Let's Talk... XCOM: Enemy Within

XCOM: Enemy Unknown was an excellent success. A deep yet accessible re-invention of a classic  franchise. A game that served as an excellent introduction to a very specific kind of turn-based strategy whilst also offering a deep and rich experience that had the potential to be extremely difficult. Enemy Unknown's first major expansion introduces some key improvements that enrich the original formula whilst also adding an array of significant changes and updates that make it feel like a much richer game.

The biggest and most obvious change comes from the introduction of a new friendly unit: the MEC trooper. On top of the original four classes, soldiers can now undergo an irreversible "augmentation" process to become MEC troopers, badass human-robot hybrids with far more potential than your average soldier. The MEC trooper gains a small bonus that reflects their previous class, and, much like the regular classes in XCOM, MEC troopers get their own respective skill tree that offer various trade-offs, typically aimed towards improving either their defence or the offence.

The shiny new MEC trooper fighting the shiny new alien equivalent, the Mechtoid

MEC troopers can also be equipped with a number of powerful and wholly unique skills that make them stand out nicely from the rest of the classes. The ability, for example, to choose between an area-of-effect flamethrower, or a devastating punch attack that can cause immense damage to both the environment and any poor alien dumb enough to get in your way. The increased health pool and incredibly strong abilities make MEC troopers a force to be reckoned with, and with the potential to use a variety of different MEC suits in combat the MEC trooper is easily the most dynamic and versatile class of them all.

Further changes to the original formula include the addition of a renegade human faction, known as EXALT. EXALT is a (presumably crazy) pro-alien cult that seems to want to put a stop to those pesky XCOM folk and serve as generous benefactors to the alien invaders. Dealing with the EXALT threat isn't nearly as complex as dealing with the aliens, but it still involves carrying out a series of covert operations (which add a number of new mission types) and trying to discover EXALT's base of operations. The covert ops typically involve deploying a soldier for a few days and later carrying out a mission to recover both the soldier and their uncovered data. The introduction of non-alien enemies is certainly an interesting thing to add, and dealing with multiple threats simultaneously adds a tense new dynamic, one that makes managing the alien threat that much harder.

EXALT, the new pro-alien faction

Other major changes come in the form of two new enemy units: Mechtoids and Seekers. Mechtoids are, naturally, the alien equivalent of the MEC trooper (apparently both the humans and the aliens developed the technology for MEC suits at the exact same time?), and are basically the weak and fairly pathetic Sectoid creatures strapped into MEC suits. Mechtoids are, of course, considerably stronger than regular Sectoid enemies and serve as a fine match for your shiny new MEC troopers. They're a force to reckoned with and go hand-in-hand with the rest of the game's tougher, late-game foes, such as the Cyberdisc and Sectopod enemies. A fine addition to the alien army.

The other new unit, on the other hand, is the Seeker, an interesting unit that unfortunately doesn't seem to suit the rest of the alien's armada. The Seeker is a weak but stealth-oriented unit that will turn invisible on first sight. The Seeker will silently roam the battlefield waiting to pounce potential victims, disabling them and putting them into a strangulating hold that will slowly deal damage if not dealt with. Thankfully, Seekers are incredibly weak and can be killed immediately once they reveal themselves, the only problem is waiting for them to do so. Sure, it's possible to de-cloak Seekers using certain items or by having particular upgrades, but the easiest way to deal with Seekers is simply to put everyone on overwatch until one appears and watch it get subsequently smoked. And that's pretty tedious to deal with. It's certainly an interesting concept, and one that punishes otherwise untouched isolated units, but it feels very much at odds with the very aggressive, in-your-face behaviour that other alien units display, and can be a little frustrating to deal with.

Further changes still include a new resource to gather during missions, MELD, which can be spent on MEC-related upgrades, as well as a variety of new types of upgrades. MELD adds a sort of urgency to every mission you take that simply wasn't there in the original game. Since MELD canisters are on a timer before expiring, they must be collected with a certain degree of haste, adding an extra layer of tension to every mission. The upgrades come in the form of genetic implants and can hone and improve a wide array of areas, from the ability to jump incredibly high to simple improvements to a soldier's aim and crit chance. On top of these genetic upgrades, Enemy Within introduces a series of attainable medals that can be given to soldiers in order to lightly improve various stats and skills. 

The new genetic implants soldiers can get, all of which cost MELD, the new resource

These options add an extra layer of complexity and depth that allow soldiers to become immensely powerful in a number of unique ways, rather than simply doing a lot of damage or having a large health pool.The introduction of new and more dynamic ways to improve your soldiers allows for much deeper customisation, further than simply their equipment and fairly static skill tree choices, and completely changes the "best" way to build certain classes. Other changes Enemy Within brings include new maps and new mission types to make even the content of the original game more interesting and less repetitive.

Ultimately, Enemy Within is a rich and deep expansion that adds much to the original game without losing that made Enemy Unknown such an excellent game. Although not all the changes are well-executed, the vast majority of the changes and improvements are interesting and unique and serve as smart additions to the original game's formula. Enemy Within is a fine example of how to make a great game better with just a few smart and well-implemented changes.

The reasons for FIFA's immense success

FIFA is one of gaming's longest running and best-selling series, running annually for over 20 years and boasting lifetime sales of over 100 million. The FIFA series also enjoys being the flagship video game series for the world's most popular sport, football, or "soccer" if you're so inclined. There a number of reasons why the FIFA games continue to celebrate such immense success, such as the fact that FIFA as an organisation is an extremely well-known household name, or the fact that FIFA owns the rights to use hundreds of real teams and thousands of well-known players. 

The most important reason for its on-going success, however, is simply that EA has completely cornered the market on football games. Other series have come and gone, and other developers and publishers have tried and failed to make a lasting impression on video game football. Series such as Sensible Soccer or Winning Eleven are prime examples of this, series that simply disappear into obscurity after failing to compete. Even FIFA's prime competitor, Pro Evolution Soccer (PES), struggles to remain truly competitive with football's gaming juggernaut.

For over 20 years, and especially in recent years, FIFA has built up its reputation of being the football game. The most authentic, the best-looking, the most successful. FIFA is extremely successful not just because its a great football series, but because they're also good games in a much more general sense. They play well, their systems are accessible and easy to understand, and they can be enjoyed without any prerequisite interest in football. You only have to have a loose grasp on the rules of football to play and enjoy FIFA games.

Another reason for FIFA's incredible success is that the games are inherently social, making them extremely easy to enjoy with a small group of friends, whether local or online. Their various systems and game modes make it extremely easy for multiple people to play at any one time, and the quick and easy way in which a flexible tournament can be set up further facilitates this social element. 

Furthermore, the fairly recent "Ultimate Team" system also creates an element that is both competitive and social in nature. Effectively a virtual trading card mini-game, the Ultimate Team system allows players to buy, trade and flaunt their player cards, which can be organised into customisable teams. Each card has varying degrees of rarity, and naturally each player has their own unique strengths and weaknesses. The Ultimate Team has very cleverly created an on-going economy that can be transferred between games, meaning that when FIFA 15 was released you could easily transfer your personal "FIFA points" from FIFA 14. This system of continuity between games gives players an extra reason to remain loyal to the FIFA series, beyond simply brand loyalty or purchasing habit.

These are just some of the varying reasons why EA and the FIFA series has experienced, and continues to experience, such remarkable success, and why it holds its place as the go-to football video game series. The odds of FIFA ever losing its place as the king of football games to a competing football franchise seem extremely slim at this point. FIFA's formula for updating and releasing new iterations is far too robust to ever really fail: minor gameplay tweaks, improved visuals and updated rosters. All players really want from their football series, and FIFA nails it rather impeccably.

Let's Talk... Middle Earth: Shadow of Mordor

Comparisons to the various systems of Assassin's Creed, Far Cry, and the Batman: Arkham games are extremely apt when describing Shadow of Mordor's core mechanics. The movement and parkour-like traversal are essentially identical to that of Assassin's Creed, only tighter and more responsive. Elements of exploration and a number of stealth systems feel very reminiscent of the Far Cry games. The combat is quite literally taken from an Arkham game. And yet, even though so many of SoM's core systems are so blatantly cut from major franchises, Shadow of Mordor still manages to feel wholly unique in its execution, due mostly to its truly remarkable "Nemesis system". A system that feels so concisely designed and so smartly implemented, the nemesis system adds so much to every moment of the game.

The narrative arc follows protagonist Talion on his journey to avenge his family, who were slain by the Black Hand of Sauron, and discover the past of Celebrimbor, the spirit of an elf living inside him. Talion seeks to simultaneously cure himself of the curse of immortality, which afflicted him after he was killed alongside his family. The story in Shadow of Mordor is well-written and well-acted, and the character of Talion is concisely and effectively humanized thanks in large part to Troy Baker's excellent voice-work and emotive mo-cap
performance. However, parts of the narrative feel a little tonally confused, whilst others just feel disjointed and unnecessary. 

Troy Baker's motion-capture performance really helps to bring Talion to life, concisely and emotively

The story attempts to blend appeal to the wider Lord of the Rings audience (i.e. people who watched the films) with deep lore callbacks that only Lords of the Rings fans who read beyond the books would appreciate. For example, one of the main characters in the story is the aforementioned Celebrimbor, a key figure in the LotR lore, but not a character that appears in any of the movies. The deep fiction cuts are well-executed and handled rather gracefully. The parts that are trying to appeal to the wider audience, however, are clumsy and feel very fan-servicey in a way that's very much at odds with the rest of the game's tone. Things like Gollum appearing for a couple of missions for no real reason, for example, feel poorly executed and wholly unnecessary. The story is well-done but perhaps a little thin, the real draw should be the game's variety robust and extremely effective systems.

The game's combat, for example, will feel immediately familiar to anyone that's played any of the Batman: Arkham games. You can dodge, you can counter, you can vault over enemies. Racking up and maintaining chains of uninterrupted hits allows you to pull off numerous special moves. It's impossible to deny that the combat in Shadow of Mordor is that of the Arkham games, but that's certainly not a bad thing. The Arkham combat is some of the best melee combat done in a long time, and to see another game replicate it so effectively and maintain the impressive fluidity and satisfying responsiveness is most certainly not a problem. Of course, there are elements of SoM's combat that are unique and novel. Enemies can be grabbed, interrogated for information on other Orc captains, or even be converted to fight on your side. Although the basic feel of the combat is in no way unique, these various elements add a lot to the combat, especially later on when converting multiple Orcs into allies is extremely necessary, and taking advantage of a captain's weaknesses is crucial. 

An example of a captain's combination of strengths and weaknesses, along with noticeable scars caused by previous encounters with the player

Early on, the game is rather forgiving with the combat, offering generous timing on counters and allowing you to cancel an attack to counter another enemy. However, it's extremely easy to get overwhelmed by the huge number of enemies that can appear, and higher rankings captains and warchiefs (the highest rank) can be extremely tough to take down. Especially once their various strengths and resistances (invulnerability to ranged attacks, for example) begin to stack up. A major part of dealing with captains and warchiefs is adequate preparation, which mainly takes the form of intel you can gather from various sources. This information informs you of a captain's numerous strengths and weakness, fears and loathings, as well as their location, power level, rank etc. 

Preparation for such fights is when the nemesis system really shows its fantastic design and impressive variation. Every encounter with a captain or warchief is different from the last. One captain might have a fear of betrayal, and so converting one of his minions might cause him to flee. Another might hate Caragors (large, warg-like beasts) and the very sight of one will send him into a frenzy, making him even harder to kill. In some instances, a captain or warchief might flee and get demoted, or they may actually kill you and grow stronger and get promoted as a consequence. It's the unique combination of strengths and weaknesses that every captain seems to have, and the impressive volume of factors that can affect a captain's behaviour that make the nemesis system work so well. The elegant and dynamic design and its volatile and completely unscripted results are what give it such a profound impact on every aspect of the game. Every side mission you take, every encounter you have with a captain, every victory and every defeat. It all feeds into the ongoing, and potentially endless, meta-game that the nemesis system sets up. A meta-game that is, in many ways, far more interesting than some of the game's somewhat stale and repetitive story missions.

A visual representation of the game's nemesis system

Alongside the fluid combat, the game also features a robust and fairly forgiving stealth system. It's nothing revolutionary, and may even feel a little too basic for those expecting more intelligent AI or more complex systems, but it works pretty well and the variety of visceral stealth takedowns are endlessly satisfying. Enemies will follow the fairly typical phases of alertness: unaware, searching, and fully alert. Furthermore, the game features the Splinter Cell "last-known position" mechanic, which gives a visual display of where the enemy thinks you are. The game also does a great job of giving you incredible mobility for getting around the reasonably-sized map, between the huge burst of speed you get after vaulting over an object and the ability to teleport straight to a target, alongside fast travel options available after activating various watchtowers. The incredible mobility perfectly compliments the fast and fluid feel of the combat, and really adds to the constantly reinforced idea that you're just a total badass.

Ultimately, Shadow of Mordor relies on admittedly well-established systems and mechanics to deliver on an excellently designed and extremely unique idea. An idea that improves on every aspect of the game, good or bad, with its sheer prevalence and the constant, on-going meta-game that it establishes. The nemesis system easily elevates Shadow of Mordor from a solid-but-unoriginal open world game into a unique, well-executed and extremely dynamic adventure that is one of this year's strongest titles.

KotOR's successes as a video game and as extended fiction

Knights of the Old Republic is undoubtedly an RPG classic, and even a decade later still remains a hallmark example of how to successfully combine interesting and unique narrative elements with compelling gameplay systems. A game that seamlessly blends a huge variety of deep and well-written characters with a complex, yet accessibly presented, combat system, KotOR attempts many things and excels at them all. In many ways, KotOR is arguably Bioware's strongest game to date.

KotOR takes Bioware's party-based systems and DnD ruleset and influences from their previous games (Baldur's Gate and Baldur's gate 2) and implements them into a well-realised 3D environment. Even now, KotOR stands as Bioware's most well-balanced game. Perfectly balancing excellent world-building, interesting characters, and a compelling narrative packed full of exciting twists with a combat system that manages to juggle being faithful to its DnD roots with being extremely accessible to players unfamiliar with complex and somewhat intimidating ruleset. Whilst Bioware's later games (with the exception of perhaps Dragon Age: Origins) evolved and improved Bioware's solid foundation for storytelling and character-building, they tended to lack depth in the gameplay department. Later entries in the Mass Effect series provide the best examples of this. Mass Effect 2 and 3 are highly esteemed games with extremely tight narrative elements that were backed up by simplified (albeit satisfying) combat. KotOR's combat does a great job of appearing simple in its presentation whilst simultaneously featuring impressive depth for those who wish to engage in it. 

Although DnD by nature, the combat system in KotOR could easily be understood and appreciated by someone who has little-to-no experience with its various complexities. A combat system that also quite smartly hides its turn-based roots behind a visual presentation that give it the appearance of being real-time, whilst allowing the player to freely move around during combat, as to deceptively give the impression that the player is not just simply picking options from a menu.

KotOR isn't just a fantastic RPG, however. KotOR is also regarded as one of, if not the, best Star Wars games of all time (and there have been hundreds). Star Wars is obviously a huge brand name, and a pretty old one at that. Whilst there have been dozens of real clunkers over the years, there have still been some really great games, too, and so for a game to be held as one of the greatest of all time is pretty high praise indeed. What makes KotOR stand out the most as a Star Wars game, however, (besides its exceptional quality) is that it is based on fiction entirely unrelated to any of the films. Although numerous planets from the films make appearances, not a single character from the original trilogy makes an appearance in the game. A game that uses one of the most well-known properties in the history of film and doesn't require a requisite amount of nostalgia or affection for the films themselves deserves extremely high praise. That inherent lack of reliance on the successes of its overshadowing brand name, and the sheer originality and creativity in both its execution and presentation is something that other pieces of adapted fiction (video game or otherwise) would do well to learn from.

Let's Talk... Metro 2033 Redux

Metro 2033 was a rather unfortunate game: an atmospheric shooter wrapped in superb visuals that told an engaging story but suffered from clunky shooting and some extremely rough edges. Thankfully, by fixing a lot of the game's biggest flaws, the Redux version finally offers a version of Metro 2033 that feels modern and polished in ways that the original never did. With its major graphical update and thorough improvement of various gameplay systems, it's clear that 2033 Redux is the game that 4A Games originally tried to make.

For those who are coming to Metro 2033 for the first time, Metro 2033 is a story based on a novel of the same name by Russian author Dmitry Glukhovsky, and is set decades after a nuclear war devastated the entire planet. The world is now inhabited by hordes of mutated monsters, legions of flying demons, and the scattered remains of humanity, who have taken residence in the deep, dark underground of Moscow's vast metro tunnels. The game's story follows protagonist Artyom on his journey to defeat the demons, known as the Dark Ones, that have been plaguing his home station and other civilizations throughout the metro. Eventually, Artyom is told the location of a mysterious bunker known as D6, which is fabled to house missiles to destroy the Dark Ones, but not before a number of nasty encounters with some of the Metro's warring factions: the Nazis and the Communists.

The story remains largely the same in the Redux version, although some areas have been tightened up and a couple of story beats tie together a little more seamlessly (for example, in a number of places, what was once an abrupt loading screen to connect two areas has been replaced by a short gameplay sequence that dynamically ties the two areas together). Moreover, the game's animations have had a major overhaul and are now dramatically better than they were in the original game, and many of the game's cutscenes have been re-done to take place in the first-person and never leave Artyom's perspective.

Cutscenes and animations aren't the only thing that have been redone, however. The redux version boasts vastly improved lighting effects, particle effects, improved character models, and some beautiful environments. The console versions run at a much-improved 60 frames-per-second, which is a huge improvement considering the console versions of the original game struggled to maintain 30. On top of graphical tweaks, the game's user interface has been changed to match that of Metro: Last Light, streamlining it in some major ways. Furthermore, the poor and heavily criticized AI of the original game has undergone some major improvements, but they're still far from perfect and can be pretty easy to exploit. Finally, the game now offers two separate difficulty modes on top of the traditional difficulty settings. "Spartan" mode offers a faster, more action-oriented approach, allowing you to take more damage before going down and making ammo far easier to accumulate. "Survival" mode, on the other hand, offers an experience more akin to the original, much more deliberate survival-horror, where stealth is less forgiving and maintaining a healthy supply of ammo is an actual concern. 

Although the various visual overhauls are the most obvious improvement that comes with Metro 2033 Redux, the game's most important changes come in the form of numerous and significant gameplay tweaks. 2033 Redux effectively takes a lot of what Metro: Last Light (Metro 2033's 2013 sequel) did so well and puts them into Metro 2033. The shooting feels a lot more responsive and much more satisfying, the controls have been tightened up, and some of the game's more survival-oriented mechanics (such as replacing dirty air filters on your gas mask when they get clogged up with filth) have been streamlined in some smart ways to allow, if you so choose, for you to completely ignore them. The game's stealth mechanics have been massively improved, too, with the addition of Last Light's lethal and non-lethal stealth takedowns, which helps to make the silent approach quicker and much more elegant. Other elements taken from Last Light include systems for customizing your arsenal with various scopes and silencers, and the ability to wipe the blood off your mask for when things get a little too hectic. Metro 2033 Redux ultimately does a great job of making the two Metro games feel like a much more cohesive whole.

The Redux version makes some extremely smart changes to a unique yet flawed game that allow it to feel truly modern and vastly superior than its original form. The seamless and unobtrusive way in which it implements some of its bigger additions allow it to uncompromisingly maintain the things that the original Metro 2033 did do so effectively, such as the unnerving atmosphere and effective world-building. Ultimately, the Redux release of Metro 2033 is far more than a simple HD re-release, and makes enough smart and substantial changes to make it well-worth seeing, whether you've played it before or not.

Let's Talk... Shovel Knight

It would hardly be controversial to say that retro-inspired indie platformers, with their 8/16 bit style and punishing sensibilities designed to invoke feelings of nostalgia, have become something of an over-saturated template for independent games in recent years. The novelty of "hey, remember what games used to be like?" is hardly enough to carry a game these days. Thankfully, Shovel Knight's extremely tight controls and varied and meaningfully unique level design allow it to easily stand out as more than just another pixel platformer, and prevents it from feeling like yet more more shallow exploitation of your memories of old games.

The game's rather pretty 8 bit art style

Naturally, the most noticeable part of Shovel Knight is its gorgeous 8 bit art style, which the developers claim to be as close as possible to something you'd actually see running on an NES. (Obviously, that's something of an exaggeration since it is running at a much higher resolution with much higher sound fidelity and the likes) Nonetheless, Shovel Knight's visual and audio design is certainly well-done and is a large part of what gives the game a lot of its charm, and although this kind of style isn't particularly unique, or even especially interesting, anymore, the level of quality and dedication to the look and feel makes it a lot more respectable than most games that attempt this style. The aesthetic of Shovel Knight serves as a great reminder that, when done well, this style can still be extremely charming, no matter how over-used it may have become.

Now, you obviously can't have an 8 bit-styled platformer without including various elements of 8 bit game design, no matter how frustrating or out-dated they may feel in this day and age. Some of these design choices, such as being knocked back everytime you get hit, feel somewhat intrusive and a little bit forced (in that these games don't include such mechanics because they're fun or challenging, but simply because they were in old games and so we're going to use it just to keep it loyal to what you remember), whilst others, such as the inclusion of the classic NES Megaman thing of enemies only appearing once the next screen has fully transitioned, feel like a fun and charming thing to include into a game that obviously doesn't need to do that for the same technical reasons. For the most part, Shovel Knight does a good job of balancing mechanics and features that make you remember that, despite what your memories keep telling you, old games were actually kind of clunky and frustrating, with elements of smart design that remind you of the numerous minor design choices that gave a lot of old games their weird charms.

An example of one of the game's later, more complex stages

Despite the games many clear inspirations, the actual core gameplay is most reminiscent of the original Megaman games. You move through relatively long levels based around a certain theme (which include things like a water level, an air level, an underground level etc.) and make your way through various level-relevant enemies to eventually reach the boss at the end of each stage. Unlike Megaman, you don't earn special weapons defeating bosses, but you are, however, constantly accumulating treasure throughout levels which can be spent on health upgrades, mana upgrades, and unlocking more spells and abilities (which range from fireballs to temporary invincibility, all of which costs mana to use)..Along the way, you'll be able to purchase a number of more specific suit upgrades that offer more powerful abilities like being able to unleash a stronger charged-up attack, or your next attack causing more damage after performing two consecutive bounce attacks (much like the one in the Ducktales' games). These upgrades and extra abilities offer some nice incentive to keep going and generally offer enough variety to remain interesting through the game's 5-6 hour length.

Ultimately, Shovel Knight is an excellent execution of a game that is both respectful and smart with the way it manipulates nostalgia for games from the NES era, whilst also offering enough unique hooks and tight gameplay that looks great and plays well. Even if you've grown tired of games that go for the same old nostalgic hooks, Shovel Knight is still well worth checking out, and actually manages to be fun even without any of the requisite nostalgia and fond memories of the games of old.

Let's Talk... Sniper Elite 3

Sniper Elite 3 is something of a rather strange game. Whilst respectfully adhering to its classic roots as a rather hardcore sniping sim, the game also manages to be a very modern-feeling and well-designed stealth game with satisfying sniping action and a hilariously over-the-top and brutally gruesome anatomy-rupturing bullet cam layered on top. The clever design and major differences of the various difficulty options (higher difficulty settings include things like bullet drop and wind speed, as well as other complex sniping considerations, whilst lower settings completely disregard such things) allow Sniper Elite to quite effectively be two very different games without one really interfering with the other. 

The choice between these two styles of play becomes very apparent in the game's level design, with the game frequently offering you the choice between sneaking around all stealthy-like dropping Nazis with a silenced pistol, and just going completely snipers-blazing. The game offers numerous (sometimes rather arbitrary) ways to snipe without being detected, namely through frequent use of Enemy at the Gates-inspired "shoot during the loud noises" moments set-up by loud engines or planes flying overhead. This most certainly offers you the chance to clear entire missions using nothing but a sniper and still manage to completely avoid sticky situations, but only if you have the patience, precision and impeccable timing to not screw up (although the game has a quick save function, so you could conceivably just re-load everytime you screwed up). Realistically, though, at least for most people, the reality of trying to play the game as a straight up sniping-action game is a little unlikely, and you're far more likely to end up playing the majority of the game as a stealth game.

The game looks great, and the UI is effective at communicating some key stealth-related information

One of the most effective ways that Sniper Elite manages to maintain its freedom of play style is through its surprisingly open and free-wheeling level design that frequently offers multiple paths and numerous ways to complete certain objectives. A lot of the openness of the design is a little more subtle than simply offering multiple paths to, say, infiltrate a hostile area, however. Some objectives may give you vague commands to destroy a patrolling tank, for example, without explicitly telling you how to (or just pointing you towards the nearest panzerschreck) and thus forcing you to figure out a way to somehow lure the tank into a makeshift trap created with your mix of explosives, guns and other tools. Although their are always a set of strict objectives that must be completed, the free nature of how to approach such objectives, as well as the way in which exploration is rewarded by opening up opportunities for optional objectives is well-done and completing objectives in your own way can be extremely satisfying. 

Fortunately for the players too impatient or otherwise too unskilled to play the game as the hardcore sniping sim it very much could be, the game's stealth is both satisfying and effectively designed to avoid frustration. Taking a page out of Splinter Cell's more recent books, the game employs the extremely effect "last known location" trick to ensure that the stealth is as transparent, yet fun, as possible. This mechanic will show a ghostly image of your character in the exact position that the enemy last saw him before he dropped out of their line of sight and will cause them to eventually investigate that area, allowing the player to slip away undetected. Although perhaps making the stealth a little too easy for some of the more hardcore fans of classic stealth gameplay, its nonetheless a mechanic that effectively communicates to the player information that might not be so readily obvious, and it fits in nicely with the game's sniping motif since it allows you to set up in a new position with a good view of your last known location. Naturally, Sniper Elite falls into the trap that a lot of stealth games fall into, which is the tedium and frustration of the very inherent trial-and-error nature of stealth as a concept, something which both the quick save function and the last known location mechanic alleviate that problem quite well.

Perhaps one of the most identifiable features of the series' more recent games is its wonderfully grotesque and almost frighteningly detailed bullet-cam. Upon scoring a kill with a sniper rifle, the game world freezes as the camera zooms into a cinematic perspective of the bullet soaring towards its target and subsequently rupturing whatever bone, organ or limb it hits. The absurdity of the whole thing makes it both hilarious and shocking everytime, and the dynamic destructibility of the entire human anatomy gives it a much longer lasting appeal than you might think. Furthermore, the relatively short single-player campaign is just about short enough for the bullet cams to still be novel and entertaining right to the end, your thirst for ridiculous violence may dictate your tolerance on future playthroughs, however. The bullet cam is a lot of what gives Sniper Elite 3 its uniqueness and personality, and although the option to turn them off completely is available to you, the game would just be a solid stealth game with some much less satisfying sniping action without it.   

That guy's skull just f'ing exploded!

The game looks great and runs really well (on PC, at least; the console versions naturally don't look quite as nice but still run pretty well) and everything about it feels really well-made. The controls feel solid and the aiming is as precise as you'd want it be (playing with a mouse and keyboard is a lot more precise, if possible). I ran into a number of small bugs with the scripting, where AI that needed escorted took a while to start moving again, for example, and there were a couple of instances where the AI (which is usually pretty solid but not exactly amazing) had some minor line of sight detection issues, but I never stumbled upon anything completely game-breaking.

Ultimately, Sniper Elite 3 is a somewhat mixed bag that offers a number of radically different ways to play it, all of which feel like totally valid and effective approaches in their own right. Some satisfying sniping action is accompanied with a hilariously brutal bullet cam that could easily be an educational tool for learning about the human anatomy, and the ways in which it reacts to being penetrated by a bullet. Sniper Elite 3 does a great job of being exactly what the title suggests, and also offering a well-made experience for anyone who isn't an insane sniping fanatic.

Let's Talk... Transistor

2011's Bastion was a huge hit that was both a critically and commercially successful debut for the newly-formed studio Supergiant Games, which meant that Supergiant Games' next game had a lot to live up to from a narrative, gameplay and presentation standpoint. Thankfully, Transistor manages to stand out as a fresh and exciting game that easily stands alone from Bastion but still feels very familiar to anyone who played Bastion. Transistor maintains the same level of extraordinary visual  presentation and thoughtful, ambiguous storytelling, and offers an attempt at seamlessly blending real-time action and dynamic turn-based combat that is unique and interesting but may be somewhat frustrating to some. 

The story of Transistor follows the plight of Red, the game's protagonist, who had her voice and implied love interest taken away from her by The Camerata, a small group of powerful, administrative officials implied to be similar to a governmental body. The Camerata unleashed a robotic army known as the "Process" into the city of Cloudbank, where the game takes place, to do their bidding and effectively act as, presumably, some kind of security force or law enforcers for the city. For reasons unknown, the Process go seemingly berserk and begin tearing apart the city as they appear to gain their own free-will in some way. Leaving Red and her sidekick/weapon referred to only as the "Transistor", the bad-ass greatsword-like weapon that has assumed the essence of a man heavily implied to be Red's love interest (he's never given a real name). The voice of the Transistor acts as a kind of real-time narrator, commenting on things as they happen and frequently weighing in on the situation, making him feel similar to the narrator in Bastion but not exactly the same, since the narrator in Bastion was telling the story retrospectively rather than as it unfolds.

The game's protagonist Red and her sword/companion, a talking sword referred to only as the Transistor, also an example of the game's fantastic art

Unlike Bastion, however, you should immediately disregard any plans to play Transistor as the fast-paced action game it may appear to be. Since the game's "Turn" system, a quasi-turn-based mechanic that you're heavily encouraged to use, combined with the speed at which enemies attack and  drawn-out length of your attack animations, makes playing Transistor as a real-time action game both highly undesirable and significantly harder. By effectively pausing the game world and freezing all enemies in place, the Turn system allows you to stop and form a plan of attack before quickly queueing up a set of movement and ability commands. You are limited to a small number of commands per each Turn (your abilities cost varying amounts and movement slowly drains the indicating bar), and are forced to wait a short period before using it again. During which time you cannot execute any abilities and are simply left to, somewhat frustratingly, run around like a headless chicken until Turn comes off cooldown. The Turn system and the explicit ineffectiveness of real-time combat sets up an unusual rhythm to the combat that is, strangely, very similar to a pseudo-turn-based game in the vein of XCOM, since when your combat meter is full it is your "turn" to attack and when it is depleted it is the enemies' "turn" to attack. However, calling the combat in Transistor "turn-based" is fairly reductive since you can still run around and dodge and avoid enemy projectiles during the enemies' "turn". Your appreciation of the Turn system ultimately depends on how much you like the idea of constantly, and very quickly, jumping between being in complete control to being an extremely vulnerable target just trying not to die before your next big move.

An example of a typical combat scenario

Regardless of whether you enjoy the occasionally frustrating combat system, it's impossible to deny the sheer volume of abilities and insane number of combinations, combat set-ups and ability mix-and-matching the game allows you to do. With over a dozen different abilities (referred to as Functions), four slots for passive abilities and four slots for active abilities (all of which have two extra slots for upgrades and added effects unique to each Function). An example of the customisation would be that there's a Function that allows you to summon a weird-looking cyber-dog to fight with you which can be upgraded, when combined with the right Function, to summon two dogs with 25% reduced damage instead of one. Add another of the right Function and you can summon two dogs with reduced damage but add another Function that increases all damage done by 25% to create two dogs with no damage reduction... And so on. Naturally, the sheer volume of combinations and customisation available prevent the combat from ever getting stale, and the frequency at which you can change your abilities around mean that you could potentially make every single combat encounter different from the last. Furthermore, the game allows you to increase the difficulty of the game in a number of interesting ways that make an nice change from the extremely arbitrary ways in which most games increase and alter difficulty. These "limiters" allow you bend and distort various values and behaviours of both enemies and yourself, ranging from simply doubling the damage of all enemies to giving enemies a chance to multiply upon death.

One of Transistor's biggest strengths is its amazing presentation throughout, with its beautiful art style, wonderful art direction and simply wonderful soundtrack, coupled with the stunning fluidity of the animations combined make Transistor an immediate eye-catcher. Furthermore, the game's excellent soundtrack and solid voice work from Bastion's Logan Cummingham (the voice of Rucks, Bastion's narrator), which is different enough from his performance in Bastion to not feel recycled and unoriginal. Transistor oozes so much style, from its presentation to its incredible art, that one could potentially enjoy their time with the game even the game's combat and story didn't do anything for them. 

The game's hugely customisable Functions system, allowing you to create potentially hundreds of combinations 

Ultimately, the game's wonderful presentation and interesting story easily make up some of the misgivings I had about the occasionally frustrating combat. Although a game that certainly feels familiar to anyone who played Bastion, Transistor easily feels fresh and original enough to feel like a new set of ideas and is different enough that those who didn't appreciate Bastion or couldn't get past a few things should definitely consider giving a Transistor a try.

Let's Talk... A Story About my Uncle

1st-person platforming is an idea that's been tried a number of times but never really been done right. Naturally, a side-scrolling or behind-the-shoulder perspective makes spatial awareness and navigation much easier in a 3d environment. Thankfully, A Story About my Uncle makes it both exciting and easy to handle by making some smart concessions to the platforming formula and adding layers of grapple hook-esque mechanics. The tight controls and easy-to-use setup makes A Story About my Uncle's unique blend work excellently.

Unfortunately, however, the game seems to think that it needs to have some kind of story to contextualise the world and the grapple mechanics, and so, for some reason, opts to have a bad and uninteresting story rather than simply not having a story at all. It feels extremely weak, poorly fleshed out and, frankly, completely unnecessary, especially in a game where the core mechanics are easily novel and interesting enough to make up for a lack of narrative. The story essentially is as follows: you are retrospectively telling a story to your daughter about a time when you went searching for your uncle (it is quite a literally a story about your uncle). The writing is clunky, the voice acting is kinda terrible, and the story mode ends before anything remotely interesting happens. Although it doesn't completely ruin the story mode but it certainly slows the game's fast and fluid pace with its frequent, though never particularly lengthy, storytelling moments, which usually just consist of listening to some people talk for a few minutes.  

The game's grapple device, and an example of the game's excellent environment design

However dull the story may be for the most part, the game's novel and unique platforming mechanics: a grapple hook that allows you to fluidly swing through the world. Starting with only one available swing per jump, you eventually build up the capability to swing three times before having to land and recharge (recharging your swings happens instantly when you land on a solid surface). Although 1st-person platforming has always been a pretty awkward thing, A Story about my Uncle manages to make it feel both natural and smooth, with the game's large, open environments feeling very suited to the way the platforming feels. On top of being able to swing, you can charge up your jump to increase the height of your jump, a mechanic that is hugely integral to some of the game's platforming puzzles. Furthermore, as you progress you eventually come across a pair of rocket boots that allow you to boost forward a significant distance in whatever direction you're looking in. It's another neat gimmick that really sets the stage for some rather complex manoeuvres, especially in some of the game's later puzzles. When all the different platforming mechanics come together and are used skillfully it feels extremely tight and making complicated jumps feels highly satisfying.

Despite having some novel core mechanics, the value of the game really depends on how much you're willing to dive into the game's time trial modes that unlock as you finish each respective level. The story mode lasts a couple of hours and there are approximately half a dozen levels to replay in the time trial modes, which, naturally, has you replay each level in an attempt to beat the game's set times for bronze, silver and gold medals. The story mode is a pretty linear endeavour, but the excellent environmental design and art direction make many of the game's larger set pieces well worth seeing, although the time trial mode allows you to experience many of the game's levels without having to sit through the rather tedious story elements of the story mode.

Although certainly more than just a simple gimmick, the grappling mechanics of A Story About my Uncle feel more like an impressive proof-of-concept for a larger, thicker and much more complex set of mechanics and future title. The story mode feels like an unfortunate and unnecessary inclusion, but thankfully the forced story beats are short enough to be easily ignored. Ultimately, it's an interesting, unique and well-executed platformer that's well worth checking if the idea of 1st-person platforming done right sounds appealing to you, even if it is a little thin on fresh content.

Let's Talk... Watch Dogs

Watch Dogs is a game that has been plagued by a lengthy and strenuous development cycle, with a development lasting five long years. Naturally, when a game has this much history and hype and then is quite abruptly delayed numerous times, the expectation and anticipation of the what the game should and is going to be can often cause its eventual release to be shrouded in disappointment. For a lot people that'll be one of their biggest gripes with Watch Dogs: it simply isn't the innovative, "next-gen" experience people were hoping for. What it is, however, is a solid and highly enjoyable open world sandbox with a gripping story and some cool little gimmicks.

The story of Watch Dogs opens with hacking superstar Aiden Pearce losing his niece in a fatal car crash in which he was the intended victim. Hungry for revenge and blaming himself for the incident, Aiden seeks to find the men responsible and avenge Lena Pearce's death. Naturally, this puts him the crosshairs of some very bad people and very quickly makes him the notorious vigilante of Chicago (where the whole game takes place). The revenge tale set-up is a decent premise, although it certainly feels very familiar, but the game's narrative very quickly evolves into a spy-action thriller that is way more exciting and a lot more interesting. Although the ending leaves a lot to be desired and some parts of the story feel a little disconnected from one another, the story is generally sound and manages to be fun enough to remain appealing towards the end.

Typical of Ubisoft's style, Watch Dogs features a number of really great characters, including a twisted mob boss, the aspiring and extremely dangerous leader of a dominant gang, and a paranoid, untrusting, anti-government type hiding from the authorities. The problem with these characters, however, is simply that they just don't do enough with them. Each of these great characters has one or two really amazing moments of their own, but that's almost all you'll see of them. Much like how Far Cry 3 set up Vaas as this fantastic, spine-chillingly evil villain who had a couple of truly incredible moments but still had a lot of potential that felt wasted by the end wasted, the most interesting characters in Watch Dogs feel woefully under-utilised, relegated to their spotlight moment before being put to one side for the larger story to take place.
Furthermore, although the game features a number of excellent characters, the main character, Aiden Pearce, is an extremely dull and rote character whose motives feel somewhat questionable and whose supposedly altruistic actions feel ultimately selfish, making his quest for revenge a little hard to empathise with.

The game's profiler system in action

As far as gameplay is concerned, Watch Dogs is a very standard city-based sandbox, the likes of which you're likely very familiar with by now. You drive cars, you shoot guns, you take on side missions with a disappointing lack of variety, and you'll probably unintentionally run over dozens of innocent civilians along the way. The one thing that Watch Dogs uses to try to set itself apart from the competition, however, is its constant use of hacking mechanics. Hacking is all done through Aiden's seemingly magical super-phone, which allows him to tap into almost anything in the city and gain some sort of benefit from it. Hacking is very much the supporting tool of your arsenal, aiding your endeavours rather than actually leading them. Evading the police or taking down a gang hideout, for example, can be made significantly easier through clever use of your environment (such as hacking road blockers in order to stop pursuing vehicles, or hacking something to create makeshift cover in a firefight) but very rarely can you do something exclusively through use of hacking and nothing else. Conversely, however, in a lot of cases, it's more than possible to get things done without any use of hacking (though you'll definitely have a harder time doing so), since almost all types of missions involve either shooting guys and/or driving. Consequently, although certainly not the forgettable gimmick it could well have been, the hacking just doesn't feel like the main event here and it certainly isn't enough to make Watch Dogs feel entirely fresh and original and the familiar tricks Watch Dogs relies cannot truly separate it from the likes of GTA or Sleeping Dogs.

Despite being very similar to such games, however, almost every part of Watch Dogs manages to still feel distinctly Ubisoft in its execution. The fairly dynamic free-running feel of the movement is not too dissimilar to the that of Assassin's Creed, hacking into ctOS towers displays activities in the surrounding area much like the radio towers of Far Cry 3 and the gang hideout side missions feel extremely similar to the stronghold takeovers that populated Far Cry 3, and even the game's stealth feels very similar to that of Ubisoft's latest Splinter Cell game, with its stealth-action hybrid, dynamic cover system and focus on cool, futuristic gadgets. They make no effort in trying hiding the fact that this is a Ubisoft game, which feels like the only thing that gives Watch Dogs an identity of its own (which, even then, it doesn't really have). Perhaps the crazy homogenisation of all Ubisoft games is a problem larger than just Watch Dogs, but Watch Dogs does very little to create its own distinct identity other than just being a very standard open world game with a little of the Ubisoft touch, which is something that may be a huge problem for those hoping for something new and innovative but may be completely fine for people looking for a solid open world game. 

The action may not be the most original, but it still manages to be satisfying and engaging

The game presents a number of minor mechanics that can potentially aid your endeavours in some way. Such mechanics, such as the ability to craft usable items on the go or the ability to slow down time at will to help you get off that life-saving headshot, range from essential and highly intuitive to needless and unnecessary. Focus mode, for example, the time-slowing bullet-time gimmick, is highly useful and quickly became an ability I was using in every fight, and it was certainly an ability that saved my life a number of times. Although the shooting in Watch Dogs is never particularly difficult (since enemies go down very quickly), focus mode was a neat little gimmick I very much appreciated. The crafting, on the other hand, felt completely shoe-horned in and was a system that I very rarely engaged with. The items you can craft (such as grenades, temporary city-wide blackouts and consumables that replenish your focus meter) are certainly very useful, and I definitely found myself using the system when I was in dire need of some C4 or other items, but it felt extremely unnecessary and I would've much preferred such items to be dropped as loot. 

Watch Dogs may not be the technical tour de force some were hoping, but it still manages to look quite nice

Most of the enjoyment I got from the hacking systems actually came from a lot of the smaller

activities and capabilities granted to you. Namely the profiler system, which allows you aptly profile anybody you can see and uncover information about their name, their income and even a dirty secret or two. The system isn't particularly deep and essentially serves as a HUD overlay that can be toggled on and off. Profiling a person is done by simply looking at them, but the range at which you can actually profile someone can get a little finicky and it can take a little too long to appear on screen (especially when you're searching a gang hideout for the required target and you have to awkwardly hang around until it triggers). Another example of blatant privacy invasion is, ironically, a side activity quite appropriately named "privacy invasion", in which you can hack into people's homes to observe their weird, dirty or otherwise comedic rituals. You can also "hack" into people whilst roaming the streets, ravaging their bank accounts or stealing their music as a way to unlock the game's full soundtrack. These systems are a lot of fun to mess with, and there's an impressive variety in the number of different conversations or activities you can come across.  

The world of Watch Dogs certainly looks very nice (although the frame rate sometimes fails to keep up, especially on PC, where frequent and extremely obvious hitching often ruins the frame rate), with motion-captured cutscenes boasting some excellent and extremely evocative facial animations that allow characters to be impressively expressive. The sound design is also solid and the game makes excellent use of its soundtrack to really emphasise some of the story's most evocative moments.

Ultimately, Watch Dogs is by no means the innovating blockbuster some were expecting, but its excellent execution of familiar concepts and mechanics taken from other crime-focused open world games and some of Ubisoft's best work still allows it be an exciting and gripping open world game. Furthermore, although there are a couple of grievances I had with Aiden as a character and a number of really interesting characters that they just don't do enough with, the game's narrative is still pretty well-executed as a whole. Even though Watch Dogs might not be the most mechanically original game, it certainly manages to build the foundation for a potentially incredible (and pretty inevitable) sequel.

Let's Talk... Outlast: Whistleblower

Outlast was an extremely interesting game when it released, a game that played upon the (semi) newly found no-combat-revolution that the horror genre seems to be undertaking (very much inspired by 2010's Amnesia: The Dark Descent). Both an exciting and sometimes terrifying experience, Outlast set up an excellent foundation on which it to build its further iterations that proved extremely successful. Whistleblower takes the very same foundation and implements it into some new environments and half a dozen memorable and disturbing set pieces to make for a somewhat iterative but well-made DLC.

Whistleblower offers a variety of new, yet somewhat familiar environments 

The set-up and overall premise for the story of Whistleblower are both more interesting and more engaging than that of the original Outlast. Rather than assuming the role of Miles Upshur, a journalist investigating the allegedly horrific misdeeds taking place at the Mount Massive mental asylum, you instead take the role of Weylon Park, an employee at the asylum. After witnessing the disturbing results of one too many twisted experiments, Park informs Miles Upshur of the troubling corruption taking place, before being caught by his boss and consequently being "committed". The rest of the DLC essentially has you desperately roaming the asylum in search of escape, whilst being chased by a bearded cannibal, a psycho who seeks to make you his bride and one too many downright mentalists.   

Whistleblower expands little on the core of Outlast, both mechanically and in its choice of setting. The DLC takes place in new areas of the same abandoned asylum and the minimalistic mechanics remain completely unchanged. You're still gingerly making your way through a hellish abandoned asylum/experimenting site for evil things, and are still armed with nothing but a single night vision-equipped video camera with some serious battery life issues. The focus of Whistleblower remains entirely on the complete and utter avoidance of combat and getting the hell away from the crazy people who want to cut you and sometimes eat you. Although nothing is changed about the mechanics of the game, the DLC sets up enough crazy and memorable set pieces and situations for it to still feel appealing. 

One of the game's many truly disturbing set pieces

A lot of what made the original game great was its chilling setting and truly nightmarish scenarios, which, although Whistleblower does maintain that quite well, the DLC manages to create a stronger feeling of actual horror rather than just being thrill ride of jump scares and strong tension. The original game definitely had a lot of horrifying moments, but Whistleblower provides a lot more premise for genuinely scary moments and scenarios. Batteries (used to power your video camera, your only light source and only ally) were plentiful in the main game, for example, and it was extremely difficult to run out of batteries, meaning that it was easy to take your camera (a resource that should be scarce and utilise a solid risk-reward scenario for each individual use) for granted. Naturally, this sucked a lot of tension out of a possibly excellent idea. The battery count in this DLC feels a lot tighter, however, creating a more desperate situation and forcing more conservative camera-usage. The scarcity of batteries in the world created a number of situations where I opted to wade through the darkness rather than risk wasting anymore of my precious light source.

Unfortunately, the game suffers from a couple of examples of frustratingly obtuse level design that usually spawns from the game sometimes being a little unclear about where you need to go. Although mostly not a huge deal, and in most cases simply a result of the game's extreme tension rattling my nerves to point of disorientation, it can be actually be a real tension-killer. Being forced to run around a certain area in search of an exit can get a little tedious, and at some point you stop worrying about the guy chasing you and just focus on finding the way out. These frustrating moments are absolutely fatal for the game's suspension of disbelief, since when you're focused on simply escaping rather than engaging in the tense and exciting scenario the game has set up for you it's easy to be reminded that you're dealing with programmed AI with pre-set, easily exploitable patterns and behaviours rather than crazy,
unpredictable psychopaths, an illusion that the game is generally very effective at maintaining.

Although not particularly long, Whistleblower manages to make up for its short length by consistently and effectively using a well-paced mixture of slow and tense traversal, thrilling chases, and well-timed jump scares. The condensed longevity of the DLC allows it to feel significantly more focused than the original game, keeping its fairly thin base from losing its appeal.