After the success of Mafia 2 there’s been a lot of hype surrounding Mafia 3, and we’re pleased to say that the game is now taking shape. Don’t believe the fake gameplay photos circulating around the Internet, nothing official has been released as yet, but we do know the game will be launched in 2016, and we also know a little about the story.

The main man in the game is Lincoln Clay, a Vietnam War veteran on a quest to seek revenge for his friends – who have all been murdered by local mobs. The game is set in 1968 New Orleans with an open world design, so you get to freely explore the city. We’re expecting even better graphics this time round, a longer storyline and more missions, and it’s certainly going to be a sell-out game, and it’s looking like the launch will be early next year rather than late.

Published by: Luke

So FIFA 16 has now been out for over a month, and we’ve now put in enough game time for a quick review. This time round Jordan Henderson is on the cover, a player that has hardly played a game this year, so it’s not off to the best start in that sense. The gameplay is very much the same as before, except for one thing, you’re now forced to play football to score goals. Let us explain…

Before, you could dominate the match in terms of possession and chances, but someone will play one through ball over the top of your defence and there’s nothing you can do about it. That’s not so easy now, and the weight of the pass has to be perfect, so it takes some practice. You’ll probably find yourself passing more and being more patient in terms of opening up defences. The graphics are very much the same too, but more players have their ‘real faces’, even subs!

Published by: Luke

When Final Fantasy XIV was first released it was a joke. A poorly optimised, poorly designed mess of a game. It was as shallow as a puddle and was a disgrace to the Final Fantasy name; and a let down to everyone who worked hard to make it, and to the fans who had eagerly anticipated it for many years. After the horrendous opening, though, Square Enix decided to completely relaunch the game and design it again from scratch.
They did, and they succeeded. Since that successful relaunch the game has had its first retail expansion as well. Heavensward (while a crazy name) took everything about Final Fantasy XIV and refined it; garnering praise from everyone along the way. It looks great, plays better and has slowly but surely cemented a place back in the Final Fantasy series where it belongs. The game is only going from strength to strength, and 2016 should be another great year.

Published by: Luke

One feature that is often missing from competitive games is one that allows you to get better. Playing a lot is one thing, certainly, but watching those better than you allows you to see where you are going wrong and allows you to look at areas where you could improve. Rocket league doesn’t have this; it had a few clips uploaded to YouTube of various good players doing good things (and several of bad players doing bad things) but no way of watching.

 

The most recent DLC has allowed a spectator mode but, again, it feels like a missed opportunity. The mode, which should allow you to watch any player or friend in the game, has limited itself to just being able to watch private matches of people you know. As no one plays private matches anyway, certainly none of the pro players who you would want to watch, the mode is complete missed opportunity.

Published by: Luke

Team Fortress 2 is a game I have played for a number of hours. I have enjoyed most of it, but I’ve had my ups and downs with the game as well. Recently, though, Valve went back to the long abandoned game and delivered a pretty significant update to the game that has changed the way that many people, including long time, hardcore players, are playing the game.
In addition to a number of changes to many popular weapons and loadouts Valve have recently added “contracts” to the game. These are based around missions which, after buying into, allow you to get contracts that require specific actions to be completed and, when they are, you’ll be rewarded. This might be an item skin of a chest, which you can sell if you don’t want, but the contracts require certain things doing. Score X many points as a class, win a round on a particular map. It’s causing people to simply complete a contract and stop playing, or going out of there way to complete a contract even if it hinders the rest of the team.

Published by: Luke

So I’ve talked a little about adventure games and how they are moving away from realistic graphics and 3D models in favour of more artistic, painterly approaches. That would almost be true across the board if not for games like the latest game in the Dreamfall series. Dreamfall has a decent lineage spanning across almost two decades (though the series itself is only three games old.) While many games went back to the Monkey Island and classic Lucasarts approach of being entirely 2D, the Dreamfall games followed on from Grim Fandango; going for a more rich, three dimensional environment.
The has allowed the games, as the technology has progressed, to look better and better. The latest game in the series, Dreamfall Chapters which has opted for the model of steadily releasing chapters instead of one full game, is absolutely gorgeous. The three dimensional environments are staggering and really add to the immersion of the game.

Published by: Luke