Yesterday, at the first day of RTX 2015, I had the opportunity to interview Ian from The Behemoth. I asked him some intriguing questions about The Behemoth’s new game Pit People. Pit People, which was previously named Video Game 4 since it is the developers fourth game, was an absolute blast to play.

I sat down and played a 30-40 minute demo of the first segment of the game. I can only describe the game as tremendously funny and full of the kind of trademark fast paced action that has become The Behemoth’s trademark. This still holds true, even though the game is a turn based strategy game. When I asked Ian about the change to turn based strategy he replied that “At The Behemoth, we like to change things up. All of our games so far take aspects from different genres of games. From sidescroller beat em up to puzzle based. As you have probably noticed we don’t make sequels. With Pit People we felt like we had the ability to bring aspects of the turn based strategy genre to a casual gaming audience.” 

I found out while playing Pit People that everything Ian described  was completely true. Right off the bat the narrator scatters funny one liners and jokes throughout the dialogue. The combat as he essentially described resembles a traditional turn based strategy game. When i asked Ian what kind of games the minds at The Behemoth took inspiration from he replied that “We could compare the turn based combat to Fire Emblem or XCOM.” This was quite true, especially when it came to the games gameplay in relation to Fire Emblem. In my opinion the game drew aspects from the Civilization series as well. This was because of the hexagonal tiles that are used to navigate the map. This allows for a more unique navigation when compared to strategy games that take place on a traditional grid.

Overall i found the party combat and overall aesthetic of Pit People to be an absolute blast. The Behemoth once again has created a unique and fun game to play. Now all I have to do is wait to buy it on the PC.

The Behemoth – Pit People (Xbox One & PC) – Release TBA

The Souls series is anything but easy; its trademark difficulty has led to countless broken controllers from hundreds of gamers. The next project from FromSoftware titled Bloodborne comes from the same mind who was the inspiration behind Demon Souls & Dark Souls. Bloodborne, a PS4 exclusive, takes place in the ancient fictional city of Yharnam. Here, the player is looking for a cure for a curse/illness that maddens those it infects and makes them almost act like shambling hollow beings that are not quite zombies but certainly no longer human. It appears that the illness also infected the other creatures lurking in this Gothic styled city, a city where the players will fight mobs of enemies and deranged creatures.

The Souls series is a Dungeon-RPG, utilizing skill points gained from leveling up to allow players to build a character play style unique to their needs. The immense difficulty is characteristic of the series and can be found in every iteration. Specifically, the placement of the enemies that are encountered is simply unfair; however, this appeals to many gamers who seek a challenging game with a steep learning curve.

From what was shown at the Tokyo Game Show this past September, Bloodborne will not depart too far from the series (Link to Video). Unlike the other Souls games, the player will no longer have a shield to hide behind which would allow players to examine their foes before attacking, speeding up the feel of the game. Now players will have to analyze their foes on the go, and decisions in combat will be more split-second than planned. But, to compensate for this change, the developers decided to make the player characters incredibly quick, far faster than previous game. This offsets the inability to block with a shield by “turtling” behind it. The new, fast-paced play style will force even veteran Souls players to adapt and change how they play the game and how they perceive these new enemies.

The players of Bloodborne will be equipped for a quite a fight: weapons revealed include lances, swords, hammers, scythes, and even a flintlock pistol of some sort. There is, however, a unique feature for some of the weapons. From gameplay revealed to the public, some weapons have shown to have shafts extends and blades folds out, allowing players to use a single weapon for multiple forms of engagement—a short shaft for close quarters and a longer one for when you are farther away. Not much is known as to how the player will be able to switch modes, but from what has been revealed from gameplay trailers, it appears to be able to function on the fly, allowing for quick transformations. This new feature will also affect how players will build their characters stats and strengths.

Another gameplay aspect that has been associated with the Souls series is the ability to summon other players in order to beat portions of the game such as a horde of tough enemies or a boss that you keep dying to. In Bloodborne, players will be able to summon other players with a bell-like item which will be heard in other player’s world. If the person who hears the bell wants to join in they will ring a smaller bell-like item and will be sent into the other player’s world. Once in the other world they can assist the host of the world with killing monsters and abominations. However if the summoned players are to die they won’t respawn in the hosts world but instead will return to their own. This form of cooperation will provide struggling players a means to conquer a challenging area in game. The feeling of beating a difficult boss or area in the Souls series is quite a triumphant feeling, especially if you have been fighting a boss for an hour or two due to the relentless difficulty.

From a graphics standpoint, Bloodborne is amazing to look at for a game, its gritty appearance juxtaposed against the Gothic style architecture provides gamers with a unique atmosphere to explore and fight in. Fighting will range from ruined streets, to infested sewers, to enormous graveyards and to other areas one would expect to find in a Renaissance-era city. The game will be in 1080p and will stay locked in at around 45FPS. This, combined with all other elements going into this game, packages it into a truly unique and innovative entry into the series as a whole. Bloodborne, in my opinion, is the first noteworthy game of this new year when it comes out on the PS4 on March 24, 2015. It will be followed by several other big game releases such as Battlefield: Hardline (which comes out the same day) and The Witcher 3 (which I will focus on later) in the month of May. Too bad it doesn’t come out before Spring Break because this will be a time consumer.

Few books turn into good, let alone successful, game series. The Witcher series by Polish writer Andrzej Sapkowski is one of the few that has accomplished just this. While the author was able to create a diverse and unique fantasy world that includes humans, dwarves, elves and monsters, the most unique aspect of the series is its extreme focus on magic and detailed characteristics of its uses and conjuring. Andrzej was also able to create a unique character type that could act as a means of bringing his interpretation of magic to life, these warriors are called Witchers. Witchers are monster hunters that receive special training and are exposed to deadly positions and training at a young age in order to make them deadly sword wielders and powerful conduits of magic.

The first game adaption of the books came out in 2007, titled simply The Witcher and was developed by Polish developer CD Projekt RED. The fact that they are based in Warsaw allowed the developers easy access to Andrzej since he himself is a Polish national, which made the interpretation and story of the game so spot on and accurate. The Witcher was released on the PC, Mac, and Linux and was a well received RPG game since it was the developers first game to be published. A sequel was released in 2011 titled The Witcher 2: Assassins of Kings on the PC, Mac, Linux and Xbox 360 and it continued The Witcher story beyond the books and was also well received. Now the final installment in the trilogy will be released on May 19, 2015, titled The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt.

The story in the game series and the books follows a particular witcher named Geralt of Rivia as well as to several of his close friends and fellow witchers. The white haired witcher is a skilled swordsmen and hexer; this allows the players to use either magic or blades in combat. In order to be relatively good in the game however you will need to combine the two for various situations. CD Projekt RED announced that even though this is the 3rd and final game in the series, new players won’t be subject to a steep learning curve or confusing story since they are able to flush out the story in an easy-to-understand fashion in the beginning of the game to catch up new fans with the series. This will more than likely be achieved through in game dialogue and a intro cinematic, so don’t be afraid to try this game out. Though lacking in multiplayer, the previous games have a deep and truly unique story written by the author of the books, and this absolutely makes up for the fact. The only known plot lines revealed thus far talk of a war in the north of the kingdom that the game takes place in and of the raiding and sporadic attacks by an elvish cavalry unit called The Wild Hunt. Geralt will be tasked to fight both as they apparently tie into one another to a certain degree. CD Projekt RED has also announced that a female witcher in training named Ciri will be a playable character during different acts of the game, but the exact length of this is unknown.

Gameplay in the series is a simple to learn, hard to master, hack-n-slash RPG with tactical elements thrown in to provide variety in combat. Like many other RPG games, The Witcher’s HUD includes a health bar and a bar that represents your magic reserve and active spells/abilities. Players will discover that different combinations of magic and attack strategies will be more effective on various enemies whether they are griffons, werewolves, vampires, humans etc. For example, if the player uses fire based spells with a silver sword while fighting a vampire, they will deal incredible amounts of damage. This brings up another aspect regarding the game. All witchers are equipped with a silver sword and a iron sword with fragments of meteors for increased durability. Silver swords are more effective on monsters and in some cases are the only means to hurt some enemies, while the iron sword is more effective on humanoid enemies (ie Humans, Elves, Dwarves). Potions and elixirs will also be present on the HUD in order to be used to regain health or buff your attacks or increase your magic reserve. In contrast to several notable hack-n-slash games, this series’s gameplay requires the player to dodge and block. This is different since most mainstream hack-n-slash games force the player to block or simply run from enemy attacks. In The Witcher series there is a dedicated button for dodging much like theDark Souls series. In other words, players will find the game difficult if they rely solely on blocking and taking hits. This is a result of the gameplay mechanics since the player can’t block every attack let alone receive little damage alone from a strike, so be prepared to dodge and role quite a bit in order to escape your enemies’ attacks.

CD Projekt RED has out done themselves again with this game. Gameplay revealed has depicted a diverse and unique environment ranging from snow covered towns to lush green countrysides. The game will also be one of the first to truly utilize all assets set aside on the next gen/ current gen consoles. This is because the game will not be coming out on neither the PS3 nor  Xbox 360, but instead solely on the PC, PS4, and the Xbox One. The resolution and FPS differ on all platforms, yet visually, unless you are running the game on ultra with a PC, there is hardly a difference between the three. CD Projekt RED also announced that all 16 DLC’s for the game will be free, a nice alternative to publishers such as Ubisoft and EA who charge outrageous amounts of money for minimal extra content. This is a trend I would like to see more often. In fact most gamers would enjoy this (the 40% drop in Ubisoft profits defend this). I also included a simple graph chart above that CD Projekt RED made in order to explain the changes in the game compared to the rest of the series.

Gamers should expect a climatic and epic ending to the series as a whole with the release of this game. Because it comes out right before finals, I would suggest playing it after the fact in order to do well on the finals and since it is such a long and immerse game. Plus you will enjoy it more if you are able to play it in large chunks rather than 30 minute incriminates. It will be a good start for the summer and is actually the only notable game coming out in the summer release window. So I suggest picking up the game and playing the final chapter of The Witcher series.

Trailer link here for those wondering.

*Note that this list is purely my own opinion. I’m basing it off of originality, past performances by developers, and released content thus far.

 

10.

Just Cause 3 – Avalanche Studios (PS4, Xbone, PC) 2015

Just Cause 2 was one word: chaos. Heck, the currency system collected by destroying a dictator’s military facilities was even called Chaos. The series is an open-world, action adventure game, and the previous game’s map of islands took about 50 minutes to drive from coast-to-coast depending on the vehicle and route. The combat is easy and action-packed. Any gamer who just wants to blow off some steam and help usher in the collapse of an evil dictatorship will enjoy this series. The new game with be set in the Mediterranean Sea and will star the games protagonist, Agent Rico Rodriguez, who works for an agency similar to the CIA. There is no doubt this game will be fun to play but it will more than likely lack a decent story. But this is Just Cause, when has story ever really mattered?

9.

Tom Clancy’s Rainbow Six: Siege- Ubisoft Montreal (PS4, Xbone, PC) 2015

The Rainbow Six series has always been tactical; players require the utmost communication and precision in their squad if they want to complete a mission. Rainbow Six: Siege takes this idea and goes deeper—Siege‘s headline feature is its 5 v 5 multiplayer which pits 5 counter-terrorist soldiers against 5 terrorists, who in the premier gameplay trailer take a hostage which the good guys need to rescue. The catch? You only have one life. At first this seems like a Counter Strike Spin off; yet as revealed in the trailer, the entire environment is destructible, including ceilings, walls, stairs, etc. The gameplay and interviews provided by Ubisoft don’t show that much, but knowing the Rainbow Six series, this game will be difficult and will require a ton of communication between teammates if you want to win. Trailer for the gameplay is here.

8.

Batman: Arkham Knight- Rocksteady Studios (PS4, Xbone, PC) June 2, 2015

The final game in the Arkham series looks quite promising. I myself still find the first one to be the most memorable but from what gameplay gamers have seen thus far, combined with the fact that Rocksteady Studios is developing this one (unlike Origins which was a let down), gives me high hopes for this installment in the franchise. The combat engine has been redone and will play a lot like Shadow of Mordor when it comes to combat since the two games share the same quick time combat system. If you weren’t a fan of Mordor‘s combat I would stay away from this game. From the trailer it seems that Gotham is in a state of utter anarchy and it’s up to Batman to save Gotham one last time. If you enjoyed the combat and can’t wait to drive the Batmobile through Gotham, I suggest picking this game up as soon as it drops exclusively on the next-gen—which I guess is now the current gen. Here is a link to an awesome cinematic trailer.

7.

Rise of the Tomb Raider- Crystal Dynamix ( Xbone, PC, PS4?) 2015

The newest reboot of the Tomb Raider series was one of my favorite games of 2013, with gameplay that mimics the Uncharted series but far more gruesome and brutal. The combat and stealth, not to mention the sick use of a bow and arrows, made the first game in this reboot set it apart from other action games in 2013. It was my second favorite game after the DICE 2013 game of the year, The Last of Us. Yet Tomb Raider gave players a new origins story for Lara Croft. Over the course of the first game, players see her transformation from a naive archaeologist into a ruthless killer as she kills hundreds to get off an island. However, the trailer for this game (here) shows that Lara apparently suffers from PTSD after the events of the first game. Not much is known about the story but if it is anything like the previous one, this game will be a contender for one of the best action adventure games of the year.

6.

The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt-  CD Projekt RED (PS4, Xbone, PC) May 19, 2015

I personally would have put this game farther up on the list since it looks the most finished and ready for release, but few at Jesuit have heard of this franchise. This series, in a few words, is The Elderscrolls V: Skyrim on steroids. The game is far more difficult and complex and makes the latter seem like child’s play. Players will find themselves controlling the series’ protagonist, Geralt of Rivia, for the third time in the massive world that is The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt. I don’t want to spoil any plot elements but this game’s action RPG-style combat and story will provide players with a memorable experience. It also has a nice spring release right before the summer. Here is a link to a trailer (Mature Content, you are warned)

5.

Star Wars Battlefront- DICE (PS4, Xbone, PC) December 2015

Star Wars Battlefront I & II were incredible games that came out on the original Xbox, PS2, PC, and the PSP. The games allowed players to engage in battles of 16 v 16 (32 v 32 on PC) throughout the Star Wars universe. Its 3rd person and 1st person action felt a lot like the original Battlefield, which is ironic since the new Battlefront is being developed by Dice, the people behind the series’ “Frostbite” engine that allows the games to have destructible environments. Imagine Battlefield 4 re-skinned and debugged combined with the Star Wars universe, forming a Battlefield-Battlefront hybrid. Since no non-alpha gameplay has been shown to the public, all we know about this mysterious yet promising game is that it will play like Battlefield. Teaser Trailer here.

4.

Uncharted 4: A Thief’s End- Naughty Dog (PS4) 2015

Naughty Dog has been busy since they finished The Last of Us,which was the DICE game of the year in 2013. Since then, and probably before then, Naughty Dog has been working on Nathan Drake’s next adventure. Taking place 3 years after Uncharted 3, Nathan Drake (voiced by Nolan North) is approached by his older brother, Sam (voiced by Troy Baker), who he believed to be dead. Apparently, Sam needs Drake’s help in order to obtain a treasure for an unknown third party. The game itself will play a lot like The Last of Us but will be far less brutal. The series is known for its lighthearted humor, and Nathan Drake is almost like a modern-day Indiana Jones so he won’t suddenly become a cold blooded killer like Joel in The Last of Us.  The same writers are also working on the game, so expect an amazing story, and not to mention the 2 best male voice actors. Both Nolan North and Troy Baker have hundreds of past noteworthy rules in video games, cartoons, and anime, including Troy Baker as Joel in The Last of Us. And besides being Nathan Drake, Nolan North was Desmond Miles in the Assassins Creed games. So expect an incredibly detailed and action packed adventure. Here is a link to some gameplay.

3.

Halo 5: Guardians – 343 (Xbone) 2015

Several thousand players already played the beta for Halo 5: Guardians this past break. I, along with multiple other critics, weren’t fond of the changes to the once simple shooter, but all of my criticisms of this series’ past mistakes by 343 could be a review on its on. Anyone who has grown up with the Halo franchise is well aware that what kept people playing the game was the story that is arguably one of the best in the FPS genre. 343 is milking this franchise like a cow when it comes to gameplay, and they have provided some decent story elements that don’t even rival that of Bungie’s entries in the series. Yet this game will finally provide Xbox One owners a reason to own their console, as the graphics are simply amazing. If I wasn’t a Halo purist who enjoys the older games more, I would argue that this game’s gameplay is impressive, although I would never compare it to the Classic Halo games. The scoping-in feature, reminiscent of aiming down the sights, and the quick movements ruins the game. The armor that players wear weighs roughly a thousand pounds according to the lore of the franchise. Halo’s 1-3 took place over a 2 week period in which the Spartans were hulking giants, and only a few years have passed since then. The Spartans have turned into acrobats. It complete tears apart the whole super soldier idea made by Bungie and provides plot holes and questions to players who want to play the story. Despite this, I have a feeling this game will hopefully have a decent story, and if not this is my last Halo game. Reveal Trailer link.

2.

Bloodborne – FromSoftware (PS4) March 24, 2015

From the mind of Hidetaka Miyazaki, the man behind Demon Souls, and Dark Souls I, & Dark Souls II, comes Bloodborne. Taking after his past creations, Miyazaki has created another game that has the Soul’s series’ combat and difficulty. The game itself takes place in a gothic, Victorian-esque town where all of the natives have become tainted and mad. The player attempts to gain a cure for a deadly disease said to be housed deep inside the city, past countless ghouls, monsters and zombie-like natives. Gameplay for the game thus far shows grueling and strenous combat that will provide players with the utmost challenge, and unlike the other Soul’s games, players have no shield to hide behind. Combat will be incredibly fast-paced, on the fly, and absolutely unforgiving. Yet players on this PS4 exclusive will be able to summon other players to help them during their dangerous and epic journey through a town plagued with madness. On a final note, this game is a dungeon RPG that can’t be beaten by normal hack-and-slash since if you run out of stamina, you can’t move and will probably die since this game is all about precise dodges and counters. This is my personal favorite exclusive that will be coming to either consoles. Here is a link to some awesome gameplay.

1.

Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain – Kojima Productions (PS4, Xbone, PC, PS3, 360) 2015

Hideo Kojima, the mind behind the Metal Gear, series has been planning this game for about 28 years, and the story he has told through all of the previous games leads up to this final, climactic story intertwined with Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain. This action-stealth game which created the stealth genre in past games of the franchise has a rumored world that is apparently 8 times larger than that of Grand Theft Auto V. The game follows Big Boss, a former green beret turned mercenary, who is out for vengeance against those who killed the people close to him and destroyed the place that he loved in  Metal Gear Solid V: Ground Zeroes. The game and story will be a tragedy, since from previous games, which take place in more current years than this games early 80′s timeline, we know that Big Boss ultimately becomes the villian through a long and painful transformation that leads to the deaths of thousands, including those close to him. The game will more than likely be rated M for Alcohol, Sexual Acts, Violence, Language, and brutal uber realistic gore and blood; not to mention things such as human trafficking, blood diamonds and child soldiers will all play a role in this game. For more information on the game that I am already betting will when game of the year, check out my Preview Article on The Roundup here and a great trailer here. Fantastic Fan Made compilation trailer here as well.

When I asked my fellow classmates if they had ever heard of the Metal Gear franchise, few had any idea what I was talking about. I find it kind of ironic that the franchise that created the stealth genre revolutionized 3rd person gameplay, and always attempted to be the best at telling stories in its own medium was, for the most part, off the radar of the average gamer. Created and still produced by the same man, Hideo Kojima, the Metal Gear franchise has spanned over 25 (It’ll be 28 in 2015) years! The original game, which launched in 1987 on the MSX2, was a top down stealth shooter that was well received in its day. After several top down sequels, the next innovative game in the series hit the original Playstation in the year of 1998. This title was called Metal Gear Solid and, once again, set the standard for stealth in gaming. In other words, all modern stealth games owe MGS for the common grounded standards of the stealth genre. The next sequel came to the Playstation 2, and was well received, but not as well as the following installment: Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater, a prequel of the entire series. (I won’t even attempt to explain the storyline because of its complexity and sheer depth, qualities that make it such a great series.)  Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots was thought to be the final game, as it ended the story of the main character Solid Snake. Released for the Playstation 3, I honestly thought it was a concise and proper ending. I had no further urge for them to continue the series after ending it on such a high note. This, however, would change when I caught wind of Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain.

Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain will be both a prequel to Metal Gear Solid and a sequel to Metal Gear Solid 3. It will follow MGS3′s protagonist, Big Boss (aka Naked Snake), whose DNA is cloned to form Solid Snake (the protagonist of MGS1, MGS2, and MGS4.) In MGS3, the prequel to the new game, Big Boss is the protagonist; a green beret turned CIA asset who is ultimately betrayed by his country for the greater good of the US in a Cold War missile crisis. Turning his back on the country that betrayed him, Big Boss forms a Private Military Company, MSF, in order to continue his work as a soldier on the battlefield. In last year’s mini game, though, Metal Gear Solid V: Ground Zeroes (which takes only around 1-4 hours to beat and acts as a demo for the full game) Big Boss loses not only his company but also many of his close friends. His life work, built by his own blood, sweat and tears, is destroyed in a sneak attack by an unknown faction. This is where Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain picks up.

9 years after barely surviving an explosion from a device implanted inside of a female character (and possible love interest in Ground Zeroes), Big Boss (I’ll call him Snake from here on) awakes from a medically-induced coma and is informed of his condition. He lost his entire left arm from the elbow down in the explosion, and suffered severe injuries to his face from the shrapnel, thus explaining the chunk of metal in his head that can be seen in promotional trailers and screenshots. Not long after this, the hospital Snake is being treated in is attacked by unknown forces, presumably the same that destroyed his company and killed most of his friends. Somehow Snake gets escapes, and what follows is mostly unknown. What we do know is that Snake somehow arrives in a early 1980′s Afghanistan and is told by his long time rival, Revolver Ocelot (voiced by Troy Baker) that his best friend Kaz Miller (known as Master Miller to others) survived the explosion and is still alive and being tortured by Russian Observers in a fire base deep in Afghanistan. This is where the first known actual gameplay of the game occurs.

Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain is an open world stealth/action game, which ties into the first mission quite well. The player is tasked with gathering intel on Kaz’s exact location and must plan an infiltration to rescue his friend while maintaining a discreet form of engagement with the enemies. What makes this game stand out from other open world games is the mere scale and attention to detail in the first level alone.  The playable area of Afghanistan is about the size of Los Santos from GTA:V, and have I told you that Afghanistan is one of 8 free roam areas in the game?!? This presumably makes the playable area of Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain 8 TIMES LARGER THAN GTA:V! The game also runs the best game engine when it comes to lighting, graphics, sound and physics. All cutscenes and gameplay are processed through the same engine making the graphical difference between gameplay and cutscenes almost impossible to notice. The gameplay and cutscenes are so lifelike that camera stills of child soldiers were used by a news broadcast describing the life of a child soldier! (Link for the non believers.)

The game’s world will also feature real time weather and passage of time, which at first may not seem that impressive,, but the scale is what makes it so impressive. When I say real time, I mean the game follows real time as in each hour in game is an hour in real life. This adds a sense of immersion into the game since for the first mission you are given 3 days to save Kaz. Luckily, players can speed time up if they want to raid an outpost at night since the AI in the game takes into account the actual view and awareness of your enemies in varying situations. The weather also plays a role in this, severe sandstorms prevent communication and obscure the enemies’ line of sight in the Afghanistan area and so far the only other weather feature shown in the Zanzibar region of the game has severe tropical storms that restrict movement and visibility. This will also affect piloting helicopters and driving vehicles such as tanks or APCs as the player. The game worlds themselves were created with options in mind. As Snake, the player has every option and tactic in the book in order to achieve his goal, whether that be sneaking into a supply cache for weapons and setting a charge to detonate on it at a safe distance to calling in reinforcements from your home base to do a frontal assault on a compound. You can even call in helicopter to level your enemies fortifications while humming Ride of the Valkyries.

The game, shouldn’t be all that difficult to a new player, at least on easier difficulties, but it will test your patience in stealth situations, where you as a player will be forced to make split second decisions that could possibly compromise your entire mission. Combat will function like any other 3rd person shooter except for bullet range, wind and trajectory, which will all be key to your success. For example, you will have to adjust your sights when using a tranquilizer gun or a suppressed weapon because combat level suppressed weapons use chilled rounds which, in turn, make them drop far more than unsuppressed bullets. Also, just like they do in real life, suppressors wear out over time, an aspect you should keep in mind since stealth is essential to this genre of game. The player will also have to hide bodies of dead or incapacitated soldiers in order to keep the other unaware. This, added to the fact that enemies will in some cases infinitely spawn/ be deployed into the battlefield as long as they maintain communications and a line of sight of the player, makes the run and gun option viable only in small encounters, which means you as the player will have to use your brain and tactics in order to fool an enemy that severely outnumbers you.

Customization and play styles are also fully up to the player, if you want to go into a fight guns-a-blazing with a belt-fed machine gun, revolver and RPG like Rambo, go ahead. If you want to take the stealthy and smart approach (the only viable option on harder difficulties), you can enter the battle as a silent killer with a suppressed sniper rifle, tranquilizer gun and bowie knife; it is entirely up to the player. Since the game isn’t even out yet, I’m sure there will be more features and other combat aspects of the game. In addition to customizing your own Snake, the player will also be attempting to recreate their old PMC operation as a sort of base-building mini game. This takes place on and off the battlefield, since armaments and ordinance captured in game can be shipped back to your mother base. If you aren’t the stealing type you can also purchase improvements for your base with resources you find in game, and trust me–you will need them. The only revealed aspect of multiplayer so far is a game mode where you attack other bases in Clash of Clans-esque raids where you lead recruits and members of your own PMC group, The Diamond Dogs, against another player and his forces that include everything from guard dogs to drones, tanks to jets. It’s worth pointing out that another game mode will be revealed later this month so this will not be the entirety of the multiplayer side of MGSV.

However, unlike other games on the market, the story mode and journey the player will take part in as Snake will be the major focus of the game as a whole. When I say journey, I mean the fact that, at the beginning of the game, you are a hero, fallen from grace and seeking revenge on those who harmed those close to you. You aren’t fighting for a country, an ideology, or even god for that matter; your character wants nothing short of revenge after everything is taken from him. This sense of loss and remorse portrayed by Snake, voiced by Kiefer Sutherland,will be the theme of the game. As players of Metal Gear Solid 1, 2 and 4 already know, Big Boss or Naked Snake, ends up becoming the antagonist and evil figurehead of the other games. Players already know how it ends, yet the transformation of this iconic character from soldier of fortune hero to cold-blooded killer he becomes later in his life is currently unexplained by the other games. Metal Gear Solid V attempts to answer this 25+ year old question as to how this character is overcome by his own emotions and demons. The player must sadly endure this tragedy and fall from the heroic standard down into the turmoil embodied by the character in other games. Themes that will be touched on in this game include, torture, drugs, violence, sexual crimes, and child soldiers to name a few. (If my description of this isn’t getting the point across watch this trailer. Link right here)

Hideo Kojima, the creator of the game, stated that he wants players to realize that even the best people in regards to purpose and moral identity can fall from grace and become the very thing that they are fighting against. In this case you are Snake and his Diamond Dogs (his PMC) fighting against a unknown and mysterious faction, yet as players of previous games of the series already know, Snake and the Diamond Dogs are perfect exapmles of this idea later on, committing horrible atrocities against humanity. This idea of a tragedy isn’t new to anyone, the medium and mere 25 years in real life to complete it however has not been done before. A 25+ year old game series has led up to this climactic ending, and you, the player, will be forced to watch it and no doubt commit awful acts of violence. Let me be clear, this game is not for the faint of heart, its portrays war and violence in an incredibly realistic and gritty nature. In my opinion it does this better than The Last of Us, and this is coming only from the demo prequel and trailers for this game.

Hideo Kojima also stated that he wants the player to question their own morality as they play this game, because gaming as a medium allows the player to interact with a world and receive a story in a way that movies and books simply can’t. Everything will be from your perspective; you as the player will have to pull the trigger of the gun trained at the back of your friends. You will have to execute your soldiers for desertion and spying against you. As a human, Snake will ultimately destroy everything and everyone around him, acting as an emotional time bomb. Yet the mere event that causes this dramatic shift in the character’s personality is unknown to players and excites me the most when it comes to this games story.

The player as Snake will ultimately embrace their/Snake’s inner demons and become the bad guy. This will occur throughout a long process since the game is rumored to be the LARGEST CONSOLE GAME EVER at a size of over 100GBs! This means the game will more than likely be 2-3 Blu Rays discs and will take up 1/5 of the space on the new next gen consoles. The game itself is being developed on the PS4 and will be ported to the Xbox One and PC, with a crummier version being put on the PS3 and Xbox 360. (Since it can’t read blu-ray discs, there will be about 9 discs for the install on the Xbox 360. Good luck.) An additional exclusive disc of content is rumored to be on the PS4 since Sony and Konami, the games publishers, have always been very close to one another (All Major MGS main game entries have been Sony Exclusives).

In summary Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain will make the player question their moral compass in this third person action/stealth free roam game. It will be the final entry in the series from Hideo Kojima, who will be working on Silent Hills and has no further interest in the franchise after what is sure to be a conclusive and bittersweet end. No set release date has been set for MGSV but Kojima promised a 2015 release, as the game has been in production since 2008. I personally am predicting that this game will win game of the year 2015 with its simply superior graphics, benchmark story, gameplay and development history seen in just the gameplay trailers. No doubt from a mere data standpoint, this will literally be the biggest/largest game ever released on a console, so it has that going for it.

Here is a final fan-made trailer that is a compilation of the best moments of the trailers that have been released thus far.

This is an Excerpt from my article I wrote for my school’s paper, The Round Up. This explains why I will be addressing the students at my school, Jesuit College Prep.

Truly an Epic Experience

                  Few gamers haven’t heard of Bungie, if they haven’t they certainly have heard of the Halo Series. So it makes perfect sense that many students at Jesuit may be “sick” on September 9^th since Bungie’s new game, Destiny, will be released on the next gen and last gen systems. The hype behind this game has been growing ever since its announcement and hints towards its founding and early development can be seen all the way back into easter eggs all the way back to Halo 3: ODST back in 2009. The time spent on making this game along with the FIVE HUNDRED MILLION DOLLARS spent on it development and marketing by Activision are signs that this game will be huge, a true juggernaut in the video game industry. [1]

Having played in the Alpha and Beta on the PS4, not to mention being handpicked to play it center stage at RTX ’14 against the developers from Bungie, I have to say that this game plays incredibly smoothly and is absolutely beautiful to look at. [2] The new universe that Bungie has created is simply spectacular. For all of you who haven’t the slightest clue about the game, have no fear I will inform you.

The game takes place in our solar system, set seven hundred years in the future in a post-apocalyptic setting. Before the our solar system as we know it simply collapsed humanity was experiencing a golden age of scientific advancements, however this changed when The Darkness came, and humanities colonies spread throughout the 8 planets simply fell apart and collapsed. Little is known about “The Darkness” but Bungie has stated that is the sworn enemy to The Traveler, a spherical white, celestial body that is now guarding humanities’ final city on Earth. (For all of those looking for what The Traveler looks like, simply google it and you will get the idea) The player (s), are given the role of Guardians, the last defenders of humanity who can use the mysterious power, simply referred to as The Light, which The Traveler has given as a gift to humanity. So now humanity looks to its defenders to fight off the various alien species that have taken over their colonies after the golden age ended and hopeful restore humanity to what it once was in its prosperous golden age.

Gameplay wise, the game plays and feels like a mixture of 2K’s Borderlands Series and Bungie’s past franchise Halo. So in other words the game is a first person shooter/RPG that drops the player in an open world where he or she can join in with other players to complete missions to further defend humanity. However the game will also have game modes that allow the player to engage in team and solo fights against other players, so if PVP is something you like, there will be plenty of it. Going into further detail there are 3 classes of Guardians the player can choose from. They are, the Hunter, who specializes in range combat and reconnaissance, a renegade if you will. Up next is the Warlock who combines weapons and powers from The Traveler to form a lethal support class that is a must have in team fights. Finally we have my personal favorite, the Titan, the Titan specializes in heavy weapons and explosives and can take a ton of damage before going down. Having played all of the classes at least once I have to say they are all balanced for the most part and all have their own perks and drawbacks.[3]

So will you join in with your friends, (hopefully after you have done your school work) and embark on your own Destiny come September and take part in the biggest game of this year, or will you wait for the yearly generic shooter made by Sledgehammer Games? I for one cannot wait to enter this incredible universe Bungie has spent years creating and hope that I will have the time to play it during my challenging junior year at Jesuit. Now are you ready, because your destiny awaits?

Hunter Gilbert ‘16

[1] http://www.polygon.com/2014/5/6/5686268/Destiny-costs-activision-500-million-to-develop-promote

[2] http://roosterteeth.com/members/images/image.php?id=3590256 , Me playing Destiny center stage at RTX’14

[3] http://www.destinythegame.com/game/guardians