My Recent Experience with Bethesda and Zenimax Online Studios

Today I was going to post an article going through my expectations for Bethesda's The Elder Scrolls Online MMORPG due to be released in 2014. I sent them a message asking for any information on some certain aspects of the game that I was interested in discussing and the possibility of a beta key to get a feel for the game. In response I received this email:

Greetings and well met, Wise One Patrick!

 

Thank you for contacting The Elder Scrolls Online Team! We are always excited to talk with our fans about the game.

 

I commend you for your bravery of asking for a Beta Key. My parents taught me you'll never know something if you don't ask. Sadly, I can not guarantee you a beta key. You see the selection process for testers is out of our hands here.

 

You see, in one of his crazy fits, the Mad God Sheogorath launched a siege upon the studio with a fleet of mudcrabs and purple butterflies. Luckily, no one was injured (severely) but in the confusion he got away with all of the beta keys! Now only he is able to choose who receives keys and last I heard he chose by tossing the applications down a set of stairs and seeing which ones fly the farthest...

 

We have convinced him, though, start start giving more keys out though. Our upcoming beta events will be getting larger and larger towards launch, so there's still a chance he might decide to grant you a key! You will be under an NDA agreement though, so you would not be able to blog about your game play or even tell your readers that you are in the closed beta tests. I'm sure you understand, we're trying to save our best secrets for launch so as not to ruin the new game play experience for anyone.

 

I can help you out with your questions though! I think the answer to your gameplay inquiry can best be summed up in this video the studio released of some live gameplay footage from QuakeCon 2013. I always feel watching it first hand is better than someone explaining it second hand. :)

 

http://youtu.be/_oWuw-mo_MQ

 

I hope that helps with your blog article! I highly recommend checking out more of our videos on our YouTube page at http://www.youtube.com/user/ZenimaxOnlineStudios as well the articles on our website, https://www.elderscrollsonline.com, for more insight into the design of the game.

 

Stay thirsty for knowledge, friend!

Taryn

The Elder Scrolls Online Team

Let's be honest, I'm a small time blogger, I get very little recognition and most companies, even the indie ones, ignore my messages all together. This is a large company messaging me back with what appears to be a personal response. Obviously the thing about the beta key could be completely generic but it is a nice touch. IT literally made my day that this is something that the big companies still do and I'd like to commend the man who did it.

Darkout Review

Oh hey there Terraria Clone!

This 2D action/adventure survival game developed by Allgraf has some pretty high ratings on Steam so I thought I'd pick it up. Firstly, the tutorial is okay, it tells you what to do but doesn't show you where some things are and is fairly minimal in most areas. The graphics are dark, even with the torches there will be a lot of squinting and "I can't see what block that is." Players will take the roll of a character whose space ship has crash landed on a strange planet. They aim to survive whilst being able to upgrade sciences,weapons and everything in between. There is hostile mobs and cave systems and everything you'd expect from this kind of game.

(please ignore the stupidity that F10 brings up the world seed)

Graphics are pretty but it is hard to see most of them due to the darkness of the night time of the game. Now I'll go into what I find are huge problems. You start with a basic set of tools which as far as I've seen do not require upgrading at all. While some players will think this is a bonus, I call it babying the player. To a audience who will undoubtedly be familiar with Terraria and Minecraft, upgrades and crafting is a well known and highly beneficial game mechanic. Another problem is using the tools. To clear dirt blocks, the game often chooses to clear 3 blocks in a cluster which makes it semi-impossible to create a flat landscape. Then there is the scientific and system upgrade features which to me seem like this genre is being mixed into a genre which it doesn't belong in. The darkness for cave entries looks exactly the same as the dirt blocks so I found myself falling down into a cave that I couldn't get out of as I couldn't see the place I fell in. This is a massive problem.

 Now comes the biggest problem. It is essentially a more expensive yet worse Terraria. The entire rilliance of that game was its simplicity and blocky art style. This is a slightly more 3D inspired version which want to be more advanced. More advanced does not work for this game type. As a non-paid reviewer, it annoys me most when I pay out for a game that promises so much yet lets me down. As indie titles go, this is one to stay clear of. 3/10

Gaming Industry You're doing it wrong!

Disclaimer- This will be heavily opinionated. If this does not fit your opinion then I appreciate that but don't take it out on me.

So the gaming industry isn't in the best of shape currently. We've all seen it - EA voted worst company in America, The WarZ crisis and the hatred at CoD: Ghosts spawn system. It's my mission to try and see why this is happening. In my opinion, Developers and Publishers are doing a few things wrong.

  Firstly, there is a massive problem with, well I guess you could call it coping but it's not real copying. Companies are seeing an idea become popular and trying to replicate it in an attempt to earn money. So far we've seen it in zombie/apocalypse multiplayer survival games originating from DayZ mod of Arma 2. Honey Badgers (Imaged above) is an example of the type of game influenced by the success of the Angry Birds series. There has been countless MOBAs released from the success of DOTA 2 and League of Legends in recent years. It would be unfair to say all of these were because of the originals but a lot have been. When I review games it's the first thing I look for - Has this got any aspects that resemble that of another popular game and to what extent is it. Unfortunately, it's not just the small companies either. EA's new beta of Dawngate even had what appeared to be the same character movements from League of Legends itself with some design aspects of Infinite Crisis. The idea of the MOBA genre is to make money from the competitive scene, not just the characters in the game being sold. I get that there's a lot of games out there so it's hard to come up with unique ideas but I've done it and I'm not even paid to think up ideas. Get your research and idea generation departments replaced by gamers who know what they're on about.

  My second point is to do with creativity. Again and again we see sequels of popular games that aren't as good as everyone thought they would be but they still sell. A good example of this is Call of Duty: Ghosts. It bought very little new features to the series other than a few game modes, new guns etc. but nothing major. Yet still people paid a large amount of money for it and then complained. It happens every year, people buy the game and get angry at it then buy he next one the year after expecting something different. In business terms it's what is known as a "cash cow", it requires very little work and can be milked for money continuously. What companies should be doing is to reinvent things, make things different so that people gain interest, just something to set it apart from the last game. Assassins Creed must of realised that they needed something new from Ezio because 3 was so much better than the past titles. Bioshock Infinite went from Rapture to Columbus and it is winning a lot of Game of the Years. This is the kind of thing that companies should be doing. As I said before, hire gamers for research, because no corporate high level market analyst knows as much about gaming and games as a gamer.

  Think about that guys, and don't forget you can leave comments and opinions below.

 By Patrick (FromFearRises)

Dawngate Review

Another big publisher making a Free to Play MOBA

I have no idea what's going on with everyone thinking MOBA is a profitable game market. This time it's Electronic Arts (EA). Now I'm not sure who the development team behind it is as the link for "About Us" on the games sight takes you straight to EA's info page even though it is listed as Waystone Games, an indie looking team, on the site. As for the game, it is currently in closed beta stages with servers that aren't actually on all the time. As for the MOBA theme, the aim is to get through the enemy structures, into their base and destroy the main objective. In Dawngate there is however only two lanes, one top one bottom, with jungle camps and bushes in between, some sort of spirit wells and more jungles above, and the super neutral creep in the dead centre that takes a while to kill and grants a decent buff. It's the usual 5v5 teams with no option for bots and no ranked matches. The "Shapers" (characters you play as) are categorised in a way which I'm assuming ha something to do with their different powers/role but there is no tutorial or explanations as to what they do, only a pop-up telling you how to purchase "Shapers". Greedy EA.

The graphics have very limited optimisation and take up about a hair worth of an average CPU/GPU combo's memory. They are also fairly simplistic in nature and very bright and childish. As the MOBA scene is more of a more hardcore gamer habitat, not a place for childish looks. The Shapers themselves play out fairly fluently, with a 10 Shaper free to play cycle and a rather balanced system. It also has a neat feature of 3 "spells" that can be learnt at levels 1,11,20 (max. level). Another difference is that the main objective is a giant creature "see above" that throws out attacks and abilities to attacking minions and Shapers. Now here's where we run into our first problem. There is no mana or energy costs of any variety, so you can keeping on spamming those abilities all day. This removes the option for the game to have any form of eSports scene as it takes no skill to spam abilities and get a kill, which is where the MOBA genre becomes that highly profitable game that all these developers want. More problems, they seemed to have based some of their character movements directly from League of Legends, the abilities from all over the place, and most of the HUD and menus form Infinite Crisis. One of the Shapers floats the same way as Syndra, one like Graves and the item system even has similar icons to IC. 

  Although at first I thought the game looked fairly promising, it turned out to be a disappointing rip-off of good games in a bid to earn some more money from the worst Game Publisher (and voted worst company in America) Electronic Arts. Looks like you just keep failing. 3/10

My Game of the Year

Best Shooter: Payday 2

While Payday 2 was not one of the big 2 FPS that came out this year, it did, in my opinion, bring a lot more to the table. Don't get me wrong I like Call of Duty and Battlefield, they don't bring anything that drastically different each year. However, Payday 2 hands down improved the original which was already an amazing game. The mechanics are good, the design is good and it had me playing for hours at a time. It also cost a fraction of the price that the big titles cost. All in all a great game. 

Best RPG: Bioshock Infinite

This is hardly a surprise to anyone who has played this game. Not only did this swap the underwater lands of Rapture for an interesting new design of a floating Columbia, but it brought in one of the best stories I've seen. It has some of the better combat mechanics, great graphics, hilarious glitches and short bursts of pure brilliance, it hands down beats other RPGs such as AC4. 

Best Action Game GTA V

The game everyone had been waiting for, and it turned out good. GTA V povided players with an impressive story, classic GTA online and actually gave players a benefit for their mistake.The only thing I can really fault on this game would be the lack of PC which from what I heard was not down to Rockstar. I've not played many action games this year, so this probably isn't everyone's idea of the best action game but it is mine.

Best Indie Game Paranautical Activity

The game no-one has heard of. I wrote a review on this game fairly early in my blogging career and I was blown away by what I found. A mix between Minecraft and Binding of Isaac is the perfect combination for a little indie game that can blow your socks off. Hours of pixel exploding fun.

Best Strategy Game Civilisation V

A late bloomer in the video game industry this year was Civilisation V, taking a more grown up approach to historical strategy. Civilisation provides the most fun, skilled and challenging experience of the development of humanity on the market. Well worth the hours it takes to win a game.

Best Acting Beyond Two Souls

Ah, everyone else thinks that The Last of Us has some amazing acting for a PS3 exclusive, but the other story based exclusive of the year is what had me hooked. The emotion portrayed by the actors behind this game made me feel like I was watching a highly interactive movie rather than playing a game. It even had me close to tears at one point. I was considering Last of Us but I guess this just took the biscuit for me. 

Best Story Bioshock Infinite

Anyone who has played this game understands why it needs no explanation. The plot twists, the character development, all of it just leads to the best story experience of 2013. I mean, Last of US story was pretty good but the ending just made me think "What? Why?" whereas Bioshock it was like "Holy mother of Jesus that was fantastic!". an obvious choice. Best Character Elizabeth (Bioshock Infinite)

Maybe it's because of how incredibly useful she was in game (fetching ammo, money and health) or the fact she was one of the best developed characters I've seen. Either way I loved Elizabeth. The fact she comes back in DLC's as different forms of herself just adds to her character. She is also a key aspect to the story and the crazy inception that comes at the end. Great character in a great game.

Game of the Year Bioshock infinite

Whether it's due to the fact it won 3 of my choices or just how insanely awesome the game is, this is my personal Game of the Year of 2013. A great story, good acting, good mechanics, good characters, and good DLC, this game is the package.

Worst Game

Gravity Badgers, a really bad Angry Birds Space clone that costs a lot more. Blew my money on it as it looked promising but regret everything. My latest review pretty much explains this decision.

Gravity Badgers Review

Do you enjoy playing Angry Birds Space and want to pay more for a worse close?

Well here's your chance to get ripped off! Gravity badgers was recently added to the steam market place for a cheap £2.99 so I thought "Hm this has a good theme song, looks pretty nice, guess I'll pick it up."

Do not be fooled. This is a game about a badger in space who is on a quest to rescue his crew mates and will face dangers along the way. However the game is really you launching a badger through space around gravity fields as seen in Angry Birds Space, you get to a worm hole and you're on to the next level. There is 3 golden blobs of God knows what which you can easily collect on your way to the wormhole to get a 3 star rating for that level. To free his comrades, this badger faces the worlds easiest boss battles that require less effort than downloading the game. After playing 25 levels in about 10 minutes, I soon realised that this game has the campaign time of 1 Skyrim main mission. Admittedly the levels do get harder later on but nothing that will use more braincells than first grade maths. 

The graphics are the only redeeming feature of this game. They accompany the same 2D art style as Angry Birds however the colour schemes are a lot nicer. As you can see from above it's clean and pretty, everything a 2D game should be. The cutscenes are either a comic style artwork show like that of Angry Birds or a small piece of dialogue similar to Metal Gear Solid but a little more high definition. The mechanics of the game are poor however. The gravity seems to work on a very basic system of push and pull. There is pipes that send you in a given direction and cubes that can send you in any direction of your choosing. There is no abilities as in ABS and no blocks to destroy etc. only a laser to pass through to unlock the wormhole. It is an indie game so I wasn't expecting the equivalent of a AAA title, but I played the original angry birds and it was better than this. It is a simplified clone that costs more money that's all I can really say about it. 2/10

Gaming News Fallout 4

Patrick Lacey

There was already speculation of a new Fallout game with the creation of this site: http://www.thesurvivor2299.com/It is believed that this is a teaser website to the reveal or release of a new Fallout game. However this site domain was not bought by the same account that the other Fallout sites are purchased by. So whether or not it is a teaser website or just a troll trying to annoy people who knows. It also has a pretty annoying beeping noise.
But why has the speculation suddenly peaked? Today Bethesda has purchased a trademark for the name "Fallout 4". Evidence here: http://esearch.oami.europa.eu/copla/trademark/data/012311734This was actually purchased by Bethesda, so either they are winding us up, stopping trolls from using their names or are actually in the development process of Fallout 4 we don't know. As of yet Bethesda themselves have not revealed anything so keep your heads up for a press statement. However, Erik Todd Dellums (the voice actor behind Three Dog, the radio host from Fallout 3) has been tweeting out some songs which sounds a lot like the style that Fallout uses on their radio stations under the hashtag #sharethelove #threedog and what looks like it could be in game introductions to the songs @ETDeelums. This has got Fallout fans across the globe hyped as earlier in the year he was believed to have been called in by Bethesda.Are you looking forward to this title? Believe the rumours or thin
Are you looking forward to this title? Believe the rumours or think it's just hype? Lave your opinions below.

Call of Duty: Ghosts Review

Activision had three developer teams on this, was it worth it?

Call of Duty: Ghosts is the latest game in the Call of Duty series. It was developed by Infinity Ward, Raven and Neversoft and published by Activision. The game is based around a group of legendary soldiers known as Ghosts (Ghost from MW2 anyone?) in a post nuclear war America (both North and South is involved). If you want to play this on PC, players will need 60GB of Hard Drive free for memory.

I'll start with the campaign. As a long term CoD player, I've played all campaigns from 2-Ghosts. In Ghosts, the main playable character is Logan, with aid from his brother Hesh and his father who has a deeper past than his sons initially realise. 15 years after a nuclear attack from the federation, a military force controlling all of South America, the USA government have built a wall to separate themselves from the south. However, the federation plans more attacks and they must be stopped, at all costs. I won't include any spoilers but there is plot twists all the way through (some predictable some not), even in the final moments. My after thoughts of the campaign itself was holy mother of Jesus. This is in my opinion, the best Call of Duty campaign I have ever played. It was not only an amazing story, but the mechanics have been so much more improved since previous titles. No more infinite spawn zones, you clear the area and push forward, as a game should be. There is many different routes to take, different techniques to use, it's everything I'd been hoping for. As for graphics, there is nothing exceptional about them, they are just good.

Next we move on to the multiplayer. Ghosts has brought in an array of new game modes for PvP games, including my two favourites Search and Rescue and Hunted. Search and Rescue is a combination of Search and Destroy and Kill Confirmed, meaning that when the player or enemy gets killed, they drop dog tags that can be collected by the opposing team to eliminate you from that round, or be collected by allies to recue you and bring you back in. Hunted starts you off with a pistol with 1 magazine of ammo, 2 throwing knives and a flash bang. Crates are dropped containing random weapons with 6 weapons per crate. The more kills you get the more points and perks you get. winning team is the first to 65 kills. The multiplayer has been vastly improved since MW3 or BO2, weapons are more balanced, there is more game modes and the class customisation is better. The only problem I faced was that it is harder to level up. In addition to PvP, Ghosts has an additional Squads mode. This is where you create a team of 5 AIs, customising their loadouts and your own soldier, then play against other AI or friend's squads. You can have your friends on your team or you can play up to 4 players vs waves of AI. These modes give you experience for your online games as well.

Next is the extinction game mode. This is Infinity Ward's attempt at countering zombies. Players play as a team of up to 4 people, each with their own specialisation (medic, tank etc.), verse alien creatures caused by the nuclear attacks. he aim is to destroy their hives and progress into the heart of their invasion and nuke them. Players gain money for killing aliens and destroying hives that can buy weapons/traps/the equivalent of killstreaks to help them in the fight. They also gain skill points by destroying hives and completing hive specific challenges to level up your pistol/specialisation/help that game. You level up based on enemies killed and progress through the game to unlock new specialisations and aids. This is an interesting concept that I think is better than zombies as it actually has an end goal. It is also very fun to play and well worth a try out.
  All in all I think that this is deffinately the best Call of Duty game in a long time, possibly ever. It does have some bugs/minor issues but nothing that is game ruining. Well worth the cost. 9/10.

Herathstone Heroes of Warcraft Beta Review

You all know Blizzard, the developers of the famous World of Warcraft, but do you know they are brining out a digital card game?

Hearthstone Heroes of Warcraft is not an unheard of concept, but it implements easier to use features and well known characters from the World of Warcraft universe. Leroy Jenkins, Mad Bomber and even Deathwing make an appearance in all their glory. The story behind this as far as I can tell is that it is essentially a table top bar game in Azeroth (Judging by what is told by what little narrating there is). Then again, this type of game rarely has much of a back story, it's about the gameplay, the balancing and the experience. You play as one of nine characters, each with their own deck and special "hero ability", this is a 2 mana cost ability, often with a small amount of power but very useful. What separates this from other digital card games I've played is the use of mana crystals, gaining one per turn, rather than having to play (and have in your deck) cards that allow you to summon minions. The advantage of this is that it is not only simpler, but less luck of the draw style play. It also gives the game a fluency that I sorely missed when playing the most recent Magic game.

  As for the graphics, they are high quality, very pleasing on the eye and, most importantly, leagues above what would be it's main competitor, Magic. Take a look above, see how nice the design looks? Each little design in the corner of the board does different animations when clicked, one is even a catapult! The golden card on my side is animated which means not only does it look badass, it is badass. The game plays essentially the same as other games in the genre, but it just feels like that little bit extra has been put into it. It really feels like a game that should be played for hours. It has 4 game modes, vs AI, normal, ranked and arena. The only one which needs explaining is Arena - you pay £1.50 or 150 gold (earned by winning or doing daily quests) to get in. You assign a deck from 30 lots of 3 cards, choosing 1 card from each lot of 3. You then play PvP games until you either win 9 games or lose 3. You are assigned a set of 5 rewards depending on how many games you won. An interesting concept.
 

  Now for the bad things. This is a beta so there is a truck load of glitches (as pictured above, this is the smallest I've seen). However this will most likely be fixed before release. Another problem is hat packs and arena is quite expensive, especially since packs are the only way to gain none deck specific cards. The only other bad thing I can think of is the incredibly tiny amount of beta keys given out. You find yourself playing against either a pro or someone who has bought every card in the game. This will also be fixed when the game is released. 

 Overall I do like this game and it shows good promise for release. 8/10

Game Review - Solstice Arena

Another Free to Play MOBA, but is it any good?

A free to Play MOBA for PC and apple mobile devices created by... Zynga, who are known for their Facebook/mobile games. So what's the catch? Big company, cross platform (well kind of). First let me tell you a little about the game.

This is the centre point of the map. I can't show you it all at once from in game images as you are locked to your character, which is ridiculously annoying when you see a fight break out of screen and have no idea what to do. And there is only one map. And only one game mode. So it's a 3v3 game mode with the objective being to destroy the enemy's main base structure. There is 3 towers which stand in the way of you and that base. I'm sensing this game was based around the number 3, as guess what? Each character has 3 abilities. These are 2 standard abilities and one "signature" ability that does more damage. All abilities are unique to the character (but not unique to the game *cough* seen these abilities everywhere *cough*), they are also unusual in ways. Players can level up each character and by levelling, players upgrade 1 ability by 1 point per level. To make it even easier, there is no mana costs for anything. Now obviously a MOBA wouldn't be able to be played on a mobile device without frying it unless it had some qualities lowered (like graphics). However Solstice Arena has no minions. It is known as a "Speed MOBA" which means that basically rather than sitting around farming out lanes, it's solely PvP . So how do players destroy the towers? Well if all enemy characters are in the base to heal/buy items etc. players are able to attack structures without them attacking characters. The alternative is face tanking but that's always risky. Basically this game is a dumbed down MOBA designed for people who want quick games.
  Another problem I encountered was that some characters are "Free trial" so players can purchase them if they go off (I assume it's on a weekly rotor). However others players have to pay for and they aren't cheap. Around $10 for a champion and around $20 for a skin. I call rip-off on that Zynga. Shame on you. As in other MOBAs you can purchase them with favour earned in matches. I've played 10 matches and not even got 10% of what is needed for 1 champion. Another key focus of the game is a chest in the centre (as seen above) that when taken grants gold to the team. Players can also gain buffs strewn around and randomly generated.

So why would you play this game? Well contrary to all that I said, it is genuinely quite fun if you just want to mess around solo or with some mates. The graphics aren't too horrible (although players can't optimize them or anything) and it is quite nice to win a game in 6 minutes rather than 55 (curse you League). However I see no competitive scene for this game in the slightest. And if anyone pumps money into this game I have no respect for you because it is quite frankly pointless. Do not fall into the EA-ish Zynga trap!
  In conclusion I'd say for a bit of fun, and as a free to play title, it's good to just mess around in. 5/10
  -Patrick Lacey

Why League of Legends is Successful

League of Legends - you've all heard of it but what makes it so well known?

League of Legends is a top down MOBA created by Riot Games. It is their only game but it is in a constant phase of changes. It is a free to play game so how do they earn money? Well you can buy the in game champions with either IP (earned by winning matches) or by LP (you have to pay for this). You can also buy champion skins and other non-essential non-beneficial items. This means that it is NOT a pay to win game. The player starts out at summoner level 1 with minimal summoner spells. As you progress you are matched with players of the same (or near) level and you unlock more summoner spells. The experience required to gain a level increases with each level, resulting in a large amount of gameplay required if you want to hit that level 30.

Now this is where most games falter. In League of Legends you cannot play ranked games until you reach level 30 so that you should of gained significant skill levels not to make everyone's life a living hell. Playing ranked steps the challenge of the game up a notch and adds a high stakes factor to the game. The player does 5 challenge games to place them at a point in the Bronze league. There is 5 tiers in each league from 5-1.You gain points for a win and lose points for a loss (obviously). If you reach 100 points you have to win 2/3 (3/5 at tier 1) to progress to the next tier/league. The leagues go up from Bronze, Silver, Gold, Diamond, Platinum. A lot of players spend a lot of time trying to climb to Platinum 1 and hen progress to the challenger league which is the best of the best. Now to play ranked, it is ridiculously hard  to specialise in one role, as a lot of other players are trying to do the same which means you can't always play it. This requires each summoner to have at least 1 champion for each role (money for Riot). Then there is people who like to buy skins to look better than the rest (more money). 

What makes the real difference is that Riot doesn't just sit on this income and think "I'll just keep all this", they use it to create more champions and skins (more income), to make the game look better and play more fairly (happy players) and also to keep the competitive scene up. Recently was the League of Legends World Championship Series which puts the best teams from each region against each other for a money (a total of around $2 million spread between teams). The amount of competitive tournaments there is across the world pumps not only money but interest into the game, provide a target for any player - to become a pro. 

In conclusion, a mixture of challenge, additional content and competitive interest and careers makes this free to play game not only a success, but a fan favourite for years to come.

 Patrick Lacey

Infinite Crisis Review

Another MOBA comes along, but can this one stay?

So many little MOBAs come and go, but when Warner Brothers Games invest into one it's got to be good, right? Well it's true, this game does have some strong points. It is another top view 5v5 MOBA based on DC comic's creations. This means you can play as your favourite super heroes, well for now not many of them but in the future there will be many. Currently there is more versions of heroes than I would of thought required. For example there is a Batman and a Gaslight Batman, both of which are in the same character class but have different abilities. The first unique aspect of this game we come across is the map. Unlike the typical 3 lanes and a jungle it is based in a city with 2 lanes in a pentagram and a suburbs area with the camps/buffs.  This confused me at first (still kind of does) because it is not anything like I'm used to.

Now we run into our first problem. There is no tutorial. I am a hard core League of Legends player but every time I try a new MOBA I like there to be a tutorial so I can get the grasp of the individual game. This has nothing, not even bot games, you are thrown in at the deep end with no idea what to do, just running round like a headless chicken. Then there is the heroes themselves. They don't seem to have any form of balance, I'd go 2-0 up then get completely assassinated with a 2v1 in my favour by nightmare Batman. He is completely ridiculous. At first I thought although the abilities were not too similar to other main MOBAs, which is good, but then I realised you can't target for more than a certain time because it auto casts, the hit detection is off and some just do absolutely nothing to help you.

But less on the bad points, more on the positives. The summoner spells (or equivalent) are all unlocked level 1, and each hero gives a unique power to 1 of the spells. Each game starts with a cutscene of the 5 heroes on your team (as displayed above) and so far I haven't come across raging 12 year old's that are so common in League. With some development (addition of tutorials, balances etc) and some more progression this has the opportunity to be among the big ones. But until that time, Infinite Crisis you are a 4/10, not what I expected from such a big company.

Game Dev Tycoon Revion

Reviewing a game where the objective is to get the best reviews, the irony.

Game Dev Tycoon is an indie game, recently pushed through Steam Greenlight. It is developed by Greenheart Games and is their first tittle. This will only be a short review as not being an AAA tittle, it isn't the most indepth game. You play the role of a game developer in his career to start a company and become a successful game developing firm. The game starts with yourself in a garage and progress to untapped opportunities. At one point, the developers at Greenheart thank you for buying their game with a popup message which I found to be a nice touch. As you gain in size and money you can produce bigger games, research genres, develop your own engine and try to produce the perfect game. In terms of graphics, since there is little movement or any advanced simulations, it is all basic and very obviously not meant to be an ultra realistic simulation but is cute and all good quality. You can find yourself spending hours making use of new possibilities, acting on ideas or (as I did) try to produce as many games that rip off famous tittles as possible.
  To get the perfect game, you have to balance work loads out between differently trained employees, try to use the precise formula of different game aspects (Sound, graphics, gameplay etc.) and platform to achieve the desired effect of the game genre you have chosen. Sounds complex but if you follow the tutorial it is super easy, just requiring some experimentation to find that sweet combo. For me the fantasy RPG of First Fantasy did it, scoring me a perfect score which I have yet to replicate. Greenheart have mastered the rip off technique, since you have to get an idea of platforms, they use names such as zonny and the mBox, giving me a good chuckle as I played.

 At the low price of around $10 this is a nice little pick up that definitely deserves a play, even with the challenge of knowing why level design is different from world design. 6/10. More games please.

Game Review - Payday 2

This game is essentially Payday: The Heist but improved - what a sequel should be.

Payday is a FPS in which the aim is to perform certain tasks in order to complete missions, earn XP and Cash to spend on weapons/skills to improve your character. The missions are usually heist with a certain theme like robbing a bank or creating and collecting meth. The more you create/steal/get away with the more money you get. These can be a one off job or a multi in game day jobs that require lots of covering crashed escape vehicles, doing multiple objectives or transporting goods through multiple zones. There is also varying degrees of difficulty to support those newer to the series or who want training.

The heists are performed by 4 male characters - Hoxton, Dalas, Chains and Wolf in Washington DC. These can either be AI and you, or multiplayer online with friends or strangers. The gameplay is similar to the original but with some mechanics improved and all round glossed up to improve how smooth the game runs. The AI as usual is difficult when they are with you and  when you are against them their level of capability is equivalent with the difficulty, varying from blind, headless chickens with guns to terminators. Since I am used to the Payday mechanics I went straight in with some harder games until I came to a large difficult heist with level 50+'s. For me this was the best way to learn the way the specific heist worked so I used their methods and gained a massive 7 level ups and $500,000 to my upgrades. The stealth option of sneaking the back way and destroying cameras etc. has been improved to be more forgiving (actually possible) from the first game. The actual weapons and objectives have also become more realistic (loot bags weigh you down, recoil is a bigger issue) to improve the game further.

The graphics are decent, nothing too insane but nothing too basic either. However I game into a problem where on standard HD resolution (1920x1080) the game still had a black box around the edge of the game (quite large actually) which confused me as most games don't have this issue. The gun detail is on the same standard as the original which confused me as it's not that great, not up to scratch with CoD or Battlefield guns, however I doubt this had the same budget, and I'd much rather it was spent on the gameplay rather than graphics. As story goes there isn't much other than the backstory behind the heists and the story running through the heist. It is quite interesting though for the little there is, however this is a game that does not resolve around story so that can be forgiven.
  All in all this is a pretty good game, much better than is predecessor, but not quite as good as I think it could be with a little work and some story to go with it, the replayability  factor would be even higher. 7/10

Game Review - Crysis 3

 Crysis 3- The Battle Against the Cardboard Grass

If anyone is wondering what that random introduction is about, all will be explained later. We will start this review with the story line. I can't give away spoilers because I'm not that kind of person. The story is pretty much your average guy has to save the world against all odds plot, with the twists, turns and upsets but hey I'm not complaining it was pretty good. At one point I didn't realise how long I was playing and realised I'd been on for hours. In my opinion it is better for more games to do this kind of story line rather than explore new not so good ideas. The story is set with prophet being the last fancy nano suit soldier left on earth, and he battles through the apocalyptic looking (think I am legend) New York dome. You fight on the rebel's side against the hyper energy corporation of Cell (could be sell - didn't have subtitles on) who are using a mysterious energy source to fuel their business. All turns to shit from there. So all in all the story line was good, not great, just good, with a great ending.
    Now for the graphics, anyone who reads my blogs knows my PC build isn't the best however Bioshock Infinite I could run on all very high and a few high settings. This will run high and medium due to the cry3 engine being ridiculously strong. However I've seen this game on the highest settings and it is a very pretty game. Apart from one thing. The grass looks like a 2D cardboard cut out. I mean really developers, you can make your grass sway in the breeze like it's real but you can't make it look 3D? I may be being picky but I want some good grass in my games, especially since it's everywhere in the apocalyptic NYC. All in all I do like the graphics in this, especially model detail on the suits and weapons.

That leaves us with gameplay. I have to say, I tried my ass off at stealth, it was hard to say the least. The AI find the bodies of the people I just murdered then I panic and shoot everyone. Either that or my energy runs out when I'm invisible, staring with into the gunman's eyes when it comes up with "energy low" I become visible and end up dead. But other than that it's really good to have an option of how to play, stealthily kill, sneak past, go in guns blazing, set up a trap with their own defences etc. So props to you guys for that! One problem I occurred frequently was the clunkiness between switching the arrows on the awesome bow. They tended to bug and you'd have to wait a while before you could shoot which can be somewhat problematic. Overall the gameplay is great. As for multiplayer, it is a good experience, especially the hunter mode where you either kill the invisible-ish archers or you are one. I loved it.
  So in conclusion, Crysis 3 is a really good game as the modern games go, and with a few tweaks (like the grass and some top notch story) it could be perfect. 7/10

Game Review - FarCry 3 Blood Dragon

FarCry 3 meets neon laser tagging comedian who watches a lot of 1990's films and likes irony, who was probably high and liked 90's arcade games too.. 

Look at that! It so purdy.... But really this "game" is spectacular as just a solo campaign to kill time. I'd say a small amount of time but I could kill days hunting neon lions and running like the chicken I am from Blood Dragons. I'll get into the review however.

  The gameplay is pretty much FarCry 3 with a makeover, which is what I believe it was designed to be. It may be a stand alone tittle (none DLC) but it runs under the same name as it's predecessor so cannot be expected to be massively different. It has the same features, levelling up with new unlocks, side missions for weapon attachments, main missions, base takeovers. However some aspects are different. For example there is no skill trees, you just get different unlocks hen you level, such as bonus health, less bow sway etc. Also instead of just going in guns blazing or "stealthing" it up to get into the base, you can throw a cyber heart which calls a Blood Dragon (confusingly has no wings) into the base to laser beam and/or eat people then just throw another to get it to leave. #DragonsOP.

  As far as story goes I can't delve too far into it as I prefer not to give out spoilers, but it follows a storyline that attempts to rip off every cult classic that has ever been produced and it does it well. It has references to Bionic Commando as well as other games and films. Basically the aim of the game is to take down the head honcho and be a hero. The majority of cutscenes are styled to  classic arcade game style with a comedical twist or the usual FarCry 3 style and the mix is interesting to say the least. I haven't completed the story yet but it is extremely captivating and very humorous. It even has Cyber Sharks!

The graphics are beautiful with the neon effects, the high quality terrain, the lasers from the guns, everything sits right on the eyes and is an aesthetic masterpiece. My system hasn't got the most pricey specs (the system cost just under 1000 pound) but it can run this on almost very high quality on every setting. You can see by the screenshots how well it runs, even though it turns my PC into a miniature heater for my room. The only thing I don't like with the graphics is that some cutscenes (as above) aren't designed to fit the entire screen which just annoys me.  

Overall this game is very good quality and really worth it's price tag with hours of gameplay and endless fun. It's a shame that it doesn't have multiplayer or co-op but not many story driven games do. Now I know the last Ubisoft game I reviewed I gave high sores to. No they do not pay me. They probably don't even know about me. I'm not a fanboy and I don't work for them, they just have a tendency to produce super high quality games. 8/10

 -Patrick

My Youtube: http://www.youtube.com/fromfearrises

My Twitter:  https://twitter.com/PatrickLacey

Game Review - Warframe

Warframe is a "free" to play 3PS online futuristic pay to win game that is about as fun to play solo as being slowly licked to death by a ant eater.

Don't get me wrong, it's fun just to mess around with a few mates and chop some shit up, but if you're playing solo it kind of sucks. Not only does it appear to have looked at Mass Effect 3's multiplayer and said "Hm that looks nice, maybe we'll base our game on that" but it also is highly confusing. It may offer a tutorial on combat but it doesn't offer any help on the customisation aspect of the game which I had to work out with a bit of help from the good old YouTube. The graphics are good, the combat is pretty difficult until you either grind/play a large amount or buy weapons from the marketplace (although the melee is awkward with the lunges seeming to go in straight strangely angled lines rather than free moving). As you can see this is a short review, that is because to be honest, the is an average game. Nothing special, just a bit of free fun with your friends. There is not much to say on it, get it if you want to mess around a bit but this to me is not a solo game. 5/10.

Game Review - Cube World (Alpha)

Everyone knows cube world. It's like Minecraft Steve got a bit to frisky with a Pandarian female from Azeroth and forgot to use a cuboid protection. This thing is such a cute looking game I just want to eat it up. But is it a good game?

First of all, I shouldn't be calling it a game, it's still in Alpha stages so shouldn't be compared to the AAA tittles that cost you all of your wallet and your pants. This game costs around $15 which is a reasonable price considering that you get to keep it through Beta and full game )I assume) with no more hidden charges. The graphics are super cute blocky style, with all very nice and pleasant colours - simple yet affective. The combat is buggy and thanks to the lack of tutorial or warning, you come up against really hard enemies who make your day a living hell and kill you without even taking damage. Then you dissolve into mini cubes and have to rethink your life. So far I have played mage and ranger and had little success in either, resulting in many deaths and keyboard hammering. It is a... unique combat experience but with no tutorials is rather difficult. That pretty much sums up this Alpha. It needs tutorials but has none. Like really needs them. I had to YouTube some videos to help me because I was lost.
   The character customisation is excellent, and even more will be added as the development progresses. I hope they add tutorials and some form of more easily usable multiplayer (RP servers etc.) and then maybe then it will live up to the hype. I mean what really lets this game down is the hype around it, it's like Minecraft, the hype makes it feel like the best game in the world, until you buy it, then it is just a giant let down. 6/10.
My Twitter: https://twitter.com/PatrickLacey
My YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/user/FromFearRises

Game Review - Sol Survivor

Sol Survivor is an Indie Tower Defence game that costs 8 pound (around $10) on Steam. It has a campaign, survival and multiplayer game mode. Here's a look at the graphics:

Let me just set this straight, I don't like this game. I do't say that about a lot of games but this game is literally not good. For 8 pound you get an average quality tower defence game, I've seen better Tower Defence apps for free! Obviously it has multiplayer so has to be worth 8 pound! No. Do not be conned. This game is probably worth avoiding if you have more than 10 brain cells or want to collect every tower defence game ever made. I know this sounds harsh but why would an indie developer release such an average game at a moderately high price? It confuses me as to who's business plan it was to waste people's money and hope to get more sales. For some reason it has a metascore of 75 on steam. I don't know if the guys over there don't own a phone capable of accessing the android market but this is definitely not true. after about an hour of play I found myself bored of a campaign with no voice acting, no intriguing story line, just tower defence. What's more is it's not even difficult, I could just spam out towers and melt every incoming wave, not to mention the seperate resources available for "support" abiities like a death lazer that just eat everything. There is some good points, it's a time killer and would probably be fun if you actually got to the point where you have unlocked the different things available, but I have no time for a game like this.
  In conclusion, I don't like this game, but if it's your style, it's probably not worth the money anyway. Score: 2

Game Review Smite Beta

Smite is a pretty legendary sounding game. It is however, a pretty good quality game (well beta). It's a MOBA, yes I know everyone hates MOBAs but I enjoy them. Now what makes this MOBA different from the rest? Well take a look.

Third Person!!1!!one!! Yeah that's right Smite is a 3rd person MOBA based on Gods of all forms of mythology from Nordic to Chinese to African of all forms. In these images I'm Odin. As a giant nerd (my girlfriend can back this up) I love mythology especially Nordic with all the fantasy realms etc. and I am so happy to be able to fly through the air as Thor bringing down his almighty hammer on unsuspecting victims. Well unsuspecting until you hear him. Since this game has no ability to see over walls etc to see incoming attacks with ease then there seems to be an implemented sound whoring feature where you can pretty much hear if you're about to get viciously pummelled so can slowly and casually stroll back to your tower and wait for the storm to pass. As with any MOBA there is frequent patches to nerf and buff Gods which seems to be kicking ass the most violently.
  The graphics are pretty damn sexy too, with scenery that pleases the eye and abilities that please the thirst for f*cking sh*t up (I do try to keep it PG I swear). It also has a handy feature to stream from your launcher straight to Twitch. But the best thing by far is the fact that HiRez (The developers) Stream it 24/7 with giveaways on there own Twitch with presenters always commentating. It provides for excellent background entertainment while nuking that stupid monkey, no offence Hun Batz but you are annoying. They also provide useful hints and tips on how to not be a noob.

Look at the sexy menu screens!
   There is a variety of game modes and the competetive scene is just starting to pick up (if you like a challenge) however it is still in beta so it's all changing around and trying to get used to one aspect can sometimes be a struggle. Also the lack of being able to see over walls can cause difficulties and it could be argued that some skins and Gods are slightly overpriced. The worst aspect is however the community. The average game is full of raging children and rage quiters, especially in ranked. But that's to be said with all MOBAs really, there's only a small pocket of people who play these games for fun, or because they enjoy them, the rest just want to win.
  In conclusion, this is a much easier to play MOBA that is extremely enjoyable, free and visually impresive, but not for people who like to keep their stress levels low. 9/10 for gameplay, 1/10 for  lack o f giving me the Thor banhammer on the community (Hint hint Bart ;) )

Game Review Paranautical Activity

This is a, well I guess you'd describe it as "Indie" game. It's a FPS with a twist. What's the twist? Take a look.

 Yes it looks like Minecraft, Doom and Binding of Isaac had some sort of weird twisted 3 way baby that became the badass of school and got high. If you are high whilst playing this game I don't expect you to ever wake up. So it's a randomly generated set of chambers that you battle through with a class of your choice whilst killing everything to move to the next room, with a shop, a sub boss and a boss. That may sound boring but since it's randomly generated it changes every single time you load up. One time you may be battling a giant purple jelly fish (yes that happens), the next two flying multiplying eyeballs which shoot lasers. Trippy right?
    This game cost me a massive 3.50 GBP. For a game this re playable and addicting you'd expect to be playing big bucks not just a few quid that would only go on a KFC anyway. Okay KFC maybe would satisfy your cravings but this would last longer. So the question you have to ask yourself is do you like it quick and amazing or long, good and hard (hurhur). In all seriousness this game is ridiculous. It's currently in greenlight on steam so go vote that shizz up! The soundtrack to very-hard-to-spell Activity is about as trippy as the game itself. I love it. I love everything about this game. Apart from the limited choice of classes (including David Bow-ie) and the lack of changeability of the surroundings (I'm sure it will be updated to change soon) this is my perfect game. 8/10 for you lil budy.

Game Review - Blacklight Retribution

Any Steam Free to Play fanatic who has no idea what Blacklight Retribution is has been sleeping under a rock. I call it a free to play but it's more of a free to play micro transaction central game.

I'd played this game before and I have to say, I was impressed by the gameplay. I picked up some sweet weapon modifications, even turning the default Assault Rifle into a Sniper! But that was on the US server (which I have to say I had little lag on even being from the EU) so when I played again on the EU I was reset to defaults. This isn't a bad thing however, apart from having no camo any more the base weapons aren't bad, the game is ridiculously well balanced, with me coming second in my first game with team mates running round with what appeared to be lightsabers! (Yes they are in this game and yes I want one) I assume they cost a bomb so I stayed away from them, remaining strong in my stingy free to play roots. You get GP (credits) for playing games which is the main form of acquiring/upgrading armour and weapons. However there is a "Zenn" option which fuels boosts, upgrade packs etc. You also get packs for levelling up which is awesome

This shows the customization section. Looks familiar right? To me it looks like Blink's older brother. Now don't get me wrong that's a good thing as I loved Blink but I think it lacks originality in the style of screens. It's all easy to handle menus that help to optimize smooth transitions and on the fly customisability in the short duration between lobbies.

This is some in game screenshots. It looks superb and doesn't even run that hard on my GPU, with everything very smooth and pretty like all good shooters should be. It plays better than CoD BO2 in my opinion, with an easy HUD and no un-balanced weapons or lag spikes or any sort of the usual CoD problems (start flame war here). As shooters go this was great for the price, with everything being how you want it to be, no killstreaks (CP is earned and can be used on Ammo/Health refills, flamethrower, rocket launcher or juggernaut style Hard Suit) so everything is balanced, noone is running round insta headshotting, noone is spawn trapping it is a very good experience. However the bad side is that it takes a long time to get all the weapons you want to try out, but if you play it enough it is excellent.

 As Free to Play's go this is up there with the best, but I'm afraid until you play 100 hours straight, it's not living up to the hype behind it and it's lack of originality in menus forces me to give it a 6/10