Dropped into a medical hospital that doubles as some sort of prison ward for some people, the main character Sarah, wakes up at the entrance and must make her way through the building. A main antagonist narrator/spooky voice in the dark pokes at Sarah as she finds clues to where she is and why she is there. The ambiance in the game is no doubt one that Zombie Studios has nailed. The eerie bumps in the night, the creepy distopic violin scratches and the screams of women that used to inhabit the facility all do an effective job of setting the mood.

The practice of the game, however, is nowhere near as scary as the ambiance would have you believe. The true scares come from the ambiance and the quick interactions of ceiling tiles falling, chairs bumping around and loud sounds interacting with the player. The main “ghosts” of the story that are supposed to be scary, and cause player death, actually come across more as a nuisance rather than a scary being. The experience is supposed to be replayable and can be finished in almost an hour. Every time the player restarts the game the halls are randomly rearranged and new clues are supposed to be dropped in to give the game a unique feel.

The main character essentially only has three tools at her disposal. When Sarah wakes up she finds a cell phone that acts as the map and illuminates the dark halls of Daylight. She can also pick up glow sticks and flares that are used to find clues and ward away the ghosts. The one problem I had with this tool set, because it does seem like a good tool set built for horror, is that there seems to be glow sticks and flares hidden everywhere. I understand that the developers want to make sure that the player gets through the game and sees all of the content, but limiting the resources of the player might have caused the ghosts to be a little scarier and less annoying if flares weren’t always readily available.

Daylight is one of the first Unreal Engine 4 games to hit the market. The unique thing the developers talked about before launch was the ability for the game to generate unique tile sets for rooms, halls, and environments so that every playthrough felt different. The reality of the situation is that every playthrough doesn’t however. Sure there map isn’t exactly the same, but similar rooms, similar hallways and word for word repeated store notes do not hold up over time. The repetitiveness is noticeable, and although things do change, it isn’t enough to keep things fresh. Making a replayable horror game just sounds like a mountain of a task, and Zombie Studios worked hard to make it happen I have no doubt, but the reused assets eventually do wear thin.

One thing that might give the game more replay ability is the twitch commands that go along with the PlayStation 4 version of the game. Players watching PS4 players of Daylight will have options in the chat to mess around with the player. They can do things like spawn a witch, make Sarah scream, flicker the light on her phone and many others by typing corresponding commands into the chat. This is an interesting addition to the game that makes interacting with a community more enjoyable and makes the game more interesting. People who love to stream may want to pick this game up just for the scares and interaction with a twitch community and that makes the game relevant moving forward.

The overall experience is one that is enjoyable, but multiple playthoughs without the Twitch experience leaves a flat undertone. Finding the same pages over and over again gets annoying to a point and the ghosts that are supposed to be haunting come across as an agitation. It’s no doubt that horror is a hard genre to develop for and there are a lot of really good ideas in Daylight, but in the end the game just feels lacking which is a darn shame.

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The game starts in a pretty stereotypical way. Tiz, a young man, walks with his brother and something terrible happens. Tiz then joins together with a rag tag bunch of heroes as they stumble their way through fighting enemies and clearing dungeons. Honestly, the story is pretty typical for anyone that has played a Square Enix or Final Fantasy RPG anytime since forever. All of the tropes, memory loss, giant crystals and a twist or two along the way are all there. But the weirdest part about the story how it doesn’t seem to feel too terrible even though these tropes have been used forever. Maybe because it’s been so long since a RPG wasn’t over the top with crazy convoluted crap that a good, old fashioned, save the day story felt fine. In fact, it almost felt good.

I say almost because there is still a few RPG tropes that felt less like coming home, and more like coming home to a pile of dog poop in the kitchen. When the story does fall, it falls hard. For example, going on a quest line to get one of the heroin’s a pretty dress so she can win the fashion show is not an appealing hour or more, especially when the payoff is less than rewarding. Also some of the scripting for the story seems, oddly adult in some areas to say the least. One of the side quests has you defeating a man that drugs women and takes them to his dungeon to steal their beauty. A weird, and almost offensive idea, to someone that understands the underlying context under.

So the story has some good and some bad, but all of that didn’t really matter too much because the meat of the game, the combat, is some of the best turn based combat I have played in quite some time. The brave and default system is an interesting one that feels good and makes turn based battles interesting again. When fighting players can choose to brave, which uses an extra turn right now for the trade off of having to wait the next turn, or defaulting which is basically blocking, but gives you an extra turn next time around as well as all of the stereotypical Final Fantasy attacks. These options give players a multitude of different options for approaching battles and changes the formula enough to make things interesting.

Another thing that changes battles quite a lot is the ability to mess with almost everything in the game when it comes to the frequency or agency in battles. Players have a slider where they can increase, or completely turn off random encounters. This gives players an option to grind in some areas or to run through others as quickly as they choose. There also is a fully automatic battle system that will just take the last commands and do the same attacks at every encounter. This again makes grinding much easier and much less painful unlike past RPG games that I hope gets incorporated into other titles.

One of the best parts about the combat system in Bravely Default is the Job system. Players assign each character in their party to fill certain jobs that are pretty similar to other Final Fantasy job systems in the past. White Mage heals, Black Mage does magic damage, Knights are heavy hitters with lots of defense and so on. The thing that makes the job system so interesting is there is actually a primary and secondary job. This rewards players for switching out jobs and mastering each job to expand the abilities characters can have.

There are a few interesting things that Square Enix has incorporated that can only be done on the 3DS. The 3D when in town has a beautiful painted world that will pull out if any time is spent not pressing buttons. Also the streetpass additions to the game are phenomenally addicting and will keep players checking their 3DS as often as they can. Streetpasses nets villagers in the main characters town that will be able to build shops for upgrades, weapons, armor and other special items. Bravely Default is about as perfectly built for the 3DS as any other Nintendo game is for the platform and this leads to a great overall experience for a person looking for a 3DS title.

For good or for bad, Bravely Default is an old fashioned RPG. The story can be hit and miss at the same time introducing fantastical and cringe worthy dialog. If you are looking for something to sink your teeth into for 80-100 hours this unabashedly Final Fantasy like game isn’t a bad way to do it.

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Forza is at its best when it focuses on the cars. The level of detail on every single vehicle is astonishing. The Forzavista mode really highlights the detail to not only the outside of the car, but also the interior. The mode allows you to comb over every single inch of every car and has recorded dialog giving background information on every model. If you are even passively interested in cars this mode is a fascinating look into the motorsport world. Forzavista has been in past games, but this version with the expansive list of car backgrounds and updated graphics really advance the experience from the past titles.

Forza doesn’t only focus on detail in the visual department; it also takes a close eye to the mechanics of driving. Every car is like a puzzle to be unraveled. How is this car going to take corners? Should I have some extra assists on? These questions are different for practically every single car. The first time I fired up a supped up mustang and watched the back end playfully drift around corners and constantly lose traction from the power under the hood I was both terrified and delighted.

Racing in Forza 5 pretty much works exactly like it did in the past. The different levels of assists, the credits to unlock new cars and general racing habits all make a return from the past games. There is however one major difference that Forza 5 brings to the table. Everyone drives like an ass.

The new addition of drivatars is probably one of the most interesting, and worst named, features of the game. As you drive in Forza 5 the game will collect information about your driving habits. How you take a turn, how you pass and how closely you stay to the driving line. This is then interpreted and used as AI drivers for other peoples game with your gamertag attached to it. This leads to races that feel more like multiplayer races than anything else. The amount of people that are willing to cut corners, drive aggressively and stray away from the lines makes every race more interesting but might not be every player’s cup of tea. If you like clean races focusing on professional driving, this game might upset you every one in a while.

A nice thing to note is that the medal system is very forgiving for drivers. Depending on the race there is usually some wiggle room for new players to not necessarily come in first but still walk away with some decent experience. The medals, gold, silver and bronze are broken up into groups instead of just handed away to first place, second place and third. Drivers who come in between 1st and 3rd receive gold, 4th through 6th silver and 7th through 9th bronze. This makes the races more interesting and also puts less stress on the player removing the need to restart at the first corner just because you didn’t get it just right.

When I first saw the option for head tracking in the settings for Forza I started to get really excited. I figured the feature would be a great way to show off the effectiveness of the new Kinect 2.0. For the most part the feature is less of a head tracking feature and more of a body tracking feature. Leaning to the left and right will make the driver look through the driver and passenger side window. It is a fun little thing but overall doesn’t really do anything. There also was some issues every once in a while where the Kinect wouldn’t see movement correctly and would get stuck leaning one way. This always made me inadvertently crash and inevitably made me turn off a feature that could have been a step forward for the franchise.

The multiplayer also seems to be a little bit messy with the new system. Filling a full party of friends in Forza is somewhat annoying. There doesn’t seem to be quick ways to invite friends to the game and a lot of the multiplayer stuff seems to be hampered by the new Xbox One operating system. Launch games are always put at a disadvantage because of a new operating system and the wonkiness of Forza 5 is a perfect example of this. There also is no quick way to get into a race and races are split into a bunch of different categories. After playing multiple hours of Forza 5 multiplayer, I have still yet to have a race with a full roster of racers. Thankfully I would rather be playing single player with the drivatars anyways but I also feel like the multiplayer modes could be a letdown for some players.

Forza Motorsport 5 is by no means the pinnacle of video gaming. There are some issues with the new lighting effects, crowd sprites on the sidelines and drivatar aggressiveness but these mistakes are quite hilarious and almost charming to me. Tracks and cars from games past are missing and a little bit more variation would have been nice. But all of nitpicky stuff aside this is stills a fantastic game. The attention to details on the tracks and cars makes up for the omissions of days gone by and is a showcase for the new console generation.

Gamers Heroes’ honest game review of Forza Motorsport 5 was done on the Xbox One.

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The campaign is like an action movie. Short, sweet and to the point. You play a character named Logan whose brother, father and I guess, dog, are all part of the armed forces. As you go throughout the story the main character acts as a silent protagonist, which can be done well, but isn’t necessarily done well here. The silence and interactions between Logan’s brother and father breaks the story instead of moving it forward and loses chances for emotional beats. I also wish that some of the story was explained a little bit more. The main enemy or collection of enemies that the United States is facing off against isn’t explained very well and the main antagonist is explained even less. I’m guessing that the Ghosts story line is going to be built upon in the upcoming Infinity Ward titles, but a stronger base would have been nice for understanding purposes.

Furthermore the campaign itself takes a step back from last years title. There is no branching story, no choices to make and nothing to really bring you back for more unless you enjoy the strait forward story. The emotional beats aren’t really earned and the story itself isn’t really anything special. That being said the cinematic experience of the game and the set pieces do look very nice and are sometimes awe inspiring, especially if you are playing on PC. All around the campaign is another Call of Duty campaign that is just missing a few touches from previous years.

Replacing zombies this year is a new wave-based horde mode called Extinction. Players will move from alien hive to alien hive with the goal of drilling through each hive. At each hive players will be completing challenges, buying weapons, unlocking perks and interacting with the map to build defenses against the aliens attacking the drill. I was never really a huge fan of zombies, I know, crazy, but this new Extinction mode is a nice mix of what I did like about zombies, Left 4 Dead and Call of Duty in general that is quite addicting. The challenges vary from different weapons to accuracy challenges and mixes up gameplay nicely. Finally running to get out of the alien infested zone gives of a rewarding feeling after holding down the fort literally so many times. Extinction is a good game mode and I hope that it gets built upon down the line.

But for all of these differences, negative and positive, all anyone really wants to hear about is the multiplayer. Thankfully, I can say, there are some serious changes. However, I don’t necessarily think they are for the better. I was very sad to load up multiplayer and find that my favorite mode, headquarters, is no longer in the playlist. A small complaint, but the new game modes that are put into the playlist called Cranked and Blitz trade slower strategy modes for fast paced bombardment.

There are a couple more things that have changed in the multiplayer mode and sometimes these changes aren’t explained very well. The knifing for one now takes a few more seconds to complete. In older titles in the series the knife was a quick kill. Now the knife actually jabs into another player and takes a second to pull out leaving a time period in which the player that knifes can be killed. It is only a small change to the knifing mechanic but one that drastically changes the speed of Call of Duty.

Another thing that is changed, as it usually is every year, is how the guns are unlocked. Now players are rewarded squad points by earning XP and can be spent in multiple ways. Unlocking guns, attachments, perks and different kill streak rewards with squad points feels good. It allows skilled players to fully pick a load out very quickly. For other less knowledgeable players this system may prove a little tricky to adjust to. Knowing what perks and what guns will service a specific play style can take some time to get used to.

All in all, Call of Duty is exactly what it has been before. Multiplayer is still twitchy, frustrating when things are going bad and glorious when on a run. The single player is kind of an afterthought but an interesting experience. The overall experience is going to be centered around whether or not you like the changes that have been made. It is worth noting that the PC version has known to have problems with frame rate and optimization even some of the heavy hitting rigs around.

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Telltale Games is coming off of the back of quite possibly one of the most successful downloadable episodic games, The Walking Dead. It received countless awards from sites all over as well as an award at the VGA’s. The Wolf Among Us takes concepts and mechanics from their previous title and uses them to tell a new type of story surrounding the Aesop’s Fables universe. Since the game is episodic, we will be adding to the review as the episodes come out. Each episode will get its own score as well as a final score for the complete collection once all of the episodes are released. Can this new title from Telltale grab the same amount of attention as its zombie counterpart, or is it the universe of The Walking Dead that carried the game to its popularity?

The Wolf Among us does a good job telling you exactly what you are getting into right away. The opening sequences with a character named Toad, from the familiar Aesop’s Fables stories, spouting swear words and general cowardice really set a tone for a dark intense story immediately. It doesn’t take long to get to know the characters around the game as they are routed in a darker side of many childhood stories that should be familiar to most. Characters such as the Big Bad Wolf, which is your character, along with Snow White, Beauty and the Beast, Little Red Riding Hood and more mesh together well in the universe Telltale is building because they are all set in the same universe as Aesop’s Fables moved to a new location.

The main character in The Wolf Among us, The Big Bad Wolf, is basically a cop/detective that protects different Fables as they live in the normal world. The Fable characters, such as Toad, Snow White, Beast and others use some kind of magic called Glamour to hide their real identity from normal people in a normal New York. Characters that can’t hide their identity are sent to live on “The Farm” that seems to be almost like a punishment to the Fables that live there. The first episode really is an introduction to a lot of these world building block ideas and then leads into the murder mystery.

The most stunning thing about the game is probably the art style that has returned from The Walking Dead game last year. The art style and Noir themes worked really well in The Walking Dead and almost seems to pop even a little bit better in this game. Multiple times throughout the story I caught myself staring at animations, characters and the surrounding just to take in everything to its fullest. I have always been a fan of the cell shaded art style and the visuals in this game do not disappoint.

Many of the same mechanics from The Walking Dead are back and still feel relevant. The game follows a similar path and is surrounded by telling a story first and having basic sound mechanics backing it. Much of the interactions are dialog sequences that give players a choice on what they are going to say, if they choose to say anything at all. Based on your interactions with characters events will change drastically around you and certain characters will react to your actions and words. There was a few times when I felt like the inevitable was going to happen, but I still felt some agency in exactly how things were going to go down which is an important feeling to get out of a story based game.

The Wolf Among Us is Telltale using experience from all of its past games, but is obviously influenced by the recent success of The Walking Dead. And you know what? I think that is pretty darn ok. The story telling is rock solid and the game behind it, while basic, is more than serviceable for the experience that is to be had. I don’t know if this game will be able to get out of the shadow of The Walking Dead or if it can keep up an interesting story throughout later episodes, but as for now, I am sold. The characters are interesting and the plot is gripping. I wouldn’t ask for anything else for now.

The Wolf Among Us has started off strong and has a good base to be another smash hit.

8 OVERALL	Sidekick

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Splinter Cell has been one of my favorite stealth games for a long time. Studying an area, looking at the enemies patterns and learning new tricks to bypass guards has always been fun to me. This new Splinter Cell game has all of the things that I loved and adored about the past games while using new gadgets and tricks to make the game flow even better. Moving from cover-to-cover, zapping enemies with a crossbow, and sneaking up behind people has never felt this smooth.

Moving, jumping and every other piece of fluidity in the game are obviously informed by other games in the Ubisoft publishing system and that is okay. When climbing rocks and moving over obstacles, it is easy to see the animations and systems from Assassin’s Creed peeking through, but it is used to make gameplay feel better. Most of the time when I see reused assets from other games it makes me cringe, but Splinter Cell Blacklist uses it to its advantage.

Another thing that Blacklist uses to its advantage is gamers playstyles. Instead of forcing players to play a certain way, it throws three different play styles at you and allows you to choose. For those who like super stealthy non-lethal kills, ghost play style will feel rewarding. For those who want the tense moments of stealth but the skill that comes with stealth kills, the panther style of play will scratch that itch. Finally the last play style, assault, is just a fun way to play killing everything in sight with a machine gun for the action oriented player. Giving these three options to players makes the game more rounded and an all-around better experience.

The levels themselves also feel very rounded. Old Splinter Cell games were often set in very similar environments for each mission. Blacklist, however, strays far from the dark, nighttime, industrial compounds of the past game and gives interesting level design for daytime and nighttime missions alike set in many different locals. The PC version of the game in particular looks absolutely beautiful in sections even though it is running on a modified Unreal Engine 2 (not 3) engine.

All of these things together make for interesting co-op missions as well. Infiltrating a base, taking out enemies and completing mission objectives with a friend brings out new aspects and makes players play together to take on objectives. Gadgets that normally would never see the light of day become infinitely more useful in co-op. Taking out a room of six people with a co-op mark and execute feels absolutely amazing.

The multiplayer Spies vs. Mercs game comes back in this incarnation of Splinter Cell with a few tweaks. There are a couple of different modes that include a 4v4 Spies vs. Mercs, 2v2 Spies vs. Mercs, Deathmatch and Classic Spies vs. Mercs modes that are all good. Players new to the multiplayer might feel a little lukewarm about the game mode because of all of the customization and strategy that are needed to be successful. If you do get invested in this game mode, there are plenty of rewarding, fun, hours of gameplay to be had.

Many people have called for the death of Sam Fisher and the Splinter Cell franchise after the past couple of games. Splinter Cell Blacklist takes a turn for the better with a butt load of content for single player, co-op and multiplayer experiences. The gameplay is tight and gives options for players to play how they want. I know this game will be in my system for quite some time and recommend it to anyone who wants to have a good time.

Splinter Cell Blacklist plays fantastic and is jam packed full of content.

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