Trevor Houston
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COGConnectedLatest Reviews
Modern Warfare III received a bad rap. You might think that with a Metacritic average of 56 out of 100 (based on 71 reviews), nobody is playing it, and it would be universally regarded as the worst Call of Duty game of all time—banished to bargain bins and deep discounts. However, that wasn’t the case at all. While the single-player experience was underwhelming, the multiplayer aspects were as strong as ever. I really enjoyed the open-world zombies experience, and that addictive battle pass kept me coming back daily. C’mon man, it certainly didn’t deserve a 56 Meta-score.
Several months ago, in the middle of the first wave of the global pandemic, I felt Activision should have just delayed Call of Duty this year. Modern Warfare was still going strong. Everyone was still playing it and the season pass model seemed to be working like a charm. Meanwhile, studios everywhere were sending their workers home to work. My feeling at the time, why rush another Call of Duty game out the door? If there was any time Activision had an excuse to delay a Call of Duty game without any blowback, it would be now.
It has been a bit of a roller coaster ride for Activision and Infinity Ward ever since Call of Duty: Modern Warfare was revealed back in May. There was outrage over the rumored use of White Phosphorus and anger over the child soldier’s sections. The internet was also fuming over the Spec Ops mode being made a timed exclusive for PS4 owners and there was some controversy over rumors you would be able to kill unarmed civilians. It seemed as though Modern Warfare just couldn’t escape the heat.
Any idea what 3,332,441 represents? That is the amount of dislikes (at the time of writing) the Infinite Warfare reveal trailer received when it dropped 5-months ago. Think about that for a second. That is more than the entire population of Vancouver, where the bulk of our writers live. It’s a massive number and one that speaks to the amount of internet anger directed towards the franchise on a yearly basis. You just need to look at our YouTube page and, as you would guess, CoD vids have the most dislikes. I have my theories why that is but I don’t try hard to understand it. It is what it is. Regardless of your thoughts on the CoD juggernaut, Activision’s mega-franchise is around to stay and is back again with Call of Duty: Infinite Warfare. With gameplay that largely feels like past entries, Infinite Warfare is a tad thin on innovation but is super thick on plain old fashion fun.
There is something to be said about taking a no nonsense approach with a game’s DLC plans. When so many shooters pepper you with season pass offers, map packs and other downloadable add-ons all for a hefty charge, Machine Games and Bethesda have decided to take a more simplistic approach by releasing one standalone expansion pack nearly one year after the release of Wolfenstein: The New Order. With big shoes to fill The Old Blood comes along at a time when most of us have moved beyond The New Order and on to other shooters. Now The New Order wasn’t anything ground breaking and neither is The Old Blood yet it still does something that a lot of other games never manage to at all. It gives gamers an experience that is visually stunning, remarkably challenging and frantically entertaining. B.J. Blazkowicz is back folks and he’s still kicking ass and taking names!
Okay I get it. Goat Simulator is supposed to be stupid, broken, glitchy and perhaps nothing more than a novelty gag. The developers almost advertise it as such. It’s not a game you take seriously, even if you tried. It’s a game you’ll Twitch or YouTube all the ridiculous things you can do to this poor goat. The PC version became an internet cultural phenomenon for its bugs, crashes, shabby visuals, and terrible gameplay mechanics. Let’s face it Goat Simulator became popular for all the wrong reasons!
Of course the comparison isn’t really a fair one because Temple of Osiris is a completely different kind of gaming experience all together. Many will simply pass over Lara Croft and the Temple of Osiris this holiday season and when they do, they are making a mistake as this was one of more enjoyable twin stick puzzle solving games I have played in recent memory.
Let’s face it, Call of Duty: Ghosts was a massive let down for the franchise. Featuring a less than stellar single player campaign and more of the same old multiplayer, Ghosts was not only met with some lukewarm review scores but the blockbuster franchise also took an uppercut in the chops when it came to the overall sales figures. It was the first time in three years Call of Duty failed to shatter sales records. Fans and critics alike heavily criticized the game for its lack of innovation while strictly pandering to all those ‘Call of Duty Dude Bros’. This is nothing new for the franchise as Call of Duty has this way of bringing out the worst in some of those online keyboard trolls. Regardless, if ever there was a time the franchise needed a swift kick in the ass, it is now.
There is no question Shinji Mikami’s primary goal with “The Evil Within” was to scare the absolute bejeezus out of anyone who dared to pick up the game. To a large degree his team at Tango Gameworks have successfully managed to accomplish that goal. You will jump out of your chair, the hairs on the back of your neck will stand on end, your palms will get sweaty, you’ll close your eyes and there are a glut of ‘holy shit’ moments where you just know that grotesque looking butcher wielding a massive machete is going to slice you in half like a ripe watermelon. Despite nailing the fear factor, “The Evil Within” fails in a number of other areas and in the end it left me with the view that this old school horror game would have fared better some 5-10 years ago.
When Dark Souls landed on my doorstep some two and half years ago, initially I wasn’t crazy about it. I distinctly recall those first few hours into Dark Souls and how it tested my every last nerve. I never played Demon Souls, so I had no clue what Dark Souls was all about. At the time I was accustomed to mainstream games who spoon feed us along the way. This was not Dark Souls. It was a game that had no map, no directional arrows, no crusty characters to tell me where to go, no super power strength and no bad-ass weaponry. Oh and I didn’t just die, I died frequently. To the point where my controller felt the brunt of my frustration a few more times than I care to admit. Yet I kept coming back for more unforgiving, torturous, and ridiculously hard punishing gameplay. I can’t quite explain it but it was one of those games that stuck in your head well after you set the controller down. Dark Souls wound its way into my very fabric. To the point where I had Dark Souls II scribbled down on my calendar many months ago.