Day: October 1, 2021

 The Olympics. Two words that represent thousands of years of epic competition; the best of the best competing for pride and eternal glory. It is every athlete’s dream to be in these hallowed games and let’s face it, while we may not all be Jesse Owens, video games have given us a chance to don our countries’ colours and attempt to win our own piece of gold. Sega’s 2019 Japanese release: Olympic Games Tokyo 2020: The Official Video Game has come to western shores just in time for the rescheduled 2020 Olympics. Has it done enough to win gold, or is it going to fall at the final hurdle? 

On your marks…

Olympic Games Tokyo 2020: The Official Video Game is simple in its core concept. The game consists of 18 mini-games. All of which represent Olympic sports. You will find:

• 100m Sprint
• 110m Hurdle
• 4x100m Relay
• Long Jump
• Hammer Throw
• 100m Freestyle Swimming
• 200m Individual Medley Swimming
• Baseball
• Basketball
• Beach Volleyball
• Boxing
• BMX
• Football/Soccer
• Judo
• Rugby 7s
• Sport Climbing
• Table Tennis (singles and doubles)
• Tennis (singles and doubles)

As you can see, the games show an excellent amount of variety and there is enough choice in there to keep even the staunchest Olympic fan satisfied. The controls are also designed for variety and it is refreshing to see that Sega moved away from relying solely on button-bashing to win games. Yes, the 100m sprint is “press x rapidly to win” but other games rely on more timing-based inputs and quick reactions to counter opponents’ swings, serves, and grapples. 

I found myself getting to grips with each event with relative ease but there was something wrong. Once I won the qualifiers, I was struggling to even get in the top 3 of any event; my opponents were doing something that was putting them leagues ahead of me. After some digging, I found out that each event has got a hidden set of controls that greatly enhance your performance. These extra controls give you speed boosts, spin-shots, counter-grapples, drop goals, and base-steals (amongst many others). The game tries to spoon-feed you these extra controls through unlockable “tips” but it requires a game-quit in order to view them in a separate menu. You also need to play the event multiple times in order to unlock all of the tips. This is quite simply a terrible mechanic. You should not have to lose an event hopelessly multiple times in order for someone to say “Oh, by the way…this is how you actually win.” The extra controls are hidden behind an “advanced controls” section but it is not obvious to find early on. Keep all the tips easily accessible (and all unlocked) or scrap them altogether. Don’t hover in the middle like this. 

Get Set…

The true division in this game lies in the fun factor.  Olympic Games Tokyo 2020: The Official Video Game boasts a single-player Olympic competition that can also be experienced online.There are no differences in the core gameplay between single-player and online but the overall experience is vastly different. In single-player, the opposing AI either has the skill level of a drunk chimp or the speed, strength, and reflexes of a member of the Justice League. This is made worse by some of the worst team AI that I have ever seen in a video game. If you make a line-break in Rugby, be prepared for the opposing team to run with your player without tackling them and if you play tennis doubles then expect to be regularly hitting the ball into the back of your teammates’ head (no matter how much you try to avoid it). The online element thankfully replaces most of the AI with real humans and it greatly strengthens the experience. You can even set up medleys where you can pick your strongest events to try and win the coveted gold medal for your team. Be wary though, your strongest event may also be your opponents’ top medal-earner. 

…GO!

With all of these stumbles, the game still has enough left in the tank to push through to the qualifiers. There are a number of customisations available for your avatar and I loved being able to compete in the 100m sprint wearing a full suit of armour and bunny-ears. You are able to play against real-life athletes in practice mode and the games have enough variety to keep you entertained until the real games start. 

The addition of couch-coop/competition makes Olympic Games Tokyo 2020: The Official Video Game a solid Friday-night-time-spender that shines when played with friends/online but quickly becomes stale when played by yourself. The graphics are reminiscent of other games in the genre (think Wii Sports but with more polish and fewer bobbleheads) but the focus on gameplay leaves the wow factor of the graphics back on the starting blocks. If you are looking for a game that brings out the best of each event and will last you until the next Olympic games then sadly, you will not find it here. Events like the Long Jump, Hammer Throw, and Tennis have enough depth to keep you entertained but inconsistent AI makes other events painful to finish. This is not to say that Olympic Games Tokyo 2020: The Official Video Game is not fun. Far from it. It is just more of a sprint than a marathon. Sega has ultimately aimed for bronze and achieved exactly that. I would have just liked to have seen more ambition to hit that gold standard.

I give this 6.5 Usain Bolts out of 10

GameRev was provided with a digital download of the game for the purpose of this review.

Perched high up on the cliff edge overlooking the enemy warehouse across the lake, target marked over 2000 metres away, I take aim, set the range of the scope, adjust to factor in wind direction, breath held, trigger pulled…missed. Sniper Ghost Warrior Contracts 2 is a stealth-based milsim, and is the 6th edition of a series that began all the way back in 2008. Contracts 2 follows a similar formula to its predecessors but it is certainly the most challenging, with sniper shots ranging almost as long as the game’s title. It boasts one of the most realistic and challenging sniper mechanics I’ve ever played draped in some beautiful visuals, but the story and layout of the game feel somewhat dull and unpolished.

Set in the fictional middle eastern dictatorship of Kuamar who’s newly powerful autocrat has decided to invade a neighbouring country, the world’s response is to send in one man and his sniper. The story itself feels all too common for military shooters, stereotypical evil dictator and his cronies are up to no good again, and your job is to put a bullet in them. After a brief tutorial handholding you through the various mechanics for sniping and the different gadgets to play with, you’re thrown into the action with your first target. From there, the campaign spans a series of individual contracts in which you track down and assassinate members of the evil network, and when you’re not sending bullets into heads from 1000+ metres away, you’ll be interrogating enemy grunts, corrupting communications and sabotaging equipment. To help with this there is a wealth of gadgets at your disposal, a drone to help mark hard to reach targets and hack CCTV camera as well as a range of special bullets which vary in realism, from the standard armour piercing and explosive all the way up to sci-fi style tracker bullets and ones that don’t factor in wind or distance.

With each target to assassinate comes a wide variety of ways to do it, you could go in full guns blazing, locate the target, fire and exit, or you can make use of the environment to get creative. In a style similar to a Hitman game, I was able to lure one of the key targets underneath a shipping container, and will a well-placed shot that squashed him with it. It is kills like these which I found most enjoyable from the game, the big finale moments and the payoff from getting creative allow you to take your targets out in a whole wealth of different ways. Those calculated sniper shots against the target miles in the distance were brilliant and served as the standout high point in Contracts 2, but unfortunately, the rest of the game felt a bit soulless and packed full of filler. After being helicoptered into each new area comes a very rinse and repeat process of sneaking around clusters of enemies, interrogating certain ones to find information on the next target and the occasional up close and personal firefights with your assault rifle and pistol. For the sake of fluidity, the developers had to add something in between sniping from vantage points, but unfortunately, these other elements feel very rushed, even though you play from the first person and have the standard automatic rifle and grenade loadouts it doesn’t feel like a polished FPS, but instead a repetitive, unavoidable mechanic that had me constantly searching for the quickest way to get to the next target.

Contracts 2’s strength comes from that point beyond reaching the vantage point, scanning the area, planning your move and executing the attack feels very rewarding and really felt like I was behind the scope myself, with a great deal of weight behind every minor adjustment or decision. Rather than rushing in to kill the target and get out of there, I was much more inclined to take time and meticulously scan and plan out the method of attack. It’s probably the most fun I’ve had with a sniper rifle in a video game, the mechanics are very realistic and challenging at first, but once you get a hang of adjusting for target distance and wind direction you start to feel like a true sharpshooter. Unfortunately, the other mechanics pale in comparison, the stealth is fairly basic and minimal with clunky enemies that all seem to struggle with hearing, must be from all of the newly acquired fighter jets and helicopters ploughing through the Kuamarian airspace. Movement in general just looks a bit too robotic and very jerky, I thought I was wearing an exo-suit with the way you snap up ledges in the rare bit of climbing you have to do, it put my back out just watching it. The visual layout of the HUD and menus are quite clunky as well, for a game with a pretty simple premise and core mechanics comes a mess of different menus, upgrade screens, HUD options and customisation sections that can be all quite overwhelming until you’ve gotten used to how they all combine together, it feels like this element of the game got the smallest slice of the budget.

Visually Contracts 2’s world and objects are stunning, currently there is only a last-gen (PS4/XBOX One) version but the CryEngine powered graphics holds its own against some of the next-gen optimised games that I’ve played. As expected from a game that requires you to take shots from multiple Kilometres away the render distance stretches for miles too, even without looking through the binoculars or scopes you can see figures as tiny as ants pacing back and forth where the target’s location is, all player and object movements are very fluid as well, thanks to Contracts 2 running at 60fps on PC and next-gen consoles. All of this culminates into an aesthetically marvellous world that really does a great job of adding to the realism and immersion of traversing the rocky and sandy terrain of Kuamar.

Overall, the experience of Sniper Ghost Warrior Contracts 2 boils down to a mixed bag. On the one side, there is the adrenaline pumping thrills of hitting a high-stakes shot from thousands of metres away to take out one of the big targets and hightailing it out of there whilst the chaos in the distance ensues, but this is marred from then having to wade through clunky stealth and fps mechanics that leave you trying to rush to the next sniper’s nest. The gunplay with the sniper and the wider process of executing the kill once you get into position doesn’t get old or boring and is probably the most fun I’ve had with a sniper in a video game But I’ve also found these big moments being too infrequent and far apart, it felt almost underutilised. The previous 5 editions to the series follow a trend of having solid sniper mechanics but never breaking into the FPS elite like Call of Duty or Battlefield, and unfortunately Contracts 2 doesn’t deviate from this trend. That’s not to say that this is a bad game or that it should be immediately disregarded, the experience of the sniper alone is enough for me to recommend giving this game a try, but be prepared to see some rough edges along with way.

GameRev was provided with a digital download of the game for the purpose of this review.

“I was standing on the castle battlements, overlooking the fields ahead of me. It was a hot day. The sun had been beating down on me and my men and fatigue had begun to set in. It was only midday and yet I felt that I had been awake for days. My armour was heavy and stifling. The sword at my hand felt as heavy as a tree trunk. But yet, I could not show weakness. Not to my brethren. Not today. The castle gave a perfect viewpoint of any approaching force from miles away but the enemy did not care. They stood there. In formation, in plain sight. The commoners knew that they outnumbered us and the stench of their fear was rancid in my nostrils. Hold fast. Let them be afraid, as I will not falter. I will not falter. I will not…“

…A hand on my shoulder from my mother snapped me out of it. “Want some Ice cream?” How could I say no? I love ice cream. 

 Say what you will but growing up in a country full of castles was brilliant for a 10-year-old with a vivid imagination and a love for medieval warfare. Who would have known that a couple of decades later, I would be able to relive that feeling once again? But this time, I am the one hacking off limbs and striking terror into the heart of my foes. I am the one charging head-first into death and glory. I am the one who decides who dies first. Prepare yourself for battle m’lord, Chivalry II has arrived. 

Chivalry II is the second instalment in the Chivalry series from Torn Banner Studios. Their first medieval combat slasher was a massive hit (and a personal favourite of mine). This new outing comes with 8 maps (5 objective and 3 team-deathmatch/free-for-all) all of which support 64 player game modes. The objective maps have you setting up sieges and storming castles whilst the enemy desperately tries to repel your advances. The graphics are a notable step up from the 2012 instalment. The game boasts a 4k UHD feature on PS5 with the Unreal Engine 4 driving the chaos. You can see that the developers have put a lot of work into making the game look as cinematic as possible and the game looks fantastic. I will say that there are some areas that are rough around the edges: NPCs during cutscenes look awkward and clunky and the peasants cheering you on during the tutorial are copy-and-paste but it is all excusable. This game is a perfect example of making things count where they are most important, and the graphics are stunning when it matters. I want to see the fear in my enemies’ eyes when they realise they are about to take a mace to the face. 

Speaking of maces to faces, it is worth solidifying what this game is about: medieval combat. The gameplay focuses on large-scale online battles where you can choose one of two factions: The brutal Mason Order or the loyal Agatha Knights (or to simplify it: Red vs Blue). You can then choose one of four classes: Knight, Footman, Vanguard, and Archer. These classes also have sub-class options which allow players to tweak their playstyle. Fancy being a Knight with a shield? Be a Guardian class. A dual-wielding Vanguard? Hello Devastator. This level of customisation sits perfectly with me. Four classes are enough to keep things simple but having the ability to customise each class allows players to go deeper. There is no overwhelming feeling of needing to learn too many classes to even have a chance at surviving. In my first game, I picked the Vanguard and sat pretty on 55 kills by the end of the game. 55 glorious kills for the Mason Order. 

The controls are also a huge part of the game’s allure but can also be the one thing that puts people off. The game is a hack-and-slash slaughterfest but you are the one in control of the hacking and slashing. You have a block, downward swing, side swing, and stab. You can chain these into combos (or use feints to fake attacks), and blocking certain attacks with different timings can trigger parries and ripostes. You can also use the controller to turn your body into your attacks. I mean, how else can you ensure a good blade to flesh ratio has been maintained?  All of this is explained in the tutorial but I can see how a lot of people would find the combat to be difficult to pick up. Especially if they were not used to this style of action gameplay. Still, I loved the original Chivalry and the combat system was a big selling point for me. Chivalry II has built on that system and improved it.

The big question to be asked is: Well, is it fun? Yes, yes, and YES. This game is pure carnage on an epic scale and I love it. The 64 player maps are chaotic without being overwhelmingly large and the game modes do well to guide you along to where the next battle will be taking place. I didn’t find myself getting lost for 5 minutes trying to find people, only to get sniped and having to do it all again. When you die, you respawn with your weapon in hand, already charging back towards the action. It is little things like this that keep the blood pumping and the intensity up. Another huge plus-point on the fun factor is the hardiness of your character and the ability to hold your own against multiple foes. This may be a medieval combat simulator but you do not go down easy. With careful blocking, parrying, and riposting, you can defend yourself when outnumbered and if you’re lucky, even turn the tide. I audibly cheered when I found myself outnumbered 3-1, blocked the first hit, straight into a sword-sweep which decapitated two of my foes and allowed me to follow-up with a stab in the face to the third. It may not happen often but when it does, it is beyond satisfying. Oh and I forgot to say, you can pick up anything and use it as a weapon…even someone else’s limbs! I’ve yet to kill someone with a severed arm or a flaming chicken but when I do it, it will be glorious*

*Nb. I did it whilst writing this review. It was better than I ever could have expected.

Chivalry II is a gaming experience that can be summed up in one word: fun. I admit that I have been falling out of love with online gaming recently. The pressure felt during high-speed, meta-dominated matches eventually end up taking the fun out of it for me. Mistakes are usually punished heavily and you feel a sense of disconnection from your teammates when you end up inadvertently costing people precious ranking spots. I did not feel this with Chivalry. Quite the opposite. It may take a while to get into the combat system but the pure joy you get from swinging a broadsword around a battlefield is unparalleled. Levels of individual skill also become blurred when 64 people are swinging swords, axes, and chickens into each-others bodies. Everything from the graphics to the stellar sound design is there to take you into this world and push you right into the mud and blood. It may not be as polished as other AAA titles and the voice lines can be annoyingly repetitive but when it is this much fun, does it really matter? I certainly think not. So, don your armour, sharpen your sword, and fight…for the Order! 

Yes, I play Mason Order. Don’t like it? Come and find me on the battlefield. I’ll be waiting.

I give this 9 bloodied polearms out of 10

GameRev was provided with a digital download of the game for the purpose of this review.

Now in their second year after debut, E’Last have maintained a symphonic sound that hearkens back to earlier generations of K-pop boy groups. I love them for this, but I’ve yet to fall head-over-heels in love with any of their songs. The drama and bombast is much-appreciated, but the songwriting tends to meander more than I’d like. It’s the difference between a stone cold classic like VIXX’s Error and this new single Dark Dream (악연).

Now, don’t get me wrong. I like E’Last’s music a lot. It’s just that everything’s been so close to knock-your-socks-off excellence that the tiny gap becomes extra frustrating. There are parts of Dark Dream that approach perfection. When the song gets going during its fast-paced, thrilling chorus, there’s nothing stopping it. The verses bring down the energy, opting for a heavier melody and blasts of moody rap. This is fine, but these segments are overlong. Further listens tease out the details, and once you have that roadmap, Dark Dream‘s twists and turns feel less disorienting. Still, I’ll always prefer a tighter, more streamlined structure.

Thankfully, the song’s grandiose production is consistently thrilling. Many K-pop groups fuse symphonic elements into their music, but few do it with such aplomb. Dark Dream feels tailor-made for musical theatre, and I appreciate how slavishly it sticks to this concept. Even when the guys are shouting forgettable scraps of melody, the strings swirl in the background as if we’re listening to the most monumental song in pop music history. Strip this away, and Dark Dream would be far less effective. When it comes down to it, that’s always been E’Last’s Achilles heel.

Hooks	8
Production	9
Longevity	9
Bias	8
RATING	8.5

Several weeks after pre-release Spicy, CL is back with the second taste of her upcoming album Alpha. Lover Like Me was penned by English singer/songwriter Anne-Marie, who has had tremendous success in Korea with her song 2002. I’m not sure what it is that made 2002 such a massive hit in the country, but it’s still charting years after its release. To sum it up, this collaboration feels very smart from a commercial perspective.

Lover Like Me also does a good job showcasing CL’s various charms. While Spicy showcased her skills as a rapper, Lover allows for focus on her vocals. This duality has always been one of CL’s biggest assets, and powered many a 2NE1 classic. I wouldn’t put Lover Like Me up there with the best of her material, but its emotional approach definitely piques interest for the album.

Musically, the song echoes much of the sounds found in global Top 40 fare over the past few years. The beats are languid and chill, augmented by trap hi-hats and atmospheric synths. The instrumental mostly stays out of the way until forming a muted drop during the chorus. There’s not much of a hook here, but the titular refrain is still catchy. The verses are more dynamic, with CL delivering an impassioned rebuke. She sounds great – simultaneously fiery and vulnerable. A late-song rap verse switches up the structure and works especially well against the skeletal beat. Lover Like Me’s whole is greater than its parts, but I still think CL is in search of her magnum opus.

Hooks	8
Production	7
Longevity	8
Bias	8
RATING	7.75