Star Wars: Battlefront

Rating: 7.3

Happy Price: 29.99

Gameplay

A first or third person shooter that plays entirely online and is PvP or PvE. There are a variety of game modes that focus on: heroes, vehicles, traditional deathmatch, and all three of these combined. Despite the characters, weapons, and environment at your disposal it is a very underwhelming experience.

Level Design

The maps are huge and open. Cover is sparsely placed which makes it extremely difficult to get anything done. Far too often does a player spawn, with nothing but an open area ahead, and then shot by an opposing player without having a chance to defend themselves. It is frustrating when trying to head to an objective without a safe path to get there. The player should have the choice of sprinting out in the open to get somewhere fast, or taking the smarter approach by utilizing cover. This choice is not available unless playing on smaller maps designed for 8v8 or 6v6. Navigating through the different levels feels very desolate and is not immersive. This would be ok if vehicles were readily available at all times creating a place that allows for free flowing vehicle warfare. Unfortunately vehicles are a rare occurrence that are acquired via tokens placed in the battlefield. The maps should have been designed for vehicles or players on foot. It seemed all of them had vehicles and aerial battles in mind. Unfortunately that rarely happens. So there are these huge maps designed for vehicles that have a bunch of players sprinting around on foot. It does not tie together and the maps just are not fun.

Game Modes

At the time of this review there are ten different multiplayer PvP game modes. I tried to get into all of them, tried as hard as I could to find the fun in them, but did not have any success. The two that stand out were fighter squadron and hero hunt. Fighter squadron is the dogfight game mode with X-wings and Tie fighters. It is a fun mode for a limited amount of time, but in my opinion is the most immersive. It would have been even better if all players were locked in first person mode. If one player is in third person and the other in first person, the player using third person view has an advantage. Sometimes too much choice is bad. Heroes vs Villains is my favorite, but feels different when in a party or with random people. It is a 6v6 match that has 3 players on each side using a hero from either the Rebel Alliance or Imperials. It's round based, so everyone gets a turn to play as a hero. It is very engaging and requires the most strategy of any game mode. Maps are small, full of cover, and allow for teamwork.

Progression

The progression system is terrible. It is very strange when you achieve a score of 4,396 but then at the end of the game the score gets rolled down, right before your eyes, to a measly 440 experience. Why was I given the points in the first place? It makes no sense to give the player 10% of their score to be the exp earned for that round. What can you do with those points? You can buy different heads. I'm not kidding, for 1,000 exp you can buy a white guy, with a grey beard and black hair. It's predefined, you can't just purchase an asset like a hairstyle or a different color uniform. Weapons are very expensive and none of them seem to be better than any other. They have fixed stats across all weapons. What I mean is the Shotgun weapon will have a damage rating of 80. Then range = 6.67, rate of fire = 6.67, accuracy = 6.67. Then the blaster will have damage = 30, range = 30, accuracy = 20, rate of fire = 20. Another blaster will have those same stats but mixed around. Nothing feels more powerful than another, which doesn't make you excited about progressing. 

Art

When it comes to the models, they are very well done. Extremely detailed across the board when talking about the ships, vehicles, and character models. Everything feels authentic and true to the movies. It's one of the aspects of the game that makes it worth playing and really gives you a drive to continue to play. The problem is, artwork in games isn't suppose to do that. It's suppose to support gameplay, but not drive it.  I had a problem with the textures of the ground at times, where they felt flat and not up to next gen standards. Also animations of the blasters, there were none. I would want some sort of bolt action recoil on my blaster that makes it feel like I'm actually shooting a gun.

The animations shine when using a hero though. Playing as Darth Vader and doing a force choke is extremely rewarding. The rebel scum will float in the air holding their necks, and its a great feeling. Light saber melee action and laser deflection was done to a tee and is my favorite thing to do. Its what EA focused on during marketing, and is likely what drove anyone that bought the game to purchase it. Unfortunately those moments are rare and don't happen quite enough to keep me playing.

Sound

The strongest aspect of the game is the sound design. When Darth Vader enters the battlefield, you get the classic Imperial theme and the whole game knows that Vader is here. It is also announced on your personal radio "Vader has entered the battlefield". The same thing happens when Luke Skywalker or Han Solo enters. The whole field heres the Star Wars theme and the imperials broadcast it over their radio. The constant sound of laser blasters and ships flying overhead create an experience that feels authentic. It helps that EA has licensed the soundtrack from the original films so the team had a ton to work with. Playing the game reminds the player of the joy of watching the movies, subconsciously bringing back moments that brought great joy. Unfortunately the rest of the world doesn't support it. 

Summary

Despite the good art and great sound, the level design and progression system don't create a fun game. Its a desolate experience that is not addicting nor immersive. It's one of those games you can play for about 8 hours, work all the nostalgia out, and then put down. With all the other great games that came out in 2015, I can't justify purchasing it. Waiting for the price drop on an online game has a negative impact on gameplay, so when it comes down to it, I wouldn't buy this game. However, I'm having hard time putting it up for sale or trading it in.

Fallout 4

Rating: 9.1
Happy Price: 59.99


Gameplay

Fallout 4 combines the first person shooter, RPG, crafting, and open world genres into one package. In addition to that there is a focus on handling each situation in a unique fashion, which makes violence an option in most cases. The player is often presented with critical decisions at certain points of the game which will determine the ending, making every person's playthrough unique to one another.

Shooting

In previous iterations of Fallout, shooting guns always lacked the punch other first person shooter games had. They fixed it in Fallout 4 adding hit markers and more physical feedback to the player. An example is shooting a super mutant charging, each blast with a shotgun will cause the super mutant to be knocked back for a split second. It's a very rewarding feeling when a super mutant is holding a melee weapon and the player targets the legs with a shotgun. As the legs start to wear down the super mutant can't charge as fast, and eventually his legs will get blown off after a few shots. Less powerful enemies like Ghouls can be taken care of with a few shots to the leg with pistols and have the same effect. This allow the player to handle enemies different ways with different weapons. One thing I learned though, is taking out the legs on any enemy will usually have a good effect. There are some robots however, that will self destruct when that happens creating a nuclear explosion, so watch out! Below is some gameplay footage of me running around with an explosive shotgun, a very fun weapon.

Crafting

Adding crafting and base building was a great feature to add in the Fallout series. In previous iterations it never felt like anywhere was truly "Home". The player now has the option to make home anywhere. It can be an island paradise or a heavily fortified castle ruin. The player can live alone, or invite a bunch of settlers to create a small town. Crafting is expanded beyond just structures for settlers and yourself. Weapons and armor can also be crafted. The degree of depth to which weapons and armor can be crafted is dependent on how skill points are allocated. Melee weapons, laser weapons, ballistic weapons, and armor all have separate builds. This makes the player choose how they want to play the game, it's an important decision because upgrading certain types of weapons has a large impact on your success. However grinding can always make up for a regrettable decision.

Crafting homes and structures however, can be a painful experience. Items like floors, roofs, and walls usually lineup relatively well. There is a class of items called prefabs though, and these usually don't line up well with one another. An example is making the "Large Shack" prefab which essentially builds a two story shack with a couple rooms. Adding a staircase or wall to this structure gets annoying, and it doesn't seem like adding on to these structures was an intended use of the crafting mechanic.

Building settlements is a large part of the game, since your main goal is to retake the commonwealth from Super Mutants and Raiders. To do that, resources are needed. What used to be deemed as "junk" in previous Fallout games now carry properties that are needed to create important things like turrets and water pumps. Never have I been so excited to take TV dinner trays (aluminum) or desk fans (screws, oil) so I can add to my resource pool. I would often find myself debating which junk I should take when I was carrying too much weight. Do I grab this desk fan or this legendary 10mm pistol? Meh, I have enough pistols, better grab the fan.

The Open World

The Main storyline is optional, which makes this open world the best one in gaming. I spent hours roaming the wasteland finding my own things to do and dealing with side quests. The game starts the player in the north west corner of the map. It becomes obvious after some time that the further south you go, the harder enemies get. I racked in tons of XP by discovering hundreds of locations, raiding them, and returning back home to deposit all the junk and weapons I've acquired. I discovered all the factions and did those side missions too, making my decision on which one I identified with most. By the time I actually decided to do the main mission, I had the best weapons and armor, and full companionship with four different people. I was obsessed with finding places and going inside them, to see what stories they had to tell. Every location had something going on. Seeing two people playing chess in skeletons, a skeleton in the stall with some Jet, or the remains of two people in bed together. These little things had me asking, "what will I find next?". Every location had a purpose and I personally appreciate the effort in creating a detailed world of this scale. Below is a place called Libertalia, a town created out of floating ships with a legendary Raider at the top of the half sunk freight ship.

  

Bugs

I wish I could rate this game a 10. I think it deserves it, but there are too many instances were buggy behavior would make things take much longer than they should have. There are two notable bugs that occurred during large missions. One of them required me to board a vertibird for the brotherhood of steel. The vertibird would never show up, but I kept thinking I did something incorrectly. It took me about 45 mins of running around before I went online and found out a bunch of other people had the same issue. The other was building this object for the MAIN STORY. You will know what I'm talking about when you get there. In total, I probably lost about 5 hours because of bugs. One because I got stuck while in power armor and had done a bunch of stuff, but did not quicksave. I got so angry I had to stop playing, and returned the next day because I lost about 45 minutes of time that I had to redo.

Art

Fallout has never pushed the edge on graphics, and this installment has improved since the last, but is still underwhelming. I must say the lighting and environment usually look amazing, but characters are lackluster. Ghouls and Super mutants look flat and plasticy (not a word), instead of organic. Maybe it is the radiation causing the skin to appear more like leather and it's intended, but it seemed like I wasn't running a Xbox One game on full settings. There is a significant improvement when it came to voice animations and facial expressions during dialogue. Considering previous games did not have this, it was a pleasant surprise this feature was added

.

During combat was when the art really shined. The weapons firing, explosions going off, and limbs flying everywhere was a real treat. Firing a Fat Man is one of the most fun things to do because of the mushroom cloud that appears afterwards, rewarding the player for using a precious mini-nuke. Another rewarding action is using a single shot rifle in V.A.T.S and having a 64% chance to headshot, but when it hits the targets head flies off and blood flies eveywhere with the rest of the body in a ragdoll state. These touches give Fallout 4 its character as an ultra violent game fused with dark humor that appeals to the slightly deranged hardcore gamer.

Summary

I think it takes a certain person to enjoy the Fallout games. The fan base is devout, and it does not appeal to everyone which is a shame. Despite the bugs, this is probably the most fun game I've played this year. I could not wait to get home from work to play, which gave me a feeling I haven't had since I was a child. The game is that good and addicting. I put 87 hours into my playthrough, but I can easily put in more. I'm currently debating on starting a new game with a focus on Melee and heavy armor, just to see what that is like. This game is a must buy and is too fun to pass up.