Xbox One

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Attack on Titan 2 – Final Battle Review (Xbox One X)

To be honest, I’m not sure what I just played… when you enter the land under constant threat from the Titans. And unless you are have seen the Anime series of the same name I’m willing to bet that you will have the same ‘What the hell?!?!’ moment I had.

I guess you could could call A.O.T.2 – Final Battle the ‘Lady Gaga in a meat suit’ of gaming. It is pretty good at what it does, but really? What are you thinking???

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Call of Duty: ‘Realistic’ Warfare.

Another meaty article from Gamer-Girl Guest contributor, Nina. This time sharing some thoughts on games, the media and how they deal with limits being pushed.

For as long as anyone can remember, the relationship between the video games industry and mainstream media has been riddled with misapprehension. Whenever games are involved in News stories, they’re often antagonistic or misrepresent the medium, usually said ‘articles’ come in conjunction with a Rockstar Games release, when we get the obligatory claims that violent video games make kids violent.

Today, I wanted to focus on the a recent example of a game/media clash that  involves a specific game that is rumored to feature very realistic depictions of war.

That game is, of course, the new Call of Duty: Modern Warfare (2019).

A reboot of the original Modern Warfare game, the new COD is set to release on the 25th of October, but Infinity Ward has already treated fans and the media to trailers that show off the game’s new graphic engine and direction. And it’s that last part, the new direction, that has people excited, including me.

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Xbox – Lynx (for gamers)

I’m not sure how it came about, probably one marketing person talking to another, maybe they wanted to do something about influencers smelling of Bullshit, maybe it was because Gamers alledgely smell of teenage stockpiles stashed under their beds.

Also, it’s been around for well over a month, but sometimes when the PR guys decide not to send you something to review, you have to buy it yourself if you really want to try it out. This is just as true for games and hardware as it is for grooming products.

So here we are, a week after I spent $12 in Coles to try out the Xbox flavour Lynx and to see if it really did lift my game.

Overall, it has been a neat little spike for exposure on both brands, has it won over consumers? Probably not. Has it won over the Influencers, streamers and gang that gushed over their care packages? Well, let’s file that under Anthem shall we.

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Observation review [PC]: When a sentient AI goes bad …

Previously posted at Gerard’s own blog GameJunkieNZ, here’s his view on Observation.

It wouldn’t surprise me if the team behind sci-fi thriller Observation – were fans of movies Alien, Event Horizon and 2001 A Space Odyssey.

The game opens aboard the international space station Observation which is above Earth’s orbit after suffering a catastrophic event. The ship’s medical officer Dr Emma Fisher eventually manages to reboot the ship’s AI Sam [System Administration Maintenance] but Sam receives a strange transmission telling him to “BRING HER”.

Fast forward a bit and after a second event, the Observation finds itself above Saturn, Sam’s core functions compromised and the rest of Observation’s crew missing. Emma tasks Sam with finding out what has happened.

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Rage 2, a late review, PS4

Bethesda seem to have their fair share of ups and downs, especially if you pay much attention the media, social or otherwise. Rage 2 was an interesting moment on that roller coaster given its lukewarm reception after a full-on and suitably anarchic promotional campaign.

Apart from the usual web, bus, media ads. It was interesting to see the local community team stacking their chips on more than a few expo appearances. Their Rage2 Tattoo drive certainly got people talking with mixed feelings, and being right on top of release without any sign of review code, obviously set a few reviewers off on the wrong foot.

I have been toying with these words for a while, and its fair to say Rage 2 got short changed in the review period after release.

Give it a go, because once you do – you realise that Rage 2 is the first person Crackdown you never knew you needed.

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Byte Size – ESO Elsweyr Review (Xbox One X)

OK, so firstly I must apologise for the delay in getting this review done. I have only just been able to consistently log in to the ESO servers in this last week. Now every time a new DLC is released for ESO there is a spike in users and some problems are expected but typically you get in within a few attempts. Not this time.

Welcome to the land of the Khajiiti, cat-like desert dwellers, famed for their prowess in the mercantile arts. Elsweyr is a diverse land of grasslands and canyons. Unfortunately the growing of Moon Sugar has been rudely interrupted by the return of dragons to the area.

Can you save the land from the dragons?

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Shakedown Hawaii: A dinosaur making his way in the modern world, PS4 and Vita

Shakedown Hawaii is a cynical statement about today’s modern age told through the eyes of a dinosaur who is stuck in his ways & is unprepared to change.

Shakedown Hawaii is an open-world game with a mix of driving, shooting and wandering around where missions can be as simple as stealing a speed boat for some misadventure to renaming an unpopular energy drink so it appeals to gamer culture.

You can also literally buy every single building in the game. From shoe shops to clothing outlets to automative dealers that repossess cars, the world is literally yours for the taking. Shakedown Hawaii doesn’t take itself too seriously, either.

Shakedown Hawaii is just the ticket to scratch that 16-bit itch.

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A 2019 look at… Mass Effect: Andromeda.

March 2017- Donald Trump, the freshly minted 45th American President, was banning US travel from various middle eastern countries, London was the subject of a brutal terrorist attack, the UK Prime Minister invoked Article 50 to trigger Brexit and to top it off, a man’s body was found inside a 7m long reticulated python in Indonesia. So, to put it bluntly, March 2017 was a bit shit. 

Thankfully over the same period, the world of Video Games was fucken brilliant, with some of the best games of the generation being released, all to help gamers escape to worlds full of adventure and fun.

The title I wish to revisit from the month of March is a game which has become hugely important to gamers such as myself, Gamers who grew up playing Baldurs Gate, Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic, Jade Empire, Dragon Age and the Mass Effect series…I of course speak of Mass Effect: Andromeda.

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Sniper Elite V2 Remastered, PC Review

I’m hunkered down in the second floor of a bombed-out building in war-torn Berlin. It’s 1945, World War 2.

Out of a window to my right, I see a gaggle of German soldiers, gathered behind barricades. The troop truck they jumped out of is parked nearby. Lying on the ground is the body of a Nazi collaborator, his body limp and lifeless, taken out earlier by a sniper shot from my trusty Springfield M1903 sniper rifle. He has papers I need to retrieve – but I need to clear the area first. 

Making things a tad difficult is the German tank parked to my left, its turret trained on my position. I start to sweat and weigh up my options.

I decide I’ll take out the soldiers, one by one, with my sniper rifle then deal with the tank – and this is where Sniper Elite V2’s single greatest feature comes into play: The focused sniper shot.

Click through to see ‘what happens next’…

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Byte Size – Mortal Kombat 11, PS4 Review

We thought it was time to send Guy into a Mortal Kombat to prove his worth, and surprisingly it didn’t FINISH HIM!

I will be the first to put my hand up and say, I can at times be a bit stuck in my ways when it comes to the types of video games I play. Shooters, RPGs and short-form Indie experiences tend to be my ‘jam’ these days.

That said, in recent months I dove back into a genre I hadn’t touched for almost 10 years, Fighting Games, and I have really bloody enjoyed it.

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World War Z Review – Xbox One X

World War Z, the game is based on the 2013 movie which is based on the 2006 book by Max Brooks. But I’ll add a word to that last sentence, LOOSELY, as the movie is loosely based on the book, the game is loosely based on both source materials, very loosely based.

What makes World War Z stand out in the crowded herd of zombie books, movies, and games is pretty obvious for anyone who has seen the movie is the speed and swarm-like behaviour of the zombies. Whether it is stacking up against barriers to use combined weight to bring it down or making a massive pile of zombies to scale over walls, the World War Z zeds are fast, big in numbers, and have an incredibly dangerous herd mentality. For me it is the one thing that saves the game from disappearing into the pile of slain zombie games.

But with its cheaper price point and swarming zombies World War Z is a blast, so check out World War Z or be left 4 dead…

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