It is a Dog's Life for all it is worth

Its a Dog's life...someone once said, if a game can hold the players complete attention for 30 seconds, it means that the developer has succeeded in delivering something special that went far beyond aesthetics & hype. That some went on to conceptualize & develop Destiny, one of the most hotly anticipated game of this year.

Of course that observation hold true in todays gaming scene. So many developers have begun churning out demo sized games with shallow concepts & ill devised plot topped off with horrendous programming that are hardly ever tested & more often than not riddled with bugs that eventually start bombing other subroutines & under severe circumstances results in a game breaking error.

Watch Dogs has been in development for quite sometime which doesn't actually have any impact on the quality of the game whatsoever. However, Ubisoft has earned the distinction of making above average entertainment (now called AAA). Watch Dogs takes on a controversial plot & story to apply the padding to the complete gameplay, providing a highly interesting play style the combines the best ideas from Ubisofts previous titles. The controls allows for ease & concise play which never bothers the gamer again with button combos & such. As the anti hero protagonist (told you it was controversial), the player must navigate a massive sprawling city utilising advanced hacking, phishing & unlawful skills to tip the balance & reap from the advantages of these abilities.

Its a story of revenge but not exactly an interesting one. The old 'people vs the man' scenario is once again put through its paces in rather spectacular style. If you bought & played Grand Theft Auto 5, then its highly likely that you saved up to by this game or threw tantrums enough time to get your folks to buy it for you. You will not be dissapointed. There's just so much in this game that I refuse to delve into it & spoil the thrill of surprise & discovery.

I will however touch on the gameplay which is finely tuned to give players an astonishing degree on control that allows players to precisely time specific sequences that result in some of the coolest action which incidentally makes players feel the euphoria of pulling it all off like clockwork. There's some much in Watch Dogs waiting for the player to discover & explore & eventually exploit. The game world is massive & filled with the kind of non player denizens that seem to have lives all of their own which becomes apparent once players start stealing banking info off those NPCs.

The moral dilemma of cleaning out some poor saps measly savings account is left entirely up to the player. To steal or not to steal, that is the question. Ubisoft have really gone from strength to stength & reach the pinnacle of being fondly known as the best game developers on earth along with the likes of Rockstar, Bethesda & CDK Projeckts. In fact if tomorrow every other publisher & developer was liquidated with only these four supreme software houses left, I would be glad the good guys survived & focus on finding out whats for breakfast & the continue playing Watch Dogs where I left off.

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Categories: aidan, dogs, hacker, pearce, Ubisoft, watch

Dark Souls 2

Dark Souls became a phenomenon almost instantly when it guaranteed no learning curve, an AI that seemed to overcompensate for itself & environmental elements that gave no clues & very little to see by covering most of the areas in total darkness. Its a game that requires exploration, because, unlike most other role playing games, Dark Souls offered many different paths that lead to some desolate or dank locations, all permeating with evil.

As good as most gaming sites rated this brutal uncompromising game, most failed to realize it gave players very little in the way of combat strategy & more often then not forcing the player to use sedated hit and run tactics which eventually was the standard method of fighting every enemy in the game, be they boss or minion. The only redeeming factor that a majority of gamers & writers spoke of was the exhilarating face off againt dragon slayer Ornstein and executioner Smough, which was quite beautifully conceived. In fact that is what every Dark Souls player remembers regardless of whether they completed the game or not.

With Dark Souls 2, comes a new directorial team presenting obvious improvements and bringing in some older elements from Demon Souls. The result is a beautifully presented world filled with more sorrowful characters than a funeral parlour with a great many bosses to hit and run along the way. The plot is quite honestly full of shit just giving players a reason to get through the game. But the preposterous story soon fades as new and more devious minions put all their efforts to adhering to the makers first and only rule. 

That is to continuous punish the gamer by constantly rewarding failure to learn with death.
Quickly this sequel descends into boredom as tactics are once again crippled leaving most gamers to use the tired old method from the Dark Souls 1. It dwells into a game based on the obsession of crafting material. Any one who has feverishly devoted many hours into this sequel is probably doing only one thing. Farming. This is all they will be doing for many more hours to come desperately seeking the best crafting materials to forge better gear that won't count for diddly squat in the final dungeon of the game.

One of the nicest addition to this game is the ability to traverse to previously visited bonfires from the beginning. This greatly helps new players who will most likely prefer to warp around the cursed land. But for the stalwarts who persevered through the prequel, the option to trudge around on foot is ever present.
Combat has been notably redressed. Although there are some niggling annoyances with collision detection when using certain close ranged weapons. This will certainly cause a great deal of frustration when players start taking wild swings the completely miss the target and leaves one open to fatal retaliation.
There is plenty to see and even more to do in Dark Souls 2. There are bosses a plenty tempered with varying methods to quickly snuff out all who dare to take them for granted.
At the end of the game, players are offered a New Game Plus option, so prevalent in RPGs of old. This wonderful addition introduces new foes, weapons and items all at the cost of a higher degree of difficulty which has always appealed to the masochist in me.

Dark Souls 2 comes off as a sequel expected by most, but for me, there is just so much From Software could have added and changed to turn this great title into an unforgettable one that could have set new standards. Only worth purchasing if you are a hardcore fan of the Souls series of games or someone who frequents those BDSM dungeons like the one they have in L.A.

Categories: 2, bandai, dark, from, namco, software, souls