Ubisoft have had an incredible end to the game year of 2020 with two big titles releasing just in time for the new generation of consoles launches in Watch Dogs Legion and Assassin’s Creed Valhalla, both being received incredibly well and two games I am still playing. The one title from Ubisoft that has been quietly building to its own release I can honestly said actually had more of my attention from the very first reveal trailer when it was originally called Gods and Monsters. Now called ‘Immortals: Fenyx Rising’, what we have is perhaps one of the most surprising titles of 2020 and one that manages to do something I was not expecting.

So as the development team behind Assassin’s Creed Origins went on to make the fantastic Valhalla, the team behind Assassin’s Creed Odyssey were clearly not quite done with the Ancient Greek vibe as they immediately continued but applied everything they knew into this game and what was not expected by me personally, was just how much Fenyx Rising would benefit and then learn from Odyssey. So much from Odyssey is instantly recognisable here from the combat system to the inventory management system, but how those features have been adapted for this game is the key to how they still work and rather than doubling down on how they worked in Odyssey, instead they have been refined and almost scaled back to a degree which is a strength in Fenyx Rising.

The narrative is told by a chained-up Prometheus talking to Zeus on a mountain top as they recall the story of how the evil Typhon managed to unseat the very Gods themselves and take over the Golden Isles, turning all the humans to stone. Our hero, Fenyx, wakes up on the Clashing Rocks, discovering their ship destroyed and crew gone including their brother. Fenyx is then called upon to help save the people, her brother and the very Gods themselves by taking the fight to Typhon and becoming a hero ready and able to defeat Typhon. Players get to create and customise their own Fenyx and can select a gender and physical appearance for their hero for the story, for myself, I chose a female Fenyx as per what was shown in the trailer but the voice acting for both genders is absolutely spot on but I did kind of fall in love with my own Fenyx just a little bit.

Now at this point you may have seen, read or heard a lot of comparisons being made to Breath of the Wild when it comes to Fenyx Rising and to a degree I would accept that but there is a danger not to give enough credit for just what has been accomplished with this game. Yes, visually the art style is a cell shaded animated look just like BoTW (Breath of the Wild) and the open world style can certainly be seen in both games and would not surprise me that BoTW has some influence here. But for me personally it is the first Darksiders game that I get the strongest vibes from when playing Fenyx Rising both in the combat and style of questing. I just found every element to this game so incredibly satisfying right across the board that it was easy to lose myself in this world of defeated Gods and mortals.

First, I do need to say that I truly love how completely self-aware this game is which is shown in the dialogue and writing for the game as Fenyx encounters each God and just in the conversation between Zeus and Prometheus alone, as the bantering between them is filled with humour that never becomes too corny but just self-deprecating enough to acknowledge what the player is thinking along the way. This game is very funny in a way I had not expected and the core of that comes from how wonderfully written the character of Fenyx is as well as the performance of both voice actors that bring her genders to life. Fenyx is a reluctant hero at first, one who sees her big brother as the real and true heroic warrior. She is brave and intelligent but also compassionate and caring and her humanity is what really stands out when you are messing with Gods and Monsters. Her journey will allow her to grow in confidence but always retaining her core values no matter how powerful she becomes and her interactions with the Gods is really the heart of the story in this game.

This is in part because the Gods themselves have been brought down to our levels really as Typhon has not only kicked their butts but in the case of Aphrodite, Athena, Ares and Hephaistos, Typhon has stolen their very essence and trapped them in lesser forms as punishment, locking them to a region of the Golden Isles. In order to take the fight back to Typhon, Fenyx must rescue and restore the Gods back to their Godliness forms. To do so, Fenyx must venture into the four main regions to find them, each with their own unique environmental and visual look from the beautiful Valley of Eternal Springs for Aphrodite to the baron war-torn wasteland of War’s Den. Each region is wonderfully drawn and brought to life as is the animation and design of all the monsters and enemies you will do battle with. This is quite frankly one stunning looking game which alongside its tremendous musical score will just have you smiling and happy in all the time to spend in this world.

Combat for me is the highlight of the game and where my comparison with Darksiders begins. The same RB for light attacks and RT for Heavy attacks from Odyssey continue here as does using both bumper buttons to parry attacks. It is a combat system that works very well here and I had no complaints with it in Odyssey so it just felt natural to continue to use it here. Light attacks use a sword whilst a battle axe is used for Heavy attacks and both will have their own combo finishers and can be chained together to fantastically satisfying effects. Ranged comes in the form of a bow but for me, this was never really a viable option in fights and is really there to help with some of the puzzles and challenges but will come to that a little further on.

As you progress through the game, Fenyx will collect different types of Sword and Axe which all have their own perks as does the armour and helmet sets you find, which not only look amazing but you can create your ow character builds around the strengths of the armour and helmets with some helping to boost a style of fighting you the player prefer. The upgrading system has thankfully been refined so that instead of trying to upgrade individual weapons and armour, instead now you simply upgrade the group, so by upgrading Swords for example, all the swords will benefit from the upgrade as does the armour so at any time you can switch to try out a new style or type.  You will always feel that you are improving as you progress which keeps the player feeling rewarded for their hard work and in the later stages of the game, it will make you work to keep earning the higher levels to prepare for the end game.

There is also just so much to do in this game both when doing main questlines for freeing the Gods but also in the side content which believe me, there is more than enough of seeing how I spent over twenty hours just in the first area you arrive in after the prologue tutorial area alone. The regions are filled with dungeons in the form of Tartarus vaults to completing puzzle challenges that only get tougher the further into the game you go. The abundance of things to do never feels overwhelming but instead allows an added sense of freedom to play the game as you want. You are also free to explore and go to any of the regions though common sense will let you know if you venture into an area you are not quite ready to handle yet. There is just something joyous about exploring and just finding things to do as well whether you choose to traverse using the mounts you can tame in the game or gliding around using the Daedalus Wings, which clearly shows the developers were fans of the Arkham Games!

The gameplay is so well put together thanks to the skills and power upgrade trees that any skill level of player can get the most from this game depending on how deep you want to go into it. Come across a vault or enemy that is a bit of a challenge, simply improve the right skill or power in order to give yourself a fighting chance. Nothing really feels out of reach for very long but I do recommend focusing on one region at a time to get the most from it early on and to be prepared for the tougher challenges. Honestly, I just had so much fun with this game from the dialogue with characters and the story and the combat, puzzle solving and taking on the vaults that losing 60 hours on my first run through never felt like it was actually that long.

I did suffer some crashes to dashboard sadly on both Xbox One X and Xbox Series S and in the game itself some rewards for completing challenges and questlines failed to actually unlock for me but Ubisoft are aware and working on updates to address these but other than those minor things, overall, my time with Fenyx Rising quickly put this into my top five games of 2020 which says a lot with only a couple of weeks of the year actually left. This would make the perfect Christmas treat or a way to kick off the new 2021 gaming year because it is just a delight to play with more than enough content even before the season pass adds more to do in 2021.

Do not overlook this game and if you are a fan of big colourful worlds to explore with freedom to play as you like and a very satisfying experience, then just one more trip to Ubisoft’s Ancient Greece as Fenyx is definitely worth your time!

When it comes to the Call of Duty universe, because let’s be honest it is a universe level series now, my go to entry has always been Black Ops from Treyarch. In part because it has a campaign that is connected to a degree with each version and it always resonated with me far more as a shooter fan than the Modern Warfare side to the universe. So just as the next generation of consoles were releasing, what better element to Call of Duty verse would be their entry for this very busy time in gaming. It was time to go old school…..and give the Cold War the Call of Duty make over!

Starting with the campaign and I really enjoyed this entry into the series a lot as it felt being back on familiar ground after the far too close to home modern setting of the last Modern Warfare campaign, I can really do without fighting through a terrorist attack in my home time of London thanks. The campaign returns to the past, this time the 80s at the height of the Cold War era where there was a real time world threat of Nuclear war between the USA and Russia with you the player a member of a deep Black Ops off the board team put together by then President Ronald Reagan and tasked with putting an end to a plot to trigger that very same Nuclear War. Standard Call of Duty story telling you would think.

But where this campaign differs from everything else in the series is that there has been a real focus on growing the campaign beyond the usual short cut scene before going into a level and shooting and blowing things up before another short cutscene moves you along to the next mission. In Cold War, a real attempt has been made to make this a true interactive experience and thankfully more grounded in being a Spy than an ‘invincible no super but behaving like a super soldier’ hero. The story itself is very solid and uses the setting of the Cold War era of the 80s very well and it is the new elements that made this one of my favourite story campaigns yet. I appreciate that now the time between the action has far more to do as you move around your spy house talking to the other members of your team with actual dialogue trees to reply and ask questions to them, learning more about them and the story as it unfolds. I really liked that whilst your character name always remains the same, you can actually customise your character by deciding gender and appearance options before you start but you can also pick a background for your character that will actually decide what perks you will have access to in the campaign itself such as faster reloads.

This was all very surprising and I am truly hoping that this is the new style of story campaign, because it just adds so much to the experience and though the campaign can be considered as short, there are so many elements to it beyond just skipping cut scenes to get to the action. I love that collectibles are now actual evidence that you can investigate back at the safe house to unlock missions to take on giving an actual reason to seek them out in a level and even replay them if you miss. Interacting with other characters puts you the player into the story instead of just being a viewer of it until a gun is put in your hand. Even the fact the campaign has multiple endings depending on choice you make gives it a replayability I really like which almost makes up for the short length of the campaign. But it is a strong mode to have and feels less throw away than other recent game entries in the series.

Of course, the amazing Zombies mode makes its return with Black Ops Cold War and when this mode was first introduced, I never expected it to become a go to mode for me with my mates years later but it has and I still love it. It still feels like a bizarre tradition now for Black Ops but having become something I now actively look forward to teaming up with friends for it. There is an attempt at a story that links it to previous Zombies modes in previous games which is fun if you are a fan of the mode but it is just as forgettable if you are not. Some revisions have been made so that now every ten rounds you will get the opportunity to Exfiltrate, meaning that starting a game does not require your entire team dedicating an entire gaming session to focus on playing one session of Zombies. With the cross-mode progression, you can now use any unlocked weapon from the multiplayer in Zombies, work to levelling that gun up and then taking it back into the MP mode all ready with any attachments you have unlocked thus making Zombies a great way to not only have fun with friends but an active way to improve your MP loadouts. Zombies is still a fantastic bonus feature to any Black Ops game and has some nice surprises that I will not spoil so make sure this is a go to mode when you play Cold War because it Is worth it.

Naturally the bread and butter of any CoD game is the Multiplayer and for me, Black Ops has always been my preferred version of the MP. I prefer a faster more arcade experience with my CoD MP and there is a noticeable increase in the frantic speed of the MP in Cold War than last year’s Modern Warfare. I find the longer time to kill factor to be more satisfying for me personally although I know it is not the same for my squad. There is a real sense of bringing the feel back to the original Black Ops MP Experience, the maps have a more simplistic design compared to Modern Warfare, and all the traditional 6V6 modes work well on this more stripped back maps. There are new modes added this year with VIP Escort which relies on team work as one member is designated as the VIP and the others must ensure they get to the escape point alive whilst the other team try to stop you and killing the VIP. This is a mode that for me is very hit and miss especially if you go in with a team of randoms and I can quickly see this being one of the first game modes I actively untick from the matchmaking filter. Dirty Bomb just feels overly long and again, unless you are playing with friends happy to work together to complete the objectives, playing this mode with randoms is going to be frustrating instead of enjoyable so again, another to untick in the matchmaking filter for me.

Combined Arms, the 12V12 big map modes is the stand out match type I would say, they fill big but not enormous and with vehicles and various methods to traverse the maps, they are fun and you can tell that many of the Score Streaks were designed with Combined Arms in mind. In fact, some of the 6V6 maps are just sections of the bigger 12V12 maps. Not al the vehicles work great though and tanks and turret boats can feel OP if one team can dominate with them. Gunplay is still very satisfying what ever the mode but it can feel like everyone is using the same loadout which is a side effect of one of two problems the MP has at launch. There really is a limited number of maps and guns just before the first Season kicks in for Cold War MP. Now that said, it does only have one map less than Modern Warfare launched with last year and development would have been hit by the global git that is COVID to a degree, but even before the game launched, a lot was made about post launch content in new maps and guns and it is noticeable just how limited they both are for the MP which is why a lot of players are defaulting to using the same loadouts rather than experimenting with different guns to change their gameplay.

Performance wise and this has not been a smooth launch which to be fair was always likely as Cold War is having to balance a great many things outside of just the gameplay. Not only is the game featuring the now standard full optional crossplatform with PlayStation, Xbox and PC but it is also dealing with a cross generational feature as well with PS4 and Xbox One family of consoles also able to play with PS5 and Xbox Series family of console players. I have been hit with server issues, party member disconnecting and in the case of friends with PS5 or an Xbox Series X, random console shutdowns. Unfortunately I am one of the thousands who is currently on a waiting list to grab a PS5 and a Series X but I recently got an Xbox Series S and at 60FPS this feels nice and fluid and smooth so can only imagine what the PS5 and Xbox Series X can do with full 4K and 120FPS. Technical problems continue to be worked on with updates and just as the first “Season” is about to launch, new maps and weapons will be added across its life time.

Visually this game does look stunning in 4K but it also looks good on a regular PS4 and Xbox One, I play on an Xbox One X for 4K as well as a Series S and it looks and runs great so those who are still waiting to jump to the new gen consoles can still enjoy this visually and with the base game being cross gen, it means you can instantly jump up to the next generation of console gaming with Cold War right away at no extra charge. Whilst the launch has not been the smoothest, there is one annoyance that just continues to bug me….the size of the installed game. Right now, Cold War is sitting at an incredible 137GB on my Series S, a third of the usable memory size of my Series S in fact and 85GB on my Xbox One X. This as well as Warzone and last year’s Modern Warfare are just ridiculously taking up massive space on console storage which can hurt if you are yet to invest in external storage. Whilst it is unfair to compare this size to other games such as AC Valhalla which comes in at 45.5GB and even my pre-install of Cyberpunk 2077 comes in at just shy of 60GB and you have to wonder why the hell is Cold War so big which also means the updates are often pretty hefty as well.

Overall Black Ops Cold War is another solid chapter in the Black Ops series for Call of Duty with a campaign that is rewarding and refreshing and Zombies which is a fantastic distraction. The MP element though is where the weakness lands and I am not sure if it is enough to take you away from Modern Warfare or Warzone, the free to play battle royal Call of Duty experience though Cold War guns are coming to Warzone so you can benefit there if you do play Call of Duty. Time will tell how much the Seasonal content will add but right now, this is your standard yearly Call of Duty release which is helped by a short but very good campaign mode.

One for the Christmas list and definitely one to showcase the power of your PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X if you were lucky to get one but it has been a rocky launch for the game with technical issues still plaguing the online element that till need to be ironed out for this to be the enjoyment Treyarch wants you to have.