I’ve been a fan of Ghost Recon since GRAW. So when the announcement of Future Soldier came out I was curious as to what it was going to be like. 3 years down the line and it finally turned up. What took so long? Apparently they went back over and started again due to games like Gears of War and Call of Duty which you can see the impact these games had on Ghost Recon. Much like Ubisoft did with Splinter Cell: Conviction they kept the same gameplay style but sped up the way you play it. Which is one of the things I love about Ghost Recon Future Soldier.

The campaign while a little slow at times was very enjoyable. I liked the way you could stay crouched and sneak up on people while active camo is on and the very last mission was amazing. The co-op does lead for more of an interesting experience due to the obvious fact that everyone is a human player instead of AI. This can lead to an exciting campaign if done with people who play in character, then again those out of character just make the game a good giggle.


When the game first came out one thing I would say about the multiplayer is while it can be enjoyable I have found that most of the time people played it more like a Team Deathmatch type going for their Kill/Death ratio rather than an Objective type of gameplay. The other thing I really despise which puts me off the multiplayer (unless jumping in on a friends lobby) is that people will literally "spawn camp" in the spawning area exits pinning your team in. This has still to be remedied. It is the main reason I've given the game the rating it got.

Having now played the game on both systems I cannot really see much of a difference in the two versions ( Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 ) that being said I would say the 360 version has a slight (and I mean slight) advantage over the PS3 version and that is only because of the controller. One interesting part of the Xbox 360 version of Ghost Recon Future Soldier you can use the Kinect system in the Gun Smith. This on paper and in demo does look really cool but when you come to actually use it, much like the Kinect in general, it is just a gimmick that would probably be used once or twice.

Final Thoughts:

Rating: 4/5

Having being an avid Xbox Gamer since Xbox 1 ... I mean Xbox "Original" since Microsoft decided to name their THIRD console One. Anyhow stupid names aside, even XBone (the one microsoft doesn't like) tonight was GAME Lock-in for Xbox One and my Hands-On experience of it.

Obviously there was queues to get on one of the 8 machines but before that the representatives gave us a little welcome speech. Which included

"Please do not touch the Kinect has it is just there so that you can see what it looks like because it doesn't work."

So what did I get on first? Well that would be Dead Rising 3. Well you got 5 minutes on the game.

First thing I noticed with regards to the controller when I picked it up was that it was definitely smaller. Unfortunately I think they have made the controller that bit too small. Also I thought that compared to the Xbox 360 controller it felt like if I dropped it on the floor it would break. Flimsy is quite possibly the word I would use when comparing it the Xbox 360 controller. Talking to other people that played Forza 5 ( which when watching on screen the frame rate would drop or look like the game was about to crash ) they state that when you go over on the track with the right wheels for example only the rumble feature on the right side would rumble. The second thing I noticed about the controller is the sticks, they are still analog and not digital. Even though the buttons seem to be digital.

Anyhow moving on to the game, 5 mins on Dead Rising 3.

Dead Rising 3

First thoughts of this was that it is more of the same that you got from Dead Rising 1 and 2. All you did really was hack and slash at zombies but the amount like you would get on The Walking Dead. Without any direction on the game though of what your supposed to do etc I was quickly getting bored within 5 minutes. I guess there is only so much you can do without any story or direction in a zombie game. What I will say was that the amount of zombies on screen is amazing the fact the controls on the game feel much better than what I remember them.

Then it was back to the back of the queue to wait for my next go on a game. While in the queue the guys from Xbox were wandering back and forth. Every time I tried to speak to them they walked past me has I was wanting to ask some questions but they wouldn't entertain me.

Killer Instinct

One of the games that I was amazed with and over the moon they were bringing back out. For one I had this on the SNES and remember many nights me and my friends would gather round the console doing the whole winner stays on thing. Xbox One Killer Instinct. Well the only thing that is different is that the graphics has the game plays exactly the same as the SNES version. If you want to know what that is like pull out a SNES get a few friends round and play it old school. Game 2 verdict = Still not impressed with xbox one.

After being at the back in the queue for 10 mins I was back on the final game I wanted to have a "bash" on.

Ryse: Son of Rome

Microsoft's new IP Ryse the last game I wanted to play test at the Lock-in. I was told by Xbox guy to not to touch the console controller till he was there. When he came over he stated what each of the buttons did, then it was onto the game. Apparently according to the Xbox guys everyone loves Ryse. Me I thought it was a mediocre game that was nothing to boast about being a must have IP. What it did feel like was something like what people would call an old school side scrolling beat'em'up but extremely repetitive.

Final Thoughts

Going into the Lock-in with an open mind with regards to the Xbox One and being an Xbox fan (having owned Xbox 360 all this generation) I was hoping that the negativity surrounding XBox One would be washed away with the Lock-in..... Sadly this was not the case. The controller has been shrank too much which I don't get when all they had to do was have the 360 controller with the improved things like the way the have done with the digital buttons ( which are great by the way and more responsive ) and the rumble feature works.  I found that the loading screens seem to be longer than the ones on the PlayStation 3. My thoughts are that it must be down to that DDR3 Ram that is in the machine. Getting a look at the Dashboard first hand I could clearly see how much advertising is going to be in it. The 360 dash is littered with Advertisements and locks or freezes quite often because of this. Yet another negative to Xbox One. Watching Forza 5 frame rate drop dramatically to the point where it looked like the system was about to freeze up is also another negative point especially since it is supposed to be a First party title.

So I leave you with these thoughts IF Microsoft can make such a good GAMES machine with the Xbox 360 then go into the Next-Gen completely blinded by arrogance. It didn't work with Sony and PlayStation 3 so what makes them think it will for them. XBone IS an entertainment machine first and GAMING seems to of been made second.  Their slogan or selling point:

Being a big Batman fan and the first 2 Arkham games played through several times already on Xbox 360 and now going through on PS3, I have to say I got my pre-order in for Batman: Arkham Origins in asap although it is coming from Santa so have to wait for that to turn up.

I was lucky to get into a GAME Lock-in when they had one recently for Batman Arkham Origins. After a little chat with a few people there a console was free.

On I jumped. First off the first thing I noticed was how much the game continued to feel the same as the previous games from Rocksteady. Warner Bros. Games Montréal have done an amazing job with this. So on with the thoughts. Picking up the game and playing a very small section of the Demo (turns out it was what was out at E3 this year) I got into several fights with general thugs, a bit of detective work and from what I could tell tiniest bit of story (which I made sure not to pay attention too has didn't want to spoil it).

First of the fighting mechanics in this while still being the same seem more fluid. Also found the actual combo system much better and easier. While adding in the gadgets into the fighting to build up the combos and mixing them up they have also made batman a lot faster than in previous games.

The detective work in Arkham Asylum which was carried on in Arkham City is carried on even further in Batman Arkham Origins by piecing several parts of the incident backwards. In the Demo I played you had to locate the pilot of a downed helicopter then trace it backwards up in the air via the roof, to find out what caused the crash.

In all I really enjoyed the experience that I had with Batman Arkham Origins. I know it is set in the past  before the previous games, which had Joker voiced by Mark Hamill and Batman by Kevin Conroy, but you can barely tell. Yes I agree Conroy is and has been the Best voice of Batman for well over a decade now and the same can be said for Mark Hamill as the Joker.  Roger Craig Smith in my opinion has captured Kevin Conroy's Batman voice very well while making it his own. As for Troy Baker my jaw actually hit the floor at his version of the Joker. I picks all over Mark Hamill's intensity and quirks on the Joker then added some to it. Batman Arkham Origins is one of the earlier times that Batman meets many of the villains including the Joker. The monologue that Troy Baker did at the New York Comic Con 2013 was outstanding (video can be seen here).

After playing the PlayStation 3 Demo as you've just read I thought I'd give a quick go on the PS Vita since I have one.

I was amazed by how much the controls felt in the handheld version that and the fact it has the feeling of an old school beat'em up. The fighting is pretty much the same as the console version. I don't know what the sound was like has this was turned down but graphically it looked liked it used the same models from the console.

Final Thoughts:

In all I have to say that Batman Arkham Origins both on Playstation 3 and PlayStation Vita are amazing. The developers continue to make an amazing game but also the slight improvements/deviations from the previous versions just make the gamem to be well ... Awesome. I've now got the PS Vita version pre-ordered too :D I'll be a happy Bat-fan this year!