Crysis: Escalation by Gavin Smith [Book Review]

Crysis: Escalation is a novel to bridge the games Crysis 2 and Crysis 3, which is a bit more interesting than Crysis: Legion, since it was just a retelling of the events of Crysis 2. I didn’t dislike that book, since it contained additional lore about the world and characters. However, the general plot didn’t excite me much, as I already knew what would happen going in. Crysis: Escalation avoids this baggage completely by telling new captivating stories about the world of Crysis, and boy if it doesn’t supplement the franchise with a lot of cool additional information. It doesn’t follow one story – it’s a collection of events/tales of the land, eventually leading up to the start of Crysis 3.

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Metal Gear Solid: Peace Walker – Dreaming of Heaven

I have been getting into my old Xbox 360 as of late, so I thought: why not start with Metal Gear Solid: Peace Walker that I have never finished before. Peace Walker was originally a PlayStation Portable (PSP) exclusive, but later remastered for the Xbox 360 in the excellent and well-worth package Metal Gear Solid HD Collection. Now, since it is a PSP game, there are some issues, especially if you treat it as a mainland Metal Gear game on a home console. It’s extremely segmented so you can easily play it on the move, with the missions being very short. The only thing that has any stay is the bosses, which can drag on compared to the usual sneaking and choking out guards. Regardless, it’s an enjoyable stealth game that greatly expands the lore about Big Boss.

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Prince of Persia – Fortuitous Platforming

I don’t like sand. It’s coarse and rough and irritating, and it gets everywhere. That’s how Prince of Persia starts, with the Prince wandering through the hot skin melting desert, stumbling upon trouble by chance (or is it?), seeing a beautiful woman needing aid. Good enough for me, very fitting for an adventure, but what I didn’t expect going in was how guided Prince of Persia would be. It’s really strange. The game allows you to jump off whatever platform you want, plummeting to your death. But to succeed in it, you just have to let go, and let the game guide you to victory. The platforming, enemy demon mooks and bosses, are nothing to the struggle versus the camera and your own patience.

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Terminator: Resistance – Terminating the Terminators

The one big thing Terminator: Resistance got over Terminator: Dark Fate – Defiance is that it’s set in the original Terminator movie timeline. That means it has the cool aesthetics from the Cameron films. John Connor is still kicking around and is leading the resistance in the future war against the silver Terminators, who look as menacing as ever. Sadly, beyond the cool visuals, this game is somewhat of a pain to play and in general a disappointment. I would also consider it highly overrated, seeing as it sits at a ninety-one approval rating on Steam. I can understand the appeal, and I too was into it at the beginning, but the whole experience is filled with awkward design decisions that in the end completely sink the title.

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Star Wars Outlaws – The Friendly Bandit Life

Warm up your speeder, and make sure your blaster is powered up. It’s time to wreak havoc in the criminal underworld of Star Wars to establish yourself as the boss! Well, actually, you won’t be doing that… at all. For a game being set in the underbelly of society, the people here are for most of the time well-spoken, friendly, and forgiving. Sure, there will be the occasional betrayal, and people getting blasted for seemingly petty things. But the situation is not that dire to be honest, and besides, that’s not your objective anyway. Star Wars Outlaws plays it incredibly safe for walking into the territory of murders, corruption, and robberies; boringly so, even.

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