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Completed – The Last of Us – Characters

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Characters are what make or break a story. If they are interesting you will enjoy the story they are telling be it by reading a book, watching a movie or playing a game.

I'm not the biggest fan of the uncharted games, I enjoyed the characters & the story had me interested but I just did not enjoy the gameplay. With The Last of Us, Naughty Dog have perfected the package. The characters are excellent & the relationships between them shows a very real depth of realism. Obviously the main characters are Joel & Ellie, seeing their relationship develop over time from a reluctant arrangement to relying & caring for each other.

Their experiences with the other characters they have encountered has only helped bring them closer. Tess, Bill or Henry & Sam. All of these human encounters add another layer to the storyline & one that I very much enjoyed playing.

The gameplay is very much focused on stealth based attacks be this by using the bow/arrow combo or sneaking around to perform a melee kill. I suppose twenty years after a virus outbreak ammo & supplies are going to be a bit scarce. I enjoyed luring the enemies into a trap by placing nail-bombs at corners & enticing the enemies to charge over to me. Getting a group of clickers together & treating them to a molotov cocktail is one of the most satisfying aspects of completing a difficult area.

Yes it is a linear story but when it is presented, voice-acted, played so well there is nothing wrong with linear.

For me this year has already been an amazing year for gaming. Skyrim, Ni No Kuni, Lego City Undercover, Journey, Walking Dead, Forza Horizon & Red Dead Redemption have all been amazing experiences. I have just added another title to that The Last of Us. I'm only just over half way through the year, I still have the PS4 & Watch_Dogs to come yet.

New Game – The Loading (Last) of Us

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Thanks to this game I can now fully appreciate the benefits of digital media. If like me you have purchased the retail physical media version make yourself a cup of tea/coffee or in my case nothing because I'm fasting. It is that long that it takes me back to my Acorn Electron days & tape loading.

Anyhow the game, yes it has zombies, infected or whatever you want to call them. Wait !! don't leave just yet !!

Like most gamers I am also sick to death of zombie games although I am disappointed that Nintendo have not delved into the theme, Super Mario Zombie !!

The Last of Us is made by Naughty Dog, the team that made the Uncharted series so if not anything else you can almost guarantee that it is going to have a hollywood-esqe story, voice-acting & a great musical score.

Just by playing the opening sequence you are not disappointed by the work Naughty Dog have put into the game. It provides the backdrop for Joel & shows you the beginning of the outbreak. Then fast forward 20 years & quarantine zones have now been set up. A military style regimented system is in full flow. Controlling the human population & rationing the consumption of resources. Yes this game has also ticked the box by having an anti-government group called the "Fireflies". The leader of the "Fireflies" asks Joel & Tess to deliver a package, the package is "Ellie" a 14 year old girl who is immune to the infection.

Ammo is very scarce in the game so you really need to focus on using your melee skills, ideally by stealth. You can collect resources during the game & craft items like healing kits, shivs & my favourite molotovs. I have left the quarantine zone & ventured outside. This is when you start to encounter the infected, in most zombie games they would not be a problem because you will have stacks of ammo but in this game you need to play slowly & carefully by using stealth to your advantage to either avoid contact or preform a melee takedown.

Similar to Uncharted after you have cleared an area of enemies you are free to wonder around & collect items. I strongly suggest you do this because you can always find healing items, more ammo or materials for crafting hidden away in a locked room or desk drawer.

It has been a promising first few hours of play-time & I'm looking (not) forward to loading up the game again.




Thomas was alone – I am a shape

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I spent some time Sunday morning sorting some of my steam collection into two categories Ignore & Play.

The ignore included games I had already completed on the consoles like Bastion & Walking Dead. It also had a large collection of games that I had no interest in playing like Amnesia, The Ball & many more bundle games.

The play obviously had less games but these were titles that I was keen to enjoy like Hotline Miami, Kings Bounty, Dear Esther & Thomas was alone.

I did not really know what to expect having only seen a few screenshots & read some posts on UGVM about the game.

It's a puzzle game, which if you do not enjoy I suggest you go back to playing your generic shooter.

Mr Maker on Cbeebies has a section about shapes. Singing along to the annoying "I am a shape" (Youtube it). Your nightmares have come true, you are indeed a shape, a rectangle to be precise named Thomas.

Thomas sets off on an adventure meeting various shapes helping them reach the level portal to advance.

The game takes a leaf out of Bastion & has a narrator explaining each new character. Their thoughts on the surroundings & other shapes. Each shape has it's own unique skill in they can jump higher, go through small gaps or float. Claire is my favourite shape so far, she is a big blue square that can float on water. I'm enjoying the puzzles & the narration.

I tried initially with keyboard control but soon ended up plugging in a 360 controller which thankfully after a few button configs works perfectly.

I tried to play Penny Arcade Adventures but after a while got bored it reminded me quite a bit of Costume Quest without the adult humour obviously. Thomas was alone on the other hand feels fresh & interesting.

Thomas was alone – I am a shape

Posted on Written by

I spent some time Sunday morning sorting some of my steam collection into two categories Ignore & Play.

The ignore included games I had already completed on the consoles like Bastion & Walking Dead. It also had a large collection of games that I had no interest in playing like Amnesia, The Ball & many more bundle games.

The play obviously had less games but these were titles that I was keen to enjoy like Hotline Miami, Kings Bounty, Dear Esther & Thomas was alone.

I did not really know what to expect having only seen a few screenshots & read some posts on UGVM about the game.

It's a puzzle game, which if you do not enjoy I suggest you go back to playing your generic shooter.

Mr Maker on Cbeebies has a section about shapes. Singing along to the annoying "I am a shape" (Youtube it). Your nightmares have come true, you are indeed a shape, a rectangle to be precise named Thomas.

Thomas sets off on an adventure meeting various shapes helping them reach the level portal to advance.

The game takes a leaf out of Bastion & has a narrator explaining each new character. Their thoughts on the surroundings & other shapes. Each shape has it's own unique skill in they can jump higher, go through small gaps or float. Claire is my favourite shape so far, she is a big blue square that can float on water. I'm enjoying the puzzles & the narration.

I tried initially with keyboard control but soon ended up plugging in a 360 controller which thankfully after a few button configs works perfectly.

I'm playing a Steam game, hopefully unlike my previous effort (Penny Arcade Adventures) it looks like I won't get bored & give up.

Gears of War Co-Op – Judgement

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It's been a quiet couple of years for local co-op gaming. Gears 3 last year & Halo 4 earlier this year is all that was on the platter. It's a shame that 99.9 % of all local co-op games are shooters, after a while they begin to become a bore.

Which probably explains the long gaps in between each co-op game played. 

Anyhow time for the fist pumping chest thumping macho men to return in Gears Judgement.

No Marcus or Dom in this story it's all about Baird & Cole Train, along with two new recruits in Sofia & Paduk. The game is a prequel to the Gears Trilogy.

It starts with a typical military court marshall & gives the player a chance to visit each characters flashback of events.Not much has changed on the gameplay front apart from a few tweaks to throwing a grenade & quick swap of weapons.

Each mission also gives you a declassified challenge to accomplish for experience & braggin points. So cue the action.. Shoot, reload, collect ammo, shoot, chainsaw melee attack, throw grenade, reload, revive, shoot and I think you get the picture by now.

The only advantage local co-op offers you is the quick communication to your partner. "I'm down, revive me" "Tickers incoming!!" & the obvious gloating opportunity at the end with mission stats to see who got the most kills.

Some of the missions take a cue straight out of horde mode & have you defending a location from waves of enemies. After completing Baird's flashback we had enough adrenaline injected action for the day. Sofia's story will have to wait for another evening. I've got a pretty good idea of what to expect. It starts with shoot...