Angry Birds: Jobcentre Edition?

In news that wasn’t very surprising, Angry Birds developer Rovio recently confirmed reports that 110 staff members have been let go as they attempt to downsize following a period of stagnation within the company.

Eurogamer reported that the job cuts “amounted to around 16% of [Rovio’s) total workforce” which is sad news for the staff considering the proximity to the New Year, but it still raises a number of questions about how the company is being run – as well as their sustainability in the future.

First of all, why does a mobile developer need a workforce of over 1000?

Let’s be honest. Rovio basically have one game, (Angry Birds) that was (and still is) hugely successful, with over 200m active users as of September 2014, but numbers have been falling since its 263m peak in 2012.

They’ve continued to release numerous versions of Angry Birds over the past years, with an incredible twelve available at the last count with the addition of Angry Birds Stella. In the face of an obvious decline in their user-base, the job cuts make sense - but have Rovio already overworked the golden goose?

Rovio have attempted to expand their portfolio of games, but the results have been reasonably mixed. Retry scored highly, but critics decided The Croods was decidedly average. Either way, none of the new offerings have matched the commercial success of Angry Birds, although of course that would have been near-impossible.

Secondly, I can see why player numbers are dropping. It’s nearly 2015 and the best they have to offer is the same game with a pink bird. Ironically, I haven’t played Angry Birds since 2012 - so I checked a review on YouTube just to make sure I wasn’t missing out. As far as I could see, it was more of the same, with a few extra gimmicks bolted on to the same base game.

Angry Birds will probably be remembered as a cultural icon of the early 2010’s, and it’ll always have a loyal fan-base who will happily download every iteration they churn out, but they've over-saturated the market with their product.

Even Call of Duty can't get away with releasing reskinned games repeatedly. Sales of Advanced Warfare are reportedly down 27% in the US when compared to Ghosts, despite their latest gimmick: mech suits. Last time it was 'realistic dogs'. Do they seriously not understand why people get bored of the same old thing?

Thirdly, Rovio helped to popularise the rise of 'free' apps, and there have been issues with the pricing of console versions of their games. Angry Birds: Star Wars is a 99p iPhone app, currently available for download on the European PS Store for an astonishing £29.99.

The reviews speak for themselves:

"Angry Birds Star Wars is a shameless 50 dollar repackaging of a 99 cent iPhone game. There’s little to nothing added in the console release." GamingTrend 

"Stick with the mobile version and feel sorry for all the poor kids on Christmas morning who’s parents were fooled into thinking this was the must-have PS4 launch title." Hardcore Gamer

Source: Metacritic

Given this shameless milking, it's hard to feel too much sympathy for the company itself. They still have a valuable brand and I'll never forget the first time I saw someone walking around with an AB rucksack a few years ago. I couldn't believe how far they had come in such a short space of time. Unfortunately, you can't take success for granted - and eventually the audience will have enough.

That being said, Rovio still have the opportunity to enjoy more success, but this should serve as both a reality check for now and a reminder for the future. It's great to think big, but never take the audience for granted. 

TNA Wrestling: British Boot Camp II: Finale Review and Roundup

Despite moaning about near enough every episode of BBC, (damn filler) I couldn't help but feel proud as the season drew to a close. The show highlighted some of the best that British wrestling has to offer – and ended with a deserved winner in Mark Andrews.

There was just one match left for the last three contestants to prove their worth, and each brought their A-game as they stepped into the ring for the final time before Dixie Carter’s decision.

Rampage stepped up first, looking comfortable throughout his match against Bram. (Rampage lost, but of course every contestant had to ‘pay their dues’.) Perhaps more importantly, he was solid in the post-match interview, which was a key factor after his dismal promo attempts in the qualifying round.

Rampage has put in consistent, quality performances at every opportunity in the ring during his time on BBC. So much so, maybe I came to expect it from him, which took some of the sheen away during his bouts. In hindsight, he probably hasn't made a mistake in-ring during the process, but he was haunted by his stuttering promo with Samoa Joe.

Mark Andrews was next, facing off against DJ Z. At times, Andrews is simply amazing and his bout raised the roof compared to the first match. He was sloppy in places, but when you consider his age, (22) and his potential he was slowly becoming the obvious choice as winner.

I didn’t actually remember him properly from the first auditions, (even though I took notes) but he forced himself into the limelight with his high-flying antics – and proved me wrong with his winning personality. Andrews said afterwards that he’s had many doubters along the way, (myself included) but I saw the error of my ways after his match, which would easily have passed for a professional bout.

Kay Lee Ray was the last to enter for her contest against Gail Kim. The pressure must have been immense considering the calibre of her opposition, and the first few minutes of the match were pretty flat, which was made worse after the atmosphere during the Andrews fight.

Thankfully, it soon picked up, as Kay Lee showed her bravery and agility numerous times during the match. She even dived through the ropes and landed on her feet in an eye-catching move, and the crowd finally got going after a great technical display at the end that included some nice pinfall transitions. I just don’t understand why they started so slowly.

After the final bout, Andrews had impressed me the most, but the decision was down to Dixie Carter.

She started off by inviting the last six back, to announce that they would all feature at 2015’s Maximum Impact events, including the much hyped (by TNA at least) Al Snow vs Grado match.

Each of the last three were invited to speak with Carter one to one in a last attempt to sway her decision. Sadly, Rampage reverted to type, as nerves caused him to stumble over his words once again, which probably destroyed his chances at the final hurdle.

Whilst the others are relatively inexperienced, they handled the pressure well in comparison - though neither particularly stood out for me.

In the end, she plumped for Andrews, but not before ‘addressing concerns’ or ‘unnecessarily insulting’ all three. She was ‘concerned’ about Andrews’ physical conditioning, but with the right training he could really step up to a new level in the X Division.

Overall, the season has been a great success for both TNA and British wrestling, shining a spotlight on British talent that doesn’t always have the biggest audience, whilst TNA gain another great athlete. Mark Andrews has what it takes to do well in the future, but I could’ve said that about any of the final six.

Hopefully another season will be commissioned, but for now you could spare a thought for the people who showcased their talents during the process. If you live in Britain, there’s a good chance they’ll be putting on quality performances in a venue near you. If you liked the show, it might be worth checking out.

TNA Wrestling: British Boot Camp II: Episode 7 Review

Six contestants, and only three places in the final up for grabs. To help decide their fate, Al Snow and Angelina Love stepped into the ring with the hopefuls to compete in a mixed eight-person tag team match, which was a final chance to show what they had to offer.

As the old adage goes, you never know what you’ve got until it’s gone.

For the last few weeks I’ve been sure there was a conspiracy to keep Grado in the competition, but as he angrily shuffled off towards the end after being unceremoniously dumped out by Al Snow, I felt nothing but sadness.

Sure, it might’ve been a worked shoot, but Grado, (and to a lesser extent Dave Mastiff) have been my personal highlights of the series. With both sent home along with Noam Dar, I’m not sure if they made the right choice. Then again, I’m not the one handing out a professional contract.

Instead, I’ll just repeat some of the questions and issues that arose (solely in my mind) when I found out the final three of Rampage Brown, Kay Lee Ray and Mark Andrews.

1.        They picked Mark Andrews over Noam? Seriously? Did they actually watch the (painfully boring) eight man match? Yes, he can do backflips, but he oversells every single time. He wasn’t up against Brock Lesnar.

2.        Rampage Brown doesn’t seem to have a single defining feature.

3.       Dave Mastiff was probably always fighting a losing battle to prove himself.

4.       Kay Lee has a really good chance to win this, she’s the real deal.

5.       When all is said and done, Grado will be the one I remember. 

The match itself seems inconsequential in hindsight considering the shock of the eliminations, but it still ended strongly following a powerbomb/sitdown powerbomb combo by Rampage on Andrews that was pretty explosive. Other than that, referee Earl Hebner danced with Grado. It wasn’t a highlight.

(Andrews also pulled off another crazy flip to perfection during the match, so perhaps he can work on his timing, hand placement and selling if he does win the contract. He does have great potential.)

Rampage and Andrews are obviously great athletes, but I wonder if their characters are as well defined as Mastiff and Grado. I can see why they were picked, and either would be a deserving winner, but are they really so different to what TNA already has to offer?

As for Kay Lee, she has a great chance, and she does stand out from the crowd. This time next week, she could be the first female to win TNA’s British Boot Camp. For now, it’s too close to call.

TNA Wrestling: British Boot Camp II: Episode 6 Review

Another week of British Boot Camp, and another half-hour of filler. Instead of showing us the six-man match between the contestants as advertised, we saw the hopefuls attempting to learn the ropes in TNA’s six-sided ring, to varying degrees of success.

It wasn’t particularly action-packed, but episode six was still a marked improvement on the last outing. Whilst it was chock full of Grado flavoured filler, they also remembered to show some wrestling too, as the hopefuls were put through their paces by TNA’s Magnus, Austin Aries and DJ Z.

Al Snow was quick to stress that they were constantly being evaluated, so the pressure was on as each contestant stepped into the six-sided ring, some for the very first time.

The six-sided ring itself can be contentious, as the ropes are incredibly stiff, and there’s also the issue of injuries. The decision to use six-sides instead of four was actually a decision put to a fan vote by TNA’s management, and Aries himself took to twitter to lament the change saying:

“For those curious, I find #6sides to be far less forgiving on the body and harder to manoeuver around, especially on the top rope. #4sides”

It was somewhat ironic that he would be the one to ‘show the contestants the ropes’, but it was a lesson that they needed to understand for their own safety. Noam Dar looked like he suffered whiplash a few times as he came off the ropes at speed, but it was better than a serious injury during a live event.

Ethan Carter III was in attendance to bait Grado, but he also commented on the ring situation at the time, again on twitter:

“This is why democracy doesn’t work. You people should not have a choice when it comes to my well-being and safety. #Traditional #4sides”

Anyway, back to the wrestling. Kay Lee Ray, Rampage and Noam put in a good shift during their training, and Dave Mastiff was made to prove his conditioning, (successfully) once again against Aries.

Mark Andrews was called a little timid, (though he was the first of the contestants to go) while Grado impressed DJ Z for showing his personality and charisma during his bout.

All of a sudden, it was over. The runtime for the last two shows has been roughly 23 minutes each, compared to the “hour-long” 45 minute offerings for the first four shows. It’s a little jarring that they changed the runtime halfway through the season, as I was just settling down for the third part when it abruptly ended.

If I’m honest, it feels like they cut a normal episode in half, but I don’t think I could have actually taken the full hour of RV antics and throwing Grado in the showers that would have entailed, so I’m pretty thankful.

For now, it’s still a wrestling competition that needs more actual wrestling.

TNA Wrestling: British Boot Camp II: Episode 5 Review

After five long weeks, British Boot Camp has finally left the grey shores of the UK, moving on to the land of opportunity. And opportunity knocks for the six hopefuls, as they aimed to impress TNA owner Dixie Carter during lunch, and tried to get used to their new surroundings. (Yes, there was no wrestling.) Ho-hum.

It was never going to match last week’s high-octane live show, but this week’s episode was slower than the Great Khali. If I wanted to watch an old woman eat lunch, I could watch the Real Housewives, but perhaps I'm being facetious.

After all, the lunch meeting did contain the highlight of the show, which was the prospective matches for the six finalists if they make it through the next round. Each was paired off against a professional TNA wrestler, with Kay Lee Ray v Gail Kim and Dave Mastiff v Samoa Joe probably the pick of the bunch.

Before that though, the finalists will be pitched against each other in a six-man face-off, with only three moving forward to the 1v1 matches against the TNA pros.

I could continue for the sake of the word count, but there was literally nothing more of importance or relevance within the entire episode. Instead, there were painful scenes with Spud taking the guys out on a tour of DC, as well as ‘scenes from the RV’, but instead I’ll leave you with the words of Dave Mastiff, as he described Grado perfectly:

“He walks round in his wrestling gear 24/7, shuffling his little fat arse.”

Indeed, Mr Mastiff. I only wish the show didn’t have to shuffle through filler like this.

Advanced Warfare Multiplayer review

Advanced Warfare released a week ago as the latest iteration in the never-ending CoD franchise, promising a new take on the series’ worn-out formula. When it comes to CoD, it’s always going to be about the multiplayer, but does AW right the wrongs of the mediocre Ghosts?

I’ve played every game religiously since CoD4 on the PS3, so I thought I’d take the plunge once again, but I was still wary. COD: Ghosts was a mess, plagued with far too many issues to mention, but worst of all, it just wasn’t fun any more. Despite my misgivings, Advanced Warfare is definitely a massive improvement on Ghosts, but it still has issues of its own.

First off, the guns lack power. It regularly takes half of an AK12 clip to take an enemy down, and most guns suffer the same fate, which can be highly frustrating when there’s more than one target. 

The killstreaks are incredibly uninspired and they can take some getting to, as most take a large amount of points to get. CoD: World at War had a simple 3, 5 and 7 killstreak system. Getting a simple UAV without hardline can take four kills in team deathmatch, and there’s a noticeable lack of streaks throughout a lot of games. 

Infected only has a 12-man limit instead of the usual 18 which pretty much stops me playing, the spawn points for Ground War are a mess, and the exo perk system is near useless, apart from the stealth, which hardly ever works anyway.

Grenades of all varieties are weaker than wet tissue, the throwing knife, (throwing ball?) is pathetic and the tactical insertion takes an age to set. The new loot system is okay, (far better than Ghosts which wanted you to pay to customise your soldier) but it seems to be completely random. (At least you can trade unwanted junk for extra xp.)

Despite all of this, the game is still great fun, and the boost-jumping is much more than just a gimmick. It changes the entire landscape of the game, as you’re now forced to keep an eye on every rooftop, with the level design complementing the new changes with plenty of vantage points. The jumping also helps to curb camping, as it’s so easy to cross and flank at speed. Every location usually has 2-3 points of entry, so you can never be entirely safe if you’re trying to hide. It makes the game more exciting, with less of the corner-hugging seen in prior releases.

The class system is decent, as it keeps the point-based system first used by Black Ops II. You’re supposed to be one point away from having everything you need, and it’s very adaptable depending on your style of play.

Most importantly, for the first time in years, they seem to have sorted out the connection issues that plagued the series on the PS3, as the PS4 edition allows me to connect to all of my friends without a single error so far. Of course it should always have been this way, but it’s better late than never.

Overall, this is probably the strongest COD experience since MW2, but beneath all the hype it’s pretty much the same old game as before with a better range of movement and jumping. If you can get your friends together, it can be great fun, but it was never going to be as ground-breaking as they promised. They were going to have to tinker with the stale formula at some point, I’m just thankful that they haven’t broken it.

Overall 6/10

(This was written after the recent update.)

TNA Wrestling: British Boot Camp II: Episode 4 Review

TNA Wrestling: British Boot Camp II: Episode 4 Review

York Hall was the location as the last 16 contestants were whittled down to just six. It was time for the first of the live shows, but who would make it through? (Apart from Grado, obviously.)

Like many men across the country, I’m forced to watch the X-Factor with my better half if I’m home over the weekend. This means that over the years, I’ve come to truly appreciate the idiosyncrasies of the televised reality talent show, but that it’s also left me jaded and cynical of the format. Here’s what I thought…

16 contestants, and only six places. It was always going to be heartbreak for some. Luckily, years of reality TV has desensitised me to televised despair, but it was harsh on the ones left behind, as most were pretty talented.

Here’s a brief rundown of the matches:

The first pitted Noam Dar against El Ligero in a solid, if unspectacular encounter, with a few moments that were surprisingly sloppy. Both were promptly sent home at the end of the show, highlighting just how high the bar is.

I was really looking forward to the second, a tag-team bout featuring Joel Redman and Martin Stone v Richard Parliament and R J Singh. It didn’t disappoint, with R J Singh the pick of the bunch, showing his technical abilities with a sublime moonsault. Nonetheless, they were all sent home by the judges.

Then came the fatal four-way featuring the Owens twins, Kay Lee Ray and Nikki Storm. This was by far the best match of the first three. It had humour and hard-hitting moves, but Kay Lee stole the show with her aerial ability. She was the only one put through, after the twins were (strangely) separated, only to be sent home individually.

Mark Andrews vs Chris Travis was the one I wasn’t too sure about, but they definitely proved me wrong, as both showed their skills during this match. Andrews standing shooting-star press was very impressive, and they sold each other’s moves professionally throughout. Both were put through, but Travis later pulled out, so Noam Dar was drafted in as his replacement to go to the US.

Rampage Brown v Dave Mastiff. Mastiff is probably my favourite of the last 16, but Rampage also worked hard as both men put on a great display. Rampage also managed to get through a mic segment in the ring. It wasn’t the best, but it was passable, and far better than his mutterings from the first round. Both were duly put through, both deserved it.

The final bout pitched Grado against the East End’s Sha Samuels in a grudge match, but despite the hype, (and feeling like the main card) it wasn’t too different from their mini-bout from last week. With one spot up for grabs, it was only going to go one way, and Samuels was sent packing.

Sure, Grado might’ve had an easy ride along the way, but he still deserves to be in the final six. His intro, (to Madonna’s Like a Prayer) was probably the most entertaining part of the entire show).

The final six are a talented bunch representing some of the best that Britain has to offer, and the competition is really starting to heat up. Mastiff is my early pick to win, but it’s still too early too call.

All in all, it was great to see them finally wrestle. 

Making people rage quit at FIFA

Making people rage quit at FIFA 


Is there anything better than making people rage at FIFA? Well, of course there is, but for these purposes, let's pretend that there isn't. For many, FIFA Ultimate team is seriously addictive, and when you can pick from nearly any professional player in the world, it means that you come up against some incredible teams. 

Surprisingly, they always seem to quit when they come up against my sweaty BPL team:

Let's be fair. If I had the chance to use Hazard and Ibra in FUT they would play every game. Ashley Young and Benteke/Welbeck seem to do the job though.

TNA Wrestling: British Boot Camp II: Episode 3 Review

TNA Wrestling: British Boot Camp II: Episode 3 Review

With the format firmly established, it was time for the last round of preliminary qualifiers in TNA’s British Boot Camp II. This time, the judges took to London’s York Hall, to see what the Capital’s wrestlers had to offer.

Like many men across the country, I’m forced to watch the X-Factor with my better half if I’m home over the weekend. This means that over the years, I’ve come to truly appreciate the idiosyncrasies of the televised reality talent show, but that it’s also left me jaded and cynical of the format. Here’s what I thought…

I’ll be honest. The first three weeks of British Boot Camp have been boring and repetitive, but it was necessary. It was almost like checking in before a holiday in the sun, as the show trudged along toward a supposed promised land of wrestling goodness. It was just going to take a while to get there. (Roughly three hours with adverts.)

As the card rundown of the 16 hopefuls was shown at the end, it all came together with a real moment of magic. Every match looks interesting, but that’s for next week…

The London edition had a strong showing from start to finish, adding nine wrestlers to the final roster for the next round. Each had something different to offer. Dave Mastiff moves with a grace that belies his size, Martin Stone was good enough to be picked up by the WWE developmental team, and the Owens (identical) twins were willing to split up to give one of the sisters a chance to go through, though both eventually qualified.

R J Singh is a British Asian deputy head, Richard Parliament is basically a knockoff William Regal (but entertaining nonetheless), Joel Redman looks like an Olympic swimmer, and Sha Samuels represented the East End well, with a menacing performance throughout.

Grado also returned (I would’ve never guessed) and he soon became the focal point of the show, with a decent matchup against Samuels during the second round of testing. He showed an in-ring ability that matched his character, with a decent burst of speed at the end after he seemed tanked (he’s a natural actor), while Samuels played the role of the bully well.

It was an easy decision for Al Snow in the end as he put all of them through to the live matches, shown next week. Interestingly, Al seems to have morphed into the head judge over the past few weeks, and he used Grado to continue his hot-streak of putdowns, but it mostly felt like filler as time started to drag on towards the end.

Thankfully, they announced the matches for the live shows, and every one should be an entertaining contest:

·         El Ligero v Noam Dar

·         Joel Redman & Martin Stone v Richard Parliament & R J Singh

·         Mark Andrews v Chris Travis

·         Nikki Storm v Kay Lee Ray v Owens Twins (Four-way match)

·         Dave Mastiff v Rampage Brown

·         Sha Samuels v Grado

If I didn’t sit through the first three weeks, then the matches wouldn’t matter as much, if at all, so they really were necessary. Hopefully they’ll live up to the hype.

YouTube Channel

I've been working on a small YouTube gaming channel for a while now, why not take a look? Here's one of my FIFA 15 videos:

A like or a sub always helps!

TNA: British Boot Camp 2 Review:

A quick update, here are a couple of reports I've written about the first few weeks of TNA's British Boot Camp II.

Week 1: http://risingeast.co.uk/tna-british-boot-camp-whos-got-wrestling-x-factor/

Week 2: http://risingeast.co.uk/tna-british-boot-camp-high-storyline-low-wrestling/

FIFA 15 - An addictive, messy waste of money

Let's face it. FIFA 15 just isn't worth the asking price. 

I used to see the FIFA series as the atypical yearly, subscription-based payment model. You spend your £40, play for the year, and upgrade when there’s a new release.

But in an era of DLC updates and online patches, is there any reason why they should be charging nearly £60 for a game churned out in less than 12 months? GAME are currently touting an ‘Ultimate Team Edition’ for PS4, to the tune of £56. For £50, you could probably purchase the entire FIFA back catalogue.

Every game depreciates, but older copies of FIFA are often worth less than the disc it was printed on. (For example, CEX will sell you the PS3 versions of FIFA 09, 10 and 11 for a grand total of 75p.)

So why should I buy the new one?

One reason and one reason only – because your friends have it, or they’re going to buy it.

EA are masters of building hype, but the FIFA community would continue to buy the game out of habit. I have friends who only play FIFA, and it’s the one game that everyone seems to own on the PS4. (It used to be COD.)

So, what should I do?

I, like most, will probably buy it on release day. (In fact, CEX have a few cheeky copies in stock one day before release.) You could always wait for the inevitable Christmas price-drop, but you’ll be outmatched resource-wise by everyone who purchased early.

If you shop around you can find it for roughly £40, so what’s the point in waiting? It’s either twelve months for £40, or £30 for nine. It’s essentially a subscription in all but its name.

I remember toughing it out during FIFA 13, as I refused to buy it for the asking price, but that made my eventual copy of 14 so much better. Two years seems to be enough time to see a visible leap in fluidity and general quality, so if you can wait it out, you’ll be able to see more of a difference.

But what about the game itself?

Aside from updated teams, kits and sponsors, what does the game actually have to offer when compared to earlier iterations? Apparently players are now more ‘emotional’, because that’s what we fans have been crying out for. //sarcasm.

They've also improved the tackling, as well as making players feel more ‘pacey’. Fair enough, but it’s nothing that couldn't have been tacked on as a yearly, £20 

update for the last game.

It would be nice to think that EA will eventually move to this model, but they make so much money from sales that it just wouldn't make sense. If consumers are willing to fork out big bucks for yearly iterations, then so be it. We can only vote with our wallets, and we take FIFA to the top each year.

To summarise, I see FIFA as an addiction. In some ways, it’s similar to smoking. You know it’s a waste of time and money, and it can be unhealthy in larger doses. Nonetheless, we continue on because we’re addicted, and we’ll be the ones to decide when we stop. (The problem is, addicts never know when to call it a day.) So roll on FIFA 16!

Manchester United: Submission Impossible?

For years, Liverpool fans have had to fight the cliché that they rely on past glories. The Gerrard inspired Champions League win in 2005 did help to stem the tide of insults that came from their bitter Manchurian rivals, but there's no question that over the last decade Manchester United have been in the ascendency. 

As the largest club in England, many expected the dynasty to outlast its founder Sir Alex Ferguson, but United's recent results may have left them questioning just how much David Moyes was to blame for the debacle of last season.

With three competitive games played manager Louis Van Gaal is yet to notch up a win, following the humiliating 4-0 loss to MK Dons in the Capital One Cup on Tuesday night.

The club have moved to bring in new talent, breaking the British transfer record with the £59.7m purchase of Angel Di Maria from Real Madrid, (1) but questions are being asked at the other end of the pitch, with United's defensive frailties obvious to all.

All four of MK Dons goals could be attributed to mistakes by the United backline and the team are missing a leader at the heart of defence. The failure to acquire a centre-back with the quality of Mats Hummels will sorely affect the team if it isn't rectified before the transfer window closes, but United still have time. Despite questions about Rio Ferdinand's fitness, his experience would have helped on the pitch and the dressing room this season, but instead he'll be plying his trade under Harry Redknapp at QPR.

Of course, United still have time to turn it around, and they may look back at this as a minor blip in the season as the team got used to their new manager, and their manager got used to a new league. Then again, they might not. 

With no Champions League action to look forward to, they have to push for the League this year, despite any shortcomings within the squad. If they don't, it may end up with United fans being the 'delusional' ones, as they look back to the glory years with regret.

Bound By Flame: The PS4's first RPG?

Summer can often be a lean period for games releases, with both of the new consoles suffering from a drought of new titles since their release. To make things worse, RPG's just don't seem to get published as often as they used to, especially when compared to the heady days of the PS2 era when they seemed to come out every other week.

So, Bound By Flame enters the fray as one of the first 3D, voice-acted RPG's for the PS4 - and there's no doubt that it fills a hole for me as an RPG fan. 

In fact, the game is an amalgamation of many great western RPG's I've played over the years. The combat is a watered down mix of Dark Souls with a smattering of the multi-weapon combat used in the Witcher series. 

The crafting reminds me of Two Worlds II, and the game borrows heavily from one of my favourites; Dragon Age: Origins in a number of ways, including the style, characters, enemies, the pause button, trap-making and more.

The trouble is, it never seems to amount to more than the sum of its parts. The developers should be commended for aiming for a game with a large scope, but for the most part, it's highly unpolished. 

Take the load times for example. It can take an absolute age to get through parts of the game and the areas aren't exactly large when compared to the minutes spent waiting to play, which breaks immersion and impacted on my overall enjoyment. 

The dialogue is woeful - with the added bonus of plenty of spelling mistakes in the subtitles, including getting the name of the main character wrong, ("Okay then, Volcon") which is pretty inexcusable. Who translated this game? It feels like the localisation was rushed, but it soon becomes a common theme throughout the game, especially towards the ending which is pretty much shoehorned in.

It's pretty short by RPG standards, with the last areas devoid of any of the (scant) details found earlier in the game. The companions are hardly fleshed out, and while I liked the 'choose your skill' levelling system, it would have been nice to have a few more choices to mix it up later in the game. 

The weird thing is, despite everything I came to enjoy Bound by Flame. The combat is passable, the story and dialogue is ignorable, and underneath it all lies the foundations of what could have been a truly great RPG, despite the fact that it looks nothing like what you would expect of a PS4 game. 

Instead it's just an okay one. A game I would recommend to fellow RPG fans, but only if they adjust their expectations accordingly before they buy it, whilst preparing for some extremely ropey experiences in-between the actual fun.  

A saving grace is the demonic aspect of the game, where you have the choice between gaining more power at the expense of your humanity, or preserving yourself against the entity at the expense of power. Unfortunately, near enough every decision is obviously good or evil, with no ambiguity to be found, but you pick enough evil choices you actually spout horns, which is admittedly a nice touch.   

Overall I have mixed feelings about the game, but it was enjoyable in some parts, so for fans of the genre it might be worth a cut-price buy. Might.

Watch Dogs: Great Gameplay - Poor Story

However, it does have a number of issues that hold it back from greatness, (including an incredibly unsatisfying ending) that ends up marring the experience as a whole. 

Nonetheless. its definitely worth a cut-price purchase, as long as expectations are adjusted accordingly.

Watch Dogs proved to be a divisive title for many critics and gamers, failing to live up to its much-hyped early promise. Despite issues surrounding graphical downgrades, (and more worryingly, free Nexus 7 tablets for game journalists which led to claims of 'bribery') I still found the game to be reasonably enjoyable, despite some problems with the story and its pacing, as well as the main character. 

The gameplay itself is strong, (if you ignore the lack of a melee button to punch freely) but when you take it online it starts to show off off the versatility of the games stealth aspects, which work very well.

With titles like Tomb Raider and Watch Dogs I've never really cared for the now mandatory tacked-on online portion, but after trying it in the quest for PS4 trophies, (sad I know) I discovered that it's one of the best implemented systems I've ever played.   

Cover works incredibly well, to the point that online hacking becomes a heart pounding game of cat and mouse, with opponents entirely capable of running straight past you if the cover is good enough. 

You can also hack cameras in an attempt to catch players hiding, but they can also hack them right back to stop your search. Admittedly, online tailing is terrible when compared to online hacking, but both are head and shoulders above any AI that a developer could conjure up, considering the limits of modern technology.

The game may have failed to live up to its early hype, leaving many left feeling burned after pre-ordering, but it has the fundamental strength to become a strong IP after great sales worldwide, especially in the UK where it broke sales records.  

Five things I learnt from the opening weekend of the season 

The opening day of the season finally arrived on Saturday, and true to form, it served up enough controversy to get the fans talking. Here are five of the things I learnt from the opening weekend:

1. LVG is not as infallible as the fans seem to think 

I'll admit it, I've been lured in by the prestige of Van Gaal, especially considering United's form in pre-season. He looks the part, and impressive wins against Real Madrid, Liverpool and Valencia seemed to indicate that they would start the league firing on all cylinders, but they lost their opener against Swansea 2-1, leaving them in the unfamiliar position of 15th. 

Despite the loss, Swansea are a solid team, and Van Gaal was quick to switch from his preferred 3-5-2 to 4-2-3-1 when he realised it wasn't working. Failure to change tactics on the fly was a criticism levelled at former United manager Moyes during his time with the club, (1) though many have noted that the much-maligned Scot managed to win his opening game of the season last year. This is the first time since 1972 that the club have lost their opening home fixture.

2. Man City should be (at least) joint favourites for the title 

As of today, Chelsea are the favourites to win the league, with most bookmakers pricing them at 7/4, despite the Blues yet to kick a ball this season. There's no doubt that Mourinho's little horses have grown into title contenders, but to make them favourites does a disservice to the power, strength and guile of a Man City team that won the League last year in a deserved display over 38 games.

City have also started this season as they finished the last, with their hard-fought 2-0 win against Newcastle enough to see them rise above Arsenal on goal difference at the top of the summit. The worrying thing for their rivals is that Newcastle played well, but couldn't break down the Champions, with every player hungry to make their time count in the star-studded squad.

3. Pitch invasions can still be funny

When a member of the public steps out onto the pitch it's usually a waste of time for everyone, but a fan took a decent free-kick, (forcing a save from Adrian!) after running the length of the field as West Ham faced off against Tottenham in their season opener.

Here's the video:

4. A lot of Twitter users still hate Jack Wilshere 

The social media site is awash with users that simply don't rate the Arsenal and England midfielder, with many blasting his display against Crystal Palace. Some have criticised him after he was pictured smoking, although he refuted the claims that he smoked regularly, with a representative arguing that he was dared to do so by a friend when the picture was taken.

Whatever the case, things took a turn for the worse after Jamie Redknapp addressed the smoking rumours, saying: 

'Jack Wilshere's problem is Jack Wilshere. He's not performing. He's got to take games by the scruff of the neck like two years ago - there's no excuses anymore.'

'It's nothing to do with smoking. I played with better players who smoked. I think he's competing with Ozil for a place because Ramsey will always score more goals.' (2)

Considering the season is barely two days old, Wilshere has had a pretty tough time of it so far, but he has the whole season to prove his detractors wrong, if he can.

5. Ashley Young bit off more than he could chew 

A video is doing the rounds which appears to show bird poo flying into the mouth of Ashley Young in an unprovoked assault which occurred during their loss to Swansea. The video keeps being deleted from YouTube, but it seems that the Daily Star have a dedicated video on their website, available here.

Seriously. You have to watch it more than once.  

PS4 Share is a pretty useful feature

I finally got a chance to play about with the PS4's share feature - and it's even better than I expected. 

Of course, it doesn't compare to traditional video-editing software on PC, but it's still very easy to use, (with a simple double-click of the Share button) and more than capable of handling most gaming video needs.

This is the first video I made using the software. (Feel free to have a look!)

It can be buggy at times, but it recorded and saved my gameplay with no issues for the most part, and saved to an external USB afterwards at the first attempt.

Overall I'm pretty impressed.

Channel 5 - What's the point?

I was writing about Benefits Street earlier, when a thought suddenly struck me. What does Channel 5 actually do - and is the channel really necessary in modern life?

I'm old enough to remember the channel's inauguration way back in 1997, and the promises made at the time about content and the direction of the new terrestrial broadcaster.

We were told that movies would run with none of the annoying adverts in between, and that 24-hour, quality content was the aim of the game. (1)

It actually kicked-off well, all things considered. Despite southern parts of the UK struggling to get the channel tuned, (as French signals caused interference) over 2.5m people watched the channels first broadcast on 30/03/97, with a larger number of viewers than channel 4 had when it started broadcasting. 

Thinking back, C5 had a lot of promise. Saatchi & Saatchi handled the ad campaign, which was a colourful display that encapsulated the 1990's for me.

Unfortunately, the channel soon started facing problems with their content, culminating in an ITC investigation in 2000 due to allegations of "broadcasting too much sex and smut". (2) Programmes such as Naked Jungle, which was voted the most "memorably rotten" show of all time, (3) further lowered the tone and the channel never really recovered. 

At the time, Naked Jungle did attract over two million viewers, which was a record for c5 at the time, (4) but it attracted several complaints, due to the format; 

"which featured host Keith Chegwin and 10 contestants all jumping around with no clothes on".

In the long run the gambit failed to pay off, and since their first broadcast in 1997, they've struggled to emulate the success of both BBC and ITV, focusing on reality TV and American imports instead of home-grown shows.

C5 managed to gain the rights to reality TV behemoth Big Brother in 2011. The last c4 series had an average of 3m viewers, but numbers dropped to 1.6m a year later when it made the switch. (5) Losing just under half of their prospective viewers must have been a blow - and it highlights the difficulties the channel faces when attracting new viewers. 

Nonetheless, the figures were good for C5, despite numerous complaints for a variety of perceived issues over the last few years. (6) In fact, Celebrity Big Brother (2011) ranks highest in their list of all-time most watched shows, with 5.57m for the series début. 

BB has also faced controversy because of the decision to allow online gambling website Supercasino to sponsor them since 2013, further tarnishing the reputation of the channel in the eyes of some viewers. 

Aside from Benefits Britain, there are other questionable programmes that air on c5 regularly with terrible names like; Can't pay? We'll take it away! This daytime reality show consists of;

"Following people on the sharp end of bad debt - and those whose job it is to take the money back". (6)

Should this programme really have been commissioned in the first place? It's obvious they have no qualms about filming despair, but this programme is pretty tasteless on a variety of levels. Of course it must be cheap to produce, but that doesn't justify broadcasting people's misery on national telly in a bid for ratings.

C5 was recently purchased for £450m by media giant Viacom. The channel's chief operating officer, Paul Dunthorne had this to say at the time;

"The combination of Channel 5 with Viacom's global resources, technology and expertise adds further to the momentum of the business and offers numerous exciting opportunities for the channel's future." (7)

Hopefully these "exciting opportunities" will involve more original programming, with less of a reliance on reality tv and foreign imports. 

At least there's a chance the new ownership will kick-start a jump in quality, but with traditional TV audiences continuing to dwindle, it may be too large a task for the nations fifth largest broadcaster.

It's definitely not too late for c5, but until they learn to respect themselves and the viewer, how can they expect the public to respect them?