Games: What better way to spend the holidays? In front of a screen with your best friend, kid or lover. There's hours and hours of fun just waiting to be had.
Battlefield 4
Assassin's Creed: Black Flag
Pokemon X/Y
Legend of Zelda Link Between Worlds
Final Fantasy XIV
Batman Arkham Origins
Grand Theft Auto V
Saints Row IV
Son of Ryze
Killzone ShadowFall
Super Mario 3D World
Dead Rising 3
Consoles: These will land you on any gamer's awesome list. It's basically saying we should play together. These might also land you in the bed of your favorite gamer after he/she opens them for those gamer couples ;).
Xbox One-> Any Bundle
PS4-> Any Bundle
3DS XL-> Pokemon X/Y Bundle + Game or Legend of Zelda bundle with game.
Peripherals: Everyone needs these as a serious gamer, its hard to type sometimes or maybe you need to be faster with your key inputs. Getting this is giving them the equivalent of an edge in the games they love. Nothing says I love you, like giving them the ability to better kill their foe.
Other: While this doesn't take as much thought or as much money as the others they're still viable gifts. The person who you get them for should still love you.
While I'm not yet completely finished with the game I'm about 4/7 sages done. However, I feel due to the lack of review in November coupled with the upcoming holiday season I won't be able to put out as many reviews as I might need or want.. Here it is guys the Legend of Zelda a Link Between Worlds review!
Actually it's more like a Link to the Past! That's exactly what this game it's a blast from the past. No its not the same story but it feature the general Zelda trope evil person tries to take over blah blah blah. etc..etc..etc.. You get the gist you have to save Hyrule again! The feel of this game really takes me back to that first Legend of Zelda game released in 1986. If you're a long time fan and have been craving to relive your childhood. This title is definitely for you!
Enough fanboying! on to the Review!
Graphics: The 3DS is not known for its exceptional graphics and unfortunately this is probably where LOZ: LBW falls the shortest. Some of the models look bulky and too cartoony. Thankfully Link and Zelda both look iconic and distinctive enough that despite the poor graphics they're still distinguishable. However, some of the mainstays like the Zora Princess/Queen have been changed far too drastically and their models in my opinion have been poorly done in comparison to Zelda/Link's models of other mainline games. Not everyone will hold the same opinion on this with me, I just felt they could have done a better job. The over world and dungeons are all well done and fit the graphical environments they were set in, The change from domains to domains is very well handled and is reminiscent enough of the past that all long time fans will recognize the transitioning as an iconic sign of the original game. Well placed and ideally used physics have made the game feel and run very smooth. Graphics get a 8/10
Gameplay: Gameplay follows in the original predecessors shoes. Instead of similar to those of Oracle of Ages/Seasons. What newer generation Zelda's have done is guide the player along a free but moderately open path. Whereas the original title allowed you to freely roam as long as you had the items to progress forward. Well that has returned and as always combat feels smooth and well polished. It's still the same hack and slash, but that's also what is good about it. It's not complicated and an easy pick me up title that's ideal for all ages of gamers. I will say this however, the puzzles don't feel nearly as complex or as fun to solve as they used to be. Getting all mainstay "gear" of the series, at the very beginning of the series cheapens puzzle solving. In a lot of cases it tends to destroy any sense of accomplishment and excitement from getting new gear. I've been doing the maiamai recovery quests and Mother Maiamai says she can upgrade your equipment but I've never been able to do it since I don't have any. I don't even know when I'll be getting any of my own stuff... Nevertheless the game is incredibly fun to play and gameplay still gets a solid 8/10.
Sound: Games like this don't tend to have a lot of sounds. LOZ: LBW is no exception. However, it handles its limited sound library very well. I personally think it's also fairly well done considering all that can be contained on that tiny game card. If you hit a rock with a sword you get the correct metallic ping and the like. But, it's a handheld title so it's not like it's super high fidelity sword ringing pings. Sound gets a 10/10 it's good for the platform it's on.
Story: As with any good adventure game the story is the reason you bother even playing. I've enjoyed the robust story thus far. Even though it's a commonly used cookie cutter storyline. It's well thought out and the drama and writing has been superb thus far. Wish there was more voice acting to back it up. But, I'll settle for the occasional HRAHHHH from Link when he swings his sword. There's a deeper meaning behind the story and so far the writing has been prolific despite its use of a common trope. The story can be comprehended at all ages. There are even some easter eggs to be found along the course of the game that help bring the richness of the series together. Story gets a 10/10.
If you haven't picked this game up yet. Definitely find it for the holiday seasons! It's a title worth having a 3DS for!
While the bulk of multiplayer still awaits to be seen (new maps, guns, modes,etc...) the current multiplayer is a well rounded powerhouse that can rightfully compete with Battlefield 3. That being said its still not up to the level that DICE and EA set for themselves with Bad Company 2.
Here's the breakdown
Graphics: Perhaps one of the best parts of the multiplayer if not the best part of the multiplayer. While most gamers don't necessarily appreciate the beauty of good graphics, I find it helps put me in the games universe. Albeit this game is technically in our universe. Anyways diverging from the point, Ultra settings on the PC are super beautiful; I mean like jizz in your pants kind of good. These graphics are easily on par with medium-high level graphics on a dialed up Crysis game. They're also super smooth provided you have enough VRAM to run all of it I'd recommend getting at least nvidia 600 series x2 cards and above. Graphics easily score a 9/10.
Gameplay: The core of this is beautiful, instead of the rigid class formula that was implemented in BF3; BF4 takes you back to the days of almost full customization. Allowing you to pick the weapons you desire on almost any class you desire. I'm back to using battle-esque rifles on Recon. Not much has really changed on game-play front. Frankly it didn't really need to, some minor tweaks to knifing and gun balance make this iteration a lot more enjoyable than the last. Sniping actually feels rewarding and vehicles are overall very balanced. I do find that mortars are a real pain in the ass at times. I mean they're a good weapon to have but they're completely unbalanced with limitless ammo pool and heavy damage. Some release maps are also really poorly designed for certain game modes. Hainan Resort is a good example, its incredibly hard for attackers to get anywhere past the first objective in rush when its an even team balance. Also in terms of destruction which we've all come to love, this one is still lacking compared to BC2, However, definitely an improvement to BF3. Gameplay gets an 8/10.
A clip from one of my favorite players. I do not own the rights to this
Sound: This one takes the cake. The sound is beautiful. Remember those reall unimpressive gun shots from BF3?Well firing that 50 cal M98B makes you feel like a man's man in this game. The sounds are just incredible. High fidelity sounds coupled with powerful gunplay makes you feel like a soldier in the field. It might render you a little deaf if you have your volume turned up high. But, what the hey we do it cause we love it! Sound gets a 10/10 for blowing my expectations straight out of the water.
Replay Value: This is important for any multiplayer game. If something gets old real quick then it loses interest real fast. While many players were disuaged by the horrible releases servers and client errors abound I really feel that in the past week or so EA/DICE have surprisingly delivered some fast and quick fixes to problems. Is that to say all bugs have been eradicated? Heck no and that in my opinion is still effecting replay value for me. But, with plenty of unlocks, achievements and awards to be had. Along with a solid community of friendly players BF4 has a good history to look forward to.
This gets a 7/10 simply for poor handling of release.
Battlefield 4 Multiplayer gets a 8.5/10 . A super solid release compared to perhaps the biggest debacle in the battlefield series BF3.
If you haven't already picked up your copy I highly recommend it this time around. I was disappointed with BF4 Beta but so far this is looking to be a great release both for EA and for DICE.
While the main Battlefield series is not known for its kick ass campaigns I felt this one worthy of mentioning. It's not exactly a full review but a commentary of how it performed under the duress of a gamer. In all terms of the word it is not a worthy storyteller nothing as groundbreaking as say Spec Ops the Line. But it does serve its purpose which is give players a short romp and a sort of introduction to what is to be expected in multiplayer. It does a spectacular job at this. 9/10 times I found the story's level designs to much more engaging and dynamic than the multiplayer. There's more destruction and who doesn't love raw destruction on the big screen or in my case a 17.3'' screen.
The story was far more compelling than Battlefield 3 it has a sort of hidden political message that China is to be feared as the new enemy. However, I feel it pertinent to point out that this is my personal feeling and not necessarily representative of what the game makers were going for. I will say I didn't have as much with the story as I did Bad Company 2 which is by far my favorite storyline of the Battlefield series. It had more fun with itself and took it to a whole new more personable level.
Combat is generic, I will say that the AI has its moments sometimes it can be dumb as a rock or it can be the bane of the game that hunts you down and follows your around corners. It's not tough persay; but it's definitely more engaging than previous Battlefield AI who would stand up and let you shoot them. They duck and change covers, find flanks, etc..etc... They're actually semi intelligent at times. Other times you can walk right in front of them knife them in the throat and nothing will happen.
The character development isn't necessarily good in this one and we again have a faceless un-engageable protagonist. At the end of the story I didn't really feel anything for my squad either. which was a shame because the first few minutes of the game set the tone to be very emotional. All in all I'd say the Singleplayer Campaign didn't fail but it didn't make any grounbreaking leaps forward. Currently multiplayer is still buggy as hell so I have barely touched it.
