Category: Xbox One

For Honor recently came out, but before that I played around with the open beta, and I decided that it wasn’t for me.  That is not to say it isn’t good, because it seems like it is, it is just for other people.  For Honor is a mix of a fighting game and an action game with a focus on 2v1 combat.  It is an interesting concept, but the way the controls work along with the counter/block/attack system means that you will have to put a lot of time in to get good and stay good.  That is a problem for me.  I barely have time to play games I like, let alone devote myself to being okay at a Dark Souls/Soulcaliber mashup.

All that being the case, I’m happy Ubisoft made this game.  It is different, and games that are different need to be made to keep pushing the industry forward.  All games are based on other games, so if someone sees what For Honor is doing and tweaks it a little, there may be a game for me down the line, and to be fair For Honor borrowed more than a little from other games like Chivalry.  If you are out there looking for a game where you can show your skill and ability, For Honor just might be for you, and I hope you enjoy it.  Though you will not see me playing it any time soon.

Deus Ex: Human Revolution was a return to form for the Deus Ex franchise after the clunky yet still okay Invisible War, so I was supper excited for Deus Ex: Mankind Divided.  It turns out that the Dues Ex franchise must be like Star Trek movies where only every other one is good.  That is not to say Deus Ex: Mankind Divided is bad.  It isn’t.  It is very competent in fact, but it lacks that hook that makes me want to play.

Mankind Divided takes place a couple of years after Human Revolution, and the world is still recovering from ‘The Incident’ where all augmented people went crazy and started attacking non-augmented people.  This has caused places like Prague, the game’s main location, to start segregating people based on whether they are augmented or not.  Of course all sorts of dangerous people are trying to use this situation to further their own goals, and it is up to Adam Jensen to stop them.

The story’s setup is pretty good, and it should provided a decent launching off point for this game, but they never really find a way to truly make anything matter.  I am almost all the way through the game, and I still don’t care about any of the characters.  ‘Augs’ are being treated poorly, and I should feel bad about that, but Mankind Divided must not be in my face enough with it or something because it all feels kind of shrug worthy.  Worse still this game bills itself as an RPG, but much like Fallout 4 they have taken most of the choice out of Mankind Divided.  You can choose to do side quests or not, and sometimes you can go left or right, but you are never having that big of an impact on the story, and that is a shame.

Another letdown is the loot.  If you are like me and playing this game sneakily, then you will need next to none of the stuff you can pick up.  You will never find a better taser pistol, or a better tranquilizer rifle.  You can pick up things like shotguns and load them with EMP rounds then a attach a silencer, but it will still make too much noise.  The same goes for the augmentations you can pick.  For me, all I will ever need are, the one that lets me talk to people better, jump high and turn invisible.  Hacking is nice, but not necessary.  Everything else is cool to play with, but not practical for the non-violent approach.

I will say the one place Deus Ex: Mankind Divided shines is its approach to combat and level design.  If you are trying to be stealthy there are all sorts of fun ways to get around guys and take them out without killing them, and based on all the gear and augs I am not using, if you want to be the human embodiment of death, you will have a wide variety of options too.  Honestly its varied levels and combat options are why I keep pushing forward with this game.

In the end, I always have fun when I play Deus Ex: Mankind Divided, but I just don’t get that feeling that I ‘need’ to play it.  I have to get myself to start, but then once I do I enjoy myself due to the cool levels and combat.  I just wish the story, loot, and augmentation options were as good.  Since Deus Ex: Mankind Divided seems like it is endlessly on sale for $30 or less, I would say it is worthwhile, but I would have regretted paying full price for it.

When Bethesda bought Id it was only a matter of time before they remade all the classic Id games.  First up was Wolfenstein: The New Order which I hear was excellent, and now they have released Doom.  Considering the first Doom was released in 1993 it is impressive that this is only the forth game in the franchise.  Which is a shame because for the most part they have all been fun.  Including this most recent release which may be the best in the series.

The story for Doom is ridiculously stupid, and that is part of its charm.  Needless to say Earth needs energy, so they start extracting energy from Hell.  Things do not turn out well, so it is your job to clean up the mess.   What is fun about all this is how delightfully well it is told, and how they incorporate all the other Doom games’ stories in to this game.

Now no one plays Doom for story.  It is all about the fast paced over the top combat and cheap jump scares.  Doom excels in both regards.  Lately more and more games have ditched the health packs and allowed player health to regenerate over time.  This causes players to pull back from the action when they are injured.  Not so with Doom.  While there are health packs littered around, the best way to keep you ammo and health up is to perform Glory Kills.

Glory Kills are like Mortal Kombat’s finishing moves except faster and easier to pull off.  If you wound a demon enough that it starts blinking, run toward it and melee bash it and you will do something like rip its spine out and then crush its skull in your hands.  Unlike other games with special melee animations, Glory Kills are fast and never take you out of the action, and every time you complete one the demon spews out health and ammo.  So while other games want you to hang back or flee from the fight, Doom dares you to head straight in to battle.

The other new addition to the Doom repertoire is gun and armor mods that give guns and your suit new abilities.  Want your Shotgun to shoot grenades? Sure.  What to turn it in to a machine gun? Why not.  Need a little extra health? Awesome.   Though even with these new tricks the game is definitely all Doom.  There is no Iron Sighting, reloading or sprinting.  There is just running and gunning.

If you want an old school experience with some new school gameplay mechanics added in, Doom is probably just what you are looking for.  It is fast and fun, and its over the top nature keeps you from taking anything too seriously.  Due to its gruesome nature I can’t recommend Doom to everyone, but if copious amounts of blood don’t bother you, Doom is a great experience.