We have an infographic for Independence Day Resurgence looking at how the technology has changed from 1996 to 2016.
INDEPENDENCE DAY: RESURGENCE is released on 4K Ultra HD, 3D Blu-ray, Blu-ray and DVD 14th November and Digital HD on the 31st October.
Prepare for the latest advancements in Goat Simulation in one of the largest Goat Simulator Experiences yet! In collaboration with Coffee Stain Studio and Double Eleven, Deep Silver has announced that Goat Simulator: The Bundle is now available to purchase on PlayStation 4 at retail for £15.99/€19.99/$19.99.
Goat Simulator: The Bundle brings next-gen goat simulation to you! Fantasize about being a goat no more, your dreams have finally been answered in this retail bundle for PlayStation 4. Not only does the collection contain the original Goat Simulator game, it also includes both DLC add-ons MMO simulator & GoatZ. Embark on an epic adventure with up to 5 different playable classes in the MMO Simulator add-on, or survive the zombie apocalypse while exploring an entirely new map and crafting items in the GoatZ add-on.
Gameplay-wise, Goat Simulator is all about causing as much destruction as you possibly can as a goat. Think of it like an old-school skating game, except instead of being a skater, you’re a goat. And instead of doing tricks, you wreck stuff, as a goat!
Key Features:
Bethesda Softworks, today announced Dishonored 2 is now available for the Xbox One, PlayStation 4 and PC. Dishonored 2 is a first-person action game developed at Arkane Studios, and the follow-up to the 2012 ‘Game of the Year’, Dishonored.
“We’re thrilled to announce that Dishonored 2 is now available worldwide. The project was a labor of love, and it makes us incredibly happy to craft this kind of experience for our players,” said Arkane Studios’ co-creative director, Harvey Smith. “Whether you’re #TeamEmily or #TeamCorvo, thank you for your time and your passion. We hope you love the game as much as we do.”
Reprise your role as a supernatural assassin in Dishonored 2, the next chapter in the award-winning Dishonored series which won more than 100 ‘Game of the Year’ Awards. When Delilah, a mad witch armed with powerful black magic, seizes the throne the fate of your Empire is left hanging in the balance, how far will you go to hunt down your enemies – and take back what’s yours? As either Empress Emily Kaldwin or Corvo Attano, marked of the Outsider and gifted powerful new supernatural abilities, travel beyond the legendary streets of Dunwall to Karnaca – a once-dazzling coastal city that holds the key to restoring Emily to power and forever altering the fate of the Empire.
Get ready for a breathtaking encounter with a whole new reality in Crytek’s Robinson: The Journey – out now for PlayStation VR.
Combining the power of PS VR and Crytek’s CRYENGINE technology, Robinson: The Journey invites players to step into a sci-fi world full of adventure, secrets, and dinosaurs. Playing as Robin, a boy stranded in the unmapped territory of Tyson III – gamers’ resourcefulness will be put to the test as they search for survivors of a doomed space voyage alongside AI unit HIGS and baby T-Rex Laika.
With each step, they’ll discover just how hostile their surroundings truly are and unravel the engrossing storyline at the heart of the living, breathing VR world they find themselves in.
I think it’s fair to say that, not many games have received the same level of crushing pressure than Infinite Warfare. Not only have the developers had to wrestle with its YouTube campaign trailer’s titanic down-voting, but also the incredibly strong competition too. Enormous giants of the genre such as Battlefield 1 and Titanfall 2 don’t come around too often; for Call of Duty’s sake, this year isn’t exactly the most ideal for their timing. Gone are the days where fans would simply welcome a new Call of Duty with open arms. The community wanted significant changes in the series, turns out they weren’t particularly fond of them, and are therefore now demanding it returns to its roots.
Judging by Black Ops 3’s success last year, it’s of no surprise that Infinite Warfare has taken a few inspirations from their formula. Gliding, sliding and wall running all feature in both the campaign and multiplayer segments. As do the inevitably included supply drop style crates. Somewhat surprisingly however, is the third segment of content, which as a first for Infinity Ward, is none other than Zombies. Before that though, you’ll likely want to jump into what is probably Infinite Warfare’s best content, the campaign.
Following the story of Captain Reyes, Infinity Ward has set up the campaign in what they claim as a ‘plausible future’. After the colonisation of the solar system, the human race has, somewhat expectedly, split into differing factions. The two prevalent ones being, Earth’s United Nations Space Alliance (UNSA) and Mars’s Settlement Defence Front. Splitting off during a war years ago, The Front, and its radicalised followers are led by the fanatical leader, Admiral Kotch. Toughened by years of living on environmentally hostile planets, their feelings of superiority and self-worth are apparently more than enough reason to wage war against Earth’s finest.
We join the plot in the latter stages of its arch; what with Call of Duty gameplay being rather well suited to explosive finales, it tends to work well for the resolution! However the downside being that we lose out on a lot of exposition that would do the narrative a world of good. The short amount of time we get with each character, be they antagonistic or not, sadly never feels quite enough. The select few we do get to spend some time with, gratefully tend to steal the scenes however. Ethan, or ETH.3n as he’s (it’s) more accurately known, is by far the most charismatic character on offer, which errs on the side of irony, what with it being a robot and all. The voice work and delivery of the characters is mainly spot on and pretty much always convey emotion and feelings; however it’s the high profile faces where things slightly differ.
Kit Harrington’s Admiral Koch feels a little too one dimensional for the prolific actor he is; despite his face being excellently well rendered, his seeming lack of emotion makes his limited scenes fall a tad flat. On the topic of limited scenes, spotting the notorious Connor McGregor, outside one of the initial cutscenes anyway, unfortunately takes a little work. On the plus side, there’s always the bewildering inclusion of a certain Mr Hamilton. Not that it detracts from the gameplay at all, it’s just an odd situation to be in, where you have to pause your game and wonder if Lewis Hamilton just spoke to you on your spaceship.
Whereas CoD’s basic premise of, ‘go over there and shoot baddies’, hasn’t particularly changed, there are some truly stand out moments during the campaign that have been missing in the past. Once you get a few missions in, you’ll open up a galaxy map, wherein you’ve got the option to pursue some side quests. It may not exactly rock the world of gaming, but having optional things to do in a Call of Duty campaign felt fresh. Mission design has also been greatly improved too; with essentially three different archetypes during the game. There’s of course, the classic run around and occasionally boost jump your way to victory type. Also, in the same vein as Call of Duty Ghost’s early space mission, there’re some zero gravity battles where you’ll use floating debris and asteroids for cover, and if this weren’t enough, there are several fully fledged dog fighting missions too. Yep, you’ll pilot your Jackal (spaceship) in some surprisingly intense battles; you’ll take down destroyers, engage with other fighters and generally be a flying ace. It’s a bold move to include something so radically different into a CoD title, but it pays off, it not only breaks up the pace, but shows the team can do other things too. It wouldn’t be a huge leap from IW’s campaign to something akin to an RPG.
Once you’ve run through the campaign, there’s the small matter of the competitive multiplayer to delve into. In regards to your enjoyment of it, this’ll largely depend upon your feelings of last year’s jumpathon, Black Ops 3. Much like BO3, Infinite Warfare’s movement system is very much ‘3D’. Boost jumps, slides and wall runs are all par for the course here and in order to compete, you’ll pretty much have to join in. Much like the Specialists of last year, the multiplayer features ‘Rigs’ this time around. Each Rig is home to three, mostly offensive, abilities to pick from which’ll charge over the course of the match; on top of this, you can also pick one of three passive traits too. The now usual pick ten system returns as well, allowing you to create a loadout of perks, weapons and attachments tailored to your own strengths and abilities.
For better or worse, weapon variants are back in a sense; regarded as ‘prototypes’, each has a different level of rarity, being either common, rare, legendary or epic. Whilst you can receive these randomly from opening supply drops, you can also (very slowly) work your way towards crafting them yourself using Salvage. Unfortunately purchasing them this way, unless something changes, is going to take an untold amount of time. After prestiging and levelling up one of the four factions to its maximum level, I still don’t have nearly enough to purchase just one of the many epic variants. This really has to change in order to realistically build up a decent collection of weapons. Another way to acquire some decent variants, as well as calling cards, camos and other cosmetic items is through the ‘Mission Teams’. With four different teams to choose from, they’ll task you with completing a small objective during each game to level them up. Whether it’s getting headshots, kills whilst crouching, kills with certain rigs etc. It’s a nice addition that can help break some potential monotony, on top of grabbing some extra loot too.
Maps are generally smaller than you might expect, creating many opportunities for being shot in the back, of which we all enjoy! But after getting to know them a little better, staying out of the hot spots becomes a little easier. Whilst it’s very reminiscent of Black Ops 3’s offering, there are some quality of life improvements that’re very much appreciated. For example, instead of getting caught on, and pushed around by teammates, you’ll now sort of, slip past them instead. Another notable feature for anyone who plays Hardcore, is that the accidental team damage now thankfully ricochets back on to you. Finally meaning that, gone are the days of teammates killing you and pinching your care packages!
Once you’ve exhausted the campaign and become stressed at the online multiplayer, there’s now a new, for Infinity Ward at least, Zombies mode. Playing quite a lot like one of Treyarch’s finest, Zombies In Space doesn’t exactly take itself too seriously. Set in the 80’s, you’ll play as one of four stereotypical archetypes such as the ‘jock’ or ‘nerd’ and of course battle through an assortment of themed enemies. Disco zombies, exploding squeaky clowns and more await you in Hasselhoff’s theme park, there’re retro arcade games to play, guns to rank up and of course, easter eggs to solve. On top of some truly excellent music that DJ ‘Hoff treats you to, the vibrant 80’s theme runs throughout. Neon pinks and purples adorn stages and walkways, whilst the shambling hordes are dressed for the party of a lifetime.
The graphics in general are as always, some of the best around, the facial capturing and animations are something to behold, and the lack of a generic loading screen between missions makes a welcome change. The art style itself works incredibly well too, a rescue mission comes to mind where due to how quickly the asteroid you’re on is spinning, the day/night cycle is reduced to minutes. On top of how visually stunning this looks, this same level is also home to a decidedly atmospheric section at the start which is more than capable of raising the hairs on the back of your neck.
Packed with, by far the best campaign in recent years, an incredibly solid Zombies mode and multiplayer that’s very (although perhaps overly) similar to last year’s Black Ops 3, Infinite Warfare is more than worth a try. In terms of multiplayer, I’d say that the salvage is far too slow to earn and the time to kill is a little on the quick side too, however it’s also much better in Hardcore modes than recent entries. If you enjoyed Black Ops 3, you’ll probably get along with IW’s multiplayer, if you’re into Zombies’ modes; you’ll almost certainly find something to like, and if you’re a fan of solid, refined single player content, you’ll love the campaign.
Get ready to take a step back into the past and relive past gaming glories, or discover a generation of classic titles anew, with the Nintendo Classic Mini: Nintendo Entertainment System, launching in the UK today. Nintendo newcomers and NES veterans alike can enjoy the classics of yesteryear, complete with new features such as high-definition visual modes and multiple save points.
The Nintendo Classic Mini: Nintendo Entertainment System features 30 titles from Nintendo’s iconic NES console such as Donkey Kong, Metroid, The Legend of Zelda, and Super Mario Bros. 3 Each title can be displayed at 60Hz via the included HDMI cable. Players can display the action in the 4:3 aspect ratio used by the original NES console, in the new Pixel Perfect mode where each pixel is a correct square on the TV, or like it was back in the day on a CRT TV with the Classic visual filter. Progress on each title can be saved at any time, meaning that the days of losing passwords and progress are a thing of the past. With up to four Suspend Points available per game, multiple players in a household can save their game progress, or solo players can enjoy the flexibility of saving at various points throughout their play through.
Whether it’s rediscovering an old favourite or experiencing the joy of NES for the first time, the collection of included NES titles should have something for all players, with legendary adventures, iconic platforming and beloved arcade classics.
The included titles are:
At a time when Donald Trump is involved in countless scandals and has even gone as far to suggest building a wall between the US and Mexico, DESIERTO, is a timely and thrilling survival film exploring the side of human nature many shy away from. DESIERTO, has arrived on DVD, EST and VOD and we are giving you the chance to win a DVD copy!
Directed by Gravity writer, Jonas Cuaron, DESIERTO features a fantastic cast led by the BAFTA nominated, Gael García Bernal (The Motorcycle Diaries, Y Tu Mamá También) and The Walking Dead’s Jeffrey Dean.
The film follows Moises (Gael García Bernal) as he and a small group of immigrants attempt to travel across the Mexico border on foot, seeking a new and better life in the US. They are discovered by a lone American vigilante, Sam (Jeffrey Dean Morgan), and a frantic chase begins. Set against a stunningly brutal landscape, Moises and Sam engage in a lethal match of wits, each desperate to survive and escape the desert that threatens to consume them.
Watch the trailer here:
https://youtube.com/watch?v=k-crYU60s8U
We have three copies of Kill the King to giveaway on Blu-ray.
All you have to do to be in with a chance of winning is to enter below:
The contest ends at 12.00AM on Saturday 26th November 2016.
© 2016 Altitude. Entertainment Inc. All rights reserved.
To celebrate the DVD and Blu-ray release of Kill the King, we have three copies to give away on Blu-ray.
Veteran actor Burt Reynolds lends his voice to narrate a love story like no other; where Emily Browning plays Southern Belle Karen Bird (Sucker Punch, Legend) and Luke Grimes plays Jack Blueblood (Fifty Shades of Grey, Taken 2), a raging ball of fire, who both meet whilst committed to the Second Chances mental facility. The two fall madly in love and embark on a mission, to kill the King of Rock and Roll; Elvis Presley played by Ron Livingston (Boardwalk Empire, Sex and the City) who is in Los Angeles with wife Priscilla Presley played by Ashley Greene (The Twilight Saga, Rogue).
Karen and Jack’s bond is immediate and passionate as they quickly fall in love. Upon Karen being mistreated by the resident doctor, Jack loses all control and kills not only the doctor, but anyone else who gets in their way as they escape the facility to head across the country to fulfill their destinies – to assassinate Elvis.
Along the way, they swing through the North Dakota reservation where Jack grew up, grabbing his only friend Teijo (Avan Jogia), a young man whose one wish is to become a woman, in tow and continue their journey of bloodshed en route to its ultimate climax in the city of dreams, Los Angeles.
We have three copies of Kill the King to giveaway on Blu-ray.
All you have to do to be in with a chance of winning is to enter below:
The contest ends at 12.00AM on Saturday 26th November 2016.
Kill The King is available on Blu-ray, DVD and Digital Download on 14th November, courtesy of UPHE Content Group.
Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment and Monolith Productions have today announced that the Middle-earth: Shadow of Mordor Game of the Year Edition is available now on the PlayStation 4 Pro.
Now Players can relive Mordor at 4K resolution, offering a seamless 30FPS experience, which takes advantage of dynamic resolution scaling during the most graphically intense moments.
Ubisoft announced that Operation Red Crow, the fourth major update for Tom Clancy’s Rainbow Six Siege will be available on November 17th for Xbox One, Sony PlayStation 4 and Windows PC. In line with the studio’s commitment to provide new post-launch content for the game and complete the Year One road map, this content update introduces a free new map and new gameplay features. Once again two new Operators will be available for Season Pass holders on November 17th and for all players on November 24th.
Celebrate Red Crow’s Launch with a Free Weekend
Ubisoft also announced that Tom Clancy’s Rainbow Six Siege will be available for free from November 10th to 13th, for the first time on PlayStation 4, as well as on Windows PC via Uplay and Steam.
In the lead up to the fourth major update, the Rainbow Six community remains strong and continues to increase with more people playing Tom Clancy’s Rainbow Six Siege than there were at launch. There is no better time to join the strong community of more than 10 million players and discover Tom Clancy’s Rainbow Six Siege firsthand.
The New Skyscraper Map and Two New Japanese S.A.T. Operators
In Operation Red Crow, the Skyscraper map is perched high above the streets of Nagoya, Japan, where Operators have to neutralise an organised crime threat within a Yakuza-filled mansion. Two Japanese Special Assault Team (S.A.T.) Operators, Hibana and Echo, have been enlisted to suppress this menace:
· Hibana is an expert at gaining entry in high risk areas thanks to her explosive leadership on the field. She is equipped with the SuperNova and Type-89 as primary weapons, allowing for rapid movement and providing precise room-to-room clearings.
· Echo, a tactical and technology-driven Operator, is also equipped with the SuperNova, along with the MP5SD4 as primary weapons, allowing him to proceed rapidly and precisely in Close Quarter Battle contexts.
Season Pass owners will benefit from seven days of exclusive access to these new Operators, while all other players will be able to unlock them with their Renown or R6 Credits after the exclusive period.
Further details on the content of Operation Red Crow will be unveiled during the Rainbow Six Pro League Season 3 Finals livestream, which will include the first live demo of the new DLC. To get an exclusive first look at Operation Red Crow, tune in to the livestream at 4:45pm on Sunday, November 13th here: https://www.twitch.tv/rainbow6
The Rainbow Six Pro League Season 3 Finals will be held on November 12th and 13th at the ESL Studios in Katowice, Poland where the top Tom Clancy’s Rainbow Six Siege players will gather and compete for a $150.000 total prize-pool.
Microsoft has announced Clubs, Looking for Group, Achievement Rarity, Group Messaging and more will start to roll out to the broader community on Xbox One and the Xbox app on Windows 10, iOS, and Android devices. With this update, Xbox Live becomes even more social as we unite gamers across devices, giving you access to more people to play with that share your interests and more choice in how you play. The update also builds upon our vision to foster a welcoming experience on Xbox Live where everyone is included, respected, and supported. The updates start on Xbox One consoles and the Xbox app today. Haven’t downloaded or used the Xbox app yet? Windows 10 PC and mobile owners, just look in your apps. Android owners get it here; iOS owners get it here.
These new features have been in the Preview programme alongside Arena on Xbox Live. At the moment Xbox is planning to keep Arena in Preview to ensure it works correctly.
Here are some of the new features rolling out to Xbox Live on Xbox One and the Xbox app starting today:
· Clubs on Xbox Live. Clubs are gamer-created and managed groups that can help you meet people and grow communities of gamers who love the same things you do. Anyone can join or create a Club, and you’ll probably see a Club for just about everything. If you do not, creating a Club is quick and easy.
As a Club member, you’ll be able to set up parties, play games, share content, and easily communicate using voice and text chat with the Club across Xbox One and the Xbox app on Windows 10, iOS, and Android devices, which is great if you want to stay in touch with your Clubs on the go, or find and join new Clubs from your phone. You can search for Clubs (or create your own) in the Community tab on Xbox One and the Clubs section on other devices, and Clubs associated with a game will be accessible in the title’s Game Hub. As a Club admin, you’ll have the tools to ensure that everyone is having a great time and help create a lively and inclusive environment.
Looking for Group on Xbox Live. Looking for Group (LFG) helps you quickly find other players that you want to game with. It’s like posting a gaming “want-ad” to the Xbox community. You can use LFG to help complete daily quests, Achievement hunt, or even get a group together to annihilate hordes of the Swarm and DeeBees in Gears of War 4. You’ll be able to add certain requirements to make sure that you’re finding the right gamers. You can specify the game, the game mode, the language the party will be speaking, how many people you need, rules like no trash talking or casual friendly, and any other in-game requirements like level, gear or character type.
Here’s how LFG works: gamers can browse open LFGs and request to join the ones that they’re interested in. The LFG host chooses from the list of gamers who have expressed interest and, once the group is full or the host is ready, the host can quickly get those people into party chat and start playing. You can even create an LFG post for future gaming sessions. For example, if you’re on your way home and want to make the most of your gaming for the night, you can set up everything in advance from your phone, so when you’re home and ready to go, you can just jump right in. You can even schedule a post-up to seven days in advance!
Quick and easy. Whether you’re playing on Xbox One or Windows 10 PC, you can quickly find other gamers to play with on Xbox Live.
Achievement Rarity. Achievement Rarity, a top fan request on Xbox Feedback, helps you discover just how unique an Achievement is among players of a given game. When you earn a rare Achievement, you’ll get a special notification and diamond icon highlighting it.
Group Messaging on Xbox Live. Group Messaging helps you coordinate and keep in touch with your friends and fellow gamers by sending a single group message to everyone in a single conversation. You can also add people to the group and dynamically change the conversation topic. Group Messaging works across Xbox One and the Xbox app on Windows 10, iOS, and Android devices. To help you write your messages even faster on Xbox One, we have added a new predictive dictionary which you can quick access with the right thumb stick on your controller.
Gamerscore Leaderboard. We’ve improved the Gamerscore Leaderboard on Xbox One and the Xbox app on Windows 10 devices. The Leaderboard now resets at the beginning of each month instead of displaying results for a 30-day rolling period, meaning you and your friends will have a clean slate to compete against one another at the start of each month! You can keep an eye on the Gamerscore Leaderboard through the Achievements tab in your profile.
Emojis for your Xbox One virtual keyboard. Emojis will be joining your virtual keyboard on Xbox One! In addition to the existing alphabet and symbols that you can use, you’ll now be able to express your likes, dislikes and more with a host of different emojis on Xbox Live. Once on your virtual keyboard, you can get to emojis by pulling the left trigger until they show up. From there, select any emoji, or press and hold on one to see more related emoji.
So what happens when you take a co-op dungeon arcade game, throw in some rock and heavy metal and watch far too much TMNT? Well you get Super Dungeon Bros, a game that promises to take four players on a journey to conquer dungeons whilst rocking out. It also marks the first time that for the Xbox ‘Games with Gold’ promotion, a brand new Indie game has been released for free with it as well as releasing for Playstation 4 and PC via STEAM. So it had my attention, now it was time to see if it lived up to the hype!
Super Dungeon Bros tells the tale of four brothers in arms, Knights who are joined by a love of smashing things and rock music do what all fans of heavy metal do one day, and play a record backwards….you can already see where this is going. Playing it backwards delivers the knights a message from the Gods of Rock, bestowing upon them a quest to explore the dungeons of Rokheim in search of loot, evil undead monsters oh and the lost fabled Rock Stars of Legend.
There is a very tongue in cheek tone to the humour in Super Dungeon Bros, whilst the premis is warm hearted and almost cliché of most games featuring rock music as its foundation, Brutal Legend comes to mind, it does have a fun arcade feel to it right from the get go and introduction cut scene. The game even released with a DLC pack that adds four female heroes that can be picked as well to balance out the amount of Bro-ness going on in the game.
The game is absolutely designed to be played with four players, even the local couch co-op wants you to have three friends all plugged in to challenge the various dungeons that are thrown at you. If you don’t have that many friends with the game then you can take the game online and it will search to fill up any remaining slots with other online players. Now I first tried this game out solo and for the first 30 mins or so I was doing ok, but then it does become a numbers game. The sheer number of enemies on screen simply build up to the point where attempting to take this game on solo just will not work. Even completing a dungeon solo has the game vocally telling you that you could do with playing with more bros to help you, which is a shame, because although this is great fun when shared with other players or friends, it also begins to show its failings.
The loading times are annoyingly long considering the size of the dungeons you face, too long in fact and it is a very noticeable issue right from the start. Then you have the camera which tends to remain focused on the centre of the screen which means when playing co-op, unless the group remains in the centre, it is very easy to lose sight of your character to the edges of the screen when fighting or just trying to avoid traps. With so much happening on screen it is very easy to get split up from the team and as the camera does very little to help you out , cheap frustrating deaths can make this game not so fun after all.
Next you have the input lag which is just terrible at times as you use RB and right trigger to land normal and heavy blows but with the input lag it simply becomes a clumsy button mash as your pound the controller trying to get attacks out. It would also have been nice to some feedback when landing blows but sadly not here, and so combat feels rather meh after a while, especially when you start out with such basic weapons that do very little damage. Now successfully completing dungeons will reward you with gems that can be traded in to craft new and stronger weapons. From Great Hammers that even Thor would be jealous of, to huge swords as melee weapons, the designs are really fun to play with once you begin to craft stronger weapons. You can even mix up the gameplay with range weapons such as the cross bow or Wands to use magical attacks. The variety of weapons and their attacking styles mean if you can go into a dungeon with a team of four then having a diverse attacking style with different combinations of weapons can help plough through the horde of enemies you will encounter.
The designs of the dungeons can also be challenging as not only will waves of monsters be thrown at you but the dungeons themselves are not a friendly place to be in. Traps include towers that shoot arrows to spikes that come up through the ground right where you need to be moving through, all of which can inflict damage to our Knights in Bro-ness and with a camera that is as unforgiving as this game has, you can lose lives very cheaply if anyone gets caught in these traps and unable to navigate out because the camera has decided they do not need to see where they are going.
Progress through the dungeons can also be troubling as the game does not use a checkpoint system of any kind so you have to complete the dungeon in one go to carry on through the game. A midway shop is provided though where players can spend the gold coins collected from fallen enemies and smashing the pottery lying around to refill lives, health and special attack tokens. This offers some needed respite as the action can really intensify even with four knights running the dungeon and with no check points, it is very welcome before tackling the dungeon’s boss fight.
Considering this is a free title with November’s Games with Gold promotion for Xbox One players, you can be a little forgiving for the niggles it has. The story is fun and the humour is very tongue in cheek without being too insulting fans of Rock and each night has their own distinct personality as well which brings some fun dialogue during combat. It is easy to find other players online to join in games but unless they are communicating it can be a case of too many trying to lone wolf a dungeon which when the game starts to really get tough will only be a hindrance.
It is a shame that Super Dungeon Bros never really steps above being a basic arcade game and the issues it has simply weigh it down to be anything other than a title you may try for free just because it comes with Games with Gold, but as it is also on Playstation 4 and PC at a price, it could have done with more polish to the controls and co-op camera to really launch it well. It can be fun with friends outside of the irritations of long loading times and input lag which hopefully can be addressed with future updates.
Super Dungeon Bros ultimately fell flat for me despite the humour which I did like, but as a positive for Games with Gold, it is good to see new indie games getting used within the promotion and is something I hope continues going forward. But sadly the humour and characters are not enough to carry this game to anything more than an average dungeon clearing title.
Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment released the fourth episode in the “Meet That Hero!” video series, featuring two powerful wizards from very different worlds – Gandalf of Middle-earth and Newt Scamander of New York City.
In the video, the highly respected Gandalf attempts to introduce Newt, but things quickly go awry when no one is able to differentiate Gandalf from his fellow wizard and white-haired doppelganger – Professor Dumbledore.
This is a clear case of mistaken identity that Gandalf the Grey shall not let pass! The hilarious video also showcases a number of Dimensions’ *ahem* fantastic beasts in action, including Velociraptor and Unikitty, who find themselves among his real fantastic beasts, like Niffler.
Every so often a long running video game series decides to hit that reboot button, to take a pause and reflect on what fans are expecting and wanting from the next title in the series. Some may embrace such feedback whilst others will trudge on regardless of what the general consensus is about the series which can turn to negative sales and reactions from media and gamers. EA’s Battlefield series has had a tough few years with a troubled launch for Battlefield 4 and less than well received follow up in Battlefield Hardlines and so rumours started to surface that the series would be returning to its roots, focusing on the past instead of current or future warfare. Battlefield 1 takes the action back to the First World War, but has such a vast change in action and setting refresh the series enough to put it back on top of the FPS genre?
The First and Second World War’s are no strangers to FPS gaming. Back in the day when Medal of Honour was king of shooters it was all based on these two wars, even Call of Duty started featuring the wars of the past. For years now we have seen FPS games focus on modern conflicts and even venture into futuristic battles which alter gameplay that for many has become stagnant. So when EA revealed that the next Battlefield was to focus on the First World War, the reaction was largely positive and welcomed by fans. I really enjoyed the beta during the summer and enjoyed the almost ‘back to basics’ approach to the weapons and vehicles whilst the scope and scale of the battlefield felt by far the biggest yet in the series, and knowing that the beta was just a small taste of the full game I was eager to see what it had in store.
What took me by surprise in the beta and something that hit me immediately in the full game was just how much last year’s Star Wars Battlefront has influenced this game. The presentation is very much inspired by the clean and easy access main menu that Battlefront launched with and definitely allows a much smoother navigation of the modes in Battlefield 1 and it will even suggest modes and game types based on what you have played previously. It is a very slick and quick way to find something to do in the game and was also a success with Battlefront so it is no surprise to see it carried over into the next Battlefield. It also filters into how it feels in the game as well as it is obviously from the moment you appear on the field of battle that again, Battlefront has influenced the gameplay now as controls and movement feels just as it does in Battlefront.
The multiplayer brings in the familiar conquest and team death match modes through quick match and custom game modes. New to the series comes Operations, a mode that takes players to different maps and similar to Walker Assault from Battlefront, has one team acting as defenders and the other team as attackers. There are four Operations to select in the main game, each focusing on a different location and objective based on events from the First World War. The defending team has the task of holding off the attacking forces, which are often equipped with more powerful vehicle options, to stop them from gaining ground and objectives forcing the defenders to retreat and repeat. The attacking team must capture and then clear the enemy out of areas in order to push the fighting on further in the map. I am really impressed with this new gameplay mode, it both elevates all the components that make Battlefield stand out from other shooters such as squad based team work tactics as well as large scale battlefields where the sheer scope of what it is happening across the map can leave a player bewildered in the face of it all.
Each operation begins with an introduction explaining what the battle is for and the history behind the event itself, depending on which team you join, the introduction will also give a perspective from those attacking sides’ soldiers setting the atmosphere for the fighting. Soldier classes return with Assault, Medic, Support and Scout all offering a very different way in which you can play in the operation. Levelling up in player ranking opens up new weapons options to select later on. The different classes translate into challenging and interesting styles of play in the battle whether you elect to join or form your own squad or to try and lone wolf the match. Attacking or defending an objective is a powerful gameplay mechanic and I have to say I have not experienced such gameplay in a shooter for some years.
The visuals of the combat blend in with amazing sounds to create a scale to the fighting that can only be found in a Battlefield game. The playing maps are so huge that you tend to carve out your own little playing area and this is replicated all over the map so in the middle of one massive battle you will have different skirmishes all going on such as vehicle combat in tanks, fighting for air superiority in planes or down and dirty in on the ground. I found focusing on sticking with my squad or picking one objective to focus defending or attacking worked best for me but when storming an objective and having tanks rolling by or planes soaring overhead you can be forgiven for stopping for a few moments just to take it all in. Whilst you can feel lost in the overall battle at times with so much going on, you always keep the feeling that you are a part of it, however small that part may be. With 40 and 64 players in the fight at any time, this is grand scale FPS action at its finest, and it is a welcome return to the Battlefield series.
Due to the setting being the First World War, I had concerns about how it was going to be used to provide a single player campaign. It has been a long time since an FPS was set in a real world conflict especially the First World War at this time of remembrance across the world. For the campaign, Battlefield 1 has introduced a six part campaign called War Stories. Each War Story tells a different story from a different perspective of events in the First World War from the various sides and armies that took part in the war. From telling a story of a British solider who becomes part of one of the first Tank units ever used in war on his very first time out and his experiences of fighting to push forward, to follow orders given but with no communication means once the missions has begun and all the issues the fighting brings is both inspiring and at the same time humbling. You learn that before the war he was simply a Chauffeur who drove nice cars and had a simply life but is now thrust into fighting in a tank, taking on German soldiers, and battling to survive.
Each war story is a sobering experience, taking each aspect of the First World War and giving a real heartfelt viewpoint of it from each of the soldiers you take the role of. They do not glorify the fighting or the war, and give a very dark but truthful account of what it must have been like to be a part of that war, no matter which side you were on or orders given that had to be followed. Experiencing the weapons and vehicles as they were then is a sharp contrast to modern conflict and each story does make you take a moment as a player during and after each chapter, to just pause and reflect on what that War was for and about for those fighting in it. It is a very powerful and thought provoking campaign to play and experience and it is satisfying and at the same time honest of the events of that war.
Battlefield 1 is indeed a refresh for the series and a lot of thought has gone into every aspect of its build from the gameplay to the message that looking back into our past through the events of the First World War can give a new generation of players today. DICE as developer have shown that lessons have indeed been learned from Battlefield 4, Hardlines and from Star Wars Battlefront along with feedback from fans to deliver quite simply something that feels very special to play. Large scale online MP action has never been more rewarding that here with Battlefield 1 but the War Stories campaign serves a great purpose in telling the stories that many of the players of Battlefield 1 may not have come to know or have any real sense of with years of playing modern or futuristic based shooters. By taking the action back to a time of more basic vehicles and weapons, Battlefield 1 puts the focus right into the action and gameplay which then encourages more strategic team work and communication to tackle the objectives.
From leading a cavalry charge against an enemy camp to flying a World War One bomber over a target area to experiencing trench warfare as mustard gas is surrounding your position, Battlefield 1 ticks so many boxes and truly heralds a return to form for this series that it very much needed in the eyes of fans. It is tough to say there is a more satisfying shooter out there right now, but it is a welcome feeling to say that Battlefield is once again back to its very best and other shooter series will need to take notice and learn from this successful reboot looking forward.
