It’s been a while, but I’m still here! The summer time has been quite busy and I haven’t played a lot of new games but there’s been some. I'lll quickly go through the most important ones, to sum the summer up!
Review
Played on: Xbox 360
Released: 2010
Released: 2010
To kick start, I’ll tell you about half of my experience with Splinter Cell: Conviction. You see, the main singleplayer game is one part of the game, while the coop multiplayer game is the prequel half of the game. I've only played the singleplayer yet, so I’ll come back on the coop part on a later post.
The Splinter Cell games have always been the realistic approach to stealth games, originally being a competitor to the stealth genre Metal Gear Solid started years ago. However, of the two franchises, the MGS games always had the grander story, while not being realistic, and the SC game always had the superior gameplay, and much more realistic.
Unlike years ago, for me now, a realistic story is better. Especially, if the game also is realistic. So, I enjoyed SC: Conviction a lot. The locations look and feel incredibly well designed. They feel open and they really have fantastic atmosphere. I also enjoyed the variation on the different missions.
The Splinter Cell games have always been the realistic approach to stealth games, originally being a competitor to the stealth genre Metal Gear Solid started years ago. However, of the two franchises, the MGS games always had the grander story, while not being realistic, and the SC game always had the superior gameplay, and much more realistic.
The fact that you're on the run from the law gives the story an extra exciting boost. Making you feel like you're on the edge all the time. Add in Michael Ironside’s low and deep voice-over for Sam Fischer and the story really hooks you!
The gameplay is really solid, controlling Sam feels precise and natural. The new execution ability, you have to take out multiple enemies without being detected, allows you to execute enemies with the a press of a button, is awesome. Taking down enemies feels nice when it realistically only takes a bullet or two.
However, I feel the game is less advanced in the amount of movements you can do compared to the earlier SC games. I guess this was a design choice to hook in new players. I don’t like the black and white filter when you're hidden, it makes it actually harder to spot enemies, even though you are doing exactly what you're supposed to be doing.
Overall, I enjoyed the playthrough of SC: Conviction, I played it on the hardest difficulty without any major problems. Looking back, maybe the execution option made it a tad easy and should have let me control the aim, instead of just pressing fire. While the singleplayer is a tad short, it’s a thrilling and atmospheric ride while it lasts.
Update: This game has been upgraded to the Xbox One X and Series X, now bumping the resolution from a meager 578p to a healthy 1728p! Sadly, the framerate is still locked at 30fps.
Review
Played on: Xbox 360
Released: 2010
Released: 2010
Another game I've been playing a lot lately, in coop mode, is Lara Croft: The Guardian of Light. It takes the famous video game heroine Lara Croft and puts her in an isometric viewed, adventure game built around coop gameplay. Me and a friend have had tons of fun playing together, I would highly recommend doing so as it allows you to perform tasks simultaneously, rather than swapping characters on your own.
The controls are great, one stick for the character movement the other for the shooting direction. Classic twin stick shooter setup. The characters have many moves and there are lots of types of equipment and perks to upgrade your character with. That’s not counting the numerous amount s of weapons to play with too!
What I really like about Guardian of Light is the way you have to really collaborate with your teammate to get through each level. The pace of the game is perfect, it really doesn’t go too far with the action and it puts a lot of puzzles in with the exploring and adventure parts. It feels like a Tomb Raider but set in another genre, which is a great accomplishment.
I'm very impressed by the length too and that’s even if you try to rush through it. Levels take anything from 20 to 60 minutes to complete and there are many of them. Recommended warmly for fans of Tomb Raider and for anyone looking for an awesome combination of puzzles and action to play together with a friend.
I'm very impressed by the length too and that’s even if you try to rush through it. Levels take anything from 20 to 60 minutes to complete and there are many of them. Recommended warmly for fans of Tomb Raider and for anyone looking for an awesome combination of puzzles and action to play together with a friend.
That's it for now, I'm thinking of having some articles about older game series and such. Check back for updates! :)