Bioshock: The Collection (PS4) - Review in Progress

Bioshock: The Collection is available now on PS4 and is priced at £44.99.

I did have all of the Bioshock games on the Xbox 360. I bought the first two at the same time, way past release date (read: cheap) thinking that I'd enjoy them and get round to them fairly soon. Then I played a bit of the first one and scared myself to death before I even got to Neptune's Bounty and have never really played it since. Bad Dannie. I bought Infinite in a Deals with Gold thing ages ago in the hopes it would become backwards compatible at some point - and that I'd have grown some balls and played the first two games through.

If, like me, you haven't played the Bioshock games before then Bioshock: The Collection offers immense value for money. It feature all three games and the DLC and they've all been given a graphical overhaul too. All of this for less than the price of one new game!

It has taken me ages to get around to writing this review, because I wanted it to be a complete review. But, having never played the games before, I can't just dip into each one for a few hours and tell you about how they've changed. I still want to enjoy them and I won't if I have to go to Bioshock 2 and Infinite before I've finished the first one. I was gonna just wait until I had played them all to write this up, but given that my PS4 has been a bit temperamental and I am out of the house more than usual at the minute looking after family I haven't been able to play them as much as I'd like. So I'm gonna do an ongoing review and come and update this as and when I have something more to say.

The PS4 version comes on two discs, one disc for the first two games while Infinite gets a disc all to itself. With the first disc in you just slide left or right to choose which game to launch. They both install separately too, good news for anyone struggling for space on their HDD.

Now obviously I haven't looked at Bioshock 2 or Infinite yet so I can't tell you which looks better now, but Bioshock 1 looks a hell of a lot better than it did originally, the graphics have been cleaned up really well. Don't get me wrong parts of it can still look weak - with the character's being probably the most dated looking - but it does look great now. It's a great remaster.

I have encountered a couple of glitches but nothing game-breaking. A few times it has appeared to have frozen completely but just pausing it for a second has fixed it and I've been able to continue as normal. I've read about a lot of glitches, but in all honesty that has been the worst one I have found.

I'm probably one of very few people that hadn't already played these games. If you haven't played them you've got nothing to lose by buying them. They do offer great value for money for newcomers and die-hard fans alike. Anyone who has already played them can afford to wait for a sale and make these games even more worth it. We do game in the era of the remaster now, but it is refreshing to see a whole collection remastered, rather than just one of a larger whole. And this collection is cheaper than the upcoming Skyrim remaster and many of the remasters we've seen already.

For now I'm going to get back to my play through, but I'll be back to ramble on at you more when I can!

Headlander (PS4) - Review

Headlander is available now on the PS4 and is priced at £14.99.

This game is weird. Really, really weird even by Double Fine's standards. You may have seen some of my screenshots on Twitter, they don't even go halfway to explaining how weird this game is.

In Headlander you play as a disembodied head. Yup, really. You're a head in a propelled helmet with sucky power that means you can suck the heads off other robots and steal their bodies. I can't even think of a better way to explain this.

You have been awoken by a group hoping to overthrow the AI overlord Methuselah. You being just a head will come in very handy on your journey through the ship "Starcophagus" (again, really) as there will be many doors that are blocked off to you that have a handy head sized vent just above them. Of course heads aren't really known for their weaponry so you'll need to headland on to other robots to better arm yourself against the bad guys. You can dock on to any of the robots you encounter, but most of them are useless in any real sense. Certain robots can get you through doors and if all else fails get on a robot with a laser and shoot the door into submission.

I know that this review isn't making much sense, even as I type it, but honestly the game doesn't make much sense either. It is insane. At first it feels like a lot of fun. It's very tongue in cheek and for awhile it is a lot of fun to just pull the heads off unsuspecting robots. Unfortunately though, it soon gets stale. Combat can be very tricky and it's annoying to try and find another laser shooting bot when the one you were occupying gets blown up. Eventually you'll realise that the best way to navigate combat is with just your head, dodging the lasers and sucking the heads off the robots trying to kill you is often much easer and faster than trying to shoot them. Obviously, sometimes this won't work and these are the times that will have you screaming at the TV. The boss fights are even worse, and if you die you better be ready to repeat the whole effing thing. 

I expected more in depth puzzles from Headlander in all honesty. The puzzles are simplistic and don't make the best use of the whole you being just a head in my opinion. I'd have liked to have seen more emphasis on disguise based puzzles, rather than just navigating various rooms and enemies. It's a very shallow experience, something I haven't said of a Double Fine game before.

All in all Headlander is fairly fun for the first hour or so. But then the fun trickles away and you're just kinda going through the motions. I'd wait for a sale, guys.

4/10 TRY IT!

A code was provided for the purpose of this review.

The Technomancer (PS4) - Review

The Technomancer is available now on PS4 and is priced at £44.99.

It's been far too long since I've played Mass Effect so I'm open to any game that has any resemblance to it whatsoever, no matter how small. The Mass Effect series holds some of my fondest gaming memories and the wait for Andromeda is killing me.

Anyway when I read about The Technomancer I was pretty interested. I haven't ever played a game by this developer - Spiders - before so didn't really have any clue what to expect. I just wanted to play a space RPG again.

The Technomancer seems to have really divided people. There are a lot of my followers on Twitter who have really enjoyed their time with it, played through it multiple times and loved every second. Others are seeing it as more of a slog, something they have to get through without distracting themselves with other games out of fear of never actually returning to it. I don't quite understand how this game could be so divisive, it isn't like it has tried to re-invent the wheel and scared people off that way and, in my opinion anyway, it certainly isn't a terrible game.

Yes, graphically the game could be a little better overall but there are moments in this game that are truly gorgeous. The biggest part that lets it down visually is the animation of the NPC's. Facial movement in general is quite bad for a game of this gen, but as I say it's nothing too terrible. It isn't the most polished game and I found the frame-rate to be a tad patchy at times, but again I feel like I'm nitpicking.

So I'll start telling you about what I really enjoyed about my time with The Technomancer. First of is the ability to switch combat styles on the fly, which gives you three very different combat experiences. You can switch between Guardian, Warrior or Rogue class with the press of a button, with each class having a different set weapon it uses. For the most part I lean more towards Guardian because I love the fluidity of the staff fighting, but some enemies really require you to be able to change it up and try a new tactic. If you time a hit just right you are rewarded with a little slow-mo flourish, which I think is much cooler when you're playing as a staff wielding Technomancer. Yes, let's not forget about the ability that is after all the namesake of the game - all of the different combat styles are supported by Technomancy which are basically electrical abilities.

This makes a refreshing change for an RPG, where we are usually forced to pick a specific combat method and stick to it throughout. We're supposed to concentrate on one style of play and use all of our skill points expanding one tree. The Technomancer still utilises skill trees, but they are more free than is usual for an RPG and you can spread them more evenly or go all out on the one style of combat.

The combat is where this game shines the brightest in my opinion and luckily Mars is populated with loads of things and people that would't mind killing you. It's a lot of fun to show them whose boss. Each enemy fights slightly differently too - some of them band together and concentrate all of their efforts on your character, whilst others are easy to separate and pick off in a one-on-one fight. The combat really is fantastic in The Technomancer. It's gritty and tactical and oh-so satisfying when you deal the final blow.

Much like Batman though your Technomancer doesn't like to kill people, and will only knock them out unless you drain the serum afterwards. This links into the karma system, that isn't unlike the Renegade/Paragon system in Mass Effect. Draining serum from people ultimately kills them and no matter how bad this person is it is frowned upon to end another life when human life is seen as precious. If you find yourself running low on serum you can drain it from other life forms without taking the karma hit, as they are killed during battle rather than just knocked out.

As is fairly usual with an RPG you can recruit people to come and aid you on your travels. Anything you do around these followers will affect their opinion of you too and this does affect parts of the story. It all revolves around the different factions and I loved the fact that you couldn't just get any old information from everyone you walked up too. People are suspicious of you. Some will crack jokes when you ask them about people they don't want to be seen to be affiliated with. Others will tell you to fuck off. It was refreshing, as all too often this is where a game can fall down in terms of immersion...why on earth would everyone tell all about the big bad?! It wouldn't happen and in The Technomancer it doesn't, you have to learn how to play the game.

Character customisation could have had a little more depth if I'm being picky. You get to pick from a few different facial presets, hair styles and then choose the skin, eye and hair colour. It works and still means there are lots of different combinations of Technomancers, but a little more option never hurt anybody.

The story is fairly interesting but isn't always so well executed and when it is stood side-by-side with the fantastic combat it really shows itself as the weak point of this game. It just isn't as well written as a lot of the other RPG's on the market - the dialogue can feel stilted and the voice acting and character animation is wooden. It's a real shame, because overall the story is pretty good, it's just the delivery that isn't. The button-mapping could have been a little better too. The O button is the dodge button whilst in combat, but it is also the skip button whilst in dialogue. At some points the game will switch seamlessly from combat to dialogue, and more often than not the combined with me attempting to dodge (mostly because I liked the animation when I was using the staff but other times it was just in case I hadn't actually killed my enemy with the last blow I had dealt). This lead to a few skipped first lines of conversation and me answering without knowing what the hell I had just signed myself up for.

For all of these little problems though I have thoroughly enjoyed my time with The Technomancer. The combat alone makes this game worth playing. But if you have a gaping hole in your life that only a space RPG can fill this one can probably keep you happy until Andromeda comes in and takes over our lives.

8/10 BUY IT!

A code was provided for the purpose of this review. 

Hitman (PS4) - Review

Hitman is available now on PS4 and is priced at £44.99 for  the full experience or £11.99 for the first episode and £7.99 for each episode thereafter. If you enjoy the first episode then you can buy the full experience upgrade pack for £36.99. Jeez, that was convoluted.

I've held back on this review for a little while. I have had it since launch and have played a hell of a lot of it. But the episodic nature of this game irked many a gamer and I wanted to be completely sure of my thoughts on this game before I set out to sway you guys one way or another.

By the time all of the episodes have been released there will be a total of six locations for you to go on a killing spree in. This doesn't include the ICA training facility that is included in the Paris episode. I mentioned the pricing at the beginning of this review and honestly believe this lead to more confusion than was necessary. IF you bought every episode as it came out, on the basis of how much you enjoyed the previous one or whatever it would cost you £51.94 (well according to my calculator anyway). Get Paris and then decide to upgrade? You're looking at £48.98. So if you think you might enjoy what Hitman has to offer the best option would be to get the full experience. Want to hedge your bets a little? Go for the full upgrade after seeing what Paris has to offer. I see no reason why anyone would buy each pack separately if I am honest, though I suppose it does look attractive to people of limited means. £7.99 a month is doable for most people.

Anyway, lets get away from all of that for a second and talk about the game, shall we?

I was going to write up a dissection of what each different location offers, but that would be time consuming and pretty damn boring to read, I imagine. Instead I want to talk about the overall level design. Hitman is a great example of what brilliant level design can do for a game. This game was lambasted by many for offering just one level for £7.99 at first and now my Twitter feed is full of congratulations to Squenix each time a new locale is released. The levels are intricate, beautiful and full of things to discover. Paris has been out since May and is the smallest of the maps so far (save from the training facility, which is also fantastic) yet I can still find new ways to approach the objectives, still find myself getting lost or finding new corridors to explore. Paris is the only one so far that centres around just one building and it's gardens, so you can imagine how many opportunities for exploration there are in the town of Sapienza and the markets of Marrakesh.

You do hear the same voice acting in each of the locations, which does nothing for immersion in my opinion. I want to hear different voices, different accents for crying out loud. Instead, no matter where you go you hear the same fairly stuffy British accents from every person who happens to speak as you walk by. Maybe I am nitpicking, but it does take away from the exotic locations somewhat if I'm being honest.

Back in May when I first played the Paris missions, I was thinking the same as everyone else, that being "all that money for one contract?!". I had had a little play in the contract mode, but I have to be honest it didn't interest me that much, and remains my least played area of the game. So I put the game to one side for awhile and decided to revisit once Sapienza was released and then maybe write up my review. I'm so glad I did, as this review would have been going in a very different direction. After I had completed the missions in Sapienza, I decided to revisit Paris and try and do it another way. Sapienza had shown me the amount of thought that went into each level and I approached The Showstopper with renewed appreciation. Hitman really is a masterclass in level design.

After doing The Showstopper again I was hooked, but still not feeling the contracts. So I gave the Escalation mode a try. Escalation mode consists of 3-5 rounds in one location that get progressively harder. I don't know how I hadn't noticed them before. They're brilliant! Incredibly challenging but even more rewarding. They give you different targets from the main ones included in the missions, and then they give you more targets on top of the first as well as more stringent security to contend with. They're infuriating, but fantastic and I have whiled away many an hour tailing random people in each location, looking for the perfect time to strike.

My favourite thing by far about the new Hitman experience though has been the Elusive contracts. They are such a great idea for a game like this. There have been four Elusive Contracts so far (all of which I have completed, wahoo!) and these contracts run for about 48 hours. The target will ONLY be available in that window of time, real-time. If you die you don't get to do it over. That's it. You get a nice red Failed sign over the target on the game's main screen. Ouch. Actually, even after completing another one the failure will still follow you, as my partner found out. I don't know whether these will come back once the disc version is released, but I hope they do. It would be a shame for game collectors and lovers of physical discs to miss out on how exciting this mode is.

Overall I think that Hitman works wonderfully episodic. It keeps it fresh and exciting and basically gives you a new game to look forward to each month. I actually find myself wondering why the hell all previous Hitman games weren't like this. If the whole game had been released in one go I honestly wonder whether I would have played it as much as I have. As it is I find myself looking forward to the next month, to see where I'll be killing people next. If you were at all on the fence about this game, don't be! Get it. There are options to suit every wallet out there. I promise you won't regret it.

9/10 BUY IT!

A code was provided for the purpose of this review. 

Prif Freedom 1 Headset (PS4) - Review

This was already posted on Honest Games Reviews. Click the link to see the score! (http://honestgamesreviews.com/reviews/prif-freedom-1-headset-review/).            

I have never used a headset like the Freedom 1 from Prif before. It's a single ear-piece bluetooth headset, much like the ones that used to be used for hands-free phonecalls in your car. At least I don't think anyone uses them for that anymore. It clips onto your ear and attaches to your PS4 via dongle. Easy-peasy.

It really is very simple to set up and use, but it took me ages to get it attached to my ear everytime I wanted to use it. This didn't get better with experience, I must just have odd-shaped ears or something, because even trying the different sized ear piece didn't help me. I just couldn't get it on comfortably, so much so that I couldn't bear using the headset for more than an hour - I had to keep reattaching it to my ear and when I did get it attached it dug in horribly. As well as the different sized ear-pieces, you also get another faceplate in the box so that you can customise the look of your headset. I prefer the look of the black one that it comes with, but I'm sure there are people out there that would appreciate the look of the camo one. 

I'd expect a headset like this to really struggle with sound quality, but I have to say that's not true. Obviously the sound isn't as good as the traditional stereo headsets but it's plenty good enough to hear your friends easily. There is also a really good feature that allows you to press a button and hear your own voice so you know you're not deafening your friends and that they can hear you clearly. This is actually a real worry because the microphone isn't on a long wire as is the usual, you do find yourself talking quite loudly to make sure your party can hear you. Use the Voice Monitor to check you're not going a little over the top. 

This headset is below £25 which would usually make it a pretty cheap headset. I do think that there are better headsets on the market for only £5 more though with more bells and whistles. If it wasn't for how uncomfortable I found the Freedom 1 I'd have given it a much higher score but I found it very uncomfortable to use, despite how well it worked. It did work well and the Voice Monitor is a great addition to any streamers out there who want to make sure they're being heard clearly, but I'd say make sure you are able to wear a bluetooth headset comfortably before making the purchase. 

Dannie Kitten's Gaming Year

You may have read about my "Top Three Games of 2015" on Honest Games Reviews (http://honestgamesreviews.com/blog/hgrs-games-of-2015/) but as I mentioned there, I don't think picking just three games has given enough credit to the games of 2015. So I have chosen to expand upon that here and give you my top picks of 2015. 

I have found 2015 to be a great year for gaming. There have been a massive number of Indie and AAA games that have been hugely enjoyable. I've been thinking about formats in which I could write about my picks of the year...a top ten, choosing the best of the genres etc. And in truth I still don't know how I'm going to tell you about my favourite gaming moments this year. So I'm just gonna start writing and see where it takes me...

Best Game for Kids: There have been plenty of games I have been able to enjoy with my son this year and in fact I was going to give this to Octodad: Deadliest Catch purely based on how much time we spent laughing together at it. But seeing as this is the award for kids I should probably ask my kid what he thinks and his vote goes to Lego Dimensions because it's "really, really good. About a 1000% good" because "you can go in Homer Simpson's world as Batman". I should point out that this is one of the main reasons Lego Dimensions is great, unlike Disney Infinity which only allows you to use certain toys in certain areas Lego Dimensions gives you free reign to play as whoever you want whenever you want, which has gone down a storm in my house. 

Best Xbox One Exclusive: Some people love them, some people hate them but there's no denying that console exclusivity is here to stay. I'm not going to count timed exclusives in here, because unless you're a really impatient person you can get the game on any console at some point in time. These categories are for the games that will never see the light of day on the "rival" console. So with that in mind it is Gears of War:Ultimate Edition that has to win this crown. I know, I know it is a re-release BUT it is a damn perfect re-release of a game that is actually pretty old. Seriously load up the original and just feel how clunky it is. 

Best PS4 Exclusive: Now I bought my PS4 when I felt like there were enough exclusives on it that I wanted to play. A lot of people give Sony stick for not having exclusives, but I don't really understand where this comes from...I found it much harder to nail down my favourite PS4 exclusive of the year. I haven't been able to play some of the games I have on this yet, so they obviously couldn't enter into the list (sorry Bloodborne!). I opted for the game that I primarily bought the PS4 for, Until Dawn. I bought this and my brother came round the next night to play it and over the next couple of weeks I saw him much more than usual! Until Dawn is basically a game of a cheesy 90's horror film...and that's what makes it GREAT! Graphically the game is superb and the game really does have plenty of shocks. I can't wait to play it again and hopefully save more people!

Best Wii U: Seeing as we've given awards to PS4 and XB1 exclusives we obviously need to do it for the Wii U too. Choosing this was pretty hard too, much harder than it was choosing for XB1. But really there has been one truly stand out game on the Wii U and it ties in with the below award too...

Best Fan Service Game: In a year that saw a bazillion games getting a HD remake "because the fans wanted it" this award should have been a lot harder to give out. But in my mind the only game that can be considered a true fan service this year is Super Mario Maker for the Wii U. Super Mario Maker gave Mario fans the world over the power (and an incredible interface!) to make their own Mario levels. Honestly the UI is something dreams are made of and the ability to share your levels online and download other means you will never run out of Mario levels to try. 

Best Co-op: I love to play games co-op but this year, this gen even, I don't think there have been enough co-op games. Ark: Survival Evolved has changed that, finally. Ark is a great survival game, but it gets infinitely better when played alongside friends. Find it in Early Access now and grab it (if you're not one of 1,000,000+ who has already).

Best Multiplayer: I'm using multiplayer as online and against others to shoehorn this one in here really. And you can play the winner of this co-op in what is actually my favourite mode but anyway Star Wars: Battlefront is my multiplayer game of the year. Which is a good job seeing as the majority of the game is in the Online section. Fast and slick (when you're not suffering from lag anyway) Star Wars Battlefront is the most fun I've had in an online shooter for ages. 

Most Graphically Impressive: There have been many games this year that have been pretty damn beautiful. Hell seeing an AT-AT go down in Star Wars Battlefront is an amazing experience. But I have to say I find myself most blown away by Rise of the Tomb Raider. Even now when I have played a fair bit of it, I still find myself loading it up and being surprised at just how gorgeous it is. 

Shooter of the Year: As much as I have enjoyed the aforementioned Star Wars Battlefront it isn't my shooter of the year. Splatoon on the Wii U is. Just like Plants vs Zombies: Garden Warfare  did when that was released Splatoon brings the fun back into an over-saturated market, and it is family-friendly which will always win out in this house. But even if you don't have kids to play it with Splatoon is well worth picking up.

Best Character: The last time I did a gaming award thing was a few years ago and Kenny from Telltale's The Walking Dead won it. This award is just a little nod to a fun or well-written character. This year I found it quite hard really, as even though we've had many a brilliant game I don't think there has been much in the way of great characters. It was going to go to Chumbucket from Mad Max because he really did make me laugh, but I felt like this would be to cheapen the award. Life is Strange offered us some great characters but the dialogue was sometimes a bit jarring, which initially put me off giving this award to a character from that. But after much deliberation the only character this award could have gone to is Chloe. She is a really well-written character; she is flawed, scared and angry with a myriad of issues but she's also loyal and fierce. It was great fun getting to know her and I hope to see more of her again.

Best Telltale Game: Ok maybe I'm cheating here, giving Telltale their very own category but bear with me. This year saw the release of three (!) episodic Telltale games: Tales from the Borderlands, Minecraft: Story Mode and Game of Thrones: A Telltale Series. I have been lucky enough to play all three so I'm going to tell you which one you should buy if, for some crazy reason you have limited yourself to just one. And the answer is...Game of Thrones: A Telltale Series every time. This game was the perfect foray into the world of Westeros, featuring plenty of betrayal and nastiness from some of our favourite characters from the show (honestly Cersei's smirk translates just as well to a game world). This game truly pulls the rug out from under you multiple times throughout, and it is all the better for it. 

Honourable Mentions: There are a lot of games that I have had a LOT of fun with this year, so I'm going to give them a mention because I want to spread the love. 

The Escapists - One of the first games I streamed on Twitch when I began earlier this year, it is a great little sandbox game where you have to escape from different prisons. DLC is cheap for those looking for more places to escape from and there has even been FREE DLC! 

Everybody's Gone to the Rapture - I know this game got a lot of stick for being a "walking-sim" but when you really delve into it, was you get is a great story that is beautifully realised. Honestly I was flicking through my Twitter pics the other day and screens of this game were sandwiched between pictures I had taken at Lyme Park. I had to do a double take. It is THAT beautiful.

Sparkle Unleashed - I love me a good ball-busting puzzle game and this has filled the Zuma shaped hole in my XB1. And even though Zuma is now available through backwards compatibility I still find myself down "just one more level" on this. 

Plague Inc. Evolved - A late entry because I only picked it up in the sale but this iOS game has made a great transition to the home console. Well worth picking up!

King's Quest - Another episodic game, but this is releasing much further apart than anything Telltale does and has 1000G per episode! It's a great little game that serves as a decent nostalgia kick for any 90's point and click fans out there. 

Quest of Dungeons - A great little game that you put on for ten minutes and end up forgetting to feed the dog (or children) because of. Buy it.

Ori and the Blind Forest -  This game doesn't need me to give it an honourable mention, I'm yet to speak to someone who didn't love it. But it was a beauty of a game and if you haven't already you should play it. Now. 

Anyone who follows HonestGameReviews will have already read what is below, but if you haven't please read on to find out what my Top Three Picks of 2015 were. I think 2015 has been a damn good year for gaming and I'm excited to see what 2016 can bring us. I hope everyone has a fantastic New Year and I'll see you all in 2016! 

3. The Swindle

The Swindle is easily my favourite indie game of the year and is the perfect example of a simple premise that has been perfectly executed. The graphics are good but the controls and handling are where this game really shines, it is just so slick and responsive. The aim of the game is to complete a number of heists in the hope of doing the big one within 100 days. Each heist is different as they're all randomly generated so no two players games will be the same. Your character can die (mine does a LOT which I'm sure anyone who watches my Twitch streams is surprised to hear) but you can respawn with a new one minus all of the upgrades you had purchased. The Swindle is the perfect game to have pinned for whenever you have a spare ten minutes, but be warned ten minutes is never enough on The Swindle.

2. Life is Strange

Life is Strange is an episodic game that, to date, I have only played through once so it obviously hasn't had that many hours put into it. But this game makes it onto the top three list anyway because it is just that good. Yeah the dialogue is sometimes pretty cringe-y but Life is Strange deals with ideas that are rarely touched upon in this medium and it does it really well. In a year that saw a huge slew of episodic games Life is Strange is the standout title for sure. The graphical style is beautiful and whimsical making Arcadia Bay one of my favourite game locations of the year. For the most part the characters are engaging and well-written, but the best thing about this game is the way in which it explores "The Butterfly Effect". As always I'm spoiler free so I won't go into much more detail, but I see this being in a sale in the not so distant future and if you haven't already bought it then you should definitely pick it up then. Life is Strange is a brave idea of a game that actually worked and I can't wait to play it through again.

1. Fallout 4

Anyone who knows me knows I am a HUGE fan of the Fallout franchise, and well, Bethesda in general. Bethesda can do no wrong for me and Fallout 4 has just cemented that for me. Fallout 4 has offered a vast improvement on all previous Fallout games and given us yet another amazing open world to explore. Graphics aren't quite as shiny as some of the other offerings this year, but it's a new Fallout game so most of us can forgive it for that. And for the first time your character has an actual voice - something I never realised I missed in previous Fallout games until this one. You don't need me to go into a ton of detail about a game as huge as Fallout 4, unless you've lived in a bunker you know of it and what it offers to gamers. Fallout 3 had always been the game I'd take to a desert island but Fallout 4 has hopped, skipped and jumped right over it. I have sunk many an hour into it already and barely scratched it's surface. But the time I've spent in the Commonwealth isn't nearly enough, and I fear that I could spend a year of my life on it and still miss some of it's offerings. If you're looking for a game that offers MASSIVE value for money look no further. Buy it. Now.

Worst Game of 2015: Toro

I mean, seriously, if this isn't on everyones worst games list it'll be a miracle. Everything about it is terrible and it had the honour of being the first game I ever deleted from my XB1 and gave a 0 star rating when forced to review it. To be fair on RecoTech they seemed to take all of the stick I sent their way quite well, even sending me multiple copies of their next release for review and giveaways. I'm still trying to decide whether that was meant as more of a punishment though...

One to Watch in 2016: Gears 4

I found this really tough to narrow down, and I was hoping I'd pick a little known indie or something less mainstream. But I'm a MASSIVE Gears fan and I am thoroughly invested in the universe so the opportunity to play another Gears game on the new hardware is hugely exciting for me. With the release of Gears of War: Ultimate Edition earlier this year my excitement for another Gears instalment only grew and I can't wait! Sorry to anyone reading this who was hoping to see something they had missed for next year!

Next Gen

So what did you all plump for? I waited and waited and waited and never really knew which one to get. My heart for this gen was totally with Xbox 360 I adored my machine and spent many hours with it. PS3 never really floated my boat, some of the games were AMAZING - Heavy Rain and The Last of Us I'm looking at you - but I felt like I was constantly battling with the interface and controller.

As any of you that read my musings on the Xbox One at the time will know I wasn't particularly impressed with either at the time. But as I researched them more I started to lean more towards the PS4, much to my partner's disgust - he is and always will be a Microsoft fanboy and literally recoils at the sight of me on my Macbook - but that system just seemed to be aimed more towards the gamers.

We left it for awhile and for a good while it was easy to ignore the next gen. The friends we had who had preordered the Xbox One (interestingly we had none that had preordered the PS4) liked it enough but didn't really rave about it. They had all kept their 360, a console we still have plenty of games left to play, for instance I STILL have not completed Skyrim, despite being 150 hours in...I just love exploring a little too much. We didn't feel like we were missing out at all really.

Christmas came and went, we got our children's birthdays out of the way and then it was getting closer and closer to the release date of Watch Dogs. Yes it was coming out on the last gen too, but who really wants to buy a new game on an old console?

So we finally plumped for...

The Xbox One. I know, I know. I HATED it at last years E3, but after waiting awhile it became more and more apparent that, for us, for our gaming preferences it HAD to be the One. The exclusives, the promise of future releases and above all the games currently available on it swung it for us. So now we have a One proudly sat underneath the TV next to its older (and more loved) brother.

It is good. Not mind-blowing, and certainly not game-changing yet. Maybe it will be in the future, but for now, for me at least it's a means to an end. I needed it to play Watch Dogs, Plants vs Zombies split screen and RYSE. But it's not earned my heart yet.

I'll be posting some opinions on the games I've been playing recently in due course.

Keep Gaming!
xXx

Thoughts on the Xbox One

Now I want to make it clear from the outset that I have never really considered myself a 'fangirl' of any of the consoles. I have owned most of them since I began gaming and can honestly say that the only thing that has ever made me favour one console over another is if that console SUITED my needs better. For example, when I asked for a GameCube for my birthday one year, it was mainly because my brother already had the PS2 and I knew I wouldn't be allowed online on the Xbox.

The GameCube was the first console bought solely for me and I adored it. A couple of years later I owned my own PS2 and Xbox, but really for me at the time GameCube had my heart, followed closely by the PS2. When the next gen was released I went straight to Xbox 360 and have never looked back. I purchased a Wii a little later, for something a bit different and finally a PS3 when I had more money than sense.

I can honestly say that, whilst I don't regret buying the PS3 I do feel it has been mistreated in my house, it has never been, and will never be our primary games console. It has been used for PS3 exclusives and Bluray and that is about it. Until I bought Ni No Kuni last month I don't think I had played a game on it since Heavy Rain. I hate the long drawn out updates (that it seems to need everytime I turn the damn thing on!) I dislike how cheap and flimsy the controller feels. In short, there isn't actually much I enjoy about the PS3 as a games console.

The Xbox 360 was (and still is) the gaming console for me. It suits me well. It has a vast array of games that can cater to any of my whims. I have a huge game collection for it, including over 300 XBLA and XBLIG titles. I love the controller. I love my special Gears console. I love the background updates.

But recently it has been clear where Microsoft are going. Slowly but surely more and more useless junk has been spreading onto my 360. Sky, which I don't care about. Facebook, which we all have on our phone. Mounds of apps that mostly do the same bloody thing. ADVERTS ON THE DASH - that was a real joy-killer. And the death of Inside Xbox and SentUAMessage, seemed like the final death knoll. But I stuck by my machine - after all I have no issues with it as a games console, which is all I wnat it to be.

So when they announced the Xbox One I didn't get that excited. I sat with baited breath and watched the reveal on my 360. And even though my expectations hadn't actually been that high, I finished watching it feeling deflated.

TV, TV, TV, TV, Television, TV, TV. It was heard a ridiculous amount of times during the unveiling of a GAMES console. What made it worse was that a lot of the 'features' seem to be for our cousins on the other side of the pond. I guess we'll see. But for a long while the USA have had more varied apps and features than us poor Brits and the Xbox One seems to be carrying on that trend.

Then they announced the very controversial DRM. Now I have to admit that whilst it irked me a little it didn't pee me off to the extent it has others. I rarely buy second hand games so at first I struggled to understand how it would affect me. But I really disliked the control they are trying to assert over us, their loyal fans. It seemed like a slap in the face.

At the minute we have two Xbox 360's, one in the bedroom and one in the living room. It seems natural that we would probably do the same with the next gen, but now we're not so sure. From what I understand, anyone on the same console the disc was installed to can play it, which is fine. But what about if we do own two? Would one us then not be able to play any games on the other Xbox One?

For me there are too many questions about the next gen. I will not be pre-ordering either of the next gen. I will wait and see what happens and wait for them to clarify some points. What I saw didn't excite me enough for me to throw my chips in with either Sony or Microsoft to be honest.

Sony have said they will not be using DRM, but for me this is just as worrying. They did say first party games will be DRM-free which is fine. But surely they should just be upfront and admit that, because of Xbox One's stance on it, the publishers now have them over a barrel. If Sony won't allow the publishers to use DRM than Sony will probably not be getting as many games as Xbox One.

I guess we'll see what happens. Bt I have to admit to be being worried about the future of gaming. It could be amazing, but for now I'm on the fence.