Good idea to release a demo, the first mission is a great example to use - though to be honest there are numerous missions throughout this game that could be used to create the demo (airplane chase, MI6 Training montage etc) shows how good this game is.

Though a bit odd to open the pre-orders - then less than a week later delay the game by 3 months!

My brother bought me this game (for Xmas i think?) a few years ago. Never loaded it into my PS5 as the campaign is 100 hours - that's a full time job for 2 1/2 weeks in the UK!

Go on then I'll buy the magazine and the game, loved the survivor trilogy.

Hmm the only people i know who do dynamic pricing are builders. If they saw a new and expensive car on your drive they knew they could charge you more as opposed to an old banger.

Glad to see Sony learnt from the best

No bad thing, frees up time for me to play the Remake of Tomb Raider that's also due in February.

'Made' is an odd choice as MGS4 is a remaster, probably cost pennies (compared to creating the game from scratch) to port it to the PS5.

Let me start my mini review by announcing that I’m quite the X Men fan and grew up with the Saturday morning cartoons, that Wolverine was naturally my favourite character and as such I’ve been looking forward to this game since its original announcement trailer.

There are positives to this game:
Changes to the lore were interesting and made sense within the universe this game is set. Graphically the game is amazing and well-acted in the cut scenes the portrayal of Wolverine is very good in my opinion and I’m a big fan of linear single player cinematic games; GOW, uncharted, RE etc. I’m a fan of this game and would recommend it to others to play if they have similar tastes in games to myself – though I paid £45 second hand on ebay for it and not £70 on release date as I originally intended. The gore when slicing an enemy to pieces is awesome with some brutal finishers!

However, there are critiques to this game:

The combat is basic in that its not Arkham / Spider-Man style combos, so just button mash basic combos and buttons, nor is there any strength build up from the non-existent combos. Enemies are basically Arkham Batman / Insomniac Spider-Man style; you get a normal enemy, followed by a large enemy and then an even larger enemy with either blades or shields.
The QTE’s in the game (as per youtube influencer judgement) is non fail able – I witnessed this on a few occasions throughout the game, even in the final boss fight!

For a linear single player game there is very limited exploration, especially for a guy with claws! Who can climb! Gameplay became a tad repetitive and towards the end of the game: after a cutscene 5 goons entered the room to be killed – I openly signed as it had become predictable.

All the problems Wolverine encounters in the game can be solved by erm…sharp claws. Speaking of which Wolverine’s claws don’t upgrade, an odd choice if ever there was one! To not introduce the idea that different claws have different properties or powers. The same goes for his various outfits that don’t do anything e.g. no unique properties or skills and suit crafting can be done in a menu not at a bench or at a marketplace.

The Skill tree is basic (why have a skill that identifies materials chest when they ping so loud!), or whiskey bottles.

The nightmare cabins sometimes interrupted the flow of the story at climatic times and were either run an assault course or fight waves of enemies – no other type.

A critique of any major single player blockbuster game in that there are no consequences or police who turn up for any of the carnage caused by wolverine and co throughout the story – and there’s a lot of carnage caused.

Fart trails, markers, pings, and white paint all make an appearance and in some instances all on the screen at the same time. Pick one method of identifying the path for the player to follow or come up with a radical new method that utilises the PS5 Dual sense controller e.g. vibration to identify the path to follow.

@Jacko11 lucky and good on ya, just had a look and sold out everywhere in the uk

On it like Sonic for this on day 1. Loved the Lara Croft reboot / survival trilogy, so combining the mechanics with the OG from 1996 (which i haven't played past the 1st level) is a winner in my books.

However, isn't it up again GOW Laufey in that month?

@Shinnok789
Going to be part of Laufey's skill tree i bet.

Hmm for £200 i got the DOOM Dark Ages collector set that included the game, DLC, statue, digital artbook and soundtrack and a keycard.

The £130 price for this collectors set kinda makes sense given its mising the game (that costs £70).

Just finished the game last night. Had attempted to play the OG via gamepass on my ipad - bad idea, didn't get past the first level. I had been looking forward to the idea of playing HALO on the PS5 having never dabbled in the series before due to being a hardcore Playstation owner.

My thoughts are that this is a 7 or an 8 at best.

You can tell its a 2001 game that's partial remake / partial remaster, due to the gameplay e.g. some weapons and enemies from later games have been added, no skill trees, improved graphics and maps etc.

The ragdoll physics were quite funny on occasion when i died and I died a lot due to random grenades going off behind my back - tad annoying. Those things can one hit kill you along with a blast from a hunter - that grates.

On a few occasions i defaulted to the RUN like hell tactic through a few levels / maps to avoid the slog of fighting and this actually worked as a tactic and i was able to complete whole missions by doing a Forrest Gump impression. In some cases i died or exploded I would just repeat this tactic and most of the time - it became a case of working out your run and which enemies to dodge or avoid to get to the next checkpoint. A tad random on some runs as to when / if / how you would die.

The maps and assets are obviously recycled and re used through the campaign and thats OK. I draw the line at having to run back across an entire level in the opposite direction for one of the missions.

The WARTHOG is the worst handling vehicle in video game history!!!

Some larger enemies i encountered but had no large guns to take care of said enemies, these seemed rare to pick up during the campaign. You try killing a hunter with a pistol!

The classic tactic of jumping around like an ADHD kangaroo to avoid the constant gunfire was adopted.

The plot was OK, felt like they cribbed from CRYSIS regarding the 2nd alien threat and change up from shooting aliens to shooting alien zombies made little to no difference to the gameplay in my opinion. The 3 new levels didn't really add anything to the plot from my newbie perspective? Maybe i missed something.

My base PS5 struggled and stuttered when there were 10+ enemies engaged in a civil war - really stood out when that occurred.

Master chief is a dull protagonist, really not sure why XBOX fans rate Masterchief as anything other than dull. He's not silent and intimidating like DOOMGUY or wisecracking like Duke Nukem, he's just there...Cortana is kinda annoying, thought there might be better scripted banter between the two e.g. he hates her to begin with but then begins to respect her via the assistance she provides throughout the campaign.

Having played it once, i have no desire to replay it (nor did i find any of the SKULLS on my playthrough to entice me to replay it). It is a solid good, but not great or epic and definitely a product of its time (no bad thing per se)

UK here, I got nothing! All COD are showing as requiring money.

My review of DS2:
Terrible boss fights (shoot the glowing part) compared to the creativity and options of MGS3 for instance the End boss fights is a re hash of MGS4 but with guitars (which are never set up in the game narrative as having a purpose). Several mods to MGS throughout the cut scenes with Neil

Plot twist after plot twist in the final hour of cutscenes normal Cut scenes are repetitive when unloading cargo or sleeping in the Magellan.

Gameplay is practically identical to DS1 the directors cut. No new abilities or other characters to play as which would have improved or varied the game play with their dooms eg fragile, tomorrow or rainy. Gunplay that is introduced is effectively MGS5

The missions are all identical for the most part and all involve Sam walking and or delivering. No mech gameplay (would have been cool in the finale)

Several hours too long (due to ending cutscenes, repetitive boss fights and plot twists) and an extended lengthy trip through the mountains towards the final quarter of the game whereby the Magellan and fast travel is conveniently unusable!!! On several occasions you have to hike back across the entire map for a mission this is Just wasting / filling time!!

Plot / narrative is still non sense! the first time round in DS1 a new narrative and lore was interesting and engaged the player as they wanted to learn more even if it was non sensical the second time round it’s just baffling and I’m not sure it’s not “so clever it’s baffling” rather that it is just nonsense.

Positive: Nice vistas and timed with the music (same as DS1 though). The game did make you feel an emotion, normally anger when you fell over and lost your cargo but at least a modern AAA game made you feel something

Can see why Sony cancelled funding Kojimas next game, Just buy DS1 the directors cut.

Played the remaster this year (missed it on release), a good, silly and fun game. Definitely a product of its time (that’s no bad thing), be interesting to see what happens in the sequel gameplay and storyline wise seeing as the original director and writer aren’t returning.

@Neuromancer I’ve got some bad news for you…Ridley’s not finished and the sequel to covenant is allegedly back on. Possibly at the expense of a Romulus sequel.

Day 1 for me, can’t wait

Tempted but I can errrr buy the actual game for the price of the covers.

Played the first one and miles morales but never felt the need to play the second one, think the gameplay and open world being to similar/ repetitive put me off committing to the second game. Now if they make a venom spin off as rumoured then I’m interested but think it’s been cancelled(?)

Working through the DLC as I type, it’s very good. Think ID have done a great job as always.

BMW just played Spider-Man ads on the dashboards of any of their models built after 2020, if this is the future Sony can ram it. They’ve not poor / broke this is just rampant capitalism.

Such a massive cultural icon. You had to be a teenage boy in 1996 and the hype surrounding the original trilogy was something else…saying that I never played them! Was more into Resident Evil. Though the later Tomb Raider survivor / reboot trilogy was definitely my bag.

Glad I bought the collectors edition at £200…including the DLC that I thought was worth £30 odd quid (as per eternal)… and it’s worth £8!

@LifeGirl
That’s why MGS5 was cassette tape recordings for the lore, Kojima did learn from MGS4.

And boy was I wrong 😑 glad I paid a tenner, if I bought this day 1 full price I’d be pissed. Even 2 years later and various updates this games still a 6. It’s exactly what a Ubisoft game bolted to Star Wars sounds like… average / mediocre. Main issues:

Stealth is woeful, the NPCs are brain dead. The secret entrance to the base is always 5 meters to the left.

Graphics aren’t great, the female main lead looks badly rendered.

Plenty of member berries / nostalgia

Faction system is pointless and barely an inconvenience.

Missions are tedious. You get to point A only to need object X that’s at the other end of the map…thank god for fast travel.

Honestly, given my bias towards linear single player games, this is one that would have benefited from being stripped of its typical Ubisoft open world elements, you’re not really an outlaw and it feels like you should have played as Han or the ND-5. The plot twist at the end is painful and lame…for an outlaw the main character goes back to help a friend..and the rebellion…not something an outlaw would actually do.

Just finished the game…well not finished as the final boss battle absolutely sucks and they did the same boss battle twice in a row, so I gave up and watched on YouTube. Joining a very select few games where I’ve given up and deleted the game prior to the final level / boss.

It’s a shame pushsquare bans swearing as what I want to write and what I can write are not reflective of one another.

Doom is an ICONIC franchise! iCONIC. Responsible for the FPS genre on Pc all the way back in the early 90s, the studio is also responsible for wolfenstein (though they don’t currently design it).

The rebooted trilogy is an example of how to do an iconic series justice! You can see the love and dedication in all 3 of the games. All 3 games play uniquely- which we as gamers always claim to want more of e.g if you like fast paced, play eternal, want heavy and slow play Dark Ages, want sci fi setting play the 2016 version and that’s before we get to the awesome DLCs.

The rebooted handled the lore brilliantly e.g. flashbacks or documents. All 3 games combined are effectively a closed lore cycle and we as gamers got a beginning, middle and end to the Doomslayers story.

Microsoft should be ashamed at what they’ve done and should have sold it off rather than gutting it and turning it into a support studio!

The series made money, just not the 30% profit randomly picked as the new benchmark.

Thank you ID, you did amazing and deserved so much better.

@JackiePriest this is the issue, they’ll look at their last game…which was a loss maker and that will be the reason why Arkane will be shut or sold.

@Bluemoon2008
They’ll have to pay Disney off, which will be the main bulk of the ‘loss’ if this article is true / correct.

@BamBamBaklava89
Think they’d had their fill when they buy Ubisoft.

@get2sammyb
More importantly who gets DOOM?

It was a bad call Ripley, a bad call.

Hmm wonder how many will stick to their guns and not buy due to no disc…. Not many I suspect.

This is sadly the future of gaming can see the ps6 being digital only.

Wouldn’t be surprised if this is the beginning of the end of Xbox, as I suspect if these cuts & closures don’t right the ship and return Xbox from a 3% margin, these cuts will act as a trimming of the fat to position Xbox being separated from MS and sold off as a separate entity.

Good. Ban it and include a course in how to navigate social media, fake news, AI slop before someone is allowed to navigate a mobile phone.

To all those moaning about the UK gov collecting info on you… you already hand that info over to google, Meta etc and they’re not your friends, your a data resource to them that is to be exploited.

Just bought it for a tenner on eBay. Look forward to jumping in now that it’s had a few patches / updates, the most recent comments indicate I might enjoy this more than its original score implies.

Bought this for £2 from eBay (due to this article) and just finished it. An interesting campaign, its tone is a bit all over the place. Starts of as Miami vice / CSI and all gritty. Then descends into a fast and furious bank style heist storyline… but I enjoyed it nonetheless.

@JAMes-BroWWWn
Same here, bit miffed at the advertised 3pm release time if you can’t play until 4pm due to a day 1 patch / update!

Damn it, pre ordered the game so had the 24 hr early access. Clicked play at 3pm and it requires another download to start! Now chomping at the bit for another hour!

A great unique game, strongly recommend. I purchased it Day 1.

@themightyant exactly that, they bought Bungie to satisfy the shareholders / Sony share price when Xbox went on a buying spree. Ironically both Sony and Xbox’s purchase has resulted in losses, more so on Microsoft’s part.

@ThroughTheIris56, same here. Loved the setting and storyline but the gameplay was a tad woeful and I got bored. Shame but I’ll be tuning in for this.

Damn, better complete the first one. Had it sat on my hard drive for 5+ years, still too scared to get past the first encounter with the Zeno and I like to think I’m fairly competent at the horror genre (silent hill, RE, all completed several times).

And just like that they pull me back in!

Played 5hours straight, enjoying it so far. Been keeping an eye on this since the first trailer, game hasn’t disappointed thus far and a bargain price.

Previous games were from Kratos perspective who effectively slaughters his gods. Be interesting to see if they lean it to Faye being a survivor of the frost giants being slaughtered and her battle to survive / elude Odin, Baldur and Thor - no doubt that crafting the Axe will be a part of the plot.

No doubt she'll cross paths with Kratos and the game ends with her demise and links straight into the 2018 God of War intro.

@Meowmixes98 its a digital pre order, not like it’s going to sell out…

I’m a massive RE fan, played all the main instalments all the way back from 1995 till today. The latest entry fell flat to me and I scored it a 7 for reasons below:

A) the plot was nonsensical even for a RE game. Introduces a villain (zemo) who has no connection to the original game or previous plots who’s already superhuman- so why go searching for mind control. Scientist who can ride a bike and shoot a RPG one handed!

B) graces campaign should have been a mainline entry like 7 or village set in the asylum for a good 10 hours. Not combined with Leon’s.

C) Leon’s gameplay felt like RE6 and not in a good way, he practically starts off fully armed rather than scrambling for obsolete 90s weapons in nuked Racoon city. Credits and a crate instead of a merchant - who would have fit in the Racoon City wasteland.

D) the nostalgia callbacks should have been the whole game. Leon forced to return unarmed to a sealed off Racoon city and fend for himself using scraps and salvaged weapons. Instead we visit the RPD for 30 mins.

E) bosses were relatively easy and typical RE - shoot the glowing blobs… and one of the bosses was a RE2 callback who stalked you the whole game, you kill him in one boss fight. Same goes for another RE2 character.

F) the choice of endings was odd either one happy ending or one miserable one…

G) the game implies that the world is ruled by corporations selling bio weapons, yet the last 10 years worth of entries haven’t fleshed that world out. Maybe RE5 and RE6 focused on it?

If I’d bought this physically I’d have it for sale on eBay having completed it, which is a first for me and a RE game as I replay the others at least once a year.

I found it via the ps app, though it’s on the same page as the full game and you need to select the demo rather than the base game.