Far Cry 4 is a fantastic mix of excitement and fun that will make you want to investigate every nook and cranny (alcove?) in the vast world of Kyrat. Following on from the hugely popular Far Cry 3, the sequel has a similar atmosphere and a whole load of similar elements. The lack of reinvention could perhaps be regarded as a point against this game, but when you are riding through an outpost on the back of an elephant, simultaneously trampling on enemies as you pick others off with a precise headshot or two, as all the while a tiger you have attracted by throwing some well-placed bait wreaks havoc and a general air of chaos resides around the whole camp, the lack of blue sky thinking doesn’t seem to matter much. Far Cry 4 is a diamond in a month or so of Ubisoft rough.

Coming two years after its predecessor and in the midst of Ubisoft chaos, it seems that something that was on the radar for so long ended up passing under it. In this incarnation of the franchise you play as a tad more likeable character than the frat buffoons of Far Cry 3 (probably only more likeable because he barely speaks). Your name is Ajay Ghale and you have arrived in the mountainous country of Kyrat so that you can bury your mother’s ashes. When you arrive all hell breaks out and you eventually find your way into the hands of the local rebel militia, The Golden Path. It seems your family has some history with this organization and you are instantly recruited to join their ranks and help fight for freedom against the tyrannical Pagan Min. I guess it’s lucky that you are pretty handy with a gun. And can heal yourself. And don’t mind murdering scores of soldiers. Despite coming from the city. And probably never having held a gun before. And probably having only used a knife to peel a satsuma. I guess that’s fine.

Far Cry 4 does not really innovate. Most of the action in the game is rehashed and will probably feel fairly familiar to anyone that has played the Far Cry series before. But as Samsung has shown, it is not all about innovation. There is most definitely a place in gaming for video games that perhaps don’t push the envelope, but instead replace the envelope with one that makes you shout ‘holy mother of ****, did you see that?’… that kinda envelope. And Far Cry 4 is one of those video games. It constantly makes you feel powerful and gives you a whole host of toys to play with, mountains to scale and animals to slaughter. For some reason it takes four Rhinos to make a wallet. That’s some pretty fancy walleting that’s going on there. For the action man. From the city. With his satsumas. Etc.

One aspect of Far Cry 4 that gives it a certain freshness is the mission development between the two wannabe heads of The Golden Path. Sabal is one of the commanders of the militia and is deeply concerned with ensuring the traditional values of The Golden Path are maintained. He wants the community to win peace back and then digress to a state of spiritual harmony where everyone has their place and rules are abided by. Amita on the other hand is pragmatic and sees the future of Kyrat as that of a modern country, one that can move forward with a working economy and equality for all. They clash continuously over this and you are placed right in the middle. You will be asked to choose sides and the repercussions of your decisions are instantly apparent. It’s an interesting concept because instead of being forced to choose between good and bad decisions you are essentially being asked to decide which direction you want Kyrat to head in.

The game is of course built upon campaign missions and a whole host of side missions. The side missions are fun and I have been clearling out large areas of the map before moving on with the next campaign mission. They can, however, feel somewhat intrusive when you are trying to get other things done. You will be trying to sort your weapons out and a woman will be literally screaming in your ear to try to tempt you to do a side mission. Other times you will be heading to do something and the government forces will try to recapture a nearby outpost that you have already liberated. It’s clear that Ubisoft want to make the world feel dynamic, but when you have already been bothered by tiresome side mission people and you are on your way to do something else, the notice that an outpost is under attack can be an unwanted distraction. But Far Cry 4 is a very wanted distraction. Buy it.

Never Alone immerses you in a world that will probably feel more foreign than any of the fantasy lands created in most video games. It does so by marrying a wonderful and beautiful art style with ever so brief documentary insights, ensuring that hours go by in interest and fascination. The game is not without its problems, however, namely the slightly frustrating gameplay of the first half and the times of very frustrating gameplay in the second half, but overall it is an enjoyable game, best played in one sitting on a cold Sunday afternoon.

Nuna is a young Iñupiat girl who is rescued by an arctic fox during a blizzard in the vast tundra of frozen Alaska. When she returns to her village, she finds that a terrible man has terrorized the people and lay waste to many of the homes. She is given a task to fulfil by an old man and this sets off a chain of events that plays out the rest of the game.

You play as both Nuna and the fox, with the change of character happening at the press of a button. As both characters have different capabilities (the fox is more agile and Nuna has… thumbs), you will find yourself constantly having to switch. But this never becomes tiresome and in the end feels as natural as pulling off a combo in a fighting game. A typical early scene would involve the fox scurrying up a ledge so that he can push down a rope for Nuna to climb. It has the feel ofBrothers: A Tale of Two Sons. But unlike Brothers, Never Alone can be played as a co-op experience – one playing as Nuna and one as the fox.

Never Alone looks fantastic. It has a couple of different art styles – most cut scenes are shown in an almost aboriginal style of drawing, while the gameplay has a cartoonish look to it. Both feel well-suited to the action on the screen and both are pleasing to look at. The game is framed by a circle of haze that gives the action an almost dream-like quality. The lighting and snow effects make you feel warm and cold in equal measures. All in all, the game does its best to attract you.

And for the most part that initial attraction rings true with your overall impression of the game. The first half is fun and the different roles of the two characters ensure that there is always something interesting to be doing on screen. However, the game suffers slightly from the Assassin’s Creed disease – sticking on ledges. This can be slightly frustrating, especially when you are platforming with fine margins. Furthermore, if you are playing alone (never say ‘never), the character controlled by the AI can decide to do some silly things… like walk off a platform. You are never punished very much for dying, but these things can annoy none the less.

It’s the second half of the game where the gameplay becomes slightly more problematic. The sticky platforming persists, but the silly decision making of the AI is replaced when the fox takes on a different form. Now the mechanic involves the fox being able to manipulate certain things on the map and push and pull Nuna in certain directions. The fun of these mechanics is very short-lived and there is a stage or two late on that feels like a battle of attrition. The energy and momentum of the first half of the game grinds to a halt and the overall experience suffers for it. As the platforming difficulty intensifies you will find yourself unsure of where you are to go and what constitutes as a platform. This will lead to a lot of dying.

Small owls in the game represent that you have unlocked a ‘Cultural Insight’, essentially a tiny documentary on the indigenous people of Alaska. These supplement the game fantastically and can be enjoyed either as you go along or saved up and watched at the end. I chose to watch them as I went along because I felt that they broke up the gameplay quite well and I realized that I was looking forward to seeing the next one. It’s an interesting technique from the developers and gives you a much better handle on the world you are visiting.

Never Alone is a good game with a unique setting, art style, story and presentation. And although the gameplay just doesn’t have the polish to put it up there alongside a game like Brothers, it doesn’t stop it from being enjoyable and well worth experiencing.

This review was dedicated to SovietsUnited

The original Bayonetta game was one of those titles that instantly put me off buying it. From the outside it looked like one of those games that is made for people that are not like me. The type of gamer that gets off on hot women in video games, the ones that request that Dead or Alive characters have bigger tits or the ones that were desperately trying to find a cheat code to get Lara Croft naked in the first Tomb Raider. However, as I said to Andy once – you should not judge a book by its cover. Either way, I was not fully excited about the prospect of getting Bayonetta 2 for review purposes. I am not sure I would have got the game if I didn’t have to review it and if I didn’t already own a WiiU. I am sure not many people are as discriminatory when it comes to judging the Bayonetta series from the outset, but I do know it’s unfortunate that the reach of this marvelous game will be hampered by the poor sales of the WiiU. If only Nintendo had made the cheesecake.

Bayonetta 2 is the most fun I have had with a video game in a long time, but it does have an inauspicious beginning. The opening scene sees Bayonetta Christmas shopping in what I can only describe as a camp Hollywood film mixed with a British Carry On film. Almost instantly the action begins and you are fighting enemies that look suspiciously like a rich Russian woman’s jewellery atop of a moving plane. It is one of the most intense tutorial levels I have ever experienced and goes against the old mantle that you shouldn’t start with a show stopper. But that’s Bayonetta 2’s bag – every scene is a show stopper.

Although I didn’t have much experience with the original Bayonetta, I am a big fan of the Devil May Cry series and from my knowledge of that it feels like that there has not been much change in the combat system. You will essentially be rhythmically bashing one of two buttons in order to hit combos that will decimate your enemies. From the outsider’s view it will look like you are aimlessly button bashing, but there is definitely a rhyme and reason behind it. You are in control of the player, but you can’t really explain how you do it. It kind of reminds me of when people ask you what the shot button is in FIFA - you can’t tell them unless you have the controller in your hand. Side note: this game is best experienced with a WiiU pro controller – the analog sticks of the gamepad are not where you want them to be and the battery life is laughable.

I haven’t really focused much on the story in this review, because it’s kind of not that important. You don’t play this game for the storyline, you play it to feel masterfully powerful while at the same time progressing through kickass set pieces that make you utter the words ‘holy shit’ time after time. At times you are surfing waves while fighting enemies; you are on the back of a plane while fighting enemies; you are flying a jet, fighting enemies; you are fighting an enemy while demons you have conjured are also fighting each other in the background. The game is unrelenting.

You play through 16 chapters and a prologue and each chapter is split into a certain number of verses. For each verse you will be rewarded with an award based on your speed, combo size, etc (like DmC et al). You can, however, complete a chapter without playing through each verse. The verses are sometimes off the beaten track and you will need to hunt them down. Obviously the more verses you complete the better your overall award will be at the end of the chapter. This then impacts the currency you are rewarded and what you can buy from the shop. So to get the best weapons, techniques, items, etc. you will have to be getting past a lot of verses. This adds depth and a certain level of replayability to the game; you want to be able to gain more currency because it will mean that you can buy the weapon that allows you to have whips in your hands and chainsaws on your legs. The game is out there and outlandish, but altogether coherent and cohesive.

I won’t talk about any of the political questions raised by the game. If you want to hear the Podestrian point of view on that then you can listen to episode 8 of our gamecast. Overall, if you don’t own a WiiU, the system purchase coupled with a pro controller purchase makes an expensive barrier to entry. As I said earlier, that’s really unfortunate for this game. Bayonetta 2 is fantastic. Is it worth buying a WiiU and pro controller for? That depends on your financial position. Would I sell my right nut to get it? Probably.

We recently did an interview with the project lead on Fallout Lonestar, the epic new mod for Fallout: New Vegas. We thought there may be some on here that would be interested in hearing it.

We run Podestrians as a hobby because we love games. We don't monetise in any way and we don't plan on trying to monetise, so please don't think of this post as some kind of advertisement. We just thought there would be a group of people on here that would be interested in this kind of interview.

If this is deemed as inappropriate, please feel free to remove it. If not, enjoy! It's a really interesting interview and what seems like an awesome project.

You always have to earn your jokes. The original Borderlands knew that only too well – it built the jokes upon a fascinating world, fairly interesting characters and a fun loot system. Borderlands the Pre-Sequel feels kind of jaded. Like the comedian that performed in the early game has spent the last few years working the Las Vegas strip, repeating the same routine every night. It’s unfortunate because The Pre-Sequel has much of what a true Borderlands fan would want. It still has the same loot system, the game is equally as colourful and the animations equally as sharp. It just feels like it is missing something. Perhaps it is just because you can only rinse lather repeat a certain number of times before you’ve got a sore head.

In a move reminiscent of the 3rd Batman Arkham game, Borderlands the Pre-Sequel was farmed out to the B team. 2K Australia has taken over the reins whicht immediately alerts you to the fact that this game may be filler. Couple that with the fact that it was not released for the new generation consoles and you have the distinct feeling of a Borderlands: Arkham Origins. And The Pre-Sequel, like Origins, ticks most of the boxes for what makes the type of game that it’s going for. But there is just something missing – Pandora’s moon has the slight hollowness that Arkham had.

The Pre-Sequel seeks to tell us how Handsome Jack (the antagonist of the second Borderlands game) descends into villainy. It does this fairly well and we can clearly see Jack come up against the choices that will ultimately set him on the path of baddyness. You play as one of four possible characters, all of which have appeared in the previous two games. Each character has a different special skill and they all feel fairly unique. Claptrap is one of the options and has a major plus on his side – he doesn’t need to worry about the tiresome oxygen mechanic that the game has introduced. Like in Sonic the Hedgehog 2, each human character must run between oxygen points to make sure they don’t suffocate on the atmosphereless moon of Pandora. I can’t quite fathom why someone would think this was a good idea, especially in a game that is so loot driven. Want to look for loot? On you go, as long as you make it back to an oxygen point within a given amount of time. Strange choice.

Another new addition for this game is the lack of gravity. This means that you can jump and float in a fairly entertaining way. It does, however, make some battles tricky as it is quite difficult to float effortlessly while trying to aim at another enemy that is also floating. This mechanic is fun in parts, but again can get fairly tiresome. At times it feels like 2K Australia have taken a successful game and just added minor annoyances to it. The loot is the same as it always was except with the addition of cryogenic weapons. There are reportedly over a million different weapons in the game, but I never found one I was happy with. I just wanted a goddam auto rifle. Instead I got a whole batch of guns that didn’t feel like I was making an impact. The shooting in Borderlands was never a strong point, but for me it felt extra lacking as I have just come off playing Destiny. There is no real weight to the weapons and no connection satisfaction.

The Pre-Sequel continues the sense of humour from the early games and the game has made me laugh out loud several times. It also has humour that I feel is directed at people much younger than me. And that made me feel old. Screw you 2K Australia… ageists. I enjoy the humour and the art style of the game, but there is not enough to keep me playing, especially as most of my friends have no desire to turn their old generation consoles on again. I imagine Borderlands fans will enjoy the game, but I also suspect they will be slightly disappointed.

Alien and I are not the best of friends. I remember watching the films when I was younger and kinda enjoying them. I also remember watching Alien v Prediator and kinda not. I have always been quite snobbish when it comes to films like Alien. ‘Steven Spielberg said he makes the movies he loved as a kid, I make the movies I love as an adult,’ said Woody Allen. I have always stood by that sentiment, for better or worse. .. probably worse… and although Spielberg didn’t make Alien, I just always categorized it in that place. I probably shouldn’t be reviewing Alien: Isolation, but Andy doesn’t have a Ps4… he’s a PC snob. Fucking snobs!

I did my homework and got into the Alien world… and it was quite fun. Alien: Isolation is quite fun. There, I said it. But it’s also quite frustrating, quite inconsistent and quite long-winded. If only it had stuck to the quite fun.

The game takes place between the first and second Alien films. You play as Amanda Ripley, daughter of the film protagonist. You have been informed that the black box has been found from your mother’s ship, the Nostromo , and you have been invited on a journey to collect it. However, when you and your landing party get to the Sevastopol (I assume this is some kind of Siege of reference) things go south pretty quickly and you are left… isolated… on a massive ship. With crazy androids and a malevolent and slightly stalkerish xenomorph (look at me using the Alien lexicon)

It is when you are isolated that the game works well. Darkness surrounds you, eerie noises fill the void and the sense that you can be one-hit killed within a few seconds is genuinely unsettling. In the beginning you are constantly on edge because you don’t know when or where the Alien will appear. However, as the Alien becomes overused this tension fades into annoyance. When you are constantly surrounded by hostiles you are never given the chance to relax. If you never get the chance to relax, then you are never given the thrill of full throttle tension. Alien: Isolation overplays the Alien card and the game suffers for it.

It is also too long and it gets to the stage where you are spending a lot of your time just walking or trying to open doors. Instead of condensing the game into 8-10 hours of tension packed goodness, The Creative Assembly has stretched it out to a tedious 20. This means that for large parts of the game you are doing things that are not very enjoyable. You are playing filler and it very much feels like it. The game also feels quite rough at times. Animations blink, lines are jagged and the voice work can seem out of sync with the action that is taking place. It feels like the White Album of video games. Someone should have recommended a good editor.

But Alien: Isolation still has quite a lot to like. It’s beautifully atmospheric, whether that be the Alienesque set design, the sound or the lighting. Amanda Ripley is an interesting character and fun to play with. The tension (when used properly) is tremendous and there is definitely a lot for stealth fans to enjoy in the game (the saving system will please/enrage a lot of people). The disappointing thing is that the game is good. It could have been great.

Shadow of Mordor seems to try to distance itself from the relatively warm and safe world of Peter Jackson’s Middle-earth. We are introduced to the protagonist and his family just in time to see them have their throats brutally slit on a thunderous night in Mordor. The world of pipe-smoking, song-singing, adventure-seeking hobbits is very far away. It feels like a totally different world. It feels like Lord of the Rings for grown-ups. That probably sounds harsh, but the LOTR trilogy always flirted with colourful interludes to dampen the bleakness of certain parts. Shadow of Mordor does not attempt to pull any punches in any way. This leads to a truly satisfying atmosphere, and although the storyline fades as the game goes on, the player knows that they are in an unforgiving and three dimensional land that they will get hours of enjoyment from.

You play as Talion, a ranger that is stationed at the Black Gate. After the opening death sequence you become trapped in between worlds and joined with the wraith Elf Lord Celebrimbor. This allows you to essentially switch to Batman’s detective mode, meaning you can see heat maps of enemies, etc. Together you seek vengeance on Sauron, who not only ordered the death of Talion’s family, but also killed Celebrimbor’s family. But Shadow of Mordor is much more than an addition to the LOTR lore. It is a game that has taken parts of Assassin’s Creed and Batman and more than made the best out of them.

Combat is very much modelled on the Batman Arkham games. You can be surrounded my dozens of enemies, but through attacking and countering you can end a fight having cleared out all of them. Shadow of Mordor makes you feel insanely powerful especially as you unlock your skill tree. What makes the combat more fun than in the Arkham games is the amount of options you have. Like in Batman you can stealth kill or melee, but unlike Batman you have the option to reign chaos down on your battles. You can shoot arrows at fire to create an explosion, cut down meat to attract wild animals and, in general, create a mood of wild panic among the orcs, which sometimes leads to them fleeing away from the battle. Shadow of Mordor makes you feel like a master of punishment.

The Assassin’s Creed (but more fun) movement and Batmanesque combat are perfectly framed by the nemesis system that the game introduces. Essentially you are provided with a detailed hierarchy of Sauron’s foot soldiers. You can then explore the world, picking out which of them you would like to go after, but first of all you should interrogate orcs to get intel on higher ups. Once you have done that you will know what their strengths and weaknesses are and you can set up your murdering. Once you have killed one of the orcs in the hierarchy, the nemesis system rearranges and a new orc is promoted to fill the dead one’s place. What makes the nemesis system so interesting is the detail Monolith has put in to bring the enemies to life. Each time you come up against one of these characters there will be a mini cut scene where the orc will jive talk you a little bit. If he has already killed you, there will be the added flourish of goading that makes your blood boil. Monolith have managed to make you care much more than usual and this creates a fairly an environment wherein you become addicted to vengeance. You seek revenge, and not only that, you can avenge orcs that have killed players on your friends list. The whole system makes the game tremendously dynamic and turns a very good game in to a great game.

It is hard to explain the nemesis system in such a short review. I can just tell you that it is very good and complements the game really well. I also think it will be something that is very important in the next couple of years of video games. Of course a game cannot stand with just a dynamic enemy system, but Shadow of Mordor also looks great, controls fantastically, makes you feel in total command and finally satisfies the demand for a great game set in the LOTR world.

Destiny is not a great game. Sometimes I am not even sure if it’s a good game. But like the obedient little boy I am (one of Destiny’s 3.2 million daily obedient children) I run back to it every day, looking to see if there is more to it than meets the eye. There isn’t, but I don’t care… leave me alone. Destiny is MY friend, not yours.

Destiny is a really pretty game and it has all you could want mechanically from a FPS. But the game was made by Bungie, so that is really something you would expect from the off. These reviews are supposed to be brief, so I am not going to go in to the laughable story of Destiny (it feels like major plot elements may have ended up in the chopping room floor [imagine The Sixth Sense if they had accidentally cut the whole Bruce Willis is dead scene]), but suffice is to say that by the first hour you will probably have added this game to the list of ‘podcast games’ that you own.

You are given the choice at the beginning whether you would like to play as one of three types of characters – warlock, titan or hunter. The problematic thing is that there doesn’t seem to be any discernible difference between them and in the end your choice becomes fairly arbitrary. When you get to a certain level you are then given the option to focus on a second power, but to do so you must start again without any of the armour, etc. you had built up, one of the many frustrating aspects of this game.

The game starts you off on Earth where you take part in a few different types of missions, namely – strikes, story or patrol. Patrol has an open world feel to it, where you can commit to hijinks (… well, you can dance with other players) and set about completing one of the five daily bounty missions. Strikes are missions where you essentially work your way past waves of enemies and two or more bosses. The game allows matchmaking for this and it is pretty fun. Story missions are played alone, but you can have a fireteam of up to three people. Once you have done all of this on Earth, you move to Moon (lather, rinse, repeat), then Venus and then Mars and then you’re done.

So what makes me go back every day like a newborn piglet looking for heroin? I don’t know, really. The loot system is frustrating (so much so that people were playing ‘The Loot cave’ instead of actually playing the game), there is no matchmaking on the harder challenges and I have done every mission at least 473 times. I guess there is something mindnumbing about it. I like to sit there with my earphones in and blow shit up. It’s therapeutic. I would counter that by saying it’s also a big missed opportunity, but I don’t think Bungie are going to leave it how it is and I think Destiny’s Child has huge potential. It’s just disappointing that after taking so long to make this game they were not able to get fundamental things correct – like a good storyline, a larger selection of weapons, larger areas, more diverse mission types, proper matchmaking, essentially – a more polished and more well-rounded game. Like the one they promised us.

The fundamentally frustrating thing about the game is that it is paradoxically better and worse than the sum of its parts. It feels like a really good shooter. The shooting mechanics are very enjoyable and there is a real weight to the guns (which are few and far between). You can feel every bullet you fire and you get a real sense of the difference between each weapon you have. There is a real satisfaction in gunning down wave after wave of enemies, which is a good thing because you are going to be doing a lot of that.

I am at level 28 and the only thing I am missing is a legendary auto rifle (which Bungie have just patched to be less effective [why I outta]), so I guess I will keep playing until I get it. After that, I am not sure what the future for me and Destiny is. I have few players on my friends list that are of a high enough level to join me in the end game strikes, so until matchmaking is introduced I don’t think there will be much for me in the game, which is unfortunate because I really enjoy playing it. Why you gotta do me like that, Destiny?