first person

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Call of Duty: WWII

Posted by BinaryMessiah on 11/11/2017

Posted in: Microsoft Consoles, PC Reviews, PlayStation 4, Sony Consoles, Steam Deck Unsupported, Steam Deck Verification, Xbox One. Tagged: call of duty, cod, first person, fps, multiplayer, online, shooter, wwii. Leave a comment

Publisher: Activision

Developer: Sledgehammer Games

Release Date: 11/3/2017

Also Available On

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 to early 2000s with Medal of Honor and Call of Duty being at the frontline. 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 and Battlefield and other games jumping into modern combat, we quickly got sick of those in about the same amount of time.

Here we are 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 as 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 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 momentos 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 felt 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, the added gore, and wholesome weapons, WWII is one of my favorite shooters to have come out in recent years.

Immortal Redneck

Posted by BinaryMessiah on 11/05/2017

Posted in: Linux, Mac, Microsoft Consoles, Nintendo Consoles, PC Reviews, PlayStation 4, Sony Consoles, Steam Deck Unknown, Steam Deck Verification, Switch, Xbox One. Tagged: first person, fps, immortal redneck, retro, shooter. Leave a comment

Publisher: CremaGames S.L.

Developer: CremaGames S.L.

Release Date: 4/25/2017

Also Available On

Immortal Redneck is, unfortunately, not going to get the attention it deserves. It’s neither a fantastic game nor a bad game, nor is it original in any sense, but it does combine elements from several other games into one package and does it fairly well.

You play as, what else, an immortal redneck mummy with a wooden pistol, shotgun, and dynamite. At least those are your starter weapons. The game is set in Egypt and the idea is to defeat all the enemies on each “floor” to make it to the top of a pyramid. The game is a mix between Serious Sam, Rogue Legacy, and Dark Souls. Like Serious Sam, the game is set in Egypt and features fast-paced first-person shooting action with strange monsters. The game almost looks like Serious Sam as well. Like Rogue Legacy, when you die, you actually get stronger by using the gold you collected to unlock various upgrades and buy new weapons.

Like Dark Souls, the game is extremely hard, gets repetitive, and isn’t for people wanting a linear FPS experience. Your first hour you will spend just dying a lot and obtaining upgrades until you can unlock the weapons shop and that’s where things pick up. However, the constant repetition of going floor to floor, despite it being randomly generated, can be annoying and get boring after a while. Redneck doesn’t have much going for it style-wise that other games haven’t tried. It looks good, on a technical base, and the shooting feels just fine.

The issue would be just the difficulty alone and the grinding to achieve better weapons and upgrades until you can beat the pyramid. It’s nothing amazing, but it’s also fun enough to make you stick around to the end, but only if you like any of the above-aforementioned games. The game is just average all around honestly, but still worth a weekend purchase. On a second note, it’s nice that the game supports modern systems such as 4K and Ultra Widescreen monitors.

Firewatch

Posted by BinaryMessiah on 02/15/2016

Posted in: Linux, Mac, Microsoft Consoles, Nintendo Consoles, PC Reviews, PlayStation 4, Sony Consoles, Steam Deck Verification, Steam Deck Verified, Switch, Xbox One. Tagged: firewatch, first person, indie. Leave a comment

Publisher: Campo Santo

Developer: Campo Santo

Release Date: 2/9/2016

Also Available On

I just played this game in one long 4 hours sitting and I’m a little emotional about it. The game is completely story-driven and not one of those shitty Steam Early Access survival games that are becoming a plague. Instead, we get a linear adventure game with no combat and just beautiful visuals and a great story. You play as a man named Henry who’s suffered the loss of his wife’s mental state due to Alzheimer’s. The game starts out with just some text about how Henry came about to take this job as a Firewatchman. In just a few minutes and several lines of text, you grow feelings for Henry and his Wife which is really tough to do. The words are carefully chosen and arranged in just the right way.

In between this text, the segment is a mini tutorial with Henry making his 2-day hike to his watchtower. In unobtrusive and feel natural and organic so when you take full control of Henry you’re ready to start playing. When you do the game starts out with simple missions from the head watchtower Delilah. Your only communication with her is your walkie-talkie and you never actually see her in the entire game. It’s a sense of mystery that allows the player to paint their own picture like a book would. The first missions have you setting out to stop some teens setting off fireworks and this is where you get oriented with the map and compass. There’s a dot where you are so there’s no need to memorize anything or do aimless guesswork.

Once you get to the site you realize it’s two female teens who are completely naked, drinking beer and blasting music. They get upset with you like any rebellious teens would and threaten you. The first 3 days of being a fire watchman are played out however the game gets darker and tenser as you progress. There are little subtle things that freak you out such as seeing a man on your way back to your watchtower, discovering someone’s watching you and listening to your conversations with Delilah, and so on. It’s all very organic and the fact that it is subtle makes it scary and gives a tense atmosphere without using cheesy ghost stories and jump scares.

There were several moments where I wasn’t sure what kind of story this was. Supernatural? After an hour into the game, I figured it wasn’t that. Was it a slasher flick-type story? Not when I realized there’s actually no violence in the game. Was this a murder mystery? Maybe, something with aliens? Not at all. It was great to go down this twisting path to finally discover what the true threat was which I will not spoil here.

The only lighthearted nature of the game is the relationship between Henry and Delilah growing through conversation, however, I was always never completely trusting of her due to certain dialogue exchanges and slip-ups on her part. Firewatch is a roller coaster ride of emotions and story-driven feelings that most games can’t get right. In fact, Soma was the last game to make me feel this way.

Overall, Firewatch actually has a few flaws that keep it from being perfect. Outside of the story, there’s a lot of aimless backtracking as after the second hour you have already discovered this entire area. The Metroidvania-style gameplay to recover equipment to get to new areas seem natural, but it just exaggerates how much this game relies on backtracking to extend game time. Firewatch does have some excellent visuals though, but nothing that will make modern PCs sweat. I personally had a small connection with this game as I grew up in this area of Wyoming where the game is based. They mention the cities of Casper and Gillette which I grew up in both throughout a lot of my childhood. I also visited Yellowstone so the environment is very familiar to me and made me feel like I was back at home as a kid.

Play Firewatch for the great story, but don’t come in expecting a slaughter-fest, survival game, horror jump scares, or any of those cliches. The game is quite mild gameplay-wise, but the story will have you thinking days after finishing.

A Story About My Uncle

Posted by BinaryMessiah on 06/23/2014

Posted in: Linux, Mac, PC Reviews, Steam Deck Verification, Steam Deck Verified. Tagged: a story about my uncle, first person, indie, pc, unreal. Leave a comment

Publisher: Gone North Games

Developer: Coffee Stain Studios

Release Date: 5/28/2014

Available Exclusively On

First-person platforming isn’t attempted often. A Story About My Uncle keeps it basic with grappling, anti-gravity jumping, and various puzzles. The story is fairly simple and doesn’t really mean anything until the very end. A boy is trying to find his uncle Fred. He finds his uncle’s lab where he straps on a weird jumpsuit and takes off to some unknown land. He eventually comes across a species of frog people and a little girl from this village befriends the protagonist.

The jumping is actually quite exhilarating. You jump really high and your character’s hands swing around which makes you feel vertigo. The sheer speed and height this game creates is something not really seen in most games. As you make your way across bottomless chasms and dark caves you begin to wonder what all this means. What’s the point? The jumping puzzles get progressively harder to the point of downright frustration. The grapple has three shots. Once these run out you either need to land or you’re falling into the abyss. Later on, you get rocket boots that allow a quick boost if you miss your shot or your next grapple point is too far away. One of the hardest obstacles is the windmills. I actually had to manipulate the physics by landing on one for a split second so my equipment recharges. The game gets so tricky towards the end that casual players may not make it. Sure the game is only a couple of hours long, but the complicated jumps are just minded bobbling.

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With that aside the music is great and the game looks beautiful. While it uses the dated Unreal Engine 3 the art style is superb. I honestly felt like this was Journey to the Center of the Earth meets Mirror’s Edge. There’s nothing else out there like it and the ending is extremely touching, well worth the play through to get a few heart-strings pulled.

I just wish there was more to the game. Sure jumping around gets fun, but sometimes I feel areas dragged on forever with too much nothing in between. It’s a step in the right direction for this type of game. With more stories being pushed out and some variety in gameplay, this game could have been something even more incredible.

The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim – Dragonborn

Posted by BinaryMessiah on 06/04/2013

Posted in: DLC, Microsoft Consoles, PC Reviews, PlayStation 3, Sony Consoles, Steam Deck Playable, Steam Deck Verification, Xbox 360. Tagged: bethesda, dlc, dragonborn, expansion, first person, Microsoft, miraak, pc, playstation, ps3, rpg, skyrim, Sony, the elder scrolls v, Xbox 360. Leave a comment

Publisher: Bethesda Softworks

Developer: Bethesda Game Studios

Release Date: 2/5/2013

Also Available On

The splashing of waves, the grass between your toes, the ash in your eyes, and Dunmer at your feet. Ah, it’s nice to be back in Morrowind! I was surprised when I found out Dragonborn took place in Solstheim which is a volcanic island just off the coast of Morrowind. You arrive there due to a strange occult thing happening. People are building relics in their sleep, basically, sleepwalking and building. You ask around about a guy named Miraak and people say he sounds familiar, but they can’t quite remember. As you ask around in the main city Raven Rock, you will be greeted by Devin Mallory’s brother and various other people who are very interesting to talk to.

I first have to mention that Dragonborn has some of the best art in any Elder Scrolls game. When you start getting the Black Books and travel to Apocrypha (Hermaes Mora’s territory) you will be stunned. It’s very Lovecraftian with the Lurker and Seeker enemies. There are strange tunnels that move, walls made of sticks, floors covered in paper with arcane writing, and strange magic and objects. I loved these areas and enjoyed them immensely. However, the main quest line is super short, there are more side quests here which is good I guess. The final fight with Miraak (not a spoiler, it’s obvious) is very challenging and you get to ride freaking dragons! This is probably the most powerful thing added to an Elder Scrolls game. I love the new shouts such as Bend Will. This will make enemies fight alongside you. The new Bonemold and Chitin armor looks awesome, as well as some new weapons. There’s quite a bit here and is a nice chunk of the game and a great final goodbye to Skyrim.

Many of the quests are more puzzle-related and quite challenging. It was nice to be really challenged in exploration in Dragonborn. One final quest has you finding cubes in an old Dwemer ruin. You have to place them in a certain order and run around finding them to open new parts up. The enemies are challenging and I found it all quite fun. There’s plenty of Morrowind lore here for longtime fans and newcomers who don’t know much about it.

I warn you though, that you need to be at least level 20 to start this. I came in at level 7 and got my butt handed to me by the Ash Spawn, the first enemies you will encounter. I died in just one hit, so be careful. I also hated how there was no place to train for smithing, and there was only one major town. At least you can fast travel to and from Skyrim via the map and not by boat every time. I was also upset that you didn’t get to ride dragons until the final quest and it’s very brief. Also, be warned, Miraak will steal all your dragon souls if you kill dragons in Solstheim. He’s a real bastard.

Overall, Dragonborn is a solid and final DLC to Skyrim. It is much better than Dawnguard in the sense that the story is more interesting, but there aren’t two sides to play. Being able to ride dragons is a major addition to the game, the enemies are interesting and challenging, the art looks fantastic, and the lore is great.