Monday, 24 October 2011

Homefront Review!

Hi Everyone,

I finally got to play Homefront this weekend and have been really taking it in. Could the story evetually become reality? I doubt it, but the game developers really went to a lot of effort to make the story as close to reality as possible, to the point of bringing someone from the CIA in to assist in the story writing. It is meant to be based on something that could potentially happen in the future, however is highly unlikely.

Has this helped the game have impact with the single player? Hell yes. The opening sequence is almost scary with the amount of thought put into how things developed in the world over 15ish years. This makes the story enjoyable (Is that the wrong word?) to follow. The game flows very smoothly from place to place, i.e. from Montrose- Utah very easily, with a nice change from fighting the Koreans, to fighting a bunch of nutcases- San Fransisco. I think it moves smoothly due to the fact that the story is so strong. It would of really annoyed me if there was a "2 years later" part.

The gameplay itself however, slightly lets the game down. This is mainly because of the friendly AI. During the course of the game the team i was with consistantly failed to keep me covered despite shouting "I'll keep you covered!!!!!" The AI frequently failed to kill multiple enemies in open areas, resulting in my death to fucking many times! Another thing that pissed me off (personally) was that Connor guy. He really irritated me, i was hoping he would get killed mid way through the game or something. At the end was just way to late... Other than those "minor" issues with the AI, the gameplay is very good. The areas you fight in are fun to play in (despite the game being a little too linear) and the textures are really good too. The gun details are also very good.

Lets move on to Ye olde multiplayer. The multiplayer is very good and a lot of fun to play. I thought it would be a knock off of CoD's and yes it has many similarities, but the differences are hugely different from CoD. For example the way it's played. You have to rely heavily on tactics if you want to do well. If you run around blindly in this game, you're fucked. I found myself taking corners carefully with the sights up. I really like the way you "drop in" when you respawn, you get an overview of the whole map includung enemy locations and can plan your tactics accordingly, allowing you to do the maximum amount of damage possible in 1 life. The inclusion of vehicles is a good feature, especially as you have to buy them into the game. The Battle Points system is awesome too. It differentiates this game from all the others because it is so unique, with a brilliant pay out system. The only flaw with the multiplayer that i can think of is the damage system. The weapons are a little too weak in my opinion.

The flaws of this game are made up for by the multiplayer i think. Definately a competitor along with the big game companies when it comes to multiplayer. Wait for the sequel, i reckon they will nail the multiplayer then.
I give the game 8/10. Definately worth having for all FPS players, especially since it's so cheap now (in the UK anyways!)

Thanks for reading, peace out.

Pointman.

Tuesday, 11 October 2011

F1 2011 review

Hi everybody, sorry for the mega lateness of this review.

Although I haven’t played the game much myself, I have seen enough of it to make a review of it.
So let us start with the graphics of the game. They are very, very nice! From the way adverts around the side of the tracks reflecting off the side of your car to the rain effects, they are unbelievable realistic. Definitely a step up from the last games, which were also pretty amazing. The effects on the tyres are really good, from the brand logo in whatever colour they are (depending on what type of tyre you are using.), to the effects of driving in grass or over gravel.
The game has an amazingly dynamic and realistic weather system. It is created using real data from the country the circuit is in and depending on the time of year. That gives the game a strong feeling of reality when twined with the graphics.
The gameplay itself is as you would expect from an F1 game. Immense. It’s so different from any other racing game that if you go from a standard racing game to this, then you’ll find yourself nearly shitting yourself at the speeds you get to (especially when using the DRS on the straights) and braking to early. But it’s pretty easy to get used to. There’s one thing that has gotten to me though, the damage system. I do think it’s good, don’t get me wrong, but when you do crash, there’s still no major damage done to the main bulk of the car, it’s still just the wing and wheels that will come of and take damage, but it’s still very realist (I guess something has to be left for the next game) and thank god the safety car is in this game. That adds another dimension to the game.
The multiplayer is just another racing multiplayer… The other players will play dirty and take you out any opportunity they get. Not much has changed in that respect.
I give this game 7/10. It is graphically amazing, but not much has really changed from the last game. But given the choice, I’d play this game over last years, just because of the graphics.

Thanks for reading y’all!!!

Pointman.