My Dragon Age series retrospective continues today with the DLC round up for Dragon Age II. Like my round up for Dragon Age: Origins, I will be focusing on stuff that actually adds story content, and not all of the various items that were sold in packs or given away for free for various reasons.
1. The Black Emporium, free from the Xbox store The Black Emporium is a curiosity shop full of strange creatures, items and relics ran by the mysterious and rather creepy Xenon, but unfortunately there's not a lot to it. It's fun to look around for 15 minutes or so investigate all the weird stuff that's on display, but there's not really a lot to do. You can buy some equipment which changes out every so often, but you will probably find better stuff on your travels anyway. You can also change your appearance if you don't like how your Hawke turned out or you get bored of it. You also get a mabari hound as part of the deal, who you can summon in combat and talk to at the Hawke estate. One mustn't grumble too much as this is a freebie, but it's not terribly exciting all things considered.
Overall: 5 out of 10
2. The Exiled Prince, £4.69 from the Xbox store
This is the Dragon Age II equivalent of The Stone Prisoner from Origins, seeing as it adds a new recruitable character to the game who is as fully fleshed out and integrated into the experience as any of the others that were included for free. But whereas Shale was a well written, extremely funny and interesting character with an interesting back story to uncover, Sebastien Vael is rather dull in comparison. He was sent away by his parents to become a member of the chantry, only for his family to be murdered shortly after he arrived in Kirkwall. Now he's trying to find out who was responsible and weighing up whether to abandon his religious pursuits in the name of revenge or put try and put the hatred he feels aside and embrace the teachings of the chantry. It's not terrible, just a little bit bland compared to what has come before, not to mention overpriced.
Overall: 6 out of 10
3. Legacy, £6.75 from the Xbox store
If you have already played both Dragon Age II and Inquisition, but skipped this DLC, then it may actually be of some interest to you. Hawke travels to a recently exposed part of the Deep Roads after being called out by members of the Carta (essentially a dwarven version of the Mafia). It turns out that they are trying to bring back creature by the name of Corypheus that Hawkes father had a hand in imprisoning during his time as a Grey Warden. Corypheus was a major player in Inquisition, and he was introduced here. This pack is actually pretty decent, and as well as some important back story you also get a nice new weapon in the form of Hawke's Key, which you get to personalise a little bit by choosing which attributes it gets powered up with. This DLC also feels more substantial than anything that was released for Origins, at around 3 hours if you do everything. Worth a look!
Overall: 7 out of 10
4. Mark of the Assassin, £6.75 from the Xbox store
While not as important from a story point of view, Mark of the Assassin is a lot of fun. You team up with the titular assassin, Talis (voiced and modelled on the appearance of Felicia Day) and head off to Chateau Haine in Orlais to try and steal a valuable artifact called the Heart of the Many. During your time with this DLC you will go on a big game hunt for a wyvern, explore the chateau either with the option to go loud or stealthily, before experiencing some interesting twists with an entertaining boss battle at the end. I sometimes find Felicia Day annoying but she is at least a decent actress who delivers her lines well and makes a convincing elf. I think this is the best DLC of all the stuff that was released for Dragon Age II and it's fitting that it was the last. Again it weighs in at about 3 hours of content if you take your time, explore and complete all of the side quests.
Overall: 8 out of 10
Conclusion
With the exception of The Black Emporium which is free, I would say that all of the Dragon Age II DLC is just a tad too expensive for my liking. Unlike Dragon Age: Origins though there is no complete or ultimate edition that I know of, at least for the Xbox 360, which is a shame. These are included in sales every so often though, so it's worth holding out for one of those before you decide to pick them up. On the whole the quality level has increased compared to Origins, apart from the extra party member where Shale was most definitely better than Sebastien. That brings us to the end of Dragon Age II then - I will soon be embarking on my play through of Inquisition. I was thinking I might try playing as a Qunari, as previously I have played it as an elf and a human. I expect there will be a bit of a gap before I return with my Inquisition review as it is extremely long and I don't want to burn out before the end due to rushing through it. There will be other stuff on the site / channel in the meantime though!
Now, I do realise that this is somewhat overdue, seeing as Dragon Age: Origins was originally released way back in 2009, but I never got around to writing about all of the various DLC that Bioware made in the years following the main game. I am currently in the process of replaying the entire Dragon Age series from beginning to end, so what better time to share my thoughts will you all about the optional extra content? This article will be focusing on the DLC that is quest related, rather than those that just add some extra weapons or armour. There will be a short summary on each pack followed by a score out of 10. I won't be including Awakening here because that is full on expansion pack which already has its own, separate review.
1. Warden's Keep - £4.69 from Xbox store, free with Digital Deluxe, Collector's and Ultimate Editions
This is a fairly brief, but useful bit of extra content that gives you a quest that will take roughly 45 minutes to complete at the most. When you're done, your warden will have a new base of operations, although that doesn't really mean very much. It mostly just gives you access to a party storage chest where you can dump your loot in between quests, and a vendor to sell the junk to. The quest itself is quite good fun with some interesting lore to listen to or read in the codex, and there are some moral choices to be made at the end. It's not worth the rather steep price of almost a fiver, either wait for a DLC sale or buy the Ultimate Edition instead.
Overall: 6 out of 10
2. The Stone Prisoner - originally free with pre-orders, now free for everyone to download
This is quite easily my favourite of all of the extra content released for Dragon Age: Origins, and I can't really imagine playing through the game without it. The Stone Prisoner adds an extra recruitable party member to the main game, in the form of Shale, a golem. There's an introductory quest that needs to be completed in order to add her to your party, which takes about half an hour. After that you can bring Shale along on any quest that you see fit, and chat with her in camp. She is a very well written and interesting character who has some very amusing dialogue and a bit of a problem with mages and birds. By increasing your standing with her through dialogue options or gifts, you can eventually unlock a loyalty mission which will give you some insight on her backstory, which is well worth taking a bit of extra time to do. Shale ends up being one of best party members in the game, and because there's no cost involved you may as well install her!
Overall: 9 out of 10
3. Return to Ostagar - £3.39 from Xbox store, included with Ultimate Edition
This one adds about 45 minutes of extra content again, and allows you to return to the battlefield of Ostagar, which is where the Grey Wardens were betrayed by Tehyrn Loghain at the start of the game and King Cailan lost his life. Your task here is to recover all of Cailan's armour from the darkspawn that are still lurking about, ending with a final confrontation with a nasty Genlock Necromancer. After that, you should return to Cailan's mutilated body and give him the burial he deserves. This DLC reminded me very much of the Normandy Crash Site DLC for Mass Effect 2. It is similar in tone and purpose. Not too bad, but nothing all that spectacular really.
Overall: 6 out of 10
4. The Darkspawn Chronicles - £3.39 from Xbox store, included with Ultimate Edition
This DLC lets you play out a "what if" scenario, where the darskpawn end up winning during the invasion of Denerim at the end of the main game. You take control of a Hurlock who hear's the whispers of the archdemon and can enthrall other darkspawn units such as genlocks, shrieks and even an ogre. This one takes roughly an hour and a half to finish, and it's a bit of mindless fun really. Laying waste to the hero's from the main campaign does give you a bit of a sick thrill.
Overall: 6 out of 10
5. Leliana's Song - £4.69 from Xbox store, included with Ultimate Edition
This takes the form of a prologue to the main campaign and gives you some insight into the backstory of Leliana, the rogue who became a member of the chantry for a time, before eventually joining up with the Wardens. You will be carrying out a variety of crimes in and around Denerim alongside your partner, and lover, Marjolaine. Those who have spoken to Leliana extensively in camp will know that Marjolaine ended up betraying her and leaving her for dead - now you can get the full, sad story. This is probably the best DLC so far after The Stone Prisoner, as it actually focuses on a character that I already care about.
Overall: 7 out of 10
6. The Golems of Amgarrak - £3.39 from Xbox store, included with Ultimate Edition
This is probably my least favourite of all the DLC that was released for Dragon Age. The main reason for this is that it doesn't feature any of the party members that you have formed a bond with over the many hours that you spent from them, and instead introduces a couple of dwarves that are looking for assistance in recovering the lost secrets of golem creation from the ancient fortress of Amgarrak. It's another very brief tale at around a single hour - not enough time to get to know these new characters or care about them. It's also punishingly difficult, and it's highly recommended that you don't attempt it until you've completed the Awakening expansion. I did quite like the design of the new creature that is introduced, called the Harvester, though it did remind me of the polymorph from Red Dwarf a little bit. This DLC isn't worth seeking out individually, but you may as well play it if you obtained it as part of the Ultimate Edition.
Overall: 5 out of 10
7. Witch Hunt - £4.69 from Xbox store, included with Ultimate Edition Witch Hunt is another incredibly brief, and somewhat underwhelming piece of extra content. Like many of the others, it weighs in at roughly an hour. This one actually had a lot of potential because it sees the return of Morrigan, a very popular character from the main game excellently voiced by Claudia Black. After the final battle with the Archdemon, she took her leave from the party and requested that you never go looking for her. Well, here you are, looking for her. The final conversation with Morrigan is incredibly brief and after its over the end credits roll and that's it. I would have liked the chance to have a quick chat with Finn and Ariane, your new companions that you barely have any opportunity to get to know. It's a shame you don't, because their dialogue is well written and humorous and I would have welcomed more of it. Instead of going out on a bang with its last adventure, Dragon Age: Origins fizzles out instead, which is incredibly frustrating.
Overall: 6 out of 10
Conclusion
Overall I would say that the DLC for Dragon Age: Origins is worth playing through at least once if you are a fan of the original game. Most of these packs are pretty brief however and are definitely not worth paying the full amount for in 2019. However there is a solution - the Ultimate Edition of the game includes everything listed here as well as the Awakening expansion, and because everything is included on a second physical disk you can buy a second hand copy safe in the knowledge that you will still be able to access everything (as long as the DLC disk isn't missing, of course). This is definitely the cheapest way to get ahold of everything - copies go for a bout £15 on Amazon and eBay. While most of these only add an hour or two of game play at the most, it all adds up to an extremely solid package that I think is still worth a punt, despite the rather dated visuals.
One last thing - I wasn't sure if the the Ultimate Edition would work properly on the Xbox One, because you install the DLC from a second disk, put apparently it does work after you jump through a few hoops. Apparently you should install the DLC disk first, then the main play disk, then put the DLC disk back in before launching the game. Then you should be able to access anything. I haven't confirmed this myself because I don't own a copy of the Ultimate Edition, but if you do this you should be OK.
Ever since I played Space Channel 5 on the Dreamcast for the very first time I have been a big fan of Tetsuya Mizuguchi, and particularly any games he makes with a musical component to them. Space Channel 5 was funky, fun and fresh and I loved it. Then Mizuguchi released the game that absolutely cemented my faith in him and ensured I would follow his work with great interest. That game was Rez, the trippy on rails shooter that played a bit like Panzer Dragoon but looked like a bit like Tron and sounded like 90's rave. It was the unique combination of visuals, sound and vibration that made the game special. It doesn't matter to me that you can basically finish it in less than an hour, I have replayed it countless times over the years and will continue to do so. I think of it more of an interactive music album than a game, although that might suggest it's not that fun to play, which would be incorrect. Thanks to several re releases on the last few console generations, you can still get hold of a copy of Rez and find out what makes it so great for yourself, which I really recommend you do.
After this Mizuguchi released Space Channel 5 Part 2 shortly before the unfortunate demise of the Dreamcast, which improved on the first game in every way. Then he went and founded a new company, Q Games, and made the fantastic PSP launch title Lumines, which melded music and puzzle game play together in a unique way. He did a similar thing with Meteos on the Nintendo DS, although the game play of this one never really clicked for me - I greatly preferred the chilled out, relaxed pace of Lumines, over the frantic, stressed out feeling to get when playing Meteos. We then shift forward in time a little bit to E3 of 2010, when Ubisoft unveiled a trailer that got me really excited. It was a new game by Mizuguchi, and everything about it just screamed Rez, from the visuals, the music used and the brief glimpses of game play. The name that was revealed at the end was Child of Eden though, probably because Sega held on to the Rez licence and so Miz couldn't use it. So this was to be a spiritual successor rather than a true sequel then. Interesting. It was also the first game for the Kinect that looked half way decent, although luckily you could also use a standard controller to play all of the game. I must have watched that trailer half a dozen times after that, and I really grew to love the tune that was used. After that though, all I could do was wait patiently for the game to be released, which is was it 2011. So let's get into why I think it's still worth playing today...
Graphics: 9 out of 10
The visuals of Child of Eden are fairly similar to those of Rez, being a trippy kaleidoscope of colour and light that reacts with your actions and with the music, but there with the exception of one particular stage everything has more of an organic feel to it. There is definitely a lot more going on visually than in the previous game, which can be detrimental to the game play at times because it can be hard to see the purple items that will hurt you. After a bit of practise you will grown accustomed to the design of each stage though and be able to anticipate where the danger is coming from. The Xbox 360 runs the game without any problems, and should you be playing Child of Eden via Xbox One backwards compatibility it looks even better thanks to the anti aliasing used by the emulator. It's still a very pretty game even today, though there will be definitely be those who this particular aesthetic won't appeal to.
Sound & Music: 8 out of 10
Like the visual style, the music of Child of Eden definitely won't appeal to everyone and will probably be an acquired taste for a lot of people as well. Rather than the pure trance found it Rez, the Child of Eden soundtrack is a trance / J-Pop fusion, and the music is all by one artist rather than a bunch of different ones. The artist in question is Genki Rockets, a passion project created in part by Tetsuya Mizuguchi himself and featuring the vocal talents of Rachel Rhodes. I was familiar with one of their tunes because it there was an unlockable music video for it in the Wii version of No More Heroes, and the same tune is featured in Child of Eden. Personally I really like their stuff, it's very relaxing and I own both of their albums which I have listened to many times. I'm listening to "Heavenly Star" while I write this script actually, to help me keep the game in mind. I think I prefer the Rez soundtrack ever so slightly over the Child of Eden soundtrack, though I think both have their merits.
Child of Eden remains an extremely pretty game even today.
Game Mechanics: 7 out of 10
The game play of Child of Eden is incredibly similar to that of Rez, except the perspective has shifted to first person rather than third person due to the addition of the Kinect control method. You control a cross hair either with your hands and the Kinect camera, or with the left analogue stick, and "paint" targets by holding down the fire button as you move the reticule over the enemies. Upon release you will fire homing lasers at all the enemies you have locked on to. A lot of the enemies won't actually pose any threat to you, though there are those that shoot back purple bullets at you. With these you need to use the right trigger to shoot a matching purple beam that will eliminate them. There are also purple enemies that will need to be weakened with the right trigger before they can be shot normally with the A button. From time to time blue orbs will appear that will increase your life meter which is portrayed by a five petalled flower in the bottom right of the screen. There are also purple orbs that will allow you to fire a screen clearing super beam.
When Child of Eden stays true to its Rez roots I find it to be just as enjoyable as that game, however when it diverges from what came before there are a few issues that hamper it a little bit. I've already mentioned that the game is a lot busier visually making it hard to see enemy bullets from time to time. The game also features a star system where you cannot progress to the next level until you've earned a set number of stars. This is probably in reaction to Rez being too short, but it means you will have to replay the same few levels over and over to earn more stars which is rather tiresome. It's not particularly challenging because you can earn more stars from levels that you've already completed, it's just annoying. Finally there are the Kinect controls. When I first got the game I did have a Kinect and I tried using it, but I found it much harder than using a normal controller and gave it up pretty fast. Not long after I traded the Kinect in while it was still worth something. I expect you can get good with it with practise but I didn't have the patience for that. It's not a major issue though because wisely Q Games haven't forced us to use Kinect controls.
The "Beauty" stage is quite possible my favourite.
Innovation & Cleverness: 5 out of 10 Rez would score very highly in this category, having pioneered the game play also seen here. Child of Eden doesn't really bring all that much that's new to the table though. It does include some very nice level designs which I why it still earns a five here.
Value & Replayability: 6 out of 10
Much like Rez, Child of Eden is a very short experience. It does take slightly longer to beat due to the annoying star system to unlock the later stages that I mentioned earlier, but not that much longer. There is also a bunch of unlockables that will extend your time with the game a little bit, such as a higher difficulty, a 6th stage which is a challenge mode, and a bunch of different visual skins. I do come back and replay Child of Eden every so often, though not as much as Rez. If you would like to buy a physical copy of the game, the PS3 version is selling for about £5 these days and the Xbox 360 version is £10. You can claim a free copy of the digital version until December 15th if you subscribe to Xbox Live Gold though.
Overall: 7 out of 10
While Child of Eden doesn't live up to illustrious predecessor, it is still a lot of fun. The few problems with it hold it back a bit, but it's nothing too bad. I remain hopeful that we will see a true sequel to Rez in the future, especially with the recent release of Rez Infinite and the extra Area X that Q Games made just for it. In the meantime though, I think I shall replay Child of Eden one more time! That's the end of this review - however please feel free to stick around for a little while longer if you'd like to enjoy some more of the graphics and music from the game!
Hello everyone! I realise there has been a dearth of content for quite a while though. Hopefully this post will be just the start of a flurry of activity on the site, as I have a lot of things to write about. To begin with I want to let you know what I've been up to over the last month or so, and why both the blog and YouTube channel will benefit. So, somewhere around the end of May I noticed that my Xbox Live Gamerscore was about 12,000 points shy of 100,000, which is currently the highest VIP tier called Overlord. Those who are in the Xbox Rewards program who manage to reach this level get and increase in the amount of reward points they get back on purchases, which gets converted to cash every so often. I decided that I would make it my goal to try and reach the 100,000 points, and also go back to quite a few games that I had only partially completed in the past.
So far I've managed to finish Far Cry 3 on the 360 as well as Sleeping Dogs Definitive Edition and Assassin's Creed: Blag Flag. These aren't the easiest achievements to get but they aren't too bad. I'm not trying earn every achievement in every game either, as that's not my idea of fun. I did finish most of the side content in these three games though. As well as these games there were also a number of Telltale games that I hadn't played yet - Tales from the Borderlands, The Walking Dead Seasons 2 and 3, as well as the Michonne mini series. These are all an easy 1000 points just for getting to the end, and I had been meaning to get around to them eventually anyway. In addition to all this I have also signed up for Xbox Game Pass and have been playing quite a few shorter games such as the Sega and Capcom retro collections for games like Streets of Rage, Final Fight and Dungeons & Dragons. I personally think the Game Pass is excellent because I never would have spent money on games like these when there are so many AAA titles just waiting to be picked up instead, yet I would still like to play them.
Just lately I have moved on to playing Watch Dogs and have gone back to Forza Horizon 3 where I still have a lot left to do. The same is true for quite a few of the older Forza titles as well - there’s so much content in those games that I’m never finished by the time the next one comes out. Although I have already played Watch Dogs on the PS4, that was several years ago now and I did enjoy it. Watch Dogs was one of the Games with Gold in June so I haven't had to pay anything for it - in fact I took a bunch of older PS4 games that have since been in either Games with Gold or PS Plus to CeX and got £27 in trade in value, which I used to get Ghost Recon: Wildlands. I haven't really played much of it yet though.
Looking to the future, I’ll be moving onto trying to polish off Mad Max and Mafia III. I have tons of other open world games to get to – Assassin's Creed Liberation HD, Unity and Syndicate, Saints Row IV Reelected, Sunset Overdrive, Re:Core – tons!!! Right now I still need to earn just under 5000 Gamerscore to reach 100,000, so I've still got quite a bit of gaming to go. Of course, as a result of this very Xbox centric time my PS4 and Switch are getting a little bit neglected. I'll make up for that after I'm done though, especially as I really want to spend more time with Wipeout Omega Collection and dive in to Final Fantasy XII: The Zodiac Age which is out very soon. Even the 3DS is getting some love right now with the awesome looking Ever Oasis, a full on remake of Mario & Luigi: Superstar Saga and Metroid: Return of Samus!
Anyway, as I've been playing through these games I've also been capturing quite a bit of footage from them, and I do intend to write reviews and create videos for them as well. I've been putting it off for a while because I wanted to write this very article that you're reading now, so now I've got this out of the way I shall start knocking out those reviews. I'm also in the middle of PS2 Tuesdays Season 4 as well, so I do have to spend some of my time playing and reviewing some PS2 classics. Speaking of which, the next one of those will be The Red Star, a great and overlooked arcade style shooting and fighting hybrid. Once I've got that made and uploaded I shall then try and find a spare hour or so to write the Sleeping Dogs review, and so on with the other games. You should see quite a bit of productivity if I manage to stick to the plan! If you have any recommendations of Xbox One or Xbox 360 games that I could play through then be sure to leave a comment. I have recently picked up copies of Bionic Commando (the 3D one), Wet and Kane & Lynch: Dead Men for £1 each - are any of them worth trying? What about the Lost Planet trilogy? I've been thinking of getting those too as they are so cheap. Any advice would be appreciated!
Welcome to the first article in a new, semi regular series entitled Last Gen Regen. There were tons of games released for the last generation of consoles that didn't perform as well as I think think they deserved, either crtically or financially, and I think they deserve a bit more love. Titles that fall under this category include Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning, the de Blob games and Binary Domain, just for starters. The reason that I'm not committing to a regular schedule is that most of these games take quite a while to complete, so I will just be releasing them as and when they are ready. This series also serves as an excuse to replay some of my favourite titles, so I will be savouring my time with them!
We begin with Darksiders - which was developed by Vigil Entertainment in the year 2010 for the Xbox 360, PlayStation 3 and PC. This team was assembled by legendary comic book artist Joe Madureira, whose unique art style is stamped all over the game. While beloved by the majority of those who have played the game, there are still tons of people who have never given it a second glance. With a remastered version on the horizon, and copies of the original version selling for just a few quid, now is the perfect time for you to pick it up for yourself if you have yet to do so. Now it's time for me to spend roughly ten minutes explaining why.
Plot and Character: 8 out of 10
The action of Darksiders revolves around the four horsemen of the apocalypse, or more specifically, War. As the game begins, War is standing in the streets of what looks like New York city, doing battle with demons. As you progress further into the prologue, angels will arrive on the scene as well. Rather than the classical winged creatures that you're familiar with, angels in the Darksiders series make use of technology such as jet packs and guns. Their halo is also a part of the armour that they wear. War is on earth because he believes the seventh seal has been broken and the riders have been called, but he was deceived by a powerful demon called The Destroyer and his minions. After falling in battle against Straga, one of the Destroyer's lieutenants, War finds himself in front of the Charred Council, entities which act as the balance keepers between the forces of Heaven and Hell. Displeased with Wars actions on Earth, they strip him of most of his power, before permitting him to set off on a quest for revenge against The Destroyer. As a condition of his release, War is tethered to The Watcher, brilliantly voiced by Mark Hamill. From there, it's up to you to restore War to his former glory, slaughter your way through The Destroyer's forces, and set things right.
While I am more than aware that there are plenty of people out there who hate fantasy nonsense like this, I absolutely love this kind of thing. While the game takes itself a bit too seriously sometimes and comes across as cheesy, for the most part it is really cool, and metal as fuck! War himself is built like a brick shithouse, with huge chunky limbs and a giant sword that you can do some serious damage with. So while it's definitely not for everyone, I really enjoyed the premise of Darksiders and the ride that it took me on during its 20 or so hour long campaign. Of course the game play had a lot to do with that as well, but I will get there all in due course!
Graphics: 8 out of 10
The chunky, American Football player proportions of War also apply to a lof of the other characters in Darksiders, from the Angels like Abaddon, to side characters like Ulthane, who belongs to a race called The Makers. These guys heavily resemble the Norse gods like Thor, and wield mighty hammers like him as well. While there were a few instances where the was some screen tearing and a drop in frame rate, for the most part Darksiders ran really smoothly and the environments look really nice. At one point the mixture of hack and slash combat and puzzle solving is punctured by a rather lengthy flying sequence on the back of a Pegasus, which is just one of many visually spectacular parts. The huge golems that guard the various areas of the map are also impressive, and a sight to behold as they lumber away, shaking both the screen and your gamepad.
While there aren't that many in the game, the horsey bits in Darksiders are good fun.
Sound and Music: 8 out of 10
The audible portion of the presentation is equally as solid as the visual component, with some great noises while you're in combat and when you make use of your abilities. The music is well composed, but not particularly memorable after some time away from the game. It certainly doesn't measure up to the epic soundtrack of Darksiders II that was composed by Assassin's Creed veteran Jesper Kyd, but that is a matter for another time. The voice work in the game is generally well done again, though the dialogue that these guys have to read is incredibly melodramatic and can come across as a tad on the cheesy side at times. Still, it suits the subject matter.
Game Mechanics: 8 out of 10 Darksiders plays out like a mash up of God of War and one of the 3D Legend of Zelda games, and that is no bad thing, believe me! As your basic abilities are doled out during the opening hours of the game, you will find yourself locked inside various combat challenges where you have to kill a certain number of demons within a strict time limit and while using a certain ability or weapon. Just as was starting to tire of this, roughly nine of so challenges in, they stop, never to return throughout the rest of the adventure. The majority of the game is spent exploring huge dungeons, solving relatively mild puzzles, hacking up demons (and the occaisional angel) and obtaining new equipment or powers that allow access to further sections of the overworld. While the world of Darksiders is fairly extensive and interconnected, with few noticeable load times, it is still fairly linear for the most part, with just a brief quest towards the end of the campaign giving you free reign to travel back to the various zones in any order you choose.
For most of the game the difficulty level is pitched just about right, with combat keeping you on your toes but never becoming frustrating. You may die once or twice, but the penalty is very benign, with you just going back brief way to the nearest checkpoint. There is one dungeon close the finale that I did find really frustrating to beat, though - or rather, one puzzle within it that involved warping boxes through portals in order to raise and lower huge chandelier style platforms. I got quite annoyed by that one, but it's not even close to being as annoying as the Water Temple in Ocarina of Time, ultimately.
As you hack apart your enemies, souls will fly out of them and these can be drawn into you. They can also be found inside chests that are liberally scattered around world, and in inanimate objects like cars, dustbins, and street lights. These souls act your main currency in the game, and can be used to unlock new abilties and weapons, or power up those that you already have. Speaking of weaponry, War mainly wields a huge sword, though you do also get access to a sythe, pistols, and a deadly disc launching thing. You won't have enough souls to level everything up, so it's best to focus on whichever suits your particular play style and focus on them. You can also find Zelda style upgrades to your health bar and rage meter hidden away all over the place, which will often be inaccessible the first time you find them. You know what that means - come back later when you have the right ability.
This is Ulthane, one of the Makers - you will learn much more about these guys in Darksiders II.
Innovation and Cleverness: 6 out of 10
Ultimately, it's the solid game play combined with the setting that makes Darksiders such a great game, in my opinion. It's not particularly innovative, being an amalgam of several different genres, but that doesn't really matter to me. Zelda style puzzling and exploration will always be fun, and brutal hack and slash combat adds that extra spice to make it interesting. Layer on the truly fantastic character designs and fleshed out game world, and you have something rather special on your hands.
Value and Replability: 7 out of 10
You will probably only want to play through Darksiders the one time, or maybe twice after enough time has passed by. But that play through will last somewhere around the 25 hour range, even more if you try and hunt down every single health upgrade and the best armour in the game, which is scattered across the lands. I never felt that the game was dragging on at all, which is something that very few games get right. The original release will probably only set you back a fiver or less, which is a real bargain. I am not sure how much THQ Nordic is going to be asking for the HD remaster - I would guess somewhere around th £30 mark. That's still not bad considering how much quality gameplay is on offer. UPDATE: Since writing this article I have learned that the price of the HD remaster will be £15, which is an absolute bargain!
Overall: 8 out of 10
Xbox 360 and PS3 owners were not short of quality games to play, but there weren't many experiences that compared to the Zelda games (Okami being a notable exception). Darksiders takes the blueprint that Nintendo established, adds in a liberal dose of visceral combat, and makes the whole thing much more dark, gothic, and cool. If the game somehow passed you by the first time it was released, then either pick up a nice and cheap copy and play it on your older system, or grab the upcoming "Warmastered" version.
Darksiders II will most definitely be getting its time in the sun at some point in the future as well, but I haven't played all the way through it yet. Before then though, now that Lost Odyssey can be enjoyed on the Xbox One through the magic of backwards playability, I think it's time to revisit it. It will take a while for me to finish it though, as it's absolutely massive. To tide us over, I will try and find something a little shorter to talk about next. I was thinking a racing game would make a nice change of pace, but which one? There's Blur from Bizarre Creations, or Split Second from Black Rock Studios. Let me know in the comments if you have a preference, and in the meantime, take care!
Welcome to the first edition of my new series, Monkey Island Mondays. There will be five episodes in total, one for each of the first four games, and then a fifth covering the whole of the Telltale series, Tales of Monkey Island. These are some of my favourite games ever, especially the first one, so I hope you enjoy taking a nostalgic look back at them. Or perhaps you've never played them before? Then hopefully my videos will convince you to give them a try!
Part 1: The History of Monkey Island
The original version of The Secret of Monkey Island was released on the Commodore Amiga and PC in 1990, with an enhanced CD ROM version featuring much better music appearing in 1992. The project was the brainchild of Ron Gilbert, who started playing around with story ideas in 1988. He first came up with a male and female villain, who eventually became LeChuck and Elaine - there was no Guybrush at this stage. Gilbert pitched the idea of a series of pirate themed short stories to LucasArts, who liked the idea, but Gilbert was assigned to work on Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade: The Adventure which delayed the project. That was completed in 1989, and he was finally free to work on his pirate game.
Working alongside Gilbert were Tim Schafer and Dave Grossman, who as well as programming the game were also responsible for about two thirds of the dialogue. Steve Purcell was an artist on the game, while Michael Land and Patrick Mundy are credited with composing the fantastic soundtrack. Schafer, of course, went on create his own classic adventure games such as Day of the Tentacle, Full Throttle and Grim Fandango. Grossman was one of the founders of the hugely successful Telltale Games, while Purcell created the Sam & Max comics and the Hit the Road adventure game that is also very fondly remembered.
What was the original inspiration for The Secret of Monkey Island? The truth of the matter is a little hard to pin down:
Ron Giblert, from the Lucasfilm Adventurer, Fall 1990:
"I'd wanted to do a pirate game for a long time. You see, one of my favorite rides in Disneyland is Pirates of the Caribbean. You get on a little boat and it takes you through a pirate adventure, climaxing in a cannon fight between two big pirate ships. Your boat keeps you moving through the adventure, but I've always wished I could get off and wander around, learn more about the characters, and find a way onto those pirate ships."
From Grumpy Gamer, 2004:
"I was sorting through some boxes today and I came across my copy of Tim Power's On Stranger Tides, which I read in the late 80's and was the inspiration for Monkey Island. Some people believe the inspiration for Monkey Island came from the Pirates of the Caribbean ride - probably because I said it several times during interviews - but that was really just for the ambiance. If you read this book you can really see where Guybrush and LeChuck were -plagiarized- derived from, plus the heavy influence of voodoo in the game."
So it's fair to say that the truth is somewhere in the middle, you can definitely see elements of both in there.
In creating The Secret of Monkey Island, Ron Gilbert wanted to avoid certain aspects of adventure games that he found annoying and off putting. These included cheap deaths, which were something that many of the Sierra games were guilty of, unclear objectives and non-linear game play.
"One of the things I did to make the story less linear was to add the three trials at the start of the game. You have to prove yourself as a pirate by completing these three tests, and you can do them in any order that you want. That was done on purpose, so that you don't have to finish trial one before you can try trial two. I think it's good design technique to have things as nonlinear as possible, but it does make the storytelling ten times as hard."
Gilbert wrote an article for The Journal of Computer Game Design detailing all his frustrations with the genre and how we would go about fixing them. Most of these ideas informed the design for Monkey Island. The article can still be found online today, as is a fascinating read. You can visit this page to read the article yourself.
Where did the name "Guybrush" come from?
For a long time during the games development, the main character didn't have a name. Steve Purcell who had been working on the art for the character, saved the file as guy.brush and it stuck!
How was the game received?
The game garnered very positive feedback from various journalists of the time. The attention to detail, artwork, puzzles and difficulty level we all praised. They also invariably thought the dialogue was hilarious. The only real criticism came from those who thought that the game was too expensive for the length of time it takes to complete, which was actually a fairly common complaint that people had from the adventure game genre. They take a lot of work to make, and making a long adventure game is pretty difficult.
Nowadays, The Secret of Monkey Island frequently makes it into top games lists, and is very fondly remembered by a great many people. I myself have named it as my favourite game of all time in the past, which is something I probably still agree with. Regardless, it remains a title that I can come back to time and time again, and I cherish the time that I've spent with it.
The 2009 Special Edition looks great - you can read a full review later on in this article!
Part 2: Monkey Island Memories
There are loads of great moments in The Secret of Monkey Island. I've decided to focus on just five, does your favourite make the cut?
5. Negotiating a better deal with Stan
This is actually one of the more annoying parts of the game, and it sticks in the memory for that reason! Stan is a used boat salesman, and has the pushy personality and penchance for patter that personifies that profession. In order to get a good deal on a sea vessel, you need to go through the motions of listening to his pitch for all sorts of optional extras, haggle a bit, and then turn him down. Gradually you will wear him down to the point where you can actually afford to buy something (with some help from a credit note acquired through unconventional means from the storekeeper in town). Stan already came across as a smarmy individual in the original game, but the addition of voice work in the Special Edition puts the icing on the cake and really fits the character well.
4. The cannibals
After finally arriving on Monkey Island, you will start finding little notes left around the place between Herman Toothrot, a castaway who has gone a bit... strange, and a group of cannibals. You might expect them to be fearsome, savage warriors, but they're actually quite friendly, and are currently watching their fat intake and eating mostly fruit. They do lock you up, sure, but it's easy enough to escape - and if you give them a nice idol, they might help you get ahead!
3. The SCUMM bar and meeting the pirates
This is one of your first ports of call upon starting the game, and is full of colourful characters, from the pirate who will only respond with "Aye!" unless you ask him about Loom, Mancomb Seepgood, who pokes fun and your silly name, and the three pirate chiefs at the table who lay out your three tasks. When you talk to a lot of the characters in here, you are treated to a full hand drawn portrait of their face, which was mightily impressive upon the games release, and they still look pretty good now!
2. Stealing the Idol of Many Hands
Upon putting the deadly piranha poodles to sleep (no animals were harmed in the production of this game!), you are able to enter the governor's mansion and attempt to steal the Idol. What plays out before your eyes is a truly bizarre scene, that pokes fun at how ridiculous some puzzles in adventure games had become by combining random objects like wax lips, a moose, angry midgets, and more! It had been a while since I'd seen this part of the game and its daftness actually made me laugh out loud.
1. Insult sword fighting
This, for me is by far the most memorable part of the entire game. In The Secret of Monkey Island, sword fighting is less about dexterity and fast reflexes and more about your rapier wit. The aggressor will first toss out an insult, and then it's up to the defender to counter it with a sick burn. If you choose the correct response, then you turn the tables on your opponent and get to choose the next insult, choose incorrectly and you will be on the back foot. The thing is though, you won't know many insults or their responses to begin with, so you will need to go out and fight against random pirates to build up your repertoire. The game will tell you when you probably know enough to be able to go up against the Swordmaster (10 - 12 should do it), though there is an achievement for learning all of them in the Special Edition.
The truly clever part is, when you finally do go and face the Swordmaster, all of her insults are different! The responses you've learnt still work against them though, if you can figure out which goes with which. So not only is it an interesting and unique fighting mechanic, it's also a pretty clever puzzle!
What were your favourite Monkey Island Memories? Let me know by leaving a comment!
This image of the game in particular is really striking - I love the effect of the moonlight on the water!
Part 3: Special Edition review
In 2009, LucasArts released a Special Edition of The Secret of Monkey Island. It featured completely redrawn graphics in HD and widescreen, full voice work including long standing cast members Dominic Armato as Guybrush and Earl Boen as LeChuck, and fully orchestrated music. Do these changes add or detract from the experience, and is the game underneath still enjoyable? That's what we're about to find out!
Plot and Character: 9 out of 10
Aside from the game play and puzzles, this is the major factor that makes The Secret of Monkey Island so special. The game is full of great characters, from the main ones like Guybrush, Elaine and LeChuck, to the supporting cast including the men of low moral fibre (pirates) and their pet rat, Otis the prisoner, the cannibals, Stan, the shopkeeper and Herman Toothrot. The passion that Guybrush shows toward wanting to be a pirate is infectious, and you will want to help him get there.
Graphics: 8 out of 10
For the most part, I really like the new artwork from the Special Edition version of the game. The moonlight over the docks near the SCUMM Bar is particularly beautiful. The one aspect of the visuals that I'm not that keen on is the style of the characters, and in particular the large portraits that you see when talking to people like the pirates in the bar, or the sword master. This is really a matter of personal taste, but I prefer the more realistic style that was used in the original version of the game, compared to the more angular, abstract approach that has been taken with the redesign. Of course, you can actually switch between the new graphics and the original graphics on the fly, so if you do prefer one over the other, you can take your pick.
Seeing favourite scenes in lovely crisp HD is qute a treat.
Sound and Music: 9 out of 10
LucasArts managed to get the voice actors who first appeared in Curse of Monkey Island to reprise their roles for these Special Edition releases, which is great news. Earl Boen, who plays LeChuck, may also be familiar to you as Doctor Silverman from the first three Terminator films. While the voice acting is solid across the board, I think his is the stand out performance - it's apparent that he really has fun in this role.
I also really like the remastered music. I'm not sure I prefer it to the original MIDI tunes, or to the music that was used for the CD ROM version. It's all good. The iMUSE system that dynamically changes the music based on where you area and who you're talking to wasn't introduced until Monkey Island 2 - I am looking forward to hearing how the new music works with that system though, in particular the Woodtick theme.
Game Mechanics: 9 out of 10
The writing is so well done and so funny, that you will always want to exhaust every possible dialogue tree to see where the conversation goes. That there is no penalty for doing so is a master stroke - at worst the conversation will be ended and you will just have to speak to the person again. There is no death or risk of permanent failure, which frees you up to just experiment and have fun.
The puzzles also have a degree of logic to them that wasn't always present in other games of the genre (much as I love the Discworld games, some of things were expected to do in those games were more than a little absurd). There is nothing that you can't figure out in this game if you really think hard enough, and thoroughly check each area to make sure you aren't missing any important items.
Innovation and Cleverness: 9 out of 10
OK, so Monkey Island wasn't the first point and click adventure game, but it is an incredibly influential one. The game scores major innovation points just for the introduction of the insult sword fighting alone - not only is it a clever way to do combat in a puzzle and plot centric game, it's also a lot of fun. If you read Ron Gilbert's "Why Adventure Games Suck" article then you will see the amount of thought that went into tackling the known issues of the genre, such as rewarding players with new characters, areas or story for successfully completing a puzzle, or sequence of puzzles.
The game is full of great, memorable characters - including the cannibals!
Value and Replayability: 7 out of 10
The Secret of Monkey Island is actually a pretty short game, especially if you already know what you're doing. You can breeze through the whole thing in about six hours if you're familiar with the puzzles and can remember the fine details. If it's your first time, or it's been so long you just can't remember everything, then it will take a little bit longer. Don't worry about getting completely stuck though, the game has a pretty good hint system built in. As for price, as this was initially a digital release you can find it nice and cheap, either via PSN, Xbox Live or Steam, or on a physical disc bundled alongside Monkey Island 2.
Overall: 9 out of 10 The Secret of Monkey Island: Special Edition is a superb version of an all-time classic game. There are a few very minor things that I would have done differently, granted, but still this is a great package. It's a shame that it didn't occur to LucasArts to add a commentary mode until Monkey Island 2, as I would have loved to play along with the game that started it all and hear what Ron Gilbert, Tim Schafer and others think about it nowadays. Regardless, this Special Edition should be in every fans collection.
That brings us to the end of the first edition of Monkey Island Mondays then - I really hope you enjoyed it. This really is one of my favourite games of all time, so I want to do it justice. Next time, I'll be giving Monkey Island 2: LeChuck's Revenge the same treatment. Not sure exactly when that will be yet, because I need to play through the Special Edition, do my research and come up with a script, but I will try not to leave it too long. In the meantime, take care!
Platinum Games were born from the ashes of Clover, a short lived yet very highly regarded development studio that was part of Capcom for a brief period of time. They managed to release several games in the Viewtiful Joe series, the amazing Okami and God Hand before they were disbanded. Platinum have carried on Clovers reputation for highly polished and original action games, with their most famous title being Bayonetta. Vanquish was released in 2010 to a generally positive reception from the media, yet it doesn't seem to have made a huge lasting impact in the minds of gamers. I have a few ideas why that may be so - let's take a look at the game and break things down shall we?
Graphics: 8 out of 10
Personally I think Vanquish looks pretty darn good for a 4 year old game. The space colony that the game is set on is nice and detailed, there is very little slowdown during combat, and there are some great robot designs. The huge bosses that you will encounter during the five acts of the game are a particular highlight, with some of them towering over the player. Also of note is the main DARPA robot suit belonging to the player character Sam Gideon - it brings to mind the designs of Yoji Shinkawa (of Metal Gear Solid and Zone of the Enders fame) as well as the suit from the Gamecube game P.N.O. 3. My only minor gripe is that the design of the colony itself could have benefited from a bit more variety. Apart from a brief section in a park, most of the action takes place in similar looking corridors.
Sound and Music: 7 out of 10 The music of Vanquish
is perfectly decent and helps add to the excitement of battle, yet it
is not particularly memorable outside of the theme that plays over the
end credits. This is partly because it can get drowned out a bit by the
noise of battle, as bullets, rockets, and robot shrapnel flies all over
the place. The dialogue can be a little bit on the corny side, and
also tends to bit a bit overacted, despite having a cast made up of
experienced voice actors like Gideon Emery and Steve Blum. As far as
the sound design is concerned, there's not much here that stands out,
apart from the noise when you switch weapons, and the way everything is
slowed down when you go into bullet time.
I for one would like to see a Vanquish 2 one day - how about you?
Gameplay Mechanics: 8 out of 10
Yes, Vanquish is yet another title in a long line of games that have incorporated bullet time into the gameplay, but it really works well here and is a fundamental part of combat. Though the levels do offer opportunities for cover, it can be destroyed fairly easily by the bigger enemies in the game, and the play is even penalised for the amount of time spent cowering behind crates and the like. You are actively encouraged to use your suits slide boost or a roll to navigate the battlefield and get yourself out of trouble, and while doing so you can hold down LT to enter bullet time and take down your enemies. This bullet time doesn't last forever though - there is a meter in the bottom right of the screen that depletes while time is slowed, and if it empties completely then your suit overheats. While you're waiting for the suit to cool down again you are extremely vulnerable to enemy fire, so what I tend to do is drop out of bullet just before the meter runs out, so I'm not left without shields at a crucial moment.
You can equip up to three different weapons at a time as well as EMP and traditional grenades. The weaponry varies from your standard assault rifles, sniper rifles and rocket launchers to some more interesting fare like disk launchers and lock on lasers. My load out was usually a combo of the normal assault rifle because of its high ammo count, the heavy version of it for taking down the larger "RI" robots quickly, and then something a bit more interesting in the third slot depending on the situation. There are quite a few times throughout the campaign that calls for a sniper rifle for example, yet I'm not that keen on them so I would swap this out for a rocket launcher of shotgun given the opportunity. Sometimes downed enemies will drop upgrade cubes as well, and picking these up with a particular weapon selected will improve that weapon in some way - be it a higher ammo capacity or more damaging rounds. Dying on the Normal difficulty or above will downgrade your weapons by one level though, so be careful!
Value & Replayability: 4 out of 10
Here we come to perhaps the biggest flaw of the game - its length. My completion time of the entire campaign came in at under 5 hours, which is incredibly short for a full retail release. Even now, when the game can be picked up for £10 less, that's still a little on the lean side, but I still think the overall quality of the game means that you should check it out. Sometimes it can be good to play through a game in a single weekend, instead of it taking weeks or months. If you have a friend who can lend you their copy though, I would still recommend that over buying it yourself - or maybe hold out for it to appear as part of Games with Gold or the PS Plus Instant Game Collection.
Overall: 8 out of 10
Throughout the majority of the first act I wasn't really feeling it, but after doing battle with the huge boss of that act I was along for the ride. Vanquish may be a little rough in certain aspects such as the story and the acting, and it's an all too brief experience, but at least that meant I was left wanting more. Sadly I don't think the sales were strong enough to make a sequel worthwhile - but then again I thought the same about Okami and we still got Okamiden quite a long time later! If you know someone who can pass you their copy of Vanquish for a weekend, or you spot a copy cheap somewhere, then I recommend you give it a try.
Batman is back for a third offering, and this time development duties have fallen to Warner Bros. Interactive Montreal for the single player portion, and Splash Damage for the multiplayer. While I really enjoyed the first of the Arkham games, by the end of City I found myself starting to tire of the formula a little, to the point where I wasn't all that excited about the prospect of a third game - especially one that was a prequel. However, the game was quite heavily discounted in the post Christmas sale last year, so I ended up getting it, where it languished on a shelf for quite some time. I eventually played some of it in March, and was quite surprised at how much fun I was having, until I got stuck on a certain boss battle with Deathstroke. I then stopped playing until last month, when I decided to pick the game as one of my ten candidates for the 2014 Summer Backlog Challenge, and just this past week I finally completed it. Let's break down what I thought of it in the end...
Graphics: 8 out of 10
On the whole I was really impressed with the visuals of Arkham Origins. Everything is extremely moody and atmospheric, which works really well in single player. I found the sheer darkness of the levels was a bit if a problem online though, which is where your enhanced vision comes in. Batman can use detective vision as much as he wants, and indeed it is key to solving puzzles offline, but if you're playing as one of the Joker or Bane's thugs online you only have limited use of it before it goes on a cooldown. For a lot of the rest of the time I was blundering around in the dark. However, combined with the sound, the excellent graphics really drew me into the world of Gotham and the story that was being told.
Sound and Music: 8 out of 10
The music in Batman: Arkham Origins, whilst definitely echoing the work of Hans Zimmer on the Christopher Nolan movie trilogy, still manages to add something new with the embedded Christmas music in the score. The game is set on Christmas Eve night, you see, so it makes a lot of sense, even if I happen to playing the game in the middle of summer. Voice work is once again top notch, even if I personally prefer Mark Hamill as the Joker and Kevin Conroy as Batman over the new guys. The game also features top quality sound design, from the trademark boom of Batman's exploding gel, to the cool effect that pulses through your speakers every time you level up. Top quality stuff, overall.
It's good to see some of the more unusual villains from Batman's pantheon get a chance to shine, such as Black Mask, Copperhead and Firefly.
Game Mechanics: 8 out of 10 Batman: Arkham Origins brings back the mechanics that have worked so well in the previous games in the franchise, so you have the incredibly satisfying combo / counter system for fighting large groups of enemies. As the game goes on, it introduces more and more special enemy types, each with their own way of being taken down, from armoured henchmen, ones that wield knifes, shield carrying guys and more. It keeps the player on his toes as you constantly have to switch your tactics and dart around the battlefield to stay out of danger.
Then we have the "Invisible Predator" system, where you're frequently locked in a room full of armed goons, and have to take them all down to move on. Simply wading into their midst with your fists flying will quickly get you killed, so you need to make use of conveniently place places to perch on and other hidey holes such as grates in the wall, and strategically take them out one by one. It's still incredibly satisfying to lurk in the shadows until an unsuspecting gang member happens to walk right underneath you, then dive down and string them up! Should you happen to be detected and are at risk from gun fire, you can quickly throw down a gas pellet and make your escape.
The online multiplayer mode is extremely well designed and adds something new to the genre in the same way that the multiplayer of the Assassin's Creed series did, yet I think I left it a little too long to try and get into it. My own ineptitude combined with the dark maps and the extremely high levels of those still playing, meant that I was hopelessly outmatched in the handful of games that I took part it. I expect if I persevered I would improve, but I'm not really an online kind of guy so I would prefer to move on to the next single player experience. The unique thing about the online mode though is that as well as your typical gang vs gang gameplay with fairly standard weapons, a third team plays the parts of Batman and Robin. They win by intimidating the members of the Joker and Bane gangs - which is achieved by taking them down in as quiet and as varied a way as possible. Indeed I had the most fun when I played as Batman for one match, as he is far more agile then your common thug and can make use of his detective vision at all times.
The online seemed to be having a few technical issues when I tried it though - often whilst waiting for a match the entire lobby would be reset so that I was waiting on my own, and once or twice I was dropped from a match in progress. There aren't a huge amount of people still playing, either - though that's only be expected as the game has been out for around 9 months already. People move on quickly in the gaming world.
Innovation and Cleverness: 6 out of 10
While the game is indeed cleverly designed, the single player mode is essentially retreading the same formula that has been used in the two previous games. I would have given this game a lower score in this category if it weren't for the rather innovative online mode, which does add something genuinely new to both this franchise and online gaming in general.
Value and Replayability: 7 out of 10
The single player campaign is fairly brief, yet I was satisfied overall with the length of it. Hardcore players can go back for more with the New Game Plus and I Am The Night modes, which increase the challenge significantly. Then if you can find sufficient people to play with the online mode potentially extends the game play for a long time, though as I mentioned previously the community seems to be dying off a little bit, at least on the Xbox 360.
Overall: 8 out of 10
I was quite surprised just how much fun I had playing through Batman: Arkham Origins, especially when I thought I was done with the series after Arkham City. I really enjoyed the story in this one, which was a fairly slow burn for the first half. Once the "twist" happens it's a fairly rapid plunge towards the end of the game. Before I sign off, I must also add that I quite enjoyed most of the side content this time. I still haven't got the patience to find and solve every single of the the Enigma puzzles, but I did take the time to do everything else, and had great fun doing so. This game really brought me back on board after the double disappointment of Arkham City and of The Dark Night Rises at the cinema, so I'm now really looking forward to seeing what Rocksteady Games brings to the table with Arkham Knight.
Codemasters is back with another release in the Grid series, barely a year after the last entry came out. Grid 2 received generally positive reviews at the time, however there were a number of things that fans took issue with. The most glaring thing was the complete lack of a cockpit view, something that marred the experience for me personally as it's the viewpoint that I primarily use in realistic driving games. Then there was the slightly squirrely handling model, which I managed to get used to at the time. Finally, while not really a general complaint aimed at the game, I personally hated the Touge and Checkpoint events. Has Grid Autosport managed to address all of theses issue? Let's find out...
Graphics: 8 out of 10
While not a drastic leap over Grid 2 or anything else out there on the Xbox 360, Grid Autosport is still a solid looking game. The cars and tracks are nicely detailed, the frame rate is solid with almost no sign of slowdown or glitching, and the damage model is impressive with cars deforming and losing tires realistically. The main thing that's wrong is the ugly looking cockpit view, but considering that the previous game didn't even have one, that's still progress for you. We all know that Codemasters is capable of better though, so it's a shame that the insides of the cars haven't received a little more polish.
Sound and Music: 7 out of 10
The music used in Grid Autosport is perfectly fine, yet it is only present in the menu's and in race replays. During races there is a complete lack of any music at all, which I think is a shame but has probably been done to appease petrol heads who would prefer to hear the engine note of their car at all times. If I remember rightly, in the previous Grid games some dramatic chase style music would kick in on the final lap of a race, increasing the excitement, but that's gone now. You can still use custom soundtracks of course. The engine roars sound perfectly decent to my untrained ears, and there's definitely a noticeable difference between the high pitched whine of an open wheel car compared to the growl of a muscle car. Finally, we have the voice over, which consists of the dulcet tones of some lady who introduces all the different race disciplines to you at the start of the game, and your team manager who talks to you over the radio during races. You can press different directions on the D-pad during a race to request different information from him, such as how your team mate is doing, where you rival is and how far you're behind the car in front. Useful stuff!
I totally didn't mean to wipe that guy out in my video review - I just braked too late for the corner, honest!
Game Mechanics: 8 out of 10
In my opinion, the structure of Grid Autosport is a definite improvement over Grid 2. Considering that the heritage of the Grid series stretches back to TOCA Touring Cars for the PS1, it's a shame that touring cars have been completely absent from the series for a while. Not anymore though, they're back in Grid Autosport and have a sizable presence within the game. Besides this, there are another four disciplines: Open Wheel, Endurance, Tuner, and Street. Each of them feel distinct from one another, from the handling, the rules of a race weekend, and the types of event found within. For example under the Tuner discipline, you will find standard racing as well as Time Attack and Drift events. I've previously hated the Drift events in other racing games but Grid Autosport manages to get things right by making them optional events for the most part, and not a critical part of seasons.
Endurance is really the only discipline that I don't enjoy, and that's mainly because I'm not very good at it and find it slightly boring. Every Endurance race takes place at night, uses a timer (about 8 minutes by default) instead of a set number laps, and has tire wear turned on. You have to drive cautiously and sensibly during the early parts of a race so that you've got enough left in your tires for a charge at the pack towards the end. It's just not my thing really, and I dread having to complete a season of Endurance just so that I can earn enough XP for the next Grid championship. I should take a step back here and explain how that works. You see, you have a separate level for each of the main disciplines, which you level up by completing seasons and fulfilling goals that your chosen team sets for you. Then there are special cross discipline Grid championships that require you to be a certain level across all the disciplines - the first being at level 3, the next and 6, and the final one at level 9. So while you can focus on just your favourite disciplines for a while, eventually you will have to play them all if you want to "complete" the game.
Speaking of my favourite disciplines, I enjoy Street and Touring Car the most, followed by Open Wheel and Tuner. The handling model and the pack racing of Street and Touring Car simply feels the most enjoyable to me, whereas the Open Wheel cars are a bit more of a challenge. Drift and Time Attack aren't the most exciting of event types to me, but Tuner is pleasant enough to be an interesting way to break up the other discipline types.
Before I move on, I just want to quickly go over the online mode. Here, you start with your own Golf GTI and $10,000 to your name. That doesn't limit you just to low end Street races though, as you are given loaner cars to any of the different disciplines or car classes. The idea is to get some races under you belt with these loaner cars, build up your cash, and then buy cars of your own that you can upgrade and tune. There's a vast range of different car classes though, so deciding which car to buy first can be difficult. You don't really have to worry about it for a while though, so just enjoy so races in the cars they loan you. If you play in one of the Codemasters play lists as opposed to setting up your own lobby, then damage is set to on by default. This can be problematic because as we all know, random players online race like complete tossers, ramming into everyone on purpose. This can smash up your vehicle and see you having to pay out a hefty repair bill at the end of the race, slowly your progress to buying your own car.
Performance wise though everything seems fine online - I didn't notice any problems with lag when I tried it and there weren't any disconnection issues. The only thing I would recommend if your more interested in the online multiplayer mode than the single player, is to consider getting the PC version rather than one of the console versions. At the Xbox 360 and PS3 are both winding down, then the community for this game may not be around for the long term. At least you know the PC isn't going anywhere.
Value and Replayability: 8 out of 10
The single player campaign is huge - getting to the level cap with each of the five disciplines and beating the Grid Legends championship will take a good deal of time. Then you have the online multiplayer mode to dive into after you've finished, which is vast as well. There are also a sizable amount of tracks in the base game - admittedly a lot of them are reused from Grid 2 but there are some new ones as well. Plenty of game to get stuck into. Overall: 8 out of 10 Grid Autosport is an incredibly solid and fun realistic racing experience. While the number of disciplines available may seem on the lean side compared to the days of TOCA Race Driver 2 and 3 which both featured around 30, a lot more care has been taken over each one so that they feel right and do justice to the particular branch of the sport they are emulating. Hopefully we will still see a Grid 3 or whatever they decide to call it on the next generation platforms at some point, but until then I'm perfectly fine with keeping my Xbox 360 plugged in!
David has been playing games from around the age of 6 years old, starting on the Commodore VIC-20, and moving through the Atari 2600, BBC Micro, Commodore 64, Commodore Amiga, Nintendo Game Boy, SNES, Game Gear, PlayStation, N64, Saturn, Dreamcast, Game Boy Advance, PlayStation 2, Xbox, Gamecube, GBA SP, Nintendo DS, Xbox 360, PSP, DS Lite, Wii, GP2X, PS3, DSi, Megadrive, PS Vita, 3DS XL, Wii U, PS4, Xbox One, Retron5, GPD XD and most recently the Nintendo Switch.
I am small and tricky - where you think I am, I probably am not. I can work very fast, but I tend to go about things in a round about way, which often leaves me effectively standing still. I hate rocks. Bloody rocks. What Video Game Character Are You?
