– Titanfall

One of the newest games spearheading the pumped-up next generation is the XBox One exclusive Titanfall. This highly-anticipated marvel brings two elements that most nerd gamers enjoy together in smooth cohesiveness–giant robots  and parkour. Okay, jetpacks too.

Titanfall is the type of game a gamer can sink into for hours and hours–with friends. Running around arenas and engaging in combat with other is fun, but the real excitement begins when two Titans fight each other. The multiplayer is a blast for everyone involved, though the campaigns are bare minimum, and what little story the players get is only heard through the loading screen.

The player will find themselves in jarring situations with characters they know nothing about, only to have them killed off after knowing them for five minutes. One can assume that they are expected to feel something, but all they get is a “So?” attitude. The lack of story throws a giant hole in a game that commits the dreadful sin of only being about two hours long.

With great expectations shattered, Titanfall only shines when friends have their headsets on and are competitively yelling at each other about how they’ll blow up each other’s Titans. Disappointing and falling far below expectation, Titanfall earns a 2/5, which is generous.

– inFAMOUS: Second Son

When first watching the trailer of inFAMOUS: Second Son, one is bombarded with the smirking and spunky hero Delsin Rowe, the new protagonist of the superpowered Sucker Punch franchise. They are also bombarded with nostalgic rock songs, a promise of a devastating ability to control smoke and Delsin’s banter with his brother Reggie. With wonderful graphics and character animations to boot, one would assume that inFAMOUS: Second Son might just turn out to be the near-perfect game. This is a correct assumption to make.

Taking place seven years after the second inFAMOUS and after the death of Cole, Second Son focuses on a new hero–jubilant and sassy Delsin Rowe, a graffiti artist living with his cop brother Reggie on an Akomish Indian reservation. While formerly Delsin is no stranger to getting in trouble with the law, everything spirals out of control when he discovers he is a conduit–a superpowered being oppressed by the Department of Unified Protection, a government organization. Armed with the ability to transform into or control smoke, Delsin seeks out other conduits like him and rebels against the DUP, going the “Hero” or “Infamous” route based upon the player’s choices.

If one had to pick a crown jewel out of this action-packed game, it would be the characters. Delsin is a sassy (sometimes immature), quirky individual. Reggie is the lawful, good and responsible older brother. Fetch is Delsin’s tragic, but equally-sassy counterpart. And Eugene is the type of kid most teenagers can relate to. The setting, taking place in rainy Seattle, is characterized by puddles on the ground after it rains, or water drops shining off the building in the sun. Everything is a sight to see, and just running around feels fulfilling enough. Combat, however, is just as wonderful, and a selection of incredibly original unlockable powers caters to a player’s personal gaming style.

For those who were fans of the inFAMOUS series and even the 2009 hit Prototype, inFAMOUS: Second Son is a gem they don’t want to miss. It rightfully earns a 5/5.

– Thief (2014)

As a reboot of a fifteen-year-old franchise and one of the first games to be debuted for next generation release, the new Thief caught the attention of many diehard gamers. Playing as a sticky-fingered Robin Hood no doubt seems entertaining to any fan of stealth games. However, upon playing, Thief doesn’t seem to do just what it’s supposed to be best at–stealing the player’s attention.

In an age of Victorian architecture mixed with industrial machinery, the player assumes the role of Garrett. Garrett serves as a Robin Hood to a City emerged into a supernatural conspiracy. If the player can get past the all-too-frequent loading screens, they can immerse themselves in a world where the designers clearly paid acute attention to detail. However, none of this matters if the in-game mechanics are a little botched.

The Non-Player Character A.I. shatters the immersion, especially when the characters are repeating lines about their favorite “taverns”. It also cannot be considered more than irritating when Garrett can manage to pocket numbers of golden treasures but can’t carry more than one empty bottle. The audio shortcomings are also near-unbearable. Occlusion might as well not even exist and makes it hard to play a game where the need to hear the guards is dire. It isn’t a game-breaking flaw, but it does feel lazy.

All in all, Thief proved to be fairly disappointing for fans of the long-time franchise, but will still deliver amusement for hours, even despite its flaws. Thief earns a 3/5.