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I know, I know, this review is very late, but then again, I know a lot of people who are yet to pick up this game, so to you guys, this may be helpful! (The short of it: It’s great, try it.)

Dishonored is a first person, stealthy adventure/RPG game, set in a Steam-punk inspired era and world. You play Corvo, a guy who was framed for something, who then spends the game taking down people and attempting to get his life back. I’m keeping that broad so as not to spoil the fun. How you play the game is largely up to you, you can stealthily take people down, or none lethally silence them, whilst you get done what needs to be done. You have access to a range of weapons and methods, and also some strange and intriguing magical abilities/perks.

Although the game itself is fairly linear, it is very easy indeed to become completely immersed in the world, the attention to detail is excellent, the sound design compliments the dark and eerie feel too. Whilst playing, I can clearly see many many influences, Half Life 2, Bioshock, Deus Ex and Oblivion all spring to mind, but Dishonored still sits aside as a unique game.  It’s strengths being the combat, and choice of combat methods, the art style, and the way in which, at just the right moments, the main story takes a backseat and the focus becomes on the smaller side stories you create with each new mission.

The magical abilities are great advantages, but rather than leave that unbalanced, whilst using them, neither your health nor your mana regenerates ..powerful as they are, your resources are scarce, so missions require much thinking, and the game quickly becomes immensely challenging. I’ve replayed missions lots of times as I just get stuck, but to Dishonored’s credit, I still find myself returning for more.

Dishonored isn’t your “all bells and whistles” blockbuster, but it borrows from many, and all are good ones, the more I play, the more I genuinely hope people will buy this game and try it out, I worry that the majority of gamers have been reduced to buying sequels and very rarely try new franchises or indie titles, this rewards those who still enjoy a surprise.

My only gripes are with game mechanics; context-sensitive actions such as moving onto ledges and opening doors, require too much shuffling around for the right prompt to appear. Frustrating at best, fatal at worst. The AI is inconsistent in some missions,  spotting me a mile away some times, and in other contexts, I’m almost standing next to them and they don’t bat an eyelid.

Even with the weaknesses in mind, the gameplay satisfaction in Dishonored is something I haven’t felt, to this degree,  in a very long time, and I thoroughly enjoy the time I spend with the game.

General Scoring

Wildcards

Total Score: 84%

So I had this post all planned out to be my “Favourite Retro game/game from my childhood” … And then the Steam Sale came along and changed everything. I know most of you know what Steam is, but just in case any of you are strictly console…it’s a program for purchasing and downloading PC Games, and it’s sales are generally on the awesome side of amazing.  I had a peruse after work on Friday and it’s now Sunday night, and I have clocked up a good few hours in my first purchase this season, Alice: Madness returns.

I put off buying this game for PS3 until the price dropped, rather stupidly, due to poor reviews. Fast forward months and I had forgotton all about it, until researching my graphics card, and seeing demos of special effects in game, when playing with said card. I see it on Steam for a few pounds and the rest is history.

I don’t like reviewing games I haven’t yet finished or at least 80% completed, so think of this more as a preview than a full review, but I really felt the need to tell you guys about it and recommend it to those it may of passed.

I want to tell you all about the story, because it’s been great so far but am aware this needs to be spolier free…So let’s just say Alice has 2 storylines, a real life old fashioned London style story, and her adventures in a very different Wonderland to what anyone will be used to before. I shall make no bones about it…this game is beautiful played on PC. Worlds are detailed and the art style is very unique, being both haunting and horror like, and whimsical all at the same time.

Characters are amusing and mysterious and I believe all major Wonderland characters have a part in this adventure. You of course play as Alice, but she’s not so much “little girl lost” and far more “little girl with an arsenal of crazy gadgets and weapons” think Ratchet and Clank in Wonderland, with a horror twist if you will. The combat is meaty, fluid and excellent fun so far, and the puzzle/platformer elements are superb.

My only gripes are Alice’s lack of emotional response to the majority of the story and invisible walls blocking the flow of exploration. I get immersed in this game for a while, only to find myself wanting to head into the next area through a gap I can easily fit through, but the game doesn’t allow me to do so.  I shouldn’t complain about this too much though, the game is marketed as a platformer not an open world RPG. The secrets, collectables and amusing mini games more than make up for it.

Sound wise the voice acting is actually very good here and did surprise me, the music and effects are eerie but the music does get a tad repetitive after a long stint playing.

Overall I urge you to pick this up, whether it be on PC or console…you may not want to risk paying full price, but this game is definitely worth much more than the £7.49 I splashed out for it.  I should also add here that this game has native support for the Xbox360 controller for Windows 7

Anyone for tea?

Bought a game on impulse that has really impressed you? Tell me about it in the comments !

Occasionally I get requests to blog about specific topics…This is one such post and comes from a musical man by the name of Total Fidget, click his name to listen to his songs. So here for your perusal are my top ten game worlds, the virtual places I most want to spend time in.

10. Alex Kidd’s Miracle World – Where else do you get to motorbike through frog ponds and helicopter through jungles?

9. Simon the Sorceror – I actually wish a lot of the locations in this world existed, quaint villages and scenes with lots of character.

8. Animal Crossing’s Wild World – This is somewhere I’d like to go on holiday, a little fishing, bug catching and visiting friends are the order of the day.

7. Final Fantasy 7 – Cosmo Canyon especially, I do have a habit of thinking this game is overated, but the world and variety of locations definitely isn’t. Check out the observatory it’s amazing!

6. Folklore – This game does something very clever in presenting a world which is both whimsical and eerie at the same time. Colourful yet dark.

5. Majin’s Forsaken Kingdom – Like Prince of Persia but better, absolutely beautiful. I think this game gets overlooked “world wise” in favour of Uncharted but it really shouldn’t do.

4. Red Dead Redemption’s America/Mexico – One of the few games in which being a male character didn’t actually bother me, as between missions, I got lost in the exploration of the environment.

3. Monkey Island – A fun and more colourful Simon the Sorceror world if you will, but better for me as I love to be by the sea!

2. Enslaved’s “West” – I’m already tired of people marvelling over the “nature overgrown city” theme of Crysis 3. Enslaved done it years earlier. I love this world for how small it makes me feel whilst exploring it.

1. Fallout 3 -  The wasteland in all it’s vast and varied goodness. At first glance it seems a grey and green blur but there is so, so much to explore here. 100 hours in and I still have more places to visit for the first time.

I would love to hear your favourite worlds, so leave a comment below, that’s also the place to request future topics for blog posts.