First Impressions: Titanfall 2

A good old impulse buy of my own! I was debating this or Battlefield 1 and as I played Battlefield's beta and couldn't run it at the time (:( ) I opted for Titanfall 2, being a fan of the first one. It's developed by Respawn Entertainment as a sequel to the first Titanfall that died out quite quickly due to the lack of single player mode, not enough progression and a season pass that split the community across different versions of the game. Here are my first impressions of the single player and multiplayer on PC.

Behind-The-Team: Overwatch Experiences

I was going to do a first impressions of firstly the Overwatch open beta and then Overwatch itself, however, time was not on my side and I feel I have played too much of the game now for a 'first impressions'. So instead I've gotten the rest of the team who have played Overwatch to give their thoughts on the game and the characters inside. Enjoy:

Review No. 119 Counter Strike: Global Offensive - PC (18+)

Strong Points:
Can run on lower quality hardware - low system requirements
Requires teamwork
Multiple game modes - all help you improve your competitive play
Fun!
More realistic and skill based weapons systems (less spray-and-pray)
Regular updates

Weak Points:
Steep learning curve
Some teammates/opponents are irritating (not the game’s fault)
People solo-queue to get in to matches
Valve can mess the game up sometimes

Rant No. 7: ESL's Hosting - a Big CS:NO!

So CS:GO eSports are now becoming very big things. Tournaments are getting funded by Valve. Millions of views watch on Twitch and in game. But what is actually set by Valve? And what is set by other companies such as ESL, MLG, Cevo, Faceit and Dreamhack to name a few?

Martin's Top 5 Games of 2014

Honourable Mentions:
Mario Kart 8
Pokémon Shuffle

5. Pokemon Omega Ruby: This deserves higher but I found it too easy to complete the game where as Pokémon Black Version 2 was a harder game as it was before the Gen 6 of easiness where there is no such thing as a challenge in Pokémon. However the Delta Episode was a good addition that helped explain the story line.

4. Heroes of the Storm: This new take on a MOBA takes out items and adds talents, a new way to upgrade and customise your Heroes. This allows you to start with all your abilities rather than having to choose which to start with.

3. Hyrule Warriors: This is fun but when playing long times on end it does become very repetitive, the DLC adds new maps, characters and weapons but isn't enough to stop it becoming very boring after a while.

2. The Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask 3D: This is a remake of a great game with improved mechanics like more save points which really helps with the portable console. The graphics look good and it is a great way to get new players into Zelda.

1. Super Smash Bros. for Wii U/ Super Smash Bros. for 3DS: The latest and maybe the last (please no) Super Smash Bros. game has loads of new characters (RIP Ice Climbers) as well as new game modes, this is also being updated with DLC such as Mewtwo, Lucas and Mii costumes. A great game for friends and competitive play.

See You,
Martin

Rant No. 2 Team Fortress 2 Weapons

So the recent update for Team Fortress 2 came out and was one of the most anticipated updates: End of the Line. This was a community update that Valve agreed to back and introduce actual items and maps into the game. While I don't want to bring hate on the devs of End of the Line but it is a mix of Valve and them that managed to ruin the update.

The update was meant to add a new map cp_snowplow and some new weapons as well as cosmetics. The only problem was the fact that Valve took one look at cp_snowplow and stated that it was "too complex for new players"! That is too complex?! What on Earth about cp_steel, that is complex to players who are used to Team Fortresses map style. Also when it came to the items, one was added in the Love and War update and the others "were not to a high enough standard". This means that in the entire year we have only received 8 weapons. 8! That is utter rubbish. The leaked Spy vs Engineer update may be the only weapons we get the whole of next year. Oh and speaking about that update, after what we saw with EoL the new weapons could be a new pistol that is shared between them as well as a reskin of the wrench. Also, do Valve love demoman or just hate the other classes? 4 new weapons, for the demoman, in a year while only 8 weapons were added to TF2 this year. That is half of all the weapons made! Spy and Medic haven't received a weapon and Pyro, Engineer and Heavy have only received a single weapon that is shared between them. Why? Why not include the other weapons made specifically for this update? It would have worked and all this "were not to a high enough standard" s***. (Rage Mode activate) HAVE YOU F***ING SEEN THE CLASSIC OR EVEN THE DIRECT HIT THAT HAS A SCOPE ON IT THAT ISN'T EVEN USED. WHAT ABOUT THE EUREKA EFFECT THAT HAS THE TEXTURE OF A SKINNED WHALE WITH ADDED RED RINGS OF B*******?

I do see that Valve had some reasons to not release the maps and weapons, and at least we received some other new weapons for Christmas, but the most of the reasons were c***.

See Ya,

Martin

Review No. 99 Team Fortress 2 - PC (18+)

Strong Points:
Fast paced
Big variety of classes
A lot of different game types
Worth not being F2P
Lots of weapons
Humorous
P2W isn't available - weapons mostly balanced

Weak Points:
New content added lots, too bad it's not weapons or maps
End of the Line
Only 50 backpack spaces for F2P
Not all weapons can be brought from the shop
Crates/key system is a bit rubbish

Rating: 90%

Review No. 81 The Legend Of Zelda: Phantom Hourglass - DS (7+)

Strong Points:
Fun story
Nice use of the controls
Epic music
Dungeon gimmicks are cool
Follows up from the Wind Waker well
Multiplayer is very fun

Weak Points:
Some puzzles are too hard
Big difficulty spikes

Rating: 79%

Review No. 80 Sonic Rush Adventure - DS (12+)

Strong Points:
BLAZE IS BACK!
More platforming, super speed fun
Sea adventure as well as land
Great music (again)
Graphics are good for time is was made
Bosses are quite creative

Weak Points:
Controls are more confusing
Getting the Chaos Emeralds is random compared to the first
Johny races are hard as he just rams you at the end of the race
Doesn't make sense unless you have played the first game

Rating: 76%

Review No. 79 Sonic Rush - DS (7+)

Strong Point:
Great Music
Good Gameplay
Fun Story
Nice use of both screens in the final fight
Gimmicks are actually good
Character backstory
Good adding a new character

Weak Points:
World 2 is water and the hardest world
Big difficulty spikes
Weird Ending
Boss can be uber hard

Rating: 76%

Review No. 78 Game and Wario - Wii U (7+)

Strong Points:
All the minigames are really fun
Nice use of the Wii U gamepad
12 are single player so you don't need friends to play
Chick-N-Win is very cool as you swap tokens for prizes
Over 200 bonus items
Will keep you entertained with friends for hours

Weak Points:
Only 16 games
Not enough multiplayer minigames
Some bonus items are rubbish
Short finishing time if you play solo

Rating: 78%

Review No. 77 Animal Crossing: New Leaf - 3DS (7+)

Strong Points:
Ability to change a lot of your town
Can have 4 people on one game card to live in the same town
Lots of bugs, fossils and fish to collect and donate to your museum
Online visiting to other towns is fun
People can't spam your place unless you let them come to your town by opening it
Dream suite allows you to visit other towns even if you don't have any friends
Swimming is a nice addition
You can create your own town tune and flag
Graphics are surprisingly good for a 3DS game
Controls are easy to pick up
Gifts can be nice to receive
Ability to send letters with gifts is cool
Quests can be good as you will gain gifts as rewards
Characters have really different personalities even on different games
Awesome accessories

Weak Points:
Some of the characters that already live in the town are really annoying
Place is really small
You have a choice of 4 places and can't change where anything is
New villagers can be annoying on where they choice their house to be
Quest can be repetitive
Voices can be stupid as they say each letter out loud and character voices are dumb as they make no sense

Rating: 92%

Review No. 76 The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time 3D - 3DS (12+)

Strong points:
Good graphics
Fun minigames
Good music
Ocarina was good
Storyline was good
Nice travelling in time gimmicks
Cool items
Great bosses
Side quests are good

Weak points:
Very slow to start off
Water temple "too hard" for some
Not very fast at first when moving, best way to move is running backwards
Legendary sword isn't the best in game?!
Side quests are hard to find

App Review No. 70 Angry Birds Star Wars 2

Strong Points:
Lots of familiar characters reimagined as Angry Birds
Lots of levels
You can play as the Pork Side as well as the Bird Side
Great Angry Birds physics gameplay
Star Wars soundtrack
Medals let you buy characters to get out of a difficult situation
Infinity Use characters allow collectibles to be obtained easier

Weak Points:
Telepods, being able to buy characters and lots of powers makes the game less skill based
Collectibles can be frustratingly difficult to get

Walkthrough No. 3 Fire Emblem: Awakening, Train Your Team!

The Walkthrough:
This isn't going to be a complete walkthrough as the game tells you what to do mostly, this will focus on recruitable characters, DLC and the like:

Cheats and Codes No. 1 - Super Pokémon Rumble

This is a collection of passwords for the game Super Pokémon Rumble. The passwords give access to special, super-powered Pokémon which can help you in battle but will sometimes make it slightly boring as they are over powered.

To input the passwords, you have to have gotten to the second town and talk to Munna. Once you talk to Munna you then input the passwords on the second screen. Munna then tells you which dungeon they are in (note - some Pokémon may be in a dungeon further in the story than you are in, so will be there when you get to it). You then have to go to the dungeon and battle the Pokémon, it will turn in to a toy which you can collect.

Below are the passwords for the Pokémon in Japan, North America and Europe.

If you see any mistakes or know any more then please comment.

See Ya,

Martin

Walkthrough No. 1 Mario Kart 7 - 3DS (7+)

Warning: These next paragraphs contain all the best tried and tested cheats for Mario Kart 7. So be warned.

Review No. 21 New Super Mario Bros. U - Wii U (3+)

Strong Points:
HD Graphics are good
New power ups
Old power ups make an appearance
Lots of levels
Low difficulty spikes
Yoshi's are fun

Weak Points:
Gamepad boost mode is difficult to use
Nabbit levels are really hard
Bosses are easy
The same as the last few games
Levels are built for certain power ups