Find out what the gang at Gaming Respawn have been playing this week.
Stephen Jackson – Chief Editor
With the launch of our sister site right around the corner (we’ll have more information soon!), I have been trying to get into the spirit by giving CS:GO competitive a swing. I am totally new to the competitive scene and of my 50 hours in CS:GO, I have always stuck to casual matches. I would have considered myself alright at CS:GO but boy was I in for a big surprise heading into competitive with some friends while I was unranked! I got totally destroyed but at least I now have something to focus on. In fact, other than FIFA all I have been playing this week are First-person shooters. Red Orchestra 2 is the game I have sunk the most hours into this week however.
There is just something about the gritty World War Two setting that I just love. The gameplay is great and the maps really help capture the atmosphere of attacking and defending. My only criticism is that players who work as a team and capture objectives are in the minority it seems. Nothing beats getting a great team where everyone works together and annihilates the enemy however.
I am just waiting patiently now for Football Manager 2016 and Fallout 4 to release.
Raul Zaha – Writer
I’ve had a brief look into Dragon Age: Inquisition and I’ve started following Jesse Cox’s playthrough of the game and I was intrigued by the lore in that game. So, naturally, I had to play it. I’ve haven’t done it yet though, because my consciousness wouldn’t let me play it without first finishing the other Dragon Age games and boy am I glad I’ve started from DA: Origins.
I’ve just finished it and I read every single Codex entry there was to read in that game and I fell in love with the lore behind it. I think if the writers behind Dragon Age were the children of famous fantasy novel writers, their parents would be so proud of them, because they did such a good job. Dragon Age: Origins has other well designed parts besides story though. I found that it again, like the first Mass Effect, aged pretty well. The graphics are old but they’re in no way a hindrance to the game and the gameplay is still pretty solid. It has very good character progression with different races, classes and builds to play with, a lot of loot to steal from people’s chests and pots (that’s never not good) and decent potion/poison/trap crafting. The only things it’s missing are armor/weapon crafting and good AI.
Give it a try, especially if you’re into the story of Dragon Age, just remember to save super often. I’m not kidding when I say that the AI is super bad.
Daniel Garcia-Montes – Writer
James Haxell – Writer
Mass Effect. This is a series where any one I know that likes it absolutely loves it. So seeing as there is this loyal fan base, I thought it’s about time I pick it up. Worth the wait? Well, yes and no. The trouble with anything this hyped up, is it will never live up to the ideas you create. Then again can I really say it’s not good when my first time on the citadel I spent 5 hours there just listening to every single person. The lore is absolutely brilliant. Most games I tend to talk to everyone, yet the amount what they say I really acknowledge next to nothing. When I finally got to space exploration, which for a normal person is about an hour in, I felt confident I could write an essay explaining the history of the game.
So the story has got me wrapped around its finger, but the fighting, although different, not great. It allows you to issue commands to your characters, telling them who to shoot and if they should use an ability. Now this is a great gimmick, if you can multitask. Unfortunately I lack this superpower and often forget to issue them commands, which often leaves them dead. Then the shooting is fine but is far from perfect, it doesn’t feel like you’re doing damage. Being released in 2007, it’s when sprinting was not a thing. We get to have fun going at a gentle jog, so you can imagine how someone not filled with nostalgia wants to shoot themselves when having to explore big maps. Why couldn’t the citadel have a sweet skateboard to get around quicker, and why do the elevators of the future so slow.
Now I have been assured, well more like comforted, with the fact everything that Mass Effect has issues with is fixed in 2 and 3. So in all, yes I’m enjoying the play through and it is defiantly a series I can see myself loving.