Name: F1 2017

Developer: Codemasters

Publisher: Codemasters, Koch Media

Released: 25th of August, 2017

Platforms: PC, Xbox One and PlayStation 4

Reviewed on: PC

Is this the year where Formula 1 proves it’s still the pinnacle of motorsport (games)? Or will it be an engine failure?

It has been massive expectations to this year’s game. And with Formula 1 having a massive regulations-change this year, the physics engine has had to be revamped, luckily Codemasters has pretty much nailed it. They’ve also added loads of stuff to do, both in and out of the car, and with a whole new game mode, this game has truly lived up to the expectations.

Graphics

First thing that has to be said; this game is stunning to look at. It is by far the best looking game in the series, with blisters on the tires gradually working up, the bodywork slowly drying when you’re in the garage after a wet session, and the engine smoke coming from my McLaren-Honda looking just as it does in real life.

Gameplay

The gameplay feels very realistic to me, who’s an amateur I’ll admit – as I’ve obviously never driven a Formula 1 car myself, but I have driven a fan-simulator at the McLaren-museum, and have driven a fair bit of karting. It must be said that the tires feel just a tiny bit too slippery, with the new regulations supposedly making mechanical grip much better than it has been in years. Otherwise I can’t remember thinking “this feels wrong”, and that is amazing thing to know after playing the game for (almost) four days straight.

This is the first time I’ve caught myself thinking “free practice was actually useful before this race”, as it is filled with small tasks, such as learning the racing line around the track, managing tyres and fuel, and race-simulation, that all grants you R&D-points, if you are able to complete them, that is.

New of this year is the players having to deal much more with engine wear, tyre wear and gearbox issues. As I’ve been playing mostly as a McLaren-Honda driver, the parts kept breaking all the time the first season, before I invested enough R&D-points in reliability. I did not think more about it, as good ol’ Alonso have 5(?) DNF’s so far this season. However, according to Steam users this is an issue with all the cars, at least when you’re not playing 100% race length, although I have not experienced troubles with that myself, I feel this has to be mentioned.

A short note about the “live the life”-aspect of the game it feels somewhat repetitive, and very scripted, I do totally understand that the game need to tell you about how upgrades might fail and such, but it was very obvious that it was destined, at least the first time it happened. I also want to mention Jeff, your race engineer, we have a love/hate relationship, but he feels like a real person, and I keep shouting “shut up, Jeff!” (which you actually can do in-game as well) when he keeps talking while I struggle through a corner, as opposed to thinking of him as “the engineer”, he truly is Jeff.

This year’s game brings back classic cars, and that is a true joy! It’s fun, it’s fast and them appearing during the career mode was a good break from the Honda engine breaking down, I now understand why Fernando Alonso went to IndyCar for a weekend.

The “Championship” game mode is also a great addition to the game, while re-playing the career can be quite boring, this suddenly makes single-player a much better experience for a long period of time before becoming a chore.

Name: 7 Days to Die
Release Date: 28 June 2016 (consoles) 13 December 2013 (PC)
Developer: The Fun Pimps
Publisher: Telltale Games
Genre: Survival Horror
Platform: PS4, Xbox One, PC, Linux, Mac OS
Reviewed on: PS4

7 Days to Die was an early access game on Steam back in December 2013, but now the game is released on consoles as well. Telltale games does have its name on the box art, but have in mind that they didn’t develop the game, they just published it on the consoles.

Story
There isn’t a linear story behind this game, basically the main quest here is as the title says, survive.

Gameplay + Graphics
Let us first get all the negative things about the game away first.
If you are looking for a game with excellent graphics, then this isn’t for you. Since 7 Days to Die is an Indie Game from the studio The Fun Pimps, and is still in Alpha version on both PC and now consoles as well. The console version of the game got the update from 26 March called Alpha 14, but the most recent update released 20 June Alpha 14.7 was only released on PC. So the console version might be a little behind the updates from launch. The console version is said to be a standalone version of this game, but this might be the same system as Blizzard’s Overwatch. (Pre-released in early stages, so both platforms get equal updates)  

Textures are blurry, objects pop ins are frequent and the character models of both player and enemies exhibit the animation range of a mannequin. The framerate on the PS4 isn’t that good and will freeze on certain points, especially when it auto saves. The combat is quite the same as the Dead Island games, but less polished. It feels clumsy sometimes and I’m still trying to figure out how the bow and arrow works.

The few issues the console version has now, are something that’s discussed on reddit and how to workaround it. But in my opinion the game doesn’t suffer huge problems as many people would say, and hey, it’s an indie game and it’s still in alpha version.

If you love Minecraft this game would not feel different, The Fun Pimps aren’t ashamed in borrowing a few elements and inspiration from Minecraft. 7 Days to Die takes these elements and puts it into the survival aspect and uses this as the basis for the whole experience, and for me this is perfectly okay. You collect resources such as wood, rocks, feathers and many many more. You can collect from almost everything in the game. As written before the game doesn’t have an linear story, but the quest is to survive. You begin in an open world and start collecting resources and building or finding shelters. The game also features a short tutorial in the beginning to get you started.

As the day goes by and night slowly ascend to you, the undead is changing. During the day the undead walks and isn’t that aggressive, but during the night all hell breaks loose as the undead starts running and is more aggressive towards you (default settings, can be changed)
You can set up a series of traps to defend yourself from the various enemies in the world for survival, same as gaining experience in cooking skills for food to stay alive. Or you can go rambo style and loot everything you find and find shelter in houses or caves during night. The variety of gameplay is many. But keep in mind that the game holds it’s word on the title.

7 Days to Die is more fun to play with friends either online or split screen. As the experience by playing alone gets quite boring in length. One big issue I have with this game, is the lack of option to play split screen online, if you have a girlfriend/boyfriend or just a friend visiting and both of you want to play with other friends online, well then you guys must take turns or just play by yourself in singleplayer mode. (Must play single player mode for split screen).

The Verdict
Any Minecraft gamer will know the addiction and absorbing effect of playing a crafting survival game, and 7 Days to Die does delivers this experience as the hours fly by while you play. Especially with friends online or split screen. The game dosen’t look that bad regarding graphics or gameplay, I think it looks pretty good to be an indie game and still in alpha version.
The game is a very enjoyable experience for a long time despite a few technical issues.

8/10
+ Gameplay Experience
+ Variety of crafting
+ Easy yet challenging to learn
– A few technical issues
– Lack of split screen option online
-/+ Addictive

Name: Dead Island Definitive Edition
Plattform: PS4, Xbox One, PC
Reviewed on PS4
Developer: Techland
Publisher: Deep Silver

The original Dead Island game came out in 2011 on last generation of consoles and PC. I’ve played Dead Island on the Playstation 3 system, and I would probably give it a score around seven or eight out of ten.
But it isn’t the the game released in 2011 that I’m reviewing right now, Deep Silver has published a remastered version of all the games. Including all the DLC’s as “One Punch Mode”, “Ryker” and more. Even a retro version of the Dead Island universe.

The Story
To sum things up, you are stuck on an island full of zombies and need to escape. If you are familiar with the story, you could easily say that it isn’t changed. You are still in trouble with a bunch of zombies.

If you’re not familiar with the Dead Island story, let me try to summon it up for you. You are on paradise island Banoi for holiday and having a blast with drinks and parties. Suddenly a infection spreads around the island and starts turning people into the living dead. You wake up in the middle of the s*** and will try to survive on the island, help others and maybe escape.

The Graphics
Overall the games have been beautifully remastered for this generation. You can see that the developers have been focusing on textures, lighting and small details. There was many moments I’ve just had to stop and watch as the sunset went down. But that is pretty much it, the characters are still in “2011 mode” and haven’t got that much attention.

The Gameplay
Back in 2011 Dead Island suffered from bugs and glitches that went on to the gameplay experience. But in the remastered version, all that is gone. Yes maybe not all the bugs, but the few ones that was there weren’t that noticeable.

Crafting different weapons for bashing the heads of zombies in bikini is still fun, it is repetitive but still fun as hell. You got your main storyline of course and side quest like bringing water to survivors, and finding lost teddy bears. The side quests can be qutie boring in the length, but that’s not new to the game.

The only big problem I got with the remastered version of Dead Island is the frame rate. It’s on 30FPS, and today’s standard should be 60FPS.
I didn’t notice the frame rate problem to be a huge problem on Dead Island, but on Riptide I felt it was unplayable. And that’s a shame, since I think it is a very good game.

Slaying zombies with friends on Banoi makes Dead Island and Riptide much more interesting and more fun.
I actually had more fun playing the “Jack Black” look a like retro version of Dead Island in Dead Island Retro Revenge that followed the Definitive edition, when I was playing alone.

The Verdict
Dead Island and Dead Island Riptide does look good in the remastered version from Deep Silver’s new engine that also developed Dying Light.
But unfortunately the gameplay does not satisfy for this generation of consoles with up to 30FPS and with a huge frame rate problem on the Riptide version. But Dead Island is fun to play with friends, and the retro version is also fun to play as stand alone game.

7/10
+ Graphics (its a must on a remastered version)
+ A lot of content
+ Fun to play with friends
+ Fun Retro version

– Frame Rate
– A little repetitive side quests
– Not appealing to veterans of the series

Reviewed on the Playstation 4

Back in 2011 THQ released a new shooter game called Homefront, and I was surprised on how good the game actually was. If you know the story behind the “Red Dawn” movies, you will get the feeling that you’re in part of that world. Yes the game has its flaws and some copied from Battlefield and Call of Duty, but hey. It was an alright shooting game.

But then THQ got bankrupt, and a new studio and publisher took over. Dambuster Studios and Deep Silver. The sequel was suppose to launch one to two years after, but got delayed a few times. And now five years later we finally got the sequel, but was it worth the wait?

The Story
The story behind Homefront: The Revolution is that North-Korea has invaded america by using a “backdoor” entrance in the technology they sold to the states. Everything from phones, tablets and even military equipment.
We follow our character in a bombed Philadelphia and a small group of people who are fighting back.

The story itself is quite genious, but how the story is told in this game is not worth writing about. It is just unbearable to focus on the story in around 20 hours gameplay. The acting is bad and I never got the feeling to know the people around me. Even the NPC’s around the camp are the same, I found two NPC’s next to each other who looked exactly like.

They say the game is open world, but you follow a very linear story through  the world.

The Gameplay

There is a huge bug in the Playstation 4 version of the game, and that is “lag”. The gameplay feels sloppy and it’s constantly jumping around, with Doom and Uncharted 4 released with 60 FPS, Homefront: The Revolution is a long way under 30 FPS, and that is something I will say is unacceptable in 2016. A bad plot and sloppy gameplay destroys the fun out of a game that could be a fantastic one.

But everything is not negative in Homefront: The Revolution. Like in FarCry you take over enemy camps and destroys a lot of enemy vehicles. Only problem is that this can be a little repetitive, but hey it is repetitive in FarCry too and I loved it.

The big plus in this game is the co-op mode, this mode feels more complete then the story mode. Here you team up with either friends or random people online, the mission is to either defend or attack different areas in Philadelphia. The other thing that this game nailed, is weapon customization. Detailed and fun to use and of course you feel the difference when you change something.

The Graphics
If we see away from the unpolished gameplay and badly made NPC’s, the graphics of the city is quite beautifully made and detailed. Landmarks and bombed homes that are illustrating the invasion is good. But that’s pretty much it. Dambuster Studio hasn’t used the potential of the Playstation 4 and it still feels like we’re in last generation of consoles.

The PC version of this game is more beautiful and more polished, same as the gameplay on PC. So the developer team has been very lazy when it comes to the console version of this game.

The Verdict

The cool concept and the beautiful world in Homefront: The Revolution, despite the co-op is not enough to make this game feel complete. The feeling lays with unpolished and to repetitive gameplay, and it’s simply failing on delivering a first person shooter game.

My score is based on the Playstation 4 version of this game. It might be a little better on the PC, since the game is more polished there.

3/10
+Weapon Customization
+ World Design
+ Multiplayer

– Unpolished and annoying bugs
– Repetitive gameplay
– Story telling

Name: Project Cars 2

Developer: Slightly Mad Studios

Publisher: Bandai Namco Entertainment

Released: 22nd of September, 2017 (Worldwide)

Platforms: PC, Xbox One and PlayStation 4

Reviewed on: PlayStation 4

As a fan of the first Project Cars, I was more than excited when I got my hands on the follow-up, could it live up to the expectations? Would it be adding enough new features? How would the driving feel be? With all this in mind, I sat down with my trusty PS4 and started my engine.

Graphics

First things first; this is the prettiest racing game I’ve ever played. The lighting is amazing, the cars look stunning, as does the environment. One thing that annoys me though is the (very) small edge over the windscreen (in some cars) that isn’t filled in with the shading from the sponsor logo. I also want to mention the “helmet camera” that lets you see from inside the helmet, it’s very cool, but the helmet has a bit of a rough edge. I know it’s very difficult to get round shapes completely smooth, but it would make the camera angle even more impressive especially if you have a VR headset. PSVR has yet to be confirmed other than a “We are seeing if we could make it work” from the developers. However, Project Cars 1 had support for Oculus Rift, so it seems likely that Project Cars 2 will have a VR-mode, at least on PC. With an improved outline inside the helmet, this camera angle plus VR will be a match made in heaven!

Gameplay

The gameplay is very good, but it’s not perfect. Some of the cars has a really weird feeling under braking, and some of them feels just a little bit too sensitive when you’re accelerating out of a corner, no matter how gentle I try to be.

The major complaint I have about the game is the career mode. I’m honestly not entirely sure what the exact problem I have with it is, because it feels both too open, and too restricted. I don’t feel the urge to win every single event, which I did in the first game, and that makes it a bit boring. On the plus side the career mode is much more complete than in the first game, with the dirt events (and cars) being a great addition, there’s more events happening through the career, as well as many more tracks and the fact that the invitational events are stuffed in a seperate folder, so you don’t have to play them again unless you really want to makes the game less nagging than its predecessor. I still feel like the career mode is a bit too focused on moving up the tiers each season, which meant I never got to feel like a car was really mine, and not just a step on the ladder, until I moved into the final tier.

Outside of the career the 180 cars you can drive lets you try out each circuit more times than you’ll probably ever need. And this is where I had the most fun with the game, be it in a (licensed) IndyCar or a “slow” Ford F-150, the feeling when you set a new personal best is amazing, and with all the tweaking allowed I kept feeling the need to try out what a tiny tweak could do with my lap times. In my mind the time trials is the game’s best side, I’ve been playing the time trials way more than I’d like to admit, but it just feels so damn rewarding when you put together the perfect lap.

Controls

As this is a simulator the possibilities to adjust all the controls to your liking is immense, even on PS4. And although it feels a bit overwhelming at first, it is an excellent feature that you can tweak pretty much everything. I played with a Dualshock 4 controller, which is less accurate than a wheel and pedals would have been. It will obviously be much more life-like controls if you have a wheel to play with, but during my time with the game I didn’t mind not having that at my disposal. Playing with a Dualshock feels very good, it would just have been even better controls with a wheel.

Name: That’s You!
Developer: Wish Studios
Publisher: Sony Interactive Entertainment
Platform: PlayLink for PlayStation 4
Released: 4, July (PS Plus) 5, July (Retail)

Sony are publishing a new video game in hopes of bringing in more casual gamers into the market. How are they going to do that?; by using a new platform they call “PlayLink”. This new platform uses smartphones and tablets as controllers instead of the standard Dualshock 4. And we are looking more into a new game called “That’s You” in this review that’s using this new platform.

What is That’s You!?

That’s You! is a new party game that’s all about you and your friends. By combining your console, smartphone or tablet and of course a TV will That’s You! Bring you tons of questions about the people in the room (or online). Answer questions by multiple choice, drawing and photo activities You’ll need to download an app on your smart device, it’s free to download and doesn’t require tons of battery or space.

Good to know facts

• That’s You! is the first title who uses PlayLink
• Smart devices and your console must be on the same Wifi / Network
• Can be played up to six players on the same TV
• Can not play multiple persons on the same screen online
• Use jokers to double your score if you think your opponents will answer the same as you
• There are thousands of questions integrated in That’s You!, but you can also create your own questions ingame.

Launch Trailer

Gameplay
This game requires you to have friends, and if you want to play online you’ll need to have them on your friendslist. The gameplay is simple and easy to pick up, and that’s a good thing if you want to add older or other family members who aren’t familiar with technology. However, the amount of fun depends a lot on you and your friends creativity. The in-game announcer isn’t that funny as they try to be. Further into a game session, you’ll get questions that requires you to either draw a picture or take a selfie to look like an animal or other different faces. This is something that can be really interesting if people are playing serious, and not drawing / taking dirty pictures.

Each round has different themes such as classroom, jail, camp site and more.

(Would this person rather eat snakes or starve to death?)

Soundtrack / Graphics

The graphics might not be to impressive to look at, but it’s just “background noise”.

But bringing up realtime photos of you and friends is a nice touch, the game isn’t fast and realistic graphics, but sure does a good try to be a party game for everyone. The soundtrack might be annoying in length though, not that the soundtrack is bad. It’s just that the numerous of different soundtrack is kind of low and repetitive.

Verdict

That’s You! does work impressively with the new platform PlayLink, sadly this title has it’s flaws even for a question party game. This title limits the availability for people to join on the same screen online, for example; two couples wants to play each other online because of distance, only one of each couple can join the game. But it brings out your creativity and the game is easy to learn how to play, even for your “non-gamers” in your family or friends.

6/10

+ Easy to learn
+ Brings out your creativity
+ Works perfect with PlayLink
– Repetitive soundtrack
– Limited online access
– Repetitive gameplay  

Is Zombies Chronicles worth playing again?

Name: Zombies Chronicles (DLC for Call of Duty: Black Ops 3)
Developer: Treyarch
Publisher: Activision
Released: 16, May PlayStation 4 (Xbox One & PC TBA)

It all began back in Call of Duty: World at War as an easter egg after you finished the campaign mode. And from that it has exploded with major popularity within the community, and new maps after maps has been added.

But now, nine years later have Treyarch re-released some of the old maps in form of an remastered bundle edition for Call of Duty: Black Ops 3. Eighth of the most popular zombie maps has gone through a detailed upgraded look visually, perk machines added, gumball machines and much more has been added to the old maps that is “normal” in today’s maps. But is this add-on for Black Ops 3 worth your time and money?

The Maps

Nacht der Untoten

Originally released in World at War, an abandoned airfield plagued with infinite hordes of the undead.

Verrûckt

Originally released in World at War, a German asylum called Wittenau Sanitorium. Explore the mysterious corridors  with dark secrets.

Shi No Numa

Originally released in World at War, a swamp located in Japanese territory and with the introduction of hellhounds.

Ascension

Originally released in Black Ops, an abandoned Soviet Cosmodrome with undead experiments running around. Do not forget to catch those monkeys!

Shangri La

Originally released in Black Ops. A labyrinth of underground caverns, filled with deadly traps, dark secrets and of course an infinite horde of the undead.

Moon

Originally released in Black Ops, hordes of floating undead? No thanks.

Kino Der Toten

Originally released in Black Ops, crawler zombies and deadly traps occurs in this abandoned cinema.

Origins
Originally released in Black Ops 2. The greatest evil the world has seen has been released.

Graphics + Gameplay

The graphics in video games has been changed drastically. More realistic, better animations and so on. But for almost a decade ago when Nacht der Untoten was revealed to us as an easter egg, my mind was blown away. Dark, scary setting humbled the room, and suddenly a detailed german soldier with red eyes approached. It wanted my brain!

I loved, and still do the “old” graphics of these maps, including the weapons we can use in each map. The decision of adding all the new futuristic weapons from Black Ops 3, and removing the old weapons (some of the old weapons is available, but just in a “Black Ops 3” version) isn’t something that I’m fond of. Some of the maps has been “upgraded” to more futuristic setting, that is a shame though. But i another hand, Treyarch has done a very good job upgrading the maps. Visuals, colours, sounds and much more has had its special touch from the developers, and they do not disappoint on that front.

Some of the familiar bugs that we (I know you did) exploited in the original version are now gone. But easter eggs, how to start the rock themed music and so on is still there. This map pack bundle of old zombie maps might be an excellent option for newcomers to play. As they can learn and play the backgrounds story of todays maps and story hands on.