PS5 -vs- X-Box: Let Them Fight

We’re approaching the release of the next generation of consoles – the PlayStation 5 and the X-Box Series X (and S) so I figured I’d put up a post outlining my own thoughts on each platform. PC has been my primary gaming platform for going on 20 years now, but I’ve always had one console or another to play alongside it. Most recently, that console is the Switch, but am I tempted to pick up a PS5 and /or an X-Box series console too?

Before we really knew anything about these new platforms, I was much more interested in the PS5. Given that the PC is my preferred platform, that shouldn’t really come as a surprise, not when pretty much everything available on the X-Box ‘ecosystem’ is also available on PC either through Steam or via Game Pass. The Series X console, in terms of hardware, is pretty great value, and I do like the compact design, but as a platform, it doesn’t really offer me anything I can’t or won’t get on the PC.

But I don’t think Microsoft really care about that. They’re really focusing on their Game Pass subscription model and they don’t really care where you play. And if I didn’t own or couldn’t afford a decent PC, then the combination of a Series X or S console plus a Game Pass subscription would be an easy choice to make – the value that offers is pretty insane.

But I do have a decent PC and so I don’t really need either of the new X-Box models. And that’s why I was more interested in the PS5. I didn’t pick up a PS4 but there are several games on that platform I’d like to play and I was waiting to see if those games would be backwards compatible with the PS5 and / or offer free ‘enhanced’ versions at a higher frame rate or even paid remastered versions that take advantage of the upgraded hardware.

Sony were really knocking it out of the park towards the end of the PS4 cycle with one big exclusive hit after another. And it appears that strategy of exclusive first party games and exclusive third party content is something they intend to continue with the PS5. But the question is, will that strategy continue to work in a market that is evolving more towards subscription based services?

And it does kind of feel like Sony shot their entire load towards the end of the PS4 cycle, leaving them a little short on the release of the PS5. And the more I’ve heard and seen of the PS5, the less inclined I am to pick one up, at least in the short term. The console, in terms of design, isn’t really to my taste. And the pricing of the games – £70 – is pretty damn steep.

Then you have the cost of online play to consider, the fact that (at the time of writing) we still don’t know exactly how backwards compatibility will work for PS4 games and hell, we still haven’t really seen the console ‘in the flesh’ so to speak. It’s almost like Sony are trying to hide how big and bulky it looks outside of flattering renders.

The digital version, despite the reduced price, feels like a trap when you’re relying on online sales that might never come or be as generous as physical reductions. Sony, with the PS4 library behind it, certainly has the games to interest me, even though the platform looks, frankly, inferior to the new X-Box Series models. If I was picking a platform based purely on design, hardware and value, the X-Box Series would win quite comfortably.

But I don’t need an X-Box because I already have a PC. I was looking to get a PS5 in order to play all those tasty PS4 exclusives I’ve missed out on, but I’m not going to do that until I know exactly what I’m getting. It feels like Sony have been pretty shy at revealing details – I don’t know if it’s a marketing strategy (if it is, it’s not a very good one) or just plain incompetence. They should be making me want to buy their platform, but I can’t say they’ve succeeded. At all. Microsoft’s strategy is clear, but Sony seems to be all over the place and unable to give straight answers on anything. They really need to get their act together.

Between the two platforms, I’m obviously still more interested in the PS5, but that’s purely for the games I hope to be able to play on it, not for the platform itself. The platform, based on design and value, just isn’t an attractive purchase right now. So I guess I’ll take a wait and see approach, and maybe wait for a ‘slim’ model redesign that might come out in the future.

Now Playing: Horizon Zero Dawn

It took me around 65 hours to complete Horizon and the included Frozen Wilds DLC. I finished every main, side and errand quest. I explored every corner of the map. I tracked down every collectible. I did all of this because I wanted to see and experience everything Horizon had to offer.

Despite the many technical problems reported with this PC version, I only suffered a single crash whilst playing and my frame rate was rock solid. Visually, Horizon looks fantastic with a varied range of environments and some impressive character models – it’s just a shame the facial animations can be rather stiff, to say the least. 

It’s not just how the world looks that’s impressive, but how it’s constructed. The map has very distinct environmental types ranging from forest, to snow, to jungle, to barren plains. These all connect and flow from one to the next in a way that feels natural and alive. The sense of scale and distance, the fact that Meridian – the main ‘city’ in Horizon actually feels like a large, lived in city, all contributes to build one of the best open worlds you’ll ever play.

 

And this is a world full of history, a new world built upon the ruins of the old. As you explore the world and progress through the excellent story you’ll learn more about the past and the people who lived during that time. The pacing of the plot is nearly perfect as solving one mystery leads onto the next. You’re always learning, always uncovering a new piece of puzzle, and you’re always just one step away from the next.

I loved the story and characters of Horizon. I won’t spoil any of the plot here because it’s the kind of game you really need to play and experience for yourself. Aloy is a wonderful protagonist and she’s supported by a wide range of excellent side characters. The only really weak character is that of the main (human) villain who’s just an evil prick and that’s about as complex as he gets.

The story, like the world of Horizon, is perfectly constructed. You’re always engaged, always wanting to learn more, to see more and explore more to discover the truth of the past, of the machines and of Aloy herself. Horizon tells a very personal story and although it doesn’t feature a branching narrative with alternative paths or endings, it does feature various dialogue options that allow you to shape how Aloy reacts to the people she encounters and the challenges she faces.

But as great as the world and the story of Horizon are, what really keeps you playing and enjoying your time spent exploring the world is the combat. The combat against the machines, at least. Horizon does feature some combat against human (bandit) enemies, but this is another weak aspect of the game. Fighting primitive humans wielding spears and bows just isn’t as engaging or fun as tangling with mechanical beasts that shoot laser beams and spit fire.

There’s a lot of different machine types, from small and fast to large and lumbering, each with their own strengths and weaknesses. Your ‘base’ damage against these machines, regardless of level, isn’t particularly effective. Instead, every machine has either an elemental weakness – fire, frost or electrical and/or specific weak points that when targeted with the appropriate ammo type will cause heavy damage.

Horizon is a game that gives the player a great deal of combat options through its variety of weapons, traps and ammo types. There’s not a single way to take down a machine. The game encourages you to be creative and experiment with all of the tools at your disposal. Some machines may seem incredibly tough the first time you encounter them, but by learning their attack patterns and studying each machine with your Focus to highlight their strengths and weaknesses, you’ll soon learn how to take down each machine both quickly and efficiently.

There’s nothing quite as enjoyable as using a ‘tearblast’ arrow to detach a machine’s primary weapon from its back, picking it up and then using it to rip the machine to pieces. Or you could lay a series of traps and tripcast wires and lure the machine into a deadly (and explosive) ambush. Or you could freeze the machine and use your slow to fire, but heavy damage bow to inflict maximum damage by targeting a weak point. Or you could use a ropecaster to bind the machine, preventing it from moving as you use a blast sling to bomb it into pieces.

So many options, so many tools. I never got tired of fighting machines in Horizon. The visual feedback is what makes it so satisfying – watching as pieces of the machine are shed by your attacks. You whittle them down, one component at a time. And once the fight is done, you strip the parts to sell or to use in crafting. The animations of the machines is also impressive as they charge, leap or collapse to the earth when they finally fall.

The crafting system is decent. I was worried it might get tiresome gathering parts but everything is fairly streamlined and merchants sell bundles of all the key components so you’ll never need to worry too much about gathering wood for crafting arrows. There is a modifications system in Horizon for both weapons and armour. It’s a little simple, but it does the job and this is one area that a sequel could certainly improve upon.

The Frozen Wilds DLC, which was included in this PC package, is an excellent expansion offering a new location to explore, new machines to fight and new weapons to add to your already extensive arsenal. It will give you another 10-15 hours of play on top of the core game and like the core game it’s content you’ll want to thoroughly explore.

Overall, Horizon Zero Dawn was excellent from start to finish. The few weak points – the human enemies / villain and the rather simplistic upgrades / modifications – don’t detract from what is one of the best games I’ve played this year. The main quest is engaging, the side content (beyond a handful of exceptions) is all worth your time with unique narratives, characters and encounters. The combat is great with a variety of tools and enemies with a welcome focus on player creativity and tactics.

I’m still a little wary of recommending Horizon at the time of writing because, whilst I didn’t have any real technical problems, a lot of people obviously are, but if the developers can roll out some more patches and fixes, it’s most certainly worth picking up in the future. It’s an exceptional game that I’ll certainly return to again and has me excited for the recently announced sequel. It’s another strong contender for my personal GOTY.

9/10

Gallery: Fallen Order

Now Playing: DOOM Eternal

I really wanted to take more screenshots of Doom Eternal. The game is a veritable visual feast, with gorgeous environments and stunning backdrops. Unfortunately, taking screenshots proved to be the one technical hitch I experienced with Eternal – every time I tried to take a screenshot, the game would crash.

I wasn’t alone with this problem and I tried various fixes suggested online, but nothing would stick and nothing would work, regardless of which screenshot utility I tried. So the screenshots you see accompanying this review are all I was able to get and all I have to work with. It’s a damn shame because Eternal is a beautiful game and none of these shots really do it justice.

They also include elements of the UI I later switched off or scaled down because they’re far too intrusive. The UI in Eternal is, thankfully, fully customisable and you’ll likely want to turn much of it off because the default settings are far too cluttered. Despite this one irritating issue, I had no other technical problems with Doom Eternal. The game ran smooth as butter regardless of how crazy things would get on screen – and things can get pretty damn crazy.

If you’ve played Doom 2016 then you’ll feel immediately at home in Eternal – it doesn’t seek to reinvent the wheel and many of the systems and mechanics of that game continue here. The weapon selection is practically identical, with each weapon possessing two alternative fire mods, each with combat challenges to complete.

 

The ‘glory kill’ system also returns, as enemies enter a weakened state in which you can ‘rip and tear’ them apart in a gloriously gory animation and spawn additional health – but only health. Unlike 2016, you now need to use two other specific abilities to spawn additional ammunition and armour – the chainsaw for ammo (which requires fuel) and the flame belch for armour (which requires a period of cool down). You do, of course, still find regular ammo, health and armour pick ups scattered throughout each level, but you’ll also need to juggle these abilities as you fight in order to keep yourself stocked and alive.

Whereas 2016 ramped up the action more as it progressed, Eternal kicks off in high gear and never lets up for a single moment. The visuals, as I’ve already mentioned, are fantastic, and the music is absolutely perfect. Purely in terms of moment to moment gameplay, Doom Eternal is very nearly perfect. The combat is exceptional with a wide variety of weapons, mods and abilities in addition to a strong, if mostly familiar selection of enemy types. Like 2016, Eternal allows the player to be creative in how they approach every fight – you can switch weapon mods on the fly, mixing up your style of play depending upon what the situation requires.

And every weapon and every mod, although always useful in a pinch, also has an optimal use against particular enemies. The combat is fast and frantic, but you always feel in control and you soon learn to make split second decisions as to what weapon or mod will be most effective as you string a chain of kills together, one demon to the next. 

If there’s one aspect of the combat I wasn’t totally enamoured with it was the inclusion of the ‘empowered totems’. These boost the health and attack power of demons in a combat arena and continually re-spawns them until the totem is destroyed. It creates a silly situation in which you charge about the arena, attempting to locate the totem because fighting the demons in this situation is a waste of time until it’s been destroyed.

Thankfully, there’s only a handful of areas that do this. The game does introduce an enemy later on which has the same abilities as the totem – boosts demon stats and spawns new enemies. But this is a target you have to track and fight, not just an annoying little totem you have to hunt down because it’s tucked away in some small corner of the map.

Another minor annoyance is the ‘sticky floor’ type which, as part of a larger arena as a hazard to avoid I’m totally okay with, but there are a few moments when you’re forced to trudge your way through this shit and fight enemies at the same time. One of the joys of combat in Doom Eternal is how mobile you are, so when that’s taken away from you, it becomes a lot less fun.

In terms of campaign length, Eternal is fairly comparable to 2016, so you’re looking at about 15-18 hours to complete if you also want to scratch off all of the challenges and discover all of the collectibles. The maps are varied in terms of environmental design and thanks to the expanded movement options, now offer a basic, but fun range of platform style puzzles. You can now swing from bars to reach higher points and grip certain walls to climb. It is, admittedly, a little weird at first, but you soon get used to these new abilities as you traverse the maps and seek out the various secret areas.

There are a handful of boss fights in the game, although this is one area I was a little disappointed by. I really wanted a few more, including some mini-boss style encounters to help mix things up. The game relies very heavily on a repetitive rotation of demon spawns in later combat encounters, so you always know what’s coming next.

 

And that lack of surprise also extends to the maps in general which helpfully mark every combat arena before you’ve even encountered it – including the handful of boss fights. It seems a strange design decision to warn the player of every fight that’s coming. As a result, the game never really takes you by surprise and forces you to think fast to survive – you’ll always be prepared.

I don’t want to sound too nitpicky about Eternal because the game is, overall, pretty damn fantastic and one of the best shooters you’ll ever play. There were just these little annoying design choices that sadly hold the game back from being pretty much perfect. 

There’s a new Multiplayer component in Eternal, but I really have no interest in it, just as I had no interest in the pretty bad MP of Doom 2016. I guess they think it’s a way of keeping the game active and the player base engaged, but I can’t say I care for it. I am pretty interested in future single player expansions, though.

Overall, Doom Eternal is an absolute blast of a game and those few minor annoyances don’t detract too much from what is easily one of the best shooters you’ll play. Compared to 2016, I’d say Eternal is a more refined game with more variety to explore. The story delves more deeply into the lore of the slayer which is neat for those who care, but never intrusive for those who don’t. It’s a great sequel but you certainly don’t need to play 2016 to enjoy it. If you enjoy first person shooters, it’s a must buy.

9/10

Total War Saga: Troy: First Impressions

You got me, Tim Sweeney. A free Total War game at release? How could I resist? I signed up to the Epic Store and claimed my free copy of Total War Saga: Troy and I’m now ready to share my first – and possibly last – impressions.

I’d normally follow a First Impressions post with a review, but the problem is, I’m not sure I want to keep playing Troy, at least not in its current state. I’ve not yet completed a campaign and I’m not sure I want to. And it wouldn’t be fair to review Troy if I don’t complete at least one campaign.

I might return to it again in the future, if patches and updates address the issues I’m having but, honestly, with a new and exciting 3K DLC release on the horizon, I don’t see much reason to return to what is, unfortunately, an inferior experience. Notice I said ‘inferior’ and not ‘bad’ because I don’t consider what I’ve played of Troy to be bad. Well, aside from one important aspect that I’ll discuss later – but it’s an aspect that can be fixed with post-release support.

Visually, Troy looks great with what is one of the most gorgeous campaign maps we’ve ever had in a Total War game. It’s vibrant and alive and it captures the setting beautifully. The art and UI work is also perfect for the setting and does a fantastic job of immersing you within the period.

 

The battle maps are also among some of the best we’ve ever had, not only visually in terms of lighting and vegetation, but also in terrain variation. The maps remind me a lot of those in Total War: Arena, with plenty of natural choke points and elevated positions. Compared to Warhammer or 3K which predominately feature relatively ‘flat’ maps, Troy’s maps provide what should be a more tactical and engaging terrain to navigate and fight upon. I say ‘should’ because sadly, the combat of Troy is the ‘bad’ part of the game I was referring to earlier.

Unit variation is a problem. If you didn’t like 3K because of the similar unit types, then you really won’t like Troy. Troy is, by design, an infantry focused game given the setting. Range units (particularly skirmishers) still play an important role, but cavalry is nearly non-existent.

Chariots can be recruited, but I’ve never been a fan of chariots in TW and I can’t say I’m a fan of them here, even though it’s incredibly easy to cheese your way to victory with them due to the lack of proper collisions.

I don’t know what’s going on with the unit engagements in Troy but none of them feel right. 3K, admittedly, struggles a little with this too, at least in terms of infantry clashes. But cavalry and range in 3K are pretty much perfect. In fact, 3K probably has the best cavalry movement / impact in the TW series.

 

But Troy is all about infantry, and the infantry clashes feel incredibly weak. Charging units just kind of slide into each other without any sense of weight or impact. Infantry has three weight classes in Troy – Light, Medium and Heavy. But honestly, all this really means is – Medium beats Light and Heavy beats Medium. Heavy infantry really doesn’t cost that much to recruit or upkeep, so you’ll soon be rocking a full stack of entirely heavy infantry because there’s no reason to recruit the lighter and inferior weight classes.

Also, given how effective range can be against non-shielded units, there’s really no reason to use them at all. I mean, it’s not like you need a few non-shielded spearman to help protect your flanks / rear lines against cavalry because you’ll rarely see them on the field – and if you do, your range units will make short work of them anyway.

Playing Troy, I soon realised that all I really needed to win every battle was a lot of heavy, shielded infantry supported by some range. The AI, to give it some credit, tries to build its armies with a mixture of unit weight types, but there’s really no benefit to doing so. Heavy will always win, so why use less? 

The unit balance needs work, to say the least, as does the collision system. The good news is that these are things that can be fixed. But in its current state, I can’t say I enjoy the battles of Troy despite the lovely maps. The combat needs some serious work to bring it up to scratch with Warhammer and 3K.

The campaign side of the game, however, is in a pretty good state, although it clearly still needs some work and there’s also some . . . dated aspects to it that really started to annoy me. I’m talking, of course, about agents. Agent spam in Troy is a f**king nightmare as you progress through a campaign. Unlike heroes in Warhammer that serve a dual-role both on the battlefield and campaign, agents in Troy behave just as they did in older TW games – they can target and perform various actions on characters or settlements, or provide passive boosts to a local region or an army they’ve embedded into.

There are two types of agent in Troy – regular and epic. Epic agents only serve for a short period of time but can cause devastating effects – such as pretty much wiping out an entire city garrison prior to your siege. The regular agents are what you’d expect – priest, spy and diplomat types, but f**k me, there are way too many of them.

A big part of the campaign is gaining favour with the Gods, and that’s a pretty neat mechanic I suspect is being tested ahead of Warhammer 3. But gaining favour requires building more temples and temples let you recruit more priests. With every faction doing this the campaign map quickly becomes littered with priests roaming the map, targeting your settlements and characters en mass.

At one point I had four of the f**kers just following one of my armies around trying to block my movement every single turn. I know the idea is to counter these agents with your own, but it’s like playing a tedious, never ending game of whack-a-mole. Every time I get rid of one, two more pop up.

I’m so glad I’ll soon return to 3K where agents no longer exist and their role has been incorporated into new mechanics such as character assignments and the underrated spy system. I can tolerate agents / heroes in Warhammer because of the dual-role they serve and the unique skills (like magic) they possess. But Troy doesn’t have that and as a result, the way it uses agents feels dated and it just isn’t fun to engage with.

Another issue I have with the campaign is the size of the map. It might seem like a strange complaint but Troy is, or should be, really about the war between Troy and the Greeks. But because they’re so separated and consumed with fighting within their own territories, that ‘war’ never really sparks into life – at least it hasn’t in the campaigns I’ve tried. I guess you could argue that the war comes later once each side is more unified, but it’s a real slog to reach that point.

 

Diplomacy is also kind of annoying. I like the new barter system with the multiple resources but f**k me, does the AI just not stop coming to you with completely shit deals. Turn after turn they bother you with requests that make little to no sense. Also, it’s really not hard to acquire all the resources you need in a relatively short period of time by conquering your local regions, so you don’t really need to barter anyway.

And for a series which is supposed to be about experimentation, Troy doesn’t really experiment at all. The new ‘weight’ system doesn’t really do anything meaningful in terms of how units fight, move or interact. The bartering system is really just what we had in 3K but not really as interesting because it also doesn’t include weapons, horses or other unique character items. And for a game based around one of, if not the most famous siege in history, Troy does nothing new or interesting with sieges.

Compared to the previous Saga game – Thrones of Britannia – which felt like an expansion to Total War: Attila, I can at least say that Troy is a step up in a lot of ways. It feels like its own game with its own identity – not just a reskin of Warhammer / 3K. They’ve done a great job with the visual presentation, but the campaign and most importantly the battles need a lot of work and rebalancing.

I hope Troy gets the support and updates it needs because there is, potentially, a really good Total War experience here, but in its current state it’s just not something I can really enjoy and I just don’t want to waste more time playing it when I can go back to Warhammer 2 or 3K and enjoy far more engaging campaign and battle experiences. I might go back to Troy in the future and do a proper review. I might not. But I’ll keep it installed (for now) and keep an eye on how it progresses.

Now Playing: A New Frontier

A New Frontier is the third season of the Telltale Games Walking Dead series. It begins, thankfully, with the option to build a custom ‘choice’ backstory for Clementine based upon the key decisions of Seasons 1 and 2. I found this particularly useful considering I last played Season 2 in 2014 and no longer have my original save files. What surprised me though, once I actually started the game, is that you don’t (outside of a few flashback scenes) play as Clementine, but as a new character – Javier.

I guess that’s my fault for not actually reading the game description before I picked it up in the recent Steam Summer Sale. It was a surprise then, but I wouldn’t say a disappointing one – by the end of the game, I’d quite enjoyed my time with Javier, and I liked the way Clementine factored into his story, her character and your interactions with her shaped by those key choices in the previous games.

It does feel a little cheap, however, considering how varied the endings of Season 2 could be. A New Frontier does take those endings into consideration and presents the player with varying flashback scenes depending upon your choices, but it feels more like a quick way to tie those loose ends together and put Clementine back onto a single track.

But that’s not entirely unexpected. These games always have their limits when it comes to pushing their branching narratives. At some point, those loose threads have to be weaved back together. Like the previous Seasons, A New Frontier has a lot of ‘big’ choices that don’t really change anything at all – whatever option you pick, the outcome will always be the same.

What it does do well (and probably even better than what I remember of Season 2) is to give your minor choices more impact. These don’t dramatically change the direction of the core narrative, but they do shape your experience as you play and do result in various characters living or dying as a direct result of your actions. Ultimately, the story is always heading in the same direction, but the path you take to get there will feel unique and personal to you because of the choices you’ve made.

The story of A New Frontier revolves around Javier and his family. Like Clementine, he has several flashback scenes, establishing the key relationship between him and his brother. Overall, I liked Javier and the new characters introduced, but I was still more interested in what was happening with Clementine. The game was noticeably less interesting when she wasn’t around.

A New Frontier is also pretty short compared to previous Seasons. You can clear the game in about 5 hours, although that’s partly due to the developers pretty much dropping the ‘exploration’ aspect of gameplay entirely. There are some moments where you can guide Javier about the local environment and click on various items, but those are few and far between. The point and click ‘puzzle’ aspect really doesn’t exist here. You are, more or less, just playing through a visual novel.

Overall, A New Frontier was a fairly enjoyable story to play through and I was pleased by the scene variations based upon your choices – not only the choices you make here, but the choices you made in the previous seasons. I don’t think it’s as good as Season 1 or 2, but if you liked those and haven’t yet played this, then I’d say it’s still worth checking out on sale. I think I’ll also pick up the final season in the near future to see how Clementine’s story ends.

6/10