Call Of Duty WW2 Review: Old feels new!

Hello everyone! Well Call of Duty WW2 has been out for a little while and I've already dedicated most of my evenings to it! Poor old Infinite Warfare received huge unwarranted backlash when it was announced, but little did the wider world realise that Activision had already commissioned a return to COD's roots and stopped Sledgehammer creating a sequel to Advance Warfare. Instead putting them in charge of the first COD game to go back to the world war since World At War in 2008! 

"Let's not beat about the bush and get straight in to talking about the multiplayer: it's not fantastic."
  Let's not beat about the bush and get straight in to talking about the multiplayer: it's not fantastic. Not to write the whole affair off, but there a two components that WW2 critically hasn't done well. The first problem is the maps: I don't know what happened in the meeting when they were talking about map design but they were very much mistaken. WW2 continues the trend of three lane maps of small to medium size, but where it goes wrong is pathways. 

Let's remember Black Ops 3, (the best multiplayer since MW2 in my opinion). Three lane, mid-sized maps. Localised spawn locations at either end with some cover, two flanking routes and the larger middle route. Normally the flank routes had one interconnecting pathway into the middle route, otherwise they connect back up near the spawn hubs. 
This meant that the designers had great control of player movement around the map, which means it's easier to place  strategic cover, reduce camping spots, improve spawn logic and give the players a better understanding of the map. 

WW2 however, chooses to have lots of interconnected pathways from the flanks to the central map area. Which in turns makes it much more difficult to predict player movement for the designers and the players. For a designer it means a bit of head scratching where to appropriately put strategic cover and for the player it means a headache when deciding how best to flank the enemy team and where to expect another player may approach from. 

The issue is further compounded by the fact that aesthetics have taken some precedent in the maps this time, so yes they look more prettier but it's just stuff that gets in the way of sight lines and movement. There are pointless bits of cover littering some of the maps and makes them feel a bit maze like. 
I'm not sure at all why they decided to do things this way, I don't remember anyone complaining of not having enough pathways? Sure, not everyone likes mid-sized three lane maps but WW2's maps are just a headache.

When I played BO3's multiplayer, I was able to predict enemy movements around the maps without using the minimap. The maps were that well designed you could get into a flow, but I can't in WW2. There are two many pathways to look down if you're rushing and it feels like you're flipping a coin as to which route an enemy player may come down. Unless you've got a recon plane or something going on, it's very difficult to predict player movements.

 "yes, quick scoping is still here."

The next critical flaw is weapon balancing, it's pretty bad here. LMGs are a waste of your time for instance. The movement penalty, general low magazine count, recoil and long reload times makes them pale in comparison to anything else. Rifles have a far better damage profile, quicker fire rate and quicker reload times. Their clip sizes are also pretty modest. Apart from some specific occasions there's just no reason to choose an LMG over an assault rifle.

Sniping is pretty beastly this time around and yes, quick scoping is still here. Anyone using the Mountain division (more on them later) gets aim assist when aiming down sights, and the assist is pretty strong. Far more than any COD I've played since MW2. The result of this is most lobbies have multiple snipers using the one shot kill Enfield, either amazingly or pathetically. Obviously one of the issues with having sniper rifles so effective is that in the right hands it's a laser beam of death at all ranges. Some snipers can outgun shotgun users, as the sniper rounds have no damage drop off range where the shotguns can have pretty strict ranges.

Strangely, only the SMG's get silencers this time, but playing covertly isn't as big a deal this time around partly due to the map design as I said before predicting player movements is a lot trickier now. Their damage profiles are also pretty strict and there doesn't seem to be a big movement bonus over the rifles and so for a better damage profile most people go with a rifle. 

Lastly shotguns get beefed up like they did in BO3, and so in the right hands they can be pretty devastating. But the rate of fire for them is pretty poor, so if you fail to nail that one shot kill you're just sitting duck even in close range. 

"the pick 10 system is gone!"

I mentioned the Mountain division earlier, that's because the pick 10 system is gone! Instead you choose between five divisions that are designed around each of the weapon categories. You can level the divisions for additional perks, so for instance in the expeditionary division, if you equip a shotgun as your main weapon you can load incendiary shells into it. But only if you run shotgun as your main weapon, you don't get this ability if you main any other category of gun.

The perks you obtain as you level a division are the main rewards and do apply to any other weapon you equip as a main. For instance in the expeditionary division, as you rank up you can equip a tactical and lethal grenade at once, next rank you throw further and while sprinting and finally at the last rank you can resupply grenades off dead bodies. So the divisions are quite potent and choosing the right one for your playstyle is important. It is wise you evenly rank them up as depending on the game mode a division can help you succeed. It's also clever to mix a division with a different weapon category. Mountaineer division get stealth perks which are perfect for a rush class rather than a sniper.

Maxing out a division nets you a new weapon in it's respective weapon category and then prestiging a division rewards you with a basic training skill which are basically a perk. 
There are lots of basic training skills, over twenty. They're a mixed bag of useless, half useful and useful perks. I think they really could've chopped these down or allowed us to pick at least two at once, but only choosing one out of twenty just means only the crutch trainings get chosen. There's not a whole lot to sing about the basic training perks as most of them are perks from previous games.

I like the divisions, they're a good idea. Not wholly implemented well though as some of the skills are pointless. Like a bipod for an LMG. Reduced recoil and faster reload rate, what's so bad about that? Well you cannot move, they keep the damage profile and every map already has minigun emplacements which have a better damage profile, faster fire rate and also infinite ammo! 
I could go on nit picking all the strange design decisions in the multiplayer but then this article will go one for ages!

"War's maps are amazing!"

Now I want to be positive, and to be honest this is a big positive, so big I wish this mode had more maps and was the main part of the multiplayer experience and I'm talking about the War mode.

Those maps that I mentioned aren't good? Well War's maps are amazing! The maps are designed around attack and defend and the attackers are always positioned at a disadvantage, but it works!
So, to give you an idea of how the War mode works and how the maps flow let me tell you about Operation Neptune, a Omaha beach themed level. 

Allies start on the beaches and have to charge up to Axis lines and plant charges to get access to the cliffside. 
The Axis get to stay in the bunkers atop of the cliffs and using minigun emplacements they get to tear up the beach. 
To help the Allies there are NPC soldiers running around keeping Axis players preoccupied. 
Once the Allies breach the shoreline they can build ladders to scale the cliff and/or breach the lower bunker and gain access to a trench that leads up into the bunkers for additional flank routes. All the while the Axis players will be rebuilding any defenses and patrolling the trenches around the bunkers. 
All the allies have to do now is sit in the bunkers to capture them like a domination flag. If the allies accomplish this then the Axis are forced to retreat to bunkers further up the hill. 
In this stage of the battle the Axis have to defend radio equipment in a large bunker, and the allies have to breach the bunker and destroy the equipment. Sound simple but this bunker is easily defensible. However if the Allies destroy the radio equipment then the final phase of the mission is initiated.
Again the Axis have to retreat before the timer counts down and mortar fire commences. This last stand is at two flak cannons that the allied players must destroy by planting three bombs on each cannon and the Axis naturally have to prevent them. This last push is the hardest section of the map, once one cannon is destroyed a tank arrives to help the Axis troops and it becomes much more frantic.


The Axis players can win by halting the allies within the time limit and naturally the attacking side has the greater obstacles to overcome, but the imbalance in the maps is what makes this mode so interesting and makes the maps so playable. No more spider web pathways! These maps have such focus that they're design is just sublime and they're a real joy to play. There are only three maps currently, but I really do hope they put out more than one war map per map pack, because War is the saving grace of WW2's multiplayer. 
I wish more shooter games included modes like this, it sort of takes me back to playing counter-strike, having the attack and defend dynamic.
The worst thing to say about War mode is it's very frustrating when your team don't use tactical grenades like the smokes when it comes to completing objectives and grenade spam is very present and it takes a long time to rank up the Armoured division for it's flak jacket buff.

Now I do understand the hardship in designing maps that must be suitable for team deathmatch, domination, hardpoint, search and destroy and capture the flag is pretty immense and it's no wonder that they get it wrong from time to time. Ultimately, something has to give so that all those game types can function in that map space. Because the War maps only have to accommodate one game mode they get to be refined and well balanced, WW2 really shows the weakness of having multipurpose maps.

"I found the Final Reich mission was really newbie friendly"


Nazi zombies returns again, (I guess this is now the official co-op COD mode) and I was pretty surprised by it to be honest. Infinite Warfare's spin on the mode was enjoyable and was easier to get in to for newcomers (traditionally this mode is tough as nails) and WW2 follows suit. You can play a little prologue that explains the basics as each iteration has some tweaks to the formula but I found the Final Reich mission was really newbie friendly and unlike previous games where each "easter egg" was so vague and long winded to activate, you can actually do a fair few of the objectives in the Final Reich without reading an FAQ.

One thing that does really help is you get a lot more points from zombies this time around and the cost of weapons and stat bonuses isn't extortionate. You can also choose a class which affords some passive bonuses and an ability that you can charge up before activating which add to your arsenal and are a welcome addition.
If you like COD zombies you'll be happy here as there is plenty to get your teeth into and it never gets old watching your character remove a zombies head with a shovel.

"I don't get how people can say COD games don't look good!"

Finally the campaign, I was unsure what to expect going in. The European theatre has been done to death in games and movies so was unsure how engaging WW2's campaign would be but I've got to say I was really impressed. 
It looks gorgeous, that's the first thing that hit me. The character models, the environments and set pieces it's all wow, wow. I don't get how people can say COD games don't look good! They must have vaseline on their glasses or something, I mean it isn't going to have the fidelity of Battlefield but then COD runs at 60 FPS instead of 30.
And the sounds, the guns have a real grunt to them. They sound powerful, the noises really pop in your ears and the sounds of explosions all around is an audio treat. WW2 grabs your senses and throttles them, never letting go. 

It plays as good as it looks and sounds, too. The Nazi AI on the normal difficulty is engaging, the level design is very good and you never spend too long doing the same thing. There's some great pacing here and I like that you don't always shoot your way out of a situation. Nazi's can be forced to flee or even surrender! It just keeps things fresh and interesting and adds humility to the game. 
The campaign also sports a very interesting level called Liberation where the player infilitrates a Nazi garrison in Paris and you have to find your Nazi contact whose helping you bring down the garrison and liberate Paris. It's a really clever level and I won't go into too many details and spoil it for you. It's not quite as perfect as All Ghillied Up but it's certainly pushed the bar when it comes to interesting COD levels.


The story is nothing to write home about, you do get involved in some historical battles including The Battle of the Bulge which was a highlight for me. The characters are one dimensional and the dialogue is cheesy, it's like a 90's movie full of macho bravado. The story tries to go somewhere dark but ultimately COD knows it's not the platform for such things and nips things up very quickly. 

WW2 changes the health system that's been in use for so long now and brings back a health bar and health packs. Your life does not recharge at all! You do have a teammate that will give you a free health pack after you kill enough Nazis but I never found myself too often bereft of health packs. (You can hold up to four). But I have to admit I prefer the old recharging life bar, in a COD campaign it's an interactive movie and it seems odd to have to concern yourself with this one bit of resource management.
All your allies actually have abilities that charge as you fight, one can highlight enemies for a while, another will resupply your grenades. But I was generally only fussed with the health packs as ammo is plentiful regardless.

Expect the campaign to last around six to seven hours, add a few more if playing Veteran and you could easily hit around twenty hours if you're a trophy hunter or completionist as there's quite a few hidden collectibles. So hidden I maybe found two of a possible thirty three!


Overall, WW2 is a good package but your mileage will definetly vary depending on how well you get on with the multiplayer maps and if you like the War mode.
I personally will be bingeing on War mode, well at least until I start playing Battlefront 2 but don't let my Star Wars bias dissuade you. There is fun to be had here but those maps are definitely going to be crux of whether you'll keep this game or move on. Stick to War mode, you won't regret it.

Hope you enjoyed the review and if you did, then please give a +1 and follow the blog. Have a great week everybody!
   

The Evil Within 2 - Game Analysis (Major Spoilers)

I've finally finished The Evil Within 2. I was so thrilled when I saw the game's announcement trailer earlier in the year. It's been three years since the first game and I had no idea a sequel was in the works. It was up in the air if we were even going to have a sequel due to the poor sales of the first game. Sales figures mind you, that don't reflect the product: horror games are a hard sell anyway, it's a niche genre, people as a general consensus would rather watch horror than interact with it.

So, it was fantastic to see that Bethesda had commissioned a sequel and that it was to release in this very year! Very unheard of, a release trailer for a game coming out that year. No need for the hype train, I was sold as soon as you showed me.

Please note this article does include some major spoilers for the game and it's story.

So, how does TEW2 stack up against it's predecessor? The two it seems, have less in common than what you'd think. TEW2 moves away from the first, overhauling the story, tweaking the core gameplay mechanics and just going for a general different feel. TEW1 was criticised for it's characters and story but what people saw as underdeveloped I saw as mystery and intrigue. I didn't need to know Sebastian's, Kidman's and Joseph's backstory to feel any connection to the characters, you strap in for the ride and you enjoy the push and pull narrative. Learning that Kidman was secretly working for Mobius was interesting, not shocking. Joseph's seemingly shot dead by Kidman, after struggling to resist losing himself was tense not heartbreaking. Really the whole point of TEW1 is you're supposed to lose sight of what is reality and what is STEM. The ending was so poignant of this, watching Lesley walk off, turning and practically winking at the camera. I'm Ruvik, it's brilliant! Part of the fear of the unknown is not understanding and TEW1 did a good job of keeping the player largely in the dark.

TEW2 on the other hand, seeks to give complete and utter transparency to the plot and characters. Almost every minute detail is explained so that only a few elements are unexplained and of them, they are not integral to understanding the game's story.

Before I delve deeper into the story side of things however, I rather start at the very essence of any videogame - the mechanics. On the surface things look largely the same but there are lots of little tweaks, additions and removals that have fundermentally changed the game and make it different from the first. The single greatest overhaul is stealth, to be honest generally for the better as stealth is much more important this time around. TEW1 had obligatory stealth sections that were not well received for good reason, TEW2 also has these sections only they're not as glaringly obtuse as before and when you consider that stealth actually makes up the majority of this game they had no choice but to improve it.

First and foremost the "eye" that appears at the top of screen operates in a sensible manner. Before, in TEW1 the eye would appear "searching" if you were near enemies and would change into the glaring eye if spotted. TEW2 only shows the "searching" eye when enemies are aware of you. It's immediately an extra layer, there's a big difference between spotted and not spotted and TEW2 bridges the two with a mechanic that should not have been absent from the first game.
It's important to implement this as it naturally affords the player an opportunity to flee before being completely overwhelmed. Like most stealth games once you're spotted every enemy in the vicinity can pin point you exact location so having this leeway really helps balance things out. The first game didn't have this and sometimes gauging enemy sight lines and what should and should not constitute as spotted, was vague and that was the basis of peoples frustrations with the first game's stealth.

Furthermore, Sebastian can now actually go into cover, previously you simply hid out view round a corner or something and used the camera to peek. Using cover for stealth is a far better option.
In TEW2, when Sebastian is in cover, he is also harder for enemies to spot, in that parts of him can be visible out of the cover but enemies don't detect him, and you can quick move from cover to cover with additional invisible frames. You can even upgrade Sebastian's abilities so that he can stealth kill an enemy from cover which is pretty handy as the developers have been a little bit devious this time around; most enemy patrol routes are away from cover and some enemies always look at the direction Sebastian is coming from irrespective of how alert they are. It's underhanded, I don't like it and it's a cheap method of increasing the difficulty of the game.

Ammo is the next gameplay overhaul, in that there is less collecting it and more crafting it. I saw a lot of comments that people foundTEW1 really stingy in the ammo department and a fair few people were restarting the entire game on easy just to get by sections they otherwise couldn't finish for lack of ammo. That's pretty damning I'll agree, but I have to say that wasn't my personal experience. Regardless, TEW2 has implemented the crafting system which is supposed to help the player stop hitting this road block whilst also not dolling out tons of ammo. But the cost of doing so away from a workbench is pretty extortionate, especially when you consider that the weapon balancing is all over the shop here.
I personally don't think the crafting system is very good here, it does work in the open world portions of the game but the actual majority of the game is linear. Being force to have to constantly go through a mirror to get to a workbench to make ammo is an inconvenience and a time waste. They could just of easily not included the mirror in the linear portions and instead trickled ammo to the player. You can still craft away from the mirror for that ridiculous cost, but if you are that stuck then it's at least there.

Enemies are next and initially the Lost are pretty good. Outnumbered and resource poor is a vunerable position to be in and the game plays this really well in Chapter 3 where you're sneaking around the town. The tensest moments I had in the entire game come from this chapter and y'know it's almost like a completely different game from what Evil Within is supposed to be. The Lost at their core are bog standard zombies, which is their initial strength but ultimate flaw. Chapter 3 is like playing a really good zombie survival game and it's wholly enjoyable (and I actually don't like the current zombie survival games). But once you get enough ammo, abilities and resources you turn into a one man army and what you end up doing is losing the tension and it devolves into a generic zombie shooter.

In comparison to the Haunted, I preferred them over the Lost. The Haunted were genuinely creepy, even when you had enough ammo to contend with them. They took a punch, some had creepy masks, they utilised all manner of weapons and if you wasn't quick enough with the matches to burn them, they'd get right back up again. They actually evolved through the game as well, gradually becoming more powerful and smarter under Ruvik's influence, using machine guns and explosives.
The Lost do not get more dynamic, instead about two thirds in they get a  reskin, HP buff and intermittently burst into flames; granting them immunity to stealth kills. Which doesn't make them any more interesting to fight, just irritating. In fact, the game even tries to tell you that these enemies are different to the lost. They're supposed to be followers of Theodore but why would the Lost follow anyone when they're all completely driven mad by the Anima? This is the story at odds with the gameplay in essence and it doesn't do the whole thing any favours.

Onto the bosses in the game and I have to say I wasn't especially impressed. Stefano's Obscura was perhaps the prize boss of the lot being equal parts creepy and deadly, and also had interesting encounters. The laughing amass of heads, looks grotesque but is just a bullet sponge fight, but most disappointing of all is the flame thrower boss and the weaker variants of itself. The boss is an absolute bullet sponge with horrendous AI. (I was able to cheese it around a desk with no issues first try) It's more formidable in the later chapters as an enemy in the open world section and only because cover is further apart and it's flamethrower attack has some extreme range. Though the only reason to confront them at this point is to repair the broken flamethrower you can get from the aforementioned boss version.

It's grief to kill two of them,
they're both bullet sponges which makes that option out of the question (unless you want to be ammo poor for the rest of the game) and both take around three stealth kills on normal difficulty. Which is not so straight forward as to compensate for their poor AI the Flamethrower disciples will auto-detect Sebastian when he is not in cover and when they are not doing around two frames of their flame spray animation. So you can muck about for hours trying to stealthily kill them or if you had the foresight to upgrade the warden crossbow's smoke bolts, you can repeatedly stealth attack them in a smoke cloud in relative safety and it's much quicker. Again, you have to cheese them to get anywhere near an even playing field. The bosses just aren't as creepy or interesting as TEW1's to be honest, and perhaps the developers felt this also as they included them for stand-in bosses for Theodore (what a cop out! We should have been the ones to deal with him!).

Even the final boss, Myra herself isn't that interesting to battle. It is hard to make a boss in a shooting game that is 'strategical' but you can at least make it cinematic as they did with Ruvik in TEW. Myra, whilst she looks absolutely amazing, amounts to little more than target practise. Shoot the glowing parts to do damage, it's like a carbon copy of Dead Space 1's Hive Mind boss, she even grabs Sebastian prompting a short timed section to shoot yourself free just like the aforementioned boss!
I don't see why they couldn't have made it more interesting?
The first technical encounter you have with Myra in the Marrow is treated as a stealth section and I think it would have been better to have done the same with Myra, mixing the shooting moments in. They did so much with the Stefano fight that each boss after feels so weak in comparison. Stefano had layers, he changed tactics as the battle went on. You have to be mindful of where he is, what the eye is doing, where any explosives have been planted and you can even use stealth to get a breather. No other boss fight is half as complex as Stefano and it really baffles me, I get a really strong vibe that after Stefano the game design struggled to keep in tone with the story, which results in the watered down experience post Stefano.
 

And lastly, what did I make of the story? Well, once the credits had rolled I didn't sit back and think "wow". I was left a little disappointed to be honest, people will probably disagree with me but hear me out. TEW1 had a great story, purposefully misdirecting and loose with discerning what is in fact real and what isn't. I enjoyed being hurtled along with Sebastian in the warped mind of a vengeful psychopath. What people saw as plotholes and inconsistences I saw as mystery. Sometimes knowing everything is a bad thing, the mystery is what makes things exciting and scary. TEW 2 has no mystery, therefore it's not exciting. The plot twists, or rather turns are so predictable you find yourself just going through the story motions. The most interesting and enigmatic character is killed off just over half way leaving us with a conventional villain who isn't half as compelling and that's partly due to the fact that as soon as Theodore appears we are told entirely what his plan is the reasoning for doing so amounts to "because I am a psychopath so I can". Either wrap your villain in mystery or do the effort and develop them in a way that makes them a compelling figure. Personally I like my villains a little more enigmatic, as again a lack of understanding goes hand in hand with fear.

Mobius, who went by almost unheard of in the original now get revealed as some sort of illuminati, controlling society from behind the scenes for centuries. Really TEW2? This was all you could think up? Mobius is uninteresting, you're just force fed this evil powerful corporate entity drivel and expected to despise them as much as the characters. Which is hard when you don't actually get to know any of the negative effects they've had on anyone beside Sebastian.
One of the biggest issues I have with Mobius is their grand plan. If I'm understanding the story correctly, Mobius are going to have everyone in the entire world connected to the STEM where they will live in a picturesque town that's essentially perfect. Job stability, security and all that good stuff. So what's so evil about this? Outside of "they wan't to control us" they actually don't have any evil reason to be doing what they're doing and why would you even hide in the shadows with this sort of technology? People would probably cue up for the opportunity to be a part of a virtual world where life is made perfect.
The only two things wrong with STEM is that psychopaths are able to corrupt the world if they assume control of it and that for some reason, due to our own self hatred, loathing and fears we turn into zombies... It's really bizarre and the writers are trying far too hard to get us to hate Mobius.

Also the Haunted were the way they were because firstly, they were mental patients and as such were easily influenced and thus corrupted by the STEM user Ruvik, not because they were being chased by the Anima within STEM so although it's an interesting development it also comes out of a nowhere and is push fit into the Evil Within's overall story.
TEW 2 tries to clarify a lot but just creates bigger plot holes and inconsistances than the original game, but also leaves us with no real mystery. Unless you consider the end credits scene of STEM booting up again, for whatever reason it does and obviously, despite having virtually no one connected to it anymore, I imagine for the next game it will be able to wireless link people to itself, because let's face it. You haven't got any suspension of disbelief if the third game sees wafts of people heading to the abandoned Mobius facility to plug themselves in.

I know I've been pretty critical of TEW2, but that's because I'm disappointed. We have a watered down narrative that focuses on characters we don't get the time or encouragement to become emotionally connected to and the combat is fractured with a tedious crafting system that disrupts the flow of gameplay whenever you're not in a open world section which are the best parts of the whole game.
It's like an Evil Within game for people who didn't like the first Evil Within game. The highlight of the whole thing ends with Stefano's death. Replaying chapter 3 shows me another game, a more interesting game. One that could work if only it was all about survival and a zombie outbreak.

I have no urge to replay TEW2 and for me that's the measure of a truly gripping game experience, is when it's so good. as soon as it's over you want to jump right back in. We may never see another Evil Within game, which is a shame. I think at another time, people would be more receptive to a game similar to the first, which did have it's downsides. It is in no way perfect, the stealth in TEW1 is horrible there is no denying that. But being thrown around a virtual world like an aimless lemming was far more interesting and immersive than plodding through the derivative environs of the second game: Half zombie town, half Doom world and some horror laboratory thrown in for good measure.

Ultimately, I'm interested to see how the reception of the second game will influence the possible third but it would be a shame to see the series end, I think it just needs to find it's feet and then we could have ourselves a truly memorable horror franchise.

I hoped you enjoyed reading this article and if you did please leave a +1 and follow for more game analysis, opinions and nostalgia trips.

Hope you've had a great weekend!

The Playoff! Dead Space 1 vs Dead Space 2!

I'm a massive fan of Dead Space! I genuinely miss the series and every now and again I get teased with hints of an elusive fourth title. It's been over four years since Dead Space 3 was released and with the horror genre regaining it's former popularity, surely it won't be long before we get to grasp that plasma cutter and dismember some more Necromorphs?

But I digress, I want to spar off Dead Space 1 with it's direct sequel Dead Space 2 and decide which is the superior game of the two? Will it be a case of getting stronger or just a reskinning of the original? Let's find out!

I'm going to choose three categories I feel are relevant to the two Dead Space games. I will be omitting plot as DS1 is actually quite light on having it's own unique plot and is more a sort of amalgamation of homages to other sci-fi and horror titles.

It's only from DS2 that the series begins to develop it's own story and brings the Unitology organisation into the forefront.
DS1 is tentative with it's story and gives little in the way of plot other than Isaac needs to get off the Ishimura. So without further ado I will start with perhaps one of the most essential ingredients of a horror game.

ROUND ONE - SCARES!

It cannot be a horror game and not be scary and atmospheric. Dead Space would seem to have the advantage from the off if we look at things from memory. Wandering the cold, desolate halls of the Ishimura for the first time is a nerve racking experience. When Dead Space 2 rolls along we're prepared, we know the score and we know what to expect. The enemy is no longer unknown.

But I'm going to be as objective as I can. DS1 is a slower paced game, it urges caution as you delve deeper into the ever degrading Ishimura.
Necromorphs can be heard clambering through the vents before bursting out and attacking and a lot of the time you'll hear them but you won't see them, until it's too late.
Many Necros play possum and appear dead until you step too close and they spring into attack. That's right, Dead Space was doing this long before The Evil Within.

DS2 on the other hand is a more action and story related affair. Unlike in DS1 Isaac isn't actually primarily concerned with surviving. When he learns there is a Marker on the Sprawl he commits to destroying it.
The Necromorphs become more obstacle and are presented to you in cinematic ways or spawn into well crafted combat environments.

When I play DS2 I don't feel tense throughout, sure there are moments. (Hate those charging Necros that peek around corners, eesh!) But playing through DS1 is a generally unnerving game. Necros often flank you in any given combat scenario and the sense of claustrophobia is palpable. Blood written scrawling on the walls begging for help and nothing is more creepy than when you exit the transit and there are pearly white body bags littered all over the place, surrounded by dimming candles and a chilling rendition of twinkle twinkle little star starts up. It's creepy as hell!

DS2 doesn't really do this, I mean the creepiest location in DS2 is the Unitology centre and that's due to those creepy Stalker Necros as mentioned before. The rest of the game has more in common with Resident Evil 4 in how it plays than DS1.

Ultimately, I always tell people; "Dead Space 2 is to Dead Space 1, as Aliens is to Alien."
The creepy creatures are still there but the atmosphere is less isolated survivor and more one man army blasting through the hordes.
It's not even a bad thing, it's just not scary so...

WINNER - DEAD SPACE 1!

Next on my list is weapons! Dead Space has quite an interesting array of weapons, unlike say Resident Evil or Silent Hill or any other horror game of the time. Isaac primarily utilises engineering equipment to destroy Necromorphs.
Unlike zombies and the whatnot, Necros vulnerability lies in their limbs. Severing them apart is how you ultimately destroy them. Blasting ones head off is little more than an irritant to the monstrous creature!

WEAPONS

Unlike the previous segment which, lets be honest. Is relative, this a direct blow to blow. Who has more and who has the best/most satisfying to use.

Dead Space 1 has seven weapons. Starting with the humble but deceptively overpowered Plasma Cutter all the way up to Necro eradicating contact beam.

Some highlights of the arsenal are the Ripper, which in it's primary firing mode levitates a rotating saw blade in the air for a set amount of time. It's a gory weapon as you walk the destructive blade into Necromorphs and watch their limbs blast off in visceral beauty!
It's secondary is a more cautionary attack which simple blasts a blade at full speed across the room and isn't nearly as satisfying!

I'm also a big fan of this game's shotgun - The force gun! It fires out a kinetic blast that literally rips enemies apart and even if it doesn't outright kill an enemy, it'll at least knock them down for followup attacks. It's secondary attack launches a grenade that detonates a powerful kinetic blast with similarly great results!

There are a couple of turkeys in the mix here and one is the plasma rifle. You'll be punished for relying on shooter favourites here. The plasma rifle eats ammo and isn't as useful in dismembering limbs as other weapons.

The last lame duck is the flamethrower that seems to do next to no damage and doesn't even cause Necros to flinch! You're completely vulnerable whilst using it! Not very good for Necro slaying.

Dead Space 2 has a grand total of twelve weapons, if you include the secret handgun weapon. (which is a foam hand that destroys anything you point it at... told you DS2 isn't as scary).
Most weapons return from DS1 with balancing, but a couple of the new guns are very delectable when it comes to Necro hunting!

Of the new guns, I really like the javelin gun. It's quite strong and it's secondary function is an AOE attack of chain lightning that effects surrounding Necros. It's good for dealing extra damage against larger Necromorphs also. It does takes some skill and practise to optimise it for limb detachment though.

Something that requires less skill is the detonator, which fires proximity mines that do devastating damage. It's the perfect weapon for slow Necros or the Stalkers, specially on higher difficulty settings. As a bonus it's secondary function is it disarms all placed mines for retrieval!

There are still some turkeys unfortunately, the pulse rifle is buffed up and now enjoys a secondary function as a grenade launcher but unfortunately the flamethrower is still pretty meh. The new addition the rivet gun is pretty underpowered  however and is just surpassed by so much else available.

The plasma cutter is still beastly and more than capable of being your sole weapon through the main game. But then again, would that really be much fun?
Having extra weapons adds to the variety and therefore fun factor. Coupled with the weapon balancing of all the existing weapons returning from DS1 prove that DS2 has the superior arsenal with even more ways to rip Necros apart!

WINNER - DEAD SPACE 2!!!

We're on to the third category now and it's the real stars of the show; the Necromorphs!

The hideously mutated humans and animals of the Dead Space universe are collectively known as Necromorphs and they come in various forms with differing methods of killing.
Stalkers are your most standard Necro and attempt to flank Isaac at every opportunity, either by sneaking up behind him or bursting from nearby vents.

Other notable Necromorphs are the twisted Lurkers, infected toddlers really, that sprout three tendrils and fire barbs at you. Dead Space 2 introduced Pukers that well... puke at you! And did I mention their gastric insides have sunken down into their left leg! Last but not least, we have the Regenerator and it's DS2 equivalent the Uber Morph! Nothing is more terrifying than a Necro that regrows it's limbs!

One of my personal favourite Necromorphs is found in DS2 and it's the Tormentor!
This Necromorph is encountered several times in Dead Space 2 and it has one of the best intros of all the games bosses in my opinion!
Isaac falls into one of the Sprawls many maintenance tunnels and is immediately set upon by the Tormentor! It chases you up the tunnel as you blast open the maintenance doors and then bam! The Earth Gov attack craft appears and blows a hole through the colony! Isaac and the Tormentor get sucked out into the vacuum of space! It becomes almost silent, only the sounds from within Isaac's suit can be heard.
They crash into the craft, the Tormentor's powerful claws grasping for Isaac! It begins inadvertently pulling missiles off the craft and Isaac cunningly shoots one point blank in the Necros face destroying the creature and the Earth Gov forces in one blow.

What a buzz! What a thrill! DS2 is full of these heart pumping set pieces but that's not what we're here about. We have to decide who has the best roster of Necromorphs. It's undoubtedly going to be Dead Space 2. There's more bang for your back here, the Puker alone is a major boost for both disgust and horror. The chilling macabre children that chase Isaac on mass, I mean DS2 showed some truly grisly iterations of the Necromorph species. So thus...

WINNER - DEAD SPACE 2!!!

So Dead Space 2 looks the clear winner but I'm giving Dead Space 1 a chance with the wildcard category:

WILDCARD - IS IT REALLY SURVIVAL HORROR?

Here's a strange one and you may be thinking "huh"? But both games are listed as Survival Horror, which is a broad term to say the least. One of the biggest criticisms for either game is that in standard difficulty they're both pretty easy. Ammo is quite plentiful, both games challenge you to finish them using the one gun and it's quite easy!

Health pickups are also prevalent in both games and by the end I had shed loads of surplus items stored up.
It's evident we're not going to find survival in either game's default difficulty so it must lay in the harder modes. Both offer a hard mode but it's actually not that big a difference! Damage received is higher sure, but it doesn't take much more ammo to obliterate your foes and some guns are so overpowered you can laugh in the face of Necros.

However, DS2 sports a fourth mode: Hardcore. It's a perma-death mode, one fatality and it's back to the start and also affords you only three saves! It's pretty tough, in the easier modes death is virtually weightless with so many checkpoints saving you from repeating long sections.
Hardcore mode is the closest the Dead Space series gets to survival horror, truly upping the stakes. And so without further ado...

WINNER ALL ROUND - DEAD SPACE 2!!!

Sequel syndrome is a miss here, Dead Space 2 truly expands on the original and takes the series further. More and better weapons, more Necros, tighter gameplay controls and better combat scenarios all add up for one amazing rollercoaster ride that is damn near perfection. At least in my opinion any way.

Both games are worth your time and if you've never played them I urge you do. They're not as intense as other horror games like say, Resident Evil 7 or some of the Silent Hill games but definitely a joy. If you like Alien and The Thing then this is the game for you!

I hope you've enjoyed this article as much as I enjoyed writing it and remember, if you like what you read then please follow me on Google+

Thanks for reading and have a great weekend!

Gears of War 4: a new studio takes the reigns!

I'm fond of the Gears of War franchise, the original was released very early into the life of the Xbox 360. Epic Games had high hopes of creating a franchise to rival Halo and was a console exclusive for the Xbox 360. 
Epic also chose to have Gears of War show off the Unreal 3 engine which at the time produced some amazing visuals that we hadn't seen before.

Since then the series has refined itself visually and mechanically. Gears of War 2 introduced some huge improvements with a more cinematic story and a greater variety of weapons, locations and superior pacing. It was a blast to well, blast with Marcus, Dom, Baird and Cole.

Gears 3 was a tonal shift, opting to portray a darker and even more bleak world than before with humanity on the edge of extinction, due to the Lambent creatures multiplying. 

While it was a well paced and enjoyable game it lacked the punch of previous titles, losing some if it's identify with it's serious tones of extinction. 

So we had Gears of War Judgement finally by Epic, that I personally see as the peak of the series. Baird being the comedy element of previous titles was put front and centre as the main character. 

He's on trial and is in the process of disclosing his actions to superiors whilst the city is under bombardment from the Locust.

It introduced a really fun mechanic where the game gave the player to choose which "truth" Baird will tell regarding individual skirmishes. So we could choose to fight a horde of Locusts with just shotguns rather than tell them we had all our usual weapons. 

It worked very well and was an intuitive method of making a prequel.

Epic Games then sold the IP to Microsoft, that assembled a developer called The Coalition with, I'm assuming, the aim of creating more entries into the series.

It reminds me of the Halo franchise; sold to Microsoft when the developer has finally tired of the making that one game series and wants to branch out. Much like Halo, I feel that Gears of War has gotten off to a shaky start.
Like Halo, Gears 4 begins ahead into the future. Not as far as Halo 4 mind, it's just 25 years and we play as Marcus Fenix's son; JD.

JD joined the COG like his dad but at some point left to join the outsiders; people who decided to live without the protection of the COG (which stands for Coalition Of Governments).
As outsiders they raid fabricated COG settlements for resources and all seems well until JD and his friends are attacked at full force by COG robotic soldiers, commanded by Minister Jinn, who claims JD and the outsiders abducted her people from the settlements.

JD eventually enlists the help of his dad; Marcus when the outsiders he'd grouped up with are kidnapped in the night by strange creatures.
With the aid of his Dad, JD and crew repel Jinn's chasing forces and head to a mass burial site, where the COG had disposed of all the crystallised Locusts from Gears 3.
Turns out the ultimate weapon that was supposed to kill off the Locusts had only actually sent them into a state of transformation; similar to a cacoon.
Now the Locust re-emerge as The Swarm, who are kidnapping humans so that they can transform them in to more Swarm to bolster the ranks.

It's a shame that The Coalition couldn't really think up a way to expand the threat to humanity other than more Locusts and in a way that feels really half baked.
But that's a sentiment to the whole game really, I'm currently at the end of Act 3 (of 5 acts), and this game suffers from some poor pacing and poor scenario designs.
All the improvements to the Gears game by Epic have been put to the wayside and it's like The Coalition have gone back to square one.

Graphics are beautiful, the colour palette has been expanded further but it's suffered majorly in gameplay. I don't like to be overly negative but it's so sad to see a growing franchise take a step back and here is my issue with the gameplay scenarios.
Repetition with minimal variation. We all know shooting games can get repetitive, especially these days. Most shooting games are more concerned with how they look than how they play, thanks to a misguided understanding of what made games like Call of Duty so successful.

Call of Duty is effectively a repetitive game, but the way the developers design each combat scenario, feels unique and the series has some of the finest pacing around. Players are never doing the exact same thing for too long in the exact same place, which is essential when your gameplay boils down to a shooting range.
COD gets the presentation and the pace right to keep the player engaged. It's one of the reasons their campaigns can be enjoyed over several playthroughs.

Gears 4 does little to change pacing or what you're doing. Even when they introduce new enemy types they do so little to mix things up. It really does feel like a corridor shooter.
Environments don't feel organic and the game intersperses the obvious shooting areas with obvious transfer corridors, that funnel the player to a slightly different looking location and offer a chance for game to offer some exposition.

For a game that has multiple enemy types they're just not utilised well. The Deebee robots are very easy and straight forward to fight, serving more as bullet sponges than anything else.
There are small ball droids and they behave like Tickers from previous games and can be dealt with in the same way and lastly there are aerial drones with shields, that end up as just another type of bullet sponge.

It's a further disappointment when The Swarm appear, they act like the Locust we've seen before but the variety between them has been diminished. Differing enemy types feel shallow and don't require any distinct shift in tactics to deal with other than: shall I rush with a Shotgun or hang back with Lancer.

Speaking of the weapons there are a few new ones, but the interesting ones such as the Saw Blade don't appear too often. Otherwise you'll likely end up using the Lancer and Gnasher as both deal with any and all threats just fine.
The combat scenarios you face don't really change either so you don't really feel a need to experiment outside your comfort zone to achieve success in any encounter.

At one point the game gives you a "fabricator", a box that can assemble any weapon you want on the fly and later it's used to create defenses, but it doesn't last long and it just doesn't reach it's full potential. Even in the stage where you use it to create defenses it doesn't especially shine as such defenses cost far too much, are far too flimsy. I was barely able to afford more than two turrets and some barbed wire through all I think 5 waves.

Gears 4 really struggles to change the pace of it's game and in the odd sections it's done, they're far too short lived. You will blast through hundreds of robots over and over in level layouts that don't encourage experimentation or even exploration.
It really does upset me when a new developer focuses on the elements of a game franchise wrong and sacrifices other more interesting elements.
I remember Gears 2 specifically, it moved at an incredible pace and just mixed up those enemy types so much more. Locust behaved in more interesting ways and each Locust type felt unique in how you interacted with it  and conversely how they interacted with each other. I'm just not getting this in Gears 4.

I've still got a ways to go before the end, but I sure hope it picks up. And if it doesn't then I hope The Coalition find their feet with the next Gears game and really show me what they can do.
You have the visuals down, the enjoyable banter is back, but the gunplay is weak. I'm rooting for you, and I look forward to what will come next.