This is playing like a strong EDGE [7] at the moment, if it wasn't for some ropey cutscenes, it'd be an [8]. They've absolutely nailed the atmosphere, stalking around deserted townships at night burning zombie nests is terrific stuff. The only strange omission considering the setting is the absence of a survival mode. But I suppose RDR2's take on that has now ruined it for other games, with survival elements being automatically dissed as 'mindless busy work'.

There's been a lot of disinformation about this game, that it wasn't a 'proper open world', that the gunplay was 'underwhelming', and bug reels making it out to be a complete broken mess. I am happy to report this as fake news.

I can't help feel that in days gone, prior to social media, you only had Sinclair User and yer mates to tell you whether a game was good or not. And if you got hooked by the hype and bought a dud, then that was that. But now we've got every YouTuber on the planet falling over themselves to vilify the latest release should it display some technical issues or less than completely flawless gameplay. The pendulum has swung too far the other way. Time to reset the clock.

I thought this looked great from the get-go. Glad folks are enjoying it. It’s on my very small list of games to play before next gen lands, which goes something like Dragon Quest XI > Persona 5 > Assassin’s Creed Odyssey > Days Gone. That’ll take me a year.

Ac:o is Better

The stealth sections are rancid shit

Yeah man we’ll look back and see that ac:o was last years game of the generation

Just burnt out a nest when the horde came shuffling past.

Spent the whole day on this yesterday and I'm really getting into it. Sure it's not perfect but the core game play loop as I believe it's called is so good.

I also really like the way the story is unfolding. It feels very organic and natural as Deak responds to specific events as they unfurl rather than having some grand over arching quest. So it seems fine to go and off and do some side quests because that's what he does.

Now I've unlocked some abilities the combat is coming good too. Love the one hit kills with melee good melee weapons.

Having a bit of trouble with my bike upgrades as my favoured camp is Iron Mike so I'm starting again on camp loyalty.

Although I guess it says something about the story telling that I have a favoured camp.

How far are you in Vere in terms of hours played?

The fucking eves dropping missions though can fuck right off.

Tag Helicopter
Follow Nero agent.
Listen in.
Fail mission as was looking at phone and didn't realise they'd fucked off
Listen in again.
Have no idea where they're going and so head back round the house.. fail mission
Listen in again. Get caught
Listen in again Get caught.
Listen in again try distracting the guards, but distract the scientist, fail mission
Eventually get to house for second part of listening in.. no cover get caught.
Listen in again.
Get in house. Front doors open, get caught.
Finally game gives me the option of skipping..YES FOR THE LOVE OF GOD LET ME SKIP!!

Think I’m pretty much near the end, gonna miss this but never stay with a game when the story is over. Got a particularly hard mission where I’ve gotta clear out one of the biggest hordes. Trying to get the perfect route to take care of them and set traps etc. Absolutely awesome when you nail a horde just right. Have cleared a few now and I thought it was odd they made it a very late addition to your options facing off against them but it makes perfect sense when you understand all the traps and have certain weapons to use against them. And when you’re handing in 300+ ear bounties you rake it in!

Imagine my disappointment when it turns out he’s not wearing a bandana to his
Wedding day.

Imagine my double disappointment when I have to protect an NPC with a sniper rifle ... what a hoary old cliche of a mission.

Noticing any improvements after this 12GB update ?

Had a rather frustrating experience with this yesterday. Remember the zombie horde chase scene through the sawmill that they showed at E3 years ago? Well, I got to that point last night and was suitably tooled up. Only problem was I had unlocked the Nero scientific bunker much earlier on and had left some of the sirens blaring. So the zombie horde was already swarming (rather than being activated upon the NPC bounty breaking cover and making a run for it). Cue lots of wasted ammo just trying to clear a path through gangs of roaming zombies to get to the first marker to start tracking the bounty.

I've been doing plenty of side missions too so I'm pretty levelled up. But this has its downside too. First time I manage to sneak into the compound, a Breaker (think super-zombie) has spawned there, preventing me from getting to my objective. And then Screamers start spawning too, making what should have been a showpiece encounter with a horde become a nigh impossible mission.

Things get even more frustratingly worse when I clear a large chunk of the zombie horde but leave the compound and circle back to see if a new directional approach will pay dividends. But because I've strayed out of the location temporarily, the encounter resets and I have to go back to the first point to pick up the trail again. Which is now littered with zombies.

After what feels like the thirteenth attempt (punctuated by me blowing myself up with my own landmines as I desperately try to slow down the pursuing horde behind me) I finally nab the bounty and flee. It definitely was not the nailbiting encounter first demoed at E3. Just like it's protagonist, the game itself does have a tendency to become nothing but trailer trash.

Hit what I’m assuming is the third act last night which starts with a boss battle.

There’s the familiar oil drums and storage tanks dotted around to aid your quest in what I think is supposed to be a fun set piece but the baddy seems to chase to closely to you rather than actually charging so by the time you get to where you need to be and turn around to shoot it’s either on you or you explode yourself too.

Plus I didn’t have the reload while sprinting upgrade until after so I ended up doing a bizarre benny hill style shoot out round an out building.

No that bit is a way behind and yeah it wasn’t a good bit either

Fuck me now I've gotten a bug where the mechanics can fuel me but I can't see the upgrades.. he's proudly displaying it above his head.. 1 upgrade available .. I wouldn't mind cos when it happened before there where three to choose from now.. Now he's the only one.

Plus the repeating speach and radio calls are getting on my wick.

Plus it's fucking ridic that he can't throw a fucking grenade and hold a gun at the same time.