Transistor- Art de Indépendants

If you're looking to fill some hours of boredom in between your main games. I'd have to say look no further than Transistor. This game is absolutely beautiful. It's not as good as Bastion maybe but it certainly does strike me as one of the better Indie games available to consumers. Like with all my other reviews I'm going to be dividing this game up in to four sections.

Story: Is told through beautiful scenery, interactive terminals, and a strange digital sword. I can't exactly tell what the settings is but it feels like some fusion of a neo-paris or maybe digital Paris feel. The literary direction is fabulous, it draws you in and makes you want to stay for the full ride, albeit I would rather have heard Red narrate the story than the sword. Personal preferences can only go so far when a beautifully crafted story is present. In an age where stories are beginning to become lost in the wave of technical advances Transistor, takes a step back and forward in telling its story. It returns to the roots of a good storytelling while updating it with appropriate interactions as well as well timed cut-scenes.  9/10 for story

Gameplay: Fluid and well mastered, the transitions and intermingling between active and turn-based combat were flawless. Due to the fact that it is an indie title, combat is still limited in its sense of expandedness. However, the simple system isn't just a pretty face as the longer you play the game the more depth is unlocked. A few combinations tend to work better than others and they're fairly easy to figure out, but, it's fun nonetheless and an easy way to pass time while queuing up for matches in League or DoTA. The combat has a fairly steep learning curve, or it could be that I just suck at these types of games. I found myself mechanically struggling with level 1. However, I'd chalk that up to my not understanding button placements. 8/10 for gameplay as it does struggle with its limited space.

Graphics: Perhaps one of my favorite aspects of this game. It's strangely minimalistic while exceptionally detailed. Character models aren't super detailed but they're given the feeling of a complex figure with super stylization that remind me of stencil art. The environments while limited are all extremely well designed and both skill FX and UI match the theme of the game. Which sometimes developers choose to ignore. Framerates are high as to be expected with a 2.5D game and the game is well optimized so it can be played on lower tier systems without much trouble. 10/10 for transporting me to the stunning land that was in transistor.

Sound: This soundtrack made my heart melt. It's so well woven into the combat and story that it actually is part of the experience. Without it the game would feel empty. Sound FX are equally as on par in quality. There was a limitation and I did find myself wondering at times if that would have been the most appropriate sound FX for the scenario, but I decided that it was part of the vision Supergiant studios had. When playing this game please wear a set of high quality headphones if available and turn the volume to medium. Hearing all of the instrumentals is spine chilling. For making me orgasm slightly while enjoying the game I have to give sound a 10/10 despite its minor faults.

FULL Transistor OST Soundtrack- Uploaded by Supergiant Studios

Overall this game absolutely deserves at least one play through. It's beautiful, art, story and sound move mountains of feelings and evoke a powerful feeling and transient message. If you haven't already picked it up you can get it on steam.

Wolfenstein- A Return to the Castle! Again!?

After a long, long break from this franchise it was nice to see it revisited. It certainly was a return to the past, massive nostalgia trips. For anyone who isn't familiar with the Wolfenstein franchise, it's basically an all you can eat nazi killing buffet. The amount of violence is almost horrifying in some ways. However, throughout the lifetime of this series, it has never dissapointed in delivering some truly fantastic FPS moments and this certainly is a well defined return of a king.

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This come back is a massive hooray for the industry. Which has long since been polluted by the  recycling of multiplayer FPS games, while nary giving single player campaigns the love and care they deserve. Believe me when I say I love my fair share of multiplayer FPS games, but the whole venture has become stagnated, boring, and repetitive. Most possible modes have been fleshed out and the only innovation that has happened within the last ten years is the update of graphics and bullet drop physics. Dissapointing to say the least and whilst companies continue to recycle these modes they continue to neglect something that people crave. That is a well crafted story with good sense of the term I'm a single player fps game.

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Story:
Wolfenstein returns the FPS genre to its roots, before multiplayer existed, it then proceeds to ram plenty of nostalgia up your ass. Amidst all the Nazi blood being spilt the story is never forgotten and the story that is presented is extremely well written. It is told in two perspectives one through Blazkowicz and the other through the environment. While the textures and models certainly leave a bit to be desired the rich, environment lore based storytelling that bethesda is familiar with shines out here. On the flipside, Blazkowicz's story while a literary masterpiece has its plotholes. I found myself falling in between cracks at moments as the story jumped from place to place without filling these aforementioned holes. There were also some particularly ludicruous moments that didn't really make sense, but I chalked that one up to simply Hollywood based theatrics. An unvisited plot point towards the end also leaves some room to interpret a possible sequel to The New Order. ( I won't spoil it.) For crafting a well defined albeit, ludicrous heroic story and revisiting plenty of nostalgia. I have to give Wolfenstein the New Order a 8/10. It's not perfect, but it is a fantastic example of what good story based FPS games can achieve.

TL;DR: you're a Nazi slaying badass with Captain America super human strength. You single-handedly destroy thousands of Nazis, Nazi super-humans, and Nazi robots without breaking a sweat. 8/10

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Gameplay:
I'm both satisfied and disappointed with this part of the game. Given how Wolfenstein is the father of all modern FPS games I had expected more from the company iD Software. The game feels highly influenced by Bethesda as the larger framework feels Bioshock-esque. However, there are game-breaking mechanical problem; Blackowicz has the strength to scale  two story buildings, but does not have the dexterity to get over a three inch high ledge. He is still his akimbo style gun toting badass that the previous generation and my generation have come to expect from this Nazi killing expert so the problems don't detract too much from the overall experience. The added stealth elements felt forced or impossible to perform. Also the Nazi's either draft brain dead soldiers or their Aryan breeding left their foot soldier mentally handicapped like Max Hass (character in the game). I don't know what to say about the AI, I commend iD for designing units that use flanking correctly for the first time, however, I have to penalize them for having soldiers that don't notice dead bodies literally within two inches of their feet. Switching weapons felt slightly clunky on mouse and keyboard, the game was clearly optomized with console in mind (Weapon wheel). A solid attempt at re-creating a much beloved franchise. However, brain addled AI, un-optomized UI, and last gen mechanical problems make it hard to give it high scores. 7/10

TL;DR: Not perfect by any means, but it was still fun. 7/10.

Graphics:
Again not perfect by any means. However, it gets the job done and quite admirably at that. On a custom high/ultra setting the game performs at a solid frame rate and never dips below the 30 FPS threshold. The last-gen graphics leave much to be desired. But this certainly is in no way a bad thing. It allows many users to experience the game without having to dial down the settings to experience the game. Environments are wonderfully done. and characters models are both inspired and interesting. Weapon models look like some kind of strange fusion of accepted 1940's weapons that doesn't exactly work all the time. Especially towards the end of the game. Lunar base weapons are reminiscent of star wars storm trooper guns both in appearance and functionality. Facial animations and character animations are exceptionally well done considering the graphical engine. Graphics that need more updating but are good enough warrants the game receiving a solid 8/10.

TL;DR: Top end last gen graphics are good but far from perfect. Weapon designs need a bit of help. 8/10

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Sound: Perhaps one of the best aspects of this game, the soundtrack fits. It doesn't take any influences from the period's music but it does veritably mix the best sound effects and soundtrack I've experienced in a while. Sound FX are spot on and impactful. Soundtrack is heart-pounding and well selected. Appropriate selections for battles and boss fights makes for a more immersive experience.I do have to comment that on a few cut scenes that there was a problem in lip syncing the character and voice dialogue. But, nothing too immersion breaking. The voice actors played out all of their roles well and each cast member has a unique personality and appropriate voice actor. This section a receives a 9/10.

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TL;DR: Was a pleasure listening to the dialogue due in part to superb voice acting. Soundtrack pretty good too.  9/10.

Overall the game didn't bring anything new to the table, which I had hoped for. It did however, revive an old franchise, build a benchmark for story telling FPS games, and all together provide a fun experience. It also added some reality check for humanity's history. It's not going to be the most innovative title you'll play this generation  but it certainly is worth playing Overall score receives an 8/10.

 If you haven't yet picked up the game and aren't offended by Nazi symbolism. It would be good to pick up and play this title. I've provided a link below if you've got the itch to play.

Bound By Failure (PC)

Ah what a dissapointment, from the trailers I had high hopes for the game but unfortunately all of it fell flat within the first couple of hours of play. I didn't even have the morale to finish the game. This is probably only for the most hardcore of RPG enthusiasts and ones that love difficult mechanical mastery. It feels like a watered down version of Dark Souls. It's not nearly as challenging, but then also its not nearly as polished or fun either.

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Story: Where to begin? Do you like in-cohesive stories that don't know what era their from? Well look no further we've got dialogue that includes talking like your part of an Shakespearean play, a modern day thug, and your middle school bully. Seriously this is probably the worst aspect of the game. It's only compounded by sub-mediocre voice acting. There were times when I wished the characters would just shut up and I could get on with my crafting or fighting. This game has a major identity crisis just about everywhere. The demon's little blurbs are probably the only consistent form of intelligent jibber jabber that came out of an individual's mouth in the game. The game had a clear story goal that was to defeat the Ice Lords and save humanity... and the elvish. But, through the poor dialogue all of the story was lost. For making me endure a hellish creative writing nightmare I had to give BBF a 3/10 for the story.

I don't own the rights to this image. But, boy is this appropriate

Gameplay: This may be the one redeeming factor to Bound by Flame. Progression and leveling in this game is done in a manner that provides almost full freedom of choice to the player. Leveling your skills as well as crafting is all up to you starting at level 1. A simple but innovative crafting system allows you to customize your equipment in numerous manners. Facing a boss that has tighter attack patterns? Add attack speed to your weapon to allow for shorter, faster combos. Lots of enemies that you want to cleave? Add critical bonuses to help you deal massive damage to large groups. The combinations are quite numerous. However, combat is debatably bogged down by this. I wanted to like its open action combat but key inputs are slow and unresponsive, targeting is messy and clunky, and the partner AI is as dumb as rock, maybe even worse than a rock. There were moments in combat where my partner made me want to facedesk repeatedly. It tried admirably by even its redeeming factors have its problems for a good attempt I had to give this section a 7/10. It's not completely unplayable but, you need to love frustration or headaches to journey deeper into the Ice Lords domain.

Graphics: It could have been worse. I really enjoyed the character as well as weapon designs. Even the enemies and environment were well thought out. But, using last gen textures and corner cutting geometry really didn't impress me. I was expecting something far showier and more in line with Dark Souls. But, the environment was either too bright, too dark, or too blurry to really enjoy. I tinkered with gamma as well as other video settings to no avail. The nice thing is that despite everything in my game being dialed up to maximum there was no noticeable framerate issues. Meaning, the hell that was making my character block an attack was visually smooth. It was a good attempt but nothing I would brag about Graphics receive a 6/10. It's consistent but not impressive.

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Sound: Almost as bad as the story, the voice actors they chose really didn't do the job. Most western voice actors tend to read their scripts without feeling. Also engaging in awkward punctuation and disrupting the overall intended feeling of the dialogue. The VA isn't entirely to blame in this sense as the writing in this game was horrendous. However, their poor reading of the already terrible dialogue only served to compound the issues that were at hand. Weapon as well as action SFX were ok. They weren't nearly as good as they could have been but they were bearable. If all the characters spoke in the metal sword clinging in this game I think it would be both hilarious and probably still a better vocal experience. The game BBF receives half marks for making me suffer the voice dialogue. It almost would have been better served they just used text to advanced the story, 5/10.

Overall score came out to a 5.2/10. I can't give this game high marks, I just can't. I'd only recommend this game to those who want to be tortured. Even then, I recommend you play more highly polished torture like Dark Souls 2. If anyone is still reading this and wants to buy the game then I've provided a link

Toyed with the idea

I toyed around with the idea of doing a feature section for Game of the Month (GOTM). But, from my past track record there are months where nothing's available. I found myself wondering if this section was worth doing. So after some deliberation and asking around. I felt this section wasn't necessary and have removed it from my new page roster.

In other news my next review is coming out tomorrow~ Stay tuned for Bound by Flame review!