Killing Floor 2

Killing Floor 2 is a First Person Shooter video game, and the sequel of the 2009 game ‘Killing Floor’.  Although Killing Floor 2 has already been released on PC, it is an ‘early access’ version.  The full release is scheduled for release later in 2015 on PC and Playstation 4.  Killing Floor 2 can be played solo or coop with up to six players.  The objective is to fight through waves of monsters, known as ‘zeds’ until you can take on the boss monster.  Each game can be set up with different wave lengths from easy with 4 waves, up to hard with 10 waves.  The game staggers the zed amounts depending on how many players are competing at the time meaning the game will be a challenge regardless if you are alone or with five other players.

Each player can choose one of four classes currently. Support, Commando, Medic, and berserker.  Additional classes may be added once the game has had its full release.  Each of the classes has perks that can be upgraded if players can utilize the classes’ weapons and skills. For example, the support class can gain experience from using shotgun weapons and welding doors shut to keep the zeds at bay.  As they level up there are given a percentage boost to their class.  Again as an example, the support class will have additional welding power and can penetrate more enemies with shotgun based weapons.  As players level up, at certain levels, they can unlock perks.  The game will consist of ten perks, with four weapon tiers spread across them.  Each perk provides the player with a set of passive bonuses and skills.

Killing Floor 2 currently has 11 different zeds and 1 boss currently.  Each of these zeds has traits that can cause players difficulty if they do not pay attention.  With the larger zeds, like the Scrake and fleshpound, who charge and players and consistently attack them with their weapons until either the player dies, or they do. 

Killing Floor 2 early access is currently available on Steam for £19.99.  Come and join the carnage.

Grand Theft Auto: Online

Grand Theft Auto Online was released two weeks after the release of Grand Theft Auto V.  And although Rockstar Games had taken precautions to make sure the online functionality would be solid, as GTA Online became available, servers crashed and people who were able to connect, suffered great lag, time outs and disconnections.    These issues we’re not easily resolved and continued to cause issues for a number of months after the release.  After the server issues had been resolved players started getting very excited waiting on the much anticipated “Heists” update. 

Throughout GTA Online players can explore the open world of Los Santos as they have done during the single player game.  The differences being that players create their own characters and can connect with anyone from around the world and together complete missions, compete in death matches, or just cause carnage to other players who are wanting to complete missions.  The Online world can also be closed off to anyone except your friends who you can invite for a more private and personal experience.  Players are also able to purchase apartments to live in and keep collections of modified cars in their personal garage using their in-game cash that they have collected from completing missions or looting from dead players.

Rockstar have continually updated their Online game by giving players free content with the ‘Beach Bum Update’ which gave new cosmetic items and vehicles for players to use, but as the months rolled by, players were still awaiting the release of the online heists and most people were starting to believe that Rockstar Games would never come through and release this anticipated update.  Some YouTube channels decided to create their own heists like RoosterTeeth’s ‘Let’s Play’ channel.

Online Heists were finally released on 10 March 2015 prior to the games release on PC.  Players were finally able to complete complicated, multi-tiered missions, with their friends to earn large cash rewards and mission specific vehicles.  Since this release ‘Twitch’ has  seen a massive increase of both people streaming GTA Online and people actually watching people play, with on average of 60,000+ people viewing GTA content each day.

GTA V single player

Grand Theft Auto V (also known as GTA 5 or GTA V) is a video game developed by Rockstar North. It is the fifteenth installment in the Grand Theft Auto series and the successor of Grand Theft Auto IV. The original edition was released on September 17th, 2013 for the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3. The Xbox One and PlayStation 4 version were released on November 18th, 2014, and was later released on April 14th, 2015 for the PC.

Grand Theft Auto V is set circa 2013 in the city of Los Santos and its surrounding areas and tells the stories of three protagonists: Michael De Santa, Franklin Clinton, and Trevor Philips. It takes place about five years after the events of Grand Theft Auto IV, and four years after the events of Grand Theft Auto: Chinatown Wars.

As one of the most awaited video game titles to be released in 2013, the game was widely anticipated prior to its release. Grand Theft Auto V was released to universal acclaim, holding scores of 96 and above on MetaCritic and GameRankings, as well as receiving perfect scores from over 30 reviewers. The game sold 11.21 million copies and grossed $800 million on its first day, setting many records, and eventually making $1 billion within 3 days of the game's release.

There are many unique features in the game, one of those features is that when the players are playing as one of three protagonists in the game, the other two are living out their daily lives, and you will be surprised by what you find the characters doing when you switch back into them. Another unique feature is that the character swapping feature is executed in a Google Earth-styled manner. The PC, PS4 and Xbox One versions will present an exclusive feature which is a first person mode. The whole game can be played through the eyes of the protagonist. This gameplay mode presents a whole new way to play the game. Cars will have detailed interiors different to each vehicle; shooting will be like that of a FPS game.

The map is larger than Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas, Grand Theft Auto IV, and Red Dead Redemption combined. After some calculations by members of GawdAlmighty.com, that would equal to around 27.5 square miles/71.2 km2 when land and sea are combined.

Grand Theft Auto V has more vehicles than in any other Grand Theft Auto game to date, with a variety of vehicles, including airplanes, helicopters, cars, utility vehicles, emergency service cars, motorcycles, and jet skis. Players are able to fly planes, which impossible in Grand Theft Auto IV because of the size of the map, but the feature is now in Grand Theft Auto V because of the much larger map.

The game features a large variety of weapons, like the Norinco Type 56-2 assault rifles with sound suppressors, mounted flashlights, olive drab polymer furniture, and side-folding stocks. There is now the option to mount attachments onto various different guns, each one affecting the performance. Melee weapons like the nightstick and the golf club that were present in Grand Theft Auto IV have also returned to Grand Theft Auto V.

Grand Theft Auto V expands the multiplayer feature that was present in Grand Theft Auto IV. The multiplayer is treated as a additional title and is known as Grand Theft Auto Online.  GTA Online will be looked into more detail in the next blog.

Hotline Miami 2: Wrong Number

Hotline Miami 2: Wrong Number is the direct follow-up to the first game, serving as both a sequel and a prequel. This time the gameplay is centered around a bigger cast of characters who each have their own point of view regarding the events. Dennis Wedin, the game's co-creator has stated that most of the gameplay mechanics are intact and that players will get to experiment with new weapons, new and more gory finishing moves and a complete story arc that will end the series.  The gameplay is mostly identical to that of the first game. Two of the original masks make a return, while new masks will offer new and exciting abilities and playstyles.  New tweaks to normal gameplay have been added, including executing with guns.

The difficulty has increased as well, along with two levels implemented  (Normal and Hard) for people who believed the first game was either too hard or easy.

Hotline Miami 2 has a Hard difficulty mode, which can only be unlocked when the player beats the game. In Extreme, enemies are more difficult to take down, and some abilities may be taken away from the player, such as enemy-locking.

Hotline Miami 2 has a lot more weapons than Hotline Miami: with returning weapons from Hotline Miami, cut weapons, and entirely new weapons. The developers are planning on releasing a level editor later in the Spring

Hotline Miami 2 takes place before and after the events of the original, focusing more on the latter, between October and December 1991. The game suggests that Jacket's interpretation is the canonical ending of the first game. In this version of events, Jacket is unwittingly manipulated into killing off the leadership of the Russian Mob by a neo-nationalist organization known as 50 Blessings.

After the previous game's ending, Jacket was captured by the authorities and put on trial, and his exploits have achieved national infamy. The persona of "Richard", a mysterious figure in a rooster mask that occasionally appeared to Jacket in the original game, has been appearing to certain individuals who are involved with 50 Blessings and Jacket's murder spree

The game received generally positive reviews from critics. It received an aggregated score of 86.25% on GameRankings based on 12 reviews and 81/100 on Metacritic based on 18 reviews.