Review: Lords of the Fallen

Lords of the Fallen is a third-person action rpg set in a medieval fantasy world. It shares many similarities to Dark Souls and fans of that series will feel right at home here. If you like challenging combat, dungeons to explore, plenty of loot, and a bloody fantasy world, then look no further.

Pros:

– Boss encounters are challenging but fair and you get bonus loot for meeting a certain goal when fighting them, such as taking no damage

– Risk vs reward checkpoint system, do you play it safe and save at each checkpoint, or do you risk death for more experience and loot

– Fluid combat animations

– Class selection caters to different play styles

– Death feels punishing but not cheap

– Great music and sound brings this dark fantasy world to life

– Weapons and armor feel weighty and realistic

– Excellent graphics and art style

– High replay value with certain loot only available on a second play through

Cons:

– Can be easy to get lost with no map or clear direction on where to go

– Awkward lip synch and character movement during conversations

– Poor game performance in some areas, frame rate drops and glitches

– Clunky camera in tight spaces

– AI can behave strangely sometimes such as walking on the spot or getting stuck in walls

Closed Beta Impressions: The Crew

I was lucky enough to receive a beta key for the upcoming open world racer The Crew. Here are my impressions from what I’ve played, unfortunately they’re not positive.

Pros:

– Good amount of visual and performance upgrades for your cars

– Large open world map

Cons:

– Graphics are some of the worst I’ve ever seen on a next gen console, looks very dated and pales in comparison to games such as Forza and Driveclub

– Unable to change individual driving assists

– Poor car models

– Cars sound bland and unrealistic

– Even with hardcore handling settings selected, it still felt heavily assisted

– Gameplay feels repetitive and boring

After playing the beta I am very dissapointed. I thought this could be the next Need for Speed Most Wanted (the original), but it falls short of my expectations by a long way. Steer clear of this one, it’s a lemon

Review: Sunset Overdrive

I’ll start by saying that if you’re going to buy one game this year, make sure it’s Sunset Overdrive. This game mixes elements of Tony Hawk, Saints Row, Borderlands, Ratchet and Clank, and even the classic Simpsons: Hit and Run. The end result is a brilliant open world, third-person shooter that doesn’t take itself too seriously and is an absolute blast to play.

Pros:

– Responsive controls

– Great sense of humor, genuinely funny

– Visuals are vibrant and full of detail

– Expansive open world map with vertical and horizontal exploration

– Fun and varied missions

– Huge amount of collectibles, activities, and unlocks

– Well written voice acting

–  Large amount of character customization, both in looks and upgrades

– Chaos Squad 8 player coop multiplayer, is exactly that.. CHAOS! Plenty of fun to be had here

– Perfect use of music and sound that captures the lighthearted mood of the game

– Crazy and creative weapon design

– Good variety of enemies with their own strengths and weaknesses

There are no cons for this game, l can’t fault it in any way

Xbox One Releases 31/10/14

This week we’ve had two new games released for the xbox one, Sunset Overdrive and Lords of the Fallen

Sunset Overdrive is a crazy and stylish open world third-person shooter

http://www.xbox.com/en-AU/games/sunset-overdrive

Lords of the Fallen is a hack and slash third-person action rpg

http://www.lordsofthefallen.com/

Introducing At-A-Glance

Noticing a distinct lack of bite-sized reviews on the internet, we thought we could do reviews you could read (almost literally) in just a few glances. These won’t go into much depth, but list our very honest impressions on whether a game is worth your hard-earned money. Great for quickly checking out a game before you impulse-buy it from the shelf!

Also, because an At-A-Glance Review is quick to write, we will be more likely to post stuff more often. Enjoy ☺

Thanks to Nemo | pixabay.com for the graphic!

Review: The Evil Within

The Evil Within is a must have game for fans of Silent Hill, Resident Evil, or just survival horror in general. It is challenging, unforgiving, terrifying, and filled with an abundance of gore.. Everything you’d want in a good survival horror.

Sound – 10

From creaking floorboards to groaning zombies, the sound leaves chills up your spine and has you constantly on edge.

Visuals – 8

Graphics aren’t the best on next gen consoles and there are some frame rate drops, but creative environments and enemies make up for this.

Gameplay – 8

The game achieves a mix of stealth and action very well, although the controls and camera can feel a bit clunky at times.

Story – 7

The story can feel slightly disjointed and characters are strangely calm about their horrific surroundings, but there is still plenty of mystery to keep things interesting.