ABZÛ Playstation 4 - PC Developer: Giant Squid Publisher: 505 Games Release Date: 2016
At heart, Abzû is a swimming simulator but promises to hold so much more. Derived from the word ab (ocean) and zu (to know), Giant Squid's first major title will feature an underwater exploration and interaction with aquatic animals.
It is all about free roam and there is no Game Over screen. You can interact with the wildlife, catching rides with the turtles or stingrays, or simply swim into gigantic schools of fish. The diver also has a sonar ping to discover drones that you can repair and swim alongside, opening new pathways.
Most notably, there is the contrast of the oceans' elements in the stunning visual display. Brightly colored fish pop from the dark depths, and forests of seaweeds engulf the swimmer. The game is a visual marvel.
A subtle narrative is slowly peeled away as you explore, and the game is promising a memorable exploration under the deep blue sea.
Gamers have unlimited ways to play the games they love, but it requires a source that is not always so reliable; Electricity.
Be it standard maintenance, thunderstorms, or a charge cord left behind; one way or another you have found yourself in this situation. You want to play or finish playing a game to a certain checkpoint and you see the battery light flash or the power suddenly cut out. All that hard work, all that effort, gone in an instant. It can be devastating, and a commonly shared experience; but every person has one event that is very personal to them as the ultimate culmination of frustration.
My most memorable occurrence was during a game of Dead Rising.
There was a specific achievement in the game to kill the population of the town.
Keep
in mind, I was not going after this achievement for the measly 20
Gamerscore, I was after the prize of it all; the Mega Man X-Buster in
New Game+. Shooting zombies with Mega Man's weapon of choice? You better
believe I would put in some effort for that!
Mind you,
this game has a sort of "timer". You have three days game time to
complete the specified events, that includes killing the 53,594 zombies
in one go. When the timer ran out, it was game over. Needless to say
there was only one real way to do it, using the truck in
the tunnels to continuously run over infinitely spawning zombies.
It
was tedious, it was repetitive, and it was dragging. This roughly took a
day and a half of Dead Rising's game world time (which equates
to roughly two and half to three hours real world time) just running
over zombies until you get close to the amount needed. I set out for
this task with time to spare and clear weather, no chance of a power
outage.
"This would be easier if you would all just hold still"
I
was at roughly the 45,000 mark, and had spent most of the afternoon
just hopping into vehicle after vehicle running through hoards of
undead. Victory was getting closer, just a few more laps and I would
never have to do this again. My trigger finger was tired of holding down
the accelerator, my eyes needed a break, but I was determined to see this
through.
Then it happened.
In a blink,
the lights went out, the air conditioner cut off, and the screen where
my goal was once in sight, slunk into the black abyss of nothing.
I
just sat there...staring blankly at the screen. All the effort, all the
work, all the time plugged into that achievement. Gone. When the power returned some five minutes later, I took Dead
Rising out and shelved it immediately, moving onto another game.
I
would eventually sit down with it again and get the achievement, and I
had fun using that item I worked so hard for; yet it felt tarnished by
the horrible memory of all the time put into getting to that point. That
was the first time a power outage had robbed me of so much effort.
Graciously placed checkpoints and autosave have limited that problem
recently, but this will always be the one moment where a power outage
ruined so much time and effort.
I am interested to hear, what drained battery or blackout ruined a streak you had, tarnished a perfect run, or wiped your raid?
If the absolute best situation can be achieved on an RPG or strategy game, I will work to make that happen. If I lose something that I could have kept in a game, or had a negative impact that I could have turned into a positive one, or could have saved someone if I did something differently; I cannot let it go. I am finding it more and more prevalent in my playthroughs lately.
X-Com: Enemy Unknown is a PC strategy game where every single decision you make can change the outcome of a situation. Do I prioritize building a new facility or building a new aircraft for air defense? Do I flank the enemy from unknown territory or do I double back and hold fast. One wrong move, and you could end up losing an entire squad or wasting time on a project that will provide little benefit.
The hitch to all this? The game autosaves after every move and I found myself reloading when things went wrong.
"It's like our commander knows something we don't..."
If a squad mate died by moving in on the enemy too soon or uncovered a more formidable enemy group that I was not prepared for, I found myself clicking that "Load Game" button to erase any error I may have caused. If my Interceptor failed to shoot down a UFO, when I could have used a Dodge consumable to take it down, I would go back to correct my error. I was a time traveling commander, capable of seeing the future and working a path to alter that future. No soldier should die. No mistakes should be made. Only after hours into the game did I stop and realize;
This is not how this is meant to be played, and I do this far too often.
I am living out the movie Live.Die.Repeat with every game I play. I was dying, starting over, moving to fix the problem, and slowing piecing together the optimum path.
Even in Fallout 4, a game fraught with open ended dialogue and missions that can have multiple outcomes, I found myself reloading a game if I failed to persuade or failed to save certain NPCs. I had in my mind the ideal outcome, and if my character failed to make that come to fruition than it was all for naught.
Turns out there is a term for people that do this; save scummers. It is debated that this is, in fact, cheating. You are changing the outcome of how something would have turned out with a few button presses. It is not invincibility, it is not the ability to glitch through walls, but it is a cheat nonetheless. You have flipped ahead to the page from your choose your own adventure book, but flipped back because you held your finger on the previous page and never took it off.
Negotiation...Dr. Who style
Why was I doing this so much lately? Are constant checkpoints littered throughout most major games spoiling me to the point of becoming accustomed to retrying a part over and over again? Is my OCD for everything to go correctly so bad that it had transferred to my favorite games as well?
No more, I told myself. Never again.
When I finally accepted this fact, I started a new game on X-Com, but this time I enabled Ironman mode, which prevents multiple saves and forces you to one file permanently. It was the anti-save scum and it is what I needed, because the game became an even more of an enjoyable experience. I was learning how to move throughout the fog of war, what items to prioritize in development, and how to be a better commander through my mistakes. This was the game as it was meant to be experienced, one of loss and frustration, but one in which victory was that much sweeter.
Nothing will be perfect the first time around, and striving to create those perfect scenarios to play out exactly as planned just takes away from the joy of playing altogether. Now I find myself analyzing those failures, looking at a list of dead soldiers and countries that left the X-Com project and vowing to do better next time.
While games like Dark Souls offer knowledge through failure by rinsing
and repeating, it took X-Com to give me the ability to let things go.
I was a kid in elementary school when all of my friends began to get into a little game called Pokemon. It was in every issue of Nintendo Power, it was slammed in your face during cartoons, and it was getting bigger every day. Envious, I watched my friends playing this game on the way to school and brag about their latest catch at lunch. Sadly, my birthday was a long way off and Christmas was even farther. I felt I would never get to play during the "hot streak" of its time, in that small one month window when everyone is just getting into the game itself.
On a trip to my Grandmother's house one weekend, I remember bragging about the game to her. I went over the different things you could do, showing her the game cover in the magazine, and the awesome world that you could explore. It was obviously pandering and she knew it, but she feigned interest nonetheless. My dad was quick to shut it down, as he should have, and I thought nothing of it.
A few days later there was a package in the mail addressed to myself and my brother. In his package, a brand new copy of Pokemon Blue. In mine, Pokemon Red.
I was in absolute shock. Here was this game I was yearning to play, and in that knowledge my Grandmother shelled out the sixty or so dollars so my brother and I would get to be a part of the hype. She was not a rich woman by any means, this obviously meant she had sacrificed something to bring this game to us.
I was on the phone, elated, and thanking her over and over again ignoring sentence structure and rambling off every synonym of thanks I could conjure. She laughed and said she hoped I enjoyed it before I slammed in fresh batteries and darted off to play.
I played that game all weekend. Curled up on a couch near a lamp I was catching new Pokemon, defeating each gym leader, and indulging in what would become the first game in one of the biggest franchises in video game history.
It was all thanks to her.
I reflected on that this past holiday, as I sat with her and shared that same laugh with my wife at my side.
I valued it more a week later, when I got a call that on Christmas Eve she had been rushed to the hospital with the signs of a stroke.
I held it close, as I received update after update of extended family arguing over what she would have wanted, as she was put on a ventilator with no acting will.
I cherish it, as I got the news that she was taken off of that ventilator today, and passed away shortly after its removal.
She did not just want to buy me something to spoil me back then, it was not an attempt to gain favor, a gesture expecting repayment. Instead, it was an encouragement. An encouragement to the imagination, the excitement that I held as a kid. She saw how much a simple video game could spark in a kid just by my small description and response that one weekend, and she wanted to keep that alive.
She succeeded in helping keep that alive.
I could go through a number of situations in which her selflessness was showcased, be it the expectant birthday card every single year even when she could barely write her name, to the huge smile that would greet me every holiday visit. A kindness that I would attempt to repay with my own cards and gifts to brighten her day.
I felt compelled to write something, anything concrete to her. A dedication of sorts; a thank you. For the years of unwavering generosity, infectious joy, and the ability to keep one grandchilds' dreams fueled with a simple act that would resonate for years to come.
Score: 8.75 / 10 Fallout 4 PC - Xbox One - Playstation 4 Developer: Bethesda Game Studios Publisher: Bethesda Softworks Release Date: November 10th, 2015
Pros:
Huge amount of content and customization to explore
World is alive with random encounters and varying experiences
The settlement builder holds huge potential and adds a personal touch to the wasteland
Variety of locations can be a joy to explore and feel much more diverse in appearance
High replay value
Cons:
Menus are a drag to navigate
Majority of situations are clearing an area and moving on to the next
Framerate issues for console when action gets tense
Gunfire rings off in the distance as an explosion shakes the ground; a fight is surely intensifying. I wander into a local building infested with Feral Ghouls literally climbing out of the woodwork. I target their legs, and bottleneck them in a hallway as my companion finishes them off from a distance. After clearing the building, I find plenty of useful items and ammunition, including the material I have been seeking to complete a new scope on my rifle. I leave the newly scavenged location and set off toward the skirmish to put a close to the continuing battle, as a platoon of Brotherhood soldiers drop in from the sky to accomplish the same goal.
...when was the last time we showered?
This is Fallout in a nutshell; an open world of possibilities, an endless stream of dangers and loot. Newly discovered locations beg to be explored, and the precious commodities you obtain can be used for a number of crafting and building options. It is a lottery of sorts; every locked container or open bookshelf containing a possible power up or crafting material you have sought for hours. You never know what you could encounter on the way to your next objective, and it is a world filled with stories you are begging to share with fellow players.
Fallout can be whatever game you wish it to be, and that is what has made the franchise so popular. If you wish to be the stealthy rogue with a heart of gold, your perks and equipment can be tailored for that playstyle. If you wish to be the melee brute that takes joy in ignoring social interaction and mashing bandits to pieces, Fallout gives you the tools. If you simply wish to spend hours upon hours building the ultimate settlement, fulfill your dreams. Fallout 4 excels at giving the player a virtual world to explore, destroy, or follow at your leisure.
So many bullets, so little limbs to shoot...
Despite the open nature of the world around you, the story will mostly stick to a similar script for all involved. Every player will begin by emerging from the vault in search of vengeance for their murdered spouse and the whereabouts of their son. The journey to your son is, unfortunately...dull. It is a series of errands and "you help me, I help you" bargaining. Luckily the cast of characters you meet along the way are interesting enough to motivate your continued involvement, especially Nick Valentine's slick detective persona. The turning point, however, comes late game and has you questioning your own loyalties to each faction you meet along the way. A final decision had me thinking what would be best for the world around me, and ultimately had me hesitating to pull the trigger. I would have hoped for a bit more branching in the journey to that decision, but the lore of the world and the factions you befriend will soon have you favoring sides to take.
If you have played a Bethesda game, you will know the RPG drill as little is done to change the core experience. Your character can be built up with a number of stats, making them heavy in whatever attribute you choose ranging from the charismatic conversationalist to the super strong brute. After picking a few stats, every action contributes to the experience pool in leveling. This allows you to obtain certain perks that can boost you further in certain areas; either increasing your ability in science to craft specialty items or the damage output your sneak attacks can provide. The vast amount of perks and skills offer plenty of replay value in creation of a variety of vault dwellers and adding a personal touch to the gameplay.
Do I want to go pew, or pew pew pew? Hmm....
Combat has a few slight tweaks, but nothing of substantial impact. You still utilize the VATS system to slow down time and target specific body parts of enemies to focus your fire. Enemies are much more prone to cover this time around, and prove to be much more cautious than previous installments than just standing in the open as you plug away at their health bar. The problem lies in the failure of fluidity. The game automatically dips you into cover, but it felt clunky and unpolished as I scrambled to keep limbs from poking out. Despite the ability to aim down sights and multitude of minor polish, compared to modern shooting games the flow and nature of combat felt a tad sluggish in switching between weapons or getting to an item I wished to use on a standard controller.
When not fighting, you will be scrounging every item in the game as a glorified hoarder for materials. Everything from armor to trash can be broken down or used to craft weapon mods, armor mods, or building materials for your settlement. This is both a good and bad thing, as the multitude of items you collect are a chore to navigate, especially on consoles. The mods you create however are a nice additional touch to each gun you obtain. Throwing on desired scopes, stocks, and attachments can outfit your weapon to churn out damage however you see fit, while also giving your armor new resistances or upgrades. Homestead buildings also require materials, and soon you will find yourself scouring for parts as you throw up turrets, defense towers, and massive structures to house your settlers.
Do not get me wrong, I loved my time in Fallout 4, and still plan on returning to the game for another play through. The issue lies in a failure to really try anything different in terms of approach. Throughout the game you are tasked with going to an area, clearing said area, and returning for a reward. I found there are few branching approaches to the missions I experienced aside from the occasional negotiation outcome. Soon enough the standard clearing area and searching through containers begins to wear on you.
I still have a lot of Fallout 4 to explore, but the similar nature of approach is starting to get to me. I enjoy expanding my homestead, expanding my characters' capabilities, and becoming an unstoppable force in the wasteland. It just feels like a bit of a grind, but one where I can find little moments to get me by.
