Halo 4 Review

Yesterday marked the global release of Halo 4 on the Xbox 360 and once again pins our favourite Spartan with the fate of the universe on his shoulders. The Master Chief has been on a hiatus in cryo-freeze for the last 4 years following the events of Halo 3 and needs to muster all of his skills to push back this new enemy.

The integral part of the story this time isn’t just saving everyone from certain annihilation but supporting his long term AI ‘partner’ Cortana. She is slipping into rampancy – a form of AI Alzheimer’s – that typically plagues all UNSC constructs after they’ve been in service for more than seven years – or 8 as is the case here. As their knowledge expands they eventually think themselves to death. It’s an interesting role reversal as John needs to show more humanity than ever before while Cortana suffers with emotional outbursts.

Amazingly I have found that Halo 4 is not just a success, but potentially the best Halo to have graced the Xbox systems – it’s really only pushed for the top spot by the brilliant Halo 2. 343 Industries have really done a great job retaining the feeling of Halo while giving it their own unique characteristics too.

The game starts with a mesmerizing CG cut scene that knocks you back with its LA Noire style facial animations and flawless lighting movements. It’s a welcome surprise to see Commander Lasky (the same one we all saw as a teenager in the Forward Unto Dawn web-series) with his blemished face, his crooked teeth and his individually crafted strands of hair. Welcome to the games sir!

Dropping straight into the game itself you notice straight away that the gunplay we are used to is still in place and fans of all the previous armoury options will be grateful to see the old favourites return. The weapons from each of the different races have their own distinct advantages and disadvantages to help you decide on the best option for each of the enjoyable battle set pieces. It’s more important now than ever for you to bring that knowledge of the weapons over to the multiplayer game too where a wrong choice really is the different between life and death.

After getting my teeth into the campaign I can tell you that fans of the series have nothing to worry about and I’ve found myself admiring the view at least once on each of the superbly realised Halo style sandboxes. There is a real sense of excitement when you first step onto Requiem and it’s close to the first time you see the Halo ring running off into the sky when you touched down in the original Combat Evolved.

I’m going to break all sorts of video game journalism rules in this paragraph but I can’t help but explain how gorgeous the graphics really are. They shimmer in and out of your line of sight as battles take place but also grip you in the sections when you get a chance to relax. There are a couple of well designed vehicle sections too which show off the size of the prize that 343 have created. Everything from the moving Forerunner architecture to the large mountain ranges are fully realised with immersive details. Clouds drift across the skies too which is great to see when you stand back to admire the view. It certainly raised the bar on the 360 and could be a contender for the best graphics award this year.

Of course the view isn’t the only area to admire and I can tell you that the sounds are second to none too. From the subtle rustle of wind in the bushes to the gargantuan gunshots, everything has been put together with a loving touch. The Covenant Elites still ‘wort’ their way through the speakers, giving a sense of their authoritative aggression – they really are testosterone inducing sounds. Battlefields are loud and boisterous while the silence conveys an eerie sense of the unknown.

Fans expressed their concern that the music of Halo was being taken over by British Electronica producer Neil Davidge from their beloved Marty O’Donnell who helmed the Bungie offerings. It’s a bold move by 343 and one that has given mixed results. The trademark chanting is no-where to be seen but the moody tunes on offer compliment the atmosphere brilliantly while never reaching the dizzying heights of the past greats.

The campaigns set pieces are clear identifiers of pushing the game forward and urge you to continue through the cleverly designed campaign. Split second decisions can be the difference between life and death and the increased AI of the enemies means that the legendary difficulty is harder than ever before. In fact I’d go so far as to saying that Heroic feels more like the usual legendary setting and the new version is really something even further up the difficulty scale. Enemies strategically flank you and draw you from cover without the usual ‘increase in enemy volume’ or ‘increase enemy health’ used in most modern shooters. All the enemies need have their own sets of abilities to terrorise you with but none are created to pitch unfair advantages.

The new Prometheans come in several different shapes and sizes. The Watcher units for example act as medics for the Knight brotherhood and show that 343 have really thought about how to test you skills. If you manage to get around their protection shields or their return-to-sender style grenade tosses, you might also find them reviving their allies. Halo 4 is all about efficient prioritization: killing the Watcher first will mean it can’t heal the surround Knights or throw back your grenades while the wall-running Crawlers shoot bursts at you from all around. Interestingly you can almost group these new enemy types against their Covenant rivals. Crawlers are the Grunts of the Promethean army taking a butt to the face or a few well aimed shots will put them down, the Knights are the equivalent Elites and the Watchers post the tactical demands of the Jackal’s. Strangely there are no Brutes this time around.

My only gripe so far is that the Terminals are far more important than ever before and fill in useful information about the campaigns back story. Unfortunately these can be rather difficult to find and require you to exit the campaign in order to view them. It’s an immersion breaker that pulls you out of the game and one that could have easily been amended before release. The only other small announce is that the flip-this-switch, press-that-button objectives seem to always come in threes (much like the other games) and on the higher difficulties these can really drag out the campaign when you want to see a bit more variety. It all just seems like it’s been added in to increase the length of the campaign and doesn’t really serve the story itself.

It’s not a bad review when you realise that paragraph holds the only negatives I can personally find and even they took me some time to think about….

Halo 4 has also implemented a new form of multiplayer in the new Spartan Ops co-op mode. Blending objective based team play with campaign style stories; this narrative is being released in 10 weekly episodes each consisting of 5 chapters – all of which are free of charge. The story drives alongside the main campaign and fills in the gaps on what the UNSC Infinity Spartans have been doing to help the causes on Requiem. The only problem with this is that it lacks the replay of the old Firefight mode. Completing these chapters on Legendary is really as far as it goes and the only reason to come back is to level up your Spartan on his/her own.

Fear not though the War Games multiplayer selections are still available and have hit back in full force. There are 10, most cases, great maps to choose from that range from claustrophobic interiors to grand outdoor battles sustaining all the usual vehicle warfare we have come to enjoy. Ragnarok shines through with its Mantis combat putting a different spin on Halo 3’s popular Valhalla level, while Haven (which I originally played back at the Eurogamer Expo) is one of the finest small symmetrical levels ever. Overall the levels seem to push towards the larger vehicle based warfare that Halo has become famous for but there are gems in all the different variants offered.

The matchmaking playlists are all in place with Spartan customization holing all the bells and whistles you’d expected from a game in the Halo franchise. The lobby screens have changed but you can still see who you are up against, their stats and their ranks. The Theatre also returns a triumphant return alongside Forge, which now features a magnet like tool that allows users to connect pieces together more easily.

Having  played the game almost constantly for the last few days I can tell you that I am more than thrilled to fall back into Halo again. I think every fan of the series was, at least initially, worried by the change in developer but I cannot praise 343 enough for their loving touches. They understand what makes the game so enjoyable and have kept to the aesthetics we have all come to see while blasting their own feeling into the game too – which at no point is a detriment to what we want. Halo has been redesigned, rebuilt and returns to its titular place in the heavens of gaming.

Game of the Year 2012 – you heard it hear first!

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Skyrim Dragonborn DLC

This week marked an exciting new announcement from Bethesda regarding their hugely popular Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim in the form of an expansion park called Dragonborn.

Listed to be available on Xbox Live from 4^th December this extension will set users back 1600 Microsoft Points and looks to be in the size range of the Oblivion content Shivering Isle.

The trailer has been unveiled, which does offer some insight into what can be expected, especially when taken in conjuncture with the rumours thrown around a fortnight ago.

The announcement shows what appears to be the DLC’s antagonist, the first Dragonborn from ages past who ruled over the island of Solstheim; which is northeast of Skyrim and just offshore from Morrowind. This outting will be the second time the island has appeared in an Elder Scrolls game, which is an achievement in itself, as this was original used on the Bloodmoon expansion for Morrowind.

The trailer has give us even more hope that we can take to the skies on the back of a dragon, as one of the final scenes in the trailer shows, but whether this is an on the rails experiences remains unclear. We do however see a Goblin riding a boar and several other interesting new enemy types.

The first two expansions have not yet made it onto the Playstation 3, and with the 30 day exclusivity for Skyrim on the Xbox 360, it looks like this expansion has a long way to go before it’s updated onto the Sony console as well.

Interestingly Bethesda have quoted on several occasions that the extended content available for Skyrim will be bigger in size than anything we’ve seen before and Solstheim looks like a good sized area for us to get our teeth into.

At least there are no signs of Horse Armour… See the trailer below!

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Halo 4 Tips

Need some help beating Halo 4… fear not for I have got some legendary tips for you.

The weapon of choice is one of the most important things to remember in Halo 4 as each one is designed to have advantages for different situations. It’s true on Normal and Easy you can probably use anything but try getting through Heroic or Legendary without using the full array of options and you are in for a struggle.

The Sniper Rifle options from either of the races are always a good bet on the harder difficulties, if you are good with it you can almost clear a field without getting close enough to take too much damage. Alternatively having an enemy surprise you from behind and this monster is just as deadly from close range (just don’t zoom in).

Energy Swords and Gravity Hammers are great pieces of equipment but don’t make them your primary option. Only reveal these dangerous close quarter options once an enemy is already in range. There really is no point in taking a Sword to a Gunfight.

One of my favourite weapons in the game is the Plasma Pistol; a charged shot from one of these will knock down any enemy shield, including the new Prometheans, and open them up to a whole can of whoop ass. Don’t waste those treasured DMR shots on an Elite with a shield just drop him with it once you’ve unleashed a Plasma Pistol on him. Remember though kids holding a charge on these will continue to decrease the ammo and soon you’ll be out of shots just because you’ve taken too long to line up your enemy.

Needlers are great weapons to hold in multiplayer but personally I don’t find them of much use in the campaign other than dropping enemies that are already badly injured, although they do help against some of the enemies mounted on vehicles. The same can be said for the spray tactics of the Assault Rifle of Supressor.

Knowing your enemy is another of the important areas to be considered during every battle. The new Promethean warriors mix up the combat in different ways to anything we fought before but I’ll cover those we know first.

Grunts are still your typical one shot to the face affair but remember, especially on the higher difficulties, that a well place gun butt will also send them packing reducing your ammunition consumption.

Also similar to the games of old are the simply frustrating Jackals. Hitting these enemies is half the battle and a well place DMR or Pistol shot to the gun hand will make them stumble backwards showing their head from behind their large circular shields. A shot to the head will take these guys down without a problem.

Elites are the toughest of the bread-and-butter Covenant troops but a few clean headshots will bring them down. Alternatively a charge plasma pistol blast will completely remove the shields, for a time at least, giving you a clean few seconds to deal with them with a direct headshot or two.

Hunters are the behemoths of the Covenant offerings and can take a lot to finally grind them down. The best bet is to let them in close and to evade their charge; this will expose a mushy orange area of their backs that is clean of any armour. Firing a Shotgun blast here or planting a well placed sticky grenade and these monsters will tumble quickly.

On the Promethean side of things we have a bit more variety. The Knights tend to come in abundance with some hovering Watchers. These pesky machines have the option of healing their allies and in some cases even reviving them from certain death. Your best tactic is to deal with their flying tykes as quickly as possible freeing you up to deal with their accomplices. Think of them as the Robin to the Knights Batman. Another thing to be wary of is their ability to throw back your own grenades.

Knights are the toughest of the Promethean troops and can take a bit of damage before finally hitting the deck. Head shots can be great against them but only if their armour has exposed the blue/orange areas. Alternatively a quick shotgun blast followed by one of Master Chief’s butt shots is sure to be more than a match for them. A charged Plasma Pistol shot wouldn’t go amiss either in order tog et their shields down.

The last Promethean enemy I can list off are the pesky Crawler bots. Looking like mini robot dogs these appear in great numbers and fire short bursts of shots at you while rushing up and around the walls of the battlefield. A singular shot to their face should drop them or much like the Covenant Grunts they aren’t too fond of the gun smash.

Again there are a variety of vehicle sections during the Halo 4 campaign and there are many opportunities to seize the weapon you are after. The biggest tip I can give you is to let your allies board your vessel whenever possible. The added gun-power, regardless of how small, can be the difference in these battles.

Your most common acquisition is the Covenant Ghost, Small and quick these are designed for quick in and out combat and don’t match the firepower of the large counterparts. Be careful, getting too close to packs of Elites will allow them to board and steal your vehicles resulting in an almost certain death.

Banshees are also a common choice in the last few campaign levels at least and boost a well rounded set of abilities. These flying machine don’t pack the hardest punch and can’t take a massive amount of damage but they are very versatile and difficult to bring down when they are in the right hands. Remember dodging is your friend and a well rehearsed barrel roll can make all the difference.

The other end of the Covenant scale is the larger and much more powerful Wraith. Difficult to master thought they are, these giant machines glide slowly across the field of play but pack a very mean dipping blast that will take out anything from Ghosts to Warthogs in a single shot  so be careful with your allies around you. The best thing about Wraiths are their high armour levels and unless you get a direct shot these guys will take a while before you’ll need to eject.

Warthogs seem to be everyone’s favourite Halo vehicle but remember to take into account their high flying acrobatics and their prone-to-topple nature. When battling other lighter vehicles be careful not to charge them but circle around them as your ally blasts away with the mounted turret. These are best used in co-op campaigns but if you find they are your only hope you are probably best off being the driver and letting the AI UNSC troopers doing the action. Putting them in control of the vehicle, although much better than ever before, still means they don’t have the best control.

Scorpions are the heavy vehicle option from the UNSC side of things. What they make up for in firepower they really lack in vulnerability due to their large size and their slow off the mark movements. Too many hits will quickly destroy this in seconds so take your time when moving and leave as little shell as possible on view for your enemies to fire at.

The Mantis is the new two-story walking mech created by the UNSC for quick direct action. The right trigger acts as a rail gun while the left trigger fires off rounds of rockets – 4 time rocket blast anyone. They also have a hydraulic stomp action for anyone who gets too close.

There are also a few other vehicles that come up during the campaign but I don’t want to spoil anything for you so I’ll leave it at that.

I hope these tips and tricks help you get through the campaign. The Legendary setting far surpasses anything I’ve played before and is a must on solo for any of the franchise fans out there.

More than anything just enjoy the game – if you’re finding it too difficult turn it down a notch….

Does anyone have any other tip or tricks for new and experienced players alike – if so please jot them down in the comments section below.

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Bungie's Destiny

So the great looking Halo 4 hits our UK stores tomorrow but has a new developer in the form of 343 Industries. What this means is that Bungie are free to go onto their next project which we now know is code named ‘Destiny’.

Unlike the exclusive Microsoft franchise, Destiny is being published by Activision and as the Zampella/West trial  documents show this is due to be a four part ‘sci-fantasy, action shooter’ series - so not completely unlike Halo either. The games are due to start being released from winter 2013 followed by bi-yearly sequels from 2015 to 2019.

It has also been noted that in the down time years in-between Bungie will be working on four large scale expansions known as ‘Comet’ which start in 2014.

Bungie originally signed on with Activision in 2010 and rumours of the Destiny codename began to emerge in February of the following year. Reports have suggested that the game could also be a first-person MMO. When asked about the series, and even with the court documents going public, neither party have formally announced nor confirmed that series in any form.

According to the court documents, provided for the trial, the first of the Destiny game will definitely be available on Xbox 360 as well as ‘the next successor console platform released by Microsoft’. The contract refer to this as the Xbox 720 and could mean that this would do a similar thing as King Kong when the Xbox 360 was released – bridging the gap between the hardware generations.

While the Xbox 360 version is expect in the winter of 2013 the contract also states that the same game will hit PlayStation 3 in winter of 2014 after a ‘joint technical feasibility analysis’ is used to determine whether the game ‘is able to be developed for the PS3 at quality and feature parity to the Xbox 360 version.’  A PC version of the games is also mentioned as is Sony’s next generation console dubbed PlayStation 4 in the documentation.

Destiny has had a few pieces of concept art already released via Bungie in August 2011 but none of these have any clear cut details of the game itself.

The game has been quoted as a ‘WOW in Space’ which pretty much correlates with the MMO FPS title it’s being dubbed as. A beta has also been mentioned which is common practice in the online multiplayer genre as well as server maintenance.

Destiny has already become a very interesting idea due to Bungie’s large fan base and exceptional work with the Halo series. It’s now all about waiting for a detailed announcement or firstly some sort of confirmation of its existence to the public in the first place.

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Pokemon Black/White 2 - Team Building

One of the main interests for players of the Pokémon series is the team building that goes along with it. You search an entire region, usually, with hundreds of Pokémon to choose from to battle both the Elite Four (the toughest competitors in the game) or online with your buddies. With the launch of Black and White 2 the series have now increased that stable to 300 of your favourite critters to choose from.

It’s a daunting experience cutting this roster down to just six team members so let me help you budding Pokémon Champions with some recommendations.

The selection below has some pretty awesome critters for you to use but obviously the real winner is personal taste; just remember to cover your weaknesses.

Eevee

My personal favourite Pokémon ever is now catchable in Black and White 2. This little beastie has the joy of evolving into one of seven fantastic options, each of which with their distinct advantages and disadvantages. The real joy though comes in the fact that more often than not this little creature can cover you in a moment of weakness by taking on one of its evolved forms. Choose wisely though as you will never be able to change them back.

Personally I always go for Jolteon as he is one of the strongest Electric types in the game (IMO) unless you are classing the legendary monsters. He is also superbly quick off the mark and will almost always attack first.

Golduck

One of the best water type monsters make a return to the series and luckily this little critter hasn’t suffered in the reshuffle. Always a reliable member of any team, Golduck also has the ability to use some psychic attacks which gives him a well rounded offensive skills set and also some useful non-attack based actions.

Golduck is never far from my team and even if he doesn’t make it the full way through the game he is a great complement to any team, especially if you picked up the leaf starter Snivy.

Arcanine

Speaking of complementing your started this canine monster is a great addition to either team if you didn’t start of with Tepig (but definitely if you picked Oshawott to begin with). He is strong and fast with a great set of both offensive and defensive abilities.

You probably won’t go about winning the world tournament with this ferocious beast but he isn’t going to let you down on many occasions.

Krookodile

Krookodile is a solid addition to any team, as a mix type of Ground and Dark he also has a knack for revenge-killing in Moxie it’s fantastic special ability. This little critter also gets an extra attack stat for ever monster it kills so you definitely want him on your side.

Again he might not win you’re the world tournament but he’s become a welcome addition to many competitive teams and a genuine force to be reckoned with.

Salamence

This guy has always been a bit of a badass and an incredibly powerful monster that brings together both the Dragon and the Flying type ranges. He is an absolutely fantastic monster to have around in almost any situation and has become a competitive favourite ever since his original introduction in Ruby and Sapphire.

With a great set of offensive stats and some exceptionally strong attacks he should make light work of the Elite Four and the Pokémon Champion – and that’s at a minimum.

Zoroark

The poster boy for the Generation V games this critter has a really interesting Special Ability called Illusion which allows him to disguise himself as the Pokémon at the back of your party. If used correctly this can make for some really interesting encounters both in game and online with your friends. It’s strange to see such a quick Dark type Pokémon but it’s not a disadvantage to have him around.

Apparently there is a special Zorua you can’t missing playing through the main Black and White 2 games but I don’t know what it is but I’ve heard it’s great. That really is saying something as it’s a great monster to have on your team anyway.

Last but not least what about your first one….

One of the biggest and strongest monsters in the game will be the final evolution of your start monster –Samurott, Serperior or Emboar. They are usually a treasured creature to keep around and although this monster has an obvious set of weaknesses their overall strength will usual prevail.

It’s a great experience to raise your start all the way through the game and make him/her go from genuine weakling to a battle god.

Personally I usually go for the fire starter as there is usually much less of a type pool to choose from when replacing them but this instalment has Arcanine who is (as I explained above) awesome!

What ever you go for the main game should be able to be beaten by just about anything, however going competitive is where the real challenge begins.

What do you have in your team? – give me some advice in the comments below.

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Halo 4 Review Roundup

Halo 4 is due to hit our store shelves in a few short days and today marked the start of the review embargo, which was lifted at 7:00am UK time. It’s interesting to see that the reviews have correlated within many of their comments and the strong scores have shown that Halo is still a force to be reckoned with.

What I thought I’d do today is give you an overview of everything I’ve read so far, spoiler free of course, to show exactly how this new instalment fits in with what has already been a fantastic franchise.

At the end of Halo 3 the world was ending with our protagonist Master Chief having just driven a jeep off a flaming planet into the hanger bay of a derelict escape ship; the Forward Unto Dawn. The aliens all began retreating for safer ground, the flames slowly burnt out and the atmosphere entered into eerie silence.

Granted then came the Halo Reach instalment but we all know that Halo 3 was the true end to the original John-117 trilogy. Bungie have since passed Microsoft’s flagship FPS onto a new development studio, namely 343 Industries, who have needed some pretty meaty shoulders to weather this new title.

One of the biggest mentions in the reviews that I have read links a sense of decline in the title due to the 5 year gap between games – a true age when looking at video games in general. During this time the world has given rise to the Modern Warfare series as well as the Battlefield titles and each have given the FPS genre a different view on FPS multiplayer than ever before. If anyone needed to step up and push the boundaries now it was definitely a new title featuring everyone’s favourite Spartan.

The problem seems to be that with Halo itself and its usual innovative offerings when looking at its multiplayer. Apparently this time around it seems that 343i have taken a leaf out of the Call of Duty franchise instead of offering their own blend on the action with the inclusion of Perks and Loadouts. It’s known that Microsoft is after a big exclusive online hit and unfortunately similarities allow people to jump ship more often. At least that’s what I’m hoping that was the reason for this…

Apart from this lack of innovation not a lot of the gripes people have with the game appear to be listed in any of the other review that I have read and seem to be down to personal opinion more than anything else. I suppose that’s what a review is but noticing regular praise/gripes is the best way to see how a game feels.

The campaign is being touted with some strong praise though so the Halo fans out that really have nothing to fear:

Eurogamer: ‘Halo 4 is authentic, and assures 343's role is more than a mere tribute act’

Gamespot: ‘From sweeping panoramic vistas to claustrophobic jungle clearings, the environments are rich with detail enhanced by thoughtful lighting and sharp textures’

IGN: ‘Amazingly, Halo 4 is not only a success, but a bar-raising triumph for the entire first-person shooter genre’

The graphics are, in all instances, being praised for the clear art direct and they way they tempt the player to explore the subtle sandboxes on offer. The scope of the levels is being touted as a best in class experience and from what I’ve seen and played they certainly aren’t lying. The trailers have shown off large, eye-catching vistas for you to run through with murky, damp swamps to sprawling mountains with integrated forerunner structures. In face many of the reviews have stated that the art direction is so well designed that it is easy to see which buildings are covenant and which are forerunner with the blink of an eye.

Speaking of the forerunner this new enemy type has blended nicely into the heavy AI structure of the Halo universe with each variant pitching their own tactical problem for the player to overcome. The Watchers will often run away from danger but are available to heal enemy guardians and also to propel your own grenades back at you. Guardians on the other hand warp themselves across the battlefield, obscuring your line of sight. Halo has basically become even more of a fast paced tactical shooter than ever before. Let’s face it the Flood and the Covenant Brutes (who are strangely absent in all respects here) were only ever dumb enemies with high damage resistance and never really caused much of a problem besides needing an extra clip to run them down.

A lot of the reviews are also high on the great voiceovers/acting from Jen Taylor – for those of you that don’t know she plays the part of John-117’s AI companion Cortana. This time around the AI is slowly slipping into rampancy, a form of AI Alzheimers which will slowly make her deteriorate until she for all accounts ‘dies’. Cortana has always been the steady voice in the dark for the previous Halo games and a reliable narrator to push back on the otherwise stoic protagonist. It’s an interesting premise and one that coincides with the new settings, enemies and story.

Overall the reviews have been pretty positive and my only slack point has come in the form of the Call of Duty lovers that can’t seem to get passed the fact that Halo has never had Iron Sights. In all other cases we have been warmly pushed back into the visor of the Master Chief with homage’s a plenty for the long term fans. It’ll be a wonderful experience to run through Requiem blasting of Plasma Pistol shoots alongside the three-burst Battle Rifle.

If 343i were playing it easy this time around, so they didn’t disturb the loved formula, then we are sure in for a ride with Halo 5 and 6. Those of you worried about the new developer will quickly see those feelings subside as they have really completed a superb job in paying respect to the material on offer while still uncovering something exciting a new…

Cortana: What happens if you miss?

John-117: I won’t

It might be an idea to start panicking about Halo 5 already if this instalment is anything to go by….

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Eurogamer Expo 2012 Roundup

A long weekend of gaming has now become a distant memory but the Eurogamer Expo did give me one thing – last impressions. Following my article earlier this week I have decided to complete a breakdown of the games I played, what I like and what I didn’t.

All in all the weekend was a grand success – thanks again Square Enix for my free swag, the lady from the Resident Evil stand who obviously thought I was pretty trim as she supplied me with a small sized t-shirt and also to Master Chief for letting me have a photo stroking his crutch (too much?).

Unpredictably I managed to avoid the Halo 4 rig for most of the day buy spent the last few hours queuing and playing the new build but first I ventured into the over 18’s section where I met these little beauties….

Metal Gear Rising: Reveneance

The best demi-titled game on show was fun and fast paced with relatively smooth graphic. The build is still early in development but being a massive fan of the stealth titles this one didn’t hit home with me as much as I’d hoped it would. Although Reveneance looks truly gorgeous as soon as the action kicks in the game just felt like an outdoor, shinny Devil May Cry – not that it’s necessarily a bad thing.

F1 2013

Getting to play this on the new F1 gaming chair was one of the real reasons I gave it a go. I’ve never been a massive fan of the realistic racing genre but I have been partial to short bursts on Project Gotham. In fact F1 2013 might well have change that for me as the blisteringly real feeling chair and the gorgeous track designs made this a pleasure to play – especially from a pick up and play perspective. I’m sure the eons of menu options will keep the hardcore invested but this really felt much better than any of the previous instalments I’ve played.

Fable: The Journey

Being a rather passionate Fable fan I’ve been heavily anticipating the new Kinect only game for quite some time now. In fact I’m not currently an owner of the hardware but had a strong inkling that this might change my mind… unfortunately it didn’t.

We got to play around with the tutorial and a short early game dungeon but even with the decreased difficulty and incessant reminders on how to do things I still found the whole experience completely underwhelming and clunky. The motion capture didn’t work very well and with the game being a few short weeks away from release this doesn’t seem like a good thing. Truth be told this might be the beginning of the terror inflicted when Mr. Molyneux left Lionhead.

Tomb Raider

The reboot of the Lara Croft saga is shaping up really nicely. I believe the gameplay I experienced was part of the tutorial section of the game showing of Lara’s abilities and introducing the new ‘survival’ ethic. The game runs very smoothly with action set pieces that affect the players decisions as tasks are undertaken.

My only gripe – and it’s a small one – was the AI on the deer used for shooting practice. After shooting my bow at them the darned animals ran for a couple of paces, stopped and then headed closer to me for an easier shot – stupid creatures!

Overall the whole reboot felt entirely fresh and the gameplay was both dynamic and cleverly planned. The sunlight passing through the canopy had a great reflection on both water and the undergrowth making the whole feeling of being stranded in the jungle that much more convincing as an experience.

Dishonoured

Playing this for the first time at Eurogamer was a refreshing example of the open sandboxes are becoming a requirement by gamers for all AAA titles in recent years. The game felt intuitive and had a good pallet of colour to keep you wanting to explore your surroundings. Although the game has already hit the UK high street I could recommend this to anyone.

Each ‘mission’ can be completed in multiple ways with the player utilising brute force, slow stealth or interactive abilities to reach and complete their objectives keeping the replay options high. The characters are interesting and the whole experience was nothing short of brilliant – and nothing less than you’d expect from Bethesda. The mission we played gave us ample opportunities to use the different powers, as they were all available during the trial, and created some interesting actions and consequences. The steam punk style is something I am personally a fan of anyone but the clever voice acting and area designs means you want to check around every corner.

Assassins Creed 3

While I love both Assassins Creed 2 and the Brotherhood edition I found that Revelations was a bit of a disappointment. Ubisoft tried to be too clever for their own good and made an entirely playable game too complex with exceptionally distorted pacing. As much as I am a fan of the franchise the fact that I ridicule Revelations so much pushes me into the depths of despair for the new outing too.

Thankfully I have been entirely wrong at the series we have grown to love has really gone back to its roots. The area of the frontier is bright, distinguished and brilliant paced for free running through the trees. The controls are very much the same as before but even the experienced players will still feel like novices in the trees until they learn to plan their routes properly.

The player now runs at pace just holding the RT button to ensure that they have full access to their actions while on the run allowing you to free up your thumb from constantly sitting on the A button. It takes a bit of getting used to but the frontier isn’t as forgiving as any of the cities we’ve experienced before. Run too fast and it’s likely you find a cliff face that will be your downfall.

Connor is a welcome breath of fresh air for the series, feeling weightier than both Ezio and Altair meaning the return of Desmond is shaping up to be a good continuation of the franchise we all love. Bring on 31^st October!

Halo 4

The return of the Master Chief was on show at the Expo too with a queue that seemed to constantly steam from one end of Earl’s court to the other. Luckily I put myself through the wait on two separate occasions to get a view of the new multiplayer portion of the game.

Held on the new Haven map the King of the Hill style deathmatch was bright and enjoyable with specific loadouts and abilities introducing us to the new dynamics. Nothing unreleased was on display but I can tell you that if the red vs. blue was anything to go by then the Master Chief will be feeling chunkier than ever before – and not in a bad way. It’s the game we all know and love but with some additional content and minor tweaks to show off exactly why the Spartans we’re a class above the UNSC grunts.

The map was quite sizeable with force pads and various levels to deploy grenades, rockets and shotguns. The gameplay was the standard frantic affair that we are used to and made for some excellent close quarter gun-fights.

All in all 343 industries are definitely looking like they’ll deliver on their promise that this will feel like a Halo game but with a few touches to ensure the experience is still something they can call their own.

So with the Eurogamer Expo firmly behind us we can see there is a lot to be excited about over the coming months. Did you make it to Eurogamer? Do you have any comments on the above? If so get involved in the comments section below.

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