Update: Video Games: The Modern A-Z

Just a quick post - I've finally updated the cover of my book, available on Amazon - and it looks a lot better!

It was produced by @4z_L, why not give him a follow on Twitter or check out his channel on YouTube. 

Cheers.

Je Suis Charlie – Comment

A short response to the events of 07/01/2015.

Over a week has passed since the shocking events that saw 12 people killed in the Paris offices of Charlie Hebdo, but the social and political ramifications are still unclear for the most part.

As a journo student the murders were especially jarring, (I generally cover the relatively safe subjects of sports and TV) as journalists, workers and policeman ended up paying the ultimate price for an offensive cartoon that depicted the prophet Muhammad.

I was on the Underground in London during the 7/7 attacks so I have some prior knowledge of ‘domestic terrorism’, but for the most part it was hardly at the forefront of my mind during the start of 2015.

The Lee Rigby murder in 2013 served as a reminder of the perils of rampant extremism, (and the UK also raised the terrorism threat level to ‘severe’ last year) but they could be seen as isolated incidents, from an unperceivable bogeyman that might not even exist.

The stark reality of that line of thinking was exposed just over a week ago.

Of course, it’s wrong to blame Muslims as a group for the attack, in the same way Christians aren’t responsible for the actions of the Westboro Baptist Church or Anders Breivik. Nonetheless, it should serve as a warning for those brave enough to criticise Islam – there’s a chance it could cost you your life.

Pope Francis (of all people) soon waded in to the debate, saying:

“One cannot provoke, one cannot insult other people’s faith, one cannot make fun of faith.”

But the thing is, one can.

As an individual, I have the right to make up my own mind as to whether or not there’s an all-powerful deity overseeing the minutiae of my life, and I have the right to critically question any belief system. I firmly believe that everyone is entitled to their own belief system, but a line has to be drawn when it comes to the personal safety of others.

But what can we (as a society) actually do to prevent incidents like this occurring in the future? In short, probably nothing.

We can’t expect to curtail individual acts of extremism, yet we shouldn’t allow these incidents to effect freedom of speech and theological discussion. Nonetheless, the images were crass and offensive, but so was the killing spree that followed, which was simply unjustifiable – no matter the offence caused.

I have none of the answers - I just want to pay my respects to those that lost their lives. 

The worst games of 2014 Part One: Destiny

Disclaimer:

Forum boards are often filled to the brim with Destiny fans, defending the game despite a number of perceived flaws.

“But, but, I’ve played 300+ hours and I’ve really enjoyed it. My friends and I had a great time.”

 Fair enough buddy - but I thought it was a pile of steaming crap. And that’s my opinion.

If it’s likely you’ll find the article offensive due to your love for Destiny, you should probably stop reading now.

Are those guys gone? Okay, I will admit, Destiny is by no means the worst game of 2014. It’s not even close. Nevertheless, it was one of the most disappointing games of 2014 for me, with a gradual decline in quality after the first couple of hours.

I mean, at first, it could be mistaken for a GOTY contender. The environments look luscious and detailed, and as you start to explore Old Russia (weirdly, modern day Kazakhstan) and the Cosmodrome, gaining access to your vehicle and starting to upgrade your equipment, it makes for a great experience to introduce the player to the world.

You’re quickly introduced to the top-notch shooting mechanics, and luckily, I had a few friends who also bought the game so I got to experience the multiplayer aspects of it, which ran incredibly smoothly at launch.

The PvP multiplayer (Crucible) is also passable, but it's a shame that it's limited to just twelve players, especially on next-gen consoles.

Despite enjoying the first 5-10 hours, there were problems within the game that were hard to ignore. I could possibly get past the non-existent story and Peter Dinklage's painfully stilted narrative, but everything was starting to become insanely repetitive. 

Nearly every mission is pretty much the same. Go to the map marker, (in a reused location) deploy Dinklage Ghost robot to sit there scanning a box, fight off waves of generic enemies, occasionally fight a large bullet sponge, and that's about it.

 Even the planets that you travel to during the game are similar. What's the point of going to the moon if the gravity is the same everywhere else? I don't care about the terraformed space magic explanation, I wanted to jump about and fight on the actual moon, not a random white rock with Earth's gravity.

There was also the somewhat cynical move to stop reviews going out to publications before the games release date, stifling any dissent before the all important first two weeks of sales. (AAA games traditionally sell extremely well at launch before petering out after the first fortnight.)

Bungie employees also embellished the game beyond recognition before release. 

In an interview with TSA, David Dague called the game "an exploration fantasy", in which Bungie wanted "to instil in the player that sense of wonder and exploration". 

That's complete rubbish. Even the most hardened Destiny fan would have to admit there's no real exploration - and the planets and moon (singular) are devoid of anything worth interacting with, unless it's to once again deploy that bloody Ghost. There are a few chests scattered around the levels, but when compared to similar titles like Borderlands, Destiny pales in comparison.

During gameplay, you can collect Grimoire Cards which help you to understand the lore of the world, but to actually access them you would have to go online via their website or sign in via a smartphone app. This consistently broke my immersion, and I considered it a major design flaw - why not have a separate menu for the Grimore cards available in game?

In an interview with Metro, Destiny's senior writer Eric Osbourne said: 

"We have a great story arc, our team is working really hard on the narrative we're building in the world".

Personally, I found the narrative to be non-existent, but having the extra lore available in game would have obviously helped people like me who felt a complete disconnect from the "narrative", which was usually - SHOOT ALIENS IN THE FACE. MOAR SHOOT ALIEN FACE. "THAT WIZARD CAME FROM THE MOON." GO MOON SHOOT WIZARD ALIEN.

Or possibly the worst line of dialogue ever written: 

"I don't have time to explain why I don't have time to explain".

 What? Somebody was paid to write that?

Above all, I wasn't impressed, and no amount of £35 DLC is going to help me to change my mind. Destiny might look the part, (and the shooting is great) but it often feels like a bare-bones experience. 

A severe lack of content (other than loot-farming) holds the game back, and the repetition of cut-scenes, areas, enemies and bosses means that after a while you end up playing the game on autopilot, as you've probably seen it all before at least ten times.

At times Destiny can be fun, and working in a team to complete a raid can be exhilarating the first few times, but even the late-game content is similar, and the expansions have led to new problems with level caps and equipment. A lot of hard-earned equipment has been rendered useless with the influx of new items, but the hours 'wasted' gaining the obsolete equipment probably numbers into the tens of thousands.

If you found 'the grind' enjoyable then that's fair enough, but most of the people I know sold their launch copies after a few weeks. (In fact, one of my friends sold his PS4 after his Destiny experience.) For the sake of impartiality, it is worth noting there are people on my friends list that seem to only play Destiny, so it really does divide opinion.

For me, it felt like I was only playing roughly 40% of the actual game, and the whole thing felt quite cynical and empty, but pretty nonetheless. After a while it just got stale. Maybe I'll wait for the inevitable Destiny II. So much for the ten year plan.