Three things Destiny 2 can do to make it a much better experience than Destiny 1.

Destiny 2’s announcement was yesterday, as a huge Bungie fan and a big fan of the original game I am very excited to go back to Destiny later this year and I know I will have a good time but it got me thinking what feature Bungie could add to the game that will make the game much better than its predecessor, here are three things that I thought of:

• Ditch the loot drop and pick up crafting
  One of the reasons why most players got really frustrated with Destiny was the Loot Drop system, every week I played the Nightfall hoping for a Hawkemoon and after one whole year I still didn’t get it, that is really terrible! but imagine if Hawkemoon was a craft able gun and I could have gathered couple of components and crafted it myself, it doesn’t matter how hard it is to obtain those components but knowing that if I put in the time and effort I will get what I want is the best way to motivate the player, Monster Hunter does that perfectly and it is in my opinion one of the best systems ever.
• PvP enabled Patrol Zones.
  I am not talking about getting rid of the Patrol from D1 but I am asking for zones where PvP are enabled by default, having bounties and specific quests in those zones to encourage players going there will make them very fun and engaging to play, or maybe they could add a feature like The Division’s Dark Zone or some kind of survival element that could make even more interesting to play.
• For the Solo player
  The fact that D1 didn’t have anything for Solo players was really sad, I really wish they did have something beyond Bounties, this is why I think the previous point could be very fun because it will allow solo players (like me) to find things to do and also not fall so behind, The issue with D1 was the fact that it appeared that the most skilled players were those who did the Raids while they just teamed up with someone and he carried everyone, I really hope this wont be the case with D2.

there are many other things I wish it will change with Destiny like Light Levels, but I think that could be ok if other aspects of the game is better designed.

Dishonored 2 (Review)

Dishonored 2 is developed by Arkane Studios and published by Bethesda Games, it is a follow up to the 2012 game Dishonored by the same studio and it came out on PC, PS4 and XBOX One on November 11th, 2017 to a lot of praise and critical success.

The story takes place fifteen years after the first game, Emily is now the empress she is a grown woman with her father Corvo beside her ruling over the empire from her throne in Dunwall, but happiness can’t last forever and her aunt shows up and takes her off the throne and thus begins a quest to win back the throne, discover her aunt’s secrets and assassinate her allies, good times. right off the bat the story is a lot stronger than the first game because now both protagonists can talk and engage with the cast and characters which adds a lot of depth to them, this time around you are all given more choices you can go with either Corvo or Emily and you can also accept or reject the Outsider’s powers which makes your experience very different, to make up for the lack of powers you are given some tools to fight your way through the levels.

The heart and soul of the game is definitely the level design and my god they did an amazing job here, I highly suggest if you are planning to play the game to spend some time just to explore the levels it is so well designed and so creative it surprise you, every objective can be tackled in so many different ways, you can avoid killing anyone in the game or kill everyone in the game the choice is yours, the game also has multiple endings so you are encouraged to play it multiple times to get the best out of it.

The combat in dishonored is a first person action game, your right hand is a sword which can both be used to silently kill someone from the back or chop him to pieces, your left hand however is either a ranged weapon, trap, spell or grenade. you can use whichever weapon suits your need and help you with the situation you are about to encounter, you can also buy ammo and upgrades from black markets and find benchmarks and ruins to upgrade your powers and become an OP god.

perhaps my main issue with Dishonored 2 is the same I had with the first game which is there isn’t enough of it, I wish these games gave me the whole city of Karnaca to explore and not just some missions it is a shame that Arkane crafted this amazing world and mythology and I only got to spend 10-12 hours in it, this game deserves to be more open and bigger and I really want it to be that.

Verdict : Dishonored 2 takes the first game’s great design and game play to the next level by adding a fantastic new playable character and a good story to uncover, new enemies to fight in whichever way you want to. (9.5/10.0)

Horizon : Zero Dawn (Review)

Horizon Zero Dawn is developed by Guerrilla Games published by Sony Interactive Entertainment for the Playstation 4, it was developed using Guerrilla’s in house engine Decima and was released on February 28th, 2017.

The game is an open world action RPG set nearly a thousand year in the future, the humans of this world live in tribes and learned to hunt the animal like machines that roam the earth. you play as Aloy an outcast girl who is training with her mentor Rost in the wilderness, you learn to hunt and gather and survive in preparation for a trail that is called “The Proving” an attack happens during the trail and you are send out by the leaders of the tribe to investigate and find the attackers. during the course of 35 hour journey you learn some rather interesting things about the world and Civilization ceased to exist and where did those machines came from and it was a very interesting and satisfying tale that I really enjoyed however I do have some issues about the politics of the game, it is clear that Horizon is a game with a feminist message which is reflected rather greatly in its lead character Aloy but sometimes it stops being welcoming and comes off very pretentious to a point Aloy becomes a Mary Sue character that gave me very little to care about her troubled childhood and uncertain origins, it is too bad that they didn’t find a subtle way to deliver their message and instead did it in a very obvious in your face way. the game was critiqued for its early missions which involves politics and the way the world functions I personally liked it because it is an interesting world that I enjoyed quite a bit and made me care for the world and the way things are in comparison to a game like Final Fantasy XV which was another open world RPG but the world felt bland and empty and lifeless it is really not the case with Horizon.

Technically the game is landmark, now let me take you back a few steps think of every game that really advanced the technical capability of video games like Mario 64, Doom, Metal Gear Solid 2 and Witcher 3, Horizon Zero Dawn is a new landmark for gaming it is currently the most beautiful show case of graphical and artistic vision in any game I have ever seen, the lighting effects are beyond gorgeous and weather effects are awe inspiring I have nothing to say more than praise for a game this big and this deep it is really amazing how much detail Guerrilla put into its world and for that they really did a remarkable job.

The gameplay is a mix of stealth and arrow shooting and it is satisfying to shoot pieces off a giant machine and break down to scrap, the Melee combat is lacking it has the slow down of Batman Arkham game’s combat with no combos which is too bad I wish they did a better job with that because the melee combat is pretty powerful and useful especially against human enemies which come up pretty often. some aspects of the game is very obviously copied from other games like Skyrim’s navigation from the 3D map to the compass and some of the icons they are carbon copies, also the game has Mass Effect’s conversation wheel and sometimes allows you to make a choice with very little effect on the story outcome, I think only once I was given the choice to kill someone or to spare them but it wasn’t a big deal and personally I was fine with those inspirations because they were done very well and they are good properties to copy from.

Verdict : Horizon is a great game with a lot to offer, it is a magnificent looking game with a fantastic fantasy setting, I didn’t enjoy the very direct feminist plot but the story of the world and the way the future of the franchise is going is something to look forward to. (9.0/10.0)