When Deus Ex: Mankind Divided was first announced I'll be honest, I didn't really bat an eyelid at it partly due to the fact that I didn't really play the first game Deus Ex: Human Revolution. So like F1 2016, it came as a bit of a "eh, why not situation" when I decided to buy Mankind Divided and boy, am I glad that I bought it. So, what is the story about? Well, it centres around everybody's favourite gravelly voiced augmented human Adam Jensen as he tries to uncover the reason behind an influx of terrorist attacks and how he received some mystery augments that he never realised he had. The story reflects some modern day worries like terrorism and discrimination very effectively with one scene in the opening act almost reducing me to tears. So, how does the gameplay stand up against other first person shooters out there? The answer is that the shooting feels good and each gun feels very nicely weighted and realised however, in the early stages of the game there seems to be a lack of assault rifle ammunition which bothers me due to the assault rifle being one of my preferred weapons in FPS games so that was slightly frustrating. The stealth elements of the game are nicely done however I don't really know how doing takedowns saps your biocell meter due to it not requiring you to really use any augments. The side missions are also pretty intriguing and don't feel like filler at all instead they feel like they add to the bustling hub world of Prague and also add to the narrative. All in all, Deus Ex: Mankind Divided feels pretty fresh in a world where most FPS's are more or less the same thing repeated over and over again and I can't wait to review the whole thing when I complete it.
0 Comments
I have never really been into Formula One. I mean I will occasionally watch it if it is on television but I find the sport boring. I mean just watching some people drive around a track for over two hours just doesn't seem that fun to me, it seems even worse if you pay to watch the races live because you only get to see the cars for a short time and then watch the rest on a big screen. But anyway you would think, why has John gone and bought F1 2016? The official game of the Formula One season. To be honest, at first I didn't know either I just thought, why not? The last F1 game I ever played was Formula One 2001 on the PS2 and from what I remember, it was pretty fun especially the career mode. So when I dished out the £41.99 for the steel book edition of the game (which is pretty reasonably priced in my opinion with the base game only costing £35.99) I was looking forward to it so when I slotted it in my PS4 I was not expecting much, however, from what I have played so far I think I can safely say this is probably the best racing sim I have ever played. So, how has this F1 game turned me from a disinterested watcher to a casual fan I hear you ask? Well, that would all be down to the excellent revamped career mode that codemasters team have produced. So at the start of this career mode you can race for whichever F1 team you want be it Mercedes or the lowly Manor Racing. The difference between choosing your team is the length in which they want you to win the F1 title, so for example I picked Manor Racing as my starter team and due to them not being as stacked a team as Mercedes they wanted me to win a title in four years whereas at the aforementioned Mercedes they wanted me to win a title within two years so its all about finding that balance of picking the right team for you. So you could pick Mercedes and have the best cars and equipment at your disposal straight away, however you would be under immense pressure to deliver a title very quickly whereas at a lower team, you may not get the best equipment or the best car but you will be under less pressure to deliver a title immediately and will be able to upgrade your car in preparation for that big title push. So I would recommend starting at a low end team and work your way up to the better teams but the choice is up to you in the end. So, once you pick your team you are introduced to your agent who explains how the contract system in the game will work as well as meeting your research and development engineer who tells you how to upgrade your car which is like upgrading in any other game so is simple to grasp. After that you are ready to get out on the track and do your first practice. This is where F1 2016 really starts to shine due to the amount of detail that codemasters put into the tracks you become immersed in the world of F1 pretty quickly and the addition of your pit crew talking to you through your headset further improves that immersion. The graphics are none to shabby either with the tracks looking particularly stunning. So after doing some activities in practises one, two and three. You are ready to race and the controls are your standard racing controls but they work effectively. However, its the tactics where the real racing starts to shine. For example, I was leading by a particularly large margin in the Australian Grand Prix but needed to pit so I bided my time and when I did pit and come back out I was only in fourth place and managed to reclaim my pole position again pretty quickly. You feel a real sense of achievement winning a race especially when you do it with a weaker team. After Australia, you move to Bahrain where your agent once again pops up to explain the rivalries system to you. The system pits you against another racer (in this case, my first rivalry was against my teammate) and you go against them for a couple of weeks trying to outdo them by finishing above them in races and doing other menial tasks, however the system does feel effective and adds some spice to the game so it never becomes boring. So far I am really enjoying F1 2016 and cannot wait to write a full review once I have finished the career mode, early impressions? Give it a go, it really is quite good.
|
AuthorJohn here writing articles for your viewing pleasure. Archives
April 2017
Categories |