VideoGamer.com Plays, 19th November, 2016 – FIFA 17, NES Classic Edition, Watch Dogs 2, CoD: Infinite Warfare

Tom Orry, Editorial Director – FIFA 17, PS4

Right, shall we just assume I’m always playing FIFA 17? Unless anything really interesting happens maybe it’s best I don’t mention it again. For now, just assume I’m scoring lots of amazing goals and beating every team on Legendary.

Other than FIFA I’ve been wishing I’d bought a NES Classic Edition. I wasn’t that bothered about it, what with being a SEGA fanboy as a child, but after watching Miller’s video in which he reviewed all the games I really want one. Yes, part of this is down to the fact you can’t buy them at the moment due to stock shortages, but the games also look decent for their age. Still, hopefully the SNES Classic Edition arrives no later than this time next year.

Alice Bell, Content Editor – Watch Dogs 2, PS4

Watch Dogs 2 is a game with a lot of game in it, so I suspect I’ll be playing it for a while. I have spoken at length on various other bits of the website about how I have actually been enjoying it a lot, and that the members of DedSec aren’t actually mad wanks devised by a committee of middle aged men going ‘Can we viralise him by ten per cent or so?’

So basically I think it’s really fun, and bright, and loud, and a nice change from the games that are grimdark and rainy. It’s a bit inelegant sometimes, but the hacking is pretty cool and the characters are great. Shame the multiplayer is f***ed at the moment, though.

For expansions on these thoughts please type in ‘Watch Dogs 2’ on the search bar to find all the other stuff about it.

Also yesterday was my one year anniversary working here and Tom didn’t even get me a cake or anything.

Sam Riley, Junior Content Editor – Binary Domain

Last week i made the mistake of referencing a game that I hadn’t yet played, and like the Pavlovian dog that I am, immediately began salivating at the prospect. Trouble is that the game in question was none other than 2012’s Binary Domain, a cult hit cover shooter that might just represent the epitome of ‘solid, yet unspectacular’. To be sure, it’s nothing like the disaster its critics claim it to be. The dialogue for instance has genuine moments of levity, while the limb-splitting destruction physics also work well. That said, this remains a clearly flawed, and at-times bargain bin-like experience.

In attempting to ape the same formula established by Kill.Switch, polished up by Gears and subsequently turbo-charged by Vanquish, the game only succeeds in exposing its own relative weaknesses. BD’s big attempt at innovation, in the form of a squad role-playing mechanic, tied to a finicky voice command system also fails to hit the mark. Yet, for all of its issues, Binary Domain does remain a solid enough shooter, buoyed by a cast of broadly drawn, if occasionally likeable characters, and an unshakeable vibe of ‘Japan does Gears’. If you can find it for less than a fiver, or perhaps being thrust at you by a tearful, filth-encrusted friend who believes that the game somehow ‘Jumanji’d him’, then by all means, give this one a go.

Colm Ahern, Content Editor – Call of Duty: Infinite Warfare, PS4

Unless you live under a rock, you’ll be aware of the angry FPS fans that piled on Infinity Ward and Activision for the Call of Duty: Infinite Warfare trailer that had that Bowie cover in it. It was boldly going where no COD had gone before: space. Naturally enough, everyone saw this as a huge mistake and thought the series was on the decline but lo-and-behold, when the game was released it was found to be pretty good. While most see the series as the downfall of civilisation because the video game public aren’t allowed to enjoy a whimsical affair like Journey, while also beaming from ear-to-ear at the spectacle that is Activision’s army man shooter, Call of Duty’s track record has been very good, bar a few blips in there like Ghosts.

Infinite Warfare’s campaign is a ludicrous, fun romp with anti-gravity boots aplenty and spaceship battles that would make most martians blush. One of the stranger things is the celeb involvement: Lewis Hamilton is hidden in the background; Conor McGregor literally says nothing; and Kit Harrington from Game of Thrones is the main baddie, but barely features. Infinite Warfare, more than the average COD, however, adds side-missions to the offering and this is where it shines. This deviation from the linear narrative we’ve all come to know from Call of Duty is a welcome bit of variety — it almost turns into Far Cry at points when you have to stealthily approach what’s effectively an outpost and off guards one by one without being spotted, or all hell breaks loose.

It’s been a great year for shooters and Infinite Warfare, despite people’s worries over that first trailer, is another one to add to the list. And that Bowie cover was ok, so there.