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Forza Motorsport 8 – What I’d like to see

Forza Motorsport 8 – What I’d like to see With the Xbox Series X upon us this holiday, a lot of the usual commenters online are speculating that Forza Motorsport 8 is a sure release alongside Halo Infinite this holiday season. I’m of the opinion that Microsoft is better suited to release Forza Horizon 5 alongside the XSX just due to the mass appeal of that game. That said, I do have thoughts on FM8 if Microsoft were to release that game at the end of this year. My feedback here is mostly based on Forza Motorsport 7 – a fine racing game, I think, which was LARGELY underappreciated. At the time of its release, the only topic amongst the usual commenters like the media and “hardworking” Youtubers is that the microtransactions ruined that game. The truth was, at release, yes there was a microtransaction system, but it did not have any effect on the actual racing. At worst, it made access to some cars more difficult, but the cars you already get with the base game were already ver...
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NBA Live 18 Review - from a lapsed basketball fan

I haven't followed NBA basketball in years. There was that one time I attempted to get into NBA stuff by buying a 2k game. I don't remember what year it was. But one thing that stood out for me back then was how difficult the game was. A lot was said about how 2k's games are more simulation-based so it's a lot harder to get shots in. That's the experience I had with a 2k game (that was back in the PS3 / Xbox 360 era), and I ended up selling the game about a week after i had bought it.  I enjoy basketball. When I was a teen it was a nice way to spend time after school, just shoot some hoops and have fun. Watching NBA games or even the local PBA games is a good way to bond with other friends and just talk about your favorite players and teams. Getting older, I stopped following basketball and sports in general. Life just got in the way, or....maybe, put simply, it isn't as easy now to just 'play basketball' as it used to be when i was in high school...
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Fanboy : the final insult in most online arguments

Everyone has a preference. Whether you like Coke or Pepsi, Honda or Ford, Golden State or Cleveland, Xbox or Playstation - preference is unavoidable. Now in online arguments, for many years now it's a free-for-all, no holds barred debate about one thing or another. I'd focus just on console preferences for now. Things have been heating up in online discussions because Microsoft is about to release its newest console, the Xbox One X.  This is bothering a lot of people who have invested a lot of money in their preferred platforms. In particular, Sony fans have been very upset. In the local gaming community that I visit, users who prefer Sony would come in and do one thing or another: - argue the point that Playstation has more exclusive games - argue the point that discussions are not being fair/neutral - outright attack other gamers by sending them hate-filled private messages Honestly, Xbox fans have had to deal with a lot of negativity for their preferred p...
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For Honor: Incredible game! Writing this to the devs

For Honor is an incredible multiplayer game. It really feels like a whole new concept, and for the first time we're seeing an actual NEW IDEA for fighting games. And it's coming from Western developers Ubisoft. There's a lot of great stuff in For Honor and I'm sure a lot of other bloggers/Youtubers have already covered them. I'm just going to write some constructive feedback for the devs so that maybe they can make the game even better than it already is....because by itself, it's a really, really good game. And, I have to say this again  - IT'S A GREAT FIGHTING GAME! Requests 1) Please fix the disconnection bugs. If you can convince Ubisoft to switch to dedicated servers, that will really help this game keep its player base. Granted the P2P system you have is already quite good and generally works. But occasionally I still get disconnections and very odd glitches which I'm sure a lot of fans have already told you about (like the 'Require...
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Final Fantasy XV Review

This is a game I never planned on buying. I saw it being demoed at E3 a few times. The more recent demos they had were a bit glitchy, and the premise wasn't too clear. I only tried that one demo they had, the Platinum demo, and it completely turned me off on buying this game.  I've been burned before by Final Fantasy. Full disclosure, Final Fantasy VI and VII are some of my favorite games of-all-time. From that point onwards, the series has been having a steep decline in terms of relevance. At some point the games just become way too Japanese in their strangeness and it can be hard to relate with a few of the later titles. Yeah, I even gave Final Fantasy XIII a shot. I never finished it because it just didn't pull me in. At that point, I realized that maybe Final Fantasy can never realize its past glory. It just didn't have that shot of inspiration which the older Final Fantasy games had. The series was just behind in terms of technology, storytelling and ga...
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Titanfall 2 Review

"Press LB to time travel". I'll never forget seeing that on my screen the first time. I was half expecting the usual FPS level (abandoned science lab....search for ancient artifact...). But I didn't see enough previews of Titanfall 2 to even expect THAT from the game when i was playing it. Titanfall 2. Where to begin. I don't really have a great relationship with this particular game in the beginning. The developers of the game, Respawn Entertainment, had conducted a 'tech test' a few months back. While I enjoyed the first game, Titanfall 1....trying out the tech test had given me immense doubts on whether the developers understand what made the first game so good. A few days after T2 got released, there was a lot of buzz on the internet about its campaign and its multiplayer mode. Initially I brushed these off as the usual paid shills on the internet doing marketing for the game....but eventually the opportunity arose to try it again, and I don'...
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Forza Horizon 3 Review

As a father of two who has to balance spending time with the family and also occasionally gaming, Forza Horizon 3 really fits the bill by respecting your time, letting you enjoy its various systems at your own pace. You can customize various aspects of your experience such as the driving difficulty, AI difficulty, etc, so you will have an experience that fits your skill level. There's also a lot of diversity in the environments. The game features Australia, which has a wide variety of locales like beaches, deserts and rainforests. It almost feels like an old Sega arcade racing game at times with all the amazing scenery you'd be whizzing past in whichever fantastic sports car you can pick from over 350 in the available stable.  Eventually you will complete the game but even the ending acknowledges that there's really no end to it....the game is meant to be enjoyed just like that. Feel like a quick race or two? Fire it up and just spend 30 minutes or so on a leisurely...
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Gears of War 4: Review

Hard to write a new review when busy with work. Nonetheless I'll be reviewing this game and Forza Horizon 3 at a later time. For now here's what i thought about Gears 4 after completing it within 3 days (a few hours a day so i think that adds up to about 10-15 hours of campaign play and a few hours of versus mode play). I'm reviewing it without having played Horde yet. Yep, it's hard to find time to play games when you got a job and two kids! Here we go: For the campaign the one thing that stood out for me was the AI. I was playing the game at HARDCORE difficulty, and the AI was doing some interesting tactics where they'll rush at you, they'll grab you from cover if you're nearby, they'll flush you out with grenades and more. Interestingly enough the AI of your squadmates is also pretty good and they'll do their best to help you when you're down. There was one act in the game with a major boss fight where I took a few tries to beat the le...
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