To explain this here would go on too long and it is covered .. on my corruption blog.
To cut a long story short I am on the fourth day of the final five days of a long court case I have known the end dates of since Easter Sunday.
This has been dragging on over two years closer to three.
I knew from day one it was ... massive. The defendant, lets say my 'friend', has been transformed from accused to accuser and in a big way. This involves four large public services, corruption and a cover up of the worst kind and front page national tabloid subjects in each case and then some.
So in a limbo then.
I had thought about getting a new game title to fill in the gaps, as the weather has taken a turn for the worst too.
Oops, got held up by a phone-call about more corruption. A lot closer to home this time.
No, so I was wondering what to do to fritter away the time for about a week and I considered getting Elite Dangerous. After all my joystick is gathering up dust and what a sad state of affairs the PC gaming world is when you cannot find a title to use a joystick with? Lol.
Before long the same will be said about my Logitech G27 Racing Wheel! Well unless either Project Cars comes out and is good or that Need For Speed title I was reading about and cannot remember its subtitle name.
Now I kept hearing and reading some very good things about Dying Light.
Now I had initially disliked Dead Island Riptide and stopped playing it for a fair old while before returning to it to look at why I found it so hard. Before long I realised that the standard First Person Shooters had evolved somewhat and way beyond that I last played like the Dooms, Quakes, Return to Castle Wolfensteins and Fears. A hell of a lot!
Suddenly the terms I was reading about 'survival horrors' started to make sense and I started getting the hang of things. I had no idea about the weapon creation aspect of these games and was killed every five minutes trying to run around the place to discover where the guns all were! Lol! Of course those that know these games would realise that my ranges for discovering guns grew bigger and bigger and so dying became more and more frequent.
Before long I realised that using swords and baseball bats were not only the way to go and what you had to do but were a lot more fun too! I had never seen melee combat with a non-projectile weapon done as well as this before! If that was not more than enough to astound me imagine the smile on my face when I got my first long staff (love Wing Chun) and then when I got my first Katana?!
Hilarious laughing ensued and I could not wait to run around the next corner into a sea of zombies!
Then I modded the hell out of several Katanas.
Then it was over.
After playing Skyrim for months on end I was disappointed at how quickly Riptide ended and the size of the maps. 'Imagine that combat system in the next Elder Scrolls?!' was a thought I regularly repeated in my head.
Now being as Dying Light was ... well Dying Light and not Dead Island 2 I was not sure if it would be the same system and in fact did not even read references to Katanas for a fair old while.
Also with this Parkour movement, or free running as its more commonly known as, I was not sure would be done that well. Often new ideas on paper do not translate well to the finished article and not just in gaming either.
So I would often peruse the Steam store and read through some gamers reviews and one thing eventually stood out a mile. You had to hit the 'add more reviews' button under Dying Light several times and still all the reviews were glowing. I was going to say find a negative review but I cannot recall if I found one.
Raves about the bigger maps were aplenty, though now I realise they are way bigger than Riptide but still behind the biggest titles like Skyrim, Fallout and Dragon Age Inquisition.
So I took the plunge and bought it through Steam.
This was also a bit annoying as I am someone who is tactile and I like to have a hard copy and a case sitting on my shelf, even just to pick it up in a few years time and smile over the memories, lol. But a check of Amazon and my local Game store resulted in no hard copies other than the 'Be the Zombie Edition'. Umm...no thanks, lol.
Anyway the game is great, though not perfect.
Annoying trying to climb onto a ridge to get away from a pack of zombies that looks like a hundred others I have been up and unable to and then dying.
Also there was a point when the game, literally, changed dramatically without warning and suddenly I was being ambushed by large groups of the super fast zombies who can dodge your swings. Resulting in dying repeatedly.
Parts of maps are confusing on how to get to some quest points that appeared as if I had to work my way through a sea of zombies in a tunnel to get to it only to get confused on the other side and ... well die repeatedly. I gave up on that three task mission because there seem to be no way to get to it and ... well towns or cities are just not that confusing, especially on foot!
Oh and then there are the on hit kills...something happens suddenly and without any sound your hit from behind by something and your dead. Not even a chance to turn around and see what it was. One hit kills like that are infuriating.
Also the one other thing is the zombies when they grab you...there is a tiny window of your reach, and I am talking about longer reach weapons here, and then being close enough to grab you meaning you have to stab a key other than the three your fingers are on. Stabbing in the dark. Lol. This is obviously one of those console cross over things I wish to god they would leave with the consoles.
Still, once I find a Katana that will cease to be a problem, lol.
Other than those few everything else works very well. Graphics are noticeably better than Riptide but not quite as good as I thought they would be.
Now I did do an earlier video which recorded for a fair old while before I realised the counter had stopped. I then could not find said video and forgot to record any others until last night.
So here are a couple of videos of my in a gas station looking for Bus batteries and dispatching zombies and I think there is a section at night where I wait for morning to get to a supply drop ...
Oh yeah and those ... bloody annoying supply drops. Things are so hectic you fail to notice when they are dropped most of the time. You get half way there taking damage only to see they have been stolen.
Added to this I waited it out at night because one landed nearby.
I got to the building it was on and was the only one there and was walking around the base of the building, turned out to have a quest inside it where you wipeout the zombies, and while figuring out how to get up there that damned message came up 'Airdrop Stolen'?!
Oh? By, WHO?! WILLOW THE WHISP?!
Suddenly my brain now ignores the airdrops because your not racing against the thugs to get to them your racing against an imaginary timer you cannot see. This was not implemented very well.
Techland have continued to improve on their games and even Gunslinger was good, just way too short. But before they reach heights of titles like Dragon Age Inquisition, Skyrim, Fallout and Deus Ex they have to be a bit more focused in implementing some of their ideas.
Maybe the next one may reach gaming nirvana but that focus for me is now on the news that Deus Ex Mankind Divided, follow up to Human Revolution, is on its way. Also I have a funny feeling that in just 6 weeks time we are going to find out that Fallout 4 is also on its way. With this and the possibility that Dead Island 2 has the possibility to exceed Dying Light, only a possibility mind and not one I think it will do but hope it does, it truly is a very good time to be a gamer. Finally we may see that initial Tsunami of next generation games on the titles we have all been waiting for?
However with Techland and Dying Light the sound is one area they need absolutely no help with. Moody, spooky and with a John Carpenter like sound that makes you feel like you in a classic zombie film just like Riptide.
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