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PSN: dutts-
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Being part of the Backloggd community for 2 years

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The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt
Mass Effect 2
Mass Effect 2
Pokémon Silver Version
Pokémon Silver Version
Fallout 3
Fallout 3
Resistance 2
Resistance 2

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Silent Hill: The Short Message
Silent Hill: The Short Message

Feb 06

Unpacking
Unpacking

Feb 04

Call of Duty: Modern Warfare II
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare II

Jan 07

Call of Duty: WWII
Call of Duty: WWII

Aug 22

Dreams
Dreams

Aug 03

Recently Reviewed See More

I recently played Virgina, a mystery adventure game that boasts a solid art style. The lighting effects in this game are truly breathtaking and add an extra level of immersion to the experience. The music in this game is top-tier and truly helps to set the mood throughout the adventure. Additionally, the editing and direction of the game are high-level and ambitious.

However, while Virginia takes a unique approach to visual storytelling, the ending left me wanting more. Although it is fine to leave some questions unanswered, the lack of substance made it difficult to draw any firm conclusions or feel a sense of satisfaction with the game's conclusion.

One of the biggest drawbacks of this game is the lack of detailed environments. You'll find yourself just scrolling around until you find a square to progress the story. While a minimalist art style can work well, as seen in games like Firewatch, the environment still feels real and fully realised. Unfortunately, that isn't the case with Virgina which for all its admirable ambition fails to come together as a complete package.

Destiny 2's latest expansion, unfortunately, falls short of the expectations after the success of the Witch Queen with a half-hearted campaign. The campaign was so clunky and pieced together from content pulled from past and future expansions, resulting in a self-contained story with no real impact on the main plot. It feels like its sole purpose was to generate annual income before the true expansion comes next year.

The story is by far the weakest point of the expansion and it removes all the momentum that was being built up in the Witch Queen with a story away from the main characters and introduced the cloud striders who added to the jarring tone of the campaign with their cartoonish design. The story is essentially a strand tutorial which has no overall bearing on the main plot and could essentially have been the 80s action movie montage that happens towards the end of the campaign.

The poor story is made worse by the sheer disappointment in Neomuna, the highly anticipated cyberpunk world. What we got was a bland world full of concrete roofs and empty world space. The lack of detail can be summed up in the fact the 12-foot cloud strikes home base and includes breakfast stools they would never be able to sit on. Outside of one mural of the cloudstrikers, Neomuna had no character, it’s no wonder the inhabitants decided to upload their consciousness and live in the clouds.

The lack of a new race means you are fighting the same enemies in a new location and while the tormentors are a fun tough challenge the main gameplay changes come from the new class. Thankfully the strand class is a lot of fun and feels very distinct from the other abilities in the game which is very welcome. The use of threadlings and suspend abilities are great for builds and introduces new exciting options in PVE.

The root of nightmares raid was enjoyable and seasonal content continues to improve and will keep me engaged until the Final Shape. That said, I can't help but feel like this was another missed opportunity for Bungie to build the player base. The casual players paying $50 (£40) for this threadbare campaign and forgettable destination are unlikely to want to stick around and should feel shortchanged for their money.

Destiny 2 has a lot of work to do to regain its strong position before the release of this expansion, and it's crucial that Bungie takes this criticism on board and delivers a memorable conclusion to the light and darkness saga.

Iki Island is a story expansion to the main game and forms part of the Director's Cut version of the game. The game follows Jin as he explores the dark secrets of Iki Island and how it links to his families past. This story DLC improves on the original game in almost evey aspect and as a result is one of the best story expansions to a video game ever made.

The game benefits from the smaller open world allowing for a more compact and fulfilling story learning about Jin's fathers legacy and the scars it left behind. The main villian in the DLC is the Eagle, who unlike the Khan, is more than a one dimensional villan and alongside some other new characters helps Jin explore his past.

Even the open-world aspects which were seriously lacking in the original title feel meaningful and important. The side missions finally had a bit of variety with the Ghost of Iki Island being a fun mission with a recognisable face. Activities feel vital to the story with them including flashbacks with your father, new interesting mythic tales and dyes that celebrate Playstation IP.

Finally, they somehow made Iki Island even more visually stunning as Tsushima and added to the already amazing gameplay options. This DLC addresses almost all of my concerns with the original title and produced a rich and impactful story to boot.