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In 2012, Firaxis released Xcom Enemy Unknown which helped breathe new life into the genre and successfully rebooted the classic UFO defense franchise. Now, 4 years later, Xcom 2 hopes to improve on all of the elements of its predecessor.

Taking place roughly 20 years after where the first game left off, and in an unusual sense for a sequel, Xcom 2 assumes you failed Enemy Unknown as it now takes place in a dystopian future where the aliens have conquered earth. Rather than defending the planet from UFOs, you’re tasked with bolstering resistance cells across the globe with your mobile, flying fortress; the avenger. This functions in the same way as your underground base from the first title, as you can upgrade it, add new facilities, as well as recruit soldiers while managing research and production.

The core concepts are similar to Enemy Unknown and you’re faced with a constant race against the clock since the aliens are developing something called the Avatar project. Certain missions will act to delay the progress of the project, but it's game-over upon its completion. There’s also dark events which can provide random modifiers and buffs to the aliens you encounter. Occasionally you’ll be prompted to complete guerilla missions which allow you to prevent a dark event but you’re unable to stop them all, as you’ll typically have to pick and choose which event is most pressing.

The world map functions similarly to Enemy Unknown. You’ll set up a base and will be able to scan the map for certain points of interest. Building radio relays in countries will increase your monthly budget, and continental bonuses make a return, adding some elements of strategy and planning. Upon scanning the map, you’ll frequently be interrupted to go on missions, which are all randomly generated with varying objectives. These objectives range from escorting an NPC, saving civilians, eliminating a target or killing every alien in an area.

The turn-based combat is what you’d come to expect from an Xcom game, death is permanent and your soldiers can still possibly miss a point-blank shot which otherwise has a 97% success rate. Stealth has been added, which can allow you to strategically place your soldiers and set up ambushes with overwatch, but a lot of the time you’ll feel rushed as there isn’t much time to complete the objectives in most cases. Taking one extra step is sometimes enough to alert enemies to your presence, so you really have to balance between moving cautiously and completing a mission as fast as possible. That element of randomness can be a detriment, as sometimes a civilian could block a ladder and thus seal off the only way up to a rooftop extraction, or a ridiculous amount of enemies could spawn directly on top of a transmitter you’re otherwise supposed to protect. Which leads to one major issue with Xcom 2, it’s extremely luck based and these random factors can cause you to fail a mission with very little control. You can recover from failed missions, but it does feel a little unfair and can be a major downer for ironman playthroughs in which you only have one save file.

The soldier classes feel a lot more fleshed out and distinct from one another as they all kind of blurred together in the previous installment. For example the Ranger is equipped with a sword which can absolutely devastate enemies in melee combat while the specialist has a drone that can hack hostile robotic units or support squad mates from anywhere on the map. The scientists and engineers play more of a role now as well. They’re actually named and can be individually assigned to different projects.

Xcom 2 also completely expands on the level of customization, giving a lot more appearance options for your soldiers. You’re also able to modify your soldiers’ weapons with various attachments as well as give them performance enhancing implants. While all of these customization options were quite welcomed, this resulted in some completely broken and overpowered combinations. For example, I had given one of my soldiers a superior repeater which gave him a 15% chance to instantly execute whatever target he was shooting at and as a result I was able to one-shot the hardest enemy in the game. The difficulty in general is kind of spiky, while the game initially starts off as challenging; it quickly becomes too easy upon developing certain technologies. Some better pacing would have greatly alleviated this issue because as it stands, it can switch from being so easy that it’s tedious to frustrating with little warning.

At first, there seems to be a greater variety of enemies present in Xcom 2. The majority of enemies you face are Advent troopers, human-like soldiers that support the alien regime, while more familiar aliens such-as sectoids function as lieutenants and are actually a greater threat than the previous games. The other aliens have also evolved over the twenty year gap between Enemy Unknown. Unfortunately you hardly fight them in the latter half of the game as you pretty much always face the same enemies over and over again at that point.

I also had some issues with the world map. It gives you so many optional areas to scan for additional supplies and personnel but you’re interrupted every two seconds to take part in another randomly generated mission. There are very few actual story missions, and the random stages can really get tedious in the latter half of the game. There’s also very little rhyme or reason going into the appearance of a stage. You could accept a mission in Africa only for there to be pine trees and snow on the ground, making no sense whatsoever. There are a lot of bugs present in the game as well. From graphical glitches, laggy animations and the odd crash.

Xcom 2 promised re-playability with its use of random stages but I would’ve honestly preferred handcrafted levels with more of a narrative. There’s also extra mod support this time around but most of the mods available currently are cosmetic or the odd weapon, which doesn’t really add anything significant to the gameplay.

The multiplayer from Enemy Unknown makes an appearance again but it’s even more of a throw-away mode this time around. You’re given even less customization options than before as you’re no longer able to choose the rank and loadout of human soldiers. The turns don’t play out simultaneously and can take an extremely long time as there’s quite a bit of additional lag between them. That combined with crashes and random disconnects make this mode barely playable.

The soundtrack is well done and changes to match the mood of the battle as well as the enemies you encounter. Unfortunately, there isn't much variety between tracks and it isn't as memorable as Michael Mccann’s soundtrack from Enemy Unknown who was probably too busy working on Deus Ex Mankind Divided.

Ultimately, Xcom 2 makes a very strong first impression but it was all downhill from there though, and towards the end of the game, I couldn’t wait to be done with all the randomly generated filler content. That coupled with an overall lack of pacing made it a bit of a disappointment. It’s an improvement over Enemy Unknown in some areas but a step-back in others. Xcom 2 is by no means a bad game, and will most likely improve with time; I was just expecting a lot more.

+ Strong Turn Based Tactical Combat
+ Increased Customization Options
+ Interesting Premise
+ Soldier classes and base management are more refined.

- Repetitive Gameplay and Filler Content
- Numerous Bugs
- Lackluster Multiplayer
- Not enough of an improvement over Enemy Unknown

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It's been fifteen long years since Sid Meier has given us the opportunity to conquer the cosmos with Alpha Centauri.

Set 600 years into the future where the earth is on the brink of destruction. The nations of the world send some of their best and brightest into space as a last ditch effort to colonize another planet. With an uncharacteristically utopian view on things, many nations have combined and cooperate with one another. For instance, Australia and Polynesia merge to become Polystralia, America, Canada, and Mexico become the American Reclamation Corporation and the entire continent of Africa becomes the African Union to name a few examples. These alliances take to the stars to begin anew on the wild frontier of alien planets.

Utilizing the core of Civ V, Beyond Earth is a turn-based strategy featuring hexagonal tiles on a grid without unit stacking. The terrain offers benefits in the same way its predecessor does. Mountains are impassible, hills provide extra defense, and rivers are difficult to cross. You start the game by picking a plot of land to build your first city, while each of the tiles offer different bonuses, such as food, production and energy.

After founding your first city, you’re able to explore the alien landscape, searching for resource pods and artifacts for your explorers to excavate. It's here that one of the games’ first alterations comes to light: quests. Players will be given quests to complete and choices to make that help dictate the evolution of your civilization as well as providing additional buffs and bonuses.

Diplomacy is alive and well among these new colonies allowing you to trade with other civilizations, and you have access to all the diplomacy options seen in Civilization V, as well as the inclusion of favors which can be cashed in on later trades.

The Alien life-forms are the game’s equivalent to barbarians albeit a lot stronger. They are however not as aggressive and will generally leave your units alone unless they happen to path towards a tile you’re occupying. This changes throughout the game though based on the Affinities you choose. Also if you go out of your way to attack an Alien or approach a nest, they will become hostile for a few turns. Certain bonuses and abilities make it worthwhile to actively exterminate these pests but later in the game that can become a diplomatic blunder with civilizations that are more sympathetic to alien life.

The Affinities are by far the most unique feature to Beyond Earth. They allow you to specialize your Civilization with a specific ideology. Players who follow the Harmony path will have players synthesizing with their new planet and the alien life that inhabits it. Supremacy takes a page from the cyberpunk playbook with a focus on augmentation and improvement through technology. Finally there is the path of Purity, which focuses on retaining humanity and destroying anything that threatens that. Not only do these Affinities grant you special units and buildings, but they also change the way that other civilizations react with you. Think of it as being on-par with Religion or Political Doctrines from other Civilization games.

The technology tree is also non-linear in this, allowing for you to choose any number of paths which allows for a lot of variety between different civilizations. It did seem like there were a few very specialized paths that were far superior to the others though, as you generally want to amass whatever Affinity you’re going with quickly, as it will immediately upgrade your troops without the need to do things manually like the past Civ games.

This is where the differences in Beyond Earth end though, as everything else is simply re-skinned from Civilization V. Happiness has been replaced with Health, Gold has been replaced with Energy, while food and production remain the same. There are also a lot of things that don’t really make sense, such as having the technology to colonize another planet without having anyway to unveil the map. You’ll uncover the mystery planet much the same way as your primitive warriors will back in 4000BC like past Civ games. The tech-tree also has some inconsistencies such as having to research Physics, Chemistry and Computers despite the game taking place in the year 2600.

All of the units function the same way as well, with the majority of units being melee along with a few ranged, naval, and air units. The fact that naval technology is used at all is a bit strange with hovercrafts only being unlocked late-game. One would think the majority of units would be flying in a time like this while the few air units in the game function exactly the same way as jets from previous Civilization games.

The world in general feels exactly like past civ games, with no option to move on to other planets and what’s worse is that the game seems to have lost any charm or personality that was apparent in other Civ games. Leaders like Genghis Khan, Gandhi, and Montezuma are all replaced with overly polite, boring politicians. None of the civilizations displays any semblance of personality or is anyway memorable. Having a few alien civilizations would have been a great way to add some personality to the proceedings.

Espionage has also been completely buffed and is now nearly game breaking, as spies are now able to stage coup-d’états and take over other civilization’s capitals without any resistance. Should you take a capital, the AI civilizations barely seem to react and will still not declare war on you.

If you were expecting this installment to not have bugs, you would be sadly mistaken as the multiplayer is still barely playable. You’ll constantly be faced with disconnects and crashes where you’ll have to re-host the game. You could of course continue the game and have your friends rejoin you, but that will be at the cost of the AI temporarily taking over their civilization and rerouting all production, scientific research and virtues. Even when playing single player, I faced the odd random crash to my desktop which had me frequently reloading auto-saves.

The game also feels a lot more tedious when compared to past Civilization games as you'll have to babysit trade convoys and orbital units every few turns.

Ultimately, Civilization: Beyond Earth feels like a mod or scenario for Civilization V. It doesn’t stray away or do anything innovative enough to warrant being a standalone title. While the non-linear tech tree, quests and affinity system are welcomed, they allow for some unbalanced combinations. Beyond Earth is also missing many features from past Civ games such as Corporations, Religion, and Great People. Having more meaningful interactions with aliens would have been welcomed as well but the game feels like it was inspired by Sid Meier watching the movie Starship Troopers.

Beyond Earth isn’t a bad game; it just fails to meet the standard set by past Civilization titles and can feel a lot more tedious in the process. We suspect that like its predecessor, Beyond Earth will improve immensely with the addition of expansions but as of now, any cravings you have for space exploration might be better satiated by taking a trip to the theater to see Interstellar.

This review is also available in video format:

http://youtu.be/ZDLDyqckq7o

Pros:
+ Affinity system welcomed
+ Has that one more turn syndrome
+ Great Soundtrack

+/- Could improve with DLC

Cons:
- Multiplayer is buggy and almost unplayable
- Lacks originality, feels like re-skinned Civ V
- Doesn't have much personality or charm


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With the recent success of the Souls franchise and its emphasis on precision timed combat and high difficulty it was only a matter of time before imitators would listen to the herald of success. Lords of the Fallen brings its own take on the punishing hack n slash genre. While there's no hiding its influence from Dark Souls, it doesn't manage to improve the formula enough to justify its own existence.

The differences between the two titles will be immediately apparent. You'll be moved throughout the game through a much more direct plot than the subtle nuanced on-goings of the Souls games. You play as Harkyn, a prisoner released by Kaslo, to hold off an invasion from the imposing forces of Rhogar who are subverting the natural order of things in his world. The story is rather empty and predictable for the most part and is told through clumsy character animations with flat voice acting. It manages to do little else other than keep things moving along through the 12-20 hour campaign.

The visuals are solid for the most part and offer well lit, moody environments to explore. Initially, the world feels large and expansive with a host of optional areas to explore but you'll soon come to realize most of these areas will require you to delve into them at one point or another throughout the story, making the interconnected albeit small castle that you spend the majority of the game in feel limited. There isn't a huge variety in locations either as you'll generally be exploring the snowy exterior of the citadel or its gloomy interior. The whole thing feels pretty underwhelming by the time you finish it all.

Game play is very similar to the sword and board melee combat of Dark Souls but with a much more limited assortment of spells available to its three classes. You'll also be welcomed with a large pool of life, a recharging mana bar, and a steady supply of healing potions that make the encounters considerably easier than its counterpart. Bosses are intended to offer unique fights but by the end of the game you can overcome some of the more difficult bosses by simply buffing yourself with magic and pulverizing the boss to death before they can inflict enough damage back to offset your relentless assault. The camera can also be a bit irritating as your battles can be hidden by hanging banners and other furniture with dips in the frame rate being commonplace. Enemies also tend to offer little variety with only around a dozen types with the shielded ones being the most annoying to fight since they rely on blocking a little too much causing conflicts with them to become prolonged and irritating. All of that being said though, while not meeting the standard that Dark Souls met and being a little slower, it still manages to be competent enough to enjoy the game's short duration.

The items that you acquire are all well designed and offer a much flashier aesthetic than what you'll find with most of the armor and weapons in the Souls games. While you can upgrade gear and items with its rune system, you'll be frequently re-socketing pieces as replacements since upgrades will come frequently. The soundtrack holds its own but doesn't manage to leave any lasting impression as is a common theme with the game.

One of the cooler aspects of Lords is the risk/reward mechanic behind its gameplay that rewards you for holding onto a larger amount of experience that can be cashed in with a multiplier that rises with each enemy killed, although it unfortunately only caps at 2. You'll also be urged to return to your body quickly as the amount of experience you regain is based on the speed at which you reclaim your corpse. Although the lack of overall difficulty in this compared to Dark Souls trivialized this aspect a bit as I was always able to run by enemies and regain my corpse quickly on the few occasions that I died. Upon completing this game you'll be rewarded with a New Game + option that raises the difficulty and unlocks more spell trees but that's if you're able to get to the end which leads to Lords of the Fallen's biggest problem, game breaking bugs.

While clearing out the missed collectables and locked doors throughout the world that I hadn't gone back yet to open just before the final boss I fell down a hole which killed my character. Instead of respawning at my last visited checkpoint, the game quick saved and spawned me at the bottom of the hole which I was unable to escape from, or reload a previous save. So with that, I had gone as far as I could without restarting the game on a new save file and playing through the entire game again to finish the final act. Glitches like this are inexcusable in a finished product and should've been tested out before release. Luckily, I wasn't too wrapped up in the story to care that much of whether or not I saw the end.

Lords of the Fallen manages to feel like Dark Souls Lite, it offers similar but simpler, slower combat. An interconnected but small world when compared to vistas like Lordran, and a risk/reward system with little actual risk. In addition to all this it lacks any of the creative multiplayer features found in the Souls games. If you're looking for something to hold you over until Bloodborne, Lords of the Fallen offers a strong initial impression that can scratch that itch for a very brief period of time. Just be sure to watch your step and go into it with much lower expectations.


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Pros

+ Solid yet borrowed combat
+ Makes a strong first impression but loses momentum quickly
+ Good soundtrack

Cons

- Game Breaking Bugs
- Short length compared to Dark Souls
- Linear with the 'optional areas' not being optional.
- Does nothing original


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It has been almost a decade since Shinji Mikami has worked with the survival horror genre that he helped pioneer. Other than a few notable games, there has been a large emphasis on mass appeal and action within the industry in recent years. Mikami and his studio Tango Gameworks took a knowing risk when they decided to step back into a genre that's largely secluded to small indie projects now to bring us The Evil Within.

The game begins with the player controlling Sebastian Castellanos as he arrives at the scene of a massacre within the walls of the Beacon Mental Hospital. Upon checking the surveillance feed things immediately take a turn for the worse as he's hurled into a nightmare that has him fighting for survival throughout a wide variety of locations uncovering the truth behind this madness. After the initial first chapter, Evil Within begins to feel like it's straddling the line between two great survival horror games. The solid shooting, reactive enemies, and elegant art style of Resident Evil 4 and the psychologically rooted story, symbolic creature design, and occasional dark industrial music and level design of Silent Hill 2, with a few homages to Resident Evil thrown in for good measure. While The Evil Within doesn't offer much innovation outside of the amalgamation of these two titles, outside of a competent stealth component, it certainly borrows well from good material.

On the default Survival difficulty, The Evil Within will keep you scavenging the levels for every bit of ammo and healing supplies that you can find. You'll be encouraged to dispose of enemies stealthily whenever possible to conserve precious ammunition. While the stealth doesn't offer anything innovative and sticks to basic sneaking up from behind to execute enemies. It works well enough to provide a nice change of pace and tension. The gun play is immensely satisfactory as enemies blow apart in a mess of gore, this also has a direct effect on difficulty as enemies will often take multiple shots to the head to dispose of, if you blow a hole straight through their hideous faces, you'll now have a smaller target to hit in the remaining facial tissue. With enough practice one can master the strict aiming controls and incorporate real-time dodging through use of the sprint and duck functions. Expect to die a few times before completing the 15-20 hour campaign that will unlock further challenges for masochists. The Evil Within stays true to its Survival Horror roots by offering a rewarding experience, through intelligent utilization of resources, a dark atmospheric level design, and punishing game-play.

While some areas of the Evil Within offer plenty of tension it isn't going to win any scariest game rewards. However, it manages to stay eerily engrossing enough to play for long periods of time and absorb you into it's richly detailed world. The boss encounters are all well executed, requiring unique strategies for each, with a couple of them requiring multiple encounters, raising the level of difficulty each time you're unfortunate enough to cross paths.

To help alleviate the rising difficulty of the enemies you'll be able to upgrade Sebastian's abilities and weapons using green gel, found throughout the campaign, whenever he enters the game's equivalent of a save room. Additionally there will be dozens of files and other documents to find that flesh out the story as well as small keys, that are usually found in small statues that unlock a series of lockers containing random items in the save room. The Evil Within certainly knows how to reward you for thorough exploration of its excellent environments but is also all too familiar with punishment as well. Along the path, you'll frequently stumble upon traps that can seriously injure Sebastian if not disarmed. Disarming a trap rewards you with parts that can be used for crossbow ammunition, while some are easier to disarm than others, it creates another risk/reward mechanic of deciding whether you want to try and risk disarming a trap or proceed forward sans parts but with your life intact. The trap system is a much welcomed mechanic as it kept my ego in check as I was quickly made paranoid of the few times I got cocky enough to run around areas that seemed uninhabited by monsters.

There was also a decision to make the game have an ultra widescreen letterbox aspect ratio, this can be fixed via the developer console but unfortunately that just ends up cutting off the left and right sides of the screen. It's also worth noting that any use of the developer console disables achievements for the game. The only way I was able to alleviate this issue was by dragging my desktop over to my TV so that I could play on a large enough screen where letterboxing wasn't an issue.

The plot is good enough to keep things moving along and provide explanation to everything happening to Sebastian. That being said though many people will be left confused or underwhelmed by the ending if they failed to piece together everything presented in the files, or decided to skip reading them all together. I personally appreciate a game that reveals the story through various storytelling means rather than direct exposition. While the creature design and environments are very well done they still don't match up to the level set by titles like the Resident Evil Remake. This could partially be due to the fact that you're moved through the game quickly with very little revisiting environments so less attention was paid to each area as well as the drastic differences of the disconnected locations. One minute you might be in an old deteriorating mansion, then suddenly you're in a field just prior to being transported to a crumbling city. You won't have that feeling of attachment and familiarity that you get playing older survival horror games, but considering how the narrative plays out and what's responsible for the locations perhaps that makes sense.

The audio is haunting as creatures announce their presence to you through their wet obstructed breathing or through agonizing shrills and screams. Debussy's “Clair de Lune” is effectively used to ominously telegraph the location of save rooms and menacing mechanical clanking and roaring heightens the threat of danger. The voice acting is competently done with one of the characters looking like a dead ringer for Anthony Hopkins but the soundtrack is somewhat sparse compared to other titles utilizing silence and noises to create suspense and atmosphere. Additional atmospheric music would've gone a long way for some of the areas.

While playing it a bit safe, The Evil Within manages to be a fantastic survival horror game. It brings with it intelligent gameplay, an atmospheric world, a high level of difficulty, and great art direction. It falls a bit short in the horror department, it could've used a deeper story or more fleshed out characters, more puzzles would've been nice and a greater attention to detail with less of a rush through environments similar to older Resident Evil titles. Chapter 9 manages to hit a high note in regards to all this but is unfortunately short lived. While not the masterpiece it could have been, The Evil Within still manages to be an outstanding game. It's going to be polarizing as it's a step away from the mindless mass appeal that most people shell out cash for today but if you're in the market for a great survival horror game in the tradition of Resident Evil 4, you won't be disappointed.


This review is also available in video format for your convenience:

http://youtu.be/iUV4CiChFrg

Pros:
+ Fantastic Gameplay
+ High Difficulty
+ Great Art Direction
+ Excellent Sound Design

Cons:
- Poorly done PC Port with letterboxing and a 30FPS limit. Use of the developer console can alleviate this but disables achievements in the process.
- More music would've been nice.

(TLDR? This review is also available in video format for your convenience below.)

The conclusion of the crown trilogy, Crown of the Ivory King takes players to the Castle of Eleum Loyce, a land covered in snow and tormented by endless blizzards. Brume Tower from the previous DLC tested player's abilities but the challenges within this new frozen city push them to their breaking point.

Much like the previous two DLCs, crown of the ivory king does right by presenting an interconnected world, with a slight twist to the formula. The frozen temple doesn't fully open up until certain progression has been made. Crown of the Ivory king does take a more direct approach in narrative giving insight on the fall of the king and the many fragments of darkness.

The art direction is up to par with the other two DLCs with a large emphasis on ice and snow this time around. The blinding blizzards further exemplify the emptiness of the land with some NPC interaction during the harsher weather. It all feels new but somewhat reminiscent to the Crystal palace of its predecessor. Hidden locations are easier to find with little exploration needed, opposed to the previous two DLC packs.

The cast of new enemies are difficult, if not the hardest in all of the Dark Souls 2 experience. Pure magic does very little damage to all enemy types leaving players to rely heavily on melee and dodging which seems to reflect recent balance changes as well as the iron king dlc. Across the temple you free Loyce knights which aid in the final encounter making it a bit too easy compared to the other DLC boss fights.

The Frigid Outskirts also delivers the toughest terrain to explore introducing one of the most anger inducing enemies and bosses in the game. It seems From Software was trying to be as sadistic as possible when developing this area. The blinding blizzards, relentless hell ponies as well as the less then suitable safe zones were a test in patience and skill.

In terms of narrative, the crown trilogy adds a lot to the history behind the fallen kingdoms of Drangleic. The optional bosses were definitely lazy with little imagination involved in their creation but overall were still a challenge for those willing to undertake them. Crown of the Ivory king was no exception to the many changes made across the DLC and will leave some disappointed and others satisfied. The many new weapons and spells are entertaining, while the amount of time you'll spend battling through the challenges present is certainly worth the asking price.

This review is also available in video format:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nh7sVefeu-4

Pros:

+ Has a bit more of a Narrative
+ Cleverly Interconnected Castle
+ Troll NPC
+ Weather effects

Cons:

- Easy final boss
- Lazy optional boss
- Easy to find hidden areas
- Frigid Outskirts were frustratingly hard


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Middle Earth is a world with no shortage of lore but surprisingly enough hasn't always translated well to video games. It's ironic given the number of high fantasy games that have been strongly influenced by Tolkien's world. Monolith has stepped up to the plate to give us Shadow of Mordor, combining open world action with a few original game mechanics in hopes of giving Middle Earth fans the game experience they have always wanted.

Set entirely in the dark land of Mordor and taking place between the events of The Hobbit and Lord of the Rings, it acts as a much needed bridge between the two. You play as Talion, a ranger from Gondor who's in charge of defending the black gate. He's killed along with his family in a sudden attack lead by the hand of Sauron but instead of dying, his body is possessed by an elven wraith. This wraith grants him power over death bestowing him with a plethora of different abilities to use, like the ability to fire magical arrows, lightning speed, and increased resilience among others.

The world is a typical sandbox design, feeling very similar to games like Assassin's Creed. There's a relatively small map to wander around in, along with towers that help to reveal the immediate vicinity as well as acting as checkpoints and fast travel stations. These towers are pretty much identical to those you'd find in an Ubisoft game.

Despite having a strong and interesting narrative, there aren't many story quests and there isn't as much content as you’d expect from a game of this genre. It doesn’t take very long to walk from one end of the map to the other, featuring a miniscule sized world compared to Grand Theft Auto V or Assassin’s Creed Black Flag. There are optional missions and challenges to be found though which can provide you with new runes and abilities, however these don’t add much to the gameplay experience.

The saving grace of Shadow of Mordor and the main thing that sets it apart from being just a generic mediocre sandbox game is the nemesis system. This one feature is innovative, addictive and extremely well executed. It single handedly makes the game worth playing. The basis of it is whenever Talion is killed by one of the many Uruk Hai orcs, that orc becomes your rival and is promoted in Sauron’s army. They'll gain access to new weapons and abilities making them all the more formidable when you run into them a second time. Even specific dialogue will play out between Talion and the orc as they will recognize him from last time. If you're killed by just the average orc, he will immediately be promoted to captain and can have a posse of followers the next time you see him. If you're killed by a captain, they will continue to rise in strength and influence as they'll use Talion’s death as a stepping stone on their path to warchief. Each of your nemeses will have their own unique personality along with strengths and weaknesses which can be revealed by interrogating other orcs. For example, a captain could be immune to ranged attacks or become significantly stronger if you kill one of his friends. On the other hand, he could have certain weaknesses such as being afraid of fire or certain beasts. This allows for elements of strategy and planning prior to hunting down one of Talion’s nemeses.

Events will also happen without your intervention, orcs will fight amongst themselves, often killing one another, leaving openings in the army. They will also seek to raise their strength and standing with various trials. The warchiefs can be particularly difficult to hunt since they will often have multiple captains defending them, and sometimes it’ll be better to pick them off one at a time prior. I had so much fun with the nemesis system that I found myself dying on purpose on more than one occasion just to watch an orc rise to power.

The combat in Shadow of Mordor is similar to games like Assassin's Creed and most particularly the Batman Arkham titles. It favors countering your assailants while maintaining a high hit chain with the odd special move thrown in. It's not overly challenging and the game can be completed rather easily with only the odd nemesis being difficult based on the combination of passive abilities he possesses.

The bosses aren't noteworthy, being fairly easy, with the conclusion of the game coming about rather abruptly. Shadow of Mordor could have really benefited from another ten or so hours of content. The DLC from the season pass seems to promise more but I would have definitely preferred if this was included from the get-go.

The game does have RPG elements however they're not really in-depth. There's no Bioware or Witcher style dialogue either if you were hoping for that. The game shouldn't be advertised as an RPG and should have just been marketed as a sandbox game. It has a fairly straight forward talent tree that doesn't add much of anything significant aside from passive bonuses while each of the abilities are usually unlocked as a result of completing a mission. There’s also a rune system where runes can be added to each of Talion’s weapons. These runes give different buffs and are obtained primarily from killing your nemeses, the higher their level, the better the rune generally.

The visuals are well done but I noticed some inconsistencies in the textures and between the orcs. Some orcs are highly detailed, while others appear to be ripped right out of the original xbox title; Call of Cthulhu. I also experienced quite a few bugs, primarily Talion getting stuck somewhere with fast-travel being the only option to rectify the issue. The voice acting is noteworthy with fan favorite Troy Baker voicing Talion among a host of other industry veterans for the supporting cast. The soundtrack is solid and fits the theme but it isn’t nearly as memorable as Howard Shore’s score from the motion pictures.

Ultimately Shadow of Mordor would feel like just another typical sandbox game if not for the nemesis system. This one feature is the game’s saving grace and along with the story are the main reasons to play it. The Nemesis system is most likely a sign of things to come for what we expect games of the future to have. It adds elements of re-playability and does wonders on holding one’s attention and creating an immersive environment. I’m sure it will be improved upon in future releases and that Shadow of Mordor will be remembered as its progenitor.

TLDR? This review is also available in video format:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bvrwn_zAk74

Pros:
+ Excellent Narrative
+ Innovative Nemesis System
+ Solid Soundtrack & Voice Acting

Cons:
-Short Length & Small World
-Basic Combat
-Lack of in-depth RPG elements
-A bit buggy at times


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(TLDR? This review is also available in video format below for your convenience.)

Crown of the Old Iron King marks the second entry in the Dark Souls 2 Crown Trilogy DLC and it's by far the most sadistic yet.

It's once again accessed later in the game and is set in a large tower overlooking a snowy tundra. The environments offer quite a bit of verticality but they don't feel as cleverly put together as The Sunken King DLC. The art direction immediately promises some variety but it isn't long before you're stuck navigating through dark and gloomy corridors like you'd come to expect from much of the Souls series.

There's also a host of new enemies which are all fairly formidable and are in my opinion quite a bit more difficult than those you encounter in the main game. You'll take on giants capable of dispatching you in a single hit, knights that will relentlessly pursue you, annoying casters that teleport around and plenty more. They're all pretty tough and they each have a ton of health. Thankfully, you're able to use things in the environment to your advantage, such as luring zombies carrying flammable barrels into fire in order to kill groups of enemies as well as open hidden passages. You're also able to push fire turrets along a track to help eliminate or at least weaken some of the stronger enemies.

Also included is the addition of Nadalia, the late wife of the old iron king. Her soul was divided into fragments and placed inside ashen idols which can make certain areas quite a bit more difficult, such as healing enemies, shooting fire, hampering visibility and cursing the player. These idols can be removed with smelter wedges which will reward you with a fragment of Nadalia's soul. Unfortunately, you're not given enough to destroy all the idols until you complete a certain boss. If you're like me and unaware of this your first time playing, you could remove the wrong idols and make that boss a lot more difficult than it needs to be. This was a clever idea but poorly implemented. Had I known in advance, I simply would have left one of the ashen idols in one of the optional areas in favor of destroying all of the ones located around the boss. If you get in a situation like this, there is nothing you can do about it except fight an already difficult boss that is able to fully heal himself if you let him get out of position. This is just one of a few issues I felt were thrown in to be frustrating.

The bosses in Crown of the Old Iron King are all quite difficult, putting a lot of bosses from the main game to shame however one of the bosses is simply re-used from Dark Souls II. While he was one of the hardest bosses in the main game, re-using him just comes off as lazy. The other two bosses are challenging but they're similar to a lot of the large knight type enemies that are already prevalent in the game. Having some added variety and more unique encounters would have been welcomed.

Ultimately, Crown of the Old Iron King is worth playing if you're looking for more Dark Souls as it adds more to an already content-filled game. It's quite a bit longer than Crown of the Sunken King, especially if you factor in deaths, and you definitely get your money's worth. It's just unfortunate that it seems like From Software made it hard for the sake of being hard while forgoing a lot of the charm and appeal the series is known for. Still, despite it's flaws it adds new challenges and helps to tide fans of the series over until the release of Bloodborne.

This review is also available in video format:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fizue5dDTNw


Pros:

+ Challenging enemies & bosses
+ Great length & value
+ Explosive barrel zombies require a bit of strategy.
+ New items, weapons, and spells.

Cons:

- Frustrating design aspects
- Re-used boss appears lazy
- Doesn’t live up to Artorias of the Abyss or Sunken King DLC
- Difficult for the sake of being difficult & lacking the signature souls charm


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(TLDR? This review is also available in video format below for your convenience.)

In typical Dark Souls fashion, its latest DLC, Crown of the Sunken King cannot be accessed until roughly half way through the game. The first of three planned DLC packs has you venturing to recover an ancient crown that was lost deep underground.

It's accessed from Black Gulch and you're greeted with three more sinister areas which add another 4 or 5 hours of challenging content.

The areas are large, sprawling and interconnected which do well to mask the linearity, allowing you to explore in a multitude of directions. There's tons of clever shortcuts that lead back to previous areas as well as plenty of hidden items and secrets. The areas also feature a ton of verticality, making it feel a lot more like the first Dark Souls game.

Special switches have been added to the areas which can be attacked to raise or lower platforms as well as open secret areas. Activating these are a bit of a puzzle and can have a pretty major effect on the environment which is a great addition.

Unfortunately the art direction for these zones is a bit uninspired, borrowing heavily from a lot of previous areas. I was immediately reminded of areas like The Lost Bastille as well as the Oolacile Township from the Artorias of the Abyss DLC from the first Dark Souls. It's all kind of dark, gritty, and indoors. Some added variety between the areas would have been welcomed opposed to more of the same.

The enemies that inhabit the DLC are as dangerous as you'd expect. From ghost like knights that are extremely difficult to kill until you destroy their bodies, to annoying archers, casters, insects and more horrifying monstrosities, there's no shortage of formidable enemies in Crown of the Sunken King. Swarming enemies are a larger threat than ever and status ailments like poison and corrosive damage are rampant.

The boss fights are very difficult as well as each of them are on-par with some of the hardest bosses out of any Souls game. They require planning and quick reflexes to overcome and will surely test even the most hardened Souls veterans.


Ultimately, Crown of the Sunken King is worth playing if you're a fan of the series and looking for new content. It doesn't add quite as much variety and content as Artorias of the Abyss added to Dark Souls 1 but with two more DLC packs planned, I can't wait to see what other challenges From Software adds next.

This review is also available in video format for your convenience:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h4rA8zKE_WU


Pros:

+ Challenging enemies & bosses
+ Great value
+ Puzzles
+ Cleverly interconnected areas

Cons:

-Uninspired art direction
-Corrosive damage is annoying
-Lack of variety


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(TLDR? This review is also available in video format for your convenience below.)

Magic the Gathering; Duels of the Planewalkers has become a yearly franchise, and with the recent success of Blizzard's Hearthstone, they've attempted to step up their game with Magic 2015 by allowing players the much-desired ability to finally create their own decks.

After a brief tutorial, you're able to pick a starting deck and begin the campaign. From there, you're able to unlock booster packs as you defeat opponents, allowing further customization of your decks. If you don't feel like endlessly-grinding the single player, you're also able to purchase additional cards via micro-transactions and collecting every card will run you about $50. If you factor in the initial cost of the game, Magic 2015 will run you about the same price as a full-price triple AAA title.

There are nearly 300 unique cards to choose from or close to 1000 if you include duplicates, allowing for a multitude of options when it comes to crafting your deck. You're also able to adjust the amount of land in your deck for the first time, which is recommended as leaving it up to the game to do this automatically isn't ideal. Often assigning lands with no rhyme or reasoning behind it, such as giving you mountains in a blue deck. Infact the AI in general is greatly diminished in this installment as it will often tap the wrong lands by default if you're not careful enough to use the toggle key. Such as tapping all of your swamps for colorless mana instead of any other lands you may have available.

The campaign features a bit of a narrative where one of the Planeswalkers; Garruk Wildspeaker has gone rogue and has been hunting down other Planeswalkers. It's your job to track him down and stop him. The campaign's story is nothing extraordinary and chances are you've purchased the game to play with friends.

The Multiplayer allows for you to use your crafted deck against your friends as well as other players online. Unfortunately, it's been stripped down from previous games of the series, featuring a lot less gametypes. Two-Headed Giant, Archenemy and Sealed Deck have all been removed, with the only option being a 1 on 1 duel or free for all. The user interface is also completely unintuitive as there's no lobby for multiplayer matches. Once a game is concluded, you're forced to exit to the main menu where you'll have to jump through a few separate menus in order to change your currently equipped deck or to host another game. Also a search function would be a welcomed addition for the deck builder, as it can sometimes be a little tedious searching for the cards you want.

This isn't the only area of the game that is lacking content as the single player challenge mode has been removed as well. There are also a lot of cards that are only available in the single player campaign and inaccessible when it comes to crafting your deck. One could say this is a result of balancing issues, but the game has definitely been designed from the ground up to cater towards micro-transactions. I wouldn't mind spending money for constant DLC card packs and additions if the game was self-contained like Hearthstone but the fact that it's simply a yearly release that will only be supported for a limited time, makes it feel somewhat pointless.

Magic 2015 also has quite a few bugs and glitches. I found that I was unable to change my resolution to 1920 x 1080 without going in and manually editing the config file in wordpad. I've also experienced quite a few freezes in the multiplayer where the timer will disappear, forcing us to leave the game. Not only that, but it does randomly crash to the desktop as well.

Ultimately, Magic 2015 is one step forward and two steps back, it's enjoyable if you're a fan of Magic the Gathering. The deck creation tool is a much welcomed addition, however micro-transactions, an unintuitive interface, bugs, and a lack of features in general holds it back. While the initial game provides a great base to build on, chances are the DLC will be aimed at making as much money as possible from the consumer before repeating the same formula with Magic 2016.

This review is also available in video format:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NI4sNlB2I4o


Pros:

+ Deck creation tool finally allows you to craft your own decks.
+ More customization options, such as being able to adjust the amount of land in your deck.

Cons:

- Challenge & Multiplayer modes removed when compared to previous entries.
- Lots of bugs
- Unintuitive Interface
- Lackluster Campaign
- Microtransactions


If you enjoyed this review, feel free to follow me as a Steam Curator: http://steamproxy.com/steamstore/curator/4886473/

(TLDR? This review is also available in video format for your convenience below.)

Following the success of The Walking Dead, TellTale continues their tradition of interactive story based games with The Wolf Among Us. Based off the Fables graphic novels, the Wolf Among us follows Bigby Wolf the newly reformed big bad wolf and appointed sheriff of Fabletown, a community within New York City that houses a plethora of washed up fable characters. While enforcing the fabletown laws a series of events plunges Bigby into a murder investigation that involves the entire fable community where everyone is a suspect.

The interplay between the various characters is handled well with witty banter and humorous responses that take advantage of the history behind every citizen. Compared to the Walking Dead, the story moves along at a brisk pace with significantly less time spent in conversation hub areas requiring you to exhaust every option of interaction before being allowed to progress forward. The fantastic story is also strengthened by the clean comic book style of 1986 new york with a solid soundtrack complimenting Bigby's search for the truth.

There are occasional fighting sequences similar to Heavy Rain where Quick time events have to be completed lest Bigby take's a pounding that can have an effect on later events. Decisions you make also feel like they have more impact on the narrative than TellTale's other titles as it does a better job of masking the transparency of keeping you to the critical path of the story. Having a strong central objective and antagonist also makes each episode feel more cohesive than the Walking Dead.

Voice acting is top notch as every snarky remark and desperate confession carries appropriate weight. Facial animations are much stronger than the Walking Dead with less rogue eyebrow movements and a stronger emphasis on subtlety. The contrast between the idealized “happily ever after” fables and the miserable lives they're now living as supernatural beings with real world problems creates a truly engaging story. There's something special about seeing characters like Beauty and the Beast having marital problems after a few hundred years and needing help to pay rent to maintain any grasp on the lives they once had. While fables are generally told as children's stories they tend to be inherently dark and primal, the wolf among us isn't afraid to push further into the grit of old fables as adult themes, language and violence are common place.

Dialogue options are pretty satisfactory, there were only a few times I wasn't able to respond in a manner I felt would've been appropriate and piecing together evidence in a crime scene rewards the player by making relevant connections in dialogue afterward. Each episode is generally around 2 hours in length and worth the price of admission.

The Wolf Among Us offers a much stronger interactive experience than the first season of the Walking Dead with a captivating story, engrossing characters and a much needed fix on pacing. Bigby's investigation has plenty of twists and turns to keep players engaged in the on-goings of Fabletown with an original premise and a morally gray protagonist that allows every interaction regardless of how violent or generous to feel natural. While it allows you tackle objectives in different ways from time to time, the story remains pretty linear without any true divergences occurring. The overall outcomes are going to be similar regardless of what path you choose. Still, changing the details, and Fabletown's perception of Bigby has it's own reward. Anyone who's looking for a great story with action, humor, compassion, a talking pig and mystery should give the Wolf Among Us a try.

Don't feel like reading all of this? Here's a video version:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ONxbaYRhX_k

Pros:

+ Intriguing story
+ Paced well
+ Great visuals & art direction.
+ Dialogue is well written
+ Perfect balance of humor and drama


Cons:

- Linear
- Choices don't have a major effect
- Limited dialogue options


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