Blog Archives
Building (Critical) Consensus: Assassin’s Creed IV: Black Flag (PS3 / 360)
I’ll make an admission before we go on. I was so bored with the story in AC: Revelations that I stopped playing part way through. I just couldn’t do it. I don’t think I made it more than a couple of hours in AC3 either. I went about as completionist as I had this side of Mass Effect or the PS1 & PS2 Final Fantasy games in the first three AC games but couldn’t will myself to even finish the two most recent.
A lot of critics hail AC4 as a return to form for the franchise with a focus on an increase in the general fun in the series thanks to piracy and the pirate-themed story. Mind you, there were quite a few reviewers lamenting that little had changed mechanically in this game when compared to the previous games in the franchise. If you’ve played previous AC games and loved them, you’ll probably love this one too. For those who fell, out of love… Do you like pirates?
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Building (Critical) Consensus: Battlefield 4 (PS3 / Xbox 360)
Just when you thought that the next-gen console launches would be the gaming event of the year to bankrupt you, yesterday happened. We had the releases of WWE 2K14 and Sonic Lost World (coverage soon) and the current-gen launches of Battlefield 4 and Assassin’s Creed 4. We’ll be covering the next-gen versions of those games when they come out (I haven’t decided if I’ll break-up critics roundups between PS4 and XB1 later) but for now, we have the current generation editions of these games to cover.
One of this year’s most interesting battles will be the sales duel between spunkgargleweewees as Battlefield 4 and CoD: Ghosts are out within a week of each other this year. The first one up is BF4. While nobody expects the current-gen version of the game to be as good as the next-gen or PC builds of the game, the consensus is that the multiplayer portion of the game is great and the single-player is as underwhelming as usual. However, I don’t think you’re buying a modern military shooter for the story. Unless you’re buying Spec Ops: The Line. That game was fantastic.
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What’s Your Favourite Game of the Current Generation?
I’ve been starting work on a fairly substantial new feature series for the blog but would like some help while I’m still in the planning stages. We’re working on 7 For 7: The Seven Best Games of the Seventh-Generation.
We’re less than three weeks from the launch of the PlayStation 4 and four weeks from the launch of the Xbox One which means that the next generation of video game consoles is finally upon us. Given that the current console generation is what Wikipedia calls the seventh generation, I thought that now’s a fitting time to look back at the seven best games released on the Xbox 360, PlayStation 3 and Wii.
I thought that I would call upon you, the reader, to help put together with your nominations for the best games of the current generation and your thoughts about your favourite games. You can leave a comment below, fire us an email to etgeekera [at] gmail.com or fill in the submission form below.
The first part of the series is targeted to go live on November 15th.
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Building (Critical) Consensus: Diablo III (PS3/Xbox 360)
I nearly forgot that Diablo III was released this week. Okay, it’s already been out for PC for almost a year-and-a-half but it’s now out for the current generation of consoles with a PS4 version planned for release next year.
What’s interesting about the console port is that many critics prefer it to the PC original. Noted improvements were the addition of offline play and the removal of the auction house (which was blamed for the necessity of always-online DRM in the PC version Diablo III). Critics also liked the addition of local co-op and the new control scheme which I would have thought would be the thing Blizzard would be most likely to struggle with given their PC development background. It’s good to hear this is a well done port and not a blatant cash grab.
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Building (Critical) Consensus: State of Decay
Just after implying yesterday that we’ve been inundated with generic zombie games, we get an indie game that does the opposite of The Last of Us. While TLoU is about the story, the characters and the approach to how you play, Undead Labs’ State of Decay is an unabashed zombie survival horror.
The presentation of State of Decay might not be perfect but the depth of the gameplay and combination of the various gameplay mechanics make this one of the best zombie games ever made. It’s just too bad that it’s an XBLA exclusive. I’d love to try this on PC.
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Building (Critical) Consensus: Gears of War: Judgment
For the second time in as many weeks, another GoW game was released. However, this isn’t a new God of War but a new Gears of War. Judgment is a prequel in the lore of the Gears of War story. This one doesn’t focus on the exploits of chainsaw-wielding, steroid-using hero Marcus Fenix but Damon Baird who was a secondary character in the previous trilogy of games.
Were the critics tired of another game in another franchise that might just be getting milked to death or was something special done with the 4th (Microsoft) GoW game? Read the rest of this entry
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Bungie’s Destiny: Much Ado About Nothing (Yet)
Not surprisingly, Bungie’s unveiling of their in-development Destiny to an assembled group of gaming press was massive news. After all, Bungie developed the Halo franchise, produced five well-received games in the series and have moved on to a much-anticipated new IP that will be published by Activision.
If you checked any of the major gaming blogs or news sites, Destiny’s unveiling wasn’t a one post piece of news. Writers dedicated multiple posts to news about the game but all those posts had one thing in common. Bungie didn’t unveil anything of substance about Destiny. Read the rest of this entry
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Dead Pixels Review: The 8-Bit Dead
Zombies. After the last year in gaming, I could understand if you’re a bit burned out on zombies. That doesn’t mean that the creativity in the zombie game genre is all used up. I have one more zombie game for you to consider. Dead Pixels is an 8-bit style throwback game which crosses the shoot ’em up style zombie game, like the Left 4 Dead games, with some more modern RPG-style mechanics. The result is a game that intentionally looks dated but plays fresh. The question is if this is one more zombie game you should add to your now vast zombie game collection. Read the rest of this entry
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