Deadpool Review Update

I have finally received my copy of Deadpool. I expect to have the review up by Friday or Saturday by the latest so be on the look out for that soon.

My next planned review and content update.

As of right now I'm planning on playing and reviewing the Deadpool game coming out this week.

I'm also considering doing a thing where I'll play and review old games that I've enjoyed in the past or if I can get some feedback play some games that have been recommended before.

I hope that the people who are checking out my reviews are enjoying the content as I'm still trying to find a format to use and get into a rhythm for future reviews. So if anyone has any feedback (recommendations, telling me my reviews suck, saying what you like or agree with) I'd love to hear it in the comments I'm doing this to try and get some experience with this and if there is anything I can do to help make my reviews and future content more accessible to the viewers I will gladly look into doing that.

The Last of Us Review

Single Player: 

The Last of Us is Naughty Dog's Action Adventure Survival game that follows Joel and Ellie as they travel across a post apocalyptic world. Along the way the encounter Hunters (aggressive territorial survivors), Infected, and other survivors along the way. Joel is charged with delivering Ellie to a group called the Fireflies. As you travel through the world and find notes of survivors and just look around the areas you really get a sense of how much has changed for the people that live in this world. One of my favorite things about the story is just seeing how Joel and Ellie develop their relationship throughout the story as they do their best to survive. Now let's go into depth about some of the key things I enjoyed about this game. 

What I liked:

- The Strategy

Being a survival game this game really does require a bit of stealth to get through it. Players that try to run and gun will very quickly and frequently be running low on ammo and crafting materials. This is where the stealth comes into play. Watching and learning the AI's routes will save you a lot of headache and allow you to save your supplies for those times when combat is a necessity. This is especially true in areas riddled with infected as Clickers and Bloaters are able to instantly kill you if they get their hands on you.

- Ellie

As I stated before I enjoyed watching the way Joel and Ellie develop their relationship and Ellie is by far my favorite character in this game. Her sarcastic nature provides a few laughs in throughout the game and she very good about sticking close to Joel and helping from time to time in combat. 

- The Crafting System

Crafting is by far the most useful thing in this game. The game provides a fair amount of materials for those that search areas pretty throughly and these items are very useful. From the Shiv that allows for quick takedown and the ability to take out Clickers from the grapple to Health packs and molotov cocktails crafting is pretty essential  to the game. 

- Listen mode

Listen mode is when Joel can focus his hearing to allow him to judge where his enemies are at in the surrounding area. This very useful for the stealth as it allows for you to learn enemy patrol routes without having to leave cover and allows you to see the enemy through walls. 

- The beautiful environment

Even with this being a post apocalyptic world Naughty Dog has made it look very beautiful. The look of nature overtaking some of the landscape over the surrounding destruction in the peaceful moments almost makes you forget the dangers that lie in wait for you. 

What I don't like:

-Friendly AI

Throughout the game Ellie and Joel will occasionally have someone travel with them for short time in order to reach a common goal. The AI in these parts while not hindering were fairly annoying. There were many times where while sneaking past a group of infected and checking listening mode to make sure the coast was clear that I would find one of the Ai members just running around near and past me like a chicken with it's head cut off. Luckily the enemies only pick up on Joel and not the other's or I feel that there would've been many instances in which I would've been caught due to the crazed nature of the companions. I never had this happen with Ellie thankfully so the mild distractions were always very short lived.

-Upgrades 

Throughout the game Joel is able to collect pills that he can use to upgrade different things such as health, crafting speed and listen mode distance. These upgrades with the exception of Shiv Master though didn't feel very needed sadly.

What I look forward to seeing:

- DLC

 

Naughty Dog has already announced with their season pass that the game will have one thing of Story content and two for the multiplayer. I'm looking forward to seeing the direction that Naughty Dog will take with the story add on. 

Multiplayer:

Normally I'm not one to get too into a primarily single player game's multiplayer. After playing Far Cry 3's and Tomb Raider's multiplayer I was ready to write The Last of Us' Multiplayer off as just another example of games' with tact on multiplayers. Naughty Dog however throughly surprised me with this though as I actually find The Last of Us' multiplayer to be a lot of fun. There are two factions to choose between, The Hunters and the Fireflies and you go through the standard death match gameplay while scavenging for supplies that in game are used to upgrade weapons and buy ammo and armor while out side outside of the game these are also converted into a sort of PDA looking thing that tracks your 'level' or what things you have available to you. Also during the matches the game's crafting comes in allowing you to make everything the game provides you with in the single player such as Nailbombs and Shivs. 

What I like: 

-Crafting System

The crafting actually translate very well into the multiplayer as you can find materials in supply crates scattered throughout the map, enemy corpses and in random locations around the map. This can help a player or team turn the match around through the creative use of the supplies available to them. 

-Small Teams

The small teams in this game really allow for great communication and teamwork. Because of how small the teams are it really requires you to stick close to teammates to avoid being flanked or rushed by the enemy team. This also is most of the fun of it in my opinion as it keeps people from trying to Lone Wolf the match and really requires good communication and awareness from all members of the team. 

Overall the Last of Us is an amazing game that has  a unique story and multiplayer. The characters and story of the game really allow for you to get invested and attached to them while the story provides many moments of suspense. This game is one of the highlights of the Playstation 3 and this generation of gaming and is definitely worth checking out. 

 

Sony E3 Press Conference Review

Sony's Conference started off with some talk of the Playstation 3 and the Playstation Vita which at first gave me a bit of a feel that it was a bit of a slow start when compared to Microsoft's earlier conference. Things started to pick up a bit once the Playstation 4 was revealed. Things quickly cooled down a bit for me when they began to talk about entertainment features for the Playstation 4. This section of the Conference worried me that it was starting to go in the direction of the May Microsoft Conference. This fear was slowly started to be put to rest as things picked up a bit again with the reveal of "The Order" and trailers for "Grand Turismo", "Killzone", "Knack" and one of my many favorite games shown during this conference, Sucker Punch's "Infamous Second Son". The trailer for "The Dark Sorcerer" didn't really do much for me other than make me wonder what was Sony was going to do to get it's fans really pumped for Playstation 4. This moment came when Square Enix came and showed their games and after that, for me, Sony took off in full sprint ahead of Microsoft. So with that bit of explanation let's get down to my  very long "What I liked" about Sony's E3 Conference.

What I liked: 

- A wide variety of games shown

Sony showed a very large diversity of game types for it's system. From Indie games (such as Octodad The Secret Ponchos and Don't Starve) and the support they are bringing to long awaited sequels that to very popular MMO titles. 

- Developers will have the ability to self publish

While I'm normally not deep into the Indie game scene the ones I have played I have throughly enjoyed and this makes me a bit excited as it will allow for more games to be created without having to go through the third party publishers, I also believe it could help third party developers start to support a bit more IPs in the future in order to stay in the game. 

-Final Fantasy Versus Xiii trailer 

This for me was when the conference really picked up and kept it's momentum going. The game and gameplay looked beautiful and I throughly enjoyed the way the game's protagonist moves in battle teleporting around along with his weapon. And what sold the point even further for this announcement was that it is as of right now said to be a Playstation 4 exclusive. 

- Kingdom Hearts 3 Announced!! 

I have been a Kingdom Hearts fan for a while now and if Final Fantasy hadn't sold me on the console then this most certainly did. Seeing the short gameplay footage got me very pumped to play the next installment in this series. 

- First Look at Elder Scrolls Online 

So this actually surprised me a bit as I thought this was going to be exclusive to Pc but Sony announced it's partnership with Bethesda and gave us a trailer showing how Elder Scrolls Online looks and it is pretty awesome. Sony also announced that Playstation 4 will be getting first views on the beta for this game as well.

- Playstation 4 DOES NOT restrict used games. 

I was saying this before to my friends and family, "All Sony had to do was go out there and say "We're not doing any of the stupid crap that Microsoft is doing." and they would win." and that is exactly what Sony pretty much did. Jack Tretton said words everyone wanted to hear "Playstation 4 won't impose any new on the use of PS4 games." 

- Playstation 4 won't be required to check in online 

Again Jack Tretton rocked the house for Sony when he said that "PS4 won't require you to check in online periodically and it won't stop working if you haven't authenticated within twenty four hours." 

- Playstation Plus subscription Continued and many other features.

Jack Tretton also stated that Playstation Plus services will carry over throughout all three devices (the PS3, the Vita, and the Playstation 4). As well as restated the features previously mentioned at their last conference. These features were Cross game chats, the playing of games as they are being loaded in the background, and the ability to stream gameplay through UStream. 

-Destiny Gameplay!

This was one of the most anticipated events of the Sony Conference. First gameplay premiere of Bungie's highly anticipated game, "Destiny".  The gameplay certainly delivered as we got to see a bit  of the amazing environment, a few different types of weapons, The Ghost, all three classes, a good amount of footage including the Fallen enemy type, the Public events for multiplayer and my favorite thing so far, individual loot! It was also announced that Playstation 4 would receive exclusive content for the Destiny. 

-All Access gaming library 

Sony talked a bit about the All Access Gaming Library. This uses cloud gaming to allow players to access many of Playstation's most renowned and popular titles on all three systems. This feature was said to be released sometime in 2014. 

-Pricing

This was what put the final nail in the coffin in my eyes. $399 price point.

Normally I have a "What I didn't like" and a "What I would like to see" section but honestly the only thing I can really say I didn't like was the semi slow start the conference got off on but that just made it all the sweeter and that much more exciting when it did hit it's stride. 

In conclusion, Sony has rocked the E3 conference game and I'm fairly confident in which one I will be picking up. Playstation 4 is said to be coming to the United States around the holiday season of 2013 and I for one am very excited. 

So let me know your opinions on the blog or Sony and Microsoft's conferences or whatever else and as always play subscribe. I may do Nitendo's press conference tomorrow but it really just depends on if there is anything note worthy. Do be on the lookout for my "The Last of Us" review coming sometime next week. 

- 

E3 Microsoft Conference Review

So after watching Microsoft's presentation at E3 I find myself thinking, "This is what the Xbox One reveal roughly should've been.". The came out there and hit the ground running showing off a trailer for Metal Gear Solid 5 with gameplay and from there on it was mostly about games, support stuff for the Xbox 360 (with them even revealing a new version of the console available today), games, Xbox One, and more games. While I was much happier with this conference than the one they had in May I still don't think that this will be enough to pull back all the people that have grown very weary of the Xbox's future. So with that said let's get on to "What I like" about the Microsoft E3 Press Conference.

What I like: 

- Lots of games; with some exclusive games revealed and good amount of gameplay trailers.

As I said before Microsoft really did things right this time around regarding games. They revealed lots of exclusives such as Ryse, Metal Gear Solid V, Killer Instinct, Crimson Dragon, Respawn Entertainment's first game Titan Fall, Capcom's Dead Rising 3, Insomniac's Sunset Overdrive, and my personal favorite of the reveals Spark along. Another thing I really liked about these reveals is that they actually showed gameplay for a most of the games they talked about rather than just Cinematic trailers (look at Pre E3 Review for why this is so important to me.)

- Free downloadable games.

Microsoft announced that all Gold members would get two free games per month. This is a bit late as Sony has been doing this for a while with it's Playstation Plus members. It is however still good to see that Microsoft is also giving it's Gold members something similar even if only for a short time.

- Support for the Xbox 360 continued

As I stated before Microsoft did talk about it's continued support for the 360. This was one of the first things they talked about actually ad even released a new slimmer and quieter version of the 360 that has a look sort of similar to the One. They also stated some of the titles that would be coming out on the 360 throughout the year such as Batman Arkham Origins, and Grand Theft Auto 5.

-Streaming, Recording, and Editing

This is something I was personally happy to hear about. The Xbox One will have the ability to automatically record your gameplay and then has functions to edit it on the fly as well as uploading it for all your friends to see and then using the Kinect to add commentary to gameplay footage. Along with this Microsoft also announced their partnership with Twitch allowing for gameplay to be streamed.

-Xbox Live Gold Sharing

This will allow for family in the same household to access Gold features on a different account. While the restrictions haven't been detailed yet this is an interesting and good feature as it will allow families to be able to watch netflix or hulu while the gold account is in use playing games or for siblings to possibly play two separate games with their own respective accounts without having to pay more than once for a Gold subscription.

-$499 release price and November release date

I believe this to be a pretty decent price for the Xbox One.

-Spark!

I saw the game Spark and was really taken in by it. The ability to create and shape the world around you so that you can create your own game experience really interest me and I'm looking forward to seeing and hearing more about Project Spark in the future.

What I didn't like:

For this conference there wasn't anything that I didn't like really. They came there to talk about video games and that is exactly what they did. 

What I would like to see in the future before release:

The one thing I can think of right now that I would like to see would be them explaining some of the policies that have really turned off a lot of Xbox supporters. I started to see why they would prefer to have the One always online with Forza, and Spark but I don't agree with the way they are using it to restrict gameplay for people without an internet connection or used games. So if Microsoft has an overall plan that they are trying to reach for the better of their consumers they should really let us all know this soon. Good games will get you but only so far when your system restricts or turns away the consumers that you are targeting it for. 

So in closing while Microsoft didn't completely redeem themselves they have shown that they haven't completely forgotten that the Xbox is first and foremost about video games. This conference hasn't completely made me want a Xbox One over a Playstation 4 but it has definitely made want to at least consider picking it up as my second console sometime after the initial release. 

I will have the Sony Conference review up later tonight and the "Last of Us" will be up sometime after early next week once I get the chance to pick it up Friday but until then please leave comments and opinions and subscribe to the blog as I will do my best to get reviews out as soon as possible on all the current top games.

Pre E3 Xbox One and Playstation 4 Press Conference Review.

Due to some issues with the mailing service between Gamefly and my P.O. box at school I'm pushing back my first game review as well as changing it to Naughty Dog's "The Last of Us" so be on the look out for that. In the mean time with E3 coming up this Monday, I figured I would talk about my opinions on Sony and Microsoft's Press Conferences earlier this year so with that said let's get started.

First up we'll talk about Sony's press conference and the revealing of the Playstation 4.

Playstation 4

What I liked: 

- Interesting features such as having recording and streaming capabilities within the system as well as the social interactivity.
When I saw this I was very excited about because I have always personally been interesting in doing this but lacked the equipment. I also found the concept of having friends help with or being able to help someone during their game as well as the ability to do instant live streaming.

- Saw a good variety of games and some gameplay.
 I was really happy with this aspect of the conference especially with the reveal of Infamous: Second Sons as well as Diablo 3's appearance on the Playstation consoles.

- Implication of backwards compatibility.
 While Sony's method of backwards compatibility isn't the method that we have all grown accustomed to in previous generations I do think that is a very innovative and well thought out system. Allowing people to play games from older consoles like the playstation one. I believe that even if they make us all buy the games again as long as it is at a reduced cost then it has a really good chance to be very well received.

-Demonstration of a game on the console

I very much so appreciated seeing some games being played on the PS4. I'm glad we got to see some of  Knack played live (both on the Ps4 and on the Vita.)

What I didn't like: 

- Didn't see a price range though this is understandable as they were probably waiting for microsoft to hop on that grenade first or waiting until E3 or later before they start talking price.

Other than that though there really isn't anything I didn't like in the conference. I feel like we saw what matters. We saw the games and some gameplay, the controller, and what features they have in mind for the system. Some people would say that they wanted to see the console but personally I don't care what it looks like as long as it's not a clunky microwave of a console and to be honest even then I'd probably still buy it for a decent price. That is not to say that I don't care about the way it will look but in my opinion as long as it plays games I think I'll be find with most likely not care about the appearance of the console.

What I would like to see (at E3 or otherwise.)

- Some more games, not cinematic trailers but actual gameplay trailers or gameplay for some of the games already talked about for the console.

I say the cinematic trailer thing because this is just something that has always bothered me about game advertising. They show us a game with a really cool cinematic trailer and then I get excited for it and when it is released I find out the gameplay for the game is not really anything like I saw or in Bioshock Infinite's case, it puts more emphasis on things or enemies that aren't that prevalent in the actual game. This isn't to say I don't enjoy a cinematic trailer or two but the trailer I really want to see at a game conference is a gameplay trailer. Show me what I'm getting.

-Price

 I would really like for both Sony and Microsoft to go ahead and announce a general price range of some sorts for the consoles so I can get my wallet ready to take that hit in the Fall.

- Show the console

I know I said above that I don't really care what it looks like but I am still curious about the look of it.

So with that out of the way now let's go ahead and talk about Microsoft's Conference.

Xbox One

What I liked: 

-Saw the console

Again while appearance isn't the thing I'm most worried about with a console I do have to say the Xbox One's design to me was pretty nice. I've seen and heard a lot of people say that it looks like a VCR but thought it looked pretty slick and slim and I liked the overall appearance of it.

-Interesting Features

Say what you want to about the conference's lack of games but you have to admit the features they did show were a bit interesting. They've been introducing a more Windows like look to the Xbox Dashboard for a while now so I found it interesting to see how they are implementing the Windows 8 features into the Xbox One. The Cable and Skype features were also a bit interesting to see as well.

What I didn't like:

- The Conference

Now with E3 around the corner from Microsoft's conference the direction they choose to take is an understandable one but with the day and time that they set the conference for I feel that only hardcore gamers, people will be looking into getting this console when it comes out,  would be the people who would try to watch a video game conference on a Tuesday in the middle of a work day. I felt it leaned too much towards the direction of being more of a pitch for the system rather than them trying to sell me it. 

- Lack of games shown

For me showing me a game doesn't mean showing me a cinematic trailer. (look above at the "What I didn't like section of PS4) Cinematic Trailers should serve the purpose of announcing of a series and even then I really just overall prefer to see more gameplay trailers. But either way Microsoft had a significant lack of games shown with only Forza, Call of Duty and Quantum Break having shown. Even though this goes in a later section I am looking forward to seeing more of the 15 exclusive titles, that they said they have coming for the Xbox One, at E3.

- Used games policy

This was talked about not at the conference but was news that came out afterwards. I think that this is kind of a dumb thing that they are implementing even though I do understand a bit where it is coming from but I still do not like the idea of it though later on in the "What I hope for" section I will talk a bit more about this.

- Lack of backwards compatibility

I don't like this because a lot of people do end up trading in new consoles in order to have the money to upgrade to the next one. I feel like the new console should be everything to do the older console could do and more thereby making the upgrade seem more feasible rather than having to have my 360 and the  Xbox One all plugged in so I can play my games. It also makes me wonder if the only purpose of the 360 will be to play old games and the One will be what they support with all future titles after it's release or if we'll see Microsoft do something similar to Sony with titles being available on both systems for a while. This may be likely as Watch Dogs and Destiny have been said to be on the 360 and the One. 

What I would like to see (at E3 or otherwise):

- Actual gameplay for some games and Microsoft just focusing on games in general

I'm really hoping that Microsoft will really bring their A-game to E3 because after that first press conference I (and I'm sure a lot of people were also) disheartened by the general lack of games. I know a lot of people said they were just trying to get the features and stuff out of the way and that it was "part  one of their conference and E3 is part two." But for a reveal of your next generation console you want to leave people wanting more not make them wonder where the rest of it is at. So at E3 I'm really hoping Microsoft will show me what the One has to offer. 

- Price range

Same thing as with Sony. I just really want to get a feel for the hit that my wallet will take. This could also help decide which one my wallet will take the hit for first. 

- Post E3 feature I would like to see or hear about

Now I have looked into this a bit more and I found somethings I saw as speculation, (I even speculated that I saw the button for it on the controller during the conference) but I would really like to see if the One is going to have the same streaming and recording features as the Playstation. I plan on trying to make video reviews soon and this being implemented into the system so that I don't have to get specialized equipment would be very helpful so for me this will also factor in the decision of my first purchase. 

- Exclusive partnerships 

Sony's partnership with Blizzard caught me by surprise and I was genuinely excited by this. So in response to this I would definitely like to see Microsoft come out and announce a partnership with another company. (although come on it's kind of hard to top Blizzard.) 

In conclusion though there things that got me excited for both systems and conferences and there are things that I would love to see for them both. I'll be writing down more of my opinions on both Sony and Microsoft's (maybe Nintendo if I find out that they are bringing something non-Wii related to the table) after E3. Until then I would love to see some comments pop up on here in the next couple of days with some feedback on the review (or coverage if you prefer.) Thank you for reading.