FIFA 14

The name itself creates an adrenaline rush right through your veins. For all the FIFA fans out there like me, this blog’s for you guys. 

EA Sports’ FIFA 14, as we all know is a sports association football simulation video game. Released in November 2013 in all gaming consoles and PC, it paved its way to an amazing demand in the market. As usual, I got the game form a friend of mine for my PC and am still playing my career mode.

Lionel Messi returns as the main cover star for all regions on the global cover, having been on the cover for FIFA 13 and FIFA Street.

The name FIFA is a craze among boys of our age (though not for some boys). Many even pre-order the game before its release. I didn’t get the original game so downloaded the crack from skidrow and started playing. I faced and am still facing problems in the gameplay due to the crack. Those who have played FIFA 14 using skidrow crack will understand what problems I’m talking about.

Well here are some problems that I faced:

1. .After playing around “two” or “two and a half” games, the whole screen starts shaking as if    the camera is moving to and fro every second.
2.  In career mode, there’s no yellow card. Even if you just try to contain the ball from your opponent, you might get a red card rather than just a foul or a yellow card.
3. The online gaming option isn’t there, but I guess it’s fair because if it was there, then why would someone spend so much money in buying the game when he could have all that just downloading the crack.

 The FIFA graphics took a vast leap from “FIFA 10” to “FIFA 11”, then again a bit improve in ’12 and ’13. Having played all the versions, I can say that ’13 was much better in aspects like:

1.      Graphics (as I played it in an “Alienware” laptop in 3D)

2.      Ball control (quite realistic)

3.      Improved celebrations (as the concept of celebrations started in ’11 only so it took time for improvement)

4.      Practice Arena ( as this was completely new in FIFA)

5.      Career mode (more realistic)

The above mentioned aspects were all continued in ’14. With Neymar Jr. in Barcelona ,Gareth Bale in Real Madrid and Mesut Ozil in Arsenal, the game couldn’t have been any better.

 The game starts with a really inspiring video giveing you goosebumps and a spirit to play football- “The game we love, the game we live for”. (quoting a line from that video)

The most excitement in FIFA among us is the multiplayer option. Playing tournaments with friends in the multiplayer option connecting 4 gamepads, even a one-on-one match against a friend is really hilarious. From the kick-off whistle to the 90 min whistle the excitement in you is simply amazing and this can only be felt by a true FIFA gamer. Am telling you guys, the feeling when you score either a 90 min or a 120 min goal against a friend which gets you the lead is something like you never imagined.

The game contains over sixty stadiums, including thirty-two real-world venues. New additions include La Bombonera in Buenos Aires, Goodison Park, England's first purpose-built football stadium and the Donbass Arena in the Ukraine, home of Shaktar Donetsk. Barcelona's Camp Nou, which was removed from FIFA 13 due to licensing reasons, has been included.  

The music in the background (soundtrack) while you are on the menu is a great feature by the developers. The FIFA commentators:

1.       “Clive Tyldesley” and “Andy Townsend”

2.       “Martin Tyler” and “Alan Smith”

These four add a wonderful excitement in the game by their commentating. I’ve noticed a wonderful thing about this commentating last December which I would like to share. I opened the game on 25^th of December and started playing kick-off when the commentators were like, “Hello and welcome to this exciting match on the day of Christmas”. Not just that, it happened again when I opened the kick-off on 1^st of January when they were like, “A very Happy New Year to all of you”. In both these times I actually paused the game and the word springing in my mind constantly was “How???”. Later I realized that the game is synced with the date on your computer once you save. That’s a really good thing about FIFA 14.

This was for the FIFA fans and I guess even the non-FIFA fans will also start kicking-off once they read this.

Hope you guys enjoyed reading this post. Feel free to point out any mistakes and wait for my next post.  

  

Sleeping Dogs

 

 

 

 

 

 

Well here I am again with a very amazing game review…”Sleeping Dogs”. Being a worldwide hit, I guess everyone will be familiar with the game. Developed by United Front Games, Sleeping Dogs takes place in Hong Kong and focuses on an undercover operation to infiltrate gangs.

 

The core gameplay of Sleeping Dogs consists of giving the player an open world environment in which to move around freely. Well many of you might be thinking of it as a GTA kind of game but am telling you “It’s not at all like GTA”. The awesome storyline of the game compels you to keep playing till you finish the game.

 

You play as Wei Shen, a Chinese-American police officer, as he goes undercover to infiltrate the Sun On Yee organization . You have the ability to walk, run, jump, climb over obstacles and swim, as well as use weapons and martial arts in combat. You can drive a variety of vehicles including cars, boats, and motorcycles. The first time I entered in a combat in the game I was amazed seeing how beautifully the game developers have portrayed it. The attack and the defense mechanism both in the blink of an eye with just two different clicks. I was like “It’s the Chinese!!”  :P

 

 

                                                                 

The best thing that I liked about the game was the environment attack feature…..I freaked out when I hanged someone in an anchor by the ceiling!!!

 

Regarding the driving segments, several developers had worked on previous Need for Speed titles so that part was already taken care of because it’s the NFS developers we’re taking about. While driving, Wei can get out and jump onto other moving vehicles.

 

Not only that the way he peeks out of the car and shoots cars and bikes even while driving is an excellent work by the developers.

 

 

                                                       

 

Even though the storyline is incredible, when not attempting a storyline mission, you can free-roam which gives you the ability to participate in activities such as joining a fight club, singing karaoke, visiting gambling dens, betting on cockfights and participating in street races.

                                                           

                                                              

 

You get to own your own apartments in different areas of Hong Kong as you advance the game. Even you get to buy cars. As your wallet keeps getting bigger and bigger, Class A cars get unlocked, suits get unlocked….and many more stuffs.

 

As in GTA and NFS games we obviously have the pursuit which is a good feature including to all that have been mentioned.

 

The storyline opens with the cop Wei Shen entering the criminal world as an undercover under his very own superintendent Pendrew. Who the hell knew the climax at that time. Anyways, the story proceeds with Wei getting involved a lot in the Sun On Yee. He even attends Winston’s wedding where all the unexpected blood bath takes place. Uncle Po gets shot and later dies in the hospital .

The game ends with  a long, arduous chase where Wei corners Big Smile Lee and kills him by shoving him headfirst into an ice chipper. Pendrew gets taken to Interpol and later Wei finds out that Pendrew was the guy behind all these plots seeing the video recording and also that Uncle Po’s murderer was none but Pendrew.

 

It’s a hell of a game guys….Just grab it and finish this awesome storyline with the blink of an eye. Keep waiting for more on games….Feel free to point out any flaws.

 

 

NEED FOR SPEED: THE RUN

It all happened last month when my term ends were getting over and I got this game from a friend of mine. Am telling you, even though this game of the need for speed franchise wasn’t a big hit, it paved a very amazing way for the upcoming game in the series i.e. “Need For Speed Hot Pursuit 2” also known as “The World”.

Set up with an amazing environment graphics, this 18^th franchise commences with you playing as Jack Rourke, entering a race to the finish from San Francisco to New York with around 220 racers.  In The Run, players participate in a 3000 miles track all through Denver, Las Vegas, Chicago, Pennsylvania, Cleveland,  etc ultimately reaching New York.

Actually you will be stunned because it’s the one only game of NFS where they actually show the person who you are playing as. The game chills you up from the very beginning with you escaping the mob and with all the firing…..I just felt kind of a “Sleeping Dogs” feeling.

As you enter the 25 million dollar race, the player blows across borders, weaves through dense urban traffic, rockets down icy mountain passes and navigates narrow canyons at breakneck speeds.

I was completely numb struck when I was exiting Las Vegas. I was like “Oh My God!!!” seeing the player for the first time in Need for Speed history, exiting their car and travelling on foot. All the parts of Las Vegas were simply amazing.

When I was playing the icy mountain ….I mean that restricted zone for landslides…I actually didn’t think that there would be landslides and stuff but suddenly saw rocks actually falling. I was like “Seriously man!! Hats off EA”.

As the game advances, you enter Chicago in the top 50 where Marcus Blackwell, Jack's biggest rival and the main antagonist of the game, uses his connections with the mob to organize a "welcome committee". Here also a lot of "on foot" activity takes place where he dodges helicopter attacks….also including stealing a police vehicle and crashing it in a trainyard and then escaping from the overturned police car seconds before a freight train runs it down…..and the best part “You actually get to play it”. I mean it’s the gameplay.

Advancing to Cleveland, ”Jack” drives through an industrial train yard filled with high explosives, trying to escape the mob. Crashing through the window of a warehouse, he wrecks the helicopter by slamming into its tail and sending it into the side of a building. That scene…I mean the camera angle in which they show it….it’s freaking awesome. I was like “HELLS YEAH!!!!”

Jack makes it to New York in the top 2, passing through New Jersey ultimately defeating Marcus Blackwell in his Aston Martin leading him to win the 25 million dollars.

In a nutshell “Gamers, if you haven’t played it yet then grab your gamepads…..It’s gonna be a hell of a ride from San Francisco to New York!!”

As always being new to blogging,am trying my level best to cope up. Please feel free to point out any kind of mistakes :)