LO3: Task 1 - Review - The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim

The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim Review

Price: £25.00 [Amazon]

Platform: Xbox 360

Rating: PEGI 15

Developer: Bethesda Game Studios

Publisher: Bethesda Softworks

Engine: Creation Engine, Havok

Elder Scrolls V is a action RPG of the fantasy genre showing the use of magic, swords and dragons the game follows a typical style of a fantasy game ranging in all sorts of mythical creatures and weaponry. Currently the elder scrolls V is one of the biggest games of all time destroying all other games of the genre in graphics performance and shear popularity selling over 20 million copies.

Skyrim is a game that you decide how to play, by that I mean that apart from the first few sequences nothing is compulsory and can be picked up and dropped at anytime meaning you do not have to complete the main story and can do as you wish within the world created. However the story that is told is you the player are known as Dovahkin (dragonborn) and person who is able to use the ability of dragon shouts.  The game opens with your execution; however before you are killed the execution is interrupted by the dragon Alduwin allowing for your escape. From this point onwards you are free and can decide your own fate.

The gameplay follows the typical RPG style of a being able to wield a sword, shield, magic etc (what any other typical fantasy RPG would have) and of having quests that you can access from a variety of NPCs throughout the game. Informing the majority of your journey and experience (the gameplay).
Your approach to the characters if heavily reliant on your own opinion, for example you can join the Imperials or the Stormcloaks, who both fight for the land and both have valid reasons for, so you will judge them based on what your are told. Also nearly all characters are killable meaning that you can dramatically change a quest from killing one person.
The story connects with the audience as it is of a typical fantasy style, but allows you to alter it depending on your view and how you wish to play the game.

The main production process for most of the games animation is motion capture.

Skeleton  - Motion capture

Animated skeleton – Render

Environmental Design – Animate it, render

One of the biggest if not the biggest thing is Skyrim scale. This will be the biggest element of development making the hundred of ruins and linking areas together to create an unbelievable huge world, which vary in weather, scale and exploration.  This will be specifically enhanced to make sure the player has enough to explore.

Psychics are not a huge part of Skyrim, while you have the ability to jump and lift objects they are not used a lot during gameplay. Firing a bow is the most frequent use of psychics mechanics. However combat will have been a huge part of the mechanics allowing for the user of blocking, magic and other weaponry at your disposal which will have been important when looking at game testing and how the player reacts to the mechanics and enemy AI.

You yourself are customisable to race gender and every other detail. Meaning that you are not a character and are just you, which is typical of an RPG and is suitable for the target audience. There are so many characters in the game that also range in gender race etc that it is hard to keep track of and you don’t really build any attachment to anyone (especially since you can kill them if you so desire). These character match the conventions of the genre however as having big civilisations with lots of characters is something every RPG and fantasy game has. This does mean that they are not particularly strong characters though as they are forgettable unless  there is a certain element to them that isn’t. For example Cicero who dresses like a jester and  always speaks in 3^rd person.

When the game starts off and you are a low level rank nearly ever encounter is extremely difficult to win, making the aim of the game to level up. Gain experience and upgrade upgrade upgrade.  Just the beauty of the environment is captivating in itself and engaging the level type has such variety that it is hard to plot your path as you end up getting distracted by beautiful environment, enemy encounters and NPCs giving you quest after quest always catching your attention.

As previously mentioned the game the game is next to impossible with little rank, the way to succeed is to upgrade yourself by completing quests to earn money to earn equipment to upgrade skills, and this is what you will spend 99% of the game doing.

The gameplay is what you would expect from an RPG but the thing that makes you personally stand out is that you are Dovahkin and have the ability to use dragon shouts which constantly reminds you of the main narrative.

The target audience for Skyrim is anyone who is interested in the fantasy genre or just of RPGs in general, with its biggest appeal of shear exploration and variety in fantasy worlds.

The game follows typical fantasy features like swords and shields the heavy use of magic, mythical creatures and medieval style world, clearly fitting into the fantasy genre directly appealing to its audience.

Due to its popularity the game sold 20 million copies, been one of the most popular games of all time, and main competition audience wise are other RPGs by the same company such as the Fallout franchise.

The game is available for the Playstation 3, Xbox 360 and PC. As with battlefield the game is far superior on PC due to the power a PC has but comes at a hefty price. So I would personally recommend a console version as they are cheaper and easier to get hold of. Performance wise though PC comes out on top.

You need to play this game. I cannot stress that enough, if you consider yourself a gamer you should own this game, it is borderline masterpiece. Trust me. If you have access to a powerful PC (Intel I7 or above) I recommend that version.

LO3: Task 1 - Review - Battlefield: Bad Company 2

Battlefield: Bad Company 2 Review

Price: £25.00 [Amazon]

Platform: Xbox 360

Rating: PEGI 16

Developer: EA Digital Illusions 

Publisher: EA

Engine: Frostbite 1.5

Battlefield: Bad Company 2 is a first person military shooter (This is not to be confused with the original battlefield games 1,2,3,4 as this is a separate story line completely unrelated). Featuring all sorts of military style actions from shooting down helicopters with under-barrel grenade launchers to disguising snipers shots in the lightning.  Following the typical military style action and conventions found in all modern shooters. However where Bad company stands out in comparison to other games on the market is it narrative and heavily engaging mass online multiplayer (which was outstanding for its time).

Bad company follows the story of Preston Marlowe a member of the division know as “Bad Company”.  As they accidently uncover the truth behind a hidden operation knows as “Aurora” used during the final days of WW2. 
The gameplay changes through each environment allowing some mission to be heavily vehicular based and others taking place in tight buildings heavily reliant on CQC.  The narrative allows this as the story  takes place in different places worldwide as you uncover bits of truth in all corners of the world featuring environments like the desert, arctic and jungle.
The majority of the game you spend with the team bad company which are heavily developed on throughout the game (and you will know more if you played the original Bad Company game). Meaning you treat nearly ever encounter as a hostile situation.
The story connects with the audience by giving you situations typically given in modern shooters, such as intense gun fights. But the story also gives the characters personalities that are also given to other characters in modern games; however the cats of bad company are like two-dimensional and hold some interesting and humorous conversations even in the mists of battle appealing to its target audience.

The main production process for most of the games animation is motion capture.

Skeleton  - Motion capture

Animated skeleton – Render

Environmental Design – Animate it, render

As this is a military shooter it features a variety of tools at your disposal that are supposedly carried by military soldiers. However one of the biggest selling points and main features of the Bad Company series is its use of vehicles which can range from sand-buggies to fully armoured apache helicopters. These elements will be specifically enhanced to make gameplay more enjoyable and realistic.

As vehicles like helicopters are used psychics mechanics are very important, especially since the battlefield series is known for sense of realism. The games sense of realism is quite impressive (especially for its time) featuring things that real soldiers would have to do like account for bullet drop while firing from a distance and destructible environments this means the game mechanics are heavily developed to make sure this works especially when playing the online multiplayer.

The bad company team include Redford your sergeant who’s only motivation to do anything is his retirement. Sweetwater who has the persona of a typical nerd/loser. Haggard the gun slinging redneck and your character Preston Marlowe, who is very dull, quiet character that only inputs very occasionally. Out of all the characters though he carries the most common sense and quickest reaction time making him a perfect character to be the main. These character are pretty much the embodiment of army stereotypes, however are original enough to be entertaining who has tonnes of character development and making then strong, relevant and appealing to the target audience.

Bad Company features challenging and intense gunfights with destructible environments and difficult mission like “Defend object A” which can be very hard especially on higher difficulties. The games online multiplayer varies in challenge depending on your skill as a player and your opponents skill.

The game engages the player with story driven gameplay in the single player campaign featuring huge variety that engages the player and highly addictive competitive online multiplayer that engages the player by presenting the challenge of showing your skill as a player against each other.

The gameplay drives the narrative forward as sequences like chases are key to the story that engages the player giving you a sense of urgency and tensions when playing the game.

As I have said a multitude of times if it’s one thing this game has is its variety in gameplay that consistently changes throughout that never reuses sequences adding something new to the experience each time which engages the player.

Bad company’s target audience are people interested in heavy first person action shooters, mass online multiplayer games or just the bad company series itself. The indication of this been its references to the previous game including the same cast and weapons. The intense realistic gunplay is that of a action orientated first person shooter that would be enjoyed by any military first person shooter fan and outstanding online multiplayer featuring a huge variety of vehicle equipment and weaponry not seen in this variety of a long time or ever before in some comparisons.  This means that battlefield knows its target audience and directly appeals to them.

In comparison to its predecessor this improves on this it in nearly every aspect featuring  huge variety in environment, weapon variety, story (for a military shooter). Battlefield: Bad company 2 was at the height of its genre at the time is this is clearly evident from playing the game through multiple times.

The game is multiplatform featuring on Xbox 360, PS3 and PC. PC is probably the most suitable for a performance perspective as graphics can be up scaled and general speed of the game can be faster (all depending on your PC’s specs). However consoles are more available and are considerably cheaper to the mass market. Therefore I would personally recommend it on PlayStation 3 of Xbox 360.

Even though this game has aged now the game still is an amazing experience both on single player campaign and the multi-player, which I highly recommend over the current battlefield entries, even though it is a little old school in comparison.

LO3: Task 1 - Review - Timesplitters 2

Timesplitters 2 Review

Price: £23.00 [Amazon] (depending on the store)

Platform: Playstation 2

Rating: PEGI 15

Developer: Free Radical 

Publisher: Eidos Interactive

Engine: Timesplitters Engine

Timesplitters 2 is the sequel to the original Timesplitters released in 2000. The game is a 1^st person shooter, reminiscent of games like golden eye and nightfire. The game features a variety of weapons at your arsenal that are fired from the hip from a first person view, where you are unable to look down the sights and have crosshairs on the HUD as an alternative.

As a first person shooter you cannot get anything more generic from a gameplay point of view. However the story behind Timesplitters is quite interesting following the story of an agent going through multiple time periods to collect time crystals from the enemies known as splitters. This narrative is easily Timesplitters selling point.

The game starts off when two space marines from Earth, (Sergeant Cortez and Corporal Hart) are sent out to a space station overrun by Timesplitters (main enemy) to retrieve the time crystals.
After they reach the bridge they see the last few Timesplitters take the time crystals into various time periods using the time portal. Sergeant Cortez jumps into the portal and thus the game starts.
When the Sergeant reaches the other side he is a different person, his character changes in each time period, which emerges you within the theme of the level and also informs the gameplay. Very little time is spent on character development as the game is very fast paced and the main characters of the levels are only shown once at the beginning and at the end of the level not giving you much time to create a bond with them. Even the main character (Cortez) is very expressionless and shows little to know feelings meaning we don’t see much motivation behind his mission meaning our interaction with the characters is quite poor.
The target audience been people into the series and time travel and FPS gameplay. Means that the main story is perfect giving you the opportunity to literally gun down who you please, as nearly everybody can be considered a foe.

The main production process for most of the games animation is motion capture.

Skeleton  - Motion capture

Animated skeleton – Render

Environmental Design – Animate it, render

As this is a FPS game mechanics like akimbo dual-wielding weapons enhances the gameplay allowing the player to enjoy mass firepower. Also the game features a variety of weapons even weapons like futuristic laser guns, miniguns and even fire extinguishers. This yet again enhances the gameplay allowing the user to use a variety of weapons at their disposal that change throughout the game depending on the environment.

The game requires physics mechanics as the game features weapons like grenades that require them to roll in certain areas and stick if they are a ‘time mine’. This enhances gameplay as it adds a realistic feature and allows the user more variety in their arsenal.

The main characters been Cortez and Hart are generic military soldiers as they are mostly emotionless and follow the typical ‘badass’ appearance with as they typically would. This appeals to the target audience as they get what they would expect from the genre. However this makes the characters quite weak as mentioned before that he changes in every time period so you do not get much time to form a bond with any of the characters making them weak characters. 

Each level of the game follows a shoot em up style of level where you dispatch multiple enemies throughout the level following basic level design. This can be a challenge on higher difficulties. There are also puzzle elements to the game for example: In the Aztec level the only way to kill the enemies is to lead them into trap doors, which the game does not tell you beforehand so you have to figure this out presenting a challenge. Also the game features challenge modes that allow you to do various non-story related missions, which are them rewarded a bronze, silver, gold or platinum medal depending on your performance.

These engage the player with multiple different challenges adding variety to the game making it easy to switch to different types of gameplay depending on your preference at the time. Competitive and co-operative multiplayer is also featured in the game adding even more variety allowing you to play with friends (back when games did that) making it a game that you can use as a social crutch widening its audience and accessibility.

To succeed in the game like any other game you must not die and defeat the enemies presented to you. In modes like the challenge area your timing is more important in some cases rather than your ability to kill.

The narrative fits perfectly with the gameplay as your mission is simple enough. All Timesplitters are bad therefore kill them. Meaning that nearly all AI is killable as not many friendly NPCs feature in the game (even they are killable if you wish to do so).

The gameplay does not particularly evolve as such, each mission follows a basic pattern. In that you are introduced to a character and his scenario, you then fight your way through the level to then solve a few puzzles which eventually leads into a boss fight. The level is then finished by you jumping into a time vortex to proceed to the next level. However the variety the game has it its levels feature presenting new maps, characters and weapons each time.

The target audience falls under the FPS audience. Which is by far the biggest audience currently (not so at the time of release). People generally interested in SCI FI and military shooters will also be included in this demographic.

The games main narrative is about time travel meaning it is a SCI Fi game. The game also features typical SCI FI tropes like laser guns and space stations. It falls under military shooter as the main character Cortez is part of the military and as I said before follows the typical military stereotype. This means the game directly appeals to the audience as it follows what you would expect from the genre and little funs twists.

For the time this game is no masterpiece with revolutionary games like Halo: Combat Evolved releasing roughly around the same time and games with bigger fan bases like Goldeneye: rogue agent  and Nightfire being its main competitor meaning games like this get pushed to the side. Especially since the original timesplitters was quite poor. So the game is average in comparison.

Timesplitters 2 is the first in the series to be multiplatform releasing on the Playstation 2, GameCube and Xbox (original). However the game is most suited to the Playstation 2 or the Xbox as they have superior hardware (and controller) to the GameCube. 

The games is dated, however if you are willing to brush the dust of your playstation 2 and give this solid shooter a go maybe with a friend co-operantly this game is a blast with fun shoot em up action. Which I recommend as a game to play with a friend rather than a solo experience. 

LO3: Task 1 - Review - Jak & Daxter: The Precursor Legacy

Jak & Daxter: The Precursor Legacy Review

Price: £15.00

Platform: Playstation 2, 3

Rating: PEGI 7

Developer: Naughty Dog

Publisher: Sony Computer Entertainment.

Engine: Kinetica

Jak and Daxter is part of a trilogy of games for the Playstation 2 (later to be remastered on Playstation 3) that are essentially 3^rd Person Platformers. This is the first game in the trilogy and is quite different to the other games. Following the typical style of a platformer jumping from object to object in a fantasy world, featuring a variety of different styles in world design from perpetual sunlight to snowy mountain tops.

In numerous interviews the developers say that Mario 64 heavily inspires the game. In ways you can see this as they are both Platformers and are both 3D games. 

The game opens with Samos the Sage talking about his life’s work to find out who, what and where the precursors are. It then cuts to a scene of Jak and Daxter in a boat heading towards Misty Island while Samos narrates over the top about how they are the future. After some exploration on Misty Island Jak and Daxter get into a fight with a lurker and Daxter falls into a pit of dark eco turning him into a small orange creature (later in the series referred to as a ottsel). The two then venture back to Samos hut where Samos tells them he ‘The sage to the north probably knows how to reverse it’. Thus the adventure begins.

The game is about the journey to the north and most of the time you will be collecting enough power cells to get to the next stage (power cells are gained by completing various tasks).

There are no real villains that are present in the game till the very end, with the standard enemy been creatures called lurkers. So nearly all characters you meet are friendly and will more than likely give you a task by asking for a favour etc. So you will never really hesitate to talk or interact with a character. 

The story is an adventure game, you go to a variety of different locations to complete tasks that have no real push to move the plot forward, till you collect enough power cells to move on to the next stage. The story connects with the audience by telling the tale of these two ‘hero’s’. 

The main production process for most of the games animation is motion capture.

Skeleton  - Motion capture

Animated skeleton – Render

Environmental Design – Animate it, render 

As it is a platformer the game physics is a big deal and you spend most of your time with you finger placed firmly over the X button, this means this will have been specifically enhanced to improve gameplay to a satisfactory standard. Which pays off in the end as the psychics mechanics are fantastic for its time.

The main characters are a duo, which have different personality (almost polar opposite), giving a variety of different reactions to certain things within the game. Since Jak is a mute, Daxter usually is the one to react to situations by suggesting certain things and reacting with sometimes witty comments. This is relevant to the target audience as it adds a comedic feature to the game which the target audience will like given the conventions of the genre and initial gameplay style the audience would be younger children. Comedic characters are usually the most entertaining and why would you play a video game if it was not entertaining therefore these characters are suitable for the target audience. As the characters are not human (they have long pointy ears) this follows the style of a fantasy game therefore the characters are perfect and relate to the target audience. 

These characters in this game are very strong, at least the main cast is. The characters are lovable and easy to like and care for. The villains of the game are just as likeable and strong too. Even the random villages you find that tell you there sob stories are fun and memorable. 

The game involves various platforming puzzles that you are not instructed to solve you can solve puzzles without starting a mission therefore presenting a challenge which will cause you to experiment with certain moves to solve puzzles for example. Punching logs up so that you can access an area on a hill, to do this you use R1 + Square. 

This engages the player buy showing an element of mystery and free exploration without it the task being mandatory. 

The games success is arguably down to how advanced it was at the time along with its simplicity and variety in tasks. Such as task where you will use a “Zoomer”, or a “Flut-flut”.

The levels are large and involve small tasks that are hardly noticeable or task which are extremely engaging like boss fights. This keeps the player constantly exploring and completing tasks even if the player is unaware of it.

The target audience is anyone who like adventure games and platformers, or are fond of duos in video games.

It’s an adventure game, it’s a platformer, and it has a duo therefore appeals to its target audience.  

The game is heavily adventure focused, especially since there are mission that you find while exploring with no prior knowledge that will present new challenges that engage the player. The game runs like a platformer and throughout the game you will find areas and tasks that follow more traditional type of platforming.

Other games in the same target audience include games like Mario 64 (heavily inspired the game). Which is known as a classic in comparison Mario is older therefore giving Jak the advantage especially since it is on more advanced hardware.   
 

Jak and Daxter is exclusive to the Playstation 2, however in 2010 was remastered for the Playstation 3 in 720p with trophy support.

It would make no difference what platform the game is on. Apart from image quality is superior on the Playstation 3 as it is in 720p.

Overall this game is fun little journey that is fun to play as a stand alone game and one to start of a fantastic series of games. The game features a lovable set of characters in a fascinating fantasy world full of variety and surprise. I recommend this for people who like to play old games and those platform lovers. It is also interesting to see how naughty dog have developed over the years if you are fans of such games like uncharted.

 
 

 
 

LO3: Task 1 - Review - Uncharted 2: Among Thieves

Uncharted 2: Among Thieves Review

Price: £40.00

Platform: Playstation 3 (Exclusive)

Rating: PEGI 15

Developer: Naughty Dog

Publisher: Sony Computer Entertainment.

Engine: Naught Dog Engine 2.0, Havok

Uncharted 2 is a third person shooter action adventure platformer.

The conventions of a third person shooter is that you can see your whole character and when you aim with weaponry you see over the shoulder of the character with cross-hairs over in front the gun. Uncharted does this excellently and even has a feature called gun-n-run where you can shoot while running and the cross hairs get significantly wider. It takes all the features of a third person shooter and uses it to their advantages.

Comparing it to the other Naughty Dog series Jak and Daxter which is also a platformer and action game with shooter elements, uncharted is much superior as the weaponry and aiming system is more advanced and allows for precise aiming etc. The game also handles better in its platformer elements as you engage with the environment better. But I am comparing it to a Playstation 2 title.

The game opens with you on train in a blizzard hanging of the edge of a cliff and you have several bullet wounds and are covered in blood. After the game teaches you to climb you escape from train and work your way through various wreckages, when you find the puma dagger and pass out in the blizzard. There is then a flashback to you on a resort calmly drinking and enjoying yourself when you are approached by an old friend and his colleague who offers you a job proposition to rob an artefact from a museum for client. During the heist you see various flashbacks to the resort explaining many motives in the game and also more detail into the artefact and the client. You then play the game from the heist up until the train wreck and advance beyond that point.

The story gives you motivation to play the game, as it is a thrilling story with an excellent journey and a fantastic end.

There is a lot of betrayal in this game and it is hard to trust characters etc. that leads to a lot of hesitation and mistrust towards characters. There are also characters you care for and gives you feeling that you need to protect them. This changes all the ways you interact with the characters in the game.

Uncharted games always have elements of historical fiction and in this game it is arguably the strongest of the trilogy, and this engages with target audience as it is a superb story.

The game runs on the Naughty Dog Engine 2.0 (Developed purely for this game). However it uses the Havok physics engine.

The main production process for most of the games animation is motion capture.

Skeleton  - Motion capture

Animated skeleton – Render

Environmental Design – Animate it, render

Like most shooter you need mechanics like grenades throwing and how that interacts with the environment etc. The game also features some destructible environments that require some sort of physic programming. One of the games main features is its free-running/climbing feature that will require a certain level of physic programming or thing like rope swings etc. This enhances the gameplay by giving intense climbing scene with the sense of scale the game gives off when climbing.

Our main protagonist Nathan Drake is a treasure hunter who claims he is related to Sir Francis Drake and is pretty much an all rounder as he can do most things. This is relevant to the target audience as he is in many ways our stereotypical hero and he also is handy with guns, climbing and puzzles. Which is relevant to  the target audience as all these features are needed to link in with the motives and story. This appeals to the target audience as he Is a likeable character and entertains you with various one-liners and interesting character development.

It matches the genre as he is in most forms a stereotypical hero and fits most of the requirements needed for the game.

The whole cast for Uncharted 2 is strong from the stereotypical hero to the fanservice Chloe, to the right hand man Sully, to your innocent Elena to the crazy Russian villain Lazarevic. Even though you can argue most of the character are typical stereotypes to the action adventure genre, they are all strong and have plenty of development and emotional scene attached to them.

Puzzles in the game can be quite challenging the first time round and some difficult gunplay sections and quick time events. There is also a difficulty mode called “crushing” where all the HUD is removed and enemies become weaker and your health is reduced.

The level design is not like a typical level design where there is an obvious route, many scenes in the game are in jungles and other uncharted ways where the route is cleverly hidden, or has multiple routes. There are also intense action scenes (like running along the roof of a moving train while trying to avoid the helicopter trying to kill you) and engaging story.

Progression and survival is key to the game as if you jump to far (while climbing) or miss a shot you can be killed and have to restart from last checkpoint.

The gameplay engages the narrative with intense chases etc. with key character etc.

The gameplay constantly evolves by not using the same scene and scenarios over again there is almost a different and new type of gameplay to every section that smoothly transits without you knowing.

The target audience is anybody interested in an action adventure third person shooter with multiplayer and puzzle aspects. The main audience however would be players who played the previous game Uncharted: Drakes Fortune.

Well Uncharted 2 is a direct sequel to the Uncharted: Drakes Fortune that is an indication that it is for the target audience, plus the title Uncharted implies it is a adventure or mysterious game.

It directly appeals to the audience with an engaging storyline that shows you elements of historical fiction with puzzle side activities and gunplay.

Comparing it to the first game it is far superior as it has a more believable story line, they have added a better combat system with the ability to counter attack and enhanced stealth. It also comes with a multiplayer that the first game didn’t and is graphically superior in almost every way.

Uncharted 2 is exclusive to Playstation 3. As Sony owns Naughty Dog and they’ve only ever developed games for Playstation.

It would make no difference what console the game is on. It is just that Sony owns Naughty Dog.

Overall, this is a fantastic game with a beautiful elegant story set throughout a variety of wonderfully animated environment with solid shooter action and fun competitive and co-operative multiplayer, making this game worthy of a place on your shelf for any PlayStation 3 owner. Recommended for those who like 3^rd person action, wonderful story telling and fans of the series.

LO3: Task 1 - Review - The Last Of Us

The Last Of Us Review

Price: £40.00

Platform: Playstation 3 (Exclusive)

Rating: PEGI 18

Developer: Naughty Dog

Publisher: Sony Computer Entertainment.

Engine: In-House, Havok

This masterpiece is an apocalyptic 3^rd person shooter, Stealth action game of the survival horror genre.

The conventions of the genre is that it is dark there is some sort of threat; there are guns and lots of survival horror elements. Which the last of us meets and succeeds.

This is by far one of the best games of this genre and of this generation. This has one of the most engaging campaigns I have ever played. That emotionally torments you throughout the duration of the game putting you in some difficult situation requiring you to think carefully about your options and touching on some sensitive moral issues. Making this game very unique and one the best of its genre.

An airborne fungal virus is spread throughout America (this is based on Cordyceps). Where fungus grows out of the victims head and causes them to go blind, meaning they use sensitive hearing to navigate. This gives them a zombie like features as they scream and make clicking noises, which adds to the horror element of the game.

Our story takes places through the eyes of Joel who is a smuggler with his partner Tess who is asked to transport a young child across the country. This drives you through some difficult situations as you travel through apocalyptic America viewing the monstrosities that have happened to various people through this fictional world and your own fair share of ‘bad luck’. Which puts you in some seriously difficult situations.

Well as this is based in apocalyptic America you need to be wary of your surrounding and especially the people that you meet. As real monsters in this story are humans. This affects your approach to everything and everyone giving you little to no sympathy or trust with anyone.

The story connects with the target audience as this is a thrilling masterpiece of a game would be a brilliant experience for anyone (over the age of 18 obviously). The story is the main appeal of this game; even though its gameplay is unique and handles excellently with a very intense multiplayer this game main appeal is still its gripping storyline.

The game runs on the In-house engine. However it uses the Havok engine.

The main production process for most of the games animation is motion capture.

Skeleton  - Motion capture

Animated skeleton – Render

Environmental Design – Animate it, render

The last of us features a crafting system, which you use in game where you can use items you have scavenged to craft objects. Such as a scissors and tape can be used to craft a shiv. This is a unique feature.

At times you can pick up objects and throw them at other objects or at enemy AI. This will require a certain level of programming and physic mechanics. This will be used to enhance survival gameplay, as hurling a brick at someone’s face is not your first port of call.

The main protagonist of the Last of Us is Joel and his deep and complex story. As a character he is troubled and experienced as he has lived through the outbreak and has little to no trust or sympathy for anyone.

Ellie is the outgoing 14 year old that is the light of the relationship between are main protagonists. She has only ever known life after the outbreak and throughout the game questions many of social norms as she is disconnected from the world. Whereas Joel is lamenting the old world. They are pretty much polar opposites.

This game does not follow the survival horror character conventions. The characters are very human in the last of us. They fit the world that is created and this is not your regular survival horror game.

The characters in this game are like no other. The attachment you grow towards these characters is unreal, as a player this broke me within the first 10 minutes. As I said before this game emotion torments you with what happens to these characters and the relationship you develop with you.

As this is of the survival horror genre your biggest risk is death and therefore you must survive. My utilizing your equipment and surrounding to the best of your ability and getting from point A to B successfully. This can be a challenge especially towards the very end.

You spend a lot of your time out of combat and exploring this engages you as they use real locations such as Pittsburgh and there are a lot of optional conversation you can take part in my pressing triangle. Which you will find out more about the characters and the world you are in. Which engages the player. Also when you are in combat it is very tense and there is no way you wouldn’t be engaged.

Survival. You must survive. The whole point of the game is to transport Ellie across the country and if you die you have failed in your mission so you need to survive. Later in the game survival comes more apparent as the situation gets significantly harder.

The gameplay of the game either is out of combat, in combat or a puzzle. But this is not apparent when playing the game the transition from section to section is very smooth.

The target audience is anyone who is a fan of games by Naughty Dog (why I bought it), anybody who is a fan of the survival horror genre or of the 3^rd person genre.

Another game that is of a similar style is the other masterpiece Resident Evil 4, which you could argue The last of us, takes inspiration from. In comparison it is more of a battle against monster rather than horror against humans and the infected. The horror elements of Resident Evil 4 are truly terrifying and I would have to say Resident Evil is superior in horror.  However there is no other game that can compare to The Last Of us heart-wrenching story. Graphically the Last of us is superior but that is an unfair comparison as Resident Evil 4 is a Playstation 2 game not a Playstation 3 game.

The last of us is exclusive to the Playstation 3, as it is made by naughty dog that only make games for Playstation, as Sony owns them.

It would make no difference whether the game is on Xbox 360, Playstation 3 or PC. But as Sony owns Naughty dog the game is exclusive to Playstation 3.

Overall if I had to assign one word to this game it would be masterpiece, as this game if nothing else is definitely a masterpiece that should be played by all and I cannot recommend enough. This title should be on the shelf of every person who would consider themselves a gamer. Unfortunately this only applies to those on Playstation 3 as it is exclusive to it.

LO3: Task 1 - Review - Assassins Creed 4: Black Flag

Assassin’s Creed – Black Flag Review

Price: £50.00

Platform: Playstation 4

Rating: PEGI 18

Developer: Ubisoft Montreal

Publisher: Ubisoft

Engine: AnvilNext

The Assassins Creed series consists of the same genre (with pretty much the same gameplay, missions and level design). Assassins Creed 4 is a 3^rd person action adventure stealth game and the 5^th game in the series.

The style is 3^rd person and the main convention of stealth is that you can sneak and have the ability to crouch. Which Assassins Creed has all those features. Its combat system is quite unique and its style of gameplay has not been used like this before.

The only other game that I can think of that is primarily a stealth game with an action adventure elements is the Metal Gear Solid Franchise, which in comparison the assassin’s creed franchise is a poor excuse of a stealth game, as the stealth is linear and the combat is very easy. Where as the Metal Gear Solid franchise has challenging gameplay and intense combat.

The assassin’s creed franchise always has two storylines where you play as to separate characters and they link the two stories together through a system called the animus. The idea behind the animus is you can DNA to ‘relive’ your ancestor’s lives. The main protagonist of the assassins creed franchise modern day story line is Desmond Miles (who you have played as for the past 5 games), however in this game you play as a new protagonist (who is not named). Where your job is to use the animus to research into the life of Edward Kenway for Abstergo Industries (who are modern day Templars). In this section you play in first person and complete various puzzles to hack computers.

Then comes the other half of the game, which is the primary part of the game where you play as the Pirate Assassin Edward Kenway as you follow his story to become ‘rich’ so he can go back to England to reunite with his wife. Which along the way you become involved with the dispute between the Assassins and Templars.

The game usually requires you to follow or kill a target that will be a key character that will move the story forward.

Sometimes in the game you are required to kill targets that were once your ally, which can sometimes lead you to hesitate as you have taking a liking to that character.

Sometimes the game will reference other games as all the character you play as are all related to each other. Most of the characters get a game to themselves (expect Ezio – Assassins Creed 2, Assassins Creed Brotherhood, Assassins Creed Revelations).

The game runs on the AnvilNext engine, but requires the same methods of production as all games. The game form of animation will be motion capture and stages from there will go along the lines of:

Skeleton  - Motion capture

Animated skeleton – Render

Environmental Design – Animate it, render

The has features such as ‘air assassination’ which will be where you look at a target below and press the Square button to jump onto the target and kill them. This requires a certain level of physic and game mechanics as you can do this to moving targets too. This enhances the gameplay.

The main character (Edward Kenway) is a pirate who later decides to become Assassins after various events that take place throughout the game. This is relevant to the target audience.

At points throughout the story you can feel sympathy towards some characters often-deep hate and at points been generally quite cool. “Men dream. But dreams hold no value here. What was first the bright light of hope has now turned into a long night of captivity. Lost in the dark, we surrender our minds and forget who we are. But some of us have woken up. They remind us that we all have a choice. To stand, not kneel. To oppose, not obey. To live, not just exist.”

All the characters use pirate slang at points like the occasional “aye” but its not to over used which ads to the realism of the game, which is important as it belongs to the historical fiction genre. There is also a notice at the beginning of all Assassins Creed games that stresses that this historical fiction as is created by a multicultural team. This follows the convention of pirates and adds to the character of Edward and the other characters in the game.

Mostly the characters are good. The main cast was well developed throughout the story. Some of the supporting characters are weak in places mainly the villains. The character for the modern day story are poorly developed as you do not spend much time with the characters and you do not build any attachment to them in the short time you spend with them.

The game does not show much challenge as it gives you to opportunity to complete mission using your own methods. However there will be mission that requires you to not be detected etc. Which will require you to use cover and hide in crowds and use free running skills etc. There are also optional objectives that require you to do certain parts of the game in a certain way. E.g. “Destroy two boats using one broadside”.

It engages the player by giving you the opportunity to approach different targets and challenges the way you want to. One of the games main appeals is how big the world is and how much exploration involved which can engage the player more as it gives the player there own approach to the game.

You need to kill the target, or follow the target or case the target etc. Depending on what the mission is. Most of the require you to be stealthy and hide in crowds etc.

Usually your target will be a key character or somebody who’s going to lead you to an event or another key character.

Usually after you an objective there is a new objective that immediately replaces it giving you a new objective to complete.

The target audience is for anyone who is a fan of the Assassins Creed series or like pirate’s stealth action games action adventure gameplay or boats.

The indication of this is the game is about pirates and is part of the Assassins Creed series.

The game appeals directly to the audience as the main advertisement for this game is that you are a pirate linked in with the Assassins Creed series.

There is not any other game like this unless you compare it to the other Assassins Creed games. In that case this would be one of the strongest titles in the series. As the gameplay and exploration is one of the main highlights of the game and is far superior to the other titles. But I would still say that the story to Assassins Creed Revelations is stronger than the Assassins Creed 4 story, as it held more appeal to the main character and had a interesting plot in general that related to its predecessors.

This game is available for Playstation 3, Playstation 4, Xbox 360, Xbox One and PC.

There is exclusive content that comes with the Playstation 3 and 4 versions of the games. For the Playstation 3 and Xbox 360 the graphics are downscaled as they are running on older hardware.

This game would be more suited for either Playstation 4 or Xbox One as the graphics and performance of the game is significantly better.