The Metro games are some of the tensest and atmospheric FPS on the market, being trapped on the toxic surface, wounded and heavily breathing into what remains of my gas mark as the last filter slowly fail. Nothing has topped that moment since. It seems we have now seen the most iron-clad leak of all time. Dmitry Glukhovsky, the author of the Metro novels has released a Metro timeline alongside the English version and there is an curious addition for 2017: 'The next Metro video game' with the text "it all adds up to something, Where the books end their story, the game will pick it up. An era of great discoveries lie ahead."
Which is rather exciting as nothing has been announced for the 3rd Metro game. It would certainly be an interesting turn for the franchise as Metro 2035 sees the return of Artyom as the people of the Metro attempt to retake the surface world, it seems likely that Metro 3 could be a rather different experience.
Not played Metro? well get on it, the two games saw a bundle remaster release for current gen and unlike the other remasters the developers applied all the gameplay improvements.
Abe's Take
Well I'm going to through a rumour tag on this but it seems rather pointless but just in case, there it is. Well, think I know my plans for the new year now, time to reread and replay the series in order.
Yesterday was Bioware's annual N7 event, the celebration of the Mass Effect franchise and fanbase. Yesterday Bioware used that to reveal the first story trailer for the new entry Mass Effect: Andromeda.
Along with this trailer. details are finally starting to appear about the game.
Time and Space
We know now that Mass Effect Andromeda takes place 600 years after Mass Effect 3. During the events of Mass Effect 2, the council decides that the reapers are too much of a threat to rest the fate of one Spector (Shepard) and so builds great 4 ark ships, one for each council race. Sending them far away from the Reapers and their Mass Relays. The plan is to investigate the "golden worlds" of the Heleus cluster. However the human ark ship "Hyperion" wakes up to find itself of cause and out of contact with the other ships or the Nexus a central command ship sent ahead of the arks.
The set up here nicely sidesteps the "ending" issue of Mass Effect 3 and removes the need for a canon ending. Bioware states that whatever the results of you Mass Effect 1-3 playthrough that is you canon. Which implies we won't see anything else Mass Effect from the Milkyway set after Mass Effect 3.
The Ryders
Alec Ryder in his N7 armour
Leading this mission is the "Pathfinder" Alec Ryder (star of the E3 trailer), unlike previous Mass Effect games the players won't be choosing Ryder's gender like they did Shepard. Instead, players will be picking (and customizing) between his son Scott and daughter Sera. Whilst Bioware has confirmed both the siblings Ryder will survive and not pull a Nate/Nora or Bethany/Carter but things look less... joyful for Alec as his title will pass to your Ryder. Speaking of Nate/Nora Andromeda will allow players to customize not only their choice of Ryder but also the sibling and father.
Scott and Sera Ryder in their AI armour
Player Freedom
Andromeda seeks to set players free from some artificial constraints from the first series (and the genre) so the first thing to go is the Paragon/Renegade system (it is unsure if the epic interruptions return) making that invisible should free the player to make more natural choices (we found this true for Fallout 4). Instead of a visible ranking affecting your interactions with NPCs instead, it'll be your actions and "tones" used in conversations. the goal here is to give you a more diverse way of expressing yourself without worrying about or being locked into a simple binary blue/red system.
Next up is the class system, instead of offering players an starting class to build up ME:A will be flipping the system on its head and letting players build their characters freely. There are however bonuses for following "traditional" classes so for example, unlocking multiple biotic powers will net you a bonus to your biotic prowess.
FireFight
This new found freedom expands to combat whereas Mass Effect 3 had two "play styles" where you either played it like a Gears or "stop and go" using the power wheel. Andromeda is attempting to merge the two allowing for faster gameplay, this also involves removing the 'tactical' roll in favor for a jet pack dodge and leap, allowing you to avoid fire, get across gaps or to higher ground.
Bioware confirms this style of gameplay will transfer to ME:A's Co-op mode, which is expected to be similar to Mass Effect 3 and Dragon Age Inquisition's. Which pleases us as we enjoyed both games attempt at multiplayer.
Hotrod
You know what? we missed the Mako, the hover tank was not the same.
The Mako is making its return to the franchise but altered to matched the feedback from Mass Effect 1. The new vehicle is called the Nomad and will allow people to explore the open terrain of the planets, which will apparently feature not only story missions but also side quests for the local populous. Bioware is making great pains to let fans know this isn't the same Mako it won't handle like the old ones, the sense of speed has been corrected and the camera will be a lot more compliant.
Aliens
Unlike the Shepard Trilogy humanity is the alien invaders in Andromeda, the Hyperon is the only source of pink meat bags in this galaxy and the locals are not happy about the new guys. the new race
Whilst the Hyperon is the human ark ship it appears there is at least one non-human on board as players will be joined by the Asari Peebee who as you saw in the trailer doesn't appear to be like other Asari like Liara or Samara. (there is some rumour that she might have a human "father")
Peebee, part human or an Asari Teen (50 years old)
The End?
Bioware isn't talking about where this game will end, if it will feature multiple endings or if its the start of a new trilogy. The goal with Mass Effect Andromeda was to tell a "complete" story. Which gives us a sigh of relief as an increasing number of games are expecting to get the trilogy treatment and as such, we don't often get a clear ending.
Whilst Bioware isn't giving us a date outside of "spring 2017" but Dark Horse's tie-in comic is still coming "the same day as the game March 21st". Regardless Mass Effect Andromeda is available to preorder on Amazon. Mass Effect Andromeda is also confirmed to be PS4 Pro compatible which will see the game boosted to "near" 4k.
Abe's Take
I speak for most of us at GK-UK when I say "We can not wait to play this" as Bioware is building not only on the lessons learned from Mass Effect 1-3 but also Dragon Age Inquisition
The Tomb Raider reboot series has managed to snag a good amount of classic the Tomb Raider series (such as our own Cori) and those who wasn't fans (such as me). Obviously with the 20th anniversary, the PS4 release and the DLC for Xbox Tomb Raider is on everyone's lips. Now picture this scene. You're late, your office is working on a big project with the guys in California and you're behind on your work, what do you do? Well, you jump on the train and do your work on the go, you focus on your work and get some solid work done. Sound like a win right?
Unfortunately, some chap called Tripleh280 snaps what you are working on and shares it with reddit. And suddenly you have exposed to the world the 100% unannounced-so-take-this-with-some-salt next entry in the rebooted Tomb Raider series
Okay it's a blurry picture but that reportedly says "Shadow of the Tomb Raider" The point of interest here is that the snap was taken in Montreal, which whilst is home to plenty of amazing game developers including the Edios Montreal the nifty Deus Ex reboot series it is not the home of Crystal Dynamics the masters of the rebooted Tomb Raider, that is in Califonia.
Could Edios Montreal be helping out? it's not unheard for studios to help the main one, typically multiplayer gets passed to a separate team and seeing as we rather enjoyed the multiplayer in Rise of the Tomb Raider's anniversary DLC this is preferred. However its also very possible that Edios is taking over entirely, unfortunately, we won't know till its actually announced.
Abe's Take.
We're big fans of the Tomb Raider reboot here, we've enjoyed the story, Lara's personal overhaul, and the gameplay has been fantastic. That being said we really hope the Crystal Dynamics are still taking the lead as it always takes at least one game for a new studio to "get" what the first studio's lead.
For those who haven't yet seen the trailer for the new DLC which dropped yesterday, here it is!
*Available on Steam for $6.99/£5.50
This is the first paid character DLC that they have released, and while a lot of people will probably complain (since Nea and the Nurse were free), you will still get to play against the new Killer and on the new map regardless of purchase or not. Dead by Daylight has been needing a new killer since the last one was released. The Nurse, while terrifying and in desperate need of medical help herself, was the scariest thing to happen to Dead by Daylight. Until yesterday.
Okay, that's not the most exciting sounding title but it is something that will impact for us all going forward.
From now on Bethesda will not be providing review copies of their games anymore. Reviewers will receive their copy 1 day in advance. Here is Bethesda's statement
"At Bethesda, we value media reviews.
We read them. We watch them. We try to learn from them when they offer critique. And we understand their value to our players.
Earlier this year we released DOOM. We sent review copies to arrive the day before launch, which led to speculation about the quality of the game. Since then DOOM has emerged as a critical and commercial hit, and is now one of the highest-rated shooters of the past few years.
With the upcoming launches of Skyrim Special Edition and Dishonored 2, we will continue our policy of sending media review copies one day before release. While we will continue to work with media, streamers, and YouTubers to support their coverage – both before and after release – we want everyone, including those in the media, to experience our games at the same time.
We also understand that some of you want to read reviews before you make your decision, and if that’s the case we encourage you to wait for your favorite reviewers to share their thoughts.
Skyrim Special Edition releases globally on October 28 for PlayStation 4, Xbox One and PC. Dishonored 2 releases globally on November 11 for PlayStation 4, Xbox One and PC."
Obviously, this has upset the larger outlets as they are used to having a large amount of time to play the game before release. (a good amount do it to give the game an unrushed review, others just to enjoy their free game) but this move means big things for smaller outlets but the real winners are the Streamers and Let's Play's, these can hit the web minutes after launch and allow buyers to see raw gameplay before their purchase.
Of cause, the gamers are the most at risk, as there won't be any "full reviews" for us to use before launch. Which with Bethesda they do serve a secondary function: bugs and performance. Historically Bethesda open worlds have plenty of bugs but more importantly the studio has had issues with the Playstation versions of their games and reviews give PS gamers a chance to see if it's worth jumping in. However, to Bethesda's credit, They are suggesting anyone whose uses reviews to gauge their purchases should wait for said reviews.
Bethesda has two upcoming games Skyrim: Special Edition and Dishonored 2. We don't expect this design to affect these games too much. 90% of the Skyrim reviews will be the same as original and GOTY release, with the improved graphics and console performance shouldn't take that long to ascertain. Dishonored 2, on the other hand, is all new but is a far smaller game than Fallout or Elder Scrolls.
UNHAPPY? Take action!
Of cause it's us gamers who have the power, If you are unhappy with the idea please contact Zenimax (here) and don't forget to make your feelings known on their Facebookand Twitter.
Abe's Take
Personally, as a gamer, I'm okay with Bethesda doing this, simply because Bethesda's games are games that I take great pleasure exploring and discovering myself. Fallout 4 was a wonderful enigma to a lot of gamers but on day 1 we were blasted by IGN and Gamespot with huge guides, "don't miss this" articles and constant videos. Also, the review copies tend to be the source of story leaks and spoilers, In my case, the Fallout 4 twist was spoilt the day before launch on FB.
Looks like Rockstar has finally ended it light teasing and is at least telling us whats going on. Introducing....
Yep Red Dead Redemption 2, apprently the third entry (yes third) is real and is coming out Autumn/Fall 2017.
Acording to the annoucement Red Dead Redemption 2 will be...
An epic tale of life in America’s unforgiving heartland, the game's vast and atmospheric world will also provide the foundation for a brand new online multiplayer experience.
which all sounds great luckily we'll be able to SEE IT on Thursday the 20th of October when Rockstar releases an trailer for the new game. Whats interesting (and concerning to PC fans) is that Rockstar have only confirmed RDR2 for X1/PS4 and not for PC, Lets hope that this follows GTA V's path of releasing a year later and not the path of RDR1 which never did launch on PC.
Here's hoping Red Dead Redemption 2 makes use of the PS4 Pro and Xbox - Scorpio.
Abe's Take
Sounds exciting and we cant wait to see it on Thursday, I must stress how excited I am for it. However I personally an worried about the "brand new online multiplayer experience" as GTA Online was sold as a "persistent city" and had previews of player races being interrupted by another players mission's cop chase. When the reality was the city was an unchanging lobby with some activities and everything else running in a separate instance. For reference Day Z, Rust, Ark and Minecraft have persistent worlds, GTA Online (and Destiny) had consistent worlds.
Of cause that being said they never stopped with the free content for GTA Online and the single player was great.
Well this is interesting. After two days of direct but wordless teasing Rockstar has registered a new domain name and it certainly connects to an new Red Dead title.
You may want to sit down for this but trust us don't panic right away. Right ready?
The domain is for Red Dead Online. Right stop right now and move your hand away from the pitch forks and torches. I know the rather good (and well updated) Online mode to GTA gets a lot of anger from fans who desperately want some single player DLC. However the RDR's multiplayer mode was fantastic and received an fair amount of DLC alongside the amazing Undead Nightmare.
Of cause we'll be the first inline with our flaming pitchforks if its the ONLY part of this series of teases. Now as an expansion to GTA Online that comes as part of an remaster or an follow up Red Dead Online could certainly be a worth while addition, though that might have something to do with the humorous idea of fleecing people of their micro-transaction bought cash via an "friendly" game of poker.
Abe's Take
With this simple teases its nice to have something a little more detailed even if its just a web address. Rumour has it we'll be seeing a younger John Marston this Friday in a reveal trailer.
Hmm another rumour about a reveal this week... interesting (we are not suggesting RDR will come to the NX because life is never that fair)
Today's first story is a sad one. The rather great United Front Games (Sleeping Dogs, ModNation Racers) has closed. Leaving us with out an Sleeping Dogs.
The developer had an uneven history the ModNation Racers series for example was realtively poor but Sleeping Dogs was an underappreciated gem that whilst short gave GTA a run for its money. The team even worked on the Xbox One version of Tomb Raider: Definitive Edition
We loved Sleeping Dogs when we reviewed it and we loved it some more when we played the remaster. It even compelled our often silent partner Himaru to chime in (still waiting on that first article BTW). Its a shame the dev's tried experimenting with an multiplayer exclusive follow up, whilst I applaud the attempt at trying something new, we at GK-UK felt it was to early to try "mixing things up" with the franchise. United Front Games has pulled their latest early access title SMASH+GRAB from steam.
If you haven't played Sleeping Dogs we highly recommend picking it up, Its currently only £10.80 on Amazon
Abe's Take.
Its a damn shame. These guys had such potential. We at GKUK wish them all the luck in the world in their future endeavours and hope we hear from them soon
Well this is just getting mean Rockstar, yesterday you teases us with a basic red splash with a black logo and now this!
Yep that looks pretty Red Dead Redemption-like to me. Hopefully Rockstar releasing these teases so quickly means an announcement it soon... Tomorrow would be a good day for a teaser. HINT HINT!
Not really sure what to add here other than please let there be an co-op mode as well! Something along the lines of FarCry 4 where the side missions and world activities was available for two players whilst the story was kept strictly single player. I wounder if this game comes with Red Dead Online (like GTA Online) the first game's multiplayer mode was an stepping stone for GTA V's offering.
Abe's Take Finally an new Red Dead! (Don't make me a liar Rockstar)
Dead
by Daylight is a 4v1 survival horror game, and graced our computer
screens on June 14th. 4v1 sounds pretty unfair, that is
until you realise that the 4 have literally no way to defend
themselves and the 1 has some form of murder device. The best part?
You can choose to be hunter or prey, and you have a fair bit to
choose from in what you play as.
The object of the game is for four survivors to get five generators up and running to power two escape gates, as well as avoiding a murderous man or woman who wanders the map trying to put them on a meathook, summoning the Entity to attempt to take you away if you aren't rescued in time.
Sorry for the delay, internet trouble delayed our articles. Microsoft had a solid e3 this year and there was a certain confidence in the presentation. lets break down the news.
Integration Everywhere
There was a defiantly different tone to this years E3, Microsoft trailing behind their rival seems to of made them look in and change things up. The first thing that hit us was there new initiative "play anywhere" which isn't game streaming, instead it's cross buy, cross play, and cross save initiative between Xbox One and Windows 10. It appears that all of Microsoft's upcoming exclusives will be part of the initiative. If you buy the digital version of any of these titles from either the Windows Store or Xbox Store you get it for the other store for free. Your saves and achievements freely flow between the two platforms. Even the new controller with the Xbox One S (more on that in a moment) features wireless and Bluetooth tech, which allows it to be used across devices.
Even Minecraft is enjoying an greater integration with all the mobile versions (Win 10, Android, iOS and Gear VR) are now enabled with cross play via Xbox Live, achievements and compatibility with Minecraft Realms (dedicated servers so your friends can access your world even if your offline).
This integration focus was an important set up to this next bit.
Hardware for All
First up was the Xbox One S, A slimmed down version of the Xbox One The 40% smaller size isn't the only change. First the S will feature 4k video support for those who have lovely 4k TVs, HDR game support which is basically bringing contrast and colours closer to the human eye. (More Details on HDR HERE), The new pad can be customised on their website (which isn't active yet) and as mentioned before isn't limited to the Xbox.
Some additional information that hit later, The S features an IR blaster (so your Xbox acts as a remote) because the S dose not have the Kinect port but the there will be a USB adapter for upgrading users.
The Xbox One S have a staggered launch of its three flavours 500GB - £249, 1TB £299 and 2TB £349 (for comparison fat Xbox One is £229 for the 500GB and £256 for 1TB on Amazon) with the 2TB launching in August. The others should filter in by Christmas.
The Xbox Scropio was their final announcement that we'll talk about early. As you can see third party devs are excited for the prospect of console this powerful featuring a 6 Teraflop GPU (I'll post a graph shortly for easy comparisons) and an 8 core CPU. In realistic terms you're looking at 5 to 6 time the power of an Xbox One.
As you can you see the Xbox Scorpio is an entire PS4's worth more powerful than the leaked specs, of cause there is nothing stopping Sony from pushing more power before either system launches next year.
In terms of features Microsoft wants the Scorpio to handle games at 4k without up-scaling and run VR without stripping down the graphics or functionality matching the PC VR experience. MS didn't reveal if they will be launching their own headset or will be stepping up their partnership with Oculus. There is an interesting counter point regarding VR, during the video Tod Howard mentions bringing Fallout VR to it but its currently being said that its Vive exclusive.
Bringing the first part of the article back again. Microsoft has confirmed the Xbox One, Xbox One S, And Xbox Scorpio will share the same game library and accessories. After the event confirmed that non-Scorpio optimised games will run on the new machine games should also benefit from the extra grunt especially games that use unlocked frame rates and/or dynamic resolution such as Witcher 3 and Halo 5, these games on Scorpio will run at their maximum FPS and/or resolution. [NOTE: Currently Sony is saying that games without a "Neo"mode will not run on their machine BUT this could easily change]
There are some concerns though. Obviously price comes screaming to mind the specs alone will push it in the £500- £700 bracket (£500 being an extremely generous estimation assume AMD Polaris tech) and that's assuming there isn't an VR (headset/motion control) component included in the box. I also worry about competitive play with original X1's and the S. 4k players would effectively have longer/clearer line of sight than their... lesser siblings. Lastly Microsoft's language suggests that there will be more "families" beyond the Xbox One suggesting they are shifting to a similar launch pattern as iPhone and Galaxy phones, hopefully they create clear cut off points for the systems.
Anyway on to the games
Gears 4
Gears showed of some campaign co-op on stage, the level in question show cased some pretty extreme weather that makes us question why people ever settled on that world. Microsoft confirmed that PC and Xbox players will be be able to play co-op modes together including the all new Horde 3.0, sadly we did not see horde in action. Microsoft also announced Gears 4 will support HDR on Xbox One S and showed off a bloody Gears edition of the Elite pad. It's since been confirmed pre-ordering Gears 4 nets you the 4 360 games
Sea of Thieves
Easily my highlight of the show, Rares first "real" game since Nutz 'n' Boltz impressed us no end. The games highly stylized graphics defy the tutorial free multiplayer. Its shaping up to be an fantstic multiplayer experience. Honestly its hard to discus it with out showing you, so check out the gameplay footage below.
Scalebound
Scalebound also impressed with a co-op (yes the game features 4 player dragon rider co-op) boss fight featuring Platinum games largest ever boss fight, which will certain make Bayonetta 2 fans pay attention. It's till unclear how much of the game is actually co-op, it appears to be limited to boss fights but that seems awkward to set up if everyone is doing something else in game.
Interestingly Scalebound was previously confirmed as Xbox exclusive is coming to the Play Anywhere imitative. Now it's possible that the game could come to Steam but I suspect it will be exclusive to the Windows Store.
Forza Horizon 3
Forza made its traditional appearance, however it wasn't the usual show and tell. Microsoft used Forza Horizon 3 to show case the Play Anywhere imitative. You had four players each playing FH3 on a different set up; Xbox One, Xbox One S, a mid-range PC (using an X1S pad) and a top of the range 4k PC with a steering wheel. Each player was doing their own stuff in their own worlds before the X1 player sent out an invite for the game's co-op enabled campaign. The invite was answered by the other three stage players. It was pretty cool to see them all play together.
FH3 is set in Australia and looks absolutely glorious even on the old rickety Xbox One (I jest), they seem to be using the setting to its fullest with players racing through cities, deserts and jungles. Which combined with co-op gave us all at GK-UK Top Gear flashes.
Dead Rising 4
Dead Rising 4 is a true sequel and not a remake as previously rumoured, though both Dead Rising 1's star (the surprisingly young looking 54 year old) Frank West and and setting Willamette do return. This new entry sees Frank "I've covered wars you know" West return to Willamette mall in a fresh outbreak around Black Friday (hey that's familiar) so there is plenty of Christmas zombie joy to be had. The new game world isn't just the old one jazzed up, DR4's world is described as 60% mall and 40% city. DR4 will feature even more crazy weapons (including an exosuit) but to counter this there are more zombie types, well 3. The Horde: The classic Dead Rising shambling corpses. The fresh: these are only recently turned zombies and as such they are faster and can follow Frank up and over obstacles. Finally the EVO: which appear to be human/zombie hybrids which are being likened to Jurassic Park's Raptors, with them being able to work together and with the horde, letting the masses wear you down and strike when your weakened. Another addition is Frank's ability to take selfies which according to the press at E3 is an hilarious edition. Dead Rising 4 will launch this year... at Christmas ins't that lucky!
State of Decay
State of Decay was one of my favourite games on X1, you may remember us mentioning it.... several times. Microsoft treated us with a trailer for the sequel with the tagline: Nobody survives alone. Which got our hopes up for co-op the only clearing omission from the original game.
Undead Labs quickly confirmed SoD 2 will feature 4 player co-op, with "guests" playing as survivors from their own game saves and get to take a share of the rewards back. I can't explain how much I am want to play this game, to share the inky viscus dread with three others will be the best bounding/torment.
Halo Wars 2
Creative Assembly (Total War) and 343i's follow up is shaping up pretty well, MS is saying that fan demand is the main reason for the spin off's resurrection. There is a public beta live right now and the game will launch properly February 21st (FYI Feb '17 is going be crazy busy)
Its being reported that those who pre-order will get Halo Wars: Definitive Edition for Xbox One and PC suggesting that this isn't a bundled 360 game but an remaster.
Xbox Live Update
MS announced a trio of new features coming to Xbox Live: Clubs: kinda like Facebook groups, used as an area for you to find like minded Gamer., Looking for Group: seems to exist as an dig at Destiny's lack of Raid matchmaking. You'll be able to post "adverts" saying exactly what your looking for in a group and people can "sign up" if they feel they meet your requirements. Finally there is Arena which is fairly self explanatory Tournament system but importantly these wont be limited to just publishers as Gamers themselves can set up and run their own tournaments
Assorted other stuff
Here we are at the end of our round up and heres a splattering of stuff not covered above
Tekken 7 IS coming to X1 in 2017, Tekken Tag 2 is currently free for Gold members.
Playdead's new game Inside will launch June 29th, Their first game Limbo is free on Xbox One
Witcher's Gwent is getting it's own game!
Final Fantasy XV has a gameplay footage to show off the games new combat... it went badly.
Recore will launch this September and looks... good but slightly indie.
Whilst Phantom Dust reboot is dead Microsoft is remastering the orginal for Xbox One
And thats about it really, here lets end on the new controller's multiple looks
Bethesda had a pretty safe E3 with few "all new" announcements and was mostly housekeeping on its current titles and plans. No Elder Scrolls 6 here. Quake's back!
Looks like making this years DOOM really triggered something with in the now Bethesda owned ID software. Quake is returning and appears to be reciving the same treatment as DOOM. Introducing Quake Champions an hero based (set characters with special abilities), fast paced arena shooter. Here check out the trailer!
Quake. Is. Back.
The fast, skill-based arena-style competition that turned the original Quake games into multiplayer legends is making a triumphant return with Quake Champions. Running at an impressive 120hz with unlocked framerates, id Software’s new multiplayer shooter is getting ready to take PC gaming by storm once more.
Quake Champions features a roster of unique characters, each with their own distinctive abilities, allowing you to fight the way you want.
Fallout 4 DLC
Bethesda confirmed the 2nd wave of DLC for Fallout 4 (still under the one season pass) featuring 2 workshop content drops and a final expansion.
The first DLC will be "Contraptions" which will allow you to build physics based devices... basically lets you make a version of Mouse Trap for your settlements. Launching this month Contraptions will feature elevators, green house kits, fireworks, armour racks (yay) and more such as stocks (lets see Macy Long complain now!).
The second DLC entitled "Vault Tech Workshop" which as the name implies will allow you to build and operate your own vault (which seems slightly counter initiative considering this a post bomb world), complete with experiments to run on your new dwellers and all new pre-war (I suppose that's technically true) items. You'll be able to customise your dwellers using new cosmetic and hair dressing items. "Vault-Tech Workshop" launches in July. As you can see in the following trailer, it certainly seems to be taking its cue from the free mobile titles Fallout Shelter.
The final DLC (unless the guys get drunk and decided to add more again) is "Nuka World" and will be much closer to Far Harbor in terms of content. This DLC will see the Sole Suvivor traveling to an all new "open region" featuring a town set in the ruins of the Nuka Cola world theme park.
Skyrim's Back
It was rumoured for so long and now its been confirmed, Skyrim is coming to Xbox One, PS4 and PC (with some PC users getting it free). Not only dose the new release come with the DLC and remastered effects such as better snow, water and sunlight, but as rumoured it will also support console mods. Ultimately there isn't a lot more to say here, take a look at the polished up new release due 28th of October.
Prey returns!
We finally now know the fate of the Prey series after Bethesda canceled Parkour alien bounty hunter sequel to the first native Indian spiritual force vs alien invasion. Yeah I forgot about rather jarring shift there, anyway Prey now returns via Dishonored 1 & 2 developer Arkane. So far it looks rather impressive and holds very little outward link to the original title.
Arkane Studios, the team behind the critically acclaimed Dishonored series, is bringing their unique vision to Prey, a first-person sci-fi action game that reimagines the franchise from the ground up… with an added psychological twist.
You are Morgan Yu, the subject of morally dubious experiments designed to improve the human race. You awaken aboard the Talos 1 in the year 2032 and must uncover the secrets hiding in the depths of the space station while being hunted by the mysterious alien force that has taken over. You’ll have to rely on the tools you find on the station – along with your wits, weapons and mind-bending abilities – to combat the growing threat and, hopefully, survive.
left overs
Bethedsa also announced multiplayer DLC for DOOM, breifly teased Wolfenstien, Fallout and DOOM would be receiving VR support and that Elder Scrolls Online will be removing its borders between players.
This will let everyone experience all the content regardless of faction or level. Under the new system the player levels to the environment so your free to join up with anybody. No need to worry though as areas that are meant to be hard will still be hard, this is intended to return the sense of free exploration of the single player titles, players can now explore with out worrying that they'll be insta-killed by a rat.
Lets end this wrap up with a glorious look at Dishonoured 2 gameplay!
EA is first taking on E3 this year, with its own take on Nintendo's direct. EA's take involved 2 separate shows running side by side in the US and UK. I'm panic writing this article "live" so it will be rough as hell.
EA CEO Andrew Wilson starts by confirming Star Wars, Titanfall 2, Battlefield and Mass Effect Andromeda. Wilson says there are now over 2 billion gamers, cant help but feel that includes mobile.
First up we're getting a look a Titanfall 2 with Vince Zampella. First we get to see some multi player New pilot powers (teleport, grapple hook), Titan powers that look like they have been lifted from the avengers including hulk shock waves, and Iron-man chest laser. There will be 6 new Titans
Commenting on the earlier single player leak, "for those 4 people who didn't see the leak". Its all the same footage, we have aliens, awesome robo-human teamwork and anime buster swords. All in all its largely what you'd expect from the Modern Warfare guys.
Next up is a Madden trailer... which to an UK citizen looked... fine I guess (sorry for our US readers). Usual sports game updates, better season, more realism and better commentary. However it appears Madden (and probably Fifa) is EA's attempt to lure more people into pro gaming. With three teirs of eSports. The first is basically fan ran events with custom rules, the 2nd is one ran by partners with them establishing rules, and finally and top tier EA ran tournaments.
Now EA is showing off an eSports bit... and it comes off a little silly (to me) with programmers being treat the same way as Boxers are before a fight. EA is hosting an Madden championship with an $1,000,000 price.
Next up is Bioware... I'm going to privately scream.
"you are the alien" is the central theme for Mass Effect Andromeda, 90% is apparently going to be all new (in universe) so all new tech, all new planets and all new races. Looks like we're not getting a new trailer but we do have lots of behind the scenes footage which is filled with gameplay and movie clips. It dose look really really nice, which is to be expected on a current gen exclusive frostbyte powered game.
EA is introducing "EA Play To Give" which appears to be in game challenges that once completed send a donation to charity for a total of $1 million.
Next up is Fifa 17 (more but different screaming), EA is saying this years entry is "revolutionary". An every excitable "football fan" Hunter is telling us about football fantasy in the playground vs video games. The following trailer is showing off what appears to be a fairly dramatic story mode following said football fan "Hunter". the character talks and looks nicely animated, it doesn't appear to support custom characters. Apparently "The Journey" (which is the name for Fifa 17's story mode.) is so in depth it requires them adding the managers in game.
More of the usual sport title updates, more interestingly is them showing off the "new rookie talent" rendered in the Frostbyte engine.
The success of last years Unravel has inspired EA to create its own Indie label - ironically named "EA Originals" despite the self serving name, EA is actually going to pump all of these profits from these titles back to their developers. The first title in this label is "Fe" which frankly looks like your typical artsy indie title, it dose however look like it could be an interesting experience much like Beyond Eyes from last years xbox E3.
Next up is Star Wars. First up is Battlefront 2 which will "reflect fan demand" and also feature content from the new films (assuming ep 7 and rouge one), In 2018 Visceral action adventure original story. a brief alpha clip was shown and it looked very nice on a desert world. And finally Respawn's game will be set in a "different era" and will be a third third person action game (the behind the scenes video showed a mo-cap light saber dual at Respawn).
Finally we have Battlefield 1.first up is a short in game teaser for what appears to be the single-player, which is all very very nice looking. Battlefeild 1 will feature more natural and intuitive destruction, The maps also feature dynamic weather which will directly affect how you play. The game will also feature Behemoth vehicles such as the Blimp, Armoured train and Warships.
Next up os the rest of the tease and boy dose it look good, the effects seem suitably overwhelming and intense,
At some point I should really get an article going about all the things that are better than they have any right to be. On top of that list or near the top would be Injustice: Gods Among Us. On paper it shouldn't of been good it was based on the Mortal Kombat engine, the previous attempt Mortal Kombat vs DC universe was uneven, set in a Superman gone rouge universe, and balancing should of been a nightmare.
Luckily it was pretty great, even like me you was not... overly fond of the basic Mortal Kombat gameplay, or the overly armoured designs. It did win me over with it's clever use of character abilities, interesting story (which's backstory was excellently written in a 5 "year" comic) and... well Batman!
Today Warner Brothers and Netherealms have announced as sequel, which like the upcoming Justice League movie apparently doesn't sport an subtitle - Injustice 2.
Well wasn't that... armoured,
Sorry and I'm back. According to the release materials this game doesn't feature transformations as the trailer implies. What it dose feature however is an RPG style loot system, this system will not only change how your character looks but will apparently also alter their abilities and your strategies (i'm assuming by altering move start up times/directions) as well as forcing your opponent to switch up their game.
The all important loot will be rewarded after each fight, with some loot being generic and others being character specific. Guess we'll see how all that works out in 2017.
Abe's Take
First up i'm excited to see where the story is going and as a fan of DC's TV shows it was fun seeing veteran Flash and newcomer Supergirl (I'm assuming that's her, could also be Powergirl) but the I do worry about balancing the loot for online, I'm getting DBZ Xenoverse flashbacks. That games loot pretty much destroyed the online.
It's been a difficult relationship with XCOM for the modern gamer. The franchise burst back on to our screens, almost every screen with XCOM: Enemy Unknown and it's expansion XCOM: Enemy Within PC, 360, PS3, Android and iOS. Those excellent titles was then followed up by The Bureau: XCOM Declassified which was... a third person shooter and is best left at that.
Such glory (yes I'm ignoring Bureau) continued on to the announcement of an direct sequel to XCOM: Enemy Unknown. Which was met by cheers (and I like to think street parties) however those cheers got a little less loud as 2K and Fraxis announced it was PC exclusive. Which after the excessive wooing of the console and tablet crowd seemed rather perplexing. To Fraxis' credit they was pretty open on why it was staying on PC namely keeping the team focused on one version, and mods; which kept the last release on everyone's PC for a long time.
Now the dark times are over for console players as 2K has recruited "The Workshop" (developer beinf X1/Ps4 ports of Evil Within and Liberator.) to bring the former PC exclusive to Xbox One and PS4, XCOM 2 will begin punishing console player starting September 6th.
Whilst there is no news on whether mods will be coming to consoles we do know that 2K will be releasing all of the existing DLC the same day as the game launches.
Abe's Take I always suspected XCOM 2 would hit consoles sooner or later, doubly so once Bethesda announced Fallout 4 mods for console. I am however slightly annoyed that the DLC will be hitting day one and wont be included in the price. Not that I'm saying I think the DLC isn't worth it but having it sit there on the store on day one feels... off.
Dead Rising is a one of GK-UK's much loved franchises, even when its punishes us for no real reason. Those prisoners in their jeep still haunt our dreams. The first game was a weird wonderful Japanese take on Dawn of The Dead (we're aloud to make that link now right?) even with the sequels switching to a US studio and adding co-op the games kept that quirky tone and was still fun.
Multiple sources have outed an poster (probably for E3) for Dead Rising 4which sees franchise front man Frank West return, it also appears to show the original mall at Christmas.
More details have seems to appeared along with an screen shot. Its being reported that Dead Rising 4 will in fact be an remake of the original title. However it wont be a simple remaster as it also see them touching up the old game, DR4 apparently now features 4 player co-op (with other players taking on the roles of Chuck, Nick and Annie and may have more/the rest) of the town in which the original game was set.
The sources are saying that Dead Rising 4 is Xbox Store exclusive, which doesn't mean download only but that its coming to Xbox One and Windows 10 exclusive. They's also a talk that MS will also unveil State of Decay II, which would be... well epic really.
Abe's Take
Really excited by the idea of a new Dead Rising and State of Decay combo at E3. That being said this seems really weird that DR4 is a remake of DR1. I cant help that feel its might not be a remake but more the character revisiting the physical area. Access to the extended town, the stars of Dead Rising 2 (5 years after DR1) and 3 (10 years after DR2) being playable, and Christmas theme all make me feel this isn't a remake. Actually it gives me a "end of the series" vibe.
One of the big announcements from E3 was that Fallout 4 would be receiving mod support. Which was huge news, as console gaming as been (non hardware) mod free. However Bethesda was clear there was stuff they wanted to do first before tackling console mods.
Now we are past the first 3 DLCs and the free survival update Bethesda is prepared to show us what console mods look like. First Major Nelson of Xbox Live have released this teaser video.
We got to see a few things in this video. A mod for improving base building by allowing you to snap objects together. A mod for a fully customizable alien rifle. Some rather nifty Same Fisher style googles that add night-vision, thermal, or target tagging. The final mod shown allows player to build settlements wherever you want!
We'll see more tonight at 8PM BST as Bethesda/Xbox will live-stream mods running on Xbox One.
Obviously there will be limits to mods on consoles as they'll obtained in game via the Bethesda store and such no "naughty" mods or ones that use licensed materials. There's also the console's own limitations to consider, you wont be doing any of the really high end stuff like those amazing graphics overalls.
Abe's Take
I cant wait to try out mods on Xbox One but I know the console will limit the mods. So my plan is to not go crazy with it like i would on pc, instead choosing to augment the console version. Such as the campsite mod which will work nicely with the overhauled survival mode.
We really enjoyed Titanfall when it launched on Xbox One. The finely crafted balance, the giant robots and multi leveled maps that suited both Titan and Pilot game play. Earlier we found out Titanfall 2 was incoming thanks to a teaser.
Yay giant robot sword... Sorry I got distracted there. Today a Reddit post (which was swiftly deleted) seems to of got hold of a couple of details for the Robo-sequel. First we have what is reported to be the part of the box art (fairly sure its the wrong way round).
Is it just me or is that Titan wearing some kind of jet-pack backpack?
The post stated that pilots now have a grapple hook that would extend the free running abilities, enable long range Titan mounting, and the ability to grab leaping enemies. Which all sounds very exciting. The source also says that the multiplayer maps will be "increased in size" when compared to the first game, could this indicate more players per team?
The post also claims an pre-order handgun called the "Violator", an rather alarming name. They also claim EA is launching it "around October", which is right next to Battlefield 1 and CoD: Infinite Warfare. Looks like October is going to be busy for FPS fans.
Abe's Take
I do like what I'm hearing there, As much as we loved the first game there wasn't a whole heap of content, which to be fair they expanded on via DLC and updates. I do have to question the wisdom of launching both EA shooters at the same time. Sure they contrast each other and over lap should be kinda manageable but you also have COD there with an similar theme.
There was a lot of great games last year but one that came out of nowhere was DragonBall Z Xenoverse. DBZ games have a history of being somewhere between not good and rather good. Xenoverse was the first truly great (yet flawed) DBZ game.
For those who don't know DBZ Xenoverse was a pusdo-MMO (think Destiny) fighting game which saw you create your own DBZ fighter and go all Doctor Who traveling through the DBZ timeline and fight to correct its history. It was pure fan service wrapped in an enjoyable combat and fantastic visuals. After the story was complete there was a whole host of what if missions to be played in co-op and all for epic loot.
There was flaws however; The loot was RNG horror not unlike Destiny's first year, the story skipped out various parts of the series including rather bafflingly the entire Andrord Cell arc (sure it had the Cell games), the competitive multiplayer was pretty broken thanks to Super Saiyan's infinite energy and the entire Z-souls (special buffs and abilities), and finally simply playing with friends was a needless headache of sever cycling.
Yesterday news broke that it will be getting a sequel this year. Here's the trailer and might I say that the art style is brilliant, clearly the decision to limit this one to current gen is paying off.
So we saw some interesting things, lots of things from the anime that the first game missed are back (Namek, History History of Trunks) and what appears to be the generic hero from the first game in hologram statue form and the new player character looked a little the old ones child.
More Story
The story of the first game was pure fan service but did skip random sections for no apparent reason. whilst the trailer showed some more the teaser site actually holds my interest here. The teaser site had various promo artwork for the DragonBall, DragonBall Z and DragonBall Super (the brand new show) shows but also their movies. Another area the first game mostly skipped.
Fix the Saiyans
Not so much for balance, Super Saiyans are ridiculous OP in the shows anyway, there was other issues that annoyed fans.
Becoming a Super Saiyan simply meant equipping and using a skill.
The transformation only affected your hair colour not its shape,
You could only become Super Saiyan 1-2, you couldn't become an Super Saiyan 3 or 4. (admittedly this would of require the game to alter you characters model mid match)
No tails, this was a complaint of the minority but fairly valid point as almost every Saiyan in the show had a "tail story" except Goten and both Trunks.
Fix the LootThis was something that got old very fast. Some missions had special requirements that had to be completed for you to get certain items BUT that didn't grantee you actually getting the item. Playing the same mission over and over is expected in this sort of thing but to spend an hour and walk away with 30 Hurcule wigs did not feel good.
Clothing There was some pretty annoying issues with the clothing in XV, that just wouldn't go away.
Remove the stats or lets us customise them all. In the first game clothing drastically altered your stats but the top level gear is based on characters from the show and as such we couldn't make our characters unique (There was a LOT of orange Dogi in online lobbies)
Battle damage - seriously this is a staple of the franchise and certainly would add some dramatic flair to battles.
Weapon skills didnt require the player to have said weapon equipped, hurt the immersion somewhat.
Better Balance Super Saiyans ruled online, that was fine they are Japan's Superman after all. However the Z-soul system quickly turned sour, if you didn't use one of 4 certain Z-souls you had lost the match before it had began. That being said playing as Earthling getting creative with Kao-Ken and Potential Unlocked to defeat the glowing gits was immensely satisfying.
MentorsThe Mentor system was cool in the first title but didn't actually feature much training, it was usually 4 fights spaced out over time. Most of these training sessions was defeat foe in x time, it wasn't overtly thrilling, some missions did throw unique objectives at you but they was few and far between. Hopefully the seemingly younger protagonist means more meaningful training.
Abe's Take I know there's a fair amount there and it sounds like the game upset us but we really did enjoy the hell out of the first game, It even handled its first two DLCs fantastically (the third one was more a content drop). The game came THIS CLOSE to being brilliant and that's very unusual for Anime games.
So I'm heading off now to pretend to shoot lasers from my hands!
That's a pretty provocative title isn't it? It's not meant to rile up current gen owners (like myself), The X1, PS4 and Wii U have some amazing games both from internal studios and external ones but if you're not here with us yet (or are looking to jump ship), please just wait a few months.
So lets get round to that title and to why, Right now there is plenty of great deals on next gen systems but there is also non-stop swirl of rumours making those deals... not that much of a deal. We're at a cross roads right now. With things like new systems, VR, hardware updates and who knows what else at E3 all geared to throw the status quo straight out of a window.`
Wii U
Lets start with the most likely of the three. We know Nintendo has a new system on its way, currently codenamed: NX. What do we know about it? Not a whole lot if we're talking facts, we know Nintendo will give the world an real look at it during June's E3 event. This obviously makes the Wii U a slightly shaky purchase right now. We're only 90% certain that the NX is a home system to replace the Wii U. The only "certainty" according to rumour and analysts is that it'll launch in November.
Risk: High, its unknown if the NX will play Wii U games.
PS4
Now moving on to the middle likely one. This October Sony is launching it's VR headset for the PS4 but it wont plug directly into the console. instead the headset connects to a box (that actually looks like an baby PS4) that boosts the consoles specs to handle the demands of VR.
Why you should hold of? There is repeated reports of an updated PS4 being launched this year, unlike previous revisions like the PS2 slim this one is said to be an upgrade. Either names the PS4.5 or PS4K. The rumour says this version of PS4 will have the VR's extra grunt built into the console making the PSVR set up a little bit more entertainment center but these reports claim that this version of ps4 will (somehow) output games at 4K instead of 1080p.
Risk: Moderate to High, I personally don't think Sony would go the annual update route as this would start annoying customers as exclusive content starts appearing. I do however believe that they would release a PlayStation-VR, an PS4 geared towards VR having the extra grunt built in but coming with the PS-Move controllers instead of a DS4.
Xbox OneHere we are at the last one and the most confusing. Rumours began to swirl around when head of Xbox Phil Spencer said he didn't want to wait for a generational leap to improve Xbox one. This instantly lead people to believe Microsoft would release modular hardware updates so users could upgrade their machine for more performance. Spencer shot that idea down saying "I don't want fans opening up the Xbox with a screw driver". This led fans to believe that MS planned to release a similar to the rumoured PS4.5, A Xbox 1.5 if you will. Again Spencer shot this idea down.
So right now we have an concept "more xbox one power" but no idea how, the only remaining concept would be MS using cloud streaming to augment the Xbox one's processes.
Risk: Low to moderate. MS plans are unimportant right now as they have stated they want their games to be both backward compatible and forward compatible, we shouldn't see .5 exclusive releases. Hell from the sounds of it we could even be seeing some PC games come to X1.
Abe's Take
This article is hard to write as I don't like telling people to not get involved in gaming, right now there is some mind blowing, fantastic titles but I've also bought devices only for a better version to be announced a few months later. It's best to hunker down and wait till E3.
