Games Inbox: Call Of Duty critcisim, Neverwinter review, and Fast & Furious DLC

Not particularly interested to hear about Black Ops 3 but I do always feel that Call Of Duty is unfairly criticised for being more of the same. I get that it’s really just people reacting against it’s popularity but I’m not sure what more you could ask of it. There’s quite a bit of variance in setting within the three franchises and the game does try to add new features and ideas as much as it can. Advanced Warfare in particularly had a lot of cool ideas, and very similar ones to Halo 5 too.

The games are good value for money and they always work, with no extorinate DLC – just the same four map packs that always come out. Compared to Assassin’s Creed, which hasn’t been fun or worked properly since the second one Call Of Duty seems to get an inexplicable amount of stick.

Even if you prefer Battlefield at least Call Of Duty’s single and multiplayer are good, and they’re far more reliable online in terms of both Battlefield 4 and the weird server policies of Battlefield 3. Shooters aren’t my favourite genre by a long shot but I’d like to hear a proper argument as to why Call Of Duty is so bad and these other games aren’t.
Grackle

I need help… my son and myself were both great fans of the Halo series on Xbox 360 (especially Reach) – and enjoyed both the story and the online games. However, this generation we went with the PlayStation 4 and he’s enjoying it so far, as that’s the console most of his friends have.

Question I have now is with Halo 5 coming out this year (and not a lot else by the sound of it on any other console) – is that justification enough to consider buying an Xbox One…?

It’s a lot of money to have two consoles sitting there – one possibly collecting dust if most of the cross-console games will be bought on the PlayStation 4 so he can play with his friends! Spotted some deals out there for an Xbox One with Halo: The Master Chief Collection (currently available for £279.99) so I am tempted… but really… are there enough exclusives coming up to justify it?
WoDMaN

GC: Since Halo 5 isn’t out until October, and there are no major exclusives scheduled before it, we’d just wait until after E3 and Gamescom this summer. All three console manufacturers have seen the delay of major titles into next year and are no doubt currently rescheduling all of their Christmas plans.

My neighbour was recently throwing away an extremely rare Nintendo mini-cabaret Space Demon game. With this being the fourth known to exist, and looking at Google images by far the best condition, I’d like to add it to Ahmed Bin Fahad’s collection if he is interested! Or even Brett Martin.

Would you please forward this email to either of them? Thank you in advance.
Riley

GC: Ahmed Bin Fahad’s Twitter account is here and Brett Martin’s is here. We’re sure they’d be very glad to hear from you. Although we don’t understand how your neighbour can own something so rare and not be aware of its value?

Is it possible to ‘purchase’ the Forza 5 Fast & Furious DLC before I buy the game? I wouldn’t normally ask something that sounds so stupid, but I noticed for the first time last month that I can acquire Games with Gold Xbox One games via my Xbox 360.

Microsoft do not really seem to point out this fact enough, whereas with PlayStation Plus it lists all the platforms that a game can be ‘purchased’ on meaning that I already have a decent library of games for whenever I eventually get a PlayStation 4.
NatorDom

GC: We’re not sure that there is any Fast & Furious DLC for Forza Motorsport 5? Do you mean Forza Horizon 2 Presents Fast & Furious, which is a free (until this Friday) standalone expansion? Either way it’s not really our area, so hopefully a reader can advise.

I’ve not long since finished Dark Souls II and would like to offer the following advice:

1) Start as the faith class. You get the mace as a starting weapon, which is arguably one of the best weapons in the game when levelled up. You also get a healing spell.
2) Estus flask shards give you more flasks. There is one hidden in the well in Majula.
3) Get the ring of binding from Heide’s tower of flame. It minimises the HP loss whilst hollow
4) If/when stuck consult the Dark Souls II wiki page. There’s no shame in it.
chazchopp

Somebody mentioned about a character in a series of video games having different voice actors, I am a massive fan of the Broken Sword games and it wasn’t until recently that I learnt

all the Broken Sword games have a different actress for the voice of Nico Collard, whereas the voice of George Stobbart has always been voiced by Rolf Saxon.
Andrew J.
PS: Just to let readers know that they can still back the documentary From Bedrooms to Billions: The Amiga Years through this website, even though the Kickstarter has finished.

Ugh… a Twitter stream full of improvisational drama? Can’t they just release a trailer and announce the new Deus Ex that way? I do worry about how much publishers waste on marketing when they could pump that into the game instead.

Very much looking forward to the new game though and I hope if they’re spending this amount of money on the unveiling that means it’s out relatively soon – ideally this Christmas.
PRC

*** WARNING: SPOILERS FOR BLOODBORNE LEVEL DESIGN ***

Currently deep into the terrifying, brilliant Bloodborne – the snake-infested Forbidden Woods to be precise. Anyway, earlier in the area I was exploring the surroundings and I came across a cave, venturing nervously in I find a cavern full of poisonous water, worms, and giants!

Make it though however and you eventually come to some ladders, which when climbed lead to a gate you can open, which in turn leads to… the clinic at the very start of the game! And not only that but close by another new area is now accessible that leads to the upper floors of the clinic and a surprise that I’m not going to spoil for anybody.

Just one of many examples of the genius level design of From Software.
Dyniner (PSN ID)

Just wondering if you guys are going to do a review on Neverwinter on Xbox One?

I decided to dive into this game after much consideration, having been burnt by free-to-play MMOs before. The decision is one so far I don’t regret. I have played many MMOs over the years, from subscription-based to free-to-play. I have had a few years away due to family life starting and as such this game has been a welcome return – I found a really great bunch of guys via the Metro. As such we have started a guild up.

Anyway, back to the game. Yes, there was a lot of frame rate issues on the first day, however due to my net (Virgin) giving up the ghost I played about an hour and enjoyed it. I thought graphically it was very impressive, moves looked nice and different. The next night I went back for more and took part in my first skirmish (Horde mode). Luckily there is a queue system in this game and it appears reasonably quick, as I’m playing tank class. The skirmishes are about 10-15 minutes depending on your team, but good harmless fun.

Next up, few more missions around the town of Neverwinter in different zones, then I was at the right level to try my first dungeon. All I can say is this took me back to my World Of Warcraft days and was great fun. Everyone appeared to know what to do with out any voice chat, although the option is there – just wasn’t used. They’re five-player instances and also queue-able, however they can also be completed with a partner but takes longer and more health potions.

From what I have read and experienced so far you can get to the end game and grind to get the best gear. The pay side of things seems very well balanced whereby you only pay to speed up what you could earn through the grind or cosmetic looks.

The devs have designed this game so that it can be played solo without joining a guild but I would recommend this to get the most from the game socially.

There’s so much more to explain about this game, with companions and dragons. I would recommend anyone with an Xbox One or PC who likes role-playing games to give this a go. It’s free, you don’t have to spend money, so what do you have to lose apart from your time?
Ilovmyselfalot (gamertag)

GC: Since it’s a free MMO we probably won’t cover it, but we encourage anyone to write a Reader’s Feature about it.

Went paintballing today. Saw a red barrel. Shot it. Didn’t explode. Gutted.
iSickle

Received this code for Lucy with my Blu-ray but since I have no need for it could you offer it to a GC reader who is either a big fan of Luc Besson or Scarlett Johansson. I’ve also got a code for Don Jon, but I’ve no idea if this has been redeemed, since I purchased it pre-owned.
Chaosphere616

GC: Thanks very much. We’ll give them to the first people to tell us what the first comic book movie was, that Scarlett Johansson starred in.

The subject for this weekend’s Inbox was suggested by reader LeighDappa (PSN ID/Facebook), who asks who is your least favourite video games character?

Particularly when it comes to non-player characters, which one gets on your nerves the most and who have you really wished the game would give you a chance to hurt or kill? Why exactly do you dislike them and do they irritate because of the way they’re written, how they act in the game (in terms of artificial intelligence, etc.), or something else?

How much can something like an annoying character ruin an otherwise good game? And are there any you’ve actually given up on, or actively avoided, just because you don’t like the characters?

E-mail your comments to: gamecentral@ukmetro.co.uk