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Thursday 12 June 2014

The Overview - Microsofts E3 Press Conference

For those of you that didn’t read through our Live Blog during the Microsoft E3 Presser we have completed a full overview below.

After last years’ knockout blow from Sony, Microsoft really needed to get something on the table that would put the ball – or at least some of it – back in their court.

This year they went to great lengths to provide clarification over the console itself as well as the shape of the landscape for the next 12 months.  Microsoft’s presentation pitched the Xbox One very cleanly as a next-generation games machine, with barely a mention of sports, TV, or Kinect to be found. The future is games, Microsoft told us.

Microsoft opened their briefing via Phil Spencer and the first gameplay showing from Sledgehammer games and Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare, It was spectacular and opened the show with an explosive bang. On the big screen, the demo was heady enough to feel like a scripted ride through a futuristic city landscape and the CGI opening blended carefully into the FPS action. Frantic and theatrical, this showcased COD exactly how the game should be played – just watch the trailer below.
 
 
The serious gaming tones continued for the next 20 minutes as we got treated to Forza Horizon 2, Assassin’s Creed: Unity and Dragon Age: Inquisition. Evolve brought the crowd back into live with its now fabled 4v1 hashtag all over the place. Blending the legendary gameplay that made the Left for Dead series so popular, this sci-fi spectacle pits for human FPS tacticians against a team of monster – and a big day giant that is player by another (again see the trailer below).
 
So Microsoft were off to a good start but we didn’t see much that we hadn’t really been anticipating. Sunset Overdrive came in next, and showed off some more of its wacky, colourful opportunities. Insomniac are great, and have been for a very long time, so this has been perking the Rajakaru ears ever since it was announced. And, as if you need the reminder, it’s an Xbox One exclusive – and we heard this several times during its 5 minutes slot.
 
Funnily enough a DLC opportunity probably made the most internet noise with the announcement of Dead Rising 3’s new bolt on. Super Ultra Dead Rising 3 Arcade Remix Hyper Edition EX Plus Alpha, mouthful as it is, brought a great opportunity to Konami again. Taking a play out of the Blood Dragon playbook this content was made available immediate (so quickly that I downloaded it before the Project Spark trailer hit).

Our next stop, Fable Legends, in a demo from Lionhead that didn’t quite hit its mark, if only because the promises of all the fun we’ll have in the game seemed overly earnest in contrast with what we were seeing onscreen. Yes, it’s a slight quip that I’ll probably regret later but it didn’t hit the right notes for me personally. See for yourself, below, but I hope come release date that I am proven wrong, as it’s a great franchise for the publisher.
 
 
The next section I missed, due to train pick up’s, but I’ve since seen Ori and the Blind Forest. Its an intriguing platformer that shows we can’t hold just Sony to the dream like titles. This is the sort of game that rarely features at Microsoft’s pressers, and it’s nice to see the publisher showing a commitment to this sort of creativity amongst the gun-toting fare and safe-bet sequels.

Perhaps the least surprising but most satisfying announcement came next in the form of Halo: The Master Chief collection. We saw glimpses of Halo 5: Guardians (again in CGI format) but we still came away with something to look forward to this year from within the rings sci-fi shooter. Firstly, Guardians will have a beta in December but the real action was in the collection mentioned previously. Holding the full anniversary edition of Halo: Combat Evolved, a fresh next-gen anniversary for Halo 2, plus the original offerings (beefed to 1080p and 60fps) of Halo 3 and 4. This set will feature 100 maps, countless game modes and enough to keep even the longest serving Master Chief in fully fledged action until the next ‘original’ instalment hits. Trailer below again for your perusal.
 
 
There were a couple of blockbuster wins for Microsoft, too. The debut trailer of Rise of the Tomb Raider, some Witcher 3: Wild Hunt gameplay and a genuinely impressive look at The Division were all welcome, but it was the announcement of a re-imagined Phantom Dust and Xbox One exclusive Scalebound from Platinum Games that are really worth talking about as these are new IPs for the console.
 
NB - There is a playlist in here if any of you are interested for all the games listed in this article.
 
Certainly, it’s nice to see Microsoft signing on the bottom line of a third-party exclusive contract; they’re an old-fashioned thing, and increasingly rare. A Platinum Games title alone is a big win for the publisher, let alone one featuring monster hunting and dragon slaying. Plus the CGI trailer gave us a look at what we can expect even though we don’t know the exact gameplay opportunities.

Microsoft ended their conference not with humbled talky section of yesteryear but with a goodwill gesture to fans that Crackdown would be returning. It’s been four whole years since Crackdown 2, which didn’t sell as well as its predecessor, but it’s a welcome change of landscape to say the least.

All in all, the American superpower gave all the fans a swansong for all their misdemeanours last year. It was an assured briefing with a clear message behind it, and what's more, it felt like the executive committee behind the console were finally starting to listen to us, the import people, their fans. There was absolutely no focus on “entertainment” offerings, no vague features and rightly no straight up apologies. This was about the next 24 months and Microsoft have a plan to kick Sony right where it hurts – in the new landscape of games.

Monday 9 June 2014

Microsoft's E3 Media Briefing - The Rajakaru Xbox Live Feed

So it’s that time of the year again, E3 is here! 


Sadly the event kicks off while most of you are busy at work, doing homework or getting on with your lives. As such us lovely people here a Rajakaru Games have decided that we will bring you all the goings on in one friendly live feed. It’ll certainly be something to behold and once the event is finished we’ll fill this bad boy up with trailers and gameplay videos (if we get any). So without further ado lets get ready for the show (4:00pm Pre-Briefing will begin). 

(Brought to you by Richard @somemannoplan)



 
 

Xbox One: The Rajakaru Game List

Earlier this year, Sony published a list of the 100+ games available on the PlayStation in 2014. While Microsoft has not released a similar list of its own for the Xbox One, we've searched out and listed below everything that we can for Microsoft’s Xbox One too.

Of course, this list is subject to change as games are delayed or announced (E3 is tonight)

Available:
  • The Amazing Spider-Man 2 - April 29
  • Child of Light - April 30
  • Kinect Sports Rivals - April 8
  • The Lego Movie Video Game - February 8
  • Lego: The Hobbit - April 8
  • Metal Gear Solid V: Ground Zeroes - March 18
  • Murdered: Soul Suspect - June 3
  • Nutjitsu - May 8
  • Plants vs. Zombies: Garden Warfare - February 25
  • Rayman Legends - February 18
  • Strider - February 19
  • Strike Suit Zero - April 8
  • Super Time Force - May 14
  • Thief - February 25
  • Titanfall - March 11
  • Tomb Raider: Definitive Edition - January 28
  • Trials Fusion - April 18
  • Watch Dogs - May 27
  • Wolfenstein: The New Order - May 20
  • Worms Battlegrounds - June 3

Upcoming:
  • Alien: Isolation - October 7
  • Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare - November 4
  • Destiny - September 9
  • Diablo III: Ultimate Evil Edition - August 19
  • Dragon Age: Inquisition - October 7
  • EA Sports UFC - June 17
  • The Elder Scrolls Online - November 2014
  • The Evil Within - October 21
  • Evolve - October 21
  • Far Cry 4 - November 18
  • Middle-earth: Shadow of Mordor - October 7
  • Madden NFL 15 - August 26
  • Skylanders: Trap Team - October 5
  • Sniper Elite 3 - July 1
  • Transformers: Rise of the Dark Spark - June 24
  • WWE 2K15 - October 28

TBC:
  • 1001 Spikes
  • LEGO Batman 3: Beyond Gotham
  • Assassin's Creed Unity
  • Aztez
  • Below
  • Calibre 10 Racing Series
  • Castlestorm
  • Chariot
  • Chuck's Challenge 3D
  • Contrast
  • Defense Grid 2
  • Disney Fantasia: Music Evolved
  • Disney Infinity -- Marvel Super Heroes
  • Divekick Addition Edition
  • The Elder Scrolls Online
  • Forced
  • Forza Horizon 2
  • Guacamelee
  • Gunscape
  • Habitat
  • Hyper Light Drifter
  • Kickbeat
  • The Last Tinker
  • Minecraft
  • NHL 15
  • Pinball FX2
  • Project Cars
  • Project Spark
  • RBI Baseball 14
  • Riptide GP2
  • Roundabout
  • Shadow Warrior
  • Sunset Overdrive
  • The Crew
  • The Golf Club
  • Wulverblade

Rumoured:
  • Dance Central sequel
  • Halo 1-4 Collection

Game with Gold - June (Xbox One offerings begin)

Dark Souls is the game currently being offered as part of Xbox’s Games With Gold promotion, which is now celebrating its one-year anniversary by adding an extra free Xbox 360 game to its usual allotment of two. The two other free games for June will be Charlie Murder, a beat-em-up released last August, and Super Street Fighter IV: Arcade Edition, the most recent version of the fighting game. Both will become available on 16th June (as Dark Souls ends 15th).

That means you’ll make roughly £40.00 if you download all three.

In better news, Microsoft also recently revealed that “Games with Gold” has come to Xbox One. Starting this month, Games With Gold will begin bringing "subscription-based access to free games" to Xbox Live Gold subscribers. The kick off saw the announcements of Halo: Spartan Assault and Max: The Curse of Brotherhood. As is the case with PlayStation Plus' Instant Game Collection offerings, you’ll only be able to access the free Games With Gold on Xbox One if you have an active Gold membership. 

Still that’s five free games from Microsoft this month. Great stuff!
 
 
 

Monday 2 June 2014

Watch Dogs Review: Hack-a-lacking

I’m going to break this review down into a single questions – it’s the one on everybody’s lips – “Is Watch Dogs as good as the hype suggests?”

 
Frankly its neither the tragic failure some expected nor the introduction to a 'proper' next-gen others craved, Watch Dogs is instead best thought of as an open-world sandbox: Chicago Edition. As with other titles from the publisher – Far Cry and Assassin's Creed being the obvious examples – it is almost compulsively appealing, thanks to Ubisoft Montreal's tried and true onslaught of collectibles, missions, sidequests and other bite-sized reward loops.
 
The gameplay is as fluid as the best parts of Assassin’s Creed where the systems complement the player rather than hindering them. I’ve played around 20 hours of the title so far, and honestly haven’t made it to the end, so feel I am in a strong position to tell you that I haven’t been bored yet. Sadly, I haven’t been thrilled very often either.

Watch Dogs is set in a fairly large, populated, sandbox but doesn’t catch the intrigue of Creed or the appeal of Far Cry – instead feeling like the love child of GTA and Driver. Critically the title is let down by not feeling like a living “breathing” world. NPC’s walk the streets but seem, largely, like robots out for a stroll in a world they don’t really understand. Thankfully, this is somewhat saved by the titles focus on giant corporations and social inequality; which the world does very well to diversify in its five moderately different districts.

Probably the strangest element, and the one most people are interesting in, is the fact the Hacking plays a relatively small part in the proceedings. The morally dubious activities undertaken by Aiden are a stark contrast to the main storyline and the abuse of power he deals with in it. The interface for interacting with the city is exciting, at first, but quickly fall’s foul of Watch Dogs own marketing features. You’ll blow out lights, hack road signs and lift bridges but it never gets any more involved than that. It’s like the bonus perks of GTA with a little but more spice added in.

At some points you’ll hack the bank accounts of the very people you are looking to “help”. It’s a strange decision that’s made worse by the fact that every action has a negative quality to it and it makes Aiden less enjoyable to play as.

Watch Dogs does take a lot of pointers from Ubisoft’s other titles and fills the world with many enjoyable activities for the player to enjoy outside of the main quest. Side-missions and activities are fun to complete and are the right length that they don’t get boring before you get to try something else new. The only nuance to this is the relatively samey main quests as the drive/hack/escape dynamic can only last so long without feeling repetitive.

The online portions of the game work exceptionally well. The hacking and tracking gameplay is interesting but can get a tad tedious when you are on the receiving end for any length of time. Patience is a virtue here and sometime just playing the “waiting game” holds more than its fair share of rewards. It also has a nice twist on the Assassins Creed multiplayer ideas and if you are a fan of that set-up then you’ll certainly find a lot to enjoy here.

In practice the game works: it’s fundamentally interesting, at times looks amazing (especially the water effect on the next gen system), has good shooting/cover gameplay and AI that seems to learn your movements. The problem with it is that we have seen most, if not all of, this before. It hits the high benchmark we expect from AAA titles but it doesn’t push the boundaries in any directions.



6/10. Good, but not Great!