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Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 Campaign Remastered

Posted by BinaryMessiah on 05/08/2020

Posted in: Microsoft Consoles, PC Reviews, PlayStation 4, Sony Consoles, Xbox One. Tagged: activision, call of duty, campaign, cod, first person shooter, fps, hd, modern warfare 2, remake, remastered. Leave a comment

Publisher: Activision

Developer: Beenox

Release Date: 03/31/2020 (PS4), 04/30/2020 (PC, XONE)

Also Available On

Well, what a treat! Modern Warfare 2 is considered the best game in the earlier series and the campaign was most definitely the best and the most memorable. The game takes place right after the end of the first game with the Russians invading the United States for World War III. You play as various soldiers in this war and bounce back and forth trying to stop the bad guy, Makarov, but the story takes a crazy twist at the last mission.

The question here is there anyone asking for these games to be remastered? Most people usually only stick around for multiplayer and it’s rather strange to only remaster the campaign and release the multiplayer section later. Most Call of Duty players skip the campaign and only bother with multiplayer, and it’s not like the Call of Duty campaigns are anything to write home about. Sure, they’re entertaining and exciting, but they don’t last long and the story is a trite modern military train of nonsense, so who is this game for?

That’s will be hard to answer, but I’m one of the few who play the campaign first and usually go back for seconds later on. I played the original on Xbox 360 and spent more time in this game’s multiplayer than any other in the series. The maps were perfectly created, and the balance was fantastic, but it’s long dead now so all we have is this campaign. Thankfully it’s only $20 as you get about 4 hours of gameplay out of it. It’s literally fun for an evening and it’s over. The game does have some crazy scenes like seeing a nuke detonate from space and the battle in Washington DC through the White House is pretty awesome. There are more stealth missions with Captain Price this time around, and overall we get a good range of different types of action. The boots on the ground mowing down enemies type, the special ops missions, then the stealth missions.

What I would have liked to see is more on-rails stuff. There are a couple of chase scenes in the game and one helicopter ride in which you get to snipe enemies, but I wanted more of these. They’re exciting and just a lot of mindless fun. I did find the game’s difficulty poorly balanced as I’d blow through a couple of missions and then die over and over in one spot, particularly as Roach in the U.S. Marine levels. There are wide-open areas and they usually have you running around trying to take down vehicles and large waves of enemies. There is never a dull moment however and I had a blast through the whole thing, but it does feel shorter than the first game. The infamous and controversial “No Russian” mission is present but allows players to skip this level entirely. While at the time of release it may not have seemed like such a big deal, mowing down people in an airport as part of a terrorist attack is all too real these days and there are thousands of people in the US who have fallen victim to shootings or have been near one and it can be a seriously sensitive topic, so good on Beenox for adding this option.

The visuals are amazing using modern techniques to make the game look like it was made and released today. Fantastic lighting, textures, models, and other effects that PC gamers will love. It runs flawlessly without a hitch and everything moment was a blast. I will say that there is no reason to go back however and that’s going to be the deciding factor for people. There’s zero replay value here as Battle.net doesn’t have an achievement system and while you can find 45 different intel laptops…what’s the point? There’s no reward for doing so and there are no extra modes either. There’s a neat little museum mode that lets you see various panoramas of each level, but there’s nothing to do besides pressing a button and having all the character models jump at you and attack. It’s neat but seriously pointless that no one will probably bother exploring.

Overall, Modern Ware 2 Campaign Remastered is a blast while it lasts. It’s only 4 hours long with no replay value, extra modes, or a reason to even go back. It’s a game you go back and play every 5-10 years for nostalgia and that’s it. Newcomers will have a blast and may play through a second time, but that’s all your $20 is going to give you: One fun evening. The visuals are fantastic and look amazing, but that’s about it here. It really is the best campaign of the early trilogy, but what does that mean to anyone? I guess it depends on how much you love linear shooters.

Final Fantasy VIII Remastered

Posted by BinaryMessiah on 05/08/2020

Posted in: Microsoft Consoles, Nintendo Consoles, PC Reviews, PlayStation 4, Sony Consoles, Steam Deck Verification, Steam Deck Verified, Switch, Xbox One. Tagged: final fantasy viii, hd, jrpg, remastered, square enix. Leave a comment

Publisher: Square Enix

Developer: DotEmu

Release Date: 09/03/2019

Also Available On

Oh boy, this review has been 22 years in the making. I have been trying to finish this game since I was 8 years old, but just could not do it. I will admit, I’m not the best JRPG player as I don’t have the patience to do insane amounts of grinding and play into the earlier Final Fantasy game’s crazy summon hunting. FF8 eluded me for so many years because of one thing: The Junction system. I absolutely love the characters, art, and story in this game, but the Junction system nearly ruins it for me. And yes, I had to play with cheats/boosters activated and even then, I almost couldn’t finish the game.

I did, however, play the game normally. I collected spells, tried to get Guardians when I could, leveled up a good amount, and finally got past disc 2! The issue lies in the overall complicated nature of FF8‘s systems. You no longer just buy weapons and armor and change them out when you get to the next town. Instead, you collect spell cards that are finite and they can be traded amongst other members. In theory, this sounds fine, but it’s hard to strategize a specific player role when everyone can use magic. Some argue that you can give certain spells to certain characters and break it all up the way you want, but this is flawed because if you don’t collect cards found throughout the world, or stolen from enemies, you don’t get to use any magic.

Weapons are only upgraded this time by using parts found on monsters, but a lot of these parts are hard to find and to upgrade to a new weapon, you must find a magazine to unlock the weapon. This just keeps piling up the frustration as it hinders progress. Characters also have Overdrives which are powerful unique moves, but some characters, like Rinoa and Quistis, can only acquire new ones but using certain items or finding magazines. FF8 heavily relies on exploration and patience, this is not a game you can just blow through the story mode like previous games. The Junction system also functions as a way to equip Guardians which are bosses found hidden throughout the world. I only found about half, as the other half requires exploring the overworld map and finding their hidden locations. Accompany this with insanely frequent random battles and you will spend 2/3 of your time in the game just battling.

If this doesn’t sound complicated enough there are hidden features not explained in the game such as being able to “Card Mod” only using Quezacotl’s ability. This allows players to turn found enemy cards into items that are then used to turn into weapons, but this is a very obscure out-of-the-way thing for such an important gameplay element. FF8 is riddled with things like this and it made learning the Junction system like learning math. It was boring, not fun, and incredibly frustrating, and just imagine as a kid there’s no way I would have understood any of it. Even after I finished the game I still felt I hadn’t quite grasped it all and I missed something.

Outside of the awful (or good) Junction system the rest of the game is standard Final Fantasy fair. Turn-based battles allow you to do various attacks, use items, and there’s an option for real-time battle or waiting. Players also need to make sure they equip actual functions for each player otherwise you can only attack. GF use, items, and magic are all optional attacks that you can choose, but you can only have 4 menus. Another irritating thing about the Junction system. You must sacrifice GF use if you want to use items and magic for example. FF8 is also standard with an awful overworld map. This map has no camera controls and is horribly designed. It’s a 3D map, but eventually, you get into a ship, then a car, then a giant flying ship to traverse faster. This is when you can explore more and find Guardians.

Let’s finally talk about the story and characters. FF8 has some of the most memorable characters with Seifer, Squall, Rinoa, Quistis, and Selphie just to name a few. They are all well-written and designed characters and I cared for them greatly throughout the entire game. There are long written dialog bubbles that go on for dozens of minutes sometimes, but the mix of pre-rendered cut scenes with real-time models on top is a trip even to this day. There are some imaginative scenes in this game, and it’s a shame it’s hindered by the disc space of the PS1. The story in itself is one of the most controversial in the series with no real ending being explained and it is open to fan theory. I won’t get into those, but after reading some theories online they made a lot of sense and it’s a good story to talk about long after finishing.

But, also like Final Fantasy games, it’s heavily unbalanced, with the final boss having four whole phases and requiring you to be an insane level towards the end that normal story progression won’t get you towards Even with boosters activated I still got stuck and was required to level up normally and the game could easily take 50+ hours just to finish properly. I can’t bash the game for this as there’s a huge audience for it, but it’s not for me. It’s one of the few things I won’t knock this game for is how much of a hardcore RPG it truly is. This is a game you must play exclusively for days or weeks and just grind out, and some people love this. The story is thankfully rewarding enough, and after finishing a tough boss the satisfaction is exemplary.

Overall, FF8 is a strange game indeed. With an awful or good, Junction system that changes everything you know about the game, but one thing can’t be denied, it’s too complicated. The game looks fantastic with amazing pre-rendered scenes, great enemy design, a superb music score, and classic gameplay. For me, there’s just too much that keeps it from being fun outside of the story. I often gave up on this game for years, and even with boosters, the game is still a grind fest. However, if you like those things, then you will love this game. When it comes to the remastered part of the game it disappoints. The game suffers the same issues as the Final Fantasy IX Remaster with updated character models on upscaled original backgrounds. It’s lazy remaster with only new music and some boosts added. There’s no widescreen support or anything else.

Ghostbusters: The Video Game Remastered

Posted by BinaryMessiah on 11/04/2019

Posted in: Microsoft Consoles, Nintendo Consoles, PC Reviews, PlayStation 4, Sony Consoles, Steam Deck Verification, Steam Deck Verified, Switch, Xbox One. Tagged: ghostbusters, hd, mad dog games, remastered, saber interactive, the video game. Leave a comment

Publisher: Saber Interactive

Developer: Mad Dog Games

Release Date: 10/04/2019

Also Available On

Ghostbusters is one of the few franchises out there that doesn’t get enough attention. With Ghostbusters 3 floating around for decades, most fans gave up hope completely. Then, what turned out to be the script for the third movie pretty much turned into what we have today. With all the original cast coming back to voice the game it was like a dream come true. While not the best game ever, it was incredibly faithful to the franchise and made every Ghostbuster fan happy, including myself. This was one of my favorite movies growing up as a kid and to play as a Ghostbuster was just awesome.

Here, we have a remastered version of the 2009 game instead of a fourth game, but this is great as it will spark new interest in the franchise. I highly recommend watching the two movies before diving into this game, because there are a lot of references to those movies that won’t make sense unless you have watched them as they aren’t explained including many easter eggs. You play as a rookie Ghostbuster who just recently got hired, the fifth Ghostbuster, and fight alongside the original four voiced in their original glory. It’s just amazing and gets my fanboys juices flowing hearing the original cast together. While the game isn’t exactly a movie it feels like a larger evolution of the mythos and lore of Ghostbusters taking you from the ghostly issues of New York to a global scale and bringing us into the ghost realm which most people expected in the third movie.

The game has many locales from the movies such as the Ghostbusters headquarters, Sedgewick Hotel, and the Public Library. Ghosts from the movies and news ones made it in and it’s a blast to see. You really feel like an actual Ghostbuster in this game. You have your pack strapped on with all its fictional science tech flashing and buzzing and you can shoot your stream at ghosts to whittle down health and finally capture them and bring them into the box just like in the movies. It looks and sounds exactly how it should and it’s pretty awesome. That is, for the first level then it does start getting old. That’s the major issue with this game is that repetition sets in early and there’s no change in gameplay outside of a few scripted events which I think there should have been more of.

Fighting and capturing ghosts aren’t the only enemies as there are smaller ones that can get blasted away, then you have a boss fight at the end of each level. Of course, my favorite level in the whole game is when you fight the Stay Puft, but as you progress more in the game and get to more original content it just isn’t as memorable or exciting as the first half of the game used more stuff from the movies. Locations feel generic, the ghosts aren’t interesting to look at, and there are far fewer scripted events. The game even gets downright punishing thanks to the constant need to revive teammates every 5 seconds. I spent more time reviving everyone than I did capture ghosts. Once everyone is down and you go down its game over. I felt this was one of the worst parts of the entire game and brought it down a bit. It doesn’t help that shooting ghosts has zero feedback outside of a circular health bar getting smaller. There’s no hit feedback or anything and it’s not very satisfying.

Due to no cover system you run around shooting at these guns aimlessly and once you bring them down into the box it’s on to the next scene. I loved hearing the banter between the original cast, but sadly Bill Murray phoned the whole thing in as his voice acting is terrible and is a huge contrast to Harold Ramis, Dan Akroyd, and Ernie Hudson’s excellent work. It’s still great to hear them cracking jokes and sarcasm to each other, and it breaks up the monotony of running around linear hallways shooting ghosts.

With that said, the game has aged well and is really only suited for fans of the movies, but there are things that could have been fixed like better hit feedback, the need to constantly revive everyone, and the boring later levels. I would have liked to have driven the Ecto-1 at some point, I would have liked to explore more of the Ghostbuster’s personal life as these are established well-known characters that everyone loves. I don’t just want to go from scene A to Z with nothing in between. Even though there is a decent epic plot that involves the realms of reality and the afterlife colliding together, I wanted more and Ghostbusters missed that opportunity. The visual enhancements are nice, and the game runs decently on Switch with only occasional slowdown, but what this feels like is Ghostbusters fast food and not a steak dinner.

2018 Game of the Year Awards — Genre Awards — Best Driving Game

Posted by BinaryMessiah on 12/26/2018

Posted in: 2018, Game of the Year Awards. Tagged: 2018, awards, burnout paradise, driving, f1 2018, forza horizon 4, game of the year, goty, onrush, racing, remastered, wreckfest. Leave a comment

This was a decent year for racers as the two behemoths went toe-to-toe for the first time in years. Racers from nearly every series came out this year, but somehow didn’t quite make the splash we had hoped.

Forza Horizon 4

It doesn’t really get much better than Forza, and somehow, the game seems to just improve year after year and avoid the dreaded sequelitis. The visuals are out of this world, the game is actually fun, and the amount of cars to drive is insane. Throw that into an over the top open world and you can’t go wrong

Runner-Ups

F1 2018

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Wreckfest

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Onrush

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Burnout Paradise Remastered

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2018 Game of the Year Awards — Genre Awards — Best Puzzler

Posted by BinaryMessiah on 12/24/2018

Posted in: 2018, Game of the Year Awards. Tagged: 2018, awards, effect, friday the 13th, game of the year, goty, killer puzzle, lumines, old sins, puzzle, puzzler, remastered, sushi striker, tetris, the room, the way of the sushido. Leave a comment

The puzzle genre is always hit or miss every year. There’s never a slew of AAA puzzle titles in the works, so what we usually get are surprise indie games that usually make a big splash and sell fairly well. 2017 was not that year, but it wasn’t completely empty.

Tetris Effect

Tetris may seem like a weird choice for the best puzzle game, but when was the last time you played an amazing Tetris iteration? How about in VR? Tetris Effect is by far the best version in years and it doesn’t try to add a ton of features or modes, just quality over quantity and you can’t be mad at that.

Runner-Ups

Friday the 13th: Killer Puzzle

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The Room Old Sins

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Sushi Striker: The Way of the Sushido

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Lumines Remastered

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Reissues used to get a lot of backlash as being an excuse to release older games just to get some extra cash due to the lack of exclusives. As of late, re-releases have improved with developers putting their heart and soul to painstakingly recreate a game to look amazing and play with a more modern play style. We went from some extra cash to preserving history.

Spyro Reignited Trilogy

Like Crash before it, Spyro is recreated with love and passion that most other remasters don’t have. Somehow Spyro feels like a brand new game in 2018 with gorgeous visuals and all the fun from the previous games preserved.

Runner-Ups

Shadow of the Colossus

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Burnout Paradise Remastered

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Dark Souls: Remastered

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The World Ends With You Final Mix

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Publisher: Activision

Developer: Raven Software

Release Date: 11/04/2016

Also Available On

When a game as big as Call of Duty 4 gets remastered it takes you down a trip of serious memory lane. I remember watching the E3 reveal video of the “All Ghillied Up” level and being blown away. The cinematic gameplay and delivery of CoD4 were unheard of back in the day and helped push that generation of consoles forward. It was a groundbreaking game despite where the series has gone over the years. Each level was carefully laid out with memorable moments and varied gameplay that most first-person shooters didn’t do 10 years ago, and that’s just the campaign. The multiplayer rewrote how first-person shooter online play should be.

That sound you hear when you hit an opponent and the X that appears in your crosshairs when you nail them? That was all Call of Duty. Being able to earn ranks and upgrade your weapons over time? That was Call of Duty. The maps were fantastically designed and the weapons felt amazing to shoot. The movement was fluid, the pacing was perfect, and the opening scene on the ship is something I will never forget. Take all of that, fast-forward 10 years, and then stick the game in a current-generation engine and you have a game that holds up, and is better, than any recent Call of Duty game.

While the campaign only lasts about 4 hours or so, there’s so much variety. From the stealth missions in Pripyat to using the AC-130 and bombing the crap out of Russian Ultranationalists, and even running away from choppers in vehicles. There’s various terrain, weapons, and pacing to make the campaign feel far from boring. While the story is generic and barely interesting, the gameplay isn’t. You play as two separate military teams from the US Marine Corps and SAS. “Soap” MacTavish and Jackson are your two guys, and while it doesn’t really matter gameplay-wise, Captain Price is actually quite a memorable character as he has interesting dialog, cracks jokes, and has such a unique appearance. It seems silly, but Call of Duty 4 was the only game in the series that had anything really interesting or memorable going on.

The multiplayer here is not only groundbreaking but super addictive and fun. There are several different game modes, but my favorite has always been Team Deathmatch. The maps are perfectly designed and are easy to remember every nook and cranny. Upgrading weapons and ranking up is so fun in this game, and you could literally spend dozens and dozens of hours just in the multiplayer alone. Despite how much time you spend on the online portion I just wish the campaign was longer. It’s such an overlooked part of the game and trumps any future Call of Duty campaign.

The visuals have been massively upgraded to the point where current hardware will have a hard time rendering it. The textures look beautiful and have been painstakingly redone to make this game look like it was released yesterday. Lighting, physics, sound, and models have all been redone to look current and it looks amazing. So much so, that you need at least 8GB of VRAM just to see all the textures in the glorious detail and at least GTX1060 to get the game up off the ground at 1080p.

modern_warfare_remastered_hidden_weapons_6

Overall, Modern Warfare Remastered is a snippet of a game that pushed the first-person military shooter in a new direction, but also shows just how far downhill the series has fallen. Carefully planned out campaigns, and memorable maps are long gone for this tired franchise, but at least we have an upgraded version of one of the best shooters of the last decade.

God of War III Remastered

Posted by BinaryMessiah on 06/02/2018

Posted in: Editor's Choice, PlayStation 4, Sony Consoles. Tagged: god of war iii, playstation, ps3, ps4, remastered, santa monica studios, Sony. Leave a comment

Publisher: SCEA

Developer: SCE Santa Monica Studios, Wholesale Algorithms

Release Date: 07/14/2015

Available Exclusively On

God of War usually defines the generation of consoles it’s released on. God of War III was no exception. We were already halfway into the PS3’s lifecycle before we got God of War, but it was well worth the wait. It was bigger, better, faster, and more epic and violent than any previous game.

We also already had two PSP games by this point, so there was a lot of content for the team to look upon, and it did take some inspiration from the PSP versions as they were the latest games in the series. God of War III sees Kratos continuing his journey to kill Zeus and destroy all of Olympus for refusing to take away the nightmares of killing his wife and daughter.

The game starts out more epic than any other God of War game, or any game at all for that matter. You are battling Titans in God of War III with Gaia being the first one. Running around a giant colossal enemy and destroying it from the outside is just something that has never been done or ever done since. Right off the bat, the game feels smoother, silkier, and more responsive than ever before. The game has amazing lighting effects with a glow and shines on every object and Kratos’ Blades of Exile look amazing in action. It’s still jaw-dropping even today to see something of this scale play on your screen.

God of War® III Remastered_20150714035013

Combat isn’t just smoother, but slightly more enhanced with new layers added. There is a new Item meter that recharges on its own and allows you to use various items such as Apollo’s Bow and Helios’ Head. This allows the team to focus more on balancing combat and using these items for puzzle solving rather than strictly combat. Magic items are now attached to the four weapons. Each weapon has a unique magic attack that balances combat and keeps it from feeling the same as other games. There is also a new X button combo that allows Kratos to combo through all four weapons which is just awesome to see. I don’t want to spoil the new weapons as they are as big a part of God of War as the enemies and story, but they are awesome and the best weapons yet in any God of War game.

The game also feels like it just flows better this time around. There is no longer a central hub that the game focuses on, but you do backtrack to a few beginning areas briefly which is fine. The game is very balanced and I never felt overwhelmed except toward the end of the game which is expected. New enemies are introduced with gobs of gore and violence with more detail. You can actually rip out a Cyclops eye, disembowel a Centaur General, and some enemies have multiple stage circle button prompts which is a lot of fun. The button prompts are also moved to the sides of the screen corresponding to button placement on the controller and they flash keeping you from having to miss a prompt. They aren’t as heavy-handed this time around and feel more natural, but the best parts are the boss fights. They are challenging, deadly, and gruesome that leave such a great smile on your face.

The environments are more impressive than ever with larger-than-life structures and multi-tiered areas that span miles and miles. It’s insane how all this worked and was crammed on the PS3 hardware. Daedalus’ Labyrinth with giant floating boxes and gauntlets of platforming segments to test your skills and reflexes.

This is actually the third time I’ve played this game and it amazes me with every playthrough, I never get tired of it. The PS4 remaster adds a coat of paint to an already great-looking game. The visuals are less blurry, sharper, and the game runs at a solid 60FPS. The textures do look ugly in spots, but that was PS3 limitations, but overall the far-away shots look amazing.

Overall, God of War III is still an amazing game to this day. It was one of the best PS3 games to be released and is a must-have for PS4 owners. Sadly, the previous games were not included, so if you jump into this game you won’t understand a single thread of the story.

Sinless: Remastered

Posted by BinaryMessiah on 07/30/2016

Posted in: Android, iOS, Mobile Reviews, PC Reviews. Tagged: android, apple, google, iOS, pc, remastered, sinless. Leave a comment

Developer: Forever Entertainment

Release Date: 2/11/2016

Rating:

Also Available On

Point and click adventures are becoming big on mobile platforms which is nice. Sitting down and relaxing with a great story and exercising your brain with puzzles is a perfect fit for mobiles. Sinless is a strange game as it doesn’t make any sense, but is still enjoyable.

You play in a cyber dystopia world where everyone is controlled via computer chips called “progs” which have pre-programmed attitudes and moods. You just so happen to be someone who is immune to this control and the government wants to kill you. You travel through a strange city trying to find your girlfriend and realize you are part of some prophecy and are some sort of messiah for this desolate world.

The strangest thing about the game is the art style. While it’s great and very stylized, it’s muddy and washed out and almost doesn’t quite work for this game. It’s very hard to see things in these images and find objects to click on. I really love the art, but I feel it’s not right for this type of game. With that said, it really gets the mood and atmosphere of which is tense, controlled, and lonely; everyone is living in constant fear. My issues didn’t set in until about an hour into the game when I realized there were no clues on what to do or where to go next. I had to resort to a walkthrough.

This is usually common in adventure games, but this is a 3-hour game at most. Yes, only three short chapters. There is so much backtracking and obscure conditions you have to meet to finish the game it was just too damn confusing for me. I was really into everything but the way the game was played. I also didn’t like that the clickable dots only appeared if you left the screen alone for a while. With the washed-out visuals, I wanted them on screen at all times.

At least this game has some pretty cool mini-games that make you smile and appreciate it a bit more. There are also some video game references such as Mirror’s Edge which was nice to see. Overall, Sinless is worth the purchase price, but don’t expect much out of it after a 3-hour sitting.