Child of Light Deluxe Edition Unboxing

Afternoon folks,
Feels strange doing another post so close to the last ones, unlike me to be organised for once. Anyway I've picked up Child of Light earlier and it's currently installing so I thought it be a great time to do a unboxing post while I'm waiting. So let me introduce you to the Child of Light Deluxe Edition...

This is the PlayStation 4 version which does with the PlayStation 3, the main game of course is a digital game so it's just a code in the box with the extra goodies. Normally I would not go out of my way to get a special edition for a game I'm unsure about but the price was just too good, the game by it self is £11.99 while the deluxe was £15.99. So for an extra four pound for a keyring, DLC, artbook and a poster it was a bargain.

The poster is made of a better quality paper and the artwork is beautiful, but I do find the princess a bit freaky. Not something I would go out my way to put up to be honest but I will give credit on how well it was drawn and done.

The rest of the box is taken up with the packaging holding the light up keyring which is based on the companion in the game. Not tried the the light yet but it is cool, might hang it on my bag with my Elderscrolls Online key chain. Does remind me of the Dragon Quest slimes in one way when I look at it.

Finally we have the small artwork book is which only a few pages, I was not expecting much since the price was cheap. The cover is just normal card but the artwork inside was great, check out below for a photo of just two pages (my favourite images of course).

Of course I do have two DLC codes for the Dark Princess skin and the golem pack, not sure how they turn out yet since I'm still waiting for the game to install but I will get a screen shot up soon. Will give a shout when I add it to the post later. Anyway that's it for this special edition, not the biggest one but I would say it was worth the four pound in cost for it. Hopefully the game will turn out amazing and expect a post tomorrow or Friday from me about how amazing it is. Until then have a good one folks and hope you enjoy your night.
~Iznic

Evolve & Destiny

Morning folks,
Well I was planning to play a little of Hearthstone and World of Warcraft this morning but maintenance on the servers has cancelled that idea. So I thought instead to get a post I was going to do later sorted now. You see I wanted to talk about two upcoming games that have my interest and of course show you guys the new trailers in case you missed them.

What are the games you ask? well Destiny and Evolve of course!

So let's start with Destiny which everyone should know about now, if not its a first person shooter MMO without the fees that is coming out to consoles in early September. Bungie have made some huge statements about this game for the last year and it promises to be one hell of a game if they stick to what they say.

And that is where I have my doubts you see, so far from what I've seen it's just a generic shooter and nothing amazingly special at all. Don't get me wrong I like my shooters and I will probably pick it up but I just don't see any "OMG!" moments when I watch the trailers so far. Check out the newest trailer showing off the "Devils' Lair".



Looks good but I just don't see anything special that makes it greater than anything else. Graphics look good and the gameplay reminds me sort of Borderlands in some ways but other then that what's the big thing? where is the wow factor.

Hopefully we will see some amazing stuff very soon, no doubt at E3 in June and closer to the release. Think it will help if they showed off trailers where you can see more people playing because it looks quite empty right now, graphics are stunning but you got to get that wow factor to make people stick with it. But anyway this game is still on my list to buy and keep an eye on of course. In fact it was just announced that GAME in the UK is giving away a faster speeder in game when you pre-order and buy the game from them. You can see the upgraded sparrow in action below which is a nice little bonus, wonder how long until we will see some collectors editions.



So onto the second game and one that has really got me excited to play it and that is Evolve. It was announced quite a while back and if you don't remember then it's coming from the girls and boys that made Left 4 Dead (amazing game). This game is basically a online multiplayer game where it takes 4 vs 1, you have a hunter team chasing then a weird alien monster.

It had my attention straight away when they said they made Left 4 Dead, the concept sounded very interested. You have this monster that starts off slightly weak but can evolve into different phases making it stronger. Then you have a team of four players with different classes trying to hunt it down quickly before it gets too powerful. Sounds good and I put the game onto my list to be watched, now we have a trailer showing off gameplay in action. Check it out below but just watching it has one hundred percent sold this game to me.



You can tell the players are doing things a little slow and scripted so people can see what is happening but you got to be excited for the game. I love the hunter traps that keep the beast down but even then you got to realise how powerful this creature is when it turns on them. Also I was amazed with the environment map working against everyone, that moment when the creature comes out the water and eats one of the team. I kid you not I was cheering and jumping out of my seat, plants as well trying to eat one of them. Amazing, simply amazing! this game is a must in my books and I'm very excited to get my hands on it. Some awesome different skins and a new monster for downloading later are being offered for pre-orders if you look around.

Well that's it for me folks and hope I've sold Evolve to you guys, it worth a pre-order in my books. Hopefully Destiny can wow me soon but it's not off my buy list just yet.
~Iznic

Watch_Dogs Season Pass

Plenty of details was announced earlier today for the season pass for the upcoming game Watch_Dogs. Check out the awesome trailer below to get a glimpse of what your money can buy you.



When I first heard about the season pass several weeks ago with the information that you would get a extra campaign to play with a different character, I was a bit wary about it. It's a brand new IP and already putting a new character to play has? I was a little unsure but held my tongue. Why complain when the game has not come out and who knows what cool character we would be playing.

Glad I did because T-Bone looks awesome and I can see the new story campaign turning out pretty sweet. The zombie cyborgs was a nice touch but at the same time...zombies again? come on! hopefully though it will be pretty sweet but I do feel like the zombie theme needs to be shelved for a while. Either way I will be forking out the money for this season pass, 25% savings and the content looks worth it.

Anyone else excited to play this game? less than a month to go now! on that note I'm off to go play some more games.
~Iznic

Random Update

Morning folks,
I've been rather busy with Lego Hobbit for the last week and in fact it's took over pretty much. Finally got all the story levels completed to 100% so now it's just exploring the map to finish finding the open world collectibles. After that then it's just earning the last few trophies for doing certain requirements. Of course with this game taking up most of my time everything else has been pretty much pushed to the side. I have doubt's of clocking any part of my challenge now (see the last post for full details) since I have less than a month to get 4,000 gamer score and two platinum's. Not giving up though I will still try but I have my doubts.

Anyway onto good news and Child of Light is out tomorrow in the UK, really looking forward to this and I just hope it turns out great like I hope. If you not seen anything about this game check out the trailer below.



Normally I probably would not take notice of this game but I don't know, the artwork looks amazing and the platform style game play looks awesome. Plus I'm hearing there is a turn based RPG combat system now, the more I hear the more I want to play it. I'm also thinking this will be one of those gems you was not expecting (like the Unfinished Swan for me). Guess we will find out tomorrow when I start it.

So back to the topic of games I've been playing which of course is mostly Lego Hobbit but I was able to fit some time onto Hearthstone. I kid you not this game is awesome and I would recommend to anyone, in fact I'm not sure what happened but I'm on a seven win streak in the ranked matches. Lady luck was really on my side (probably not any more now that I've told people) and I'm now on the Rank 20 mark which was my goal since I will now earn the Season One card backing.

The game is addictive and so simple yet so complex its just brilliant for a free to play trading card game. Seriously give it a try on the PC or iPad! and don't just take my word for it, give it a go and see what you think. There is a expansion pack already in the works that I'm looking forward to since it's adding a solo campaign that like a MMO Raid. Cannot wait! and I'm already testing out some improved decks that I've built that will hopefully help me get further in the ranked leader boards. Anyway I better head off and get ready for work but before I go I will leave a trailer for the game play for you guys to check out.



~Iznic

New PVZ DLC Zomboss Down

Morning folks,
Just currently enjoying my morning cup of tea and reading up on what I've missed in the gaming news lately when I discovered that Garden Warfare had a new DLC added the other day.

Bit shocked to see Plants vs Zombies Garden Warfare has got it's second free dlc out already, been weeks since I've last played. Anyway Zomboss Down adds a wild west theme to the game with eight new characters along with a new map for Gardens and Graveyards (cheering about that one).

Looks pretty sweet and the Xbox 360 edition has had some new achievements added for it, hoping Xbox One has had the same done. Something else to add to the play list for the next week and if they added new achievements they could really help towards my challenge of hitting 160,000. Be nice to have a new map into the rotation for Garden and Graveyards, it's quite a small list and gets a little old now again when you do a marathon session. Anyway check out the trailer below to see the new stuff in action.



Pharaoh Sunflower looks awesome and probably be the first character I will want to unlock.
~Iznic

Little Overwhelmed

Morning folks,
Not a lot to report for my gaming time sorry to say, been a little busy at work and then when I do get back I'm a bit overwhelmed on what to work on. Really should be working on lego Hobbit and take it from there but there is so much I want to play right now. It's come to point where there is so much I just don't want to play since I cannot choose.

I know it sounds weird but that is what I'm stuck on right now, although I really hope to sort that tonight. I've decided to give myself a kick up the arse and get on with some gaming. It's pretty quiet with the new releases now until May where there is only two, Child of Light at the start and of course Watch_Dogs on the 27th. So I've got around a month before the next big game comes along so I think it's a good time to start getting some games completed.

My challenge for myself is to finally hit that 160,000 gamer score marker by the time Watch_Dogs comes out, that's a 4,000 gamer score increase in a month which is doable but in my case hard if you look at my past track record. But it doesn't just stop there since I do have a 20 platinum trophies goal for year and still sitting on 6, so I'm also throwing in 2 platinum's to the pot just to make it that little harder.

Insane right? I'm thinking it's going to be fun and I have no clue yet on how to complete this other then Lego Hobbit could be one of the platinum trophies. Of course throw into the mix that I'm currently playing two MMO's and want to work on Pokemon Y well this could be one hell of adventure.

Wish me luck and I will keep you up to date on my progress,
Iznic

Achievement Hunting

Morning folks,
After seeing the world record holder hit one million gamerscore it reminded me how much I loved working on collection achievements. Over the last year I really paid more attention to the PlayStation due to the fact there was more exclusives and of course friends on that console. I love trophy hunting as well but both systems have their good parts and flaws.

For example the Platinum trophy for finishing a game sounds so much better then saying I got the full one thousand gamerscore. But on the xbox every achievement counts towards the end score while on the PlayStation gold/silver/bronze trophies are not really talked about other then when you say I need x trophies to get the Platinum. Really need a system with both of those mashes together but anyway I really do want to start collecting achievements again since I've been stuck on 155k for a long while now. My dream would be to hit 200k by the end of the year but I doubt that in some way and maybe 175k is a good goal.

Reason I love achievements and trophies so much is that it's fun to go out and do the weird challenges, to try different modes or to find some cool easter eggs. Plus the fact you do get your moneys worth from the game when you spend all that time working on them. In the past I would just complete the story, I would never go out of my way to play on hard mode or do multiplayer/arenas. Go for all the collectibles and try to find every last secret in the game. There was some games that I would play over and over but not on the scale I would now. To me achievements and trophies are the best thing gaming could had come up with.

Anyway enough ranting and back on topic, I did go through my games to see what I have and I do have a lot of stuff to complete and finish off for the extra achievements/trophies. In fact I got a lot of PC games that xbox live enabled, with the possibility of the service closing I really could do with starting to work on these while I still have the chance. Think I might load up Fable 3 PC first and take it from there, I think I might juggle a few games over the next few weeks. I have Lego Movie Xbox One on rental and I'm expecting Lego Hobbit PS4 to arrive today, very excited to play that one since I hear its awesome and longer then Marvel.

I do have plans to to do two new post series on the blog as well that will be based around Pokemon and Warcraft (yes again, they seemed to be a hit last time). Plenty to do and not enough time, maybe I will try and focus on one or two games at a time. We will see and on this note I better go get ready for work. Don't forget to drop a comment or two, would love to hear why you love/hate achievements or trophies.

have a good one folks
~Iznic

Calming Down

Morning folks,
Well the mad March rush of new releases is finally coming to a end and the bank balance can now stop crying. It's amazing how the start of the year is turning into a new Christmas for the last couple of years. There is still a few games coming out for me over the next two months but a lot less compared to what just come out and more weeks in between releases so there should be time to clock games and trade them in.

Hopefully you all had a great week and have been playing quite a few games, for me I was working on South Park Stick of Truth all weekend. In fact Monday morning I finally clocked the Platinum trophy for it which now brings me up to six for the year so far (twenty is my goal for the year. So not doing to bad so far with my challenge with my friend. Anyway back to the game and I got to say it was amazing, if you love the show you really need to give it a try. It's a really long episode is the way to sum it up and I recommend to do all the side quests because is so many gags you will laugh at. Got to say it's on the list for Game of the Year so far.

With that out of the way I'm now working on a few games, well I am and I'm not. Not really got stuck into anything just yet, still trying to do the Xbox One Achievement Challenge for Titan Fall and get level 50 by the end of the month. Last night I hit level 34 so I'm close but I'm really running out of time and in fact I need to do roughly five levels a day just to hit it.

Really doesn't help that I keep getting terrible lag and rubber banding in the game though. In fact I lost connection several times yesterday and it ruined one amazing game for me. Would say it's my connection but I've checked it and nothing is wrong plus it seems I'm not the only one. Just hope they can sort it soon because its making the game unplayable sometimes.

Fingers crossed with that anyway so other then that I am starting inFamous Second Son, picked it up the other day along side Diablo 3 Reaper of Souls. Only done say an hour max but so far it's pretty sweet, graphics are amazing and the game play is not too bad. Will hold judgement off until I've got into it a little more then I will tell you guys what I think.

So that's it for me this week folks, Titan Fall and inFamous will be taking over my game time. Not sure yet what I will do after those two but expect a post soon with what I've done. I do have a few more posts in the pipe line just need to write them up, hopefully I can get one or two up later but until then have a good one folks.
~Iznic

Saturday Update

So after the excitement of the new Assassin's Creed reveal I've not really done much in the way of gaming this week. Mostly because my work pattern is all over the place so my free hours went out of the window again. I'm still trying to get the achievement challenge for Titan Fall which is to get to level 50 by the end of the month. Got roughly around nine days to do it and I'm level 29 at the moment, still very doable but I need the time to sit down and play. Hopefully this weekend I will able to get to level 40+ but I'm not getting my hopes up.

Still working also on my second playthrough of South Park Stick of Truth, going for the full platinum and working my way through the check list of collectibles. Again I'm hoping to make some head way today and tomorrow since I want to trade it in on Tuesday for the Diablo 3 Reaper of Souls Collectors Edition. I will be re picking up South Park again later on the Xbox 360 to get the full 1,000 gamerscore and to keep it for my collection, yes it's that good and worth several playthroughs.

That's my goals anyway for the week to hit level 50 and to clock a platinum trophy for South Park. I do have some other games I want to work on but at this moment I'm trying to get these two done first. On the topic of upcoming games it's got a small flourish of games over the next few weeks then dies down for the rest of April and May. Blessing really since it was getting very expensive, next week we have Diablo 3 Reaper of Souls and Professor Layton x Phoenix Wright. Then several weeks into April sees the Lego Hobbit releasing then the last game is not until the end of March and that's Watch_Dogs.

It's good really since with all that time I can actually start working my way through some games, finish some and work on some marathons I've been wanting to do but not had the time. Like for example I want to do the entire Mass Effect series again (I have the PlayStation version not been touched) then the entire Assassin's Creed saga from the start. Refresh my memory on the full story plus I do have the entire range on PlayStation untouched so I have plenty of trophies to get. Has you can see I have plenty to play on the books plus there is plenty of past games I would like to pick up for a playthrough so hopefully I will see some deal of the weeks soon on them.

So yeah I have plenty to keep me occupied for the next few months, about you my readers? working on good or got plans for a marathon or two?

On that note I'm going to head off and get myself ready for work, so have a good one folks and don't forget to leave a comment or two. Would love to hear from you all.
~Iznic

Assassin's Creed Unity

Morning folks,
Few days ago a "leak" came out about the new Assassin's Creed game and showed off two screen shots from the ALPHA. It revealed the game was for the next generation consoles only and that another game was in the works for the past generation. Also it it revealed the setting for the game being France in the 18th Century. The leak was posted up on Kotaku which you can find here, there is a quite a few screen shots to check out plus the logo (See below)

Leaked Logo thanks to Kotaku

Anyway last night was the final reveal from Ubisoft and it was confirmed that the leak was real, the new game is called Assassin's Creed Unity which takes place in the French Revolution. Check out the teaser trailer below ...



Cannot lie I was hyper yesterday when I saw the news and I had to stop myself from jumping on the spot. I'm looking forward to see what's new and how the story is going to fold out with the Templar's, plus I'm very excited to see what the second game could be. Will it be in the same setting or a completely different one, so many questions right now and lets not forget what awesome collectors editions will they do this year. Although it's going to be expensive year if there is two games this year.

Anyway soon as more gets posted up I will do more updates but for now Arno the new Assassin will have to wait, graphics look amazing by the way.
~Iznic

In the Middle

Good morning folks,
March is here and in full swing with plenty of new games already out along with more due. I'm currently been playing quite a bit of multiplayer which is unusal for me. Since Titanfall just came out yesterday I'm already six hours into it with a level 19 character. Very good game so far with just a few minor problems (mostly lag etc.) but I can see the game taking up plenty of my time as I play with the guys from work.

Also I've finally started Battlefield 4, well when I say I've started....talking about three matches max. I did pick up the Premium pass ready for the new Carrier assault mode at the end of the month. Really cannot wait to play that mode since I loved the idea of Titan mode back in the day but never got chance to play it. Anyway I will be trying to split my time across my games since I have Titanfall, Battlefield 4 and Garden Warfare for multiplayer purposes.

Over to the singleplayer games well I picked up South Park Stick of Truth and completed within two days of getting it. I could not put it down and I will recommend it to anyone who loves the show, it's a huge long episode and it's brilliant. Plenty of tongue and cheek jokes from the show plus they make fun of plenty of the old school games and new ones. Took me around 12 hours (give or take) to complete but I did not do all the side stuff, in fact I'm currently starting my second playthrough now to get the full platinum. Had to print off a eleven page check list for all the collectable stuff to find in the game to make it easier. Really hoping to get the platinum by the end of the week so I can move onto the Diablo 3 expansion the week after.

So other then that folks nothing massive to really explain, there is plenty of new games announcements over the last few week but I will try and get some posts up later to cover that. After I finish this post I will try and get the blog stats to show my current gaming progress. Not sure what else to write to be honest so on that note I'm going to shoot. Sooner I get the stats update the better since I need to head to work, so have a good one folks and I will catch you all later.

~Iznic

March Madness

Let the gaming madness begin! and what better way with Plants vs Zombies: Garden Warfare. Seriously addictive again to say it's online only and does not have many maps to play on. Never thought I would see the day that I could not put down a multiplayer game. Look for a fun shooter that does not take the genre serious then check it out, it's a blast and you will want to spend unlocking all the customisation features for your characters. Not tried out the co-op mode "Garden Ops" yet but hopefully soon, hoping that will be just has good has "Gardens and Graveyards".

Anyway it's March finally and we kicking off the gamers Christmas where we will see a ton of new releases every week for the month. Started off with Thief and Plants vs Zombies for me last week, I did not pick up Thief since I'm just not sure on the game. Something is putting me off it and plus I really can see it going into deal of the week in a week or two so I'm waiting for now. Back to the topic of new releases, next week sees South Park Stick of Truth finally releasing, it's been a long...very long..so long...wait to get this game but it's going to be worth. You only got to see the trailers and the play through of the first chapter that's gone live to see how great it is.

Does not end though, oh no for me there is a game week for the next month and my next one will be of course Titan Fall. Really annoyed because I did get a beta invite and was sick for the entire event (yes to sick to play games, dang man flu!). But I know this will be a worth while purchase since everyone I know is raving on about it and saying how good it is.

Week after that sees inFamous Second Son coming out and this game is still a maybe for me. It does look amazing but I really would like to see a little more gameplay before I decide if it's a day one purchase. Finally ending the month off is Phoenix Wright x Professor Layton for the 3DS, a game I've been praying to release in the UK for a very long time. Big fan of both so having them combine into one great story has got me bouncing off the wall with excitement.

There is one more game to add to this list and that's the Diablo 3 expansion, I know it's near the end of March but I cannot remember the date. Still unsure if I want to pick it up yet since I do want to get the PS4 version when that hits and it's meant to have the expansion included with the main game. Tough choice since the PC version is doing a great collectors edition and I have pretty much all the Blizzard games in collectors format for the PC. Will get back to you once I've decided on what I will do.


So what about you readers? do you have a long list of games to pick up this month? Give me a shout and on that note I'm off to go kill some Zombies or maybe some Plants.
~Iznic

P.S. Lego Hobbit at the start of April as well, I really hope they don't add any more games since it's going to be very hard to decide what to get first.

Gamers Year Day 6-20

Might be a little out of date with the keeping you guys up to date with what I've been playing but oh well. So good news in the past two weeks I finally clocked Lego Marvel on the PS4 which the flying stuff was a nightmare for me.  Had quite few bugs and problems as well but overall I really did enjoy the game in the end, if I had to score it I would say a solid 8 out of 10. The graphics was amazing for the series and the open city was brilliant, got to be the biggest lego game so far. As I said though the flying controls and bugs held the game back for me.

Anyway so that was platinum number one for the year and my first next gen game fully clocked (will be referring to the Xbox One and PlayStation 4 as current gen from now on). That was last week and now I'm on holiday this week I decided to give Minecraft a big session yesterday, roughly ten hours in fact and got the platinum trophy for that as well. Got to say the PlayStation 3 version re sparked my interest in Minecraft again, not played it on the Xbox/PC in months but after learning enchants, potions etc. I really want to do more maps again and the Enderdragon was awesome, really good boss and a nice addition to the game.

Took a lot of prep work though to get that stage and I would say 80% of the time I spent playing was working towards that goal. So yeah really good game still and I will be making sure to give Minecraft an hour or two each week, need to make a map that I will use constantly. Don't worry I will post up screen shots of my work and when the versions come out for Xbox One and PlayStation 4 I will be able to do videos finally.

So two platinum trophies so far for my year challenge so not bad at all, I want to get at least one this week while I was on holiday but I was not expecting it on the second day. My next goal is to finish the story for Assassin's Creed Black Flags since I've still not done it. Kicking myself for that but I really want to give the game time it deserved instead of small thirty minute windows. So today that is what I will be playing, of course I will be playing some other stuff as well but not sure yet. On that note folks I need to dash since I want to get on and I have a lot of things to do first before I can play some games.

Have a good one folks,
~ Iznic

Gamers Year Day 3/4/5

Evening,
So four days to cover in this post for my year progress and like I mentioned in the last post not a lot was done this weekend. But I did have a good gaming session yesterday which made up for the whole weekend, anyway onto the day posts.


DAY THREE - 3rd January 2014
Not much to report for this day other then I did start the multiplayer for Assassin's Creed Liberation. This game is on my list to get the platinum for but I won't be doing the singleplayer stuff just yet because I have planned for this year to do a full marathon for Assassin's Creed. The entire series starting with one since it's been a few years since I played the older ones, plus the fact I picked up the anthology set last year on PS3 so got plenty of trophies to earn while doing it. Anyway I decided to start the multiplayer since I heard it was similar to a facebook style game and takes a bit of time to get all the trophies.

It's shockingly bad and I'm really surprised with Ubisoft allowing it to be like this. You send agents out on missions or do combat missions which involve stats, actually that's a lie your stats don't matter you always win. Only thing that does matter is energy since you need that for your agent to bring in points. Every seven days is a cycle where the world fights for control of cities and the side with the most wins, of course everyone picks Assassin's so it's one sided. Honestly if I wasn't going for the platinum I wouldn't be touching the multiplayer at all.

So yeah I've started the grind with that on the night and also I picked up a new game for my collection while I was out. Spotted Lego Chima for the Vita in HMV for half price which was the cheapest I've ever seen it anywhere. Tried out the first level and it's pretty much similar to Lego Lord of the Rings so I've put aside next to the games to be clocked over the next few months ready. I know I'm putting a pile together and shouldn't but it unless I'm going to play but it was cheapest I've seen it all year, was not going to turn it down for that price. That was day three pretty much wrapped up so onwards to Saturday!


DAY FOUR - 4th January 2014
Very little to report other then continue with the grind of the multiplayer for AC Liberation, about half way for the first trophy though.


DAY FIVE - 5th January 2014
Sunday was the best day for gaming for me and especially since it was my day off, had a proper chilled out day to myself. Started off with the PS4 and did a few collectibles on Lego Marvel, even got past the annoying flying challenge I was stuck on (how I hate the flying controls). Actually was really getting back into the game and will be focusing more time on it to try and get it fully clocked.

Jumped over to the PS3 and went back on Minecraft and clocked about another six trophies, I'm pretty much all covered now on the crafting stuff. I spent hours building the mine cart track for the 500m trophy then spent over an hour bow duelling with skeletons to get the 50m sniper trophy. Got to say that was one of the most annoying trophies I've ever earned. So all that is left now is four trophies for the platinum, all combat ones as well so I'm currently working on finding some diamonds to make a full set of armour and weapons so I have the full advantage.

Finally I rounded the day off with a multiplayer session of Tomb Raider with a friend, trying to get all the multiplayer trophies for the PS3 version out of the way ready for the next generation at the end of the month. Did pretty sweet last night and got up to level 16/17 I think with about four to five trophies for my troubles.


Very good end to the weekend really and I'm charging full steam ahead for my year challenge, really getting back into the spirit of earning trophies and achievements. Just wished I had bit more time over the weekend since I really wanted to get something clocked. Not much time left today either as well thanks to work so don't expect Day Six to be any good but I am about to head off and get a small session in before bed so on that note have a good one folks.
~Iznic

Day One and Two

Good morning folks,
I thought it might be cool to try and keep the blog updated with my gaming progress towards my 2014 goals. So here is my first two day entries for the new year and what I've got planned for the next few weeks.


DAY ONE - 1st January 2014
I was hoping to get quite a bit of gaming done today but that went out the window since I got lots to catch up on. Of course it did not mean I didn't get any gaming in, I finally clocked Ryse Son of Rome on the Xbox One. I was just two chapters short from completing so I went for it and this is my first game clocked for the new year, plus my first clocked Xbox One game.

Got to say I really enjoyed it to say how many people keep putting it down, I would not say it's triple AAA but it's a brilliant game. Graphics are outstanding and it would be a game you use to show off the Xbox One. Story is ok and bit predictable in some plays but enjoyable, kept me going anyway and the controls was good. Personally I did find some of the fights a nightmare but I've never been been amazing with these type of fighting games.

 
So anyway I did earn 280 gamerscore for finishing off which I was pleased about and was shocked to find I'm now sitting on 700/1,000. Think I might go for the full 1,000 now since I'm so close, it will involve playing through again on Legendary which I think will be hard for me. Plus quite a few achievements are tied into the multiplayer but I do have a few friends with this game. Seems a doable 1,000 to me plus the fact I still want to play the game, not often that happens.

Other then that I never got around to jump onto anything else for today, was hoping to get some gaming done on the PS4 but that won't happen since of the time.


DAY TWO - 2nd January 2014
Complete opposite to yesterday and pretty much zero gaming done today, I did sneak in a quick small mission on Assassin's Creed 4 Black Flags (PS4) on the morning but that was it. Got a funny feeling that the weekend will be the same since I got lots to do plus I'm going to be out a lot as well. But it wasn't all boring, I did sit down and plan out some of my games for my goals. I have a lot of games I want to platinum or 1,000, not just going out and finding the easiest games. Although I was shocked to see that I could get 10 platinum trophies with just Lego games this year (Hobbit and Movie are out this year). I don't care what people say I love the lego games and one of my favourite series plus they not easy to get, amount of time you have to input for the collectibles can rival a good RPG.

Anyway but yeah I got list forming of some great games I want to work on, not a lot future games on the list since no announcements yet but of course that can change when they come out. Might post up the list later once I've finished writing it out.



So that's my first two days of the new year and has I said I will try to post up each day or merge them together like this. My plans for the next week is to finish off Lego Marvel on the PS4 since the story is finished, just the huge grind of collectibles and challenges to do. Also I'm working on Assassin's Creed 4 Black Flags PS4 as well for the story, really want to know what happens next in my favourite game series.

Right I better shoot since I've got lots to do, have a good one folks.
~Iznic

Looking Back and Forward

Before I jump into my gaming session tonight I decided to clear up the stats page for the blog and setup a new page for this year's progress. Got to say it was disappointing to look at when I've only earned just over 7k in gamerscore this year compared to the normal 17k that I did in 2012 and 2011. Can clearly tell that the PlayStation took over most of my time in the year and then work at the end of the year.

My new games completed dropped over 10% as well and was only just over the 30% thanks to a few games I clocked in my free time (what little I had). Hoping that 2014 will a great year for gaming for me and this year I'm determined not to make a pile of shame. Most of my past pile is gone now thanks to it being traded in to pay for my new consoles and games, was sick and tired of not playing games and having them gather dust on the shelf.

In fact I'm being quite brutal lately and even trading in new games if I'm not playing, whats the point of having them if I don't play them. Plus I can still get quite a high amount for the trade in if I don't let them sit on the shelf for two years. Already gutted half my new generation collection since I picked up multiple games to play with friends on different consoles and no one was bothering, so off they went. No more clutter this year....famous last words and no doubt I will be regretting that at the end of 2014.

Anyway the pages are setup for this brand new year, several new games on the horizon for the next few months so I think it's time to start clocking a few games and get a good head start (rest of the year seems quite dead right now). On this note I'm going to leave you with two pictures of my starting stats and I'm off to have some food then decide on what to play tonight.

~Iznic

Xbox Gamerscore

PlayStation Trophies

2014 Games List

Here you will find the complete list of this years releases that I have bought so far, fingers crossed that I can get a 50% completion rating this year.

1. Assassin's Creed Liberation HD PlayStation 3
2. Assassin's Creed Liberation HD Xbox 360
3. Tomb Raider: Definitive Edition PlayStation 4
4. Plants vs Zombies Garden Warfare Xbox One
5. South Park Stick of Truth PlayStation 3
6. Titanfall Xbox One
7. Lego Movie PlayStation 4
8. Lego Movie Xbox One
9. Lego Hobbit PlayStation 4
10. Lego Hobbit PlayStation Vita
11. inFamous Second Son PlayStation 4
12. Diablo 3 Reaper of Souls PC
13. Child of Light PlayStation 4
14. Lego Hobbit PlayStation 4
15. Lego Hobbit PlayStation Vita
16. South Park Stick of Truth Xbox 360
17. Tomb Raider: Definitive Edition Xbox One
18. Invizimals: The Alliance PlayStation Vita
19. Invizimals: The Lost Kingdom PlayStation 3
20. Professor Layton x Phoenix Wright Nintendo 3DS

2013 Gaming Progress

Start of the Year Stats

Xbox 360 Gamerscore: 146,809

PlayStation Level: 14 (55%)

PlayStation Trophies:

- Platnium 21

- Gold 114

- Silver 302

- Bronze 888

- Total 1,325

Gamerscore Earned This Year

7,626

Trophies Earned This Year

Level 16 (94%)
  9 Platnium

  54 Gold

132 Silver

  581 Bronze

Games Working On

Games Completed In 2013
1. Lego Lord of the Rings (X360) - 1,000 Gamerscore
2. Hitman Absolution (X360) - Story only
3. Halo 4 (X360) - Story only
4. Saints Row the Third + DLC (X360) - 1,000 Gamerscore + 100% Gamerscore
5. Lego Batman 2 (PS3) - Platinum Trophy
6. Family Guy: Back to the Multiverse (PS3) - Story only
7. Hitman Contracts HD (X360) - Story only
8. Medal of Honor Warfighter (X360) - Story only
9. Call of Duty Modern Warfare 3 (PS3) - Story only / Veteran
10. Starcraft 2 Heart of the Swarm (PC) - Story only
11. Tomb Raider (X360) - Story only
12. Gears of War Judgement (X360) - Story only
13. Plants vs. Zombies (PSV) - Platinum Trophy
14. God of War Ascension (PS3) - Story only
15. Rise of the Guardians (X360) - 1,000 Gamerscore
16. Hitman HD Collection - Hitman Blood Money (PS3) - Platinum Trophy
17. Hitman HD Collection - Hitman Contracts (PS3) - Platinum Trophy
18. The Unfinished Swan (PS3) - 100% trophies
19. Lego Lord of the Rings (PS3) - Platinum Trophy
20. Lost Planet 2 (X360) - Story only
21. Bioshock Infinite (X360) - Story only
22. Saints Row the Third DLC (PS3) - 100% Trophies
23. Back to the Future Episode 1 Digital (PS3)- 100% Trophies
24. Back to the Future Episode 2 Digital (PS3) - 100% Trophies
25. Back to the Future Episode 3 Digital (PS3) - 100% Trophies
26. Back to the Future Episode 4 Digital (PS3) - 100% Trophies
27. Back to the Future Episode 5 Digital (PS3) - 100% Trophies
28. Rise of the Guardians (PS3) - Platinum Trophy
29. Ratchet & Clank QForce (PS3) - Platinum Trophy
30. Bulletstorm (PS3) - Story only
31. Back to the Future Retail (PS3) - Platinum Trophy
32. Paint Park Plus (PSV) - 100% Trophies
33. Defense Grid (X360) - Story only
34. Phantasy Star Universe (X360)- 1,000 gamerscore
35. Saints Row IV (X360) - Story only
36. Grand Theft Auto V (PS3) - Story only
37. Diablo 3 (PS3) - Story only
38. Pokemon Black 2 (NDS) - Story only
39. Batman Arkham Origins (PS3) - Story only
40. Beyond Two Souls (PS3) - Story only
41. Call of Duty Ghosts (PS3) - Story only veteran difficulty
42. Wonderbook Book of Potions (PS3) - Platinum trophy
43. Lego Marvel (PS4) - Story only  

2013 Releases Completed

- 16/51 - 31% -
1. Hitman HD Collection - Hitman Contracts (X360) - Story only
2. Starcraft 2 Heart of the Swarm (PC) - Story only
3. Tomb Raider (X360) - Story only
4. Gears of War Judgement (X360) - Story only
5. God of War Ascension (PS3) - Story only
6. Hitman HD Collection - Hitman Blood Money (PS3) - Platinum Trophy
7. Hitman HD Collection - Hitman Contracts (PS3) - Platinum Trophy
8. Bioshock Infinite (X360) - Story Only
9. Saints Row IV (X360) - Story Only
10. Grand Theft Auto V (PS3) - Story only
11. Diablo 3 (PS3) - Story only
12. Beyond Two Souls (PS3) - Story only
13. Batman Arkham Origins (PS3) - Story only
14. Call of Duty Ghosts (PS3) - Story only veteran difficulty
15. Wonderbook Book of Potions (PS3) - Platinum trophy
16. Lego Marvel (PS4) - Story only

2013 Games List

Last updated: 

Happy New Year

Evening folks,
Well it's a brand new year and things are slowly starting to get back to normal for me, it's great having some time to actually write a post out for once. 2013 will go down in the history books for one of the busiest Christmas's I've ever worked. But you not here to hear about that so let's talk about games, well this year I've decided to go all out and do a few challenges.

For the last two years I've always set myself a goal for the PS3 with a friend from work, get x trophies or mostly get x platinum trophies and this year is no different. Originally it was meant to be ten new platinum trophies but after five minutes I could already work out what they was and realised I would have them by the summer at the latest. So I've made it a little harder and set it to twenty new platinum trophies, no pressure of course (trying not to panic).

Of course I did joke about setting some stupidly hard goals to go along side this and here they are, first up ten of those platinum trophies must be on the PlayStation 4. Might be a little hard since I cannot even name ten games yet for me, not to mention how hard they are to get the platinum. Then the cherry on the top, to finally reach 200,000 gamerscore on the Xbox. Yeah I bet you laughing with me since I barely get 17k gamerscore a year and I'm talking about a 45-50k increase. But where is the fun without a little challenge! so bring it on 2014 and let's get the gaming started.

Readers set yourself some goals, have a laugh and a great new year!! I will update again very soon but until then have a great day and new year.
 ~Iznic

That was quick

Morning my readers,
Surprised to see a post from me? I would be since it's been nearly a month since the last one which promised I would update more regularly. I have been rather busy with work since this time of year is jam packed with plenty of new releases then what little time is left goes to family/loved ones then gaming time so it doesn't leave much time to write blog posts. I will try harder but I know I'm going to be more busy over the next few weeks, might try and at least dedicate an evening once a week just to get one post up. See how it goes anyway but on that note let's talk about games! it's what we are here for is it not.

So we are now slap bang in the middle of the quarter four release window, Assassin's and Battlefield have been released. We have Call of Duty about to hit along with the November line up across the next two weeks then at the end of the month the next generation consoles. Plenty to keep us busy with that's for sure and it really does surprise me how fast this time comes around, does not feel like it's been a year since the last time we did this.

I'm currently working on Assassin's Creed for the Xbox 360, could not wait for the end of the month to get my hands on the next generation version (still going to get it of course). I have clocked the story for Batman and Beyond Two souls last month, so quite happy with my progress so far. By the way Beyond Two Souls is my game of the year by far right now, honestly the story was so gripping that I cannot believe I almost did not pick this game up. Those reviewers who gave it six out of ten have no clue what they talking about, it's not Heavy Rain 2 and it was never trying to be. The story levels jumping back and forth through her history makes sense straight from the start. Just think they wanted to pick faults and want Heavy Rain 2. Anyway the game was outstanding for me and I just could not stop playing it, very rare a game makes me want to play this much.

Batman was good but it could not dislodge Beyond from the first place mark, if you loved Arkham Asylum and Arkham City you will feel right at home. Bit annoyed with some of the button mashing moments but overall a very good game and a decent story, some very geeky moments as well. I be interested in seeing where they take it next year with the Arkham City sequel, hoping for some amazing changes this time around.

So with those two games clocked here is the full list so far for my game of the year in order, of course there are more games to add once I've given them a few more hours of gameplay.

Game of the Year 2013 (Work in progress)

1. Beyond Two Souls

2. Tomb Raider

3. Batman Arkham Origins

4. Saints Row IV

5. Starcraft 2 Heart of the Swarm

6. Bioshock Infinite

7. God of War Ascension

8. Gears of War Judgement

 

So Beyond takes first place by miles and Batman is in third, it was a hard choice for second but I felt I was more excited to play Tomb Raider then when I was playing Batman. Like Beyond if I wasn't playing Tomb Raider I wanted to, I wanted to know what would happen next and the story kept me gripped. Batman was brilliant don't get me wrong but if I wasn't playing it I was not rushed to get onto my console to load it up.

 

Be interesting to see where the other releases will stand since I've got Assassins, Battlefield and Pokemon X sitting by my TV right now. Call of Duty out in a few days and end of the week Professor Layton will arrive. Right folks I need to end this post now since I've got a lot to do and I'm only just getting over my cold so I really could do with having a rest in a bit. I promise to try and get a evening dedicated each week for at least one post. Don't forget to comment and I would love to hear what your game of the years are so far.

 

Have a good one,

Iznic