dishonored
Publisher: Bethesda
Developed by: Arkane Studios
Release Date: 12/10/12
Format: PS3/XBOX
Players 1(offline only)
The hype train was running full steam ahead on this one but has it lived up to the hype? Is it worth you parting with your hard earned, cold hard cash? Well, for once this is something that no other person can truly influence you on as every player's experience will be unique. Sure I can give you a general gist of gameplay mechanics, graphics, soundtrack, atmosphere and the like but as with any game it's different to experience it first hand and someone else's opinion may be no good here as the game tailors itself to the way you play, but I'll give this a shot and hopefully you can make a decision, if not I can only suggest you borrow it from someone and give the first mission or 2 a trial run.
The story revolves around the royal protector, a man by the name of Corvo, who spends the game trying to redeem his name and honour, that's as far as I will go on the story but this quest leads to various locales in the city of Dunwall in search of ever more influential targets.
Dishonored is a very odd game, it's intended as a stealth assassination game similar to the likes of Metal Gear, Hitman or Splinter cell. These titles are not my sort of game and normally I don't enjoy playing them at all, however Dishonored did something different, while the intention is to play it as sneakily as possible, it is entirely possible to play the game slaying anyone in the city, without causing any mission failures. It does however penalise for playing like this because the higher the body count the higher the number of rats and weepers (infected humans) there are on the streets of Dunwall increasing the game's difficulty. Playing the game feels a bit like playing Bioshock 2, in your right hand your always equipped with your ever trusty sword used to hold off the elite swordsman of the Overseer ranks and slay unknowing guards alike, it's your main weapon and will save your life on many occasions. Your left hand is customisable, you can use all your other weapons in the left hand from your mini crossbow, to grenades and traps right through to magical powers like blink. you trigger these weapons with the appropriate L1 and R1 shoulder buttons. Once you've got that down you realise it's an intuitive yet simple control system that almost any player could pick up and play without issue.
As the game progresses you will notice that each main target has several different ways to take them down, which break down into three categories: the subtle approach, where you sneak into the stronghold and past all the guards in whatever way you can and then slay your mark; all out massacre, which is pretty self-explanatory - just kill everything in sight to get to your target by any means necessary. And finally there's a way to take your mark out without killing them, normally presented to you by an NPC of some sort be it a ball guest, an old lady or a local gangster.
The graphical and atmospheric style again is very reminiscent of the Bioshock games. The world seems desolate and is visually ravaged from the effects of the rat plague infesting Dunwall. As a result the people and creatures you encounter are almost always more likely to attack you than enjoy a conversation or offer you some advice, long and short always approach any NPC with caution and try to stay out of sight if you're going for the stealthy approach. Graphically this game hits every chord, while it's not the most advanced and has something of a grittier nature it adds to the game's overall nature and doesn't detract from the gameplay. The world and environments look to be modelled on Victorian London, but there's a heavy steampunk vibe running parallel to this classic look. The various alarms, traps, gadgets and Tallboy guards you find while playing the game really do make this a more unique setting than you would initially think and the game truly benefits from these well designed extras. The soundtrack does well here too, when there is music playing it is normally very subtle and almost unnoticeable, but the sounds of the sick and dying ring throughout the streets, couple this with the game's near silence and it makes for an almost chilling atmosphere. Guards chatter away and hurl abuse when chasing you down, the one issue I have with this is they have very few choices of phrases so you will hear the same snippets a lot, unless a particular scene is scripted with different dialogue of course.
I like to summarise with individual scores for story and characters, atmosphere and
finally gameplay as well as an overall score so here goes.
STORY AND CHARACTERS: 3/5- The story had so much potential and it's a great premise but while playing it feels like it's on the sidelines a bit and it leaves way too many unanswered questions.
ATMOSPHERE: 4.5/5- The atmosphere in this game was so near to perfect it's unreal it only lost half a point because during parts when NPCs were supposed to be acting sinister the voice actors just sounded bland and uninterested.
GAMEPLAY: 4/5- Overall the gameplay is well put together, it plays well and is easy to
pick up, but after a while you find yourself doing the same thing repeatedly,
fortunately its fun to do otherwise the score would have been lower and the fact
you can replay the game multiple times and try different avenues of gameplay
give it a decent replay factor.
OVERALL SCORE: 3.5-4/5- This is a difficult one to score accurately. It does so much right and has some brilliant little touches and gameplay quirks, but the shallow story and repetitive nature of the gameplay, no matter how fun, prevent me from scoring it any higher, like I said this is one where your own opinion is going to be the only one that matters. I know some people who say it was brilliant and are on the 3rd or 4th playthrough and some who say the lack of story has prevented them from finishing the game. Personally I will be going back to Dunwall in the near future and attempting a playthrough in a different style to my original.
By Scott Maynard 8/10
Developed by: Arkane Studios
Release Date: 12/10/12
Format: PS3/XBOX
Players 1(offline only)
The hype train was running full steam ahead on this one but has it lived up to the hype? Is it worth you parting with your hard earned, cold hard cash? Well, for once this is something that no other person can truly influence you on as every player's experience will be unique. Sure I can give you a general gist of gameplay mechanics, graphics, soundtrack, atmosphere and the like but as with any game it's different to experience it first hand and someone else's opinion may be no good here as the game tailors itself to the way you play, but I'll give this a shot and hopefully you can make a decision, if not I can only suggest you borrow it from someone and give the first mission or 2 a trial run.
The story revolves around the royal protector, a man by the name of Corvo, who spends the game trying to redeem his name and honour, that's as far as I will go on the story but this quest leads to various locales in the city of Dunwall in search of ever more influential targets.
Dishonored is a very odd game, it's intended as a stealth assassination game similar to the likes of Metal Gear, Hitman or Splinter cell. These titles are not my sort of game and normally I don't enjoy playing them at all, however Dishonored did something different, while the intention is to play it as sneakily as possible, it is entirely possible to play the game slaying anyone in the city, without causing any mission failures. It does however penalise for playing like this because the higher the body count the higher the number of rats and weepers (infected humans) there are on the streets of Dunwall increasing the game's difficulty. Playing the game feels a bit like playing Bioshock 2, in your right hand your always equipped with your ever trusty sword used to hold off the elite swordsman of the Overseer ranks and slay unknowing guards alike, it's your main weapon and will save your life on many occasions. Your left hand is customisable, you can use all your other weapons in the left hand from your mini crossbow, to grenades and traps right through to magical powers like blink. you trigger these weapons with the appropriate L1 and R1 shoulder buttons. Once you've got that down you realise it's an intuitive yet simple control system that almost any player could pick up and play without issue.
As the game progresses you will notice that each main target has several different ways to take them down, which break down into three categories: the subtle approach, where you sneak into the stronghold and past all the guards in whatever way you can and then slay your mark; all out massacre, which is pretty self-explanatory - just kill everything in sight to get to your target by any means necessary. And finally there's a way to take your mark out without killing them, normally presented to you by an NPC of some sort be it a ball guest, an old lady or a local gangster.
The graphical and atmospheric style again is very reminiscent of the Bioshock games. The world seems desolate and is visually ravaged from the effects of the rat plague infesting Dunwall. As a result the people and creatures you encounter are almost always more likely to attack you than enjoy a conversation or offer you some advice, long and short always approach any NPC with caution and try to stay out of sight if you're going for the stealthy approach. Graphically this game hits every chord, while it's not the most advanced and has something of a grittier nature it adds to the game's overall nature and doesn't detract from the gameplay. The world and environments look to be modelled on Victorian London, but there's a heavy steampunk vibe running parallel to this classic look. The various alarms, traps, gadgets and Tallboy guards you find while playing the game really do make this a more unique setting than you would initially think and the game truly benefits from these well designed extras. The soundtrack does well here too, when there is music playing it is normally very subtle and almost unnoticeable, but the sounds of the sick and dying ring throughout the streets, couple this with the game's near silence and it makes for an almost chilling atmosphere. Guards chatter away and hurl abuse when chasing you down, the one issue I have with this is they have very few choices of phrases so you will hear the same snippets a lot, unless a particular scene is scripted with different dialogue of course.
I like to summarise with individual scores for story and characters, atmosphere and
finally gameplay as well as an overall score so here goes.
STORY AND CHARACTERS: 3/5- The story had so much potential and it's a great premise but while playing it feels like it's on the sidelines a bit and it leaves way too many unanswered questions.
ATMOSPHERE: 4.5/5- The atmosphere in this game was so near to perfect it's unreal it only lost half a point because during parts when NPCs were supposed to be acting sinister the voice actors just sounded bland and uninterested.
GAMEPLAY: 4/5- Overall the gameplay is well put together, it plays well and is easy to
pick up, but after a while you find yourself doing the same thing repeatedly,
fortunately its fun to do otherwise the score would have been lower and the fact
you can replay the game multiple times and try different avenues of gameplay
give it a decent replay factor.
OVERALL SCORE: 3.5-4/5- This is a difficult one to score accurately. It does so much right and has some brilliant little touches and gameplay quirks, but the shallow story and repetitive nature of the gameplay, no matter how fun, prevent me from scoring it any higher, like I said this is one where your own opinion is going to be the only one that matters. I know some people who say it was brilliant and are on the 3rd or 4th playthrough and some who say the lack of story has prevented them from finishing the game. Personally I will be going back to Dunwall in the near future and attempting a playthrough in a different style to my original.
By Scott Maynard 8/10
