Ok so we are currently two weeks from the release of Call of Duty: WWII which takes the series full circle and back to its original roots by taking the action to the setting of World War II. I will be honest and I am someone who put the series down a few years ago just after they moved the series ‘Modern Warfare’ into the future which for me just turned it into a gimmicky mess that only served to show that Call of Duty had truly run out of ideas and was just a mess, so I stopped playing. But after the success Battlefield 1 had by returning to the First World War era, it was no surprise to see CoD follow suit. But it certainly has not been a smooth launch for the multiplayer at the very least and a recent big update has actually broken that side even more just a head of this putting this review to paper. So for now, I will be focusing on reviewing the story part of the game whilst giving my initial reactions to the multiplayer but the score itself will be ‘In Progress’ until the issues are resolved to give a more fair review.

So the D-Day landings have indeed featured in Call of Duty before in their early games, but it was Medal of Honour that did it first for me back in the days when I was a PC gamer mainly. I do remember the impact of experiencing this sequence in a game and how Call of Duty actually did it better. Now in 2017 with visuals and audio at their best quality yet, this whole sequence should be absolutely incredible. The opening ten minutes to the story campaign really sets the tone for what is about to happen, with the cut-scenes especially showing how brutal the Normandy landings would have been for the soldiers trying to get to the beach whilst Nazi coastal defenses rained down bullets and shells on their landing craft. The noise and action was visceral to say the least and if you are wearing a good quality headset you can actually hear shots whizzing past your head and seeing other soldiers being torn down and literally torn apart by enemy fire is immediately impactful on you.

But honestly, it was done better in the earlier games as the biggest issue I have with the campaign design appears for the first time and only gets worse going through the campaign. The story missions are far too linear and scripted and by that I mean all you really need to do is to get far enough forward in the mission in order to trigger the next sequence in the level. This is something I have issue with the CoD Campaign design for many games now with the pushing forward being more important then actually anything you shoot or feel like you are actually making things happen. Then you have the “CoD” moments which pretty much add crazy unbelievable moments pop into the levels that instantly take you out of the moment and wonder why the developers still think doing the Michael Bay thing is something that enhances the experience instead of just focusing on the gameplay being the driving force of the story telling. Too many times the story being told and the tone set by the cut-scenes is lost the second a ‘CoD’ moment is triggered. It is the same generic formula they have used in the story campaigns and I honestly expected and hoped for something different here, but sadly nothing.

The checkpoint system is also out of date for me, with the game at times literally putting a checkpoint a couple of seconds before you died which means should you have been at low health and surrounded by enemies at the moment you died, you will simply restart right before the moment giving you no opportunity to heal or to move out the way so it becomes a death loop forcing you to restart the whole level again, something which if you play on the higher difficulties like Veteran will test your patience to the limit. So much of this campaign is made up of so much that have made previous story campaigns so average in this series and the frustration that even now, with this game trying to reclaim what made the series such a powerhouse in the FPS genre that they still fall back to the same gimmicks and mechanics that are recognizable right away and ends up being just more of the same. The tone of the story, albeit very US focused rather than the Allied forces I come to think off with the World Wars, is solid and some very powerful moments are there but it fall into old habits way too much and some of the new elements such as chances to save a fellow soldier by stopping the attack on them or by dragging them to safety fall flat when they fail to work. This is a series that needs all three development teams to get together, put the old play book to bed and focus on taking this series forward in a new way and start showing some true innovation in terms of the story campaigns and beyond.

Which brings me right to the Multiplayer which is the true driving force of this series so much so there are no doubt many players who have not bothered to check out the story campaign at all, something else that the devs need to take on board. So now we have the new Head Quarters social hub which serves as the Call of Duty version of the Destiny Tower social hub except…it has not worked since release. Now the whole idea is that Normandy beach now serves as your Head Quarters with an army base set up on the beach and be populated with other players on that server when you join. You can collect daily orders which set challenges to complete in the various modes to earn rewards, check out the leaderboard of 1V1 scores with other players in the Head Quarters…if it worked…..but it is also the place for perhaps the most inane aspect to the multiplayer, the social loot boxes.

Loot boxes right now are the bane of gamers no matter what platform or game they are playing. It can either be a sign of micro-transactions or a progression inhibitor leading to a pay to win element to the game. Here loot boxes are a reward for reaching a new level or completing a task or order and they can contain anything from XP boosts to cosmetic uniforms for the various divisions or classes in the game. The whole idea, which just makes me roll my eyes, is that you call in a loot box which is then air dropped right in front of you then releasing 3 player cards with the rewards. Now if other players are around you they are unable to interact with your loot box but they will be able to see what your rewards are with the hope they will be inspired to work towards their own boxes. At this moment of writing the only way to bring players into your HQ area is by inviting friends to join you and a fix is actively being worked on as well as a solution to the current server issues causing the game to revert back to the P2P connection instead of dedicated servers. This alone is why right now this is more of first impressions than a full review of the MP.

So the modes themselves are pretty familiar for the series with only the new mode War taking any real centre stage. War is essentially ‘CoD does Battlefield’s Rush Mode’ and is an objective based mode which sees one side defend and the other team attacking in a multi stage battle. Whilst this is really nothing we have not seen before it is a sign that the developers are looking at the competition to see what is popular and adding it to the CoD arsenal. This is the more enjoyable mode for me and is a great addition even if it is nothing really original. Currently with the server problems the MP is very frustrating as at the conclusion of the match you will often be disconnected and put back in the HQ. The lag within matches can be just as terrible as it has been in recent years when relying on the P2P method which just makes it no fun at all at certain times of the day with other EU connections.

So first impressions of the MP gameplay itself are quite average right now. Whilst I relish the fact all the futuristic nonsense has been dumped in favour of returning to a more traditional FPS setting, the speed at which the gameplay is still feels overly arcadey and loose for me. There are literally times when after being killed, and having put half a clip of ammo into that player, the kill cam will not show any of my shots hitting at all whilst my game gave me the sound of each hit. Also being put into matches with other players of higher levels and therefore with access to stronger weapons can make it a deeply unsatisfying experience when you are taking out so cheaply. I did find that the re-spawning can be really annoying as well with those I take out somehow spawning right nearby giving them the revenge advantage.

Prestige plays a part more than ever with each division, weapon and player being able to Prestige now with new benefits added each time you do. Weapon attachments are earned the more you use a weapon including new camouflage skins for completing certain challenges with that weapon and it does give you more to do progression wise and when you prestige a weapon, which removes all attachments earned, getting them back takes very little time so there is no real penalty for taking it to a new prestige level. Calling cards and emblems are back with some nice animated calling cards which I like although already seen some example of the more darker side to the CoD Community in how they use the emblem editor to create offensive emblems though you can use the reporting system to flag such emblems and players but perhaps it is time to take away the editor.

With the current problems as a result of the recent attempt to address the issues with the game, the MP is definitely a mess right now to really give it a fair score. But I will say that it still feels like CoD in its pacing and annoyances and the fact that just like the story campaign no real innovation or attempts to take the series forward can be seen within the MP. I can play it and enjoy it but honestly nothing so far makes it a must play MP experience as a shooter. I will revisit this review once the current issues have been resolved enough to score it but right now my first impressions are just that its average and ok but certainly not great. CoD fans will no doubt enjoy it but for me I was hoping for more from it.

So right now Call of Duty WW2 is a very mixed bag and where I feel that it has done the right thing going back to an era without sci-fi shenanigans and doing a series reset but it certainly does not make the leap forward that say the same move by Battlefield 1 managed to accomplish. The story campaign is fine but nothing special and serves to highlight that by playing it safe and sticking to their now routine gameplay style, this series is still stuck in the mud and whilst the story itself has an interesting tone it also undoes some of its good work by doing the CoD thing.

MP wise where the real bread and butter of this game lies is currently rather messy with issues from launch day still having an effect on the game. The devs have only just noticed and announced that all players have mistakenly had double XP since release which has now been turned off making progression feel slower but more natural. The server issues and empty HQ just remind me that all is not right and then once in the modes themselves I am then reminded of the very annoyances that made me put this series to bed three games ago. I do hope that with the online element fixed and more time getting to grips with the speed of the gameplay I can start to enjoy it more but much like the story mode, it is more a case of being just fine and average but lacks anything to really make it stand out from its rivals other than Zombie Nazis which is still a really fun horde mode and great with friends but is not enough to make this a must have title.

I was not expecting much when heading back into the Call of Duty series but I was hoping for a better experience and delivery of the game then I have experienced. I will be revisiting this once the current problems have been address with the next update as I feel that two big updates post release should be more than enough to get the game stable for a review score but as it stands, I am left feeling just whelmed by it all and all the problems it is suffering right now has certainly not helped.

*Update: Final Review Thoughts*

In finalizing this review score I returned to the campaign to see if it would resonate with me any further as well as checking out the fixes to the Multiplayer to see if felt any better or improved enough since I wrote my first ‘in progress’ view. Whilst I kind of enjoyed the campaign a little more it still felt like standard on the rails call of Duty story telling and experience. The Multiplayer with dedicated servers activated again feels a lot more stable but I am still not enjoying it for the reasons I started above and now CoD Points, micro-transactions that allow the use of real world money to be used to buy in game currency that can then be used to buy loot-crates has finally launched after having been delayed due to launch issues.

But issues still remain even this far from launch, the Head Quarters is still a solitary area unless you invite people o you HQ which defeats the point of a social hub, gameplay is still loose and annoying. This all leaves the game feeling less like a step forwards for the series by going back to its roots and instead more of the same things that made me put the series down and still suffering from bugs and errors even after a conscious effort to fix the problems since launch. So sadly I am still looking for that CoD title that rekindles why I loved the series for so many years but right now, it just is not my cup of tea.

There is some truth to the old adage ‘Too much of a good thing’ and in gaming the months leading into Christmas are as I like to call it, the ‘Silly Season’ in video gaming where multiple big AAA titles are released on a weekly basis from huge blockbuster shooters to RPGs and sports titles. But this year there is a very welcome surprise for Xbox players in the form of  Super Lucky’s Tale and even better is the fact it is an actual Xbox Exclusive….remember those?

I have always said that the Xbox One platform and now the Xbox One X, has needed more exclusives and not just focusing on their main big hitters like Forza, Gears of War or even HALO. With so many genres of gaming out there, some effort to reach into them and create new and fresh titles for Xbox players to enjoy always seems to be an afterthought with the main peeps up in the Xbox Towers. So when Super Lucky’s Tale was shown at this year’s E3 Xbox briefing it instantly grabbed my attention. I loved the colourful platformers of yesteryear like Spyro the Dragon, Crash Bandicoot and Mario but the Xbox has been very slow to delve into this genre. These games can be fun and challenging and a really nice alternative to the more mature titles of shooters and sports games out this time of year.

We are first introduced to Lucky thanks to an opening cinematic narrated by Lucky’s sister Lyra who explains that her family are adventurers known as Guardians and on her return from her own adventure to find the powerful ‘Book of Ages’, is set upon by the evil Jinx and his family gang known as the Kitty Litter. The Book of Ages suddenly springs to life and sucks in all those around it but Lucky then pushes his sister out of the way and is transported inside the book. This book has the power to change reality and now Lucky must become the Guardian he has longed to be and defeat the evil Jinx and his family to save the book and also return home.

What hits you right away is just how bright and colourful the world of Super Lucky’s Tale is with a very cute animation style and character designs that instantly make you smile just to be in that world. It welcomes the player in right away, makes them feel at home and hits you with the full on cuteness from the very moment you take control of Lucky. As you start running and jumping around the opening tutorial area you really transported into this world and it is a world that is definitely aimed for a younger audience but as a grown up, I could not help but smile whilst playing this. The music and audio compliment the visuals so well with really smooth fun animation of the world and those in it that it is just a really charming place to be.

Control wise well there is nothing really groundbreaking here and everything is kept very simple for easy to pick up gameplay. Lucky can jump and double jump and can spin to use his tail to whack enemies who can also be defeated by jumping on their head. Lucky is a 3D platformer game but the different levels have a nice variety in that some will even switch to 2D side scrolling or rather nice if simple puzzle mini-games for the player to solve. There are four worlds for Lucky to work through and each on has one of the Kitty Litter serving as the boss for that world. Levels are locked out until Lucky collects the right amount of 4 leaf clovers in order to progress further. There are 99 Clovers in total to collect but only 80 are needed to trigger the end game and boss fight, with four ways of obtaining clovers. The first is the natural completion of that level whilst the other three focus on the collect everything side of traditional side to this genre of gaming such as collecting 300 gold coins will give you a clover, solving the mystery of the level and finding all the letters that spell out ‘Lucky’. Progression can be delayed until you collect enough Clovers to open more levels and especially later on you will certainly need to revisit previous levels in order to find the clovers you may have missed. This can feel a little grindy as returning to a level will see all of its enemies, coins and dialogue with characters return but there is certainly quite a lot to do in this game which with a completion time between 6-8 hours is really good value when you consider the pricing for Super Luck’s Tale at only £19.99 both digital and physical.

As wonderful as I found the game it certainly does have some issues starting with the camera, which annoyingly for a game set mainly in a 3D environment is astoundingly locked to just three angles. With the right stick you can move the camera to the left, centre and the right to help see what is in front of Lucky as he tries to navigate the 3D environment but it never really feels natural and more often than not, it is a nuisance not being able to a free 360 rotation on the camera. What makes this even more of an issue are the clumsy controls especially when you have to time your jumps to get past an obstacle, reach a higher platform or even just to judge the jump to take out an enemy. The sheer number of times I thought I had lined up the perfect jump only to either end up missing the enemy completely or to just fall off the edge to my death is enough for me to really pray that an update addresses this. To make it worse, when Lucky does die the onscreen lives counter with a very unhappy and shocked face of Lucky before you respawn is heartbreaking to see each time.

But with all that said, quite frankly Super Lucky’s Tale is just super fun to play and again, the pricing of it makes it accessible to so many that as someone who grew up with this genre of gaming, to have one finally on the Xbox One, even with its more annoying issues is still a joy. This is exactly what Microsoft and Xbox need to be doing, focusing on bringing such games like Super Lucky’s Tale to console to broaden their line up of exclusives. I love the story and simplicity that makes it so easy to pick up and play for gamers of all skill levels and ages and it really is just a breath of fresh air and a reason to smile and feel some genuine happy joyful moments whilst playing.

Though Super Lucky’s Tale is far from the perfect polished game it really should have been on release, the smiles from playing it outnumber the issues it has and for just £19.99 it is a superb game to end the gaming year with and it truly is something the Xbox platform both needed and needs more of going forward.

The Wolfenstein series is certainly something very special indeed and when it was brought back into modern times with ‘The New Order’ and ‘The Old Blood’ it absolutely woke up an other wise stagnant First Person Shooter genre with a firm kick up the backside. That said, from a story point of view I really could not see where the series could go next in terms of story with the shocking ending to The New Order which saw our main hero and all round “haha Doomguy needs armour” hero William ‘B.J.’ Blazkowicz sacrifice himself to save his team and put an end to the evil Deathshead. But of course this is Wolfenstein so anything is possible for Terror Billy!

When you are someone who grew up to remember actually playing the very first titles in the Wolfenstein, to play the now modern counterparts is always a treat. The first 30 minutes of those titles not only set the tone but instantly put you back into the world with a bang and Wolfenstein 2: The New Colossus is no exception as the story quickly picks up with William being rescued by his friends as the Deathshead Fortress is finally blown up. However our hero is in a very sorry state indeed and we catch up with William who was placed in a coma for five months to help him recover, waking up to find Anya very heavily pregnant and being told that the only way to save his life was to remove several of his vital organs leaving him basically…broken.

So what can you do when your main hero is now really physically unable to continue the fight, a fight against the Nazi’s who for those unaware that Wolfenstein is set in an alternative timeline where the Nazi’s basically won WW2 after they dropped an Atom bomb on America stopping them from joining the allies and now dominate the world. Well to my astonishment the game handles this in a very simple way. With William now confined to a wheelchair all you have to do to put him back in the fight is to just…well….give him a gun. The opening to the game literally has William fighting Nazis in a wheelchair and just let that sink in, William rolling about a ship taking out Nazis like a boss.

This is just one of many incredible batshit crazy moments in the game which I have no intention of spoiling for any readers but believe me, some of the most standout gaming moments of this year came from playing this game. The cinematic cut-scenes also play a much bigger role this time for me as we see life for the resistance unfold in-between the missions featuring some of the best writing and voice acting this genre has seen in years quite frankly. Now some FPS which have a very serious story-line in their main campaign do put that extra effort into cut scenes that drive the story forward but in The New Colossus, there is just so much going on in them with visual slap stick humour to very on the nose language and dialogue exchanges that each one ends up being something rather special. I had so many laugh out loud moments and I mean eye watering belly laughing with some of the cut scenes which just have no business being as good in an FPS but that extra effort instantly make this the benchmark for such things.

It should also be said that despite the slapstick humour blended into the story telling, it also very much about dealing with strong and powerful cultural themes when it comes to the Nazis and the time setting of the 1960s. The language used at times is very much unforgiving with certain scenes actually making me feel a little uncomfortable at times with racism an underlining theme threaded throughout the story when the main villainous Nazi characters get an opportunity to talk away. The violence itself is often very graphic but unlike in DOOM when tearing apart hell spawn and demons makes it rather video gamey, here it is very much in your face and visceral at times. But it is all in line with the tone of the story and series and though at times it can be close to disturbing levels of brutality and language, it never glorifies or celebrates it to any real extent and to see just how dangerous and abhorrent a Nazi ran world would be certainly delivers a message to the player and audience.

Gameplay wise little has really changed from the previous games at its core, though new special abilities are available later in the game to change it up a little. You can still dual wield weapons whilst using upgrade kits to improve weapons as you progress. I do feel that the recent DOOM has certainly had an influence here as to me at least, The New Colossus has moments which entice you and even to an extent force you to go full on “Two Guns time” in fights where the enemy comes at you think and fast and the only real way to survive the encounter is to just grab two guns and throw down in a fight. I did feel that the stealth side to the gameplay is sacrificed at points with certain sections deliberately making it close to impossible to go full stealth either because the slightest noise will alert everyone around including the Officer who will just raise the alarm anyway. I do love how the music, much like in DOOM, starts to build up to the point the action really kicks in and there are plenty of set pieces throughout the story that are just exhilarating but there are times when the game does decide to just screw you over either by swarming you with enemies or just ramping up the difficulty at that very moment. These can break the flow and stop you in your tracks until you finally win the fight and I did have a few ragey moments as a result.

Collectibles are everywhere and you will need more than a couple of play-throughs to grab them all, but for me the surprising highlight has to be the Enigma Machine, which by using the codes dropped by killing Officers to decrypt signals, will highlight high value target locations on each of areas you play-through during the game. Now I only really looked into this once I had completed the main story but to find out I still had more to do was an awesome surprise and I just love the additional gameplay of finding these targets and taking them out. With no Multiplayer, everything is centred on given as much single player content to do and there is so much to do even before the planned DLC content arrives which at time of writing has already started to release.

Wolfenstein 2: The New Colossus is easily my favourite shooter of 2017, it just ticks so many boxes for me and managed to both continue and improve on the series which for me as I said above, I honestly thought was done with The New Order. There is always something to do and the story itself of trying to ignite a revolution in the now Nazi controlled America is refreshing with some amazing moments threaded throughout. To have even more things to do once the main story is completed is just icing on the cake but this game delivered on a whole new level I genuinely did not expect it to. This has to go in your collection if you are an FPS fan and if like me you are a fan of Wolfenstein, this game delivers everything you would want, hope for and need from the series.

I just cannot recommend this game more, it left me breathless at times despite Hulk level rage moments but also true smiles and laugh out loud moments that instantly made me jump back into the action once the very epic end game credits finished, and is without doubt one of my top five games of 2017!