Xbox One | Gumballs Plays Games

FIFA 16’s cover featuring Alex Morgan

Posted on July 21, 2015 by GumballsPlaysGames

This year marks not only the first time the FIFA series will feature women’s teams (in the form of 12 national teams) but also the first time a female athlete has graced the cover of a mainstream sports game.

FIFA is one of the best selling video games in the world, so it’s pretty cool to see a female athlete featured predominantly on the cover and it’s even cooler to see the women’s national teams make it into the game. Hopefully this is the first step of many to expand the focus beyond just male athletes in EA Sports games.

I really like the cover, featuring Alex Morgan of the United States national team. I’m honestly a little tired of seeing Messi on the cover, I think they could’ve given Morgan the cover on her own to celebrate the women’s team World Cup victory.

I’m excited for FIFA 16 to release this Fall, and I can’t wait to see this cover in my digital game collection. Congratulations Alex Morgan!

EA Sports Rory McIlroy PGA Tour is terribly diasspointing

Posted on July 14, 2015 by GumballsPlaysGames

I pre-ordered EA Sports Rory McIlroy PGA Tour and was excited to check out EA’s first current gen golf game (also the first in two years and the first since dropping the Tiger Woods name). It took all weekend to download over the hotel WiFi, and today I finally got to give it a try.

What a disappointment! Rory McIlroy PGA Tour is lacking in so many ways compared to the great Tiger Woods games of the past. First of all the tutorial seems lazy and is also lazily narrated. The Rory McIlroy prologue lacks excitement as does McIlroy’s commentary (that you can’t skip).

Career mode was my favorite part of the Tiger Woods games, and I especially loved trying to rise from the amateur ranks to the PGA Tour, all while earning sponsorships and increasing my stats. Most of that is missing from this game. First of all, the character customization is terribly lacking.

There are hardly any customization options at all. As you can see above, there are only eight haircut styles to choose from! Not only that, but what’s even worse is you can no longer pick and choose how you spend EXP to increase your stats. The game increases your stats for you and your only choice is between a few styles to start out with (power, finesse, balanced). Career mode starts you off with the Web.com finals, and there’s no other amateur career leading up to the PGA Tour. What’s worse, is by default the game is set to simulate most of the round with you only getting to play four or five holes.

Once on the course the game doesn’t get much better. If you’re playing with spin enabled (arcade controls) any amount of spin at all affects the ball so drastically it’s almost impossible to use. Even a slight amount of backspin will stop the ball dead in its tracks and any amount of forward spin is likely to cause the ball to run clear off the green even if you land toward the front.

I’ve had several chip shots get stuck on the flag rather than sink into the hole, and putting is impossibly hard. Even with putt reads enabled putting is hopeless. In fact half the time the reads seem to be completely wrong and indicate the ball breaking in the complete opposite direction. You’re better off ignoring the reads entirely, but prepare to be frustrated beyond belief with putting. I’ve never had this much trouble with a Tiger Woods game.

There are so few courses and gameplay features in Rory McIlroy PGA Tour you’re much better off picking up any of the recent Tiger Woods games (I recommend The Masters). Rory McIlroy PGA Tour is terribly disappointing and I can’t recommend it even to the most hardcore golf fans.

Lounging around, playing The Witcher 3

Posted on July 3, 2015 by GumballsPlaysGames

Hey there, hope you’re enjoying the start of your holiday weekend! I spent my day off by going to the gym, cleaning and organizing a bit and now I’m just lounging around playing The Witcher 3!

Streaming Xbox One to Windows 10 is awesome!

Posted on June 29, 2015 by GumballsPlaysGames

This weekend I finally got around to checking out the Xbox One Preview program and that means I finally got my hands on my most anticipated Xbox One feature: streaming to Windows 10.

With the new Xbox One software and Windows 10 you’ll be able to stream games to your Windows 10 PC via your in home WiFi or Ethernet. This feature introduces a plethora of exciting possibilities as all of a sudden you can access your Xbox anywhere in your house.

I’ve already found it incredibly useful to stream my Xbox One to my MacBook (running Windows 10 Preview via Boot Camp) while our living room TV is in use (i.e. Vanessa is watching Lifetime movies). It works incredibly well, with absolutely no noticeable lag (over my 5GHz WiFi) or hiccups. The best part is it doesn’t just stream the game to your PC, it streams the entire Xbox One dashboard experience. Therefore you can check in on friends, or swap between games by heading to the home screen, just as you would when playing through a TV.

You can connect your Xbox One controller to your PC and play that way, however I’ve found when doing so the home button on the controller doesn’t work (instead there’s a home button in the Xbox App UI you can use), so I’ve left my controller connected to my console and haven’t had any issues. It even reaches into the bedroom (which admittedly isn’t too far from the console) which is nice because I can plug a headset into the controller and game in bed if I want. You can also use HDMI out on your laptop or PC and play your Xbox on a different TV without having to move your console.

This weekend I was playing Tales From the Borderlands in the bedroom while Vanessa slept (headphones plugged into the controller).

The experience has been absolutely wonderful so far, but there are even more possibilities that I haven’t even tried yet. For example, you can play multiplayer where one person uses the TV and the other a laptop. Now both screens will be a mirror of each other, but you may end up with a better viewing angle using the second screen.

I’m absolutely in love with the streaming to Windows 10 feature, and I can’t wait to check out some more Xbox One / Windows 10 features!

Bethesda Publisher sale on Xbox One / Xbox 360

Posted on June 24, 2015 by GumballsPlaysGames

Hey there, just thought I’d let you know about the Bethesda Publisher sale currently happening on the Xbox One and Xbox 360. I used it to pick up Fallout: New Vegas, Fallout 3 and all their DLC’s. Fallout 3’s DLC is on sale, but the game isn’t for some reason and is priced at $14.99. Now I know it would have been cheaper to buy the GOTY editions of both games ($14.99 / $19.99 each), however I’m not a fan of disc games. I used to own both games on disc (but not the DLC’s) years ago, so I’m glad to have digital copies now. I do have both GOTY versions on PC, but it’ll be much easier to play through them on the 360 (by easier, I mean less of a hassle I suppose).

I’m looking forward to playing through both Fallout games and finally getting around to checking out the DLC!

Considering Project CARS

Posted on June 24, 2015 by GumballsPlaysGames

I’ve found myself more and more tempted lately to pick up Project CARS, the hyper realistic racing simulator by Slightly Mad Studios that released last month on current gen consoles and PC. I always love realistic racing games (arcade style racers just don’t do it for me) and the Forza games are some of my favorites. I enjoyed Forza 5, and probably should go back to playing it as I barely scratched the surface of that game in the first place, but I can’t help wanting to see what Project CARS brings to the table.

The game’s incredible graphics cause me to salivate, and while I’m it’s certainly not as crisp on the Xbox One I’m sure it still looks great. One thing that might frustrate me, however, is the lack of a rewind button. I used to get so angry when I’d screw up on the last corner of a tight race in the early Gran Turismo games and oftentimes would find myself tempted to smash my Playstation controller into a million pieces. The rewind feature of the Forza games made racing much more enjoyable, though I’ll admit I’ve never lost a race since I could rewind anytime I was passed (so maybe not having a rewind will make things more interesting).

Project CARS is certainly a welcome addition to the realistic racing genre, and its first sequel was just revealed this week so I’m even more tempted to get into the series early to see what all the fuss is about.

Have you played Project CARS? Do you recommend it, or should I just boot up Forza 5 again?

Streaming Elder Scrolls Online: Day two

Posted on June 14, 2015 by GumballsPlaysGames

Hey there, just wanted to pop in and let you know I’m about to give Elder Scrolls Online some more time and I’ve started my Twitch stream over at Twitch.tv/jdh5153. Feel free to swing by and check it out. Hopefully ESO will start to grow on me!

Elder Scrolls Online: Tamriel Unlimited is a bore so far

Posted on June 13, 2015 by GumballsPlaysGames

I participated in the beta for Elder Scrolls Online (for PC) and found it clunky and boring to play even then, yet I was still dumb enough to purchase the game shortly after it launched last year. I played it for a few days and found that my opinion hadn’t changed since the beta. It felt like it had potential, but ultimately I think the entire MMO genre is no longer enjoyable.

This week The Elder Scrolls Online launched on console, and again I had a desire to check it out. I found a copy at a Redbox (they’re finally starting to get Xbox One / PS4 games around here, though not very many) and decided to rent it, against my better judgement.

I just finished up playing through the first hour of ESO on the Xbox One, and was just as underwhelmed as I was when I first played it on PC. The opening to the game isn’t very strong at all, but I guess most MMO’s are slow to start anyway. Beyond that, I still don’t find the combat enjoyable at all, and none of the characters or the quests they’ve sent me on are interesting at all. When every single side quest in The Witcher 3 features interesting characters, environments and stories, it’s hard to play through dull MMO quests in a game like ESO.

The console version of Elder Scrolls Online doesn’t feature any sort of text chat, so instead communication is accomplished via voice. Voice chat is distance based, and players will begin to fade away as they get far enough away from you. This is certainly an interesting system, and something Destiny desperately needed (or still needs if you’re still into it). I will say the voice chat can be a little jarring, especially while wandering around in the wilderness and all of a sudden a voice cuts in. I’ve been startled by a random voice in mid conversation several times already, and I suppose it’s a nice way of making the game feel less lonely. At the same time I haven’t experienced any sort of meaningful interaction with other players, and all I’ve really done is run from quest to quest skipping through the boring conversations and dull conclusions to the quests.

In a nutshell I can say that Elder Scrolls Online is simply underwhelming. If you’re really into MMO’s then you may just be able to enjoy ESO, and it certainly plays well enough for a console MMO. I think my time will be better spent playing The Witcher and continuing my journey through Fallout: New Vegas, so I doubt I’ll play much more of Elder Scrolls Online.

The Witcher 3 makes Dragon Age hard to return to

Posted on May 24, 2015 by GumballsPlaysGames

I was, like most people, incredibly excited when Dragon Age: Inquisition was released last Fall. As much as I enjoyed it, however, I never got around to finishing it. After awhile the whole idea of having to grind boring missions to get enough ‘Power’ to advance to story started to get on my nerves. Before too long I stopped playing Dragon Age altogether, after getting something like two-thirds through the game.

Now that I’ve been playing The Witcher 3 I started to wonder if I should dive back into Dragon Age again, especially while waiting for the save game glitch to be fixed. Last night I decided to do just that, and give Dragon Age another try.

It didn’t take long to realize why I stopped playing in the first place. I needed 30 Power to advance the story, and I had 10. Therefore I just picked a random place and started running around the map knocking out missions, closing rifts, etc. I spent an hour just grinding through points on the map with hardly any dialogue or anything to keep me interested in the story.

One mission was particularly annoying. Rocky Rescue in Emprise du Lion completely crushed any desire I had to continue playing Dragon Age. In the mission you have to run around a quarry fighting Red Templars and freeing imprisoned villagers. The problem is there’s a small cutscene that plays every time you have your rogue open a prison cell. It takes at least five seconds with a fade to black before you’re given control of your character again. Having to sit through this seven times was excrutiating.

It took about twenty minutes, if not longer, to complete this mission which grants you only 2 Power (or 4 considering you’re likely to complete ‘Red Captors’ in the process) which means I still needed 16 Power to advance the story. During my time in Emprise du Lion I managed to net 10 Power while spending about an hour to and hour and a half running around the world completing random, hardly exciting tasks.

My time with The Witcher 3 so far has been much more enjoyable. The open world is more captivating than Dragon Age’s, and most of the side missions so far have been much more enjoyable, featuring unique characters and dialogue throughout. The combat is also much more enjoyable, and all in all Dragon Age feels more like a lonely MMORPG where you hold down RT and grind pointless quests while The Witcher feels like a refined, epic RPG that promises to be enjoyable for hours to come.

I’m looking forward to seeing where else The Witcher 3 will take me. It’s been a beautiful experience so far!

Trying to avoid The Witcher 3’s save glitch on Xbox One

Posted on May 23, 2015 by GumballsPlaysGames

If you haven’t heard, those playing The Witcher 3 on the Xbox One have been susceptible to a nasty glitch that can make your saved game unusable. If you fall victim to the glitch you can no longer save your game and will have to start over from the start (or possibly a previous save, though you’ll still likely lose hours of progress).

It seems the glitch is caused by putting the game into suspend mode and then trying to resume it later. I use suspend mode all the time, and it’s incredibly convenient. Luckily I hadn’t used the feature before I found out about this glitch yesterday.

Since then I’ve been playing scared. I feel like I’m constantly looking over my shoulder, just waiting for the game to screw me over. So far I’ve managed to avoid running into the glitch, and hopefully I stay safe until it’s patched.

When I finish playing I save the game and then quit to the menu of the game. From there I hit the home button and then manually close The Witcher 3 (select it, press start and select quit). I’ve also been keeping multiple save files, though I do that with most RPGs anyway. Hopefully this process keeps my save files safe until the bug is fixed!

Have you been hit with the glitch? Are you avoiding playing until it’s fixed?