The Order 1886 - Review

The Order 1886

Callum Munro

(I try my hardest not to spoil any major parts of the plot) 

My reviews are split into 4 sections that are rated out of 10, CONCEPT (The aim/idea/plot of the game), VISUALS (What the game looks like), GAMEPLAY (How the game plays and how fun it is), SOUND (The sound, funnily enough) and then given a final score out of 10.0 .

Concept/Story

The Order 1886 is set in an alternative take on late 1800's London, and follows the story of the ancient order of Knights sworn to protect the world from Half Breeds, which are half man and half animal. The order was created by King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table, and centuries later, it is still running thanks to a mystical elixir known as Blackwater. 

The player takes control of Grayson, also known by Galahad, as he and his fellow knights must discover the truth behind a sudden uprising of rebels and a massive increase in half breed attacks.

It is a story of betrayal and honour, and is excellently told due to its wonderfully developed characters and near flawless script.

Playing through the story you will be heavily involved with historical figures, such as Jack the Ripper and Nikola Tesla. Tesla acts as a friend to the order, supplying them with advanced weaponry and gadgets, and actually serving an important part to the story later on in the game. Jack the Ripper also gets much more focus towards the end of the game, and adds an interesting twist to the plot.

Although the wonderfully atmospheric setting, believable characters and a carefully crafted script allow the story to shine, it is let down due to some serious pacing issues and an extremely abrupt end.

The game took me around 9 hours to finish and that is it, there is no other game modes to play, and no real reason to re play the single player again. 

In terms of its plot and setting, The Order is brilliantly told with some genuinely interesting characters and dialogue, alongside a compelling and satisfying take on English historical fiction.
Although the story is engaging and well written, it is let down by some fairly sluggish pacing, an ending that comes far too quickly and a lack of content.

CONCEPT/STORY - 7

Visuals

The Order 1886 is undoubtedly, the best looking and most well polished game I have ever had the pleasure to look at. 

Animations always look realistic and responsive, lighting is perfect and adds real atmosphere to the environments and the steampunk London setting looks almost real.

The emotion in the characters that these visuals make possible, add that extra level of plausibility to each and every scene.

I simply cannot fault the visuals in any way, every single thing that is done in this game, be it a cutscene or gameplay looks real and helps the player really believe in the character's emotions, like it was a film or a tv series. You really cannot put into words how flawlessly polished the world of this game is, you can only see for yourself when playing the game. 

VISUALS - 10

Gameplay 
Unfortunately for me, this is where The Order really falls short. 

In the 9 hours I played I was either walking around a (beautifully polished) are not really being allowed to do anything, engaging in generic cover shooting sequences with 3 enemy types, watching cutscenes or taking part in mostly pointless QTE's that often interrupt the scarce gameplay moments. 

This may sound harsh, so allow me to expand on what I just said.

Firstly the gameplay is also affected by the sluggish pacing of the story, in the first 2/3 of the game, gameplay is simply scarce. It is not often you get to control the player for more that 3 - 4 minutes without being interrupted by either a pointless 30 second cutscene or a normal story related cutscene.

In the last stretch of the game, you get to take part in some pretty fun gameplay sections and set pieces, but it is simply too late and not long enough. 

There are only two types of gameplay in this game, one being walking around searching for something, and shooting generic enemies until it is safe to progress. 

The search sequences have you walking, very slowly around claustrophobic feeling environments trying to find something. The reason the environments feel claustrophobic is simply because there is almost no interaction that the player has with it, it looks great, but you just cannot do anything with it.

The shooting sequences are generic cover based moments, again the game just doesn't offer anything different in this respect.

You simply sit comfortably behind cover, pop up to shoot enemies, and then rinse and repeat. There is just no changes to the already formulaic gameplay. 

However that being said, the guns are awesome, and feel great to use. Also along with the visuals, kills are very satisfying. 

One gameplay element to the game that is actually really good are the fights with the Lycans (Werewolves). These parts are very fast paced, and actually frustratingly difficult at times.

The only problem with this, is there are simply not enough of these moments in the game, which is a shame because this actually added something different and fun to the gameplay. 

The constant interruption of gameplay coming from cutscenes and QTE's really disrupt the immersion that the player has in the game. The gameplay also offers the player absolutely no freedom, with no exploration and no sense of progress as most progression is portrayed in cutscenes or boring quick time events. 

There are some fun moments in some of the shootouts,  and also some brilliant boss QTE's, however it is mostly generic action set pieces which is not bad, but not anything special either.

GAMEPLAY - 5.5

Audio

Similarly to the visual feats, the audio adds to the technical achievements that this game has achieved.

Voice acting is phenomenal, and along with the excellently written script it just adds that extra something to the game and its story. 

Gun sounds are great, and the music is epic and fits in perfectly with the given moments.

The incredible voice acting performances and fitting music, just shows how technically perfect this game is.

AUDIO - 10

The Order 1886 truly is a magnificent technical achievement with totally unmatched visuals and truly epic scripting which I actually thoroughly enjoyed playing, unfortunately it is let down by a far too much reliance on cutscenes and unimaginative gameplay.

Well, I probably wouldn't be 2 feet tall, fuzzy, and running in a sewer without any pants... God, I miss pants. - Daxter Jak II

Dying Light - Review

Dying Light

Callum Munro

(I try my hardest not to spoil any major parts of the plot) 

My reviews are split into 4 sections that are rated out of 10, CONCEPT (The aim/idea/plot of the game), VISUALS (What the game looks like), GAMEPLAY (How the game plays and how fun it is), SOUND (The sound, funnily enough) and then given a final score out of 10.0 .

(Played on Playstation 4)

After a slightly shaky release, Dying Light is finally here (digitally not physically), and it is the new open world, zombie apocalypse RPG, developed by Techland. 
After getting my hands on it a few days ago, I am here with my thoughts on the game.
Enjoy. 

Concept/Story

Dying Light puts you in the role of Kyle Crane, an operative for the GRE (Global Relief Effort), tasked to retrieve a stolen file, stolen by a man named Kadir Sulemain. When you get dropped in to the zombie infested city of Harran, things instantly go tits up, as you are ambushed by a group of thugs, then bitten by a zombie, and then saved by a woman part of a free running group called Jade. 

You as Crane, play the part of an undercover errand boy, gaining the trust of dangerous gangs, providing for your new free running friends and also keeping in touch with the GRE as you try to locate this file.

"Christ on a Crutch"

Unfortunately the main story feels average from start to finish, barely any surprises along the way and although there are some likeable characters to meet and to grow fond of, the dialogue in the game is at times laughable, and most serious conversations are often transformed into cringey and confusing experiences. 

It felt to me like it was a very careful plot, which is fine and certainly playable, however it would have been nice to really have something to remember about it.

Where Dying Light's story shines is actually with the side quests. Now I had initially thought that the side quests would be repeats of one another, with little to no satisfaction, feeling more like a grind. However the side quests to Dying Light add a really refreshing depth to the world, mixing tongue in cheek humorous themes with obviously some serious ones, without the game feeling unbalanced and confused. 

Most side quests turn into branching out, multi adventure quests, which is very rare in RPG's nowadays.
For example, a lot of side quests go from being a simple "Fetch-Grab" mission to then intensify into something much deeper and tougher, however all in the same story of the quest. 

This is an amazing thing about this game because, it gives you so many little stories that are not actually under developed and instead take up a big chunk of your game.

A very important concept that Dying Light has, and has been marketed probably the most heavily is the day/night cycle. Now obviously this is mostly a gameplay thing, however the concept of faster, scarier and all together stronger zombies is an excellent idea, similar to that of I am Legend.
It makes the game so much more tense, and gives a nice feel to the overall story as it is often a big part of it, and actually makes you as the player plan out your quests. 

Story wise, Dying Light is passable. There is nothing wrong with the plot (aside from the dialogue), but there really isn't anything great about it. Where the story really shines is in the side quests, which are refreshingly detailed and balanced, alongside the brilliant concept of the day/night cycle.

CONCEPT/STORY - 7.5

Visuals

Dying Light looks great. The world is absolutely massive, and the scope of Harran is really captured by the brillaint visual effects. 

Internal environments like houses, stores, or other quest related areas you visit, do a good job of creating a tense atmosphere and giving off the effect of a zombie apocalypse.
For example in one quest, you have to go to a school, and it is fenced off with biohazard walls, and other small additions like quarantine tents or the graffiti really capture the tone nicely, from taking an innocent setting and adding just a subtle reminder that all of these kids that used to go to school here are probably dead. Subtle, but powerful.

Characters look good, facial animations are pretty spot on, however they aren't anything special. Also zombies mostly have the same heads and faces, which can sometimes take away that scary realistic look, when there is a large horde of them. Not a huge problem, but a problem for me nonetheless. 

Overall the visuals to Dying Light are very good, especially on the vast environments and the use of lighting at Night-time is great. However there is lack in zombie and enemy appearances which for me is quite a large thing, as it can sometimes take away the immersion and make it visually repetitive.

VISUALS - 9

Gameplay

 Now this is where Dying Light really shines. There are so many things to talk about gameplay wise about this game, that I will have to select a few things to talk about.

Combat - At first, combat feels slow, sluggish and extremely difficult. Zombies take ages to die, weapons break constantly and your stamina allows you to throw a handful of swings, before having to step back and rest for a few seconds. This would be fine, however the sheer amount of zombies in this game, even from the start is huge. You really don't have time to pick away at zombies one by one, because you WILL get swarmed, and you will most likely die or take a substantial amount of damage. 

This makes levelling up, learning new abilities and getting to know the mentality of your enemies 10 times more satisfying than in most other RPG's. 

Melee combat always feels awkward, but you get to learn how to hit the zombies, how to preserve your stamina, how to deal with certain enemies, when to risk shooting a gun and most importantly when to run, and the best thing about all of this is you learn it all through your own experience. 

Killing zombies is satisfying, and so it bloody should be. 

Enemies - The enemies you come up against in Dying Light are consistently challenging from start to finish without actually changing their attributes, the further you get.

Normal zombies are slow, but deadly in numbers and can often take a good beating before giving up.

The running zombies, mostly only come either at night or when there is a loud noise. These are strong, fast and an absolute pain in the arse to hit.

The thugs are actual people who for some reason have a problem with you, they will come at you with melee weapons or sometimes guns, and take joy in dodging or blocking your attacks, then to club you round the head with a pipe. The human enemies, really distinguish the intelligence levels between zombies and humans.

Now these are only a minority of the enemy types in the game, and they really mix things up gameplay wise.

Free Running - The free running in this game is a very strange idea on paper, one that really pays off in Dying Light. Once you get over the fact that R1 is jump, you can fly around the city (on your feet) with ease, whether you're evading zombies, getting to a safehouse before dark or being chased by volatiles (night time scary zombies), the world really is your oyster, you can do pretty much anything with the parkour skills you are equipped with. 

Keeps the game fun, and fast paced, whilst adding something that is new and refreshing. 

Night/Day Cycle - This is one of the most important things in the game. When the sun sets, and the night approaches the zombies become faster and stronger, and also a special type of zombies comes out called volatiles. They can basically do anything you can do, but ten times better.. and scarier. 

With the introduction of the volatiles, it introduces a perfect balance of some stealth elements, and manic, screaming running on your part. On the map you can see their field of view, and if you are spotted then you better hope, that there is a safe house nearby. 

The way to fight these things is basically, to not. However if you have too, you are equipped with items that the volatiles do not like. One of them being UV light, which comes in the form of flares, a UV flashlight and light traps that you can set up in the day time to be used at night. 

If you have accidentally stayed out past your bedtime, and the sun has set and the volatiles wake up, the aim is to basically get to a safehouse. 

Safehouses, are safe areas that you can secure at any time, and once they are secured you can use them whenever you want to sleep, or simply escape from enemies. 

One of my favourite things about night time, is that if you have a quest that you must complete at night, during the day you can literally plan how you are going to do it, by crafting yourself plenty of flares, and setting up a nice route full of light traps that will hopefully get you safely to your destination. This adds a wonderfully welcome tactical side to the game.  

The Night in this game is so scary and tense that you really do try and stay away from it, like you would if it was real. Which is always amazing to see a game capture the effect of affecting a player as if i was actually happening. 

The gameplay in this game is just pure class. Everything works amazingly, and there is so much different styles of play to the game. 

This game is simply put, fun. It is just a blast to play all down to its brillaintly designed gameplay. 

GAMEPLAY - 10

Audio

As I said earlier, the dialogue in this game is really not good. However in terms of audio, this is really overshadowed, by everything else.

Firstly the music in the game is very good. It ranges from different styles, but it always seems to fit into what I'm doing at the time.

Also the noises from the zombies all depend on the type of zombie it is, and these noises can make you pause the game, press quit and then not come back too it for a long time.
They are very scary. Especially the noise of the volatiles at night. Not nice. 

Simply put, the audio is good. The music is cool, and the zombie noises are enough to make a grown man shit his pants. Unfortunately let down by the dialogue though. 

AUDIO - 7

Overall Dying Light really surprised me. 

It really is a massive game with outstanding gameplay elements and great deal of things to do. 
It will give you the best fun you have had with a video game for a long time, I can do nothing but heavily recommend this game to anybody, if you are sitting on the fence about it like i was, please give it a go.

Andrew Ryan: We all make choices, but in the end our choices make us. - Bioshock