Chorus (PS5): First Impressions!

Riders Republic (Stadia) - First Impressions!

My Top 10 Games of 2020

It's that time year again when we look back at the games released the previous year and rank the best ones we've played.

Now I didn't play everything and can think of some games like Hades or Yakuza Like a Dragon maybe making this list if I had played but from the 50+ I did these are the best 10.

10. Call of the Sea (Xbox One, Xbox Series X|S, PC)

 

Call of the Sea is adventure style game which released late 2020 from Out of the Blue and Raw Fury starring Cissy Jones as the leas voice actress.  CotS could have maybe placed higher, but the ending lets it down a tad.

9. Assassin's Creed Valhalla (PS4, PS5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X|S, Stadia, Luna, PC)

 

Ubisoft's continued its success of the previous AC games Origins and Odyssey with this new outing set in England. 

8. If Found... (Switch, PC)

 

If found won't be for everyone being a visual novel, and it's themes, yet you will find a well written emotional story very much taking a look at.

7. Spider-Man Miles Morales (PS4, PS5)

 

Insomniac helps usher in a new PlayStation generation with this Spider-Man spin-off starring Miles Morales in the lead over Peter Parker.

6. Tell Me Why (Xbox One, PC)

  

Dontnod continue their brilliant way of story telling (Not so much with Twin Mirror) with this Xbox exclusive Tell Me Why, which is my Xbox Game of the Year.

Before we get to the Top 5, we have the worst game of the year  G.I. Joe: Operation Blackout (PS4, Xbox One, Switch, PC) which is just awful.

5. Final Fantasy VII Remake (PS4)

 

I had been waiting since the PS3 tech demo for this remake, and it was the worth that wait for what is my remake of the year and possibly the best soundtrack as well. Now we wait for the next entry.

4.  Ori and the Will of the Wisps (Xbox One, Xbox Series X|S, Switch, PC)

 

Moon Studios made it 2 for 2 with this awesome sequel to this Metroidvania series.

3.  Ghost of Tsushima (PS4)

  

Sucker Punch moved away from platforming raccoons and superheroes to this open world adventure during the first Mongol invasion of Japan, in what I hope can become a new series for PlayStation much like Horizon.

2. Animal Crossing: New Horizons (Switch)

 

ACNH is my Nintendo Switch Game of the Year and could be argued to be the GOTY especially in 2020 as it's a game a lot of people needed this year and sells numbers are phenomenal. 

1. The Last of Us Part II (PS4)

  

But there can only be one GOTY and that's Naughty Dog's follow up to 2013's The Last of Us with its sequel which might not just be the best game of 2020 but one of the best on the PS4 and the 8th generation as a whole.

DIRT 5 Review Xbox One

 

I've never been a big fan of driving games, with only a few clicking with me be it RalliSport Challenge 2 or the Forza Horizon series with their off-road antics. 

Which is why Dirt 5 was on my radar from the trailers we have seen, with its outlandish feel to it with the use of pink and purple smoke along with speakers around the tracks blaring out music.

And how its career mode is told in a rather simple way of picking an event which could be racing around an ice circuit drifting around every corner or racing against 12 classic rally cars like the Ford RS200 to get the finish first, whilst the guess you'll call it story is told via a Podcast with some enthusiastic characters talking of your progress over the game's 5 chapters.

 

You'll find 120+ events to do in the career mode, along with some special one on ones to unlock some neat decals for the 60+ cars, you don't have to do all these to see out the career mode and myself I've done about 40%  of them but I plan to come back to do the rest when my Xbox Series X arrives as Dirt 5 uses Smart Delivery and one of a few games that has a 120fps mode if you have the right setup.

Outside of career mode you have online and playground which is a tad like Tony Hawk create-a-park or the stuff you find in Trials Rising where you build or play playgrounds created by the community. I'm hopeless at building but from what I've seen from the few playgrounds I've played a lot can be done in the mode and can see this keeping people busy for a while.

 

Overall Dirt 5 is a fun arcade racer which come along at the right time as the racer to check out at the start of a new console generation and you won't be left behind on current gen either, just maybe single player is a tad lacking as maybe some simple time trail modes or basic cups could have added a bit more to the overall package. 

 

Gylt on Stadia Review

Mortal Kombat 11 Joker Gameplay on Stadia

Thumper on Stadia

GRID on Stadia

Destiny 2 on Stadia

Tomb Raider on Stadia

Cloud Gaming - My First Impressions

My title is a bit of a lie as I have played some Onlive (Anyone remember that?) and PlayStation Now but not since it was in BETA as I've not really had any need to use it. What I'm really talking about regards to first impressions is XCloud from Microsoft and Stadia from Google.

A few weeks ago I got an invite into the XCloud BETA programme, which allows me on an Android device play around 50 games via the cloud all linked to my Xbox Account.

Meaning I can continue where I left off with Forza Horizon 4 and earn achievements, play with friends like I would using my Xbox One X.

First time using XCloud was on my phone, which to be honest was not the best as I found the screen to be just too small with only really Bloodstained giving me a decent experience.

To improve this I bought a Samsung 10" Tablet and got one of those cases that double as a stand, this was a game-changer as I could see what was going on.

Which is all well and good but how do the games run on it, you ask. Well, that's a mixed bag as I've played Bloodstained, Yoku's Island and even Killer Instinct a game with any lag makes a difference perfectly.

Those are all single-player, multiplayer is a different story as I found Halo 5 borderline unplayable, Gears 5 just playable and Sea of Thieves whilst playing as part of a two-man crew to be fine with a tad hit to the resolution. I'm thinking this may improve over time when out of BETA along with servers closer to home as when you go on the Xbox Dashboard via XCloud the time is Pacific Standard Time.

XCloud isn't the only new cloud-based gaming in town as Stadia recently launched and I have to say I've heard mixed things on it. If you go by social media it's rubbish then my mate EoFGiz who's bought a premiere pack (his thoughts here) be rather positive on the service.

I've not bought anything to use Stadia, I managed to get a Buddy Pass from someone who had a spare code on Twitter. This gives me access to the service on mobile (I think it's just Pixels, which I have) or via Google Chrome and currently four games.

As my experience hasn't been great on mobile with XCloud, I've only used Stadia via the browser option. At the moment I can play four games with my buddy pass or buy more if I wish but at the moment I'm sticking with what I've got available to me.

 The first game I played was Samurai Shodown as a fighter, any lag could be a real issue but nope was flawless. I then tried Tomb Raider which I was really impressed with, then came Destiny 2 which has sort been the marque title for Stadia with the community on the service gathering around the game.

Destiny 2 even though much better than Halo 5 and Gears 5 in terms of playability, was still not the best experience. Which leaves me to believe Single Player is fine on these services and Multiplayer isn't, of course, there are caveats like XCloud is in BETA and the centre is likely in the states, is it my internet speed (Stadia test I should be able to get 4K HDR though), would Stadia work better via a Chromcast (people do tell me this is the best way to play) and more.

Then there are other issues like prices of games on Stadia but that's whole different subject to can I play a game via the cloud from either of these services, yeah sort of.