When I was a kid, I wanted only to be a pilot. Commercial, military, cargo, or charter, I didn’t care, I wanted to sit in the pilot’s seat and take to the skies. Experience the freedom of the air and start the day in one place and end it in another. To that end I loved playing combat games like F/A-18 Hornet 2.0 on the Macintosh and a basic but serviceable joystick that we had only for short stints during school holidays.

If only I could have imagined then how technology would advance to bring us to where Ace Combat 7 lands today. The latest in a long line of titles stretching back to about the same time as F/A-18 Hornet 2.0, the series has become one of the best in its class. That said, some of the later games haven’t quite lived up to the quality that the series is known for. So Ace Combat 7, actually the 17th game in the series, has a lot to live up to.

And luckily it delivers its payload in style. Right from its perfectly toned schlocky B-Grade plot, to the plane selection, bright and detailed world, this is the game to put the series back on track. It catapults the games back into centre stage which hopefully could lead to a revival of the genre has a whole.

But what makes it so special?

For me, it was how the game marries the aesthetics of the 80’s with the game engine technology of a modern title. It still keeps the same core feeling as ever (though, of course, refined), but new entries such as fully volumetric 3D clouds are a great addition to not only the visual presentation of the game but to gameplay as well. See if you fly into clouds then missiles have a harder time locking onto you, and your missiles onto an enemy. It adds a layer of tactical consideration that nevertheless doesn’t feel out of place.

Yes, the overall feeling of the game is that of an arcade game. But that doesn’t mean that your aircraft’s specs don’t matter. Each individual plane felt vastly different to play, and once you customise it with it’s special weapons and stat boosts they become even more distinctive.

The music and soundtrack are exceptional too. Sound effects, diegetic sounds and some of the most unashamedly epic songs raise the stakes and tension around every fight. The soundtrack perfectly matches the intensity of aerial combat.

In addition, for the PS4 version of Ace Combat 7, there is a VR Mode exclusive to PSVR.

It’s separate and shorter than the main game, consisting of just a few missions, but it’s a unique experience that rival the best seated pilot VR experiences such as the special VR mission in Star Wars Battlefront. A note of warning though – this VR mode, with it’s intense dog fighting moves and first-person perspective is not for the faint of heart, or those without strong VR legs. It’s a great addition to the game that gave me a small insight and appreciation into what it’s like for fighter pilots to go head to head with their deadly counterparts, and I could only wish that the full game would be made available in that mode.

Now sadly Ace Combat 7 only runs at 1080p on the PS4 Pro, and less than that on the base console. Instead, it targets a framerate of 60 frames per second. In the grand scheme of things, a commitment to 60FPS is much better than a slightly lower resolution, but it is nevertheless disappointing to see only 1080p on the more expensive pro consoles, not to mention a lack of HDR support, which I could imagine could have been amazing given the grand landscapes and vista on offer here.

Another area where the game unexpectedly falls short is the unforgiving pacing of checkpoints throughout the game. Missions generally only have a couple of checkpoints, and you can’t save at a checkpoint and come back to it later, say, for example, if you wanted a quick round of the VR mode while in the middle of a normal mission. With missions taking quite a long time to complete even without retries of certain sections, this was an area that felt particularly and unnecessarily punitive.

My copy of Ace Combat 7 also came with a copy of Ace Combat 5, restored for PS4. It looks great, though next to the high polygon planes and environments of 7, 5 does show it’s age a bit, even with it’s much higher resolution than the original release on the PlayStation 2.

Apart from some unwelcome difficulty spikes made slightly more frustrating by a lackluster checkpoint system, Ace Combat 7 really delivers where it needs to. With gorgeous worlds, thrilling music and fast-paced arcadey flying combat, it’s everything that a younger me could ever have asked for.

The post Ace Combat 7: Skies Unknown (PlayStation 4) Review appeared first on Shane the Gamer.

Pilot Sports, the colorful cartoony arcade flight game from Wild River and Z-Software, launches on Nintendo Switch and PlayStation 4 later this year.

Pilot Sports harkens back to the co-op classics of yore where fun with friends on the same couch was more important than online leaderboards. The colorful cartoon aesthetic speaks to all ages and all types of players, from casual to experienced. Whether playing at a party game to lighten the mood or for parents to play with their little ones, Pilot Sports offers something for everyone.

Over 50 courses and seven types of challenges offer thrilling reasons to take to the skies. Five different aircrafts – airplane, jetpack, parachute, and two types of hang gliders offering the ability to change the way players tackle different obstacles. Eight playable characters ensure that anyone playing looks the way they want. The sunny, tropical island surrounded by a picturesque ocean accompanied by cheerful guitar tunes makes for a perfectly relaxing backdrop for casual gamers, families, any and everyone.

Pilot Skies is due to land this Fall (U.S. time), final release date is still to be determined.

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The post Pilot Sports Reaches for the Skies! appeared first on Shane the Gamer.

Created in partnership with Superstar DJ and Producer Avicii, aka Tim Bergling, Hello There Games and Playstation, INVECTOR is a new rhythm game that rides on a fundamental but simple core; the awesome feeling you get from listening to great music, which Avicii fans know all about. INVECTOR launched today. 

INVECTOR contains a library of 22 of Avicii’s songs including favorites such as Levels and just released tracks from his latest EP: ‘AVĪCI’, featuring “Lonely Together” and “Without You”.   Stunning audiovisuals, which fans have come to expect from Avicii’s live shows, reward the player throughout the game.  “It’s taken 2 years of development and now INVECTOR is finally here. It’s going to be a brand-new way to experience my music. As a dedicated gamer, I really feel excited to be a part of creating a new game for the market,” says Tim Bergling (AVICII).

INVECTOR tells the story of happy-go-lucky Stella, Collector Pilot H45H1M – voiced by American artist Maya Tuttle. Stella’s mission, to gather colorful fragments spread across the universe, is a wild ride from one stunning planet to the next.

Sure, her ship keeps breaking down. But it’s nothing that a strand of less humble words and a kick in the engine can’t fix. And yeah, her precious stash of chocolate bars has indeed been running low lately. Gonna have to sort that out. But as long as the music volume and the ship’s speed are maxed out – nothing can bring her down.

Until one day, when she suddenly receives new orders

Playing the game, you’ll invest yourself in the rhythm and enjoy constant rewards in the form of polished audiovisual feedback. Different modes in each level will further enhance the connection to every part of the song you play, and offer refreshing styles of interaction with the rhythm.

The music library of INVECTOR lets you experience Avicii’s music like never before. His creative input regarding the overall experience of the game has ensured that feeling of partying at a concert with your closest mates. Each hit song you play has been custom made with on the note level design and three difficulties to master. That way, INVECTOR is perfect to a wide range of players with different skillsets and desires, welcoming everyone from casual players to hardcore rhythm gamers hungering for a challenge.

Hello There Games and Avicii previously partnered on AVICII / GRAVITY.  “It’s a fantastic feeling to finally release INVECTOR. We’re really hoping players will take it to heart and love it as much as we do,” says Oskar Eklund, CEO of Hello There Games.

The post AVICII’S INVECTOR PS4 GAME LAUNCHES appeared first on Shane the Gamer.

Space exploration game No Man’s Sky has been a long time coming. We’ve had at least three years of hype. And, as the result of PlayStation taking the game under their wing, what was once just an interesting indie title has turned into THE NEXT BIG THING.

And it’s quite a shame, really.

Cards on the table, No Man’s Sky is a very good game, but not necessarily what the mainstream gaming audience expects. It’s a game that would shine as an indie game, but likely makes for a dull and uneventful AAA affair in the eyes of your average gamer.

There’s a generation of gamers that have dreamt of nothing more than flying across the cosmos in their own spacecraft, trading and exploring as they go.Those gamers that grew up with Elite, Freelancer, will appreciate the solitary vision of space that No Man’s Sky affords us. This is a game made for you.

Unfortunately, our younger brethren are likely to find No Man’s Sky rather pointless.

As an editor I sometimes like to give one of the younger reviewers a title that I know will make them go “WTF?”. I did it with The Golf Club and it was one of the most unintentionally funny reviews I’ve ever read. I’m reading similar reviews for No Man’s Sky.

There’s a fair amount of hate out there, and it’s amusing, really, as it’s not as if we haven’t seen the likes of No Man’s Sky before. It may seem original, but the game is, in fact, rather derivative. If you take a bit of space sim from Elite: Dangerous, add a dollop of Minecraft’s crafting, pour in some survival elements from Subnautica and mix it all together with some of the planets, lifeforms and procedural generation from EA’s Spore and you have No Man’s Sky.

Individually, most of these games do things better than No Man’s Sky. But blending all these titles together does make for a lovely game. Even if it does reinforce my view that I’ve been playing video games for too long to be able to play anything truly original.

Hello Games’ procedurally-generated space game kicks you out into an overwhelmingly large galaxy, populated with more planets that you’ll ever have time to visit (in a million lifetimes).It’s a big game and one that many will not be able to come to terms with.

This sort of open, non-linear gameplay isn’t for everyone; especially, the previously-mentioned Gen-Y’s, bouncing off the wall, demanding instant gratification, and players that prefer set objectives right of the bat.

The planets and the stuff on them is all procedurally generated. That is that is created using mathematical formulas rather than having artists carefully place object or sculpt flora and fauna. This should produce very natural-looking and varied planets, plants and animals.

The truth is that it produces lots of very odd-looking and samey planets populated by some very odd-looking and samey creatures and vegetation. Don’t get me wrong, the planets are very interesting to explore, but none quite as impressive as the planets in the various trailers.

You start the game stranded on an alien planet with a busted spaceship and tiny pockets. From here the game stealthily holds your hand, guiding you from a distance, as you gather the materials needed to repair and refuel your ship.

No Man’s Sky provides you with three pieces of equipment that drive the main gameplay mechanics. It’s a simple system, but it works very well.

First there’s your Exosuit. Your primary protection from the heat, cold, poison, radiation and water of the alien worlds that you will visit. The suit also has a number of inventory slots for equipment upgrades and material storage.

Next, there’s your multi-tool. It’s a scanner- enabling you to scan local wildlife and sites of interest, a mining laser and a weapon.

Finally, there’s your ship. Equipped with Launch Thrusters – for vertical take-off, a pulse engine, hyperdrive, armaments and a shield. All of these require fuel that will need to be either mined or purchased.

Your exosuit and ship start with a meager amount of storage easily filled with materials and upgrade equipment. For a game that otherwise provides for rather tranquil gameplay, the inventory system is an absolute bastard, especially at the start of the game.Subsequent suit upgrades and replacement ships increase the available space, but it is still easy to run out.

Planets are resource-rich and complex items require many different materials to craft. Get too greedy and you’ll soon fill your storage space. Whilst I can see the need, in the interest of gameplay advancement, for the cramped storage, nobody likes micro-managing their inventory.

The game gives players plenty of tech items and upgrades to build, but the crafting system is often left wanting because you just don’t have the storage space available to stack all the raw materials.

Most of the planets are rich in raw materials which can be mined with your multi-tool. Subsequent upgrades allow you to literally carve holes in the landscape, creating tunnels that expose huge caverns and cave systems.

As well as harvesting materials, you can also scan the livestock and discover trading posts, outpost and ruins. Everything you discover can be named and uploaded for a cash reward.

Planets are often covered with diverse animals, most of which are skittish, some of which will attack you. Then there’s the mysterious sentinels. For the most part these autonomous machines scan you and move on. If you get greedy of damage the environment too much they will turn on you, giving you good reason to blast them into piece (and salvage their innards).

The trading aspect of the game is, again, simplistic. It’s is fun, though, pulling into a space station or landing at a trading post, and engaging fellow travelers in trade.

Throughout the game you get the opportunity to learn alien languages, a word at a time, which makes trading easier. If you have enough money, you can also purchase their ships, giving you more of that all-important storage space.

No Man’s Sky is most definitely about exploration. You are on a journey, either to the centre of the galaxy, or following the trail to the mysterious, knowledge-dispensing Atlas constructs scattered about the star systems. Along the way you will, though, you will have some less than hospitable encounters and need to defend yourself.

Combat in the game is usually the result of being ambushed by pirates. You may also stumble upon a battle and just opt to help out. There’s also distress signals that you may feel the need to attend to. Starship combat is competent, nothing to write home about, but will make crafting powerful weapons and a decent shield system a worthwhile endeavour.

The striking art style and colour pallet of the game, most of which we probably owe to the game’s procedural algorithms, produces some truly beautiful, if sometimes weird vistas. Lush purple grass, red lakes and odd alien creatures give the game a unique and very distinctive look. The graphics are clean and almost retro. No Man’s Sky certainly has a fresh and very welcome look.

No Man’s Sky does so many things so right, like the ability to climb in your ship, take off, point to the heavens, leave the atmosphere and more into interplanetary or interstellar flight. It a great feature and one that I’ve been looking forward to experiencing properly in a game for years.

Despite how much I enjoy the game, I’ve found myself unable to play for extended periods. Its vastness is overwhelming and extended playtime can become tiresome. After an hour or so, I found the game starting to feel a bit repetitive. This is a game best played in bite-sized chunks.

The biggest question that No Man’s Sky raises is “what is the point?”. Your objectives are not very defined and, with seemingly no end in sight, feel unachievable. This is a game crying out for multiplayer, which for whatever reason (like the galaxy is too big), isn’t going to happen. Another thing I’d like to see, and fingers-crossed we may get this, is VR support. No doubt, something we will see when PlayStation VR comes out.

Right now, No Man’s Sky offers rewarding gameplay that is best enjoyed in small doses. Whilst the game’s vast galaxy is overwhelmingly large, it is also quite empty and, for the most part very similar. The game does have huge potential and I’m very keen to see where Hello Games take it.