Yeah, this month's got some time to run but I'm in an RPG rabbit hole and I've never been good at reversing.

Easter came early this year so I figured the time off work would allow me to finally break through the fissure of this game and actually start to seriously enjoy it. 74 hours later, it was finished. I won't lie. I celebrated.

Barrier to Entry

Let's be frank, this game has a legitimate cult following but with some now mainstream appeal. Kinda like Scientology or Homeopathic medicine. This is the point where From's series gained some meaningful traction whilst still turning others away due to the initial hardships or simply word of mouth proclaiming the game's difficulty.

I persevered with the game by intending to setup some little objectives along the way. Killing the first Black Knight you see in Undead Burg was always on my agenda but firstly I was after what he was guarding. With loot staying with you after death, I began to entertain the idea of just making a break for glowing things just to see if it was worth it. Couple this with the obvious need to discover new areas and bonfires and I was starting to get to grips with this. I'll definitely admit to certain early encounters like the Capra Demon being roadblocks which had me stumped. I never gave up but I'd consult guides or videos just to give me a base camp to go from. This might be against the whole point of playing a game but, as a player, I still had to execute. The point where I started to get along with Dark Souls might possibly have been the Bell Gargoyles. Seeing that second foe join the fray switched my brain onto thinking about the fight differently. Keeping eyes on them both and manipulating them to stay on the same real estate was pretty neat and brings up probably my favourite part about Dark Soul's core mechanics.

Take the Lead

Because at this point the passive nature of the combat shows itself up to be mostly player-influenced. Obviously, you aggro them by coming into their personal space but, once engaged, you can lead their movements once you lock on. Its a dance and you're engineered to take control. Your movement seems so key to opening up times to strike or even what attacks the enemy will offer. I'll give an example: The Silver Knights you face in Anor Londo have this dickish shield bash which instantly staggers you. Now, I went through that area several times (due to a boss fight that I'll go into later) and really hated being caught out by that stagger. So the common sense approach would be to lead the enemy away from their shield hand. Once I figured that out, the guys offered a more straight-forward proposition. So much of the combat is recognising details like that and your player character will always have that kind of advantage. Once I could hit hard enough I was taking chances with second and third hits on earlier enemies because I knew they'd stagger, allowing for a quick kill. Sometimes its difficult to see where the skill floor is with RPGs but Dark Soul's combat shows that understanding how enemies react to your place in battle is where it's at. From that point on, getting better is a combination of stats and loot.

Explore or Explain?

As I played through the game's first act, I came up against another of the game's criticisms. The lack of direction or explanation in where the player should go. I've heard a counterargument from a friend saying, "But the game did tell you where to go. By killing you." I think for new players, this is a potential nightmare. Initially Dark Souls gives you a mission statement. Ring two bells. One is up in a place you've never visited and the second is down in a place called Blighttown. There is one path up which is kinda easy to miss and several paths leading down. I think finding that path up is crucial for new adopters to stay onboard with Dark Souls. Everywhere else seems to lead to certain death but Dark Souls clearly has a designated 'first area outside of Firelink.

Outside of this, the message system does a great job of directing you. I'll never forget when I reached the Crystal Cave, saw the messages plastering the secret path and thought, "Huh. Invisible platforms. Thanks, internet." In Undead Parish and Undead Burg, larger optional enemies are used as warning signs for the player that somewhat funnel them to where they need to go to progress. I know signposting things might be against the ethos From were into but when a player can only see death from three directions, its difficult to keep them. That said, those that persist are more richer for it. Finding a new area, gear and loot is satisfying in any game and in Dark Souls they're mostly useful to someone.

The story didn't grab me but then its never surfaced enough to do that. There's a definite bleak tone to that world, though. As a player you can seek out as much or as little lore as you want but everyone will probably have their own little tales to tell. By the end of the game my Firelink posse was down to the barebones. Only Petras and Griggs survived and I felt this was only the case because I never talked to them. The rest either died directly by my hand or indirectly because of my big mouth. Larry David crossed with the Grim Reaper. He wears Havel's armour. Do not approach.

Traverse the White Light

One thing that struck me about Dark Souls was the sheer number of boss encounters. I've talked about Capra and the Bell Gargoyles and, for the most part, they're designed really well and only one of them is a complete gimmick. Capra's difficulty stems from the fact the arena you fight him in is effectively a small box and he is just big enough to fit in a small box. With the bosses before him you had an easy way to fell them but that was never a required method of victory but with the arena being so small, with Capra taking the easy route seemed like the only consistent, viable outcome. Its a pity as its the only time in my 74 hour odyssey where the game felt cheap. The rest of the big encounters seemed fine, even Ormstein and Smough.

I say fine, after about 50 tries with and without summons. Its an extension of the Bell Gargoyle scrap which felt like a mid-term exam. Two guys except they have wildly different attack patterns so you need to manage both and, unlike the Gargoyles, focus on one of them whilst watching the other guy. Its marks the point to me where using environmental cover is crucial to regroup and survive. When people talk about this as the game's true test, they're right. When I was playing it I was reminded of the Meta Ridley fight in Metroid Prime. Ormstein is that. Smough is Omega Pirate.

And with all those deaths, I was never deterred for very long. You could say that fits the fiction when you're portraying a being that cannot die. You get right back to that fog door. You experiment with new gear. You go again. A game must be doing something right when you go back for more of that. There's some exceptional highs served up by Dark Souls and success doesn't come by a fluke. You know how its done. You've improved.

So that's kind of it.

I wound up thoroughly enjoying this game and I thought some of the enemy and area design was really well-crafted. For all that this game stacks against you, they give you just enough hope to make success feel almost inevitable. When you roll up on the final fog door after a few failures, you know you'll be back in five minutes. Blimey, that really is masochism. Anyway, Demon's Souls is next.

Its that time of the month again where I escape to blog writing in an effort to ignore whoever it is outside my flat who's blasting Happy Hardcore out of their car stereo. Don't make me come out there...

Velocity 2x: Shoot, Switch, Repeat, Defeat.

The stern-faced woman and her lizard... thing friend are telling you stuff about stuff whilst you not-R-Type and 2D platform your way through some fairly decent levels for medals. Its a compelling mix that confused me to begin with. The two main play styles seemed to jar with one another til the incentive for medals took over. When it's good, its greatly addictive and grabbing a gold medal for speed on some of the levels is outright challenging.

Its a shame maxing the levels out becomes so necessary, though. It really started to bog me down and progress became a crawl until I frankly, jacked it in. I like this game when there's a flow to it. Sadly, that flow derails at the 40-odd level mark when the game offers more roadblocks and labyrinths that completely took the wind out me. Its nice that it came to PS Plus because otherwise this game would've passed me by. It surprised me more than I expected it to but didn't hold it together for the final push.

Transistor: USB Buster Sword

I regret not playing this sooner. It has such a cohesive sense of style and manages to sew together its story beats and combat tightly. I also regret not playing it right for the first couple of hours. I came to it having barely played more than the demo of Bastion but made the incorrect assumption that the turn-based combat was an either/or. So I played it as a straight-forward action game and only used the emergency turns.

Once I realised the errors of my ways and settled on a pretty decent, but interchangeable load-out, the game was a comfortable breeze. I may go back for the Recursion for the longer I spend away from it the less likely that is to happen.

I liked the way the story was presented and it was well acted in a really stylish environment. I can't think of a thing in that game that didn't fit although I've heard a couple of friends didn't get on with the turn-based combat. Not through how it was presented but in how it compared to Bastion's one-size fits all approach. They felt that there was a right way to play Transistor whereas you could settle on a number of different weapons for Bastion.

I should probably play Bastion to discover if that's true. Coming to this first means I've avoided that possibility. Good job, Super Giant. I look forward to your future endeavors.

Valiant Hearts: Cartoon Violence (and spoilers...)

As this puzzle-oriented educational tool was nearing its final act I sensed a definite shift in tone from grim to outright bleak. The harsh, relentless industrial machine of death kept rolling on but the characters on this journey still offered hope. There were some legitimate narrative surprises in this game which offered some light gameplay to tie the story together.

It all came undone for me at the final QTE section which, frankly, didn't need to be there. I get that the pay-off is neat and then is followed by a gut-punching conclusion but Karl's going to wind up siding with the Nazis in 20 years after his son's death to the Spanish flu causes him to seek solace in National Socialism. Also, chlorine did a number on him so he shouldn't have even got that far.

At least that's how I would've ended it. The written material gets used to great effect as the Great War still gets overshadowed in schools by World War II and its slightly more good vs evil narrative. The first foray into grand-scale, worldwide conflict just seemed like an inconvenience to all that developed into a 5 year tragedy which led to the rise of fascism in Europe. I hope Ubisoft keeps faith with projects like this and Grow Home.

DmC Definitive Edition: Growing up is Hard to Do

This was a lot of fun. I'll confess this is my first venture into Capcom's franchise so offense wasn't caused when they switched development to Ninja Theory. If anything, I'm amazed those guys managed this. They've always been known for their production values but haven't quite pulled it together when it comes to gameplay.

Its just so tight and responsive and my mashy tendencies are somewhat cooled by a number of great weapons that are fun to switch between. The core of it is just so spot on so it's a shame the boss fights don't live up to the spectacle of the series past. I was stunned when I managed to spam my way through the final two bosses and felt like I hadn't had to work for victory.

On paper, a coming of age story for Dante could've worked but, aside from learning one life lesson, he still comes off as a childish wanker. I'm okay with the demons degenerating into foul-mouthed beasts. That fits. Learning that humanity needs to be saved and then grabbing a handful of arse because, "Oh, that Dante..." doesn't sit well with me. Obviously growing up doesn't happen overnight but I expect more than just a cursory switch. Plus Vergil's idea had a point.

Despite this, I'm still coming back to it. The combat's too right and too up-front to ignore and it actively makes me curious about the older games. Not a fan of Vergil's abilities though. If Ninja Theory get the opportunity to make another one of these I'll be interested. If not then at least they got this one under their belts. They might not rival Platinum when it comes to the character action market but they seem like great imposters that could, with time, provide them with competition and us with more great games.

The Wrap Up

So, that was March and a quarter of the gaming year is in the bag and 9 games are chalked off my backlog. As I looked at what remained I made a crucial decision.

Prepare to Die.

Now, I've had Demon's and Dark Souls on my backlog for a while now and have not got deep enough for either to really hook me. With 90% of my PSN friends list playing Bloodborne and the remastered edition of Dark Souls II arriving at Easter, I began a new save on Dark Souls. The intention is to work through the three existing titles before taking on the new Victorian nightmare.

The first hurdle's already been cleared. After beating a threatening looking Knight in Undead Parish it seemed to click so my intention is to press on and on until Jesus Belmont succeeds. Yes, I named him so in honour of the Christian corpse run pioneer. I will continue such naming conventions throughout the series. I've already settled on Tupac Belmont for Demon's Souls.

Yes, as I continue to eradicate my gaming backlog like Robert Mugabe eradicates opposition, I come to the realisation that the month of February has merely hours left to live. Whilst it's bleeding out, let me talk you through the games I clocked off.

King Oddball : A Case for Monarchy

Its a title that originally began on mobile platforms but has since spread like butter mixed with smallpox to every gaming device under the sun. Initially I picked it up for review purposes so, if you're interested in how that went, click the link. This now means I've skillfully avoided the need to talk about the game's quality in this blog in the hope of drumming up a tiny spike in traffic for the site. Wink.

Playing this inevitably gets me thinking about what games belong where. When I first started reviewing, I was initially dismissive of traditional mobile ports as they just don't feel right on a home console. Play sessions are longer and so the bang for your buck is short and some of these games just don't carry their available content any distance so I've always wondered why they've been bought home to this audience. I've since lessened my stance.

Yep, these games are often derivatives of one another and the time spent playing somewhat dwarfs in comparison to other downloadable titles but, y'know, they're still fun to play for a few hours and they can definitely hold my attention. I was playing through King Oddball because I had to and because I wanted to, which is a nice compliment to give it. What does annoy me is the disparity of pricing between platforms. Its free on Android but ad-supported, super cheap on iOS (I believe its sub £2) and, before it rightfully went on sale the versions housed under the Playstation Network were in the region of £4. Its obviously a problem with dealing with multiple platforms staggered release dates and licensing issues but it's a real shame that the same content can't be uniformly priced.

Metroid Prime: Mind Your Own Business

Seriously. Samus is supposed to be a Bounty Hunter but she goes around the universe answering distress calls in her custom-made ship like she's an emergency service. Less of that, please. I've got a guy in Minnesota who's missed payments on his Ford pick-up. Take care of it.

Pretty good game, this. I'd tried to finish it a few times previously but only got as far as the Phazon Mines before putting it aside. Part of me wishes I'd got this done sooner but, if there's one thing this game does exceptionally well, it's making you feel like you're learning and getting better. As I replayed from scratch I was encountering bosses that I'd seen before and, with that prior knowledge I was able to take things easier. Thardus went down in the first attempt who was a boss I previously struggled with. That was the point where I realised this game was going to be finished and off my list of shame.

Retro definitely took the Metroid blueprint and established it incredibly well in a first-person perspective but it still feels like an homage. Almost like its not their creation. The main areas of the game feel like quarantined, distinct zones rather than parts of a complete world. I was thinking today about how it felt like the TV show The Crystal Maze. The game more or less starts and ends with the Impact Crater and you move through the game's zones grabbing items to help you progress. All that's really missing is a time limit and Richard O'Brien playing harmonica.

And as you near the conclusion the game gives you a trio of horrible bosses. I beat Omega Pirate after many hours of trying. He doesn't honestly have many attacks but the arena you fight him in gives you environmental hazards which you can only really take note of with your helmet's HUD and he spawns minions in between rounds. I go so far as to say this is one of the rare moments where the game feels cheap. I had definite moments where I thought I was never going to take him down but eventually I did succeed. The pay-off being that you get the final suit of the game and get to explore the map for the last remaining artifacts. The downtime felt like a genuine relief after all the grief that boss had given me so I figured the game could throw nothing more at me.

Ridley begs to differ but that battle feels a lot better designed. There's distinct, avoidable attacks to Meta Ridley and the only thing that really changes between forms is the timing. He still took me several cracks of the whip but he was down with four tanks to spare. Its a great exercise is making the player better when you put them through the ringer like that. There's no tricks to it, just memory and timing. Its all on you. I almost wished the game picked that moment to conclude, really.

Actually, I want to go back to Pirates. Space Pirates are treated as a genuine race in the Metroid universe and, according to the lore there's Pirate scientists, researchers and a whole heap of the Pirate society we never get to see. Samus seems to think it's her duty to extinguish them. We've already established she thinks she's Batman but now she's developed a sinister edge. Have cuddly Nintendo inadvertently brought cartoon bigotry and genocide to our industry? Shameful. Play this game but do so whilst shaking your head disapprovingly. Space Pirates will overcome. Presumably with the help of rudimentary experiments with radioactive materials.

What the hell is March?

Yeah, annoyingly that was kinda it for this month. Those Prime boss battles took a fair bit of time which is still at a premium for me. I was hoping to get Velocity 2X beat this month but I need to grind some experience points out to unlock the last ten levels. Hopefully it'll be done in March although, don't hold your breath. I've got a week off work in that month which I may use to concentrate on Dark Souls, seeing as Bloodborne is weeks away. I've also made a start on Metroid Prime 2 and made a complete hash of starting Dishonoured. Yes, there should be a 'u' in there. This is the main thing about me when I finish games. Sometimes I can't settle on the next one to conquer.

Cheerio.

When Morrissey sang about starting things he was unable to finish, he laid bare his ineptitude in its entirety. He never finished any games and, as a consequence, lacked the life skills required to advance in society beyond a lonely sod idolised by a group of 30-somethings who miss the 80s despite that decade being tripe to live in, and young people who have only come into contact with the 80s through BBC 2 clip shows.

This is not a life I wish to lead. Therefore I've decided to continue finishing things throughout the remainder of time to bring myself a small, smug self-satisfaction and then tell some strangers on the internet about my accomplishments. As a sidenote, I would've wrote this sooner but some clever git pulled my phone line out the other week. It was probably Morrissey.

Far Cry 2: Malarious

I'm going to come right out and say this: Far Cry 2 is great. I've had that game since release and always baulked at the idea of limping through the early stages but, once I had a handle on the systems at play, it was child's play. Malaria and the shoddy guns were just minor inconveniences that you could plan around and this game loves to make you plan things out. Indeed, what kept me going through the 17 hour journey was the way I would plan a mission out.

Where is it? How can I get there with the least resistance? What do I do once I get there? That whole routine just became part of the gameplay loop and the game felt much more satisfying because of it. Getting in a quick execution and then sneaking out felt great. As did when situations required a plan B. How many of you guys went to that mission where you need to take out the guy on the barge only for the map to direct you to the railway bridge? I can't have been the only one who decided, "Well, I've got one way down there." and just took a leap of faith off the bridge into the water below. I felt like such a badass when that landing didn't shatter my pelvis.

The story kinda interested me, too. Maybe not the main through-line (I mean, it's just 'Get this guy. Get paid.') but the idea of this African nation, possibly in the infancy of civil war (Is it established? The plane in the introduction implies its just getting started but I'm not sure about that.) being flooded with mercenaries looking to get theirs. The fact that they give the player that role means they can be as ambiguous as they want to whilst doing a decent job of presenting the mercenaries as a faction unto themselves. The two warring factions are both being advised by outsiders with the guns arriving from the Jackal whose dodgy wares effectively perpetuate the conflict. Although I really have no idea why two warring entities who have recruitment offices within the same block. Videogames.

Of course this is at odds with its tone but I don't blame Ubisoft for trying and it does hit in some interesting spots. It was still effectively a company trying to bring an identity to an IP that, up until that point, was somebody else's. The Ubisoft mission structure was largely there, although perhaps not as prevalent as in 2015. No towers just a lot of mission types that involved going somewhere and shooting something. Or blowing something up because we have fire tech we'd like you to see. Also it could be argued that malaria, checkpoints and gun lifespans resulted in you avoiding some of the side content for the sake of self-preservation. That's actually how I played it. Still, it was an enjoyable time that I would actually recommend. Its legitimately good, even after the best part of a decade has passed.

Far Cry 4: Grand Theft Ajay

And so the next logical step was to give GOTY contender Far Cry 4 a shot. I've not played 3 so the possibility of burnout was lessened and I could judge this without that game colouring expectations. Naturally, first port of call was the secret ending. During the 15 minute wait I was pondering just why the hell Ajay would move in the first place? Nobody tells him to. There's no reason for him to explore the mansion. Heck, he's just been given orders from the King to sit his arse down and wait. He'll know where to scatter ghost mother's ashes.

So the entire game proper is based around some bullshit premise that a computer man can see text ordering him to explore a mansion and to get involved in a rebellion he simply has never given a toss about. Effectively, Ajay is a protagonist that makes a series of terrible decisions. He's not an everyman. He's a catastrophe. Don't do what Ajay Don't does. He's not a soldier and he'll tell other people this whilst brandishing an AK47. Relax, he's just here to scatter his mother's ashes. And ride elephants. Into people.

Once I hit my first tower the icons sprayed over the map like projectile vomit and the completionist in me want to chase everything down. Thing is, I get bored of that. Its too much. I looked at the diamonds in FC2 and just thought, "Is there any need? I get plenty from the missions." and so I got to the point where I took the grenade launcher and just went ahead with the story. Missions are certainly more structured than in 2 but that maybe made them feel a lot more rigid. There was a simplicity to the African campaign. There is a dude waiting to be shot or an object waiting to be exploded. Go. Far Cry 4 wants to funnel you more. The memorable, self-made moments that came courtesy of 2's combat now come courtesy of the world's wildlife which, whilst entertaining, doesn't really stick with me as much.

I still had fun and there's a lot of content to dig around in, I just felt burnt out at the end of it. I missed the careful planning and, whilst stealth worked better in 4, I didn't feel the need to use it. It was great to have the shackles off and explore but almost everything is pointed out to you with markers. Still, its done. Good game. Possibly great.

Infamous First Light: Short and Sweet

I finished the month out by beating this short accompaniment to Second Son. It was a nice way to remind me just how good Sucker Punch made that city and its characters look whilst I also remembered just how quiet things were at street level. Fetch's story leading up to the main game was definitely a decent one that added a bit more meat to Second Son's bare bones and I definitely approached the game in the same way I took on the predecessor. Do the side stuff, grab all the upgrades you can and then blitz it. Because superheroes need to be superpowered. It also helps that Neon was my favourite power just for getting around.

Movement seemed easier this time too with there being a lot less in the way of resistance. Seattle's almost yours to roam freely and all the Dan Rykert's you can shoot. I wasn't too keen on the arena stuff but using it as punctuation for "Hey, new power unlocked!" was fine and the detention centre made a good backdrop for the telling of the tale. Its also nice that Fetch isn't retconned into some sort of saintly martyr. She's a smackhead after revenge. And smack. And neon gas which must be some sort of mega, super smack. Fetch is arguably the only member of the supporting cast worth fleshing out, too. Eugene gets a mention which is about all he's worth.

Shame they couldn't allow you to get all the powers in a single playthrough but I suppose the challenges add legs to a brief expansion. Not sure I'm coming back to it but it does make me want to consider replaying Second Son.

So that was the month. 3 down. I'm happy with that. February involves mobile ports I've had to review and a lot of Metroid. Possibly more PS Plus catch-up due to work leading to bitesize gaming sessions. Life's a bitch.

Because I feel I haven't liked enough games to warrant a proper list. Therefore I'm going with games that signify something new or a progression of the medium. For better or worse.

The Golf Club

This game first came to my attention when Giant Bomb did an Unfinished of it. Coming from the ashes of the Tiger Woods franchise, HB studios did what any developer would love to do when a publisher drops it - finish the product. What makes Golf Club special to me is how the game uses the cloud (Oof. I can't avoid saying that) to facilitate almost all content. As a result, once the game is up and running, you've got no more load times in store. Get in and golf. This immediacy is powerful stuff and the way it handles multiplayer is neat, too. Ghosts are kept server side so, as soon as you hit a course the game will pick a handful of rivals to compete against and their balls will magically appear alongside you. You know how in Trials you wish they'd show how a ghost tackled an obstacle instead of giving you a dot? This is more than that. It can be distracting to see another ball slip into view when you're trying to put but you have a physical marker to play against and, if you're eagle-eyed enough, another person's shot to observe.

Lastly, the omnipresent caddy is probably my favourite new character of the year. His cheerful disposition, tinged with a passive-aggressive hatred of my ability to fluff puts is amazing.

Infamous: Second Son

By no means a game of the year contender, it does stand as a marker for that period of time when, in the infancy of these new consoles, developers were simply trying to get a product out there that worked. As a result, its light on content but it does look visually appealing at times. Its more Infamous yet less. Its narrative rushes headlong from point to point with very little sense of development and your rag-tag group of followers are... well, murderous gits who have an immediate redemption once Troy Baker hi-fives them. In retrospect, though, the main mandate for Second Son was to produce a technical showpiece for the Playstation 4 and, it mostly succeeds. Its brief so it doesn't outstay its welcome like other open-world games have the opportunity to do and the animation on display is well realised. Just.. don't rush the next one out.

Middle Earth: Shadow of Mordor

So, a few months further on, an open-world game arrived with plenty of content and a pretty sweet gimmick. It seems to come out of a Ubisoft design school but seems to know just when to reign it in to stop the game feeling needlessly bloated. And the showpiece is the Nemesis system. Ultimately, games aren't going to visually jump from generation to generation like they used to. Hence the new consoles opt for other angles. Cloud-based something, something, social experiences and, in the case of Mordor, an experiment in artificial intelligence.

Now, you can pull back the curtain on the system just like you can with anything else but that doesn't make the experience of an Orc captain waxing lyrical about how he smoked your arse 20 minutes ago any less interesting. The system, rather than being a sideshow gimmick is prevalent throughout proceedings. If you're going to succeed at that, the system better be good. It is. If you're willing to steal it, make it good.

Pro Evolution Soccer 2015

With the first year of these new consoles meaning everyone is scrambling to get to grips with it, the first whack of the axe is likely to miss. Konami did, unsurprisingly for them, take a smart decision last November by not rushing a version of their soccer series to the new black boxes. Instead they waited a year, figured out the FOX engine some more and then decided to make a FIFA clone. Its a series that has never usually been about animation but this year's edition (and to a certain extent, last year's) has placed a priority on animation which makes he players have a momentum and weight to them. You no longer can cancel animations on a whim and results in a more methodical experience. On top of this, the AI is still exceptional with teams preferring different styles of play but also having alternative strategies in place should a game get away from them.

Its still as impenetrable to newcomers as any sports game and has numerous licensing and presentation issues but it does contain the Become a Legend mode which has now developed into a full-on power fantasy and has supplanted Master League as my favourite way to waste time.

Tears to Tiara II: Heir of the Overlord

And lastly, a rant against visual novels. Fuck off. Tears to Tiara II is a tactical RPG which is so front-loaded with glacial, bollocks storytelling that I threw the towel in 5 hours into a 100 hour journey. If you want to pile that many words into a game, a visual fucking medium, write a book instead and rethink your chosen profession. Couldn't render a cutscene? Throw a couple of talking heads in there against a backdrop. The animators will be grateful of this when they get to have a real good go at making two characters walk from one scene to ..... the same scene.

Bloated, padded bullshit. If you absolutely, positively have to go down this road, offer an interesting story right off the bat and tighten it up to make the player's curiosity be what drives proceedings. If there's actual gameplay, don't obstruct the player with 45 minute dialogue chunks and then have the battle over in seconds.

This is against the Geneva convention. I hate you, Tears to Tiara.

DriveClub

DriveClub is a lesson in patience. My original plan with this game was to download the free version and then decide on a full purchase off the back of that. However, when the servers went down, I decided for the sake of reviewing it I needed to part with £35 to see DriveClub in all its broken glory. It does not drive well but its competent when you consider Evolution Studios' back catalog rarely goes near tarmac. Indeed, spending your lift developing WRC games might explain the grippy handling. The game's major hook, aside from the visuals, was the social aspects with the game entirely pivots around. Through the saga of the servers crumbling and having to be rebuilt I wrestled with whether or not to give up on DriveClub and just do away with it.

Two months later, they seem to have fixed it. To their credit, they committed to fixing this nightmare rather than letting it quietly rot behind a couch. Maybe that just says something about how much Sony invested in it or the fact that, without a direct competitor, this is THE driving game for the Playstation 4. Project Cars delayed due to shareholders, The Crew was its own mess. DriveClub stands as an example of a studio addressing a technical calamity and following through to make sure it works. And once the dust is settled, the game is kinda fun. Its not necessarily down to the driving and certainly not the AI but the fact that the challenge system is up and running gives me a reason to revisit this.

So that's my year. Roll on 2015.

Truly. Let's be honest, when Sony first announced this feature I couldn't honestly fathom how this could function. Now its out in the wild, I can't help but be amazed at how their previous work with remote play and the streaming services they've now amassed have come together to create something that doesn't break.

The practical uses for this are quite obvious and offer a real option to make your gaming a more social experience and, providing your connection can upload quick enough to handle it, there's a few other things you could probably use it for.

Couch co-op

Yeah, there's a lot of couch co-op games about and, if you're like me, you don't live near enough to your friends to really be exposed to those games. With Shareplay, that obstacle doesn't seem to matter. I can party up with friends who live at the other end of the country and play with them. Neat.

Private screening

Because the problem with twitch and other streaming platforms is that there's a lot of noise. Keeping it peer to peer means you can communicate, one on one with someone without having to flush through chat for important information. Actually, this also just straight-up acts as a decent test realm to see if your connection can actually stand up to streaming. I've been thinking about streaming from my console for a while now but, thanks to Shareplay I've now realised I haven't the speed for it. I much prefer finding out that way than launching on to twitch and then communicating with an audience that can't see shit.

Every game has multiplayer

Yup. One way or another you can effectively co-op anything. Maybe not in the conventional sense but you can certainly pass the controller around and hotseat a campaign from start to finish. Endurance run, anyone?

"Is this any good?"

Demos are dead unless you're a sports title or a Kojima advert. At least now curiosity can be satisfied by playing a game yourself, courtesy of an accommodating host. Even better if said game isn't released yet. Nobody's going to bust balls because Shareplay's behind a curtain.

Coach!

Sometimes its great to have a second pair of eyes on things. Whether to just become unstuck in a game or, in the case of something completely alien, an effective mentor to train you up in a game's nuances. I myself like the NBA 2K games but, man, I know little about the intricacies of basketball. This could help me get around that.

Trophy Hunters

The flipside being you could actively just seek someone out who is genuinely better at games, pass the controller to them and then wait for the Platinum. Kinda sad but I guarantee there'll be people out there who will do such and would be willing to pay for such services. Whatevers.

Gamers without borders

Which leads me nicely to this. In the likely event that something doesn't hit your region, if you can find a host that does, you can play it. Admittedly with a backseat gamer in tow for the entirety but its another way to get exposed to games which you otherwise could not play. Yakuza something-or-other is coming to North America... kinda. Sorta.

Have I missed any more uses for this thing? It seems like the moment these new black boxes became truly capable of something new and I'm glad of it. The potential access to more games is damn impressive and arguably the most social thing we've seen on a console. It'll be real interesting to see how long it takes Sony to open it up to a bigger player count and its obvious that's there intent from crowbarring it into the party system.

I'm also wondering whether Microsoft can respond to this. They've got clouds for days but the Playstation 4 seemed designed with this in mind from very near the beginning.

Cool shit, right?