In part 1 of my review of XCOM: Chimera Squad, I talked about my experience of playing the game to completion for the first time and looked at the general strokes of how the game was different to its predecessors. In this version, I want to focus more on the actual mechanics of the game.
Tag: Gaming
Review – XCOM: Chimera Squad (Part 1)
I haven’t done a game review in a while, mainly because I don’t play games close to their release dates any more. They’re just too expensive and I’ve had too many disappointments in the past. However, I not only bought XCOM: Chimera Squad soon after it was released, but I also feel qualified to comment on it, given my history with the series.
Mass Effect: Andromeda – First Impressions
Bioware’s controversial Mass Effect sequel released a few months ago. They got a serious – and possibly well-deserved – slating from critics and gamers alike for releasing an “unfinished” game, full of bugs and animation problems. I actually cancelled my pre-order as a result of the media sh*t-storm, which is something that I never thought I would do with a Bioware game!
But now, four months on, someone got me the game as a present and have finally decided to give it a chance. So, now they’ve had time to actually finish the game properly, is it any good?
XCOM 2: Mod Report 1
XCOM 2 has support for a range of community mods via the Steam Workshop. I plan to try out a few of these mods over the coming months and produce these “Mod Reports”, where I will discuss the good, the bad and the downright insane!
For my first Report, I’ve been experimenting with a few simple mods that (mostly) don’t affect the actual gameplay all that much, but which add nice little tweaks to save time, enhance the information available to the player or turn off minor annoyances. But do they work?
XCOM 2: First Impressions
I can’t remember being as excited for a video game as I’ve been about XCOM 2, the sequel to Firaxis’ XCOM: Enemy Unknown (one of my favourite games of all time). I’ve been soaking up all the preview videos and developer livestreams and now I’ve finally got my hands on the game.
So, after a dozen-or-so hours, is it living up to all the hype?
XCOM: The Long War – Review
I am a huge fan of XCOM: Enemy Unknown and with XCOM 2 due to launch on February 5th, I wanted to play this modern classic again, but there’s a problem; after multiple playthroughs, the replay value of the game has greatly diminished.
However, there is a popular community mod called “The Long War” which aims to do something about that, so I decided to give it a try.
The Cost of Gaming
So, apparently Assassin’s Creed Syndicate “isn’t that bad” – which is a great improvement over recent entries in the franchise at least, but that’s a rant for another time – and I have to admit that the idea of climbing around the rooftops of Victorian London has a certain appeal.
However, I find myself unable to justify buying the game. Not only do I know that it will probably be a disappointing experience, involving a long slog through repetitive missions, side quests, pointless collectibles and a bland, forgettable story – and that it will probably be broken and full of bugs – but I just can’t get over the price tag…
Free to Play Is Currently Broken – How High Costs Drive Players Away from F2P Games
Just a quick post today – This is exactly the sort of rant I’ve been having over and over again in the last year-or-so, but more eloquently stated in this video by the guys at Extra Credits:
Heart of the Swarm: The Leaked Ending
I have an issue with the ending of Starcraft 2: Heart of the Swarm. It’s apparently not as controversial as the ending to Mass Effect, but the thing that bothers me is the same: it just doesn’t quite make sense! Part of the problem is that I’ve seen an alternative ending that is actually much better…
Stop Over-hyping Things!
In Defence of… Changing Things
Given my interests and line of work (i.e. the fact that I am a massive nerd), you probably won’t be surprised to know that a large number of my friends were the sort of people took great delight in pointing out (and complaining about) every little detail that was changed from the books to make the Harry Potter movies. Many of these are the same people who are now among the armies of angry monkeys kicking off after EVERY SINGLE EPISODE of Game Of Thrones.
But, what you might be surprised to learn is that I am not one of these people. Far from it, in fact…
In Defence of Next-Gen Graphics
Quite a lot of people are attacking the next-gen gaming consoles because ‘the only tangible improvements that they will make to games is to the graphics’. I have said before that the launch of these new consoles is badly timed and I do not own either because I don’t feel it is a justified expense, but I also think that people are being a bit harsh about how little improvements in graphics (and processing power) will matter…