Gears of War: Ultimate

Cost
$39.99
Format
Digital
Size
44.42 GB
Available On
Xbox ONE [Reviewed]

Release Date
8/25/15
Developer
The Coalition
Publisher
Microsoft Studios
Modes
Single, Co-op & Multiplayer

So Gears of War Ultimate is a interesting game for a lot of reasons. First off we have a Microsoft published franchise that is coming out with a remaster during the same period they are touting their amazing new backwards compatibility feature. The second issue is this is just Gears of War 1 for $40. So many of these remasters are including an entire series for a better per game price point. The biggest being Halo: Master Chief Collection with the entire base Halo series, and the Halo franchise is also from Microsoft.

So is Gears of War Ultimate worth it? Are the updates worth the price? Let’s dig into Gears of War Ultimate and find out.

First off, if you haven’t already played Gears of War 1 when it launched on the 360, presumable becuase you were just a gleam in your daddy’s eye, then just buy Ultimate right now and get yourself into the franchise. If this is your first time with GoW then my rating to you is a 9/10. The original is still one of my all time favorate games and Ultimate is undoubtedly a better version of it. One of the few games that is equally good at co-op as it is at multiplayer. So just go get it now.

If you have played it on 360, well then let’s look at what’s changed in the campaign. They’ve thrown in a few more missions at the end that used to PC exclusive. The graphics are a marked visual improvement. Moving, running, aiming and cover detection are improved also. There is a new casual difficulty that is even easier for people to jump in and get killing and with that there are more checkpoints so even after dying you have less rework time.

But on the other side of things there are plenty of graphical glitches. I spent the better part of one mission with half a door sticking through my character and you’ll still see from time to time crazy death scenes with characters spasming like they have the charlie horse from hell. The second issue is that your AI Team are just a bunch of complete and total fucktards. There is no nice way to put it. At the start of every mission you should point them to the short bus and get them the hell away from any action. There are times you will just stand in a little clump like they are playing Magic completely oblivious to the battle you are single handly fight around them. There are time when they seem to forget that that creature across from them is the Lotus and instead believe them to be Girl Scout Girls and walk right up with $20 in their hands to get some cookies and of course instead take a shotgun to the mouth. Unfortunately at this point you are supposed to walk up there and heal them because you god damn know that none of the other AI is going to do it.

First off I have a huge multiplayer beef. There are no weapon execultions in multiplayer. The reasoning is weapon executions weren’t added until Gears of War 2 so they have no business being in Gears of War 1. BUT, and it’s a big BUT(T), Team Deathmatch and 2 v 2 Gnasher wasn’t a part of Gears of War 1 and yet they’ve added these new modes. Weapon executions offer no gameplay advantage over curb stomping and wouldn’ve been a nice additional feature.

I still have horrible nightmares about the 2 hours it took to find a match when Gears of War first launched way back on the 360 but so far for me these issues are gone. Multiplayer plays a lot smoother and Gears is a unique multiplayer experience in so many ways. From the cover system to gnasher gameplay to grenade tagging. But a smoother experience is not a NEW experience and it’s still the Gears I played so many years ago.

If you’ve already played Gears of War you have to ask yourself if you are really ready to grind another 10,000 kills in mulitplayer? (Hopefully they actually track correctly this time). Do you even want to? It’s a great series and I’ll definately play any Gears that comes out in the future but for me, as a guy who played the crap out of it on the 360, there just isn’t enough new here to get me excited.

• FINAL VERDICT

Broken Sword 5: The Serpent’s Curse

Cost
$24.99
Format
Digital
Size
4.96 GB
Available On
Xbox ONE [Reviewed], PS4

Release Date
9/4/15
Developer
Revolution Software
Publisher
Revolution Software
Modes
Single

Broken Sword 5: The Serpent’s Curse is a point-and-click adventure game from Revolution Software. It’s a long standing adventure series on the PC but this is the first in the series to make it’s way to the Xbox ONE. You play as both George Stobbart and Nico Collard as you investigate a robbery slash murder at a art gallery. Each character has their own approach and story and you’ll be switching back and forth between them quite frequently.

The graphics are very clean with nice looking set pieces and fully animated characters. The characters movements are very smooth and Broken Sword doesn’t suffer from standard point-and-click syndrome where characters sort of shuffle and warp to objectives.

Our Two Main Characters

An adventure game, and in particular a point and click, are made by two things. Their story and their puzzles.

Although the overall story and script are quite good, the tone comes off as actors simply reading a series of lines out of context. The interactions between characters lack a sense of emotion. Plus some conversations drag on for what seems like an eternity. I’m looking at you Paris waiter.

The puzzle are very well thought out and run the gambit from fetch quests to contained single scene puzzles. There really isn’t anything new puzzle wise here, just puzzles done right. This game also strictly adheres to the old adventure rule: If you can pick it up, you will need it later.

There is some good depth to the game and even with a guide (which you are doing yourself and the game a disservice by following one) Broken Sword will take you several hours to finish. As with all point-and-click adventure games there is a fair amount of back and forth between locations as new clues takes you back to old locations to look for new information but the loading is quick and each visit tends to feel unique in it’s approach.

A 10 Minute Conversation About Nothing

There are several side characters in the story that come from previous Broken Sword games and if the ONE version is your first journy to this world you’ll be missing out on some of the inside jokes and references. I hope 5 is a success on the ONE as I would definately enjoy seeing more of this universe and learning more about these characters.

The one other thing I want to point out is that there are achievements tied to very specific actions, almost exclusively in the second half, and if screwed up would require you to redo the entire game. The game does have a save feature so make sure you use it as the default is to simply save right on top of your previous save.

Broken Sword 5: The Serpent’s Curse doesn’t reinvent the point and click genre but it knows it’s heritage and it creates a enjoyable deep story with varied and interesting puzzles. If you’re a fan of the genre you won’t be disappointed.

• FINAL VERDICT

Rory McIlroy PGA Tour

Cost
$59.99
Format
Retail & Digital
Size
26.65 GB
Available On
Xbox ONE [Reviewed], PS4

Release Date
7/14/15
Developer
Tiburon
Publisher
Electronic Arts
Modes
Single & Multiplayer

“Welcome to Rory McIlroy’s Macaroni and Cheese Emporium! Where I, Rory McIlroy, personally delivers each and every bowl of Rory McIlroy’s Macaroni and Cheese to your table!” [ANNOUNCER VOICE] “Rory delivers from 3:00 to 3:12 every 23rd Wednesday.” I don’t know why but I got that stuck in my head while I played the extremely long titled EA Sports Rory McIlroy PGA Tour (Hereafter and thenceforth known as ESRMPT) but I am offering it up as a valid business idea to Mr McIlroy for the low, low cost of free Rory McIlroy’s Mac and Cheese for life. Say it out loud, it just rolls right off the tongue. Rory McIlroy’s Mac and Cheese. Gold mine.

Anywho, Tiger Wood’s reign of terror over the golf video game world has come to an end and it’s time for Rory McIlroy to take over. Is ESRMPT the same old same old, a reboot, or something entirely different? Let’s find out together as we head down the road to RMMACE and have some Mac and Cheese and go over the game.

Let’s get a few negatives out of the way. The big one, you can only play Match play. The only option is to play a round and best overall score wins. No best ball, no best shot, no skins, no bingo bango bongo, no stableford. OK I think I made my point. Wait, one more. No chapman. (I actually used all the ones I know in the first part. Thanks Google!) The point being a lot of these have been in previous EA golf games so their omission on this new flagship launch is disappointing and really limits what you can do in multiplayer as far as tournaments with your friends.

Number 2 disappointment is there is no Masters. You do progress through the FedEx Cup and there is a mixture of real tournaments like the Players Championship intermixed with made up tournaments like the Bioware Classic. A lot of nods to EA properties throughout. But if you’re looking for a 100% recreation of the actual PGA Tour then you are out of luck.

The main mode for ESRMPT is the Pro Mode. You create a player from scratch and drive, chip and putt your way through the FedEx Cup. The game is downright gorgeous. From the players to the course everything looks amazing. There are 12 (13 with a pre-order which will be made available to everyone down the line) courses and it’s a good mix of painstakingly recreated real courses and some insane fantasy courses. The highlight for me is the 18 hole executive course (all par 3s) that is based on Battlefield. The commentary alone makes this a course you need to try out right away.

It seems every year golf games feel the need to come up with new ways of striking the ball. From the classic 3 point click to the left stick swing to ball shaping prior and/or during launch you are always having to remember and learn a new “better” way to play. EA Sports Rory McIlroy PGA Tour has finally done away with all that offering 3 main ways to play and even including a custom option where you can pick and choose the best of all 3 to create your own Frankenstein’ed gameplay.

Probably the biggest innovation is the way you play tournaments. Each tournament is played out over 4 rounds like the real deal. Four rounds of 18 holes is a LOT to play. I’m not going to do the math. Well ok I will, 72 holes per tournament is asking for burnout. So ESRMPT has a brilliant new feature. Highlight Rounds. Instead of playing all 18 holes you play a selected series of 4 or more holes and the game then simulates the rest of the round. It allows you to get a tournament done a lot faster, the downside being if you have a bad 5 holes the simulation is not going to come out in your favor. If you want to play out the whole thing you can, or highlight the first few rounds and then finish strong on your own 18 its entirely up to you.

Leveling up is automated with skills and equipment unlocked at every level. The way you give a little something special to your golfer is your ability to select skill boosters. Every 25 levels you get to add another one. Things like Power Hitter or Chip and Putt Specialist. All of these come with boosts to one area and negatives to another so it’s a real strategy to decide what you need and what you can give up to get it.

Multiplayer plays out in the new everyone goes at once fashion that is all the rage. Although it really speeds up play and is the go to choice now for most players I would of really liked to have seen an option to force a more traditional rules of golf mode.

Brand new is the Night Club Challenge mode. This is a series of golf challenges played out over 3 courses with over a 100 challenges to do. Putting, Target Practice, Chipping, just a huge selection of things to do. This mode also adds power-ups like power bursts and sticky balls that stop instantly when activated. It’s a lot of fun to play through but yet again I am left a little disappointed because there is no way to play with friends with all the power-ups you’ve earned.

Overall PGA Tour is a lot of fun and the things they got right this year far outweigh the slight misses. The complete lack of game modes to play with friends is the biggest set back but the additions to play styles and just how smooth the games plays makes it a lot of fun. I suggest you get yourself a bowl of Rory McIlroy’s Mac and Cheese and play a few round with friends today.

• FINAL VERDICT

LEGO Jurassic World

Cost
$59.99
Format
Digital and Retail
Size
12.58 GB
Available On
Xbox ONE [Reviewed], 360, PS4, PS3

Release Date
6/12/15
Developer
Traveller’s Tales
Publisher
Warner Bros. Interactive
Modes
Single Player and Local Co-op

LEGO Jurassic World is the latest LEGO game from Traveller’s Tales and if you’ve played ANY LEGO GAME EVER, then you are as prepared for LEGO Jurassic World as Bounty Paper Towels are prepared for a small liquid spill and that’s pretty damn prepared. People complain that COD or Battlefield make a game every single year but I think one of the first things Goldman Sachs’ uses as a indication that the global economy is about to implode is if there are not at least 3 LEGO games released in a year and they’ve been coming out that way since the start of time. I believe I remember a section in the Bible where Jesus and Moses are playing LEGO: BC and getting mad because they are trying to destroy 3 Gold Cow Idols for a Red Brick but haven’t unlocked Noah yet so they don’t have the correct ability.

All LEGO games have the exact same 2 things going for them. The first is the start of the game’s name is LEGO and the second is the last part of the game’s name is some other insanely popular franchise with about a million raving fan-boys. And it’s a formula that works so god-bless their cookie cutter hearts and I hope they keep making them for a million more years.

That’s not to say that nothing ever changes in LEGO games. It’s more like they are not especially aggressive at adding new features. Traveller’s Tales sits down to start working on the next installment and Bob says, “How about we add these 2 things.” and everyone at the table applauds him and they get up to move on with development. Well George thinks he has 2 more things that would make it great also but too late George, someone already said 2 things and we don’t want to look like some kind of crazy dev that does more than 2 new things a game do we? The answer is no, no we do not.

A LEGO game isn’t complete without a ton of random abilities!

Of the two things they actually changed for LEGO Jurassic World the biggest and most welcome for me is that in the character select screen it clearly and precisely notes each and every character’s abilities. No more trying to remember who can break fuchsia colored bricks vs light-fuchsia colored bricks or some other nonsense. Another bonus is if the ability you need is sitting right there as character two, they give you a quite large hit Y to switch to him and try again. If no one in your party can do it they give you a headshot pic so you can try to figure out how to acquire them and come back later.

But there are also the same types of glitches that have never been fixed or even acknowledged. I can’t get through a LEGO game, and Jurassic World was no exception, without several characters getting permanently stuck in something. This always leaves you with only one option. To quit the entire level and try to start again. How hard would it be to code a reset position option in the menu? It would help my blood pressure immensely.

The main story consists of 20 levels covering all 4 movies. The levels follow the movies in pretty accurate detail expect with a more comedy minded outcome to some of the more tense movie situations. The cutscenes in LEGO Jurassic World are all played out with the actual audio tracks from the movies and 90% of the time they sound crisp and clean. There were a few lines though that sound like they were pulled from a VHS copy that had been stored in garbage dumpster out behind a Long John Silvers.

There are the now typical 250 Gold Bricks to acquire. Most of these are pretty straight forward and I was happy to see them move away from the insane number of fetch quests that made LEGO Lord of Rings so tedious. There are Workers in Peril and humorous photos to take. Races to be won. Sick Dinosaurs to heal. This isn’t just get the Gold Bricks to get all the Gold bricks. There are actual fun activities to do. All of these are short puzzles located in the same area and a new in-game map system shows the general locations of everything you need to accomplish. When it works. Again this is a LEGO game, glitches are to be expected. Some Gold Bricks simply didn’t make the cut for the map and hunting down your last few through the games many many many locations can become a chore. The new map system also allows for fast travel not only between story missions but hub locations which is a much appreciated new feature.

Oh, and yeah, you get to the be the Dinosaurs. During the story missions you’ll take control to win battles and bust open new areas and in the hub / free roam areas they are selectable just like characters for the smaller dino and they have large strategically placed dino pads to bring in large dinos like the T. rex. So if you want to run amok with a Velociraptor then go for it! Storm around and trash things as a T. rex? Yep you can do that too.

Dinosaurs! You can play as LEGO Dinosaurs!

Even though at it’s core this is the same LEGO game that has been made for the last 20 years, the abilities and story are always unique to the franchise they are covering. Traveller’s Tales has a knack for taking material that is decidedly non-kid friendly and making it true to the original while making it accessible and enjoyable to the masses. I’d love to see what they would do with a LEGO Scarface. If you like LEGO, or you like Jurassic World, or you just like fun family friendly adventure games then you should absolutely give LEGO Jurassic World a play.

• FINAL VERDICT

Schrödinger’s Cat and the Raiders of the Lost Quark

Cost
$9.99
Format
Digital
Size
2.95 GB
Available On
Xbox ONE [Reviewed], Steam

Release Date
5/13/15
Developer
ItalicPig
Publisher
Team17
Modes
Single Player

Schrödinger’s Cat and the Raiders of the Lost Quark (here after referred to as the Cat Game) is a platformer by Italic Pig and Team17 with a bunch of puzzling and a heavy heavy physics background. And not physics like in game shenanigans like Portal, no physics as in physics jokes and puns. Seriously. If you are a Stephen Hawking-aphile you’re going to be laughing your ass off and trying to high five a lot of people who have no idea what the hell that joke even meant. Do you think puns related to the Higgs boson is the absolute top level of comedy? Then you probably have a lot of social issues but at least this game is for you! The story goes that all of these particles have escaped from the Particle Zoo and you need to get them all back. Now I’m not saying that if you don’t get the references you’re not going to enjoy the game. I’m just saying they made a game whose name is based on a experiment that if you put a cat into a box and it has a 50% chance of dying is the cat dead, alive or both?

Physics be funny!

So how do you go about finding and capturing these 100s of Gluons and Muons and other particles? Scattered throughout the levels you will start to collect four different Quarks. These are small brightly colored objects and they are EVERYWHERE. After you collect a bunch of these Quarks you combine them, 3 at a time, into 14 different combos. You create things like Copter, that lifts you to areas you can’t directly jump to. Missiles allow you to blast through walls and Dig allows you to, well, blast through the floor. There are a total of 14 abilities and most of these combinations are given to you by the game but a few have to be discovered by you as you play. The Cat has all the typical platformer moves to go along with these abilities like a limited attack move and jumping but you’ll be using the abilities A LOT.

There are two different types of levels you will be playing in the Cat Game. Hub style open area levels are where you are just trying to collect those Gluons and other escaped particles and pretty much just get yourself to the next main puzzle area. In these types of levels Quarks are everywhere. They end up being a non currency because of how easy they are to get. You can just enter and leave levels to load up on quarks. You can easily get 50 or more of each Quark so it’s not really if you are going to be able to get through the level, just how you are going to do it.

Get those Glouns

The puzzle levels, by contrast, are the complete opposite. You are typically given only the exact number of Quarks you need to complete a area and then any extra are taken from you before you start the next section. My problem with these sections are they need to be done pretty much perfectly. There is typically no way to backtrack to reacquire Quarks you lose through using your abilities. If you need to Copter up to a area but fail to make the ledge you need to get to, or perhaps you just fall off the ledge, you literally have no way of getting back up there. You need to pause to the menu and restart checkpoint. It takes you out of the game and it would of been more in-game to simply have a place to fall back to that got you the Quarks you needed to re-start that section again instead of having to constantly reload.

The game is also randomly generated so every time you play you’ll get a different layout. I assume this is why the level design is so so boring. The Cat and other NPCs and enemies look really top notch. As you collect more and more Quarks it really fells like this mass of creatures always there when you need them. But the levels themselves are pretty much made from 3 elements that just repeat and repeat and repeat. You have a ground element that you can break, a rock element that you can not break, and the goo element that harms you. That’s about it.

Although you can complete the game without getting all the lose particles there is a achievement for capturing them all. Each level typically has a few signs that point out how many of each are left in the game and how many are left in the particular area you are in. There is no fast travel level select here though. Up until the end of the game you area able to backtrack to previous areas but it is quite the chore to do so. Any game that tasks you will collecting and finding so many objects should by law, Ampere’s Law, (Google physics reference!) have a level select.

The story and acting are top notch, but the repetitive and boring level design are a unfortunate distraction from the solid platform/puzzle gameplay. The difference between “Open Quarks Quarks Everywhere As Far As The Eye Can See” and the “Puzzle Only As Many Quarks As You Need And Not A Single Quark More” levels is such a huge disparity and with how abundant the Quarks are in the open areas it seems like it would of been more enjoyable to play if the player just got unlimited Quarks in these areas. Anyone who enjoys platformers and puzzle games fun should give Schrod’s Cat a chance, especially at the bargain price of just $10. You might also pick up some amazing physics info you can throw out at your next dinner party. Or not. Probably not.

• FINAL VERDICT

The Swapper

Cost
$14.99
Format
Digital
Size
416.05 MB
Available On
Xbox ONE [Reviewed], PS4

Release Date
6/5/15
Developer
Carbon
Publisher
Curve Digital
Modes
Single Player

The Swapper is a clone based puzzle game from Carbon and Curve Digital. In a story as old as time you play a character that is trying to escape something with no recollection of why you are trying to do it. What is it about puzzle stories and amnesia? The Swapper’s universe is a hub world where you acquire orbs to open doors to get to other hub worlds. There are a large number of puzzle rooms to solve to get these orbs. Your ability in The Swapper is the ability to project up to 4 clones of yourself, all of these clones are linked together, so if you move forward, all your clones move forward also. Even if that would send them off a cliff. As long as the personality you are controlling lives, all the other deaths don’t count for anything which in itself is a interesting ethical and morale question I don’t plan to get into here. But if cloning morals is something you are interested in then by all means go rent the movie The Island, or don’t as it’s not that great. If fact many puzzles require you to eliminate old clones to allow new clones to move forward. “Jerry #325! How you doing down there? Don’t mean to be a bother but can you just go ahead and walk off that cliff and fall to a very painful and final death. Here let me give you a little nudge.” I’m sure Jerry #325 would rather just say thanks for creating me and I’ll just retire to the suburbs and live out my clone life if my services are no longer needed, but no, off a cliff with you.

Cloning for profit

One of the nice features is that each of the hub areas has a number of orbs required to move on and there are more orbs available then needed. So if one room proves too difficult, and for some reason you are not familiar with a little know website called YouTube to get some help, then you can keep going at other puzzles and come back later. And up to the very last area there is nothing from keeping you from back tracking and getting every little secret completed if you so desire. Puzzles ramp up their difficulty at a steady pace with new ideas and obstacles thrown in all the time. There are lights that stop you from making clones, there are lights that stop you from transferring your consciousness to another clone, there are your typical push plates you need to stand on. All of which is made harder because every step you take, all the clones take also. “Ok, Jerry #785 you need to stand on that plate so step forward, oh god. Jerry #854 not you. You keep still. Just what the hell are you doing Jerry #95425658545754?” It adds a nice depth getting everyone at the correct starting spot so each little jump and push ends up meaning all the clones are just where you need them to be. It’s not uncommon to get to a new room and know right away what you are supposed to do and it still taking you some time to figure out how to get the timing just right so that you can actually do it.

Colored beams are about the only color

The areas look nice but besides the colored lights that make up the obstacles the game is a very drab and boring shades of gray. The story plays out as you go through the game in a series of terminal notes that you read and interactions with another NPC that is on their own journey. The actor of the NPC is fine but it’s one of those weird silent protagonist stories that no matter how amazing or horrifying the situation is the hero never says a single word. I can forgive it here as the story to second to the puzzles and the interactions are short and to the point.

Overall The Swapper is a fun puzzler that does some very unique things. The length will definitely be determined by either your amazing puzzle mind or the fact that you leave YouTube open on your computer. And I would say you are doing the game and yourself a disservice if you YouTube your way through The Swapper.

• FINAL VERDICT