This is a tough review for me right now. I had the highest of hopes that Battlefield 2042 would be an amazing frigging game and if I’m being completely honest about it, I’d have to say this game is one the most lackluster titles available right now. Bugs aside, where is the content? It’s like the developers cut everything out that you were expecting and said here, have a couple game modes to play online and be happy about it. Granted, the publishers often have a lot to do with decisions in how a game shapes up, so I can’t put it all on the developers. I’m looking at you right now EA! As I was saying, the game is lacking a lot of content. No solo campaign, only a couple of the modes to pick from (that God for conquest)! There are plenty of weapons and soldier customization options, but nothing much else. Southern goes at least 2 points for lacking content. Graphics are OK. I did expect a lot more on the graphic front of things with BF 2042, but we can’t have everything we want. I guess I feel like the maps themselves are missing detail that I have come to expect in this day and age. Graphics don’t make an entire game, but they aren’t something to overlook. Graphics are definitely an important part of immersion. Audio is excellent! They definitely got the audio right on this one. Enemy footsteps, weaponry firing off, even voice chat audio is good in this game. I have been using the PS5 wireless headset from Sony to play through, but I believe the audio is well tuned for most outputs. It sounded great on my TV, but obviously not as immersive as a headset. Let me know what you’re using for audio and settings and if you find it satisfactory! As mentioned above, no campaign and not much to choose from in regards to multi-player game modes. There are plenty of bugs to contend with which is normal, but these bugs are littered in there a little more than most games. I really do hold EA responsible for the faults in this game. They control the budget and make a lot of decisions and there is no doubt in my mind they messed this game all up. What does the future of Battlefield 2042 hold? Well, hopefully more game modes, more maps and better visuals. The bugs definitely need to be squashed, but I’d take with a grain if there was more content. All in all I’m giving Battlefield 2042 a 5 out of 10. Without the content, the game feels empty and reduced from its former glory days. Of course most long running franchises have gone downhill over the years and none of the publishers seem to care. Maybe someday they’ll open their eyes and realize they’re making mistakes and not good games. That’s just my take on it, so feel free … Read More
Call Of Duty Vanguard Review Part 3: Multiplayer
Welcome to part three of the Call of Duty Vanguard review! In the final section of this review, we’re going over the most popular aspect of the CoD series… Multiplayer! We love to play it and love to hate it! At least that seems to be the ongoing trend when it comes to CoD titles. So, without further ado, let’s get started! Call of Duty’s Vanguard multiplayer variant is alright. It’s definitely not anything that stands out in the franchise. It feels rather plain and already done a bunch of times over. On the one hand, everyone seems to want the game to change, but everytime it does, people complain. On the other hand, everyone seems to get upset when it feels like another copy and paste. While it may be the best selling video game year after year, the developers just can’t seem to win us over no matter how hard they try. As far as I am concerned, Vanguard isn’t anything new and it is disappointing in the sense that this game was delayed last year and they put 4 years into this one. Granted, Sledgehammer Studios had a lot of changes in personnel including leadership, but I can’t really excuse the lack of innovation this time around. Not after 4 years. I will start you off with the good and work my way down to the bad. Keep in mind, this my opinion and it doesn’t have to line up with everyone else’s and it’s not meant to be insulting to those that thoroughly enjoy the game. Graphically, this game isn’t special on any platform. It’s obviously better looking on a PS5 versus a PS4, but not enough of a difference to really care. It’s smoother looking and all, but it may as well have been released on the PS4 and forget about current Gen platforms. It’s not bad, it just doesn’t live up to expectations. Audio is pretty good with this title. Footsteps sound much better than they have in recent years. I can tell the difference between my teammates and my enemies when playing matches and that’s pretty important to me. When I’m rushing to the other side of the map to find the enemy team, it helps to hear them coming in from any direction. I don’t use my mini map like I should, so I don’t always look up and notice the blue friendly markers. I feel like the sound of guns firing weapons and kill streaks has been brought back to a level it needs to be on. Since Modern Warfare, I thought the sound effects were too much and overpowered everything else in my headset and even though I made adjustments, it was still a bit much for me. I know I’m not alone in this opinion, but I also know there’s a good amount of players that disagree with me as well. All that being said, I’m definitely happy with the audio settings. Controls … Read More
DeathLoop Review
DeathLoop is a masterpiece that should be played by anyone that has even the smallest interest. Playing through DeathLoop only saddens me further when I think about Microsoft buying Bethesda, but at least we got to play DeathLoop. Ok, enough of the sappy and more of the happy, right? Right! DeathLoop is a fun first person shooter that dives deep into the concept of time. It’s complicated in ways and can be confusing at times. It can drag on a little of the repetitive side, but for me at least, there is little to complain about. I have heard a lot of players complaining about how they had to try and keep up with unfolding the storyline through side missions and the main game and I kind of surprised anyone would think this is something to complain about. A lot of games use side missions to expand the game and offer more options to the player. You don’t have to play all the side missions to understand the story. Playing them just gives you a better understanding of the story on top of it. To sum it up, the story is really good. Well written and mind boggling at times. I would love to meet the minds behind the storyline because there was a lot of creativity with this one. I can respect that the storyline isn’t for everyone, but I think if someone wasn’t interested in a sci-fi story type about time and assassins and borderline rewind and try again scenarios, they probably wouldn’t pick up the game. That being said, it’s a good story… Let’s just leave it at that. Gameplay mechanics are responsive and not complicated to learn. This isn’t really a surprise because most games have tight responsive controls, it’s still important to mention. If the mechanics were not so up to par, I’d have to mention that too. Just sayin. Graphics… boy oh boy are the graphics something to whistle about. Now I know that if someone has a nice PC rig, they’re gonna find a way to mention it because they can’t help themselves, but this is about the PS5 and this machine can deliver quite the experience. DeathLoop is gorgeous on a million levels. Well, that’s an exaggeration, but it is beautiful to say the least. It really does take talent to put something like that together. Without spoiling the story, you are an assassin that is being antagonized by another assassin. You’re out to eliminate your enemies, while surviving everything in between. You will have to use your thinking cap to get ahead of the game (no pun intended) and solve a lot of puzzles to get there. Don’t worry though, you’ll be in a “death loop” that allows you to learn from your mistakes. It’s sci-fi fun with a lot of twists and I highly recommend anyone with a PS5 to try this game, unless of course you just don’t like First Person Shooters. … Read More
Returnal Review – Hardcore Deja Vu
I’ve discovered in recent years that I really enjoy stories centered around a time loop. I’ve seen some excellent films use the concept, and I’ve played even better games that use it. The Outer Wilds comes to mind as a perfect example, but when I saw a first-party PS5 title was using the concept in a roguelike with a AAA budget, I was absolutely on board. Now that Returnal is here in all its glory, it’s time to find out if the latest title from veteran developers at Housemarque makes the leap from arcade bullet hell to third-person bullet hell while also navigating a complex time loop story. Strap in folk, this is one wild ride. You’re Gonna Need Two Things: Time and Patience I have a mixed relationship with roguelike titles, mostly because I like to feel like I’m making progress in a game, and when the very concept prohibits you from making consistent progress, it can be difficult to really get invested. For me, it’s all about the story. I can handle repeat runs if I feel like I’m receiving motivation to keep trying. Hades is a perfect example of a title that nails this execution. Children of Morta also did well in this regard, offering bits of story between runs. With Returnal, it’s a bit of a mixed bag. There are audio logs you can find as you go through each randomly generated run into Atropos, and specific story set-pieces give you a glimpse into a house that shouldn’t exist on an alien planet, but the way the story is delivered is neither consistent nor reliable. Depending on my performance, I can go several runs without a single piece of lore, translated text, or audio log to motivate me. Given the sheer budget here, I would have liked to see more invested into additional story elements that make each run feel like you learned something, or at the very least tease you with new potential narrative if you can get just a little further. That’s not to say that what story Returnal does have isn’t good. The voice acting is excellent, with plenty emotion conveyed when the main character realizes she’s finding dead bodies of herself from other failed attempts to escape the loop. It’s all very compelling, and I certainly wanted to know what’s going on, but I think I would have stayed for another run or two per play session if I knew there was a narrative breadcrumb waiting for me at the end regardless of my performance. Now, for most people this isn’t going to matter. Roguelikes live and die by their gameplay, after all, you’re going to be playing a lot of it. They also typically leverage randomized environments or layouts to try and keep things fresh. This is one place where Returnal does shine. It took me several runs to get out of the first biome, and the environments shifted around just enough between each run to keep me from getting bored, … Read More