My Next Gen wishlist

Ok, The next generation of consoles is very nearly upon us and already the announced games are showing us "connectivity" and "content" are the defining features of the future.

Games like Watchdogs show how detailed a world can be, not only graphically but in the sheer amount of content. There are so many individual NPC profiles Ubisoft hope to make the city feel like it is populated by thousands of living people.

Open world games are now at a point where we can feel completely immersed in the surroundings and they have a sense of infinite possibility.

This opportunity to get lost in a world is what I am looking for most in the Next-Gen games.


The List:

1. Spiderman- Spiderman games work well in an open world. Spiderman 2 on Ps2 was an incredible game that really gave you that feeling of being Spiderman. The Amazing Spiderman on PS3 and Xbox was also a great game but the game suffered, in my opinion, from a lack of content.

After the story was finished the world felt kind of empty and the dynamic side missions such as stopping a mugging got old even before the end of the story.

What we need is a Next-Gen New York filled with unique and fun missions aside from the story so that even after the main narrative has ended we can continue to feel needed by the denizens of NYC.

The previous Spiderman games lacked any DLC as well so an incredible opportunity was missed. The possibilities, within this style of game, for narrative lead DLC are limitless, especially with the Marvel Universe behind it. Just imagine instead of cramming as many villains into the main game as they can they focus on one or two and maybe after the game is finished start dropping small hint's and single missions into the world pointing toward a new villain on the up rise.
The DLC would then be released  and drop a brand new campaign into the city giving you an organic flow into a new story.

Next-Gen Spidey could be a very exciting prospect if it is done right and, judging from the previous open world efforts, it is promising.

2. Tomb Raider- Now the reboot of Tomb Raider had me worried before release. Sure I was happy Lara was returning but sometimes reboots can go wrong and with Tomb Raider being my favourite game franchise there was a lot hanging on this release. Fortunately Tomb Raider was a very well made game and introduced a fresh yet recognisable Lara into a new world.
My excitement for a new Tomb Raider stems from a similar branch as my excitement for the next generation, content

Tomb Raider did an excellent job of delivering a strong narrative campaign with an open island. The next gen Tomb Raider needs to build on this same formula. Even if they return to the globe hopping days of the original games having a open area full of fun content while still pushing a strong narrative is what I would like to see more of.

3. Uncharted 4- Uncharted, a series known for it's technically ground breaking visuals is something to be excited about. I am hoping it will be be announced at Gamescom 2013 but with the release of The Last of Us (Naughty Dogs other Game) literally just behind us it seems unlikely. Uncharted 3 pushed the PS3 very far graphically with some of the best looking characters and environments shown on consoles so the prospect of a team that talented being let loose on brand new tech that has been described as "easy to work with" brings some pretty incredible exceptions.
Although not as critically acclaimed as Uncharted 2, Uncharted 3 had a solid story which along with The Last of Us showcased Naughty Dogs incredible writing skills. Not many other games this generation had me that emotionally involved and  I expect Naughty Dog to continue this trend going into Uncharted 4.

4. Syndicate- Syndicate needs to return to its roots. This does not necessarily mean returning to an RTS style game like the original or Syndicate Wars but at least returning to an open environment with RTS elements such as perma-death, tactics and researching etc.

My perfect Syndicate game would be a squad based third person game with similar mechanics to Watch Dogs or Grand Theft Auto V, yet set in the Cyber Punk universe made famous by the original game.
An open City with side missions, opportunities beyond the story to immerse your self in the world and upgrade your characters like in the original games. Much of the fun I had with Syndicate Wars was spent planning how to rob banks or infiltrate the enemy bases while not actually following the missions. There was also no comparable feeling to "persuading" loads of civilians to join your cause and storm your enemies base. These features need to be returned to the series. Syndicate is a franchise full of possibility that is wasted on a linear corridor FPS.

5. Far Cry 4- FarCry has become one of my favourite franchises EVER. Again pushing open world gaming to insane levels the next game surely will blow my mind. I guess the PC version of Farcry3 could be considered "Next-Gen" but there is a possibility the PS3 and XBox360 were holding back the developers content wise. I mean the game is identical in terms of features and content so maybe now the new consoles will have that 8GB RAM we will see an increase in overall variety and features.
Along with a massive open world filled with missions I would like to see a longer and more indepth progression system. Something closer to say Skyrim would be pleasing. I would like to see the best AI I have ever seen so that each time I take an "outpost" I am going to be surprised by what I see.
A system dedicated to the impact you are having on the environment might also be interesting. Similar to Skyrim every action you make should have an impact on the NPCs and enemy AI.
I would also like to see a return of injuries to AI. In FarCry2 you could injure an enemy and flush out his cowering comrade.

For now these five games sit at the top of my wishlist. The next generation of gaming is starting off with possibilities beyond pretty graphics and I am excited.

UNDEAD NIGHTMARE

Undead Nightmare is an excellent zombie DLC expansion for Red Dead Redemption. It offers brand new single player story which lasts around six hours as well as a whole horde of extra missions just like the standard singe player story.
The story is a tongue in cheek adventure to find why the world of Red Dead Redemption has turned to Hell. John Marstons family are attacked, within the first couple of minutes by zombies and subsequently become zombies forcing John Marston to seek answers in order to save his family and the rest of the game world.

Gameplay works in the same way as the regular game with John tracking down characters and helping them with jobs which in turn reward him with more information. As well as the story unfolding there are a lot of new extra jobs and missions to complete. These range from finding missing people (which takes the bounty missions place) to helping strangers with sometime very strange tasks just to be a nice guy (and get some much needed ammo).
There is also so much to be appreciated when just riding around. Seeing the undead gathering in a field as you ride by is unnerving  and the new weather effects including a green moon are outstanding. At one point just fr the fun of it I travelled to a cabin in Tall trees and waited for the undead to surround me just to recreate scenes from "Night of the living dead"

The usual Honour meter is gone meaning you're free to do what you will without ramifications and actions regarding money like shopping and mini games are gone and instead your rewards for pretty much any task is ammo or new guns.

Now onto the Zombies. Every town on the map is being overrun by the undead and on entering the town you are prompted to find any survivors and vanquish the demons. The zombies are pretty terrifying and can only be taken down with head shots or explosives (burning them will also eventually kill them) .It isn't just the people that have turned either, every living creature including bears, cougars and horses have all been infected.

There are too many features to list here like new online modes, weapons new outfits and I guess some things I still haven't come across but all in all this DLC pack is a must buy. The value for money is amazing and will keep you busy almost as long as the original game.

Undead Nightmare DLC is available now on Xbox  marketplace and Playstation store (and soon to be released on disc)

Medal of Honor DLC out now

Medal of Honor has already been given some DLC packs this week which will increase the scope of the multiplayer game.
There are two packs released. One of which is a free download and the other a paid for download.

Both packs introduce a new mode and a couple of new maps with the free pack offering "Clean Sweep", an elimination game based off "Team Assault" and "Hot Zone" which is a king of the hill style game where teams fight to control certain areas in the maps.

Although free I feel the Clean Sweep pack sounds the most interesting. With no respawns this game mode seems to be influenced by the "Authentic" mantra EA and DICE tried to follow during production.

Both packs are available now.

ZOMBIES confirmed for Black Ops

The worst kept secret in gaming (this year at least) has been officially revealed, Call of Duty: Black Ops will have a 4 player Co-Op Zombie Mode.


A website named GKNova6.com (which was confirmed to be owned by Activision, in July and was posting "secret" information about Black Ops) updated recently to showing several monitors with zombies roaming around what looked like a lab.

Activision then released a press release officially confirming the mode was to return and quoted Mark Lamia, Treyarchs Boss saying "We've taken extra special care to retain the essential ingredients of our Zombie game, and have also crafted a nice surprise for the fans"

I am excited about the zombie mode but I am also hoping that it will be a lot more substantial in variety and narrative than the W@W zombies mode.
The full reveal of Black Ops Zombie mode is said to be on October 16th 2010.

Official Press release from Activision

Assassins Creed Brotherhood BETA

The multiplayer BETA for Assassins Creed: Brotherhood is now available to PSN Plus members.

The BETA is exclusive to PS3 and at the moment is only available to members of Playstation Plus. It may become available to regular PSN users soon.

After playing the BETA for around two hours I have some mixed feeling about the game mode on offer. Technically the BETA is great. I have come across no problems with glitches etc. The graphics are just as nice as Assassins creed 2 with maybe some improvement to character models especially in their face.

The BETA offers one game mode (I am unsure if there will be more in the full release) and the objective of this game mode is to assassinate other players, preferably without being spotted. You start the game and are given a target and you have a compass style disk which shows the direction of your target.
Things start to get a little more complicated when you are informed you now have a contract on your life and an assassin is after you.

While being the hunter is fun it adds some paranoia to the table when you know anyone in the crowds, you pass through, could be your killer. Anything you do apart from walking is classed as suspicious so approaching you target while running will give them a chance to run away, triggering a chase sequence where the target has chance to hide in the hay stacks, bench and crowds in the same way you could in Assassins Creed 2. If you approach them while walking then they won't be alerted to your presence unless you approach head on. Approaching head on gives the target a split second to respond with a press of the circle button. This is not easy though and I have yet to pull off this maneuver which apparently stuns your assassin giving you time to run.
With all this said it is worth saying that it is definitely easier to kill than it is to defend against a kill if you approach them inconspicuously. This is the main point that I feel ruins my enjoyment a little. I feel you should get a small warning when your assassin is close by, nothing too obvious and not when your assassin is too close but some warning so you can decide whether to blend in or carry on following your own target.

The two maps I played on the BETA where Rome and Castel Gandolfo. Rome is similar to the cities from AC2 and offer paths through busy squares, small alley ways and access to rooftops while the Castel level is primarily indoors with large staircases balconies and rooms.

Overall I think it will be an enjoyable game online, I feel that the problems I have with it may be cured with some more practice and learning the new environment moves such as disquises and the pulleys which transport you to roof tops in an instant.

Enslaved Demo

I have literally just come from playing the Enslaved demo for PS3 and I was really impressed. This game was previously one I had just passed off and never even considered buying, but now I am definitely considering it.

I had heard this games premise and thought it was quite interesting but I really thought it would be another hack and slasher. I realised it was by Ninja Theory, creators of Heavenly Sword and for some reason I was reminded I only played through Heavenly Sword once (even though it was a great game, I am just not into hack and slash style games). The game had great promise but didn't appeal to me.

So I gave the demo a go to see if I could be persuaded.

"Enslaved: Odyssey to the West" to give it's full title is about two characters, Monkey (your controllable character) and Trip (your AI controlled companion) and their their journey to escape impending slavery. The game is set 150 years in the future and sees what's left of the human race struggling to survive in their now war torn cities and trying to evade slavery by the machines that were programmed to destroy them during the wars.
For anyone that is familiar with the ancient Chinese novel turned legend Journey to the west you will recognise the loosely based inspirations in the character "Monkey" and presumably the Journey/Odyssey the characters will embark on.

Judging by the demo the game plays well with a nice mix of platforming and battling, it had a feel of Heavenly Sword during the fighting but the platforming was a definite improvement with a much more fluid and free feel. Several times I was reminded of the epic platforming sections of Uncharted 2 where drake is scaling massive structures which evolve as you pass across them. There was a nice sense of urgency and danger even though climbing on the outside of a crashing airship was a breeze to control. The climbable sections are clearly visible and your character is responsive to your commands, leaving you satisfied instead of frustrated with the outcome.

The graphics are quite impressive with character textures bearing up to close scrutiny, a beautifully detailed game world and some excellent particle effects. The characters skin, eyes and face details in particular are very nice. Emotion is portrayed very well although lip syncing was a little off, I thought with Ninja Theory being pioneers in motion capture they may have done this a little better. The first time you meet and converse with Trip she has a great expression on her face which really shows they type of person she is and also hints at how emotionally connected you could become to her, which will be important when it becomes your "duty" as Monkey to make sure she arrives home safely.

Unfortunately the demo ends before being able to sample the co-operative elements with your AI partner Trip. Ninja theory have promised that Trip will be more helpful and less of a burden than previous AI controlled sidekicks who often left you gritting your teeth at their stupidity and ineptitude. Trip is the clever brain to Monkey's Brawn, she can hack and gain control over machinery so this offers some exciting prospects for some truly original teamwork efforts.

Medal of Honor preview

The much anticipated reboot of the Medal of Honor Series is due to be released next month and I thought I would  write a quick preview. The games setting has been brought into present times and is now focusing on the missions of Tier 1 soldiers operating in Afghanistan around the beginning of the current war.

The games development has been split between two teams, EA's in house developers are working on the singleplayer campaign while the multiplayer is being developed by multiplayer FPS veterans DICE (creators of the Battlefield series).

 The single player campaign is the aspect I am most looking forward to in Medal of Honor.
From the details, videos and screenshots released, the campaign looks to be a more mature and plot driven affair than I have been used to in recent years with war games like Modern Warfare 2 and Bad Company 2 in particular seemingly inspired more by films like Die Hard and True Lies than anything that could be rooted in reality. This is an exciting prospect as I feel a games story is just as important than the actual gameplay. To actually feel yourself get involved with the characters story and emotion add to the overall experience. The original medal of honour games always had a great story and I loved finding out what was going to happen so if the reboot plot has the same impact I will be happy.



The multiplayer portion developed by DICE is still something I haven't been sold on yet. I took part in the closed BETA back in July and although the game was quite enjoyable there were several problems with crashes and odd delays in animations but as it was a BETA glitches were expected. Gameplay wise it sits somewhere in between DICE's Bad Company 2 and Modern Warfare 2, it has a quicker and more responsive feel than Bad Company but is still not the 60fps twitch shooter than Call of Duty is.

Two game modes were available in the BETA, Team Deathmatch and Mission, the later of which was the more original and exciting. Mission was a little like the Rush game mode from Bad Company where one team fights to push forward and eliminate the enemies defenses by setting explosives at certain "checkpoints". The stand out aspect of this gamemode was a real sense of team work and involvement that I felt with some excellent audio/dialogue cues from your teammates which were triggered by certain events. When one of your team is taken down by a sniper or you approach the enemy checkpoint your are barraged with intense and believable screams and orders which do really add tension the likes of which I haven't felt during a multiplayer match.



There has been some controversy raised around Medal of Honor recently due to its setting within a current, ongoing war and the fact that while playing the multiplayer one team is going to be playing as the Taliban. Certain members of both the US and UK government have called for the game to be banned which I really think would be shame.

Overall the game seems like one I will enjoy and I hope the controversy and threats to ban the game won't spoil its success.