Thursday, May 29, 2014

The Wolf Among Us Ep 4, Killzone: SF, One Finger Death Punch Thoughts + Impressions


Killzone: Shadow Fall [PS4]

I finally got off my ass and played this game. I bought it at launch but didn't get around to it for whatever reason. There were just too many other games I wanted to play first. I beat it over the weekend and it was pretty lengthy

The graphics were pretty amazing. I found a few glitches with the ragdoll physics but overall, it's a beautiful game and a technical marvel. Really impressive vistas and very detailed. Audio was inconsistent though. Sometimes the gun audio was cut out and the surround was suspect. It seemed to have some of the same audio issues as Killzone 3. Not really sure what's going on with them. Killzone 2 had superb audio and I feel like they could never recapture that installment's audio mix. Strange. The music for Shadow Fall was great. It was a highlight for several levels and sounded cool. Wish there was more of it though.

One major gripe I had with the game were the mission/level designs. They went from good to just plain awful. The open-ended design was a good idea but it didn't seem like they went far enough with them. You get punished for trying out alternate methods to a mission sometimes. They make it seem open but the enemies in some areas will automatically notice you no matter how stealthy you want to be. There are even some areas where you must follow specific instructions or risk failing the mission which sucked. I also found it very easy to lose your way in a level and end up dying because you didn't know a certain part of the level is off-limits for no apparent reason. It's pretty hit or miss and I found myself a bit frustrated or bored by some of the areas. It seemed like devs weren't really sure what they wanted to do with the some of the areas. It's pretty much the weakest aspect of the game and that's a shame. 

On the other hand, the weapons felt great and were fun to shoot. I never got tired of using certain weapons including many of the Helghast ones. But I did find it odd that we didn't get some more interesting guns considering this game takes place decades after the previous game. The default gun wasn't even that great, imo. It felt weak and the long range mode was cumbersome to me.

As for the story, it's an okay continuation and possible end to the series. The characters were okay and much more relatable than the previous installments. I didn't find the majority of the characters that interesting except for Echo. She was badass and reminded me of Forty-Five from SOCOM4. Probably the only character I gave a crap about in the whole game. Overall, decent story that is pretty to follow with no characters that are idiotic like Rico from the previous games.

Um, I guess I went on longer about this game than expected. Anyway, it's worth playing for Killzone vets just to see how the story wraps up. I haven't played the MP but I heard good things about it, but I doubt I'll invest any major time with the MP.



The Wolf Among Us Episode 4 [PC]

This was a really good episode with major push forward for the plot. There were some good moments and I'm really curious how they will end this. While I didn't find it as great as the previous episode, I was still satisfied. There isn't really too much for me to say about it.

Overall, it's another great one and I can't wait to see how it wraps up.



One Finger Death Punch [PC]

I haven't heard much about this game from any major game sites at all. I first heard about this game when Giant Bomb did a few videos about it. It's a shame that not many major review sites checked out this game because it's FUCKING AWESOME.

Seriously, this game is a lot of fun and pretty simple. You only need to use two buttons to kick the ass outta stick figure men with various badass martial arts moves. It's animated beautifully and never gets old. I'm not sure who animated the moves but they did a stellar job. You gain various power-ups as you progress and they also have some pretty cool effects. 

The music is also pretty great. I'm not sure if they're from some stock music database or original but they do add a nice amount of badassery to every stage. 

Overall, this game rocks and you guys should check it out. If you're still not sure about it, check out this Giant Bomb Quick Look. Once you watch it, you'll understand why it's so great.