Just Cause 3 Review

Technical issues galore hold back a joyous action movie experience

By: Ryan Ramakrishnan

Reviewed on PlayStation 4

Avalanche Studios’ goal to let players explode everything in sight makes “Just Cause 3” an extremely fun game to mess around in yet the developer’s failure to fix plentiful bugs and glitches create a less than stellar experience post-opening despite that exciting gameplay.

“Just Cause 3” was always too ambitious with its ideas of triggering explosions in every possible way, causing ultimate destruction to everything from vehicles to water towers. The game at its best is like living out your favorite action movie, playing as a charming killing machine in Rico Rodriguez. At its worst however, “Just Cause 3” will lose your interest through lengthy loading screens, significant frame rate drops and bugs in general, all far too unfortunate due to the quality in sheer entertainment Avalanche Studios offers in its gameplay.


Story
“Just Cause 3” is the type of game you play for the fun, mindless combat and not the plot. Save for a few thrilling moments in the plot’s execution, Avalanche Studios’ story of a dictatorship being overthrown is fun and relatively interesting on paper but with every cutscene, despite them looking and sounding pretty good, I just wanted to get back in on the action. Rico Rodriguez’s adventure of overthrowing said dictatorship with his friend Mario’s resistance is overall fine; it isn’t the most amazing story I have experienced in a game but it’ll do.

Gameplay
Where “Just Cause 3” succeeds when it’s not experiencing technical issues is the entertaining action. It is a joy to play once getting behind the somewhat odd controls and aforementioned technical issues.

“Just Cause 3” is all about taking the action to new levels by focusing greatly, if not entirely, on explosions. First and foremost, Avalanche Studios provides the player with an unlimited amount of C4. With the ease of a button press to stick your C4 anywhere and then another click to explode it on your cue, you’ll be able to blow things up anytime anywhere.

Besides the C4, “Just Cause 3’s” artillery of weapons and explosives include but are not limited to multiple assault rifles, machine guns, shotguns, rocket launchers, grenades and grenade launchers. The weapon variety is fairly open overall; however, with those options at hand, I rarely wanted to change it up.

The problem is the gunplay doesn’t feel as good as the rest of the action “Just Cause 3” offers. Aiming by pushing in the right joystick and an oddly lacking amount of power you feel with standard guns make it far less ideal than you’d hope.


Fortunately the explosives you can throw have quite the impact and quickly too, similar to that of the C4. Coupling those with your ability to pull things down and break them apart using tethers makes for some of the most fun an action game has offered me. “Just Cause 3” lets you attach two tethers to enemies, vehicles and plenty of things in the environment. From there, you can easily pull them to wherever you wish and more often than not, thanks to the game’s decision to make everything fragile, blow them up instantly.

These tethers work alongside the grappling hook and wingsuit, making for some amazing experiences in the game’s world. You have the ability to launch yourself from anywhere, using distance and height in the world to your advantage to get a nice gliding trip in instantaneously. The wingsuit allows for some smooth gliding, which is great for a multitude of reasons. For starters, it allows for a beautiful flight over the waters of Medici; however more importantly and progressively, wingsuit gliding lets you escape a tough firefight or explosion quickly or get from point A to point B in a decent amount of time in comparison to more traditional means of travel like cars.

Speaking of cars, there are vehicles driving around “Just Cause 3” all of the time that you can steal easily or call in for yourself. Once speed is picked up, driving can feel pretty good; however, in comparison to many other open world games with driving, it is just fine. I rarely wanted to be in a car though thanks to the pure fun that gliding around the world brought, acting as something a lot more fresh than driving average vehicles.

“Just Cause 3’s” mission structure is, as you’d expect, all about blowing things up more often than not. You will be tasked with tackling the militia and their strongholds, liberating outposts and towns and more. Most in-mission tasks, especially those of the outpost liberations, call for things like blowing up radars, towers, radios and propaganda posters, all resulting in some glorious explosions should you so choose to, and you’ll more than likely choose to do just that. Unfortunately this design of missions and things to tackle in Medici will grow repetitive with long, frequent play sessions. It is simply the case due to how any of the same things you’re asked to do, despite how fun they are at first.


One other kind of mission in “Just Cause 3” is the side activities in which you are tasked with doing anything from racking up explosive damage or kills, gliding through checkpoints or beating a clock in a helicopter or even your wingsuit. These activities can be a fun time-waster but also add to the thrill that is the open world to play with. I liked trying to get the best scores on each of these when I wanted a break from getting killed by the tough A.I. or when I wanted to lay off the explosion for a minute.

It is also worth mentioning a problem I personally ran into at a regular basis. I found the A.I. to be quite difficult, even at a lower difficulty setting. Unloading full clips on enemies left them alive and standing yet they’d barely shoot at me and I’d see myself nearing death and desperate for cover, something hard to find in an action game like this.

The gameplay that Avalanche Studios crafted in “Just Cause 3” is overall a lot of fun to partake in, even when the guns seemed off and the mission structure grows repetitive. All of this is unfortunately not permanent in your play sessions thanks to some technical problems. More on that next.

Graphics
Visually, “Just Cause 3’s” world of Medici is beautiful in its natural appearance through small towns and large bodies of water. With that being said however, the game doesn’t exactly maintain its beauty when the intense gameplay truly kicks in. “Just Cause 3” struggles in the scenes and instances of greater action. As everything around you explodes, said explosions start to slow things down. Watching the frame rate drop in a game is sometimes hard to notice by default; however, “Just Cause 3” proves it can be a really important factor when it drops enough that the game feels like it’s actually slowing down. “Just Cause 3” also comes with its fair share of glitches, ones you’ll never see coming but once they do, you’ll have no way around them besides closing the game.


Sound
A soundtrack fitting for all of the action that comes with playing “Just Cause 3,” the music certainly helps add to the immersion of said action when the game isn’t experiencing technical difficulties. I oftentimes found myself all in on the action thanks in part to the way the music plays out; however, “Just Cause 3” is by no means a quiet game what with all of the gunshots, towers crumbling down and things blowing up in general. Because of this, the music isn’t always as apparent.

The sound effects of “Just Cause 3’s” most prolific action movie-like sequences of sheer insanity, as mentioned previously, are loud. Explosions sound as they would, as do the guns. Very much so in the vein of what Avalanche Studios was going for, “Just Cause 3” sounds a whole lot like an over-the-top action movie might.

The voice acting of “Just Cause 3” is fine. Rico Rodriguez’s charm comes from his voice-work from Kevin Collins. Other characters have some of their own moments to shine in this department, though never enough to be as recognizable for the better like Rico. If the story was given more prominence in its execution and narrative overall, the voice actors would have stood out more; however, due to the lack of focus on story that “Just Cause 3” sacrifices for gameplay, no voices stood out for more than a moment or two overall.

Content
With a large amount of settlements and enemy bases to tackle plenty of objectives within, “Just Cause 3’s” map of Medici is not one you’ll cover in its entirety very quickly. The game has everything from stunts and challenges to earn the most stars in to a seemingly endless amount of explodable towers, signs, buildings and more. Personally, it was exploring the world by way of the wingsuit that brought with it the most satisfaction and time thanks to the, once mastered, natural flow of said traversal.

Conclusion

“Just Cause 3” ultimately fails to maintain the excitement and thrills its gameplay provides thanks to the poor technical performance. When it does work, the joy “Just Cause 3” provides is quite a thrill indeed though. With unlimited C4, a grappling hook and wing suit and seemingly endless aspects of the environment easily destructible, if it isn’t slowing down or freezing, “Just Cause 3” can be a fun time-killer. The open world adventure is at its best when ignoring the average story and just escaping reality with a mindless action-packed ride.

What was the worst glitch or bug you experienced in “Just Cause 3?” Did you enjoy the game’s emphasis on blowing everything up? Let me know your thoughts in the comments below.

reade more... Résuméabuiyad

Hitman Review

Diverse, open-ended level design makes for one of the most exciting stealth games to date

By: Ryan Ramakrishnan

Reviewed on Xbox One

“Hitman” (2016) allowed IO Interactive to bring back the sandbox style of missions for the stealth series, allowing players to make several choices in how to complete their objectives and succeed at making it a deep and memorable gameplay experience.

With a bevy of choices in how to execute the many assassinations presented, “Hitman” wonderfully uses its sandbox level design in each of the episodic missions to provide a surprisingly lengthy experience, one that is as nerve wracking and entertaining as ever before. Its story is far from important or compelling, with the exception of one or two moments, making the gameplay take full priority. “Hitman” ultimately uses the risky episodic format to full effect in terms of that gameplay, providing players with several open-ended experiences, each worth a revisit.

Story
Agent 47 is the hitman the series has always followed. “Hitman” sees 47 taking on several contracts to kill for the International Contract Agency, or the ICA. The ICA’s contracts come off as random and unrelated; however, the conspiracies raise when someone known as the “shadow client” seems to have coordinated them for bigger purposes.

“Hitman: Absolution” (2012) was the previous mainline title in the series and put a lot of thought into its storytelling, maybe too much; however, this “Hitman” title does little to deliver its potentially compelling narrative. I found the episodic structure to suffer here because it took so long to get the entire story to be told. Playing it today in one sitting, or more likely in one playthrough, will allow you to keep up with every story beat far better. This won’t however make it any more interesting or tightly focused, as the game’s gameplay and label design was clearly prioritized far more, making the story very forgettable.


Gameplay
IO Interactive does stealth right with “Hitman.” The classic act of grabbing a disguise, sneaking around, killing your target and getting out right away is at the core of the gameplay and has never been better.

“Hitman” allows you to perform simple maneuvers like crouching, taking cover, running and of course switching between weapons. The weapon wheel includes whatever you choose to enter the level with or what they provide you at first. From there, you will find plenty of items everywhere. Some of these can be melee weapons or throwables, depending on how you wish to play, such as wrenches, kitchen knives and scissors. You’ll find guns of all sorts, items used to push particular assassinations like rat poison for example and more.

These items all play into the act of assassinating your target(s). The primary goal of every episode’s mission is to kill. Sometimes you will have to take out two, others four. There are also other objectives to take care of as well. Those play in to the story of the mission. How you choose to kill your assigned targets is a choice you can make every time. That is the beautify of the sandbox structure of “Hitman.”

The game’s episodes each come with massive levels to explore. You’ll certainly find yourself stumbling upon new items, mission opportunities and threats and disguises alike throughout. The choice is always yours and the large levels make that all the more fun. Some players will go for one approach while you may never see that approach visible or accessible because of your route.

With the always handy garrote, you can choke out targets quickly but an also do so with your bare hands. A silenced pistol is also an option typically available from the start. The aforementioned items to pick up and use can not only be applied to killing but also as a distraction. Throwing blunt objects and small fruits or coins alike can trigger an enemy nearby to cautiously approach the area of contact. From there, you can deadly sneak behind them for a kill or sneak around them. Once again, the choice is always yours.

The opportunities that “Hitman’s” episodes offer are specific ways to take out a target through a series of events or decisions that the game can guide you towards if you so please to follow it. These can make for some of the most exciting assassinations and are worth checking out.

Of course, the most notable thing besides choice is disguises; although, using a disguise in “Hitman” certainly plays into player choice. Plenty of enemies and NPCs have outfits that are tailored to accessing certain areas undetectable or the opposite. It can be a matter of being able to enter a fortified location or not. These are still nonetheless optional. You can, once killing or knocking an enemy out, take their clothes as a disguise. As you walk around with it on, you’ll notice whether or not others can detect you and if you’re safe or not with said disguise.

Graphics
The massive levels of each of “Hitman’s” episodes are wonderfully crafted in the visual department as much as in their mechanics. Whether it’s the huge party and runway in Paris or the militant, crowded setting of Marrakesh, “Hitman” always looks gorgeous. IO Interactive put a lot of thought and time into creating living, breathing settings for all of the episodes, presumably why they chose the episodic approach in the first place, coupled with their gameplay loop in each location.

Sound
“Hitman’s” soundtrack didn’t per se grab me like it's gameplay or even visuals; however, the music does fit the tone of each of the game’s levels quite well. Each thriller of a mission did have a track to boot to keep the vibes relevant. I did, at times of intensity, find the music to keep me on the edge of my seat.

Content
“Hitman” provided a great deal of content in each of its main episodes. There are plenty of challenges, kill opportunities, alternate decisions and more.

For starters, there is the multitude of ways to take out your targets. Perhaps you killed him or her with a silenced pistol in a secluded room the first time. Your second go may have you desiring a new approach like poisoning their drink or throwing a knife at their throat in plain sight. The choices are seemingly endless and that is what makes the replay value already so great because of how much fun a new run can be.

There are also plenty of challenges in each episode, whether they be killing with no disguise, not killing anyone but the target, or taking the target out in a specific manner. These challenges are varied and some are quite the daunting task. They make for plenty of fun for completionists who wish to tackle everything the missions have to offer.

Then there are the elusive targets. Every so often, for a limited amount of time, a new target would show up in one of the levels. They aren’t able to be identified unless you actually stumble upon them and falling calls off the elusive target for good. They are exhilarating challenges to tackle in real time.

Unlike the limited amount of real world time the elusive targets come with, “Hitman” also has several non-story targets to take out in challenge levels within each of the game’s episodes. They have progressive difficulties too so this section of the game alone opens up several more hours of gameplay for those interested.

IO Interactive succeeded with their episodic format thanks to the bevy of content each provides. At first glance, players were afraid of this approach but in hindsight, the decision opened the doors for players to experience several hours within each episode before rushing in to the next.

Conclusion
Gamers in search of an open-ended, personalized stealth experience should look no further than “Hitman.” IO Interactive created plenty of deep levels with seemingly countless ways to go about your contracts. With tons of disguises, guns, melee weapons and many more items and opportunities alike, “Hitman’s” missions and settings each provide a great deal of gameplay. That gameplay is refined and incredibly enjoyable and intense thanks to the difficulty and danger around every corner. It is just a shame that the potentially interesting story told through less prioritized cutscenes wasn’t given nearly enough focus to make me care like I did for the innovative gameplay.

Which episode and setting was your favorite? Have you completed any levels with no disguises or no kills? Let me know your thoughts in the comments below.

reade more... Résuméabuiyad

Transformers: Devastation Review

Exciting combat and style suffer from confusingly useless ideas

By: Ryan Ramakrishnan

Reviewed on PlayStation 4

Both the voices and visuals of the “Transformers” cartoons of the past make their way into Platinum’s “Transformers: Devastation,” making for an iconic experience, one that has plenty of fun action to partake in, despite a repetitive nature.

“Transformers: Devastation” comes packed with impressive visuals, music and voice acting, all of which delightfully re-create the likes of cartoons in the “Transformers” franchise. Gameplay is quite good too thanks the action packed, combo-based combat Platinum Games is known for. Unfortunately, the game suffers from a little repetition in its combat and its ambitious systems fall short.

Story
The plot of “Transformers: Devastation” isn’t overly deep not compelling. The plot takes backseat to the action-packed gameplay. With that being said, the story of Megatron leading his Deceptacons to more or less take over, as the Autobots, lead by Optimus Prime, fight back maintains enough of the charm and delight that the animated series it borrows from created.

GameplayIn the fashion of action games from Platinum Games, “Transformers: Devastation” is a joy to play. The combat is fast and exhilarating. At its core, the combat isn’t overly complex but it can become deep with the great challenge the game offers.

You have a light and a heavy attack, as well as the ability to transform into the vehicle your Transformer has access to. There is also the dodge roll, which is necessary to pull off combos. Dodging is critical because of how, if done at the right time, the game temporarily slows down, allowing you a window to let loose and do some damage.

The unique thing about the combat is what makes you feel like a Transformer in all its glory. That is of course transforming. With a choice of five Autobots, there is a variety of playstyles to tackle. None of these are unique enough to truly make a large difference but they do have some individual abilities and skills to make for a different change of pace in some ways.

During combat, and even when moving from point A to B and so fourth, you may transform into whichever vehicle is unique to your choice Transformer with a hold of a button. This also directly affects how combat plays out. The main point is that you get a vehicle attack. This comes after you pull of a quick combo. A button prompt will allow for one to two heavy hits of your vehicle, even if you were on foot during the combo. This adds to the flare of the generally rapid melee combat, as it keeps the action moving fast.

Each Transformer has his own melee weapons but also guns to choose from. There is no denying the feel of the melee combat and how satisfying it is to just swing away and pull off a few combos. I found the gunplay to be far less exciting. While they helped with crowd control, rarely did I want to use the game’s many guns because they didn’t feel great like the melee weapons and were so much less fun to use. If the game didn’t throw enemies with projectiles at you so often, I’d never use the guns.

The weapons are personalizable at the beginning of each level in “Transformers: Devastation” and that is nice; however, this is also home to the game’s potentially deep but ultimately unnecessary and oddly confusing systems. I was admittedly alarmed by the amount of weapons I had to choose from and the abilities to upgrade or synthesize two to make one better. This system came off as perfect for the seemingly standard gameplay thus far. Unfortunately, this proved to be fairly useless. It is presented in an overly complex manner. With the unnecessarily confusing systems comes the lack of incentive to try out different weapons. You’ll unlock several sword and guns alike yet will barely need to use more than the couple you choose at the start or early on.

Thanks to the entertainment the combat provides, boss fights are in particular a joy to partake in. I have fond memories of some Deceptacons providing quite the thrilling challenge. At one point, I had to take on two large-scale bosses at once, creating something unforgettable.

Graphics
Visually, the game looks amazing in the vein of its inspiration. The artistic direction is beautiful. “Transformers: Devastation” goes for a cel-shaded style, one that complements the vibes and tone the game borrows from older cartoons. It all looks great, if not simple but the simplicity is its charm and will likely allow “Transformers: Devastation” to age well.

Negatively, the environments and levels fail to be any bit memorable. At first, the levels looked fine, even great at times but ever-so-quickly, did it become stale and repetitive. The environments all look the same and lack any interesting things to behold once you see them each for the first time. I found this very disappointing because the art style is so good but Platinum Games failed to give us interesting or memorable environments to back it.

Sound
In the music department, “Transformers: Devastation” comes with nostalgic tracks, always maintaining an upbeat, exhilarating tone. This music both complements the art direction and the action.

Voice acting makes all of the characters remarkably memorable. Dan Gilvezan as Bumblebee and Peter Cullen as Optimus Prime, among many others, bring iconic voices to the characters of both the old school and new age of the “Transformers” franchise. The voice acting is superb and each unique character’s voice helps progress the just decent story in a fun manner.

Content
“Transformers: Devastation” won’t last you very long. With under 10 chapters, neither incredibly long, the games credits will roll in somewhere around six or seven hours with little reason to play beyond. I was satisfied with my time spent but wouldn’t have minded some interesting missions post-game or any incentive to partake in the exciting combat.

Conclusion
By the time the credits rolled, I was satisfied with the experience Platinum Games provided for me as an action lover and “Transformers” fan alike with “Transformers: Devastation.” The game’s combat is impeccably fun to play mindlessly with easy combos and awesome vehicle attacks. Getting the most out of “Transformers: Devastation” certainly does require you to face the forgettable story and not concern yourself with the overly complex yet unnecessary systems within. The fun gameplay alongside the amazing art direction, music and voice-work akin to classic “Transformers” animation make it a game worth a try.

Did “Transformers: Devastation” sell you on nostalgia? Which was your favorite Autobot to play as? Let me know your thoughts in the comments below.

reade more... Résuméabuiyad

Nintendo E3 2018 Predictions Analysis

These are the predictions I had made for Nintendo's E3 2018 press conference prior to the show. Let's look at how close or off I was.
Predictions:

1. "Pokemon Let's Go, Pikachu and Eevee" details✅
2. "Fortnite Battle Royale"

• Switch version✅
• September release🆇

3. "Super Mario Odyssey" DLC🆇

4. "New Super Mario Bros. U" and "New Super Luigi Bros. U" Switch port(s)🆇

5. "Super Mario RPG" remaster/remake🆇

6. "The Wonderful 101" Switch port🆇

7. "Fire Emblem"

• Official reveal✅
• December release date🆇

8. "Yoshi"

• Full reveal🆇
• August release date🆇

9. "Grand Theft Auto V" Switch🆇

10. "Super Smash Bros.

• Subtitle rather than "for Switch"✅
• Cinematic story trailer for single player mode like Subspace Emissary 🆇
• September release date🆇
• Three returning characters✅
• Ttwo new characters✅

11. "Pikimin 3" Switch port🆇

12. "Pikimin 4" announcement🆇

13. "Metroid Prime Trilogy" Switch🆇

14. "Metroid Prime 4" makes no appearance✅

15. "No More Heroes: Travis Strikes Again"

• Trailer🆇
• October release date provided🆇

16. "Star Fox: Grand Prix" announcement🆇

17. "Star Fox: Zero" Switch port🆇

reade more... Résuméabuiyad

Sony E3 2018 Prediction Analysis

These are the predictions I had made for Sony's E3 2018 press conference prior to the show. Le's look at how close or off I was.

Predictions:

1. "Spider-Man" gameplay✅
2. "The Last of Us Part 2"

• Gameplay and cinematics✅
• Q2 2019 release window🆇

3. "Ghost of Tsushima"

• Cinematics✅
• 2019 release year🆇

4. "Death Stranding"

• Actual gameplay✅
• No release window at all✅

5. "Call of Duty: Black Ops 4"

• Exclusive PlayStation DLC✅

6. "Devil May Cry 5"🆇

7. "Kingdom Hearts 3" gameplay trailer✅

8. Rocksteady's next game🆇

9. "Bloodborne 2"🆇

10. "Dreams"

• August beta release date🆇
• December release date🆇

11. "Resident Evil 2" remake

• Reveal✅
• January 2019 release✅

12. "Days Gone"

• Cinematic and gameplay trailer🆇
• February release date✅

13. BluePoint's next remake- "Jak and Daxter" remake🆇

14. "Mortal Kombat XI/11"🆇

reade more... Résuméabuiyad

Ubisoft E3 2018 Prediction Analysis

These are my predictions I had made for Ubisoft's E3 2018 press conference prior to the show. Let's look at how close or off I was.

Predictions:

1. "Assassin's Creed Odyssey"

• Official reveal✅
• Friday October 6 release date (Mistake- Friday is October 5)✅

2. "Beyond Good and Evil 2"

• Cinematic trailer✅
• No release window✅

3. "The Division 2"

• Both cinematics and gameplay✅
• Q2 2019 release🆇

4. "For Honor" future content✅

5. "Rainbow Six: Siege" future content✅

6. New "Rayman"🆇

7. New "Splinter Cell"🆇

8. "Watch Dogs 3"🆇

reade more... Résuméabuiyad

Square Enix E3 2018 Prediction Analysis

These are my predictions I had made for Square Enix's E3 2018 press conference prior to the show. Let's look at how close or off I was.


Predictions:

1. "Kingdom Hearts 3"

• September 18 release date🆇
• New world reveal🆇

2. "Final Fantasy VII

• Re-reveal🆇
• Q1 2019 release🆇

3. "Final Fantasy XV DLC for December🆇
4. "Life is Strange" and "Life is Strange: Before the Storm" Switch ports🆇
5. "Life is Strange 2"🆇
6. "Super Mario RPG remaster/remake🆇
7. "Just Cause 4"

• Reveal (as in first shown at Square's show)🆇
• Spring 2019🆇

8. "Dragon Quest XI: Echoes of an Elusive Age" trailer✅

9. "Dragon Quest: Builders 2" appearance🆇

10. Full "The Avengers Project" reveal🆇

reade more... Résuméabuiyad