iReview – RORY McILROY PGA TOUR – You Get Bad Breaks From Good Shots

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RORY McILROY PGA TOUR

Publisher: Electronic Arts
Developer: EA Tiburon
Platform: Xbox One
Availability: Xbox One, PS4

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Now you’ll have to forgive me, but I haven’t played an EA Golf game in a few years, possibly even an entire console generation. I do have fond memories of the Tiger Woods EA golf games on the PS2 and Xbox however, even on the PC. I also don’t typically review annual titles like Hockey or in this case, Golf, because they’re essentially the same game year over year, with minor improvements.

Nevertheless, the PGA Tour series has always had a place in my heart. I enjoy playing the game, even in RL, I’m just not that great. The PGA Tour games are one of those annual EA Sport titles that are justr shy of being an RPG, except you have to reset and recreate your character after every expansion.

In the same light as Need For Speed, EA took a year off from its annual Golf franchise to prepare for the latest console generation. Also, coincidentally, they took this time to make us all forget about the Tiger Woods’ name and brand, as he’s been stricken from the cover. For the first time since 1998, Tiger Woods was not used as the cover athlete, and his likeness is not used in the game whatsoever. He’s not the household name he once was. Rory McIlroy is the new face of golf, and our new cover athlete. Rejoice.

The 2015 iteration of the PGA Tour franchise was rebuilt from scratch for the latest console generation, and now uses the Frostbite 3 engine to render more realistic environments. An entire 18 hole course can now be rendered as a single map, so other fairways become playable whereas before, errant shots would have been considered out of bounds, when the course was rendered hole-by-hole.

Not only do the courses look better, but more information can be gathered from the different lengths of grass, tree branches and sand. Throughout, the engine just allows for more realistic physics and interactions between the ball and environment. That being said, while the courses may look nice, everything else about the visual presentation is lacking, from the static wildlife to the laughably minimal character creation and clothing options. Swimming ducks hover above the water, deer or foxes just walk a straight line with barely a hint of animation, and you’re stuck with a bare selection of generic faces when creating your own golfer, and only a handful of different “EA” labeled clothes, until more are unlocked through tour progression. You also can’t create a female golfer. But at least the AI crowd reacts as one would expect, when you aim a golf ball in their general direction.

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“Did that go in? I wasn’t watching, did it go in? I didn’t see it, could you tell me if it went in?”

The game offers up a few different swing mechanics to try: “Arcade”, which uses the analog stick to swing and allows the player to apply a spin to the ball mid-flight, the traditional “3-Click”, click once to generate the back swing, 2nd at the peak of the swing, to generate the forward momentum, and 3rd at the precise point of impact, and finally “Tour” which is for advanced users, similar to the “Arcade” method, but with higher sensitivity, and with no assists.  Additionally, the game has also seen some improvements in the aiming, and putting line.

The regression is also noticed when you take a look at the lack of game modes and courses, as most are notably missing from the game on launch. As previously mentioned, no female golfers allowed, so the Women’s events have been scrapped, as well as Best Ball, Skins, and Stableford gameplay modes. All you’re allowed to play is Stroke and Match, and restricted to back 9, front 9, and 18 hole courses. Online tournaments and a full proper career scheduled have also been removed.

The game at launch included eight real-world courses, with a few additional courses made available through free DLC, and a handful of fantasy courses. The PGA Tour event has the player playing through many 4-day events, to increase PGA Tour rank and level up our player’s attributes. What I noticed with this mode is you no longer play a full 18 hole course every day, but a smaller selection of 5 to 8 holes per day, and then the game simulates the rest of the day based on your attributes. This may have been the result of my choice in Arcade gameplay style, so I’ll have to dig a bit deeper. No visible calendar is available, so you just move from one event to the next. As we rank up, the attributes that improve our player are based on our play style, and will focus on areas that we excel at, or improve in, instead of letting the player manually pick where we want to see the incremental changes.

A new mode that they have added is the Night Club Challenge mode, which offers up about 200+ challenges across 3 maps. These challenges range anywhere from target practice, to putting challenges to trick shots, and utilize boosts and power-ups like a rocket-ball, double bounce, or speed spin. Each challenge grades you on a 3-star measurement based on points.

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“Lotta pressure. You gotta rise above it. You gotta harness in the good energy, block out the bad.”

Overall, while some improvements have been made to the engine as a whole, better visuals, life-like crowds, and better ball mechanics, the lack of features and courses, non-existent game modes, and character creator are what hurt this title the most. It’s clear that this is a 1.0 title again, for the latest console generation. And this is something that plagued a lot of the EA annual titles at the transition to this latest console generation. It’s just a little concerning that EA took a full year off from the brand, and we’re still left with an empty shell.

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On the Achievement side, like Need For Speed, the game is quite generous. At the time of this writing, I am only two locked achievements shy of 100%, and the remaining two are related to the Night Club challenge mode, where I’m left to finish each challenge, and getting the required amount of stars. Just time consuming. The rest are basically complete the PGA Tour season, and try the different game modes at least once.

Notable Achievements
All I Do Is Win (Win a PGA TOUR event) – 15G
Now you’re golfing with Portals (Hit through a portal for the first time) – 15G

-iRogan

iReview – NEED FOR SPEED – What Once Was Bare is Now Complete

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NEED FOR SPEED (2015)

Publisher: Electronic Arts
Developer: Ghost Games
Platform: Xbox One
Availability: Xbox One, PS4, PC

Calling Electronic Arts‘ Need For Speed 2015 edition a “reboot” is kind of a misnomer. The annual series is not a continuity, in name or form. Each iteration stands alone, and doesn’t share anything that the previous release showcased. Each game is different, with different play styles being highlighted each year.

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The Underground pair (’03 and ’04) showcased an open city focused on street racing and car modifications. Most Wanted (’05), open country, was about out-running cops. Carbon (’06), urban setting, was about crew and drifting. ProStreet (’07) went away from the street racing and focused on closed courses – to mixed reviews. NFS Undercover (’08) brought back the story lines and open city, where we play an undercover cop chasing down street racers, trying to recapture the Underground glory days. This is also where the series would shift between different developers each year.

NFS Shift (’09) and Shift 2 (2011) brought back the closed course circuit races, highlighting pure racing and drifting, and focused on authenticity, with the returning dash-cam. Hot Pursuit (2010) brought back the open city and cop-centered chases. At this point Criterion, known for their Burnout series, took the helm as developer, and takedowns and crashes became a key point in the series for alternating years.

NEED FOR SPEED WAS SLIGHTLY LIMITED AT ITS OUTSET

NFS The Run (2011) switched to the Frostbite Engine and focused on a break-neck story as the player sped across the United States in a cannon-ball run. Featuring a mix of highway and city races, and big action pieces, with a story, and cut-scenes. Then the series switched back to their roots with another Most Wanted (2012) and Rivals (2013). Again, focusing on chasing or being chased, and taking down opponents.

EA then took a year off in 2014, after Rivals was released, to ‘refocus’ their brand, to figure out what Need For Speed really meant. To ‘reboot’. But calling it a reboot seems odd. Anyways, as it turns out, what Need For Speed really means is: Speed, Style, Crew, Build, and Outlaw; the pillars of the series. Mash them all together and you have Need For Speed (2015). And then just add a gorgeous new engine, and tack on Live-Action cutscenes, composited over real-time CG backgrounds. Now you’re set.

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As its first “true” next-gen NFS game, EA‘s Need For Speed 2015 was slightly limited at its outset, its catalogue of cars left a lot to be desired when you compare it to Forza Horizons 2, and it hosted an online city with not a lot of online options. AND its actual races were not that diverse. You have your time trials where you drift around corners. You have your points-focused drift races, where you drift around corners to earn points. There’s the group races, checkpoint or free roam, where you face off against anywhere from one to four opponents, and drift around corners. And then you have group drift races, where, as a pack, you tackle the hills, and drift around corners to earn points. The closer you remain as a group, the higher the point multiplier.

Then the cops show up, sometimes even during the races, where you’re asked to escape. Each race, as you progress through the story becomes a little bit more difficult. But as long as you have the right car for the race (checkpoint or drift) then you actually remain fairly competitive throughout. Minor upgrades to your engine parts is all it takes.

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So, repeat that a hundred times, and that’s the scope of the game. There are collectibles thrown around the map as well, vistas, doughnut spots to ruin your expensive tires, and car parts.

The map is fairly large, comparable to other NFS open-city games. There’s not a lot of traffic, and you may come across a handful of other online racers competing in a race of their own, or running away from cops. Similar to NFS Rivals, NFS 2015 hosts an online-only world, filled with leaderboard tracking and friend suggested races. Having only a small grouping of other online players in your world is a nice feature, but I’m glad its limited as the online world is persistent. So when you’re competing in a race, you’ll likely see another player drive by, or through your race. The game takes place primarily at night, on rain-slick roads, so corners or other traffic isn’t always easy to see. Some parts of the city, oddly, as you drive through may suddenly be lit by the dawning sun, and these instances are sudden and jarring, like opening the door of a dark lit, blinds-closed room, into the morning sun. Like we’ve been racing all night, and suddenly realize that it’s morning, and should probably get some sleep. Not like we have a job or anything.

YOU WON’T FIND ANY TIME-LAPSE VIDEOS OF NFS’ DAY AND NIGHT CYCLE

Aside from the jarring sunrise, visually the game is absolutely stunning. A lot of love has gone into the cars and designs, and effects. The rain slick roads, reflections, and lighting at night are all life-like. The city has a lot of destructible elements, and some that are frustratingly not, which as a result will have you looking at the slow-motion spectacle that is you crashing your car. The city streets and buildings are nicely textured, but the buildings especially are somewhat plain to look at. But the developers at Ghost Games probably aren’t expecting you to be looking at the low-poly box buildings for long.

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As mentioned, the game’s story focuses on the 5 pillars that define Need For Speed, and you play a part in a small group of racers waiting to be noticed by the 5 real-world motorsport and street racing icons, who each represent one pillar. As you race through the story, and earn reputation in each focus, you then get to face off against each icon. The final races have you facing off against all the story characters and each Icon to become the Ultimate Icon. Happy ending. Fin.

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There’s been a lot of bemoaning about the story in Need For Speed, and how it’s told through terribly acted Live-Action cutscenes. Everyone is super hyped, or super jealous, and they live out of trailers, or auto work-shops, listening to Dead Mou5, and drinking Monster. It’s terribly cliché, but it doesn’t actually detract or distract from the game.

The game is still fun. Sure it feels like all the races are exactly the same. And there are some gripes about the loose handling, or that in designing the game in Frostbite, the developers have turned the vehicles into four million pound bricks that can hardly take a jump. The lack of interesting things in the city did make the trips between each race kind of tedious, and instead, I found myself just transporting to the start line, as the loading times were minimal.

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Since its release last November, the game has seen some free love from EA and Ghost Games. They’ve made some of the Icon cars playable, added a race tournament, they’ve bolstered the player’s vehicle garage from 5 to 10 store-able vehicles, added Drag style races, and some Roadster vehicles, as well as improved some of the online functionality, adding the ability to challenge other racers on the fly, or invite them to take part in the campaign races. They’ve also added a photographer mode to capture your vehicle, and your beautifully hand-crafted artistic wraps, in-game. Almost like they knew they were releasing the game less than full. Extra effort has been put into the online functionality and competitive racing scene.

Now, after release, the game feels complete, and a better positioned contender for your harddrive’s storage or internet’s bandwidth than in November. Not to mention, at a lower price point.

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In the Achievement department, the game is very generous. Most are story related, and will be unlocked by just completing all the races. Every new DLC addition adds new achievements as well, to encourage people to come back, as these are overly generous in Gamerscore numbers.

Notable Achievements
Choo Choo! (Complete the drift train mission with the Risky Devil crew) – 30G

Wrap It Up (Download a Shared Wrap) – 80G
Filter Addict (Take a snapshot with a filter in the Snapshot Pro Mode) – 80G

See? Super generous.

-iRogan

 

WHAT i’M PLAYING

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I’m overdue for an update. What have I been playing?

Shadow Complex
My last update consisted of a Review for Shadow Complex. I revisited this game after it was re-released on the Xbox One, re-mastered. You can check it out here.

Call of Duty Advanced Warfare
I finished the campaign for Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare. As I’m not an “online competitive gamer” I’m typically a year behind on Call of Duty games. The campaigns are usually solid, but since I’m not mad crazed over the online competition, picking the game up at full price is usually not worth it. And since I’ve been know to write reviews well after the game becomes irrelevant, there’s no incentive in picking up the game at release, when I have so much else to play. Expect a review soon.

Mad Max
Mad Max was a great game, so expect a review for it soon. It also has a photo editor, so I’ll be adding a gallery to the in-game photo section. I can’t speak highly enough about how fun this game was. It did have some drawbacks, mainly about the length of the game and size of the word, and boring busy-body side-missions, but nothing felt better than taking on a convoy, and ripping people out of their vehicles with the toe-cable.
Mad Max (4)

Lords of the Fallen:
As one of  March’s Xbox Free Games With Gold, I gave this a try. It’s sort of a poor-man’s Dark Souls. This should probably be under the “What I’m No Longer Playing” section, but I don’t have one of the those.

EA SPORTS Rory McIlroy PGA TOUR
I don’t know what it is about golf games, but they are addictive. I’ve completed the main tour, and I’m working on some of the side mini-games. Review soon – it’s not as bad as some have made it out to be, but it is definitely lacking in some areas. But the same complaint can be made towards every single EA “next-gen” launch/transition titles.

NEED FOR SPEED
A re-branding or re-imagining of sorts, EA has been a fun game to play over the past while. Pundits will complain about Live Action cutscenes, but these don’t deter from the final product. At launch the game was limited, but since then EA has updated the title with some fresh new vehicles and gameplay modes, as well as bolstering the online environment, allowing others to join in on the campaign races, as it is a populated world. So now that the game is considered complete, I’ll write a review for it.
Need for Speed™ (6)

Tom Clancy’s The Division
Holy cow have I been playing this game a lot and I’ve been having a lot of fun. It even inspired me to create a journal/diary to the game. You can check that out here. Only 5 entries as of this post, but I hope to continue it more as I progress through the campaign.
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DIRT Rally
I just picked this game up before the weekend, so I haven’t had the chance to fully dive into it yet, but expect some more info throughout the week, and in-game photos. So far its very good looking (not as great as I’d hoped) and its not easy to jump right into, and requires patience to master, which I appreciate.

Hitman
Deciding to release this game as Episodic was an interesting choice. Not sure if it’s because the game is incomplete or they’re wanting to spread out the title so that it’s not immediately forgotten after the launch window. It might be a smart choice. Either way it looks fantastic, with beautiful environments and lighting. And it actually allows the player to focus on each mission, playing it numerous different ways while we wait for the next episode.

Rocket League
A fun local and online soccer game with cars. I’ve been playing online with ILLESTRADER and I started up the season mode locally to try and knock off some achievements. Fun times had by all.

Well that’s no short list. Hopefully I’ll be able to knock some of this stuff off the list before month end.

In other news, E3 is around the corner in June and I am super stoked. Some of the developers have decided not to have their big conference at E3 and instead have decided to host it the day before – most notable EA. Last year Bethesda hosted theirs the day before and they’ll be doing so again, but this year EA is following suit and hosting their EA Play event. Either way I’ll be watching  and blogging. Its and exhausting 2 days of conferences, but I love it. Expect lots of news on June 12 and 13

Take care,

-iRogan

Day ?? – A Diary Divided: The Division

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What follows is a chronological order of events that take place in a series, written by an Agent within The Division who shall remain anonymous. He shares his nickname at the end of each entry, so that his friends and family will recognize, that they may keep up to date with his journey. The entries are date stamped the day they are received, which may not reflect the day they were written, as some entries may cover multiple days. They are posted as they come in, unaltered.

04-17-16

DAY ??

I don’t know what day it is, how long I’ve been here, or if this nightmare will ever end. The gangs are just getting stronger. Day turns into night and night into day in a haze. Most days I don’t even leave my apartment unless I need to stock up on food.

One of the last missions I remember taking part in was scanning medical containers on the rooftops, and now I’m starting to wonder if all these trips into heavily contaminated areas are starting to have an effect on my health, or maybe my memory. I haven’t felt sick, but the doctor said that we wouldn’t see  symptoms immediately. Maybe I’ve contracted a different strain of the virus. Who knows. 

I did want to check in today and explain the delay in my recent letters deliveries. A couple weeks ago we got the call to take out the Cleaners Headquarters. They’ve held themselves up in some sort of Power Plant or Napalm Plant along the river. The place was huge and inside housed numerous propane and gas tanks that were supplying the cleaners. ARCHITECT and PIKEY joined me to clear out the Plant and destroy the tanks. The plan therein would limit the number of Cleaners on the streets as they were burning a lot of the buildings down.

TOM CLANCY'S THE DIVISION (7)

The mission went smooth enough with the help of ARCHITECT and PIKEY but my Chromebook was destroyed when my backpack got torched. I snagged it on some scaffolding in the construction site that flanked the Plant, and that’s where we came across the first wave of enemies. I’ve since gotten a new pack from HQ but lost my means to write letters. Most of the city has been looted, so it took me a week or so to find another Notebook that was halfway decent and compact enough to lug along with me. I also lost my USB drive, but after scouring a few PC shops in the heavily destroyed mall, I was able to locate another. So we’re back up and running at least.

I’ve since parted ways with ARCHITECT, and I haven’t seen PIKEY in ages. Hopefully he didn’t die. The Divisions crew has been hurting for new members, so losing any is a big blow. I did meet up with a new Division member who goes by ILLESTRADER. Hopefully by teaming up we can survive longer.

I split up with ARCHITECT because I felt his mind was starting to go the way of the Cleaners. Everyone we came across was an enemy. Even the dogs in the streets. He would just shoot them, without mercy. And more oft than not he’s been spending time in the Dark Zone which is where we’ve lost a lot of agents. It’s essentially a huge quarantined area with tall walls. This is where the outbreak hit heaviest, and no one is supposed to enter. Think Chernobyl. There’s no power either. But a lot of Agents have taken to it. They no longer help the Division, and have taken the gear and supplies and setup shop. Without allegiance to the remaining Division Agents either, they’re considered another Gang and must be either eliminated or avoided at all cost. But if ARCHITECT wants to stay in there, so be it. 

-iRogan
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Revisted iReview – SHADOW COMPLEX REMASTERED

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SHADOW COMPLEX REMASTERED

Publisher: Microsoft Game Studio and Epic Games
Developer: Chair Entertainment and Epic Games
Platform: Xbox One
Availability: Xbox 360, Windows, Xbox One, PS4

I played the original release of ChAIR’s Shadow Complex back in 2009 as an Xbox 360 Arcade title. The title at the time  broke the mold as far as 2D side-scroller action games were considered. The world is actually fully three-dimensional but the player can only move on the 2D plane. Mixing up the genres, the player can shoot in the 3RD dimension as some enemies will be in the background. Luckily the game’s shooting mechanic are pretty forgiving in these instances, knowing that the enemies are actually in the background, and will assist the player when aiming. Now Epic Games has remastered it and released it for the PC, Xbox One, and PS4 in the summer.

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The game is a 3rd-person action platformer and follows Jason Flemming and his new girlfriend Claire. They’re out on a camping expedition and stumble across some caves that lead to a hidden underground base filled with enemy soldiers and futuristic technology. Claire is captured and we are tasked with navigating the complex to save her and uncover the story behind the massive complex.

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The whole game takes place in the underground facility, and mountainous region directly above. As the player progresses through the game, we start to get access to some of the future tech, starting with a jump pack to allow us to double jump, then grenades, and assault rifle. We then find an advanced suit, a foam gun, missile launcher and hook shot. The player’s flashlight will highlight objectives and colour-coated hidden areas. Each weapon allows the player to advance into new areas:the gun can shoot through yellow grates or floor panels, grenades can blast through green walls or rocks, the foam gun can freeze or explode purple paneling, and the missile launcher explodes through red blast shields. Each unlock is staggered throughout the facility while exploring, but will also encourage re-treading the map and exploration later one when everything is unlocked to find all the game’s many collectible collectibles. The hidden key cards are required to unlock the suit’s last upgrade – however this is not required to complete the game.

The gameplay and visuals really stood out at the time, for a 360 Arcade title, and it still stands up today. The remastering has brought brighter colours, and some better lighting and textures – Jason’s face especially. Claire has not seen that same upgrades though -maybe it’s true that men age more gracefully. The facility textures have been upgraded too, but with that, the land above in the mountains have not seen the same attention. There are still some hiccups in frame rate when a cut-scene initiates or in an especially large area with a large number of enemies.

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The game has a diverse set of enemies from the foot and rocket + shield soldiers and special ops with a hook shot of their own. Then there are some mechanized walkers and a few spider tank bosses, and a huge bi-pedal boss with a shield.

*spoilers ahead*

The bulk of the story is only revealed at the end. The whole time in the facility we get the impression that this base is meant as a staging ground for something bigger, but our main focus is tracking down Claire and escaping. When we finally get the chance to do so, Jason lets Claire escape and we go back to shut the operation down. The final section concludes with a large airship leaving the base as we confront the leader, and find out that they’re going to invade San Francisco. Having unlocked all the suit’s perks and weapons, we attempt to survive the final stage while taking down the airship with some programmable nuclear warheads and shooting them at the airship – that the base has active warheads, and the player is able to initiate their launch notwithstanding.

The COBRA-esk villain approaches Jason threateningly, and in turn ends up with a bullet in his head thanks to our returning friend, Claire. Turns out she’s NSA and used us as a cover to infiltrate the base. She killed the boss in an attempt to save us from killing him in cold blood. Are you kidding me? The game tallied it up for me: I killed 798 soldiers to save you and the world! But thank-you Claire, my conscience is clean. I’ll sleep easier.

“LUCKILY THERE ARE PLENTY MORE FISH IN THE SEA”

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The controls are smooth and intuitive, and aside from a few visual glitches the Remastered Edition is just as fun as I remember the original being. My only gripe is some inconsistencies in the enemy AI. In some of the larger stages, enemies off-screen will see the player without being provoked and start shooting immediately, before we can even see them, but other cases the player can walk up to enemies completely unaware, and do a stealth take down.

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The game should be lauded for its gameplay: it’s built around the idea that you can infiltrate the facility with minimal weapons and perks a la Metal Gear Solid, so there are a lot of sneaky paths and creative ways to attack each section. Or you can go in guns blazing, removing every foe in your path. Choose your own adventure.

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The remastered edition also brings with it a slew on new achievements encouraging playing the game in creative ways, collecting all the collectibles, and killing the bosses in different ways.

–For those that like remastered games, 2D Metroid/Castlevania/Mega-Man Games, or those that wished they could abandon the princess half-way through the story.

Notable Achievements
Status Update: Single (Complete the game by abandoning Claire to her fate) – 30G
Hook, Line, and Sinker (Kill an enemy with the Hookshot) – 20G

-iRogan