looking forward to having two new platinum trophies in the bag.
Eurogamer 2013: DualShock 4, Tearaway and Watch_Dogs
Eurogamer wasn’t just about games for me, it was the opportunity to see new hardware in operation and experience it before many of my peers.
Ergonomic and comfortable, the DualShock 4 is a work of design genius. The controller has the same familiarity as its predecessors; picking the controller up, you know exactly what to do, what you’ve always done.
The controller manages to make things fresh and exciting with the introduction of the touchpad, share button and light bar. Unfortunately, the games that I played at Eurogamer didn’t utilise these features so I’ll have to wait for the PS4 to come out, like everyone else, to see what the controller has to offer and how it will fully impact on my gaming lifestyle.
Moving onto more games, I headed to the Tearaway station. Tearaway is a PlayStation Vita game from the creators of Little Big Planet, Media Molecule. The game has a distinctly similar feel to the studios previous releases, with a cutesy character exploring a world filled with other cute characters.
The demo serves as an introduction to the game mechanics, showcasing just how much the game utilises the Vita’s many features. This is perhaps to it’s detriment as at points throughout the demo I saw my own face beamed into the Tearaway world, this may be exciting for younger gamers to see their faces in-game, but for me felt slightly unnecessary.
There was a point in the demo where a character wanted me to take a photo of him wearing a crown I had made him, and the Vita’s camera sound went off. This puts me off a bit as I see the Vita as my out-of-the-house gaming device, and as the noise can’t be turned off and isn’t muted through the use of headphones, it means everyone will hear the sounds; on the train, in the office.
However, having said all the negatives, Tearaway was a perfectly lovely game, just what you’d expect from Media Molecule, if not a little predictable. I felt obligated to give up my seat at the station, but could happily have kept playing if not for the small queue forming behind me, though I think I was at the end of the demo anyway. Tearaway looks to be a must-own game for the PS Vita, and a real boon to the back catalogue as many gamers look to the Vita as a cross-functional hardware for the PS4.
Next up, into the Watch_Dogs booth. There was quite a queue for the game, but I had anticipated that, and settled in for the long haul. Once into the booth, which was sectioned off from the rest of the world, the audience were seated to watch a demonstration of one of the missions played in the game. Interestingly, the game was being played on a PS4; a signifier that Sony are winning the race? Time will tell.
Watch_Dogs, a sandbox game, appeared to handle much like a Grand Theft Auto or a Saints Row, but as it wasn’t an interactive demo, I can only go by what I’ve seen, not from what I’ve played. The hacking software used throughout the game looks easy to use, but at the hands of a professional gamer, it probably would.
Though I found the Watch_Dogs presentation interesting, it’s completely different watching someone playing something than getting to experience it yourself. As the game has multiple ways of completing missions, it would have been good to at least see the variety, rather than just the way the developers want you to see it. The game still looks like an interesting IP, and one that I’ll definitely get along with my next generation console.
GTA IV: The game that changed my life
In 2008 my boyfriend came home with the bright idea of buying a PS3. Never one to think about huge purchases, I soon agreed and it wasn’t long before we were in the town centre figuring out which deals were best, and eventually the console was purchased.
One of the games we’d bought was GTA IV. I’d dabbled previously in GTA games but never really persevered with one long enough for it to have made much of an impact. GTA IV was a different story. From the moment I saw it being played I knew I wanted to be involved.
I spent most of my free time playing the game after that. When I wasn’t doing work for my university course, or at classes, I wanted to be playing GTA IV. I became so ridiculously immersed in the game, I started talking in a Russian accent just like Niko. My flatmate said she always knew when I was playing because she’d hear me shouting and swearing at (and with) the game.
GTA IV is the first game I can remember getting emotionally invested in on such a level that I just didn’t want to play the game anymore, as much as I was enjoying it. Why should I get to play God? Can’t Kate and Roman both live? The choice seemed obvious, family first, but Kate might be the one. I know in the past I’ve harped on about loving games that have decisions in them, but this seemed to be one decision too far. I downed controller shortly after the decision came up. I needed time to think about this.
The decision that followed I have erased from my mind. I think I chose to kill Roman, but I can’t say for sure.
On the cusp of GTA V, I wonder if any game will ever have as much of an impact on me as GTA IV. I can safely say, without it, I wouldn’t be as remotely into gaming as I am now. GTA IV was a real platform for me and launched me from being a casual gamer to whatever I am now. Time will only tell about how GTA V will affect my life, but it sure is exciting waiting to find out.
Review: 400 Days
My journey with the Walking Dead began with Telltale Games’ standout game series, released in spring 2012. I’d always meant to start watching the show, start reading the books, but it was the game that really launched me into it.
The game really was everything I’d ever wanted from a game. I remember as a kid picking up a pre-owned copy of Final Fantasy IX, just because it was cheap, then becoming ridiculously excited in the opening scenes. You were asked a question, then given a choice with what to answer with. A choice! The game was giving you options!
From that moment on, I always looked out for games that gave you options. To me, there was (and even, there is) nothing more exciting than shaping the plot of a game. To get a different experience to someone else makes the games more realistic, in my opinion. People’s lives aren’t the same, so why should their game lives be?
The Walking Dead game strikes me as the perfect example of why choice-based games are brilliant. No choice specific trophies means that a platinum was possible even for a trophy whore like myself. The Heavy Rain trophy list meant you couldn’t just stand by your decisions – you had to play through and opt for decisions you’d never made before, but with the Walking Dead, you really have to live with the consequences of your actions.
Brilliant voice acting and a fantastic storyline really made me love the Walking Dead game. In a list of my favourite games of 2012, it would definitely be in the top five, if not taking the top spot for itself.
It was set to be a long wait between season 1 and season 2, when the 400 Days DLC pack was announced.
The DLC is set at various points after the initial outbreak of walkers, and is from the viewpoints of five different characters. The game mechanics are exactly the same, unfortunately down to the lags at crucial points. The five character viewpoint shows you how the outbreak has affected those from all walks of life, from the schoolboy to the criminal.
As an introduction to new characters, 400 Days works perfectly, giving away just enough of each character’s pasts to leave you intrigued. My only criticism, lagging aside, is that by spreading the already short DLC across five characters, you don’t really have much time to really grow attached to any of the characters. Sure, after playing there are characters I have a soft spot for, but none of them come close to the torch I was holding for Lee or Clem at the end of the first episode of the first season.
What I really love about 400 Days, and about the series as a whole, is the immediacy with decision making. This can lead to some decisions being made that you will later fully regret, but what a parallel to real life!
400 Days has fully whetted my appetite for the Walking Dead game franchise once more, and I know will spawn many more conversations between my friends once they get round to playing the game. I look forward to seeing how the new characters will deal with the wide world, and just where they’re headed to and what’s waiting for them there.
The Last of Us: Be as good as me!
My superior Last of Us multiplayer skills have led to an article request for tips on how to be as good as me at Naughty Dog’s latest hit.
So, just for you, here are my five top tips for Faction superstardom:
1. The shiv is your friend
Stealth is key to getting through most multiplayer games. I always have a shiv in my loadout, ready for those stealthy attacks. The name “jadeypops” is feared throughout the Last of Us community for shivving prowess alone.
2. The art of “sly bastarding”
Mic up, britches! It’s time to learn the “sly bastard”. This sneaky move makes full use of gaming headsets, or if those aren’t available, Skype. The “sly bastard” essentially involves using one team member to lure opponents to a window or doorway, then the remaining team members pop out from said window or doorway, and obliterate the enemy. The sly bastards. This one needs practice, but reaps major results.
3. Supply raid over survivor when it counts
Of the two multiplayer modes, I have to say that I prefer survivor mode. It’s quicker, more exciting and everything can change round by round. Supply raid is good for practicing when you’re just starting out in the multiplayer world as you get more respawns and therefore more chances to practice. It is for this reason, I would suggest opting for supply raid when you are faced with a mission that threatens 100% of your clan. More respawns means more chances to hit the criteria.
4. Hold out for the sweetest win
There’s two of you, one of them and a minute left on the clock. You should run and find them, right? Wrong! You should find a safe corner, hide and wait for the timer to run out so you win by default. Winning by default, the sweetest win.
5. Listen!
God gave us ears so you could see a fuzzy white outline of your enemy from far away. So use them. Hold that R2 and listen. Don’t know where the enemy is? Have a cheeky listen. Can only account for three enemies? Have a listen. LISTEN!
Disclaimer: This article could not be more tongue in cheek if I tried, and was written completely for fun. I am fully aware that I am completely average at this game. Should you wish to test how average I am, add me on PSN, username: jadeypops.
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