Halo 5: Guardians - The gift that doesn't give - Xbox One Review

Let's get straight to the point, I'm no Halo fanatic. In fact, I didn't care very much for him. I picked up the series from 3 and just enjoyed shooting stuff. Even more so when I probably paid £20 for the lot making it worth the investment. Now I thought I'd change that and jump onto the pre-order bandwagon for Halo 5. Was it worth it? Hell nah

For anyone who has read previous articles, you'll be well aware that I enjoy story. Halo's trailers depicted a rogue Master Chief being chased down by another Spartan called Locke; a hench dude with a a beard that looks like he's drawn it on with a whiteboard marker. Surrounded by rubble, the 2 variants features both characters in vice versa roles drawing their weapon to shoot the restrained one. The whole world appeared to be mourning the death of Chief and the whole thing looked very distopian. Jump into the game and its dramatically different. There is only one confrontation between the characters and this is just over the halfway mark in the game, so about 3-4 hours in and lasts a mere 30 seconds. Chief isn't dead and the world has a far different threat to deal with. SPOILERS - Its Cortana. She's gone batshit crazy and is now planning to police all of the known worlds with some crazy machines. Here is the problem, after 6-8 hours of gameplay, the story isn't actually finished. The credits roll, the game is over and you're left wondering why you spent a fortune for something that wasn't even complete and drags a story so dull and lacklustre on for another instalment. I've played indie games for longer that were cheaper and far more enjoyable. It's the perfect depiction of a cash cow and it'll become another yearly game that bleeds money from its consumers because some mechanics are slightly different and the multiplayer maps have changed - aka Call of Duty.


Don't get me wrong, I enjoyed my experience of shooting stuff on platforms, moving on and rinse and repeat a hundred times, but I'm a different kettle of fish. I'm not there for multiplayer, I'm here for lots of fun and I didn't get that. We've established that the story was pulled from the inner rim of a public toilet but lets talk about everything else wrong with it.

• Its recycled
• Characters and Voice acting were rather dull (Sorry Nathan Fillion, you don't sell it)
• Weapons lack diversity, power and ammo. Seriously, how the fuck does it take a full magazine to kill one enemy!?
• No diversity in enemies. They're dropped in from the beginning and they never change so levels don't ramp up in difficulty, they just add more
• Repetitive zones and boss - Literally, its all the same
• God awful boost mechanic which moves you about 3ft at a time

Its not a long list, sure. Yet its a big list when the only things I can draw from it that are actually good are the visual cut scenes,general graphics and the sound effects. Many people worry about triple A games and the reviewers who cover them for the big publications and so far, these big guys have talked up and marketed these titles as some of the best games ever. I simply cannot agree and with complaints and rumours of paid promotions and reviews by these publications, its not looking good.
I'm currently debating selling or returning this item because it was honestly a bleed on an already tight purse that didn't give its customers what they really deserved - A game for the people, not for the bank account.

6/10 - Tune in next time to see the gradual decline of triple A games in record time

Black Ribbon's Top 5 Games of 2014 (As picked by Drake)

No, I'm not dead, just extremely lazy!

With the flurry of Next-gen releases in their first year, picking my top 5 should be a really difficult task. Although the monumental cock-ups make this list dubiously easy. In no particular order, lets get the list going...

1 - Shadow of Mordor

Shadow of Mordor was one of the games that has slid under the rug in many lists for the overall year and its a rather sad sight when Assassin's Creed Rogue is consider better. I often find myself questioning he logic of many of the groups to select a game with no innovation on the previous
generation console over a new IP with incredible mechanics and gameplay. Shadow of Mordor's visuals and story occasionally let it down but the creative power struggle system, fun combat, its return too Middle Earth and the vocal talent created something truly spectacular that has great length.

2 - Far Cry 4 

Ubisoft's year has been tainted by bugs, poor gameplay, hype and generally poor creations. Fortunately for them, many of us still bought into the series' and that's all they really care about.
Although they are likely to pay for that, they have had relative success with Far Cry 4. Unfortunately, I never managed to get around to reviewing much around the October Gamergedon but here is my TLDR version - Incredible visuals, addicting gameplay, fascinating story and characters with the added "I'm not running away from a psychopath in case he gets even angrier" ending that finishes the game in anything up to 15 minutes with gameplay that lets you walk around the room and finally, lets not forget that Troy Baker plays Pagan Min. Who can hate it? PS - Fuck the eagles.

3 - The Wolf Among Us

The Wolf Among Us is another Telltale game based off of the comic book series "Fables". The story of Bigby Wolf and the sudden murder spree to hit Fabletown is one with bigger twists than a twirl bar, more violence than a Michael Bay movie and an art style which elevates the series to new

heights. The wonderful thing about The Wolf Among Us is how engaging it is. The space between episodes was filled with The Walking Dead Season 2 and looking at the Wikia in the vain hope the next episode would appear. Its adventure into fable characters would normally be very Disney or Pixar like but Telltale and Fable's creator turned the world upside-down to create a dark, atmospheric neon lit world filled with a rising evil and isn't afraid to get its hands dirty.

4 - Walking Dead Season 2 

So, I've already mentioned Season 2 and it stands as one of the best game series' that I have ever played. The Walking Dead game inspired me to watch the TV shows and get into the comics and I've

never been happier with such a creation. Season 2 follows Clementine's fight for survival without Lee in her life. The fight for survival by a little girl in a traumatic world is distressing enough but when she feels more like a daughter and your responsibility is to protect her, anything that happens can be disastrous if you get it wrong. Telltale's knack and style has successfully carried The Walking Dead into 3 seasons and DLC that will stay with me as some of my all time favourites. A must play for any zombie survivalist.

5 - Dragon Age Inquisition

Every Dragon Age fan wet their pants with glee upon the news of another instalment in our beloved series. While 2 is considered the worst and often belittled, some of its characters carry over into
Inquisition alongside one or two from Origins that is incredibly gratifying to be reunited with. Bioware has a knack for creating games with vast worlds and territories that bring you into contact with some of the most crazy and loveable characters ever written. As for next-gen visuals, what Dragon Age lacked in texture, it made it up with the lighting. Atmospheric and beautiful, is not it for Bioware, the combat system and gameplay have improved drastically making Dragon Age a deadly competitor in the RPG market.


As a bonus, I feel an honourable mention should be made to another 3 games that I absolutely adore.
Bonus - Titanfall for its incredible reimagining of the FPS genre, Plants VS Zombies for its whacky take on modern shooters with a family friendly game that also appeals to the hardcore gamers and finally, Hearthstone. Not one for Blizzard MMOs and RPGs?, Say no more. Hearthstone blends the World of Warcraft characters into a FREE card game with balance, no pay to win features, a competitive community and all round fun.

How'd I do? Let us know your picks in the comments down below! Also go check out our new writer's view on this years movie selection. Click here to see his top 5 movies of 2014.

Titanfall Beta - REVIEW!

As many of you may have noticed, the Titanfall Beta ended last week. I've left a little time between posting this to allow for it to settle down and hear some new information running up to the release. Down below is one of the first videos I uploaded to Youtube of my Titanfall antics. If you'd like to like, subscribe or anything else, simply go to the channel/video!

Titanfall is undoubtedly one of the, if not THE biggest game coming out this year. With rumours circulating about MLG competitions and Xbox One bundle with reduced price, this game is going to sky rocket even further than before. Based entirely online, the game has one weakness; No single player campaign. The lack of story worries me initially as it removes a lot of the potential. The story could be extremely fast paced and would be great to understand the warring factions. Although news of an online campaign within the multiplayer matches addresses these, it relies on others to pull their weight and also a stable internet connection to enjoy for a long period of time.

Ignoring the story, the Beta was simply an online stress test of their servers and checks on any glitches or bugs that may occur. Looking back at GTA V and others, the popularity of a beta would have solved many of the problems that plagued (and still do) its launch. With games like Bungie's Destiny later this year and Defiance (based on the Syfy channel TV show), it feels as if we are journeying towards multiplayer being the key component for gaming on the next generation consoles and Titanfall is the first to really open this.

If you care to look at my videos, it is easy to see how chaotic the game is. It feels like an all-out war zone although it's only 6v6, the inclusion of AI minions/grunts/spectres and the auto Titan function, the battlefield is packed. All the space is usable and easily accessible with the double jump and wall run functions but you cannot camp out as accessibility to every spot is incredibly easy. The fast paced nature and goals of each game also force you to keep moving and stop people from hiding in a corner under the stairs and delve right into the thick of it. All of it's mechanics are flawless and it flows brilliantly. All of the additions can switch the tide of a game for better or worst in a matter of seconds and it truly gets the blood pumping with no "WTF, How the fuck did he get me" when you no damn well how they got you. I couldn't get angry or rage quit like Call of Duty can do from time to time. Titanfall puts you in a zone and just doesn't let go!

As it stands, the game has the potential to be the biggest thing coming out this year. Smashing the CoD franchise into dust with it's new take on first person shooters and multiplayer team play. Jumping from this to CoD is probably the worst decision I have made and simply cannot wait for it's release!

Xbox One - Updates - Microsoft follow the gamers desires!

Within the last few hours, it is safe to say that Microsoft has finally listened to their audience and have decided to scrap two of their hugely controversial plans.

1) The always on internet connection is now gone. So you will not be restricted by poor internet or the lack of it.

2) You can trade games! They have completely backtracked on this and decided to keep it the way it was and is supposed to be.

Now we have to wonder if the console will also drop in price as they remove the encroaching Kinect device. However, this is just a thought and cannot be considered fact for the moment but does lead up to believe that they had this planned from the start.

Here is the Xbox article: http://news.xbox.com/2013/06/update

New Xbox ConsoleReveal 2013! #XboxReveal

Here it is guys. The New XBOX ONE. Not Druango or 720, just One.

After watching the event, I felt a little underwhelmed. After trouble connecting to the event and the constant stream of traffic which was abusing it like Chris Brown on Rihanna. I couldn't focus on the whole show and missed some informative sections.






But here is what I am aware of:

• The console defiantly involves Blu-ray
• Editing tools for captured gameplay
• Skype connectivity
• A load of new engine and graphic work
• 300,000 servers for Xbox Live

Much like Playstation; Microsoft are holding back the nitty gritty of the Xbox and will give far more indepth knowledge at this years E3 event.

Personally, I look at this console and worry that it has taken a step back. The shell has formed into a brick or desktop computer and the accessories are blending with it. It doesn't look as sleek and as aggressive that the Xbox Elite or its more recent counterparts.

Will it be compatible with my headset, game recorder and backwards compatible with the Xbox 360 games without restricting saves and additional content. Will Xbox games now be made for One or will they land it both courts?

I guess we will have to wait for E3 and get some real information about "The new generation of gaming"