The mental fatigue that comes with massive open-world games

This summer I had my first longterm relationship in a long time. It started out great as many relationships do, but the real question was whether it was going to last. And wouldn’t you know it it did and I swear it got better as it went along. I became more comfortable and really began to appreciate just how special it was. Even after it ended, I admit I was sad, but I looked back on all the experiences and loved them and wasn’t sure if I was ready to move on. I wasn’t sure I wanted to put that much time and effort into something so soon after when I still thought about the few experiences I wasn’t able to enjoy… Like that damn bugged Skellige’s most wanted witcher contract. Wait, you do know I’m talking about the Witcher 3 right?

Xbox One: Year in Review

Photo credit: gearnuke

Microsoft started the next-gen console competition with its legs tied and arms pinned behind its back. However, the Xbox One has gained momentum going into this holiday season and seems to be headed in the right direction. Microsoft has spent much of the last year tweaking the console and fixing many of the issues that plagued the system at its launch. So with one year of digging itself out of its grave, does the Xbox One compare to the mighty PS4?

Fifa 15 vs PES 2015 Review

Photo credit: ibtimes.co.uk

I’ve always been a FIFA player and a pretty damn good one at that, but as my interest in soccer grew from I’ll watch the World Cup every four years to oh an MLS regular season game it’s my lucky day, I’ve began to reevaluate my video game soccer persona. FIFA is known for fast-paced, end to end soccer that brings high scoring games filled with highlight goals. Pro Evolution Soccer on the other hand, is more of a slow-paced, methodical, build up style of soccer. It’s tougher, requires more knowledge of the game and may resemble more of an actual real life soccer match. But in video games, that’s not a good thing…right?

Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare Campaign Playthrough Mission 1

Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare Review

Photo credit: gamesradar

Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare, this year’s annual entry in the franchise, attempts to add new life into the stale gameplay by placing the game 40 years into the future. The main new feature is the exo suit that gives the player unique abilities including boost jump, glide, etc. So did Activision do enough to get the Call of Duty franchise back on track…(cough Kevin Spacey cough)?

Sunset Overdrive Review…Oh This is why I got an Xbox One!

Photo credit: allgamesbeta

Right as I started typing this review a kid next to me asked me a simple question…How do you describe Sunset Overdrive? the new Xbox One exclusive. I paused for a few moments, a smile crept on to my face and all I could do was shake my head at the thoughts of me grinding on telephone wires as I blew up mutants with teddy bears all while I was wearing a wolf mask, Hawaiian shirt and kangaroo cod piece. Those types of moments occur constantly in Insomniac’s take on the apocalypse genre. After playing countless hours of Sunset Overdrive I’ve been struggling finding the right words to depict the insanity it contains. I’ve decided on stating Sunset Overdrive is a fresh, change of pace, vibrant, hysterical and action packed masterpiece by Insomniac Games.

Middle Earth: Shadow of Mordor Review…ALSO THE NEMESIS SYSTEM!

Photo credit: forbes

I am not a Lord of the Rings super fan. For an embarrassing amount of time, I didn’t know the difference between Smeagol and Gollum (SPOLIER ALERT: they’re the same). The game is not directly affiliated with J. R. R. Tolkein, but creates a world that is not intimidating to gamers like me who do not know the lore of Middle Earth. That only strengthens my thoughts on Middle Earth: Shadow of Mordor being one of the best new generation games I’ve played.

NBA Live 15 vs NBA 2k15 Review

Flashback to 2005: George W. Bush was in office, Hurricane Katrina rocked the gulf coast and Christopher Nolan debuted Batman Begins, the often slept on first movie of the Batman trilogy. I was young, carefree and more importantly playing NBA Live rather than the NBA 2k series. If you fast forward almost 10 years a lot has changed. Ebola is the nation’s newest fear epidemic, Barack Obama is in office and the Fappening blew up the Internet. I’m still relatively young (20 years old), but I am certainly no longer carefree as I am a full-time student preparing for a career I might not have a place in. More importantly (okay not more importantly), like Barack Obama said it’s time for a change (yes I just quoted a Three 6 Mafia lyric) I have long been choosing NBA 2k over any basketball sim EA Sports has put out.

Today, EA released NBA Live 15, hoping to improve on the dumpster fire that was NBA Live 14. And for you basketball fans that heard about 2k’s online problems and were thinking about waiting to pick up NBA Live 15 in hope to return to me in 2005….DON’T!

Bloggershock’s Top 10 Video Game Villains

Photo credit: thelatenightgamer

Some of the most memorable characters that make games a must play are not the protagonists, but more often the villains. Villains create the plot and are far more interesting, with twisted and mysterious background stories, than most user controlled characters. Without further ado, Bloggershock’s top 10 villains…

Bloggershock’s Founders Top 10 Games

Photo credit: Playstation

A constant topic among the four founders here at Bloggershock and gamers everywhere is what are the top 10 games? We’ve put our minds together to create what we believe are the top 10 games of the current and last-gen consoles.

1. Bioshock Infinite
2. The Last of Us Remastered
3. Far Cry 3
4. Red Dead Redemption
5. Bioshock
6. Assassins Creed 2
7. Oblivion
8. L.A. Noire
9. Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2
10. Mass Effect

Our list contains many of the games that led us to create our own video game blog. The list is dominated by last-gen titles at the moment, but we will continue to update as more current-gen games are released.