BLOG ENTRY 1: THE LAST OF US
Intro
Today will be playing the PlayStation exclusive The Last of
Us. From the creators of the Uncharted franchise Naughty Dog who have a
reputation for only releasing the highest quality of games the bar was set
extremely high from the get go. Although my original thought of the game were
sceptical at first as to anyone who hasn’t paid much attention to The Last of
Us will know it just looks like another “zombie game”.
Set Up
But it’s not until you begin to play The Last of Us will you
understand the complexity and beauty of this superbly crafted game. The game is
the story of a character called Joel and we are first introduced to him in an
emotional epilogue that shows us his perspective of how the outbreak first
began and in a sense his story which ultimately plays a part later in the
story. What happens in the epilogue is extremely interesting and unexpected to
anyone who has played the game. You begin the game not playing as Joel but
instead his daughter walking around your house which is deserted wondering
where you father has gone. It’s not until you hear panic outside and see
glimpses of what’s happening outside on the news do you begin to get worried,
but even then you are kept in the dark on what is happening and at this point
you are completely invested already. After some time of wondering around your
large house Joel runs through the door in a panic and loads his gun telling you
to stay back before an infected person breaks through the door and Joel shoots
him. And to skip a little further into the epilogue you are escaping the town
now playing as Joel trying to protect your daughter until you are shot at by a
military solider who is trying to contain the outbreak and has been issued
orders to kill all civilians infected or not. But Joel is not killed and his
daughter is, the impact this has on you is intense and upsetting but the
feelings are only heightened by the fact that her death is not quick or
painless it is in fact rather slow and painful. All this happening within the
first 15 minutes of the game which began by placing you in the shoes of a
little girl who lives with her father to this.
The game then jumps 20 years in the future where society has
evolved to a very oppressive and controlling society. As we walk through the
streets of this quarantine zone as an older and understandably less
compassionate Joel we are witnessing acts of cruelty and examples of what the
world has become but as shocking as this is to us to all other within the game it’s
just another day in the life of this new world. The story sets up reasonably
quickly on your way to find someone who owes you weapons you encounter a woman
who is wanted by the society because she is the leader of a resistance like
group called the Fireflies who are trying to find a cure for humanity. Once she
convinces Joel to make a delivery for her across country in return for his
weapons he has no choice but to do it. The thing is that that package is a 14 year old girl who's blood contains the cure for mankind, and that sets up the rest of the game.
What followed is a one of the greatest journeys in gaming history with psychos,
betrayal, death and a relationship forming the entire way through which has never
been executed this well in gaming history.
Controls
The games controls are certainly not what you would be used
to but provide a great style of mapping for the games play styles. There are
some controls that do take a while to get used to for example the fire button
is R1 which is common with shooters on PlayStation 3 but the when you are not
aiming down your sights R1 is also the reload button. But once you have taken
the time to learn these controls you wouldn’t want to swap them for anything
else.
Visuals
Visually the game is stunning at times walking through a
forest with the light cutting through gaps in the branches and leafs you are
just awed by the beauty of the game this is partly to do with the games subtle
but bold colours pallet and overall grim saturated tones. Graphically the game
is also very impressive for a game that has come at the end of the PlayStation
3s life they have really sent ps3 off on a high note. I was disappointed to
hear they were remaking this game for the ps4 with better graphics as I though
this should belong to the PlayStation 3 forever and this is one of the few
games that need better graphics but at the same time happy as more people will
be able to experience it.
Gameplay
The Last of Us isn’t just a game where you run and shoot
infected people and bandits then repeat. Almost every section of the game can
be completed with stealth and using stealth takedown gives you additional loot
from the people you killed. But this would be hard to do with the AI as not
only are they smart but they know how to split up and communicate with each
other to track down where you are hiding and where you are going to be hiding.
So incorporated into the game is a mechanic called listen mode. Listen mode
allows you to stop and listen to enemies who are making noise around you, the
screen will turn black and a white outline of where the enemies are walking
will appear this is how you will know where they are.
Things to do
The games weapons are limited and perhaps there could have
been more but what Naughty Dogs do to combat this is they place collectable
gear which you collect enough of you can apply certain upgrade to your weapon
of choice. But there are only enough to make certain upgrades to not all of
your guns so to fully upgrade all weapons you will need to replay the game.
Also Naughty Dog have added collectable in the forms of letter from survivors
that tell small stories and give insight on what the world was like before and
after from other peoples perspective. This can be things such as a boy’s diary
writing about what his family are going through or a man’s last words written
on paper before he turns, all of which are interesting to read and only emerge
you even more into the great universe.
Verdict
This game is one of my favourite games of all time and
deserves all the praise it gets. I am currently on my fourth play through and
I’m enjoying it just as much as the first play through certainly a game that
will stand the test of time for its innovation in gaming a 10/10 from me.
BLOG ENTRY 2: GRAND THEFT AUTO 5
Intro
Today I will be playing the most recent instalment my
favourite game series of all time Grand Theft Auto 5. This was the most
anticipated game of the year for me by far and maybe even the game I have been
most excited for this generation of consoles. Rockstar who are of course
responsible for the Grand Theft Auto Franchise which is the most successful
franchise of all time, but have also created games such as RedDead Redemption,
Bully and Max Payne which are also some of my favourite games. Anyone who is
anybody would have heard of this game which has currently sold 33million copies
to date.
Set up
We are thrusted into a bank heist that’s taking place ten
years in the past where the heist appears to be going successful until
everything falls apart Michael is shot, another robber with you is shot and
overwhelmed by all the police that are following the last man standing must run
off to avoid being captured. The game then jumps to present day and we are
introduced properly to our first main character Franklin a car repo worker who
has ambitions for more and wants to make something out of himself. After a
while of playing as franklin we are sent on yet another repo job to collect a
car off some kid. Once you sneak into the house of the car’s owner and drive
off hiding in the back was the kids father who holds you at gun point and makes
you crash the car into your repo boss’s studio, this is when we are again
meeting Michael. From here Michael eventually get s in trouble with the mafia
and is forced to repay them by robbing banks, businesses and pulling of a range
of bombastic heist that you get the opportunity to plan! With some help from
Franklin and Trevor (the man from the original heist who ran off)
Controls
The controls of grand theft auto 5 are very similar to the
controls of GTA 4 with fire, cover, reloading and driving controls all being
what we are used to with some minor added controls which I will get to later.
Cars are responsive and reliable which makes for better control at high speed
getaways. The shooting controls are fluent also making switching from one
target to the other efficient and satisfying.
Visuals
Visually GTA5 isn’t breaking any ground but what it lacks in
extreme detail it makes up for in consistency. For example the game looks as
good as I does through with no poor quality areas. The games visual style is
photorealistic with some area simplified such as clothes and guns. But this is
not to say GTA5 hasn’t got good graphics at all the graphics are great but
wouldn’t match standards of small more linear games today. The games visual are
also really beautiful with pink and orange sunsets, blue and purple skies and
gold sandy beaches contrasted with a deep blue sea.
Gameplay
GTA5’s gameplay is so vast and so expansive that it would be
hard to name everything in it without missing smoothing out so I will mention
my favourite things to do in GTA5.first of all there is the campaign which is
in my opinion the best campaign out of all the GTA’s as it not only winds in 3
protagonists working together and often at the same time. This is possible
using the switch mechanic which allows you to switch to any one of these characters
at any moment in time where ever you or they are, when switching to another
character they could be have just finished a game of tennis, been drinking or
just walking around for example, and you are able to switch back and forth
between them during missions to for example one character will be sniping the
other would be driving a car and the other could be flying a helicopter! This
of course makes for some hectic and over the top fun missions. but as a huge
fan of the crime genre from films such as Reservoir Dogs 1992, Fargo 1996, The
Good the Bad and the Ugly 1966 and No Country for Old Men to 2007 ( to name a
few). I have to say the story line is brilliant despite having what feels like
a rushed ending the games story is fantastic and could be a television show
which I would love to see. As always Rockstar have hired a great cast and have
a staff of brilliantly talented writers to bring these characters to life and
what a job they did.
Things to do
There are also side activities such as gold, darts, and
tennis, racing, hunting, going to a movie or managing businesses to name a
small amount of things to do. All of these activities are loads of fun to do
and are easy to play over and over without losing interest. The game also has
around 150 collectable that range from lost letters that will lead to solving a
murder mystery, alien spaceship parts and stunt jumps which are all fun to do
and rewarding to finish. Although you can finish all of these side activities
and feel like there’s nothing left to do you would of course be forgetting the
fact it’s an open world game and there’s plenty to mess around with such as surviving
the cops, pimping out cars and just going nuts will all the guns available.
Verdict
One of my favourite games of all time with so much content
packed into one game it’s hard to not find something you like with this game. Defiantly
world the wait and Rockstar certainly delivered after 5 years of development.
Rockstar once again raise the bar for video games and create a great experience
for everyone.
BLOG ENTRY 3: GARRYS MOD
Intro
Garry’s mod is the only game of its kind; literally it’s a non-linear
Sandbox physics game that uses a modified Source engine (created by Valve). The
mod was created by Gary Newman who was then hired by Valve and Valve helped
develop and publish the game.
Set up
Garry’s Mod has no story line or any campaign mode; it is a sandbox
game that allows you to play, create and mod games. You are also able to join
other people’s servers or create your own and do what you please in them.
Controls
GMOD’s controls are really simple and easy to use once you
learn them but they are different to anything you expect but then again you
would expect them to be different as it’s the only game of its genre. For
example to ring up objects to manipulate you need to hold Q and to access the
tools you need to scroll the mouse until you reach the tool gun and hold Q
again.
Visuals
The games visuals match those of Half-Life 2 two as the game
is essentially Half-Life 2 in every way with the obvious exception of gameplay.
So the visual are impressive for a game from 2004 and still are able to look
good. This just shows that valve were so ahead of their time with Half-life 2. But
the game can potentially have any visuals its community create because people
would only have to download their objects, characters and environments then
apply them to their own world on Garry’s mod.
Gameplay
GMOD’s gameplay can also be anything you want it to be. By creating
your own servers that one may be a simple team death match for example and another
could be a roleplaying server the gameplay of the two is completely different. An
example of the types of unique game modes that come out of GMOD is a selection
of servers called Elevators, these servers are just you and other online people
standing inside an elevator while it going up floor by floor and each time the
doors open a random and most often funny sketch will appear or literally
anything will appear humorous or scary then the doors will close and the
elevator will once again elevate to the next floor. There is no shooting or anything
its just standing in an elevator walking around waiting for the next floor,
only mouse movement is required and the W,A,S,D keys.
Things to do
If you are playing GMOD offline then there is a couple
things you can do, you can go onto steam workshop and download some objects, environments
or characters and place them in your sandbox map and play about with them in
any way imaginable, this could strapping a Npc’s to chair then attaching rocket
boosters to the chair, or spawning a horde of zombies and surviving as long as
possible with an army of Npc’s fighters by your side or maybe just drive some
cool cars up some jumps. But if you really want to have some fun you will head
online to see what servers the community are running. Some of my favourites are
1943 role playing servers where you can either be a citizen of some sort maybe
a baker for example or you can choose to be a resistance fighter that make it
their only goal to fight the Wehrmacht and kill the Hitler. Or maybe you want
to play as the Wehrmacht and protect Hitler and run the town with your own laws
to enforce, a chain of command to follow and a Reich to defend from attackers. Then
there’s Prop Hunt where a game is split into two teams and one team must hunt
down the props looking for signs of unusual movement or placing of objects. And
the other must take the form of an object and hide and blend into the environment
for as long as possible. But one of my personal favourites is Trouble in
Terrorist Town which chucks a group of terrorists into map and anonymously and
randomly selects a traitor whose job it is to then kill all the innocent
terrorists without being found out and killed, the game mainly consists of
feelings of doubt, betrayal and uncertainty which few other games are able to
create.
Verdict
Garry’s Mod is not only one of my favourite PC games but it’s
one of the best. Because it has an enormous user base that are full of creative
and clever people that make all this great content for the general populous to
download at any time. New and fun game modes being thought up constantly Garry’s
Mod has got enough content here to have something for everyone. In my opinion a
must buy for any Steam user especially when it only costs the low, low price of
£6.99 standard price and has gone on sale more times than I have had hot
dinners there’s no excuse for not buying
it!
