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10 Second Review : Gears of War 4

October 15, 2016 by TomBoyNI

So the year is 2006, Gears of War comes out to critical acclaim on the xBox 306. It’s amazing, it takes the gaming world by storm, the new cover, run and gun system is perfect, the multi player is perfect, the story is deep and involving. Marcus Fenix is the hero we need, Locust is the threat we fear. Well played devs, well played! It has it all. It captures me, and millions more.

10 years pass and we get Gears of War 2, Gears of War 3, we follow Marcus on his journey against the Locust Horde and then we have Gears of War Judgement and we get to see the story from Damon Baird’s side. Next comes a remake of the original for the xBox One. Finally the rest of the series become available again to a new generation of gamers thanks to backwards compatibility.

The story evolves even more, it gets deeper. Comics run alongside the games’ timeline and Karen Travvis pens five epic novels taking us from the Pendulum Wars (before the Locust emergence) to right level with the events of Gears 3.

So now everyone has the chance to be up to date and ready for Gears 4!

That is where I must start. From the beginning. If you are new to the Gears world, just don’t jump into Gears 4. Play through the originals, read the comics and the books, honestly, it is absolutely worth it. You will then be able to approach to Gears Universe with the empathy for the characters that us older games have developed over the last 10 years.

If you want to get ripped in right away go for multiplayer, enjoy it level up, get your packs and customise your player, however for the Campaign do yourself a favour and enjoy the whole back story. The Coalition have put a 20 minute prologue in there so you can get a glimpse of the story before you go at Gears 4. Don’t do it. Enjoy the series, then enjoy the Campaign of 4. I promise you will thank me for this advice.

So onto Gears of War 4 – and the actual 10 second bit… ish.

10 Second Game Review : Wolfenstein ; The New Order

October 24, 2014 by TomBoyNI

I only ever do my 10SGR when I have actually completed the game. For Wolfenstein I am a little behind due to playing other games and to be honest had I not had a little extra time off from work I may well have missed out on this game, which following its completion, I now know would have been a travesty.

The time span is 1946 World War 2, the Nazis are winning, the War Machine consisting of robots, evil doctors, sadism and really vicious dogs is ripping through the world at an alarming pace. You, our hero B.J. Blazkowicz, are fighting to make the difference.

However a horrific head injury sees you hospital bound, destined to never wake up, where you are cared for daily by the beautiful Anya and her family.

14 years later a sequence of events will waken you to a world you don’t recognise. The war is over and global Nazi domination has occurred. For you the resistance now starts. You team up with a small band of Resistance fighters and time to take it to the Nazi horde begins!

Now for the game itself. First person shooters are everywhere. However Wolfenstein has history. Proper history. A big back bone of being amongst the first. For me it is a shame that more hasn’t been done with the series in PS3 / 360 genres. But as a PS4 title I happily welcome it into my collection.

This isn’t a solely next gen title and it shows. It still looks magnificent, it’s hard to explain but it doesn’t look completely next gen. What properly sets Wolfenstein aside from the countless other shooters though is its story. This is a proper story driven game. Not a single player game bundled on top of another multiplayer kill fest.

The story is addictive and immersive. It connects you with B.J Blazkowicz and your allies. It develops so well that you will emphasise completely with their plight and your Nazi killing tendencies. As you take out the main ‘baddies’ you will feel accomplished and at the end you will feel… You will certainly feel something!

And you will certainly be looking a sequel!

Another point that on this game properly got my attention is the soundtrack. It is pretty much perfect. The tense and often difficult boss battles are fought to a thumping soundtrack that just matches in magnificently. The story elements are also matched with music that compliments the scene every time. And even when having to take a few attempts at some of the difficult moments in the game I found that the soundtrack removed the aggravation at the repetition.

To summarise. Buy this game. Play it through and be immersed by the single player player campaign. Its developing and wild story will see you in Germany, England, outer space and even completing a moon walk all the while taking on waves of crazy Nazis, huge (and really huge) robots, armoured dogs, coupled with trying to balance your love life. Oh and you’ll get a laser!

A great game!

Turtle Beach Ear Force Shadow UnBoxing

February 11, 2014 by TomBoyNI

I have never been one for earphones whilst gaming, however the guys that are say that there is simply no comparison to gaming with a decent set of ‘cans’ as opposed to a television speaker set up or a basic 2.1 system. Then when you start to move into good 5.1 systems you may be unfortunate enough then that your house, or worse your neighbours’ house starts to shake when stuff starts exploding on screen. It is this point that a good gaming head set starts to come into its own.

For me I have taken the plunge with a mid range set of headphones, namely ‘Turtle Beach Ear Force Shawdow.’ I have been on the lookout for such a set of headphones for a while but was always put off by the price tag. When these came up in a recent flash sale that was effectively saying, ‘Here you go chum, take these and male a small donation to our store,’ it was simply impossible to say no! (Oh and they are PS4 compatible!)

Here is what Turtle Beach have to say about this set. At the time of writing the price is £79.99 GBP.

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