AWARDS SEASON: BEST GAME OF THE YEAR 2018

Overall winner

Red Dead Redemption II

Honourable mentions

God of War

Monster Hunter: World

DAYZ

.

PC exclusive.

DayZ is a game published and developed by Bohemian Interactive for the PC.

GAMEPLAY


STORY


GRAPHICS

SOUND


VALUE FOR MONEY

OVERALL

DARKSIDERS III

.

PC version reviewed.

Darksiders III is an action adventure game published by THQ Nordic and developed by Gunfire Games for the Playstation 4, Xbox One and PC.

GAMEPLAY


STORY


GRAPHICS

SOUND


VALUE FOR MONEY

OVERALL

POKÉMON: LET'S GO PIKACHU!

.

Switch exclusive.

Pokémon: Let's Go Pikachu is a game published by Nintendo and developed by Game Freak for the Nintendo Switch.

Original reviewed here: https://theunorthodoxnetwork.blogspot.com/1996/02/pokemon-red-review.html

DIFFERENCES FROM ORIGINAL

OVERALL

FALLOUT 76 REVIEW

A half baked, confused mess.

PC version reviewed.

Fallout 76 is a game published and developed by Bethesda Softworks for the Playstation 4, Xbox One and PC.

Hampered by boggling design decisions I'm not sure I've played such a strange game with such little idea of what it's trying to be.

The Bethesda launcher made specifically for this game is pretty awful. From uninstalling the game for some people to claiming it needs to be installed despite already being on your system. This could have been avoided by launching on Steam, like all other Bethesda games however it seems most likely that Bethesda wanted to do it on their own to avoid paying Valve a 30% cut for sales. If their own launcher wasn't in such a sorry state maybe I wouldn't even have mentioned it but it is poor form.

GAMEPLAY
Lack of push to talk or text chat. I've heard the reason for the absence of these options was for immersion, because hearing the feedback of someones computer fans, keyboard or in game sound sure makes it seem more realistic. Why they couldn't have a text chat system via the Pip-boy is just a weird decision, you can see your own health and action points, one NPC even mentions how they can see what you're doing but a simple chat system from within the Pip-boy apparently isn't allowed.

No single player or private server option, even if you just play solo all the time however the bigger problem is that there is no server select or ability to select what kind of server you want to be on. Instead of having PvP servers, PvE servers or even role playing servers they are all just shoved into the same world without a choice. I can only assume Bethesda went this route because they wanted encounters with other players to be like DayZ or Rust where coming across another player can means you become friends or enemies.

With only 24 people on a server you may not even run across others that often and even when you do people won't bother attacking you because PvP is so heavily punished, only being effective if both players engage. Even if you do get defeated by another player all they can do is take your scrap and gain a bounty themselves. There is so little reason to partake in PvP that it fails in every way really, losing out on the possible tension from encounters like in other survival games and also just serving a purpose of slightly annoying players who just want to PvE. Why there are not servers dedicated to either type of play style is just a brainless idea.

Bizarrely, despite supposedly being about rebuilding the wasteland together this game actually lacks behind Fallout 4, with the size of any base you want to build dramatically reduced to essentially being able to build a small camp. I thought the whole end game would be designing massive settlements for you to both show and share with friends and other players, instead it's hardly worth the bother. The other major problem with base building is that bases are tied to the player who built them, so not only can friends only interact with them while you are on but if someone else joins the server and has their camp saved in the same place as yours the camp disappears. Just giving players some kind of alert, or not putting players with the same camp location on the same server would have been enough to mitigate this but instead in its current state it's a frustrating disaster.

Plenty of bugs that reek of Bethesda's lack of multiplayer experience. Most especially I can think of numerous quests where you are tasked with killing a certain creature only to arrive at the destination to find someone else has already killed it, meaning you have to server hop until you find a server where someone hasn't recently done it. Another massive problematic bug is where you have phantom weight, where you pick an item up and it's weight is added to your inventory however you cannot find or use the item. With already limited inventory space this is a really nasty and common bug.

Exploration, something I really loved piling up hundreds of hours worth of doing so in previous games is still a thing in 76. It's not nearly as good as 4 or Skyrim but is still serviceable. Most locations seem pretty dull and without the engaging stories and mysteries you would have seen in other Bethesda games made worse by if you take too many items your stash will be full meaning you just end up managing your inventory and with crafting requiring more materials than FO4 it really makes things frustrating and into a chore. Some locations do look cool though and can be interesting to snoop around or take in.

Gathering junk isn't nearly as fulfilling as it was in FO4 either, where I knew I was going to be able to repair weapons or build up one of my many settlements, however as mentioned things that required less to repair now cost more than in FO4, in fact with many weapons it actually costs more to repair than to craft a new one. The other major part of collecting junk is to build your camp, however with how easily destroyed or dismantled it is as well as how limited the building of it can be, usually just a small house, is so lacking in comparison to the massive settlements in FO4 that I not only question the point of it but am also left to wonder why it exists in this form. I assumed the end game would be building massive settlements to show and share with friends but that just isn't possible.

Talking of lacking in comparison to FO4, the combat also manages to achieve this. Plenty of hits you should be getting in miraculously don't hit your targets because of problems like server lag. Then even when you do hit some enemies the only challenge to them is how much of a bullet sponge they are anyway.

Mutations are something I'm surprised hadn't been in Fallout before, deciding whether you want the benefits of some of them in spite of the fall backs is a nice addition. There's a lot of potential to take this idea further too I feel, where you could end up mutating into a Ghoul or a Super Mutant with enough of the correct mutations.

STORY
Quests as a whole are almost all dull, relying on just going between terminals or listening to holotapes that don't seem to play properly when you pick them up, instead just making a static noise, meaning you have to go into your inventory, stop them playing and then restart them so they actually start the content, rather than just whirring. You don't have to do that in Fallout 4, so hopefully it's a bug because if that is a genuine design choice I can't even fathom the thinking behind it. Anyway, if you're not listening to holotapes you're doing some laborious mission going from A to B, picking up bottles, repairing things or at best shooting things that require such little effort it doesn't feel very different. There's just so little in the way of encouraging you to actually get engaged.

The whole narrative is done in the breadcrumb style where you're left piecing together what happened, in this case it is almost always the Scorch with a small chance of Raiders, who by the way are all dead now anyway. The only interaction you have with NPCs might as well just be terminals or holotapes anyway because all they do is relay quest info to you. You're never given the option to question the motives of those who give you missions and you'll never come across choices like in previous Bethesda games where you find out you may be working for the wrong side, or your target has a reasonable story. You're always just expected to go along and do whatever monotonous task you've been told.

This kind of breadcrumb story can be done well, just look at games like Bloodborne that have minimum interactions with NPCs and share a lot of story through notes, the environment or small titbits from other characters.

Being able to join any faction at the same time is such wasted potential. You can be a part of both the Brotherhood of Steel and the Enclave, despite them being major enemies. Imagine if PvP was actually based on faction, so you would only be able to battle people in opposing factions, meeting other players could still have that tension from other survival games while not being the mess it is in this one. You could not represent any faction and be safe from the Brotherhood of Steel but if you're in the Enclave then war will ensure between you both.

GRAPHICS

A lot of performance issues, easy to dip below 30 FPS, some very rough textures in places, not sure if it was just something on my end but some items and clothing actually looked worse than their Fallout 4 counterparts.

The world itself does look decent as well as the lighting, especially in the mire zone. The actual map itself is probably an upgrade on any game in the series before it. It's just a shame that it is so lacking in content, life or activity.

Some of the monster designs are actually kind of interesting but are ruined by the absolutely woeful AI. I know Bethesda games have never been acclaimed for good AI but it really is bad in 76. If they aren't snapping into position within one frame or hiding in front of trees attempting to take cover they're running off or just standing still because they either can't hit you or just can't figure out how to.

SOUND
The soundtrack is decent, about the same quality as the previous games in the series.

VALUE FOR MONEY

Outrageous launch price, should have been at least around half the price it was to start with. Having a fully functioning micro transaction store on top is a bit insulting, even if it is just cosmetics.

OVERALL
The best way to sum up Fallout 76 is that it lacks any real identity or direction. It just doesn't know what it wants to be. I've heard people asking the question of who this game is for and I think the answer is Bethesda themselves. They had so many ideas on what to do with this game and just threw them all in and sent it out to see what people would think because it's basically one big experiment. If it wants a successful future I feel it will probably be shaped by the community because Bethesda don't really seem to know what they wanted to do with this game expect test things out.

Despite being a big Bethesda fan the sad reality is that this game isn't very good. It has a few interesting ideas at best but needs serious work to be considered even decent. In its current form I cannot recommend it.

SPYRO REIGNITED TRILOGY

.

PS4 version.

Spyro Reignited Trilogy is a platformer published by Activision, developed by Insomniac Games and remastered by Toys for Bob and Sanzaru Games for the Playstation 4 and Xbox One.

Original reviewed here:

DIFFERENCES FROM ORIGINAL

OVERALL

RED DEAD REDEMPTION II REVIEW

Red Dead Revolution.

PS4 version reviewed.

Red Dead Redemption II is an action adventure game published and developed by Rockstar Games for the Xbox One and Playstation 4.

GAMEPLAY
Probably one of the very best open worlds ever created that is both fun and stunning to traverse. There are some incredible details added in such as things actually changing over time such as dead animals decaying where they were slain to building being built. Some NPCs can come back from being shot in the leg, with a wooden replacement and even animals such as deer can end up getting their horns stuck on each other. These are just a few of hundreds of tiny, incredible attentions to detail that make the in game world feel so alive.

STORY
A really strong narrative that doesn't fall for the problems plenty of prequels do. Sure we know that John, Dutch and a few other gang members make it through the game but seeing the whole gang in action and watching it all begin to fall apart and witness how those who survived started to change into the characters we knew from Red Dead Redemption was very interesting and some of the development seemed well done too, Dutch being a big one of the highlights.

GRAPHICS

Some of the best around, the world looks stunning and as per usual Rockstar deliver some of the very best lighting around. One small problem I did have though was how quickly day and night could change, you'd even see the sunlight rapidly shoot in sometimes. It's not really a major problem, and all the different forms of weather do look fantastic but when you consider just how amazing Rockstar usually are with this stuff, just look at GTA V, it was a little jarring to see such sudden transitions.

SOUND
Another really fantastic soundtrack to follow up that of the original. Maybe there isn't quite a moment as hard hitting as when you arrive in Mexico from the original but there are still plenty of nice moments for songs and of course the main soundtrack, which has a few nice callbacks to the original at really appropiate times, just paying homage at just the right time, rather than going overboard with connecting itself to the original.

The general sound effects were very impressive too, from hearing the echos of gun fire resounding round the mountains to being able to track some animals from simply hearing them roar in the distance.

VALUE FOR MONEY

Around 60 hours to beat the story line, not even including all the side missions and exploration of the map. With all of it being such a high quality experience there's no question you will get your money's worth.

OVERALL
Just like it's predecessor Red Dead Redemption II is another masterfully crafted game that will go down as one of the best ever made. It's one of those games that is just a joy to play and is one of my favourite games of all time. I would highly recommend playing it.

DARK SOULS REMASTERED

Rekindled.

PC version reviewed.

Dark Souls Remastered is a RPG published by Bandai Namco, developed by FromSoftware and remastered by QLOC for the Playstation 4, Xbox One, Nintendo Switch and PC.

Original reviewed here: https://theunorthodoxnetwork.blogspot.co.uk/2011/09/dark-souls.html

DIFFERENCES FROM ORIGINAL

60fps and runs much more smoothly than originally, especially the PC version. Better lighting and some textures.

A few quality of life features such as easier access to one of the blacksmiths, ability to change covenant at a bonfire and a few more minor things such as both bells of awakening ringing when activated by other players.

Improved online with dedicated servers and password matchmaking that removes the barrier for higher and lower level friends to cooperate by nerfing the higher level players like in Dark Souls 3 and of course just makes it easier to find a friend rather than going through the trial and error of the original.

OVERALL

While I would say it is the definitive version of the game I still feel there could have had a few more improvements, such as better anti-cheat measures and a few other minor things including the price, I mean the Skyrim Special Edition had similar upgrades to this but was free for PC users. I'm not saying they had to give it away for free too but maybe an even bigger discount would have been nice. Overall though it is still worth picking up if you enjoyed the Dark Souls series or have yet to give it a go.

GOD OF WAR (2018)

.

PS4 exclusive.

God of War is an action adventure game published by Sony and developed by Santa Monica Studio for the Playstation 4.

GAMEPLAY


STORY


GRAPHICS

SOUND


VALUE FOR MONEY

OVERALL

FE REVIEW

.

PC version reviewed.

Fe is an action adventure game published by EA Games and developed by Zoink for the Playstation 4, Xbox One, Nintendo Switch and PC.

GAMEPLAY
A few bugs such as AI not quite working as intended, came across another bug that seemed to be a never ending game over screen even though I hadn't even failed that forced be to go back to the menu, luckily there was a nearby checkpoint.

STORY


GRAPHICS

Strange filter that blurs the game can be annoying, it's like if you have glasses and they get blurry but you can't scrub it away. Some kind of option to turn this off would have been nice.

SOUND


VALUE FOR MONEY

OVERALL
Fe felt like a game that seemed to think it was more special than it was. Just because you have stylised graphics doesn't make you special at all and the ending that seemed to believe the player would be so absorbed by the whole thing come the end made it fall flat all the harder instead.

SHADOW OF THE COLOSSUS (2018) REVIEW

A colossal recreation.

PS4 exclusive.

Shadow of the Colossus is an action adventure game published by Sony, developed by Team Ico and remastered by Bluepoint Games for the Playstation 4.

Original reviewed here: https://theunorthodoxnetwork.blogspot.co.uk/2016/09/shadow-of-colossus-2005-review.html

DIFFERENCES FROM ORIGINAL

Overhauled graphics look fantastic. Usually with remastered games it would be a case of thinking that it's pretty cool that it looks better but little more than that however for a game that relies on portraying so much to you through the world and atmosphere this is a massive difference and major improvement.

No more FPS problems that the original had.

A couple of small new things, such as new collectable coins, New Game+, a stats page, photo mode and Easter eggs.

OVERALL

This is probably the definitive version of one of the best games of all time. If you've ever had a PS2, PS3 or PS4 and somehow haven't played this game before then now is probably the best time ever with a remaster that must be one of the best around, just as the original game was when it first came out. For veteran players the minimalist world looks more beautiful and alluring than ever before and at a lower priced release than most games these days there's little excuse not to experience this wonderful game again.

MONSTER HUNTER: WORLD

.

PC version.

Monster Hunter: World is a RPG published and developed by Capcom for the Playstation 4, Xbox One and PC.

GAMEPLAY


STORY


GRAPHICS

SOUND


VALUE FOR MONEY

OVERALL