Wolfenstein II was up against some big names, but it featured a unique and solid single-player campaign that the other shooters did not provide. The game felt good, was challenging, had a great story, and varied locales that were gorgeous to look at. Single-player shooters like Wolfenstein are hard to come by these days.
Am I 13 again? That’s the question I asked myself when I first loaded up WWII. World War II shooters dominated the gaming industry back in the late 90s and early 2000s, with Medal of Honor and Call of Duty at the forefront. With so many WWII games (check out my articles on nearly every WWII game ever made), everyone was done with them into the late 00s. With Modern Warfare, Battlefield, and other games jumping into modern combat, we quickly got sick of those in about the same amount of time.
Here we are in full circle. It’s rather funny that a WWII shooter feels fresh when, just 10 years ago, we were begging for it to end. Call of Duty was always my favorite of the bunch, as its slower, more cinematic take on the war was memorable and the gunplay was more realistic. There was always an interesting connection between teammates, rather than the war as a whole. In Call of Duty, you always followed one squad, or a small few (Finest Hour), but it never created anything groundbreaking.
WWII follows this old trend again as you play Private Daniels, who follows his squadmates through theaters of war and discovers losses along the way. It’s enough to keep you moving forward, but it never really amounts to anything. These are just generic soldiers that we have seen time and time again in these historical war shooters. What I was in for was the cinematic set pieces, weapons, and realism of WWII coming back with our current technology. Remember, these WWII shooters died in the middle of the last generation cycle.
I was very impressed with the storming of Normandy Beach as the game opened up. It showed the visual prowess of the game, with bullet shells flying everywhere, realistic and detailed characters and animations, and great water physics. What amazed me the most was when a soldier’s head was blown clean off, and I said to myself, “Wow, so they finally took the hint from Brothers in Arms that there was gore in these wars.” It’s just a no-brainer. I don’t know if it was technical limitations or just trying to get the teen rating, but why was there no gore for all those years these shooters were out? Only Brothers in Arms did that, I can remember.
As I played through the campaign, I had a sense that I was the small man in the war, never really a true hero. There are “heroic moments” that allow you to pull someone to safety to save someone from a Nazi trying to kill them, but these felt like they were wasted and just got in the way. Same as trying to find hidden moments everywhere. When you’re stuck in the middle of tank fire or being raided by bombs, you aren’t going to go around hunting for stuff; it’s just plain silly.
That wasn’t the only silly thing in the campaign; some of the cinematic scripted events are too crazy, and they feel like some sort of Indiana Jones thing, like when Daniels is falling down a bell tower and the bell is chasing him. Don’t drag it out so long and make so many near misses that you start rolling your eyes. These things took me out of the experience. However, the game did change up the pace quite a bit by throwing in stealth missions, escort missions, one mission where you are flying a plane (which is horrible), and even some tank and driving sections. It’s all here, and it feels like the culmination of Call of Duty from yesteryear, but in the end, it’s still missing something.
You can feel a bit of the Modern Warfare series in this game, such as the hit counter, quick scoping, and grenade lobbing. I wanted this game to stand apart from those and have nothing familiar in it, but it gets even worse in multiplayer, where it feels like Modern Warfare with a WWII skin attached.
After I finished the 8-hour campaign, I was left wanting more, which is always a good thing. I’m sure Activision will milk this again, as will other developers, but let’s use this opportunity to create something unique and give us parts of the war we haven’t seen. How about through the eyes of the Jews, or something a little more personable? It can happen, but WWII did what it was supposed to, for now.
I won’t get into multiplayer or Nazi Zombies much, but zombies are completely evolved. The new story carries out, and the map is much larger, with little puzzles here and there. There are a lot of upgrades, and Zombies is at its best yet, but you should probably already expect that. I never played Zombies much on CoD and probably won’t here either. Multiplayer is a little different and isn’t sure if it wants to be WWII, a Modern Warfare skin, or a Battlefield 1 clone. Multiplayer needs the most work in the next series, but I would love a larger campaign.
As it stands, WWII is a much-needed game in the series. Another Infinite Warfare, and the series would have been done for good. A few more hours in the oven, and Call of Duty could possibly cook up the best WWII shooter ever created next time around. With fantastic cinematic moments, a variety of gameplay, a long campaign, amazing visuals, added gore, and wholesome weapons, WWII is one of my favorite shooters to have come out in recent years.
Man, where do I begin? Call of Duty was one of my favorite franchises growing up, and Modern Warfare helped kickstart FPS games into a new cinematic, next-generation universe. That Pripyat level in the first modern war still sticks with me to this day. After MW2, the series took a steep downhill slide and hasn’t stopped since. Here we are with Black Ops III, a futuristic military shooter that is a far cry from what the original Black Ops was, which was absolutely fantastic. You play as a squad of black-ops cybernetic soldiers who are trying to stop an all-powerful AI from destroying the world. See, the whole world is completely infused with technology that can read people’s minds and know our every move. The CIA has several operations around the world to keep this in check, but it all goes wrong one day. The actual concept is interesting and could have gone somewhere, but instead, we dredge through a sewer of boring, mediocre, and lame campaign levels that drag on way too long and overstay their welcome.
The game plays exactly like every other CoD since MW1. You run and gun your way through waves of enemies that are as dumb as dirt, and you face unbalanced difficulty spikes and repeat about a million times. I have to point out that I really hate the new weapon system in this game. You can no longer pick up guns from enemies but instead run into mobile armories where you can swap your loadout. This is a campaign, not multiplayer. I want to pick up weapons from enemies and keep things constantly mixed up. Several times through one level, I would need a shotgun or sniper rifle but was screwed because I couldn’t get to an armory. I can’t predict what’s going to happen next, so this is a huge mistake, and I really hated it.
Second, the enemies are as boring as ever, with generic robots and super soldiers. You get the occasional mobile armor, but that’s about it. It’s so boring that I just shrugged because I knew this was coming from a game like this. I mentioned the terrible weapon systems, but let’s talk about how terrible the actual weapons are. For one, there’s a small amount for a CoD game, and they all feel the same. Sure, you have shotguns, assault rifles, and pistols, but they just feel the same. They seem to have no weight, no bearing, and no personality. It’s futuristic shotgun A and futuristic assault rifle F. There are no real-world weapons anymore, and it’s just a borefest due to a lack of personality. The entire game has zero personality or originality. It all feels like endless metal corridors, hallways, and concrete. At least the first Black Ops felt original and had some personality and weight to it.
To make the game feel more like multiplayer, you get dumped into a central hub after every level and can change your loadout, unlock weapons with fabrication kits, and customize your weapons. There’s a new concept introduced called cybercores, which are powers that you can use against enemies. I found these almost worthless, as the game offers no opportunities to change to the standard CoD gameplay to implement them. It just felt like something tacked on to say, “Hey! We did something different! SEE?!” which I didn’t fall for. The only useful power was stunning multiple robots at once, but that’s about it. For most of the campaign, I forgot these powers were even there. I just ran around shooting everything in sight, like every other COD. I wish the series would stop pretending to be sophisticated and complicated when really it’s a dumbed-down snoozefest with no personality. It has been years since CoD has put its own fingerprint on the FPS genre, and this game doesn’t do it any favors.
I hated the campaign, but the multiplayer was at least fun for a while. It’s still the same old CoD MP that we’ve grown to either somehow tolerate or completely hate. However, Black Ops III is much more grindy than any other CoD game, and I gave up after around level 5. Even in single-player, it takes many levels before you can purchase decent weapons and load-outs. It’s part of the reason why the game gets so boring so quickly; the fast unlocks of the past are gone, and it feels almost free to play, which is a damn shame.
Graphics-wise, it’s nothing impressive except for how powerful of a PC you need to run something that shouldn’t push high-end systems. With the GTX 970, I used to have to turn down settings and still get massive slowdowns. It wasn’t until I used an overclocked 1070 that I got steady FPS with everything maxed out, and even then sometimes the game dropped down to 40 FPS for no apparent reason. The game is poorly optimized, has awful glitches that still exist after all the patches, and just doesn’t look all that original or impressive.
Overall, I can’t really recommend this game except for the hardcore CoD players, and fans of only the older games will hate this. The weapon system stinks, the campaign is boring, lame, tedious, and full of glitches, and the unlocks are a grindfest. There’s so much wrong with Black Ops III that it took me over a year to finish the campaign. It’s just boring and not fun to play, as there are plenty of other great shooters out there. I’d rather play Half-Life 2 for the 20th time or the Crysis trilogy than spend one more minute in this game. Now, that’s not to say I hate it to death, as the multiplayer can be pretty fun with new modes and playable heroes at a little depth, but it’s not enough to save the core gameplay. Zombie Mode is the final saving grace, as it still provides entertainment, but like multiplayer, it will only last so long with boring guns to use and average visuals.
Call of Duty has had a steady downfall since Modern Warfare 3. Ghosts was a great change for the series, but it just wasn’t enough. Advanced Warfare is the first CoD game to be developed outside of Treyarch and Infinity Ward, and this is probably one of the best things for the series. The fact that Advanced Warfare is completely fictional and original is a good change as well.
You play Mitchell, a soldier who is working for a private military company called Atlas. Atlas is bigger and better funded than the entire US military, so they also have more power. I love the way the pace of the story is, and the characters are actually pretty likable and memorable. Gideon is a tough Brit who you grow to like, and he is actually my favorite of all the characters. The story is all about stopping a bad guy named Hades, who nuked parts of the world years ago. However, the good part is that the story takes a huge turn when you go after Atlas’ founder, for reasons I won’t say to avoid spoilers.
With the story being solid (probably the only good story in the CoD series), the gameplay holds up well. Yes, it still feels like CoD, but it’s a bit different. The guns have more weight and feel better, despite being completely fictional and futuristic. The weapons are based on real-world weapons, but with a twist. There are some really awesome new attachments and features. The new grenade feature is amazing. Your tactical grenade allows you to switch between EMP, Threat, and various other types. The threat grenade is my favorite, as it lights all the enemies up red for a short time. There’s also a threat detector attachment for guns that lights enemies up red when you have your reticle over them. The lethal grenade can switch between Frag, Smart, and various others. The smart grenade is my favorite, as it shoots into the air and homes in on the closest enemy. These features may seem subtle, but they fit the futuristic universe and advance the traditional CoD gameplay quite a bit.
A second major feature is the ExoSuit. There are three abilities that you can have, such as a jump pack, stim pack, a temporary shield, grapple, and various other features. Rolling this over into multiplayer is a blast and really changes things up, forcing you to forgo your CoD multiplayer routine and traditions.
The multiplayer suite is great, and the customization is even deeper than Ghosts. Choosing your gender, clothing, and even a different face is a step up for the series. The weapon customization is extremely in-depth, allowing you to hand-tailor your perfect CoD loadouts with various attachments, perks, weapons, and weapon paint. While the basic CoD suite is still here and hasn’t changed much, the added features of Advanced Warfare pretty much change the entire thing for the better.
Lastly, the graphics are absolutely fantastic on next-gen systems and PCs. The character models are gorgeous, the animations are beautiful, and the lighting is some of the best you will see this year. High-res textures and amazing sound keep you engulfed and trekking on. CoD had always been something to laugh at graphically due to the previous console’s aging, but now the series has one of the most advanced graphics engines available.
With all that said, Advanced Warfare is a great departure from the tired formula, and anyone who has been holding out should jump in now. It washes out the foul taste of the stigma that the series has created for itself and the FPS genre as a whole.
The best multiplayer games usually keep the player glued to the game and keep it hard to get away from. 2014 saw a lot of that especially with the addition of next-gen consoles really starting to show their muscle.
Super Smash Bros. For Wii U
While most multiplayer games this year were more of what we have already seen, Smash Bros. brings back the joy of playing games with your friends as a kid. Seeing your favorite Nintendo character that you remember as a kid or grown up routing for is something that no other game and beat. Smash Bros. has always been one of the most competitive games ever created and the addition of smooth online play just made it that much better.
The shooter genre is sometimes the most overrated, and often times, the most disappointing. It gets a lot of scrutinies from the industry and from gamers alike but they can still weave a fantastic story and break new grounds. While none of them happened this year we still had some awesome shooters.
Far Cry 4 steals the show by improving its own formula so well. While the characters are pretty weak this time around everything else that started making this series dull has immensely improved. Side quests are fun, the world is gorgeous, and the entire ecosystem of the world is just better. It’s not often that a series can improve upon itself after four sequels.
Call of Duty has come a long way since 2003. From World War II to the Afghan War, there’s a lot going on with this series. While it has had its ups and many downs, Ghosts seems to have picked the series up a little bit, and the transition to next-gen consoles may have helped that.
The story in Ghosts is actually quite interesting and probably the only story in the series that’s even somewhat memorable. This is a huge feat for the series in itself. You play as a ghost named Logan, who is following his brother Hesh around trying to stop a global crisis. I think the reason the story is so great is because it’s fictional. This is a made-up apocalyptic scenario that seems too close to being real. A former ghost named Rorke is using a satellite weapon that can destroy entire continents in minutes. The game starts out with Logan and Hesh talking with their father when these missiles start hitting. Later on, you learn more about ghosts in flashback missions and then eventually become one yourself. The voice acting and character modeling are fantastic and help hold the story together and keep you interested.
One of the many reasons why Ghosts‘ campaign is so interesting is that each mission is completely different. Sure, you are always shooting bad guys, but the entire campaign is constantly turned up, whether you’re driving a tank, mounting a mini-gun in a helo, or fighting underwater. New ideas and better pacing are brought to Ghosts, which is exactly what this series needed. One addition is the dog, Riley. You would think this would get overused, but he’s used it just right. He’s only available for maybe 5 missions through the whole game, but that’s the way he’s used. New gameplay elements are introduced to Riley with each mission, and after the first third of the game, he’s mostly absent, which is a good thing. This makes you care for Riley and really appreciate his role as a soldier.
With that said, the shooting itself is solid, which is expected from any Call of Duty. The guns feel heavy and have weight to them, and the sound and action on-screen are crisp and really pull you into the drama going on. There’s a good mix of stealth and action as a whole, along with the other change-ups the game throws at you. There are quite a few memorable scenes, such as the firefight in outer space towards the end and the underwater level as well. However, we are still missing an organic feel that a slower, more deliberate pace would bring out. The game is still the same at its core. There still isn’t any gore, the enemy AI is still off, and everything still feels rushed and too in your face. Call of Duty can be more intellectual and less ham-fisted with macho violence and action.
With that said, multiplayer is nothing short of fun and has the same core suite as Modern Warfare. The biggest addition is being able to play a female character and customize the clothing. Of course, the customization for weapons is even deeper than before with balance tweaks and menu changes, but if you have played Call of Duty in the last 5 years, you know what to expect. I feel that the maps are a little better than past CoD games, but I have yet to play any that are as great as Modern Warfare 2.
With all that said, Ghosts is a fine shooter and was given a little too much harsh criticism. The visuals are fantastic, and the campaign is a huge step in the right direction toward pulling the series out of the stereotypical rut that it has been in for years.
Here we go again: another Call of Duty. When will it ever end? Before you start the hate-mongering, just know this: Call of Duty still has some of the best online multiplayer you can get. At least Black Ops tried to change the series a bit with new modes and experimented with what Modern Warfare established; it also had a much more interesting storyline and decent characters. Black Ops II is the same way, but it’s too late to really matter.
The game picks up where the first left off; if you haven’t played it, good luck figuring it out. Alex Mason is searching for a man named Raul Menendez. This is one sick puppy. This guy is a terrorist and more evil than you can imagine. The story jumps around from Mason’s son, Alex, to David Mason back in the Cold War. If you notice something, this game is more futuristic. It’s set in 2025, so there is some cool tech that’s just out of reach for today. Things like cloaking devices, VTOLs, and various other guns. The game just jumps between the first Cold War and the second. During the first one, you are trying to figure out what made Menendez crack. You later jump to the second one with Mason and Harper, using the information you got from a guy who was in the cold war with Mason. It’s a bit confusing and seems pretty boring at first. Later on, the story really picks up and gets really interesting; I actually liked it. It’s not fantastic, and it’s no Assassin’s Creed, but it’s pretty good for an FPS.
The campaign is still a shooting gallery, but it doesn’t seem that way thanks to the great level of design and a lot of cinematic one-off moments. Moments like jumping on turrets and driving various vehicles and aircraft, among others. It’s all fun, and not a single level feels the same, but the underlying core is still there: shoot everything that moves. The AI is still pretty dumb, but I like how you can customize your loadout before a mission. There are many unique and fun guns, unlike the Modern Warfare series. Later on, you will be able to play through special side missions called Strike Force Missions, which are pretty much just a capture-and-hold mode or siege. Those side missions all feel the same and are pretty repetitive. It’s not as fun as online because of the dumb AI; you have to do everything yourself.
After you finish the entertaining story, it’s multiplayer time! The old Black Ops modes return, like One in the Chamber and Last Man Standing. Of course, all the others from the entire series are here. Honestly, the biggest change is that killstreaks have been replaced with scorestreaks, which I prefer. It was so hard to get more than 3-4 kills in a row for most players. Now you get streaks based on your score, which lets you use the cooler, more powerful ones more often. However, I found the maps to be pretty mediocre. I learned to like a few, but they are lacking a bit in some way.
Zombies returns and is as fun as ever; there are more modes and an 8-player co-op; it also has a full-on online component, unlike the previous game. There’s quite a bit of content here, and you will be coming back for hours to come. I just don’t understand why Treyarch couldn’t break the mold a bit more. I like the multiple endings and how choices in the story can change the ending. But there are things here like Jimmy Kimmel’s likeness at one end and Avenged Sevenfold at the end of one. I mean, really? Are 14-year-olds really going to buy this because Avenged Sevenfold is in it? I really hate how developers do this and can’t just use their own ideas. It’s a cop-out or sell-out, whatever you want to call it. I also don’t understand why the campaign can’t be a bit more intelligent gameplay-wise, like Battlefield 3. I blame the young gamer’s instant gratification issue on that, but who knows?
What’s here is a solid game and hopefully the last of the Black Ops series. The Wii U version looks a bit better than consoles, and you can play the whole game on the gamepad, which is nice; there are no shoehorned gimmicks for it. I did notice that the gamepad’s analog sticks are a bit sensitive, and I had some trouble adjusting.
Shooters are typically overrated and never really change much from game to game. The best shooter usually has top of the line graphics, and tries to add something new to the genre, or is just really good.
Far Cry 3 game really close with Halo 4, but won overall due to the huge open world and top-notch DirectX 11 graphics on PC. It also just feels good to shoot people in this game. The guns feel good, the story is highly entertaining, and the game is just a lot of fun. If you pick one shooter to buy this holiday pick this!
Best multiplayer usually goes to a game that can bring something new to the table or just is done so well that you can’t stop playing. There were a lot of great multiplayer games, both competitive and co-op, but mostly they were all the same stuff we have played before. I personally had the most fun with Assassin’s Creed III this year, and the shooters were just more of the same. PlanetSide 2 was a serious contender due to its continent-sized maps and epic battles, but the enormous amounts of bugs and glitches and the fact that there’s no direction hampered it a lot.
AC3 is just so addictive because of the cat and mouse aspect. Hunting your target while trying not to be hunted just keeps you on edge through the match. You don’t know who’s who, and anyone can jump out and kill you. I wound up going back to AC3 more than any other multiplayer game this year. The customization is very deep, but that addictive on-the-edge-of-your-seat feeling you get can’t be found in any of these other games. Sure they are tense, but they feel the same. It is also nice to have a fun multiplayer game that isn’t a shooter.
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Yeah, it's pretty damn awful. Notoriously one of the worst games on the PSP. A 4 was actually being generous.…