VideoGamer.com Plays, 26th November, 2016 – FIFA 17, Watch Dogs 2, Titanfall 2, Shadow of Mordor

Tom Orry, Editorial Director – FIFA, 17, PS4, Shadow of Mordor, PS4 Pro

FIFA 17. Enough said there.

Other than continuing to kick a virtual ball around, I had a look at Shadow of Mordor on PS4 Pro. My reaction to seeing PS4 Pro games supersampled on my 1080p TV (in that they are rendered in 4K or close to it and then output at 1080p) has been mixed, with some titles clearly offering better visual improvements than others, but Mordor has now jumped right to the top of my list. On the Pro, running in high resolution mode, it looks brilliant. Everything pops out of the screen and the entire game has a look that resembles a CGI movie.

Alice Bell, Content Editor – Watch Dogs 2, PS4

I’m still playing this (in actual fact I’ve put most of my hours this week into a different game I can’t mention at all but I’m playing Watch Dogs 2 in spare time so for the purposes of this that’s what I’m playing). There’s a deceptive amount of game in Watch Dogs 2. This week I have been putting more hours into the side mission stuff, like the Driver San Francisco app that lets you moonlight as a ride-share driver (i.e. work as an Uber driver). Half of them appear to be randomly generated, but the other half are funny little vignettes where, for example, a man might start hotboxing your car and quoting Ice Cube’s acclaimed 90s comedy Friday at you, or be quietly threatened by a more conventional taxi driver who isn’t getting as much work because the apps are undercutting his business.

This week I have also been impressed by the calibre of cosplayers who dress as Wrench from Watch Dogs 2. I was made aware of one from Birmingham who hand studded his leather jacket and custom sewed and painted all the patches on. He also made the full emoji mask get up with voice modulator. I am undone.

None of this explains what happens when Wrench goes to a donut place to get coffee though. Because he does, you see him do it in the game. So does he sit there, slowly waiting for his coffee to grow cold, and order a new one when it has? Is there some kind of straw mechanism attached to the mask? Who knows.

Stay tuned for when I can tell you about the thing I can tell you about.

Sam Riley, Junior Content Editor – Abe’s Oddysee: New n’ Tasty, Xbox One

As timely as ever, this week I’ve been playing a game that came out a little over two years ago, which in turn was based off a title from 1997. Next thing you know I’ll be wearing parachute pants and rating every game on a scale of ‘most heinous’ to the full ‘en fuego’. Or not. I suppose that would all depend on the calibre of the new games being released, and where that dips, I know the classics will have my back.

So it is with Abe’s New N’ Tasty. Advertised as a ‘ground-up remake’ of the original PSOne classic, Tasty faces the unenviable task of modernising a thoroughly old fashioned title, whilst also retaining just enough of that clunky, old-school spirit to please fans of the same. Does it succeed? Well yes, mostly. Abe’s movement mechanics prove antiquated but serviceable, with any accompanying sense of frustration largely mitigated by the game’s new quick-save system. It is in most respects the same old Oddysee that fans know and love, only now a smidgen more accessible and infinitely better looking. Find this one on the cheap, and you won’t be disappointed. 

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Colm Ahern, Content Editor – Titanfall 2, PS4

I didn’t care for the original Titanfall. I appreciated it from afar, but its focus on online multiplayer meant that I could never really get into what the Godfathers of the modern FPS were doing at their new home. However, from the moment I could compare the events of the sequel’s single-player to something like the Short Circuit films, I knew Titanfall 2 had one of the best campaigns of 2016. I came into Respawn’s sophomore effort after playing the latest Call of Duty that impressed me with its mission variety, but Titanfall 2 is a step above. It keeps things fresh by adding some really interesting elements that change the way you play throughout, but it never loses sight of its blistering pace. The level-design on show has clearly been crafted to rinse every last bit out of the way in which you traverse, which regularly sees you pelting along a wall and leaping with all your might in order to reach another plain that may see you in a sideways position.

The sheer power of the Titans and variety of the available loadouts also bring me back to the days of watching Transformers with my older brother, but Megatron wasn’t the only robot that came to mind while I was engrossed in this particular shooter — it was Johnny 5. Those of us of a certain age will never forget Short Circuit — a cinematic experience like no other, except maybe A Goofy Movie. Johnny 5, the main android from the movies, was a robot with a heart and a desire to be more than what he was, aiming to help whoever he could, which is exactly what BT is in Titanfall 2. Whenever he was in peril, I genuinely worried for that collection of nuts and bolts, just as I worry that we may not get Titanfall 3 because of the game’s (supposed) poor sales.

It seems that because of that, Titanfall 2 has been massively discounted, so do yourself a favour and pick up a genuine contender for GOTY because you won’t be disappointed.