Aizio's 101: The Kojima Saga

Salam and greetings fellow gamers.

You read it. You heard everybody bitching about it all weeks. The calmness of the water suddenly being hit with a storm causing big massive waves. And I mean BIG one. It doesn't stop there though. It keeps on coming, destroying everything it encounters to nothingness. Speaking of storm, there a sudden hit at Konami headquarters for the past couple of months. A sudden friction which lead to the collapse of an empire. Well nearly. The news started with a rumour somewhere on March 2015, that had been flying around the internet about Metal Gear Solid creator Hideo Kojima and his production company will be parting ways with Konami causing Konami making an official statement confirming that rumour. It is believed there has been a "power struggle" between Kojima and staff members inside Konami which causing a fallout.

During this time also, Kojima had another project collaboration with the film director Guillermo del Toro which is a playable teaser called P.T (playable teaser) that had been announced last year. P.T is a new Silent Hill game which stars Norman Reedus (Darryl in the 'The Walking Dead" series) as the main protagonist. A whole lot of horror fans were pretty damn excited about it because the different direction that Kojima put into the series. After that you know the rest of the story until this happen:

Well, this should not be alarming isn't it? Looks like is not gonna happen. The fact that the fallout between Konami and Kojima will affect other projects too especially involving Kojima co. It is pretty sad to see one of the potential game is getting cancelled through this kind of thing. So why is this happen? I'm sure we all have many question as to what REALLY happened between Kojima and Konami. We can all speculate and theorize but we will never know the actual incident inside Konami. That is if someone come out and decided to blow away everything.

I know it is frustrating. We can rant and ramble all we want but the fact will not change. One thing that I know for sure is that the project P.T from Kojima is cancelled but not the Silent Hills itself. Why do I say that? Because Silent Hill is own by Konami. P.T. is just another project from Kojima and Del Toro. Konami will hire another developer to produce another Silent Hill game. But I share the thoughts that it will not be the same again because of the impact that Kojima give through P.T. If they gonna make new Silent Hills without Kojima, I doubt people will actually buy the game. Kojima is not God but he certainly one of the rare jems who have the power of influence towards gaming community. Anyway good luck to Mr Kojima in future endeavours and Konami, we'll be watching you.

P.S Hoping that MGSV Phantom Pain will be a success and good farewell game for Kojima san

Aizio's Verdict: Watch_Dogs

Developer: Ubisoft Montreal

Platform: PS3

Most open world games features exploration and combat. For every open world games, it offers players its own unique experience that will make us remember every aspect of living in that world. In the case of Watch_Dogs, it tries to be innovative by adding one more way to gameplay, hacking. The city is your weapon as everything is connected and can be hack via the smartphone. Living in the world of technologies where everything is connected, make Watchdogs a good game to explore in. The theme on cyber security looks fresh and the joy of excitement feels as soon as you hold the controller. You play as Aiden Pearce, a rogue hacker turns vigilante after a job gone wrong causing the death of his niece. Driven by vengeance, he swore to avenge his niece and find the one responsible for her death.

CtOS controls all activities in Chicago. Think you're safe? Think again

Players will explore the city of Chicago, large city control by a central operating system also known as CTOS. Everything is connected in the city including traffic lights and bridges which you can exploit to your advantage. The smartphone is your tool and weapon as you can hack into the city's system and put it to good use. The new hacking mechanic is very interesting as it provides you with a new approach to combat. For every main mission you encounter, players are free to exploit whatever means to tackle the objective. Of course the best part for doing so is via the CCTV. Jumping from camera-to-camera or in other words 'railing the camera' makes player plan their approach towards objective in different style rather than direct approach. The style of play in Watchdogs makes it so unique as it introduce players as how to complete the mission without even engaging the enemy. 

Railing the camera is good way to approach combat without being detected

The driving in Watchdogs is a bit arcadey and takes time to get used too. Players can also hack while driving and it is the only means players can do. It is a bit frustating when you cannot shoot your enemies and most of the time players tend to avoid driving and will find it hard when doing the main mission that requires to drive in order to escape your enemy or chasing down the target. 

Escaping mission can be quite lengthy. You have to act fast and smart

The online multiplayer are one of the best features in Watchdogs. When roaming the city, a player can be hack by another player. It is a good way to deviate the player from the main mission and it is a race against time as players trying to identify the hacker. There are also online racing which players can compete between 2 to 4 players race and also online tailing as the player required to tail another player without them noticing. There is also digital trip where players are transported to the digital world which comprises of 4 mini games; i) Alone, ii) Madness, iii) Epic Spider Tank and iv) Psychedelic that player can play when becoming bored for the main mission. The most enjoyable is the Epic Spider Tank where player control a spider robot and cause destruction and mayhem to the city.  

Spider Tank. Tell me how is that not awesome??

The main story in Watchdogs is lacking in plot and uninteresting. The characters are forgettable and seems lack of persona. The main protagonists, Aiden Pearce is shallow and weak as his every action sometimes doesn't justify his means. The motivation of revenge for Aiden, doesn't quite feel to the players. It is hard to get that motivation as you are not sure what makes Aiden tick. The personality of Aiden is confusing and not presented very well.

Aiden looks bad ass but lacks character

Overall, Watch_Dogs tries to put something new to the table of open world genre as it introduces the hacking style of combat blending with the usual combat that the players used too. It is a good way but not so innovative as everyone imagine could happen in the world. Instead of giving players the feel and lively city, it feels too remote and shallow. The players are force into the world of Chicago and not enjoying it. The world is a bit overshadow by another open world titles like Grand Theft Auto (GTA) and it tries really hard to become unique to the other. Improvement is needed for the game as it has the potential of being able to compete with many other open world title. Maybe not the best open world game nor the worst.  

The Verdict

.................................

7

Average

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Rearranging my blog content

Salam and greetings fellow gamers.

First of all I would like to apologize for not regularly updating my blog. I am so sorry guys. I gotta admit I am too lazy to check my blog for the past 5 months ago. My last blog entry was on 10th May 2014. Well, I'm trying to manage my time here and to be honest I am worst at it. So forgive me guys. For my latest entry, I am thinking to rearrange my contents so that I can provide you guys all the information about game news, reviews, new releases, the things that we are excited about and others. The contents were design to be more focused and able for me to manage the entries. I decided to divide my content into several categories. You guys can always click on the category that I've already put in my blog. What are the categories all about? I will explain to you on the content for each category. There are:

i) Aizio's Verdict

The main section for the blog. I will provide all the reviews on the latest games that I play whether on PC or PS3. Yes I still on the last gen bandwagon. I will eventually make a switch but only time will tell. I will give scores and rating on every game that I reviewed. I believe in rating for gaming although some of you will argue with my approach. Our mind will accept numbers. Gaming is subjective but numbers provide evident and facts about the game. That is a discussion for some other time. Basically my rating system will be on scale of 1 to 10 and no decimals. Each scale have their level of confidence:

1. Worst
2. Rubbish
3. Bad
4. Not Good
5. Meh
6. Slightly Average
7. Average
8. Good
9. Best
10. Legendary

ii) Aizio's Top Lists

I'm also planning to do a top lists entry about gaming. It will top 3 or 10 or 20 even 30. So the lists is not restricted to only certain numbers. The list will be varied and it may not satisfied all of you. The list is not obsolete and you can come out with your own list. It is only my favorites of something something which I would like to share my thoughts with you guys.

iii) Aizio's Retrospect

For this category, I am planning to review about retrospective game that I played. Since we are already in the current gen (PS4 & Xbox One), the game that is release in the current gen will not be covered under this section. I have a PC and a PS3 so that the game covered will be around these two platforms. And sorry Nintendo fans. Nintendo games are limited in my country and forgive me for my limited resources.

iv) Aizio's 101

The category will be discussion about certain topic that I wish to discuss with you guys. Maybe some rambling or ranting but I will make it as neutral as possible. It is merely my thoughts and opinion about everything that's been going on in the gaming world.

v) Electronic Entertainment Expo (E3)

Every year there will be E3, the world's largest gaming expo. I will provide my initial thoughts and impressions about E3 and all the games that showed on the stage floor. I would like to share with you about the games that get me hyped and excited about as well as first impression. I will try my best provide you with E3 contents because I expect there will be some information that will be left out and it is the biggest convention after all.

vi) Gamescom

The category is quite new to me and usually Gamescom will commenced after E3 so there maybe redundacy in the content. I'll try to dig something different to tell you about Gamescom and maybe provide you with some analysis about the game that showed in the event.

Well, that's about it. I hope by doing this will make me more focus on updating my blog entry. You're welcome to check my other posts in the blog. Feel free to explore my blog. This is me signing off!

E3 2014 My wishlist

As salam and greetings to all. We are now in the month of May and only a month away from one of the biggest gaming expo in this planet. As you may all know that this year's E3 will be held on 10-12 June 2014 at Los Angeles Convention Center. Many people expect that this year will be a great show as publishers and developers alike promise to bring us more news and stories on the showcase floor about gaming and the future it will bring us. I have listed my wishlist on what I want to see in this year's E3.

# 1 Virtual reality gaming: Is it here to stay? Oculus Rift vs Project Morpheus
 

Since last year, there have been several talks and discussion about VR gaming. Oculus Rift had stole the show at E3 2013 by showing the potential power of VR and the support is overwhelming for the project. However, since Sony takes the initiative to introduce their latest project Morpheus during presentation at GDC (that's Game Developers Conference by the way) 2014, this talk started to get serious. For this year's E3, I would like to see what do VR gaming have in store for us. I will write more on VR in my next entry post. There is so much to talk about.

# 2 It's time to show more potential power of the PS4 and Xbox One

   

Next gen is already in store shelves near you. I'm pretty sure most of the people have decided which is their best system. However there are still some of us still do not convince what can the next generation consoles do. Well this is the right time for Sony and Microsoft to show us more potential power of the next gen consoles. There is no better place than the biggest gaming expo of the year to show all the cool stuff. I really hope they really do show us something.

# 3 Well new games of course

    

When you go to E3, you are going to anticipate everything about gaming. There is no doubt in every people's mind they are going to look for new games and play the demos. I really hope to see more gameplay details at E3 2014. I'm pretty sure the developers are eager to show us their new games.