AAA/AA Games of EGX 2017

<p class&equals;"western">While people were planning their trips to various countries for summer &lpar;e&period;g&period; Chris Newton tells me Ibiza was really good&excl;&rpar;&comma; my only holiday of the year laid in the city of Birmingham&period; Stowed away near the airport was my main trip of the year&colon; EGX 2017&period; For those who dwell in England &lpar;and perhaps in Europe&rpar;&comma; this is their big chance to celebrate their love of video games&period; A love expressed through showing us games &lpar;both released and unreleased&rpar;&comma; playing said games and wonderful cosplay&period; Even just walking through the event&comma; watching the queues &lpar;some as long as 5 hours&comma; thanks&comma; <em>Sea of Thieves<&sol;em>&rpar;&comma; the various retailers plying their wares and the hustle and bustle of crowds&comma; you can really sense an unexplainable warmth through culture being embraced&comma; acknowledged and applauded&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p class&equals;"western">So&comma; I would like to discuss the games of EGX 2017&semi; which where to start than the games that boast a budget higher than some countries make in a year&quest; Often these are the games that lend an open welcoming palm into our culture to the mainstream&comma; tempting people to just try our wondrous medium&period; Each game I tried I&&num;8217&semi;ll share details what it is&comma; chat about it in a brief review and then close each treasure with a grade from F to A&plus;&period; Now we got that explanation out the way&comma; let&&num;8217&semi;s leap into EGX 2017 coverage of AAA or AA games&comma; shall we&quest;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>&nbsp&semi;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p><img class&equals;"aligncenter size-large wp-image-130169" src&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;cdn&period;bagogames&period;com&sol;wp-content&sol;uploads&sol;2017&sol;10&sol;03163929&sol;IMG&lowbar;1453-1024x768&period;jpg" alt&equals;"" width&equals;"1000" height&equals;"750" &sol;><&sol;p>&NewLine;<p class&equals;"western" style&equals;"text-align&colon; center&semi;"><b>Game&colon; <&sol;b>Call of Duty&colon; WW2<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p class&equals;"western" style&equals;"text-align&colon; center&semi;"><b>Developer&colon; <&sol;b>Sledgehammer Games<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p class&equals;"western" style&equals;"text-align&colon; center&semi;"><b>Format&colon; <&sol;b>PS4&comma; Xbox One and PC<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p class&equals;"western" style&equals;"text-align&colon; center&semi;"><b>Release Date&colon; <&sol;b>3<sup>rd<&sol;sup> November 2017<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p class&equals;"western" style&equals;"text-align&colon; center&semi;"><b>Price&colon; <&sol;b>£44&period;99 &lpar;Steam&rpar;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p class&equals;"western">After <em>Call of Duty&colon; Infinite Warfare<&sol;em> sold roughly around half as much as <em>Black Ops 3<&sol;em> did at launch&comma; it seems Activision wanted to head back to the drawing board&period; They wanted to shed new light on the series&comma; reach out to fans who had gone adrift and bring in new audiences&period; Looking for inspiration they walked through rainy streets&comma; lit only by orange lamp-light&period; It&&num;8217&semi;s then Activision saw inspiration on a TV in a barred up closed shop&period; Pushing their hand to the glass&comma; they watched the announcement trailer of <em>Battlefield 1<&sol;em>&period; Busy working on their sci-fi shooter they hadn&&num;8217&semi;t seen this coming&comma; Activision was blinded by their own focus to see what their competition was doing&period; The palm on the window curls into a fist&comma; a smile creeping up a creased face&period; Activision breaks out into a run&comma; back the way they came&period; Residents claim they heard a single shrill scratchy shout through the patter of rain&colon;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p class&equals;"western" style&equals;"text-align&colon; center&semi;"><strong>&OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;WE&&num;8217&semi;RE GOING TO MAKE A WORLD WAR 2 SHOOTER&excl;”<&sol;strong><&sol;p>&NewLine;<p class&equals;"western"><i>Verdict&colon; And so it came to past that Sledgehammer Games made a WW2 version of Call of Duty&period; Playing the Team Deathmatch mode&comma; that is very much what we got&period; I wish I could say some thoughtful insight&comma; but it really does feel like recent Call of Duty gameplay has been dumped into a WW2 setting&period; If that is a good or bad thing is something you&&num;8217&semi;ll be able to conclude on your own I think&period; However&comma; there is a sense of low-effort in all this&period; I waved my old-man cane at Battlefield 1 being just a Battlefield game dumped into a WW1 setting&comma; and I&&num;8217&semi;m waving it again for Call of Duty committing the same problem&period; <&sol;i><&sol;p>&NewLine;<p class&equals;"western"><i>For a low effort inoffensive title&comma; Call of Duty&colon; WW2 gets a D-&period;<&sol;i><&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>&nbsp&semi;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p><img class&equals;"aligncenter wp-image-130198 size-large" src&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;cdn&period;bagogames&period;com&sol;wp-content&sol;uploads&sol;2017&sol;10&sol;03173516&sol;MarioOdysseyPhoto-1024x576&period;jpg" alt&equals;"" width&equals;"1000" height&equals;"563" &sol;><&sol;p>&NewLine;<p class&equals;"western" style&equals;"text-align&colon; center&semi;"><b>Game&colon; <&sol;b>Super<b> <&sol;b>Mario Odyssey<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p class&equals;"western" style&equals;"text-align&colon; center&semi;"><b>Developer&colon;<&sol;b> Nintendo<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p class&equals;"western" style&equals;"text-align&colon; center&semi;"><b>Format&colon; <&sol;b>Switch<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p class&equals;"western" style&equals;"text-align&colon; center&semi;"><b>Release Date&colon; <&sol;b>27<sup>th<&sol;sup> October 2017<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p class&equals;"western" style&equals;"text-align&colon; center&semi;"><b>Price&colon; <&sol;b>£49&period;99 &lpar;Game&rpar;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p class&equals;"western">Since the Switch was released&comma; Nintendo has been trying to prove to the world that the console has exclusives to win the crowds&period; After all&comma; PS4 had <em>Bloodborne<&sol;em>&comma; Xbox One has&&num;8230&semi; Something &lpar;&&num;8230&semi;<em>Gears of War 4<&sol;em>&quest; <em>Killer Instinct<&sol;em>&quest;&rpar;&&num;8230&semi; So what would the Switch bring to the table&quest; This is especially as Nintendo has a reputation of their consoles being exclusive-heavy&period; So far their line up has been incredibly solid&comma; with a lot of people already calling <em>Breath of the Wild<&sol;em> their game of the year&period; So&comma; naturally&comma; people are looking forward to playing with Nintendo&&num;8217&semi;s mascot Mario&comma; especially as it stars him as a victim to a brain parasite forcing him to collect moons via 3d platforming to an unknown &lpar;likely devious&rpar; end&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p class&equals;"western"><i>Verdict&colon; I gave the city level a spin and it was generally okay&period; I think there&&num;8217&semi;s a Banjo Kazooie vibe to this&period; You dash about doing side missions for moons or scavenging it from nooks and crannies like &lpar;probably&rpar; a hobo&&num;8217&semi;s change cup&period; I just never found that hook that drew me into whatever gameplay is going on&period; Although my friend I think had a better time&comma; as he managed to give the brain parasite hat ability a whirl&period; To attack you throw your hat&comma; and to inflict invasive thoughts via hat form you throw your hat&period; I asked if there was a way to tell on sight which would die and which would be forced to do your bidding&comma; but he couldn&&num;8217&semi;t explain it besides a vague &OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;I just knew&comma; I mean&comma; Bullet Bill for instance&quest;”&period;<&sol;i><&sol;p>&NewLine;<p class&equals;"western"><i>For a game that looks impressive&comma; played okay but I&&num;8217&semi;m sure others will have a better time than me with&comma; Super Mario Odyssey gets a cautious C&plus;&period;<&sol;i><&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>&nbsp&semi;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p><img class&equals;"aligncenter size-large wp-image-130171" src&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;cdn&period;bagogames&period;com&sol;wp-content&sol;uploads&sol;2017&sol;10&sol;03164741&sol;IMG&lowbar;1436-1024x768&period;jpg" alt&equals;"" width&equals;"1000" height&equals;"750" &sol;><&sol;p>&NewLine;<p class&equals;"western" style&equals;"text-align&colon; center&semi;"><b>Game&colon; <&sol;b>Far Cry 5<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p class&equals;"western" style&equals;"text-align&colon; center&semi;"><b>Developer&colon; <&sol;b>Ubisoft<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p class&equals;"western" style&equals;"text-align&colon; center&semi;"><b>Format&colon; <&sol;b>PC&comma; PS4&comma; and Xbox One<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p class&equals;"western" style&equals;"text-align&colon; center&semi;"><b>Release Date&colon; <&sol;b>27<sup>th<&sol;sup> February 2018<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p class&equals;"western" style&equals;"text-align&colon; center&semi;"><b>Price&colon; <&sol;b>£44&period;99<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p class&equals;"western"><em>Far Cry 5<&sol;em> is an open world FPS roamer within an American state now controlled by a fanatical Christian militia&comma; in what feels like a modern-day Waco interpretation&period; You capture sections by clearing it of militia&comma; work with an NPC buddy &lpar;which in the demo I could pick a sniper&comma; I think a gunner or pilot&comma; or the correct option&colon; the dog&rpar; and frolic around the redneck lands&&num;8230&semi;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p class&equals;"western"><i>Verdict&colon; &&num;8230&semi;Lands I&&num;8217&semi;m surprised the national guard hasn&&num;8217&semi;t swooped in to rectify&period; I can&&num;8217&semi;t mentally move past that part&colon; A county gets controlled by fantastical Christians and there is no military presence&quest; Maybe I&&num;8217&semi;d move past it faster if it felt like Ubisoft had moved on from trying to recapture the charismatic-antagonist format Far Cry 3 nailed so beautifully with Vaas&period; That said&comma; there were signs there is less attention to the antagonist compared to 3 and 4&period; <&sol;i><&sol;p>&NewLine;<p class&equals;"western"><i>That said&comma; the receding of the focus from the antagonist to the gameplay sums up the issue&colon; The gameplay feels stale&comma; unfortunately&period; Far Cry 5 doesn&&num;8217&semi;t encourage inventive careful plans or wild chance to remove militia from places &lpar;e&period;g&period; a random tiger walking into a camp and mauling all the soldiers from Far Cry 3&rpar;&comma; at least so the demo suggests&comma; but just shooting the problems in the face&period; The buddy system could be good&comma; if past the first shot &lpar;as you can give them a target to maul their jugular out upon the gunshot&comma; this might include the sniper&sol;driver buddies too&rpar; the game didn&&num;8217&semi;t discourage their use&period; After all&comma; why point and tell them to fire at someone when you can point and pull the trigger instead&quest; The NPCs can also fight by themselves&comma; even get downed&comma; but with Ubisoft games having a tendency to be a bit on the easy side&comma; the extra help feels like bringing nuclear weapons to a street fight at this point&period; <&sol;i><&sol;p>&NewLine;<p class&equals;"western"><i>So&comma; for a game that was generally okay&comma; it gets an okay grade of C&period;<&sol;i><&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>&nbsp&semi;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p><img class&equals;"aligncenter size-large wp-image-130172" src&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;cdn&period;bagogames&period;com&sol;wp-content&sol;uploads&sol;2017&sol;10&sol;03165038&sol;IMG&lowbar;1424-1024x768&period;jpg" alt&equals;"" width&equals;"1000" height&equals;"750" &sol;><&sol;p>&NewLine;<p class&equals;"western" style&equals;"text-align&colon; center&semi;"><b>Game&colon; <&sol;b>Detroit&colon; Become Human<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p class&equals;"western" style&equals;"text-align&colon; center&semi;"><b>Developer&colon; <&sol;b>Quantic Dream<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p class&equals;"western" style&equals;"text-align&colon; center&semi;"><b>Format&colon; <&sol;b>PS4<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p class&equals;"western" style&equals;"text-align&colon; center&semi;"><b>Release Date&colon; <&sol;b>2018<b> <&sol;b><&sol;p>&NewLine;<p class&equals;"western" style&equals;"text-align&colon; center&semi;"><b>Price&colon; <&sol;b>£46&period;99 &lpar;Game&rpar;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p class&equals;"western">Core blimey David Cage has a reputation&comma; and I think it was <em>Beyond&colon; Two Souls<&sol;em> that dragged his name so deep into the dirt people still consider it a burial&period; This time he is back with <em>Detroit&colon; Become Human<&sol;em>&comma; a cyberpunk stumble-n-prod game about the singularity and androids&period; You make choices that affect things&comma; use general movements to simulate what you do in the game and it&&num;8217&semi;s all very nice looking&period; Here&&num;8217&semi;s the verdict after seeing Quantic Dream&&num;8217&semi;s offerings at EGX 2017<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p class&equals;"western"><i>Verdict&colon; Up to the last two days&comma; Detroit was honestly looking at being my AAA&sol;AA Game of EGX 2017&period; You play as Connor who must negotiate a rogue android so it doesn&&num;8217&semi;t shoot a child or drag it off the building&period; However&comma; it is split into two sections&period; First&comma; you must investigate what is happening&comma; who is involved and anything else you can&period; Each snippet could be used after all to coax the hostage-taker from the edge or even lead to the child being let free&period;<&sol;i><&sol;p>&NewLine;<figure id&equals;"attachment&lowbar;130185" aria-describedby&equals;"caption-attachment-130185" style&equals;"width&colon; 1000px" class&equals;"wp-caption aligncenter"><img class&equals;"size-large wp-image-130185" src&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;cdn&period;bagogames&period;com&sol;wp-content&sol;uploads&sol;2017&sol;10&sol;03171209&sol;DBH&lowbar;Screen&lowbar;Hostage08&lowbar;PS4&lowbar;E32017-1024x576&period;jpg" alt&equals;"" width&equals;"1000" height&equals;"563" &sol;><figcaption id&equals;"caption-attachment-130185" class&equals;"wp-caption-text">Detroit&colon; Become Human&comma; Sony Interactive Entertainment<&sol;figcaption><&sol;figure>&NewLine;<p class&equals;"western"><i>Then you talk to the rogue android&comma; using any negotiating tactic you can think of&period; You can fling promises&comma; you can try to be realistic or you can even try to break them with verbal abuse&period; Details from before can help you&comma; for instance maybe using the android&&num;8217&semi;s name will calm them&period; <&sol;i><&sol;p>&NewLine;<p class&equals;"western"><i>It actually ends up a pretty fantastic puzzle&comma; combining searching for evidence&comma; problem-solving and conversation trees into a tense bundle&period; I did find it a little easy my end&comma; picking the obvious options&comma; so I thought it wasn&&num;8217&semi;t failable&period; That is when my friend pressed the wrong button &lpar;because he&&num;8217&semi;s more used to Xbox controllers than PS4 controllers and had to press X for a conversation option&rpar; and splat went the child&period; However&comma; I do have a bother with the &OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;stabilisation” bar&comma; as rather than trying to work out if you&&num;8217&semi;re on the right or wrong track based on body language and speech you&&num;8217&semi;re just playing the numbers game&period; If your dialogue makes numbers go up&comma; pick that topic in the future if it makes it go down then avoid that topic&period; It feels like a rather inhuman approach&period; <&sol;i><&sol;p>&NewLine;<p class&equals;"western"><i>However&comma; I did still thoroughly enjoy the demo&&num;8217&semi;s gameplay and really do hope it reflects the end product&period; I especially hope the final form comes with a difficulty increase&period; So the adequate grade is a B-&period;<&sol;i><&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>&nbsp&semi;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p><img class&equals;"aligncenter size-large wp-image-130174" src&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;cdn&period;bagogames&period;com&sol;wp-content&sol;uploads&sol;2017&sol;10&sol;03165551&sol;IMG&lowbar;1467-1024x768&period;jpg" alt&equals;"" width&equals;"1000" height&equals;"750" &sol;><&sol;p>&NewLine;<p class&equals;"western" style&equals;"text-align&colon; center&semi;"><b>Game&colon; <&sol;b>Sonic Forces<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p class&equals;"western" style&equals;"text-align&colon; center&semi;"><b>Developer&colon; <&sol;b>Sonic Team<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p class&equals;"western" style&equals;"text-align&colon; center&semi;"><b>Format&colon; <&sol;b>PC&comma; Switch&comma; PS4 and Xbox One<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p class&equals;"western" style&equals;"text-align&colon; center&semi;"><b>Release Date&colon; <&sol;b>7<sup>th<&sol;sup> November 2017<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p class&equals;"western" style&equals;"text-align&colon; center&semi;"><b>Price&colon; <&sol;b>£34&period;99<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p class&equals;"western"><em>Sonic Forces<&sol;em> is a platformer following everyone&&num;8217&semi;s <span lang&equals;"en-GB">favorite<&sol;span> blue hedgehog &lpar;a common enough species&rpar;&period; The gameplay flips between 2d and 3d&comma; in a manner akin to<em> Sonic Generations<&sol;em>&period; Although the big new thing is Sonic Forces&&num;8217&semi; avatar creator&comma; as you can make a hedgehog character to fight alongside Sonic and Tails against Dr Robotnik&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p class&equals;"western"><i>Verdict&colon; I feel awkward giving this a fair shake because there is just so much personal baggage walking in&period; So I think I&&num;8217&semi;m going to first get my personal grievance out the way&comma; the one that I am sure others will strongly disagree with and I confess this might just be a personal issue than a fault with the game&period; This is simply as a disclaimer for the second part where I talk about the other thoughts&period;<&sol;i><&sol;p>&NewLine;<p class&equals;"western"><i>Here&&num;8217&semi;s my personal issue&colon; Sonic Forces made my skin crawl&period; It made me feel embarrassed to play in a convention setting&comma; despite knowing no one would judge me for trying it&period; This mostly kicked in on the second level I tried&comma; where Sonic and the avatar team up&period; The dialogue by Sonic to the avatar felt like awkward teenage fan-fiction&comma; the type people think of when they imagine the darkest bleakest layers of deviantART&period; Combined with my personal dislike of cheese &lpar;which when you have this dialogue layered alongside Force&&num;8217&semi;s equivalent of Sonic Adventure 2&&num;8217&semi;s City Escape&comma; you have enough cheese to render cows useless&rpar;&comma; I wanted out as soon as I could&period; Excluding what is pretty bad dialogue that reeks of fan-fiction&comma; this is likely a personal problem and may have affected my enjoyment with the gameplay&period;<&sol;i><&sol;p>&NewLine;<figure id&equals;"attachment&lowbar;130186" aria-describedby&equals;"caption-attachment-130186" style&equals;"width&colon; 1000px" class&equals;"wp-caption aligncenter"><img class&equals;"size-large wp-image-130186" src&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;cdn&period;bagogames&period;com&sol;wp-content&sol;uploads&sol;2017&sol;10&sol;03171524&sol;Banner-SonicForces-Trailer2-1024x576&period;jpg" alt&equals;"" width&equals;"1000" height&equals;"563" &sol;><figcaption id&equals;"caption-attachment-130186" class&equals;"wp-caption-text">Sonic Forces&comma; Sega<&sol;figcaption><&sol;figure>&NewLine;<p class&equals;"western"><i>Which getting to that&comma; it flits between humdrum to downright frustrating&period; Sonic Forces relies on being punished by being slowed down&comma; but this would only work for those who care about speed&period; For those who do like every mistake leading to a decrease in speed&comma; then you may have a better time than me with Sonic Forces&comma; as I was unafraid to slow down and make sure I wasn&&num;8217&semi;t about to suddenly connect my forehead with a brick wall at over 40mph&period; Where things became awkward was when the game itself also slowed down&comma; focusing more on platforming puzzles than gotta go fast&period; Your character seems to hate slowing down with the game&comma; the manic energy bubbling to escape as you suddenly find yourself propelled past every platform and into the ditch&period; I&&num;8217&semi;m always told Sonic games don&&num;8217&semi;t really work in a 3d realm&comma; and Sonic Forces feels like another nail in the 3d coffin&period; <&sol;i><&sol;p>&NewLine;<p class&equals;"western"><i>So Sonic Forces&comma; I&&num;8217&semi;m giving you an E-&period; Maybe I would have given an E or even E&plus; if I wasn&&num;8217&semi;t so turned off by the music and writing style&period; However&comma; the writing ability &lpar;style aside&rpar; and gameplay present either problems or mediocrity&period; So it deserves it&&num;8217&semi;s grade&comma; albeit with the warning&colon; You&&num;8217&semi;ll already know if you&&num;8217&semi;re buying it and probably going to enjoy it in some way&comma; but otherwise move on&period; Run away&period; Gotta go fast&period;<&sol;i><&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>&nbsp&semi;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p><img class&equals;"aligncenter size-large wp-image-130175" src&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;cdn&period;bagogames&period;com&sol;wp-content&sol;uploads&sol;2017&sol;10&sol;03165724&sol;IMG&lowbar;1448-1024x768&period;jpg" alt&equals;"" width&equals;"1000" height&equals;"750" &sol;><&sol;p>&NewLine;<p class&equals;"western" style&equals;"text-align&colon; center&semi;"><b>Game&colon; <&sol;b>Assassin&&num;8217&semi;s Creed Origins<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p class&equals;"western" style&equals;"text-align&colon; center&semi;"><b>Developer&colon; <&sol;b>Ubisoft Montreal<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p class&equals;"western" style&equals;"text-align&colon; center&semi;"><b>Format&colon; <&sol;b>PC&comma; PS4 and Xbox One<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p class&equals;"western" style&equals;"text-align&colon; center&semi;"><b>Release Date&colon; <&sol;b>October 27<sup>th<&sol;sup>&comma; 2017<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p class&equals;"western" style&equals;"text-align&colon; center&semi;"><b>Price&colon; <&sol;b>£49&period;99 &lpar;Game&rpar;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p class&equals;"western">I confess that for me <em>Assassin&&num;8217&semi;s Creed<&sol;em> has been absolutely forgettable for the past few years&period; <em>Revelation<&sol;em> left me unsure if I could be woo&&num;8217&semi;ed like <em>2<&sol;em> did long ago&comma; and<em> 3<&sol;em> made me almost certain&period; Sure <em>Black Flag<&sol;em> was a neat bit of fun&comma; but the relatively low difficulty mixed with a somewhat dull faceless protagonist left me burned out&period; Rumour has it <em>Rogue<&sol;em>&comma; <em>Unity<&sol;em>&comma; and <em>Syndicate<&sol;em> were games once released but occupies the same brain space that <em>Medal of Honour<&sol;em> does where information transmits into white noise&period; I did give the <em>Chronicle<&sol;em> series a punt&comma; but found it started okay but returned to familiar mediocrity&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p class&equals;"western">So it was understandable&comma; perhaps praiseworthy&comma; that Ubisoft wanted to take some time to reexamine itself&period; Maybe Ubisoft wanted to spend the extra year to &OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;rediscover itself” before making a new one&quest; So it&&num;8217&semi;s time to head to Ancient Egypt&comma; a land with few towers to scale but some new mechanics&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p class&equals;"western"><i>Verdict&colon; Let&&num;8217&semi;s run to the jugular and tear it out with our grinning teeth&colon; Does it feel fresh&quest; Definitely&period; The land is less parkour heavy than prior titles since Egypt isn&&num;8217&semi;t known for monoliths to scale&period; Instead&comma; there seems to be a greater focus on combat&period; You can equip different weapons and armor to aid taking enemies down&comma; especially as levels are important now&period; If you&&num;8217&semi;re over-leveled you&&num;8217&semi;ll rush through&comma; under-leveled then you&&num;8217&semi;ll need to fight smart rather than hard&period;<&sol;i><&sol;p>&NewLine;<figure id&equals;"attachment&lowbar;130187" aria-describedby&equals;"caption-attachment-130187" style&equals;"width&colon; 1000px" class&equals;"wp-caption aligncenter"><img class&equals;"size-large wp-image-130187" src&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;cdn&period;bagogames&period;com&sol;wp-content&sol;uploads&sol;2017&sol;10&sol;03171618&sol;AC-Origins-E3-2017-Preview-Shot-4-1024x576&period;jpg" alt&equals;"" width&equals;"1000" height&equals;"563" &sol;><figcaption id&equals;"caption-attachment-130187" class&equals;"wp-caption-text">Assassin&&num;8217&semi;s Creed&colon; Origins&comma; Ubisoft<&sol;figcaption><&sol;figure>&NewLine;<p class&equals;"western"><i>&&num;8230&semi;However&comma; I suspect its new equipment system will lead to some difficulty problems&period; Want to explore the land&comma; reap its fruit&quest; Go nuts&comma; but expect to out-level places in a game whose series already tend to be a little easy&period; I also found a little difficulty in the controls&comma; especially as they seem more geared for in-combat tactics&period; I was even able to assassinate mid-combat&comma; but I suspect that was a glitch&period;<&sol;i><&sol;p>&NewLine;<p class&equals;"western"><i>In addition&comma; the same ills return&period; If the side-mission is any sign&comma; the stakes weren&&num;8217&semi;t exactly delivered well&period; While I probably should be concerned about a slave wrongfully being threatened with torture and a lengthy death for a crime he didn&&num;8217&semi;t commit&comma; I was busy laughing at how this is delivered while the priest keeps slapping the slave in the back of his bald head while pinching his ear&period; It felt less like torture and death-threats and more like a headmaster giving the &OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;lessons of life” speech to a child&period; Add to this speaking animation where only the mouth moves&comma; I struggled to feel any investment besides busy work&period; <&sol;i><&sol;p>&NewLine;<p class&equals;"western"><i>So&comma; for a game that may hold potential but also suggests writing and difficulty management will continue to not be the series&&num;8217&semi;s strong suit&comma; Assassin&&num;8217&semi;s Creed&colon; Origins gets a C&plus;&period;<&sol;i><&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>&nbsp&semi;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p><img class&equals;"aligncenter size-large wp-image-130176" src&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;cdn&period;bagogames&period;com&sol;wp-content&sol;uploads&sol;2017&sol;10&sol;03165834&sol;IMG&lowbar;1451-1024x768&period;jpg" alt&equals;"" width&equals;"1000" height&equals;"750" &sol;><&sol;p>&NewLine;<p class&equals;"western" style&equals;"text-align&colon; center&semi;"><b>Game&colon; <&sol;b>Star Wars&colon; Battlefront 2<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p class&equals;"western" style&equals;"text-align&colon; center&semi;"><b>Developer&colon; <&sol;b>EA DICE<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p class&equals;"western" style&equals;"text-align&colon; center&semi;"><b>Format&colon; <&sol;b>PC&comma; PS4 and Xbox One<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p class&equals;"western" style&equals;"text-align&colon; center&semi;"><b>Release Date&colon; <&sol;b>17<sup>th<&sol;sup> November 2017<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p class&equals;"western" style&equals;"text-align&colon; center&semi;"><b>Price&colon; <&sol;b>£49&period;99 &lpar;Game&rpar;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p class&equals;"western"><em>Battlefront 2<&sol;em> had a lot to prove after its predecessor&period; While I wasn&&num;8217&semi;t interested &lpar;as <em>Star Wars<&sol;em> does nothing for me&rpar;&comma; I still remember the shrill screams of a friend who still shivers every time he remembers EA&&num;8217&semi;s <em>Battlefront<&sol;em>&period; After all&comma; the released form had removed a lot of features from the prior games and replaced them with tacky inclusions like having to steal tokens on the field to access vehicles which ran linearly like a theme park ride&period; Graphical prowess aside&comma; it was as though the series had stepped backward in content quality and quantity after 10 years&period; So would <em>Battlefront<&sol;em> listen to everyone&&num;8217&semi;s cries or smother it in more disappointment&quest;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p class&equals;"western"><i>Verdict&colon; I got to try the online mode as the republic&comma; fending off&&num;8230&semi;Droids&quest; The confusion isn&&num;8217&semi;t the game&&num;8217&semi;s fault&comma; I&&num;8217&semi;m just absolutely thick&period; First&comma; we had to try to blow up their carrier&comma; then stop them from capturing two points inside the palace and finally stop them from invading the throne room&period; There is a noticeable variation in objectives&period; While we did blow up the carrier&comma; it seems the demo was designed to allow us to see it all&period; <&sol;i><&sol;p>&NewLine;<p class&equals;"western"><i>We got the choice of four free classes to play as&comma; although more laid in wait for those with the score to bargain a purchase with&period; This score is generated by doing objectives&comma; killing the enemy&comma; helping your allies and more&period; Really&comma; unless you&&num;8217&semi;re getting crushed you&&num;8217&semi;ll eventually save up&period; You can even purchase heroes&comma; from Darth Maul to Han Solo&comma; with their own powers&period; There are also vehicles to buy&comma; including jets&period; I at one point bought myself a jet&comma; tried to help out and ended up just crashing into the floor&period; So safe to say&comma; you can use the jets to fly wherever&period;<&sol;i><&sol;p>&NewLine;<figure id&equals;"attachment&lowbar;130190" aria-describedby&equals;"caption-attachment-130190" style&equals;"width&colon; 1000px" class&equals;"wp-caption aligncenter"><img class&equals;"size-large wp-image-130190" src&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;cdn&period;bagogames&period;com&sol;wp-content&sol;uploads&sol;2017&sol;10&sol;03171930&sol;all-new-star-wars-battlefront-ii-trooper-classes-bf2-social&period;jpg&period;img&lowbar;-1024x576&period;jpg" alt&equals;"" width&equals;"1000" height&equals;"563" &sol;><figcaption id&equals;"caption-attachment-130190" class&equals;"wp-caption-text">Battlefront 2&comma; Electronic Arts<&sol;figcaption><&sol;figure>&NewLine;<p class&equals;"western"><i>There is one grumble&comma; a minor fly in this hearty porridge&period; Due to the points from your performance being used to purchase the vehicles&comma; advanced classes and heroes&comma; there is a concern of snowballing&period; After all&comma; if one side is dominating the other&comma; they&&num;8217&semi;re gaining more points which can be used to be even more powerful to crash even harder&period; That said&comma; if balanced well &lpar;including continuing to have the hero cap&rpar;&comma; this shouldn&&num;8217&semi;t be a problem&period;<&sol;i><&sol;p>&NewLine;<p class&equals;"western"><i>So&comma; for a good cheap fun time&comma; like having fast food for dinner&comma; Star Wars&colon; Battlefront 2 gets a grade of B-&period;<&sol;i><&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>&nbsp&semi;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p class&equals;"western">And thus we arrive at the final section&colon; The Bagogames AAA&sol;AA Game of EGX 2017&period; For the first time&comma; since I&&num;8217&semi;ve had to do these lists for three years now&comma; we arrive at a tie&period; I did try to put one above the other&comma; but I kept arriving at the same situation&colon; They were noteworthy for me due to the same reasons&period; That isn&&num;8217&semi;t to say they were similar&comma; at least besides being the same genre&period; While one I can see being used in professional e-sport settings&comma; the other is more relaxed and unusual&period; Yet both feel like they break and expand from established molds&comma; providing unusual gameplay executed strongly in its wake&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p class&equals;"western">So&comma; Bagogames&&num;8217&semi;s AAA&sol;AA Game&lpar;s&rpar; of EGX 2017 award goes to&&num;8230&semi;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>&nbsp&semi;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p><img class&equals;"aligncenter wp-image-130200 size-large" src&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;cdn&period;bagogames&period;com&sol;wp-content&sol;uploads&sol;2017&sol;10&sol;03173743&sol;Dragon-Ball-Fighter-Z-Photo-1024x576&period;jpg" alt&equals;"" width&equals;"1000" height&equals;"563" &sol;><&sol;p>&NewLine;<p class&equals;"western" style&equals;"text-align&colon; center&semi;"><b>Game&colon; <&sol;b>Dragon Ball Fighter Z<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p class&equals;"western" style&equals;"text-align&colon; center&semi;"><b>Developer&colon; <&sol;b>Arc System Works<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p class&equals;"western" style&equals;"text-align&colon; center&semi;"><b>Format&colon; <&sol;b>PC&comma; PS4&comma; and Xbox One<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p class&equals;"western" style&equals;"text-align&colon; center&semi;"><b>Release Date&colon; <&sol;b>2018<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p class&equals;"western" style&equals;"text-align&colon; center&semi;"><b>Price&colon; <&sol;b>£49&period;99 &lpar;Game&rpar;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>&nbsp&semi;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p><img class&equals;"aligncenter size-large wp-image-130183" src&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;cdn&period;bagogames&period;com&sol;wp-content&sol;uploads&sol;2017&sol;10&sol;03170927&sol;IMG&lowbar;1471-1024x768&period;jpg" alt&equals;"" width&equals;"1000" height&equals;"750" &sol;><&sol;p>&NewLine;<p class&equals;"western" style&equals;"text-align&colon; center&semi;"><b>Game&colon; <&sol;b>Dissidia Final Fantasy NT<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p class&equals;"western" style&equals;"text-align&colon; center&semi;"><b>Developer&colon; <&sol;b>Team Ninja<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p class&equals;"western" style&equals;"text-align&colon; center&semi;"><b>Format&colon; <&sol;b>PS4<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p class&equals;"western" style&equals;"text-align&colon; center&semi;"><b>Release Date&colon; <&sol;b> 30<sup>th<&sol;sup> January 2018<b> <&sol;b><&sol;p>&NewLine;<p class&equals;"western" style&equals;"text-align&colon; center&semi;"><b>Price&colon;<&sol;b><i> <&sol;i>£49&period;99 &lpar;Game&rpar;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p class&equals;"western">While both are fighting games based on established popular IPs&comma; the similarities end firmly there&period; <em>Dragon Ball Fighter Z<&sol;em> is a 3 v 3 2&period;5d tag-fighter based on the <em>Dragon Ball Z<&sol;em> property&period; On the other hand&comma; <em>Dissidia<&sol;em> is a 3d 3v3 fighter based on the <em>Final Fantasy<&sol;em> series&comma; with each character either being controlled by AI or by players and both sides holding the same amount of shared team lives&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p class&equals;"western"><i>Verdict&colon; Which damn they play differently to their competition&period; Dissidia is an ongoing series&comma; but this marks the first time it has made an entrance onto consoles&period; Each familiar character you choose has a style of play &lpar;often split up into archetypes&rpar;&comma; there is a range of moves with some being customisable for you to decide upon &lpar;which can be pre-set as desired&rpar;&comma; you can pick a summon for your team and then off you go into large arenas&period; The combat often focuses on auto-lock-ons combined with damage being dealt to areas rather than being surgically targeted&period; <&sol;i><&sol;p>&NewLine;<p class&equals;"western"><i>There is a definite sense of team-work being encouraged&period; Each side has a shared amount of lives which encourages defending weaker allies&comma; rather than fighting for yourself&period; There is also nothing stopping you and an ally from just kicking ten bells out of one enemy in the corner to win&period; However&comma; clustering together leaves everyone prone to vicious area attacks&period;<&sol;i><&sol;p>&NewLine;<figure id&equals;"attachment&lowbar;130192" aria-describedby&equals;"caption-attachment-130192" style&equals;"width&colon; 1000px" class&equals;"wp-caption aligncenter"><img class&equals;"size-large wp-image-130192" src&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;cdn&period;bagogames&period;com&sol;wp-content&sol;uploads&sol;2017&sol;10&sol;03172345&sol;Dragon-Dissidia-Fighter-NT-1024x288&period;jpg" alt&equals;"" width&equals;"1000" height&equals;"281" &sol;><figcaption id&equals;"caption-attachment-130192" class&equals;"wp-caption-text">Dragon Ball Fighter Z&comma; Bandai Namco Entertainment &amp&semi; Dissidia Final Fantasy NT&comma; Square Enix<&sol;figcaption><&sol;figure>&NewLine;<p class&equals;"western"><i>Dragon Ball Fighter Z&comma; on the other hand&comma; looks absolutely fantastic and fluid to watch as it blends animated scenes like you&&num;8217&semi;d find in an episode&comma; with gameplay&period; However&comma; what it does well is the daring decision to reinvent the typical 2&period;5d&sol;2d fighting control scheme&period; For instance&comma; you now have a specific ranged-attack button&period; While on the surface this seems like a horrible plan cooked up in a poorly ventilated room with open paint tins scattered about&comma; the inclusion of a single-button dash move that closes the distance avoids the frustration of ranged stun-lock in favor of ranged just being another trick in your arsenal&period; Overall&comma; Dragon Ball Fighter Z encourages a new brand of tactical fighter play with its unique control scheme and possible basic moves to throw around&period; After all&comma; the advanced chess-like plays are built upon the basic groundwork&comma; and Dragon Ball Fighter Z has a new basic groundwork&period; <&sol;i><&sol;p>&NewLine;<p class&equals;"western"><i>That isn&&num;8217&semi;t to say they&&num;8217&semi;re without problems&period; Dissidia has a very limited roster of 14&period; Dragon Ball Fighter Z does have a noticeable learning curve due to its new controls&period; Although these are minor flaws &lpar;and some could make a very good case of my Dragon Ball Fighter Z criticism not being one at all&rpar; in what look to be incredibly solid fighting game titles&period; They usher in fresh air&comma; solid mechanics and a colorful beautiful animation style&period; So&comma; thank you Dissidia and Dragon Ball Fighter Z for gracing EGX 2017 with your presence&period; Please don&&num;8217&semi;t squabble over the print-friendly Bagogames AAA&sol;AA Game of EGX 2017&comma; there&&num;8217&semi;s enough printer ink for all&period;<&sol;i><&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>&nbsp&semi;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p class&equals;"western">That isn&&num;8217&semi;t to say that&&num;8217&semi;s it for EGX 2017 coverage&period; We&&num;8217&semi;ve got the Indie Games of EGX 2017 list&comma; we have cosplay photos and more interviews than you can shake a stick at &lpar;if the number of interviews you can shake a stick at is a sufficiently low enough number&rpar;&period; We&&num;8217&semi;ve got plenty to come for those hungry to learn what wonderful electronic creations are coming in the forthcoming months&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;

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