The Last of Us: Left Behind - Review

Left Behind

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 .

Hey guys, as I am sure you are all aware, the first and last piece of single player DLC is out for the multi award winning The Last of Us.. Left Behind.

You can buy Left Behind off of the store for about £12 from the 14th of feb. 

Without further ado, here's what i thought..

Concept/Story

So Left Behind puts the player in control of Ellie, Joel's companion from the Main game. 

The story switches in and out from before Joel and Ellie met up, about when Ellie is reunited with her friend Riley and back into the main game in the part where Joel is badly injured halfway through the main story, and you as Ellie need to find him medical supplies.

Straight off the bat I was really happy they had chosen to intertwine the two sections of Ellie's life not only because it wraps up why these particular events are connected, but because it gives the gameplay a nice contrast of pace and action, however as you know, I wont talk too much about the gameplay until later.

The game is set in a shopping mall, where Ellie and Riley explore the large building, messing around and having fun.

It is an extremely powerful setting to use, because playing as a young girl with her friend in a shopping mall is something that is true to life, and it does create an emotional comparison to see just how the world has been so badly destroyed and that this is all Ellie and Riley know. 

Simple mini games such as watergun fights, and taking photos in a photo booth really capture the fact that this is the only life Ellie and Riley know, yet at every opportunity they can get they will try and recreate what they have only heard and dreamt about of the previous world.

Ellie and Riley have an incredibly close relationship, something that is crafted so perfectly with dialogue triggering moments and touching cutscenes, that you forget you are even playing a post apocalyptic game at all. Something that makes the relationship seem so real and relatable is the tension they have, which is due to the fact that Riley had up and left Ellie a month or so back. 

This obviously leads to some very interesting scenes and another type of tension that is built up and released perfectly, which I have never seen so expertly executed since the finale of Gone Home.

The other section of the story is when you play as Ellie trying to find medical supplies for Joel.
This part of the game is very similar to the main story, because instead of exploring and taking part in fun minigames, you are sneaking around abandoned stores looking for gear and finding the hidden letters and notes left behind from other survivors. 

You also have the brilliant combat and horrible ambience, you get from the main story, however again I dont want to go too much into gameplay just yet.

Story wise this section is not very story heavy, as this section is to please the more action and survival orientated fans of the game, which is great that Naughty Dog have included something in for everyone. 

To summarise as a whole, the story in Left Behind is dark in places, notably at the end, but surprisingly light hearted and beautiful in other ways, which creates a perfect blend of storytelling, only achievable by the geniuses over at Naughty Dog. 

The only downside is the DLC is short for £12, only took me about 2 hours to finish. However the story is still wonderfully delivered that it is very quickly overshadowed.

Story/Concept - 9.5/10

Visuals

All those who are hating the fact that they need to unplug there nice shiny PS4s and dig out the dust covered, steam powered artifact that is the PS3, there is no need to worry because Left Behind looks amazing.

Everything from the lighting to the scarily realistic animations of infected, make the game a joy to look at. It instantly makes you forget that your not playing on a PS4, and delivers a fantastic visual masterpiece derived solely from the original game.
Visuals - 10/10

Gameplay

As you can expect, the gameplay in Left Behind is very similar to that of the main game. Same shooting mechanics, same cover system, same controls, however with some noticeable differences in terms of character strength and ability, which I will touch on later.

The gameplay is different in the two parts of the story. In the section with Riley it is mostly exploring and interactions, without any real danger. There are also some brilliant mini games, which I will not give away, but I asure you that they are awesomely designed, and add a few new things to the Last of Us we know. There is a variety of simple things from throwing objects in a contest with Riley, to mashing button sequences in a dedicated time, all are different and all are excellent.

In the section where you are looking for medical supplies for Joel, this is where the gameplay is similar to that of the main game, I suppose the reason being because it is actually set during the main story, whereas the other is set before Ellie is Joel's super badass sidekick.
As you can expect there are lots of sneaking, problem solving and looting to be done in this part, and it is fine, due to the fact its nothing different to the award winning formula of The Last of Us.
There are some slight changes to the gameplay though, as controlling Ellie, can be very different to controlling Joel, and here is how.
Firstly Joel probably has about 150 pounds on Ellie and is about twice as strong. This means when encountering enemies, Ellie can not so easily hand out beatings to whoever she pleases. No being in control of Ellie requires a much more careful approach.
Do you want to melee an enemy, but stealth isn't your strong point? This wasn't a massive problem in the main game, because Joel could just run over and smash their head into a million pieces with a 4x4 plank of wood, but for Ellie its probably best to throw a brick at them to stun them and then follow up with a swift stab, because although Ellie can handle herself very well, she isn't too great in hand to hand combat. 

Also because Ellie does need to approach dangerous situations with more care, there is a brand new opportunity in the latter combat areas which is probably my favourite thing about the DLC.
Due to the part of the story, there are a lot of bad guys tailing you and Joel, so they are scouting the mall looking for you both, but you can actually lure (with bricks of course) any nearby infected to your human enemies to watch them in turn battle it out in a sort of WWE Royal Rumble match, where you are left to pick off any remaining opponents. 
This is an unbelievably effective combat mechanic, which works so flawlessly and creates such a realistic vibe of survival from a smaller girl's point of view that it is just perfect.

With both story's having the best of both worlds, one with a nicely designed combat heavy level layout, and the other with an emotional, but innocently fun interactive level layout, the contrast of the gameplay blends beautifully with eachother.
This together with the already first class gameplay structure of The Last of Us, creates something rather breathtaking.
Gameplay 10/10

Audio

Left Behind has so many types of masterful audio that I will take it one at a time. 

Firstly with voice acting. 

Ashley Johnson (Ellie) is outstanding in Left Behind, in every single way she was in the main game. She delivers each line with such intense and correct emotion, that it all just feels so genuine. 

Along with the huge amount of random conversation points that can be triggered throughout the level, and the monologue she has with herself when searching for supplies, the voice acting on Ellie's side is superb.

Yaani King who voices Riley, also delivers a killer performance which just again makes the bond between the two characters as real and as touching as possible.

The atmosphere in The Last of Us is always something and even though it isnt as heavy in Left Behind, the grueling and disturbing screeches that Stalkers and Clickers make, just cause chills down your spine.

One of the first times you meet infected in this DLC, the game doesn't prompt you, you just hear this awful scream and then that is how you know your gonna need to hide and hold R2 for dear life.

The music again is perfectly timed and paced. 

Basically everything is bloody perfect okay? 

Audio 10/10

As you would expect, Left Behind is a delightful example of emotional storytelling blended with fantastic Gameplay. 

The two stories you play through this short DLC, are very different, but piece together nicely at the end, answering many questions about Ellie, and delivering the best dialogue I have seen since Gone Home. 

Even if it is overpriced and too short, there is everything you need in this DLC, and what better way to revisit one of the best games of the decade.

                 An eight? Those guardian things were an eight. - Nathan Drake (Uncharted 2)

Wolf Among Us Episode 2: Smoke and Mirrors - Review

                        The Big Bad Wolf is back.. Finally

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 PC)

Hey guys, after what feels like forever, the second episode of Telltale Games The Wolf Among Us has been released, and I have played it and I'm gonna let you know what I think.

Concept/Story

The second episode starts pretty much right from the end of the first episode, if you can remember that far back. Now the reason I start this review with a sarcy negative point like that is because not only did we have to wait an extortionately long time for the second episode, but the Previously On.. section, doesn't really show you much, or anything that happened in the previous episode that is of any importance at all. Or its not that, but the way it is structured is confusing, and to be honest i had to briefly look up a few playthroughs of the first episode, to get my bearings. 

Moan over.. 

It opens with a gorgeously artistic and dramatic camera shot, placing you straight back into Digby's character. 

Because of the dramatic event that concluded the first episode, there are some very explosive dialogue choices around the intro of the episode, which are very interesting to see unfold. 

Straight after this you are put into a great interrogation scene, which is fueled with genuine emotion and a kickass return from Dave Fennoy. 

As you can probably tell, the game starts off very well. However it isnt until then that - without spoiling too much - the dramatic conclusion to the first episode that had thus far given this episode a great start, is rendered completely irrelevant. Now the way it unfolds is fairly interesting, but too be honest when this happens, all characters (particularly Crane) resume previous emotional states, far too quickly. 

This made me pretty much forget the dramatic intro to the episode unfortunately, however it wasn't the worst plot twist I have seen, it just could have been better IMO.

From then on, things get pretty methodical. Move on to suspect, interrogate suspect. Examine things, find out things, move on to the next bloody thing. As you can see its mantle begins to be shaped around a simple run of the mill detective adventure, similar to Discworld.

In fact it is very very similar to discworld now I think about it.

Now it may sound like I am being very negative about the game, but I am really not, because although the general structure to the story is repetitive, you meet some excellently crafted characters, which are a joy to interact with, and of course Digby has to be one of the most likeable protagonists in any recent game.

The ending is good, if somewhat predictable. It sets up nicely for Episode 3, which is due out in 2017, but unfortunately the bit in between the intro and the end scene just doesnt seem to get anywhere fast, and is only held up by brilliant characters and a fantastic intro.

Concept/Story - 8/10

Visuals

Let me quickly point out that I played this on PC, running at 1080P on a brand new OLED screen, and let me tell you, the colours look outstanding. Never have i seen a game have such vibrant and perfect colours it really is just beautiful to look at, especially the intro credit scene.

The only downfall to the visuals I have, is that the facial expressions seem to be very odd at times, but sometimes they are fine. I believe it is down to there being so many different facial animations for all the different dialogue choices, but it can take the sting out of some crucial dialogue.

Visuals - 9/10

-

Gameplay

The gameplay throughout is slightly disappointing in this episode. I found that in episode 1, there was a great mixture of gameplay and cinematics, with some fun fight sequences and good dialogue options.

This episode has much better dialogue choices than the first episode however the gameplay is overshadowed by cinematic scenes in this one, and for what gameplay there is, it is wildly repetitive.

There is one fight scene at the end, and a few near identical interrogation scenes, which do actually work very well, but in the end get you the same result.

The gameplay overall is good, but nothing special. Fortunately there are some tense interrogation scenes which give the player a great sense of power and rebellion, and some fantastic dialogue as always; but the repetitive structure and fairly short length make it fall short.

Gameplay - 7.5/10

Audio

Voice acting in this game is something special. Every character has a voice with great personality. 

For example you have Georgie Peorgie, a British tattooed hooligan running a strip club, and of course Toad with his cheeky cockney accent.

Also as you are probably aware, Dave Fennoy plays a small part in the first interrogation scene, and as you can imagine his performance is stellar.

Adam Harrington also delivers a knockout performance as Bigby, but unfortunately the Woodsman doesnt make an appearance this episode.

The Music is great, it is subtle and mysterious, keeping the tone of the game perfectly level.

Nothing to complain about the audio. Great voice acting and perfect music.

Audio - 10/10

Smoke and Mirrors is a good entry into the promising Wolf Among Us series, but you cannot help but feel it is a bit of a stepping stone plot wise to get some substance into the story and characters.

Audio and graphics are superb, and it is a blast to play, just don't expect a consistent thrill ride.

No matter what happens, even if you become the world's enemy, I'll be your knight. - Squall Leonhart

Bioshock Infinite: Burial at Sea Episode 2 Trailer

Bioshock Infinite: Burial at Sea Episode 2 First Look

After a rather disappointing first episode to this Bioshock Infinite single player DLC, one can only wonder and hope that Mr Ken Levine has something special in store for us with the second episode. And now there is an trailer peeking at what lies in store.

The trailer opens with Elizabeth waking up from the events that concluded episode 1. 

As we had been told before, you do control Elizabeth in this episode, and not Booker. Although from the trailer it looks like we can still hear Troy Baker's lovely voice every now and then.

So.. SPOILERS ---
Booker definitely is dead. Or well the Booker from Burial at Sea, and in an interesting turn of events, Atlas (The Irish baddie from Bioshock 1) has got Elizabeth captured and is about to kill her with his splicer mates.

Elizabeth doesn't really know what to say, so luckily there is another version of Booker sat on a chair with a guitar telling Elizabeth what to say to bargain with Atlas.

Now I wont go into the conversation, because I will just post the trailer on this article, but what i will say is so far it looks good.

Hopefully the reintroduction of Atlas will give the second episode a nice sense of atmosphere and survival that the first game had, and I am pretty excited to play as Elizabeth.

Also maybe this means that you will be alone as Elizabeth without an AI partner that Elizabeth is to Booker, this could again bring back the sense of survival and difficulty that made Bioshock 1 so tense and terrifying.

So I do have my hopes up, however i did also for the first episode, so I am excited, but also nervous! So far there are alot of unexplained things so in that respect I am excited.

Release date is still Coming Soon, however I predict possibly an early March release.

Here is the debut trailer, shared from Machinma's Youtube channel:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hUQsbEO0bGw

Watch this space for the review of this (whenever it is released), and also coming up soon will be a review of FF13 Lightning Returns, and The Wolf Among Us, Episode 2.

Thanks for reading

First look at Middle Earth: Shadows of Mordor

Firstly I would like to apologize for my lack of content recently, I have been very busy, and there hasn't been a huge amount of games released to review.

Middle Earth: Shadows of Mordor

Middle Earth: Shadows of Mordor is an upcoming game from the partnership of Monolith and WB Games, the guys behind the Fear series, and more relevantly Guardians of Middle Earth.

In this game you control a Raith/Human man thing, who looks like a mixture between Solomon Kane and Geralt from the whitcher.

I believe the story is set in between The Hobbit and Lord of the Rings, and is about Sauron returning to annoy everyone by taking back The Black Gate.

Talion is a guard of the black gate and is also a Ranger of Gondor, so as you can imagine he gets caught up in all this polava and is killed along with everyone else stupid enough to fight Sauron. However, Talion is saved from death from a mysterious Spirit person which also gives him the Wraith powers.

The game itself is being released on X360, Xbox One, PS3, PS4 and PC, with a release date still not confirmed. From the gameplay demo, on first impressions it looks great, the world seems open and the style looks very fitting and stunning at the same time. 

The combat looks good, it is similar to Assassins Creed or Batman Arkham City, in the way you attack and counter when the funny logo pops above an enemies head.

Now here is the groundbreaking, interesting game mechanic, which I hope to God works as well as it sounds.

When you fight enemies, some may flee. When that enemy flees he may rank up in the armies of Mordor.

Now this means that this enemy out hundreds and hundreds of different possible enemies will change appearance as they rank up, (New armour) or they might get a new job, as shown in the demo.

Also if you hurt the enemy in one way or another, but do not kill them, they will most likely still have that injury the next time you meet them.

Now im finding it very hard to explain this game mechanic, but to me, if it works, it could be one of the greatest implementations into a game of this kind. The idea of facing different bosses and enemies in different situations on every playthrough sounds incredible, and like i said I hope it works as well as it sounds.

There is much more to this game then I have just said, so to get the full information, watch this 8 minute demo which was published by IGN who also have written a very good article about the game.

http://www.ign.com/videos/2014/01/23/middle-earth-shadow-of-mordor-talion-hunts-down-ratbag

Thanks again for reading

"A real brawl doesn't begin until you've got your back to a wall!"

—Kanji Tatsumi, Persona 4 Golden

Walking Dead Season 2: Episode 1 "All That remains" review

Hi I'm Clementine, and welcome to Jackass..

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 .

Hello everybody and welcome to my review of the first episode of Telltale's second season to the Walking Dead.

(This was played on PC)

Concept/Story

The intro to this game seems to take place very soon after the events of the 1st season. Clementine looks the same age and she is with Omid and a heavily pregnant Christa.

That is as far as i will go with revealing what happens in the story, as I dont want to ruin any thing that happens. 

Disappointingly, the story I saw when playing this, was not in any way different due to my choices I made from season 1, or not that i could see. Clementine as you would expect is very troubled and lonely without lee watching over her, this is straight away apparent in Clem's emotions and in the way she does things.

The intro (Before the walking dead logo comes up) is short, but explosive. It goes from normal to completely effed up in a matter of seconds, and then cuts out and advances 16 months.

After the 16 months Clem looks slightly older and acts much more mature. This is interesting because it allows you to shape how Clem is going to react to people, basically meaning you have control over how Clem is going to grow up after all the things she has gone through. 

The best thing about the story of this episode is that it is entirely exciting and very dark. 

Clem is thrown into all these awful situations which happen frequently through the episode. 

This helps show the player that Clem is truly alone and how she has had to adapt to the world she now lives in, it also means that there are some extremely tempting evil things for Clem to say to people which again shows what she has become mentally. 

The story in the first episode is great, you meet some very interesting and likeable characters and there is a lot of dark action to showcase the new mature side to Clementine that is remarkably believable. 

It creates an emotional bond from the start and manages to stay consistently gripping throughout, falling short because of the choices you made from the first series don't seem to effect Clementine as a person.

Concept/Story - 9/10

Visuals

The visuals in this episode are slightly better than the first season, but not by a huge amount. telltale are obviously sticking with the comic approach and it is as effective as ever.

Jittery bugs and weird facial expressions are much improved from the first season, but they are still there unfortunately. 

Environments and the walkers look fittingly spooky and help with the great atmosphere of the game, along with the tons of cartoon blood that helps with the dark and violent side of the game.

The visuals are good and stylish as you would expect, however there is still the odd facial expression that looks very strange, or a jittery bug when the game is trying to realize what your choice is going to do.

they are a definite improvement from the first season, but are nothing special.

Visuals - 7/10

Gameplay 

Thankfully this episode is full of walkers and people who want to hurt you which means there are plenty of fast paced QTE's to keep you busy. 

The QTE's in this are so much better in every way than the ones in season one. It has definitely taken a leaf form the Wolf Among Us's book, by having QTE cinematics that last long and flow smoothly.

In this respect the gameplay is very smooth, the buttons you need to press in the QTE's are very responsive and perfectly positioned and the scene plays out very well depending on how well you do. 

Also the freeze between scenes that were awfully noticeable in the first season are pretty much gone completely. Which is lovely.

Unfortunately I cannot say the same throughout.

Interacting with an object is slightly awkward, due to the fact that you now do not scroll between looking and using, but instead hover the cursor over which one you want to do. The reason this doesn't work very well is because the cursor normally finds it quite hard to actually find its mark on the particular option, and it left me a couple of times sitting their trying to click on a bloody eye, just for Clem to look at it and not do anything.

The gameplay in the second season is much more polished than the first. Gone are the freezing bugs that jogged your gameplay every now and then when QTE's were happening and thanks to an exciting storyline there are plenty of opportunities for the polished QTE's to make an appearance.

Unfortunately the controls are slightly awkward, and interacting with an object is a bit of a pain, but it is easily forgotten.

Gameplay 9/10

Audio

So far Season 2 has shown some excellent voice acting from Clementine and the new characters that you come across in the episode, it makes them feel much more believable and allows you to become immersed into their reactions and emotions easier.

Music also fits in perfectly to the scenes in which it is played in, adding to the atmosphere, and also with a great track played in the credits to end the episode nicely.

Unfortunately in some places the audio isnt completely in sync with the gameplay, but its very infrequent and a minor technical hiccup.

The sound in this game is only slightly flawed and outweighed with emotional and believable voice acting and music.

Audio - 9/10

The first episode of the second series is gripping, dark and emotional. It has you witnessing awful things that happen to Clementine and seeing her having to make choices that are unthinkable for a girl her age.

This allows you to  make some interestingly nasty dialogue choices and shape Clementine's future to how you want it.

Unfortunately season 1 choices dont seem to have made a difference quite yet and there are some slight technical issues in the gameplay and visuals which let it down a bit, but overall All That Remains is a brilliant start to what seems a very promising season with a massively strong lead character.

See, dads are smart like that. - Lee Everett (Walking Dead: Season 1)

Walking Dead Season 2 - Preview

Get ready for more tears and more walkers...

SPOILERS FOR SEASON 1 OF WALKING DEAD

Written by Callum Munro

Hey guys its been a while since Telltale games pulled at the heartstrings with their Walking Dead game, and now finally season 2 is upon us.
Im not even going to care about spoiling the end of the first season because if you haven't completed it then you obviously dont care about anything that is important in life.

Obviously as you all know, Clem has to kill Lee in a shocking turn of events that concluded the first season with a bang.
Now, continuing on you control her in the second series.
It will be very interesting to see whether the things you said to her at the end of the game will affect the second series, i think the last thing i said to her in my playthrough was Keep that hair short, however I think the other options were Dont trust anyone or Find a group, something along them lines.

Walking Dead: Season Two has literally just come out on steam within the past couple of hours and mine (Due to crappy internet) has just finished downloading, so without further ado, I am going to delve in to the first episode.

You can buy the entire season for £18.99 off of Steam as of now, and you can also buy it for £15.99 on the Playstation store. It isn't released on Xbox until tomorrow, but I can imagine it will ocst around the same as the other platforms.
If you are buying it, be sure you have your old save as I have heard it is vital to have a more emotional experience.

My review will be up once i have finished Episode 1.

Thanks for reading. love you all

"You're treadin' on some mighty thin ice here..." - Joel (The Last of Us)

Blog update - Apologies and PS4 scores

Hello everybody sorry for the delay in posts, i have had a lot of things going on and I have been working a lot.

ALAS.

I am back and will continue to post as regularly as time will let me.

First things first..

PS4 Reviews

Unfortunately with me being away and that, I haven't been able to post reviews for the games that i promised I would.

To sort of make up for it, I am going to post them here in summarised versions revealing the scores and the verdict paragraph.

Battlefield 4 (SinglePlayer)

Concept - 6/10

Visuals - 9/10

Gameplay - 9/10

Sound - 8/10

~ Battlefield 4 is a solid entry into the FPS market with explosive game play and visuals, let down by a forgettable and run of the mill typical shooter story.

Sound Shapes (PS4 version)

Concept - 9/10

Visuals - 9/10

Gameplay - 10/10

Sound - 10/10

~ Sound Shapes is beautifully crafted, blended expertly with delicate and clever musical input, plus controller breaking difficulty to create an excellently designed platformer, that will keep you interested and give you a toe-tapping good time.

Resogun

Concept - 8/10

Visuals - 9/10

Gameplay - 8/10

Sound - 9/10

~ Resogun is a fresh and fun approach to the arcade genre, with beautiful visuals and great sound.

Unfortunately it falls short with its overly easy boss battles, it's gimmicky co-op mode and lack of game modes at the moment. 

Nevertheless Resogun is a joy to play and is a great PS4 launch title, free on PS plus.

Fifa 14

Concept - 8/10

Visuals - 9/10

Gameplay - 7/10

Sound - 8/10

~ Next Gen Fifa is looking better than ever with the new EA Ignite engine, however it seems as though it is still work in progress with dodgy animations and buggy physics. 

Also no love for tournament mode in this next gen port which is a shame.