Kakarot

It’s hard for people to expect new things from a series that has been remade countless times before. What they did this time was give us a definitive remake that tailors almost identically to the anime. The difference with Kakarot is that it has a real soft spot for the original Dragon Ball series and you get to meet countless characters from that series and see what they’re up to in Dragon Ball Z. Being a fan of the original series I loved seeing the likes of Nam, Emperor Pilaf, Android Eight and Launch just kicking about in the world.

In my fifty-five hours with Kakarot, I was able to complete the game to completion, which included the PlayStation Platinum trophy. To put this into perspective that’s almost exactly half the amount of time it would take to watch every episode of Dragon Ball Z. The game covers the four main sagas of the series from the Saiyans, to Freezer, to Cell, and finally to Buu. Notably absent is the Garlic Jr. Saga, but was that really a loss? With a season pass in the works, it will be interesting to find out what additional content gets added, my guess is that they will cover the movies.

Kakarot_Vegeta

The gameplay of Kakarot is similar to the fighting style and movement in Dragon Ball Xenoverse. The world is a segmented open world full of Z Orbs to collect, side missions and battles throughout. These can be completed between the main missions, although some side missions will lock you out of them if you progress too far in the story making them irrelevant. While the game’s title is called Kakarot, you will play through the story as Gohan, Vegeta, Piccolo, and Trunks as well. Depending on where the story goes will determine who you play for the most part until the post-game. There are multiple RPG elements that involve you levelling up your main character, while you can also level up bonus stats by using Soul Emblems.

Kakarot_Gohan

The post-game doesn’t have a lot to offer for someone like myself that completed every side quest as they appeared, minus one that I was locked out of. It does let you summon the dragon when you collect the dragon balls to bring back old enemies. There is a Villainous questline that has you tackle very strong enemies that upon finishing lets you tackle a secret boss.

Kakarot_Piccolo

Every other Dragon Ball Z game has let you relive the epic fights throughout the series in quick succession, but Kakarot allows you to relive the emotion you get gearing up for those epic moments. That difference had me playing this game non-stop. I enjoyed my time with Kakarot and I’m a little sad it’s over. Now there are two season passes that contain a total of five story expansions, with three available now. They have also added Dragon Ball Card Warriors to the game for free, which is the popular trading card game. Online services will conclude this year for the card game, but it has been announced that the game will be coming to all platforms as a standalone release later this year.

For fans of Dragon Ball Z, this is a must-play, and the next gen updates have made this game feel even more fluid and fast in performance mode.

Robert Ring

Available Now on PS5, PS4, XboxOne X/S, XboxOne, Nintendo Switch, and PC

Kakarot_Game_Case

PS Plus Game Catalogue January 2023

January has some good titles coming to the game catalogue. This is in addition to the PlayStation Plus Essentials you can find HERE.

All titles are available Tuesday January 17, 2023.

PlayStation Plus Extra and Premium

  • Back 4 Blood – PS4/PS5
  • Dragon Ball FighterZ – PS4
  • Devil May Cry 5 Special Edition – PS5
  • Devil May Cry 5 – PS4
  • Life is Strange – PS4
  • Life is Strange: Before the Storm – PS4
  • Sayonara Wild Hearts – PS4
  • Jett: The Far Shore – PS4/PS5
  • Just Cause 4: Reloaded – PS4
  • Omno – PS4
  • Erica – PS4

PlayStation Premium Classics

  • Syphon Filter 3 – PS4/PS5
  • Star Wars Demolition – PS4/PS5
  • Hot Shot Golf 2 – PS4/PS5

While PlayStation has highlighted Back 4 Blood as the big title, even Dragon Ball FighterZ would have been better, however I think it should of been Devil May Cry 5 Special Edition. Devil May Cry 5 is one of the best games of the last generation. Special Edition comes with all new bells and whistles that I’m excited to jump back into to experience. This is the game I recommend the most.

Life is Strange, and the prequel Life is Strange: Before the Storm are another great couple of picks. They are beloved adventure games in the style of Tell Tale Games that I can absolutely recommend. There is a Life is Strange Remastered Collection, which packages both with upgraded graphics that is unfortunately not available here. There is Just Cause 4: Reloaded giving a massive open world game and some hit indie titles like Sayonara Wild Hearts.

As for the classics we get Syphon Filter 3 to close out the original PS1 trilogy, as well as the sequel for Hot Shots Golf, so we’re seeing PlayStation drip feed their catalogue. I’m not unhappy with the titles as the Yakuza games have recently made their way there too, so there is a ton of value in this tier already. Star Wars Demolition sounds cool if it is like Twisted Metal, so it may be a fun pick as well.

Overall, a nice month with diverse titles that should fit to any gamers need.

Are you happy with this month’s picks from PlayStation?

Robert Ring

One Piece – Manga Newbie

Manga is kinda cool. I was in a bookstore a couple of weeks ago and picked up a boxset of My Hero Academia manga on a whim. Within the first volume I was hooked with this form of visual literature, and I had to have more.. so now I also have the One Piece Boxset. Here is my look as a newbie of the first volume of One Piece: Romance Dawn.

One Piece is a series always talked about, and from the outside it’s just a funny looking pirate anime. Let me tell you that after Chapter 1 I could understand the potential for loving this series. The first chapter acts as a prologue to the protagonist Monkey D. Luffy. This chapter is about his first real brush with pirates, and the understanding of the danger that comes with that lifestyle. It’s quite an informative chapter as we see where Luffy’s power comes from, as he is like a rubber man. We are given insight into how he wants to be the ‘World’s greatest pirate,’ no matter the cost, and the pirate that shaped his vision at a shocking cost. It’s very unusual for any episodic story to only carry over the protagonist to the next story, but One Piece does. Chapter 2 takes place ten years later seeing Luffy set sail on his first adventure. This chapter sees Luffy’s powers in action as he takes on a pirate ship. Chapters 3 through 7 is a longer adventure that sees Luffy bring on Roronoa Zero, as a new crew member. The final chapter of volume one is the start of the next adventure that continues into volume two. It appears that another character is going to be recruited into Luffy’s crew.

One Piece volume one is the start of a fun pulpy adventure. The main foundations set up what appears to be a grand adventure. As the roster of characters grow and join the crew the story must shine. I need to say going into One Piece I was skeptical about the lack of interest I have in a pirate themed show, but it feels a lot like a western to my joy. The series must evolve in such a way I can’t even imagine for there to be more than a 1000 chapters in the series to date, however it looks like the series is nearing to a conclusion in the next couple of years. Now with the new game One Piece Odyssey launching this week, I think I’m in for the adventure.

Have you read or ever wanted to jump into One Piece?

Robert Ring

Asterix & Obelix XXL2 – PS5 Review

When I think of childhood comics I think of Peanuts, Tintin, and of course Asterix & Obelix. Asterix & Obelix, and Tintin feel outside the realm of comic books. I don’t know what it is, but they seem like a genre all to themselves. I never saw any other comics like them and these are universally loved throughout the world. Asterix & Obelix stands out more because of the Roman history sprinkled throughout. The stories were great jumping off points to learning more about real figures like Cesar, and Cleopatra.

Asterix & Obelix XXL 2 is a remaster of the PS2 game Asterix & Obelix XXL 2: Mission: Las Vegum (2005). I had always been thinking of jumping onto the Asterix games on PSN. Now seems like the time as they’ve ported them to the PlayStation 5. There are five games now available. I jumped into the second one knowing the characters, so I wasn’t worried about missing story beats. The narrative is simple, but you really don’t get a sense of who these characters are if you jump into this game without knowledge of the franchise. The story is about Getafix the village druid, gathering the other three druids so Cesar can kidnap them. The question for Asterix and Obelix is why did their friend Getafix do such a traitorous thing. So on their journey to confront him they save the other druids. The story is simply more or less simply to give you a reason to traverse the world. Originally being a PS2 game makes that not surprising as the platformers of the time were more about the gameplay with barebones story, think of Jak and Daxter.

The gameplay is like I said akin to Jak and Daxter, an action-adventure platformer. The world of Las Vegum is separated into six levels that you can fast travel between. Like the Asterix comics Asterix and Obelix face battalions of Roman soldiers. There are a ton of these battles, almost too many. There are power ups and upgrades that you can work towards making your battles faster and more thrilling by the end. While there are new enemy types with each new level the onslaught of enemies becomes annoying when exploring the game. The thing that really saves this game is the parodies, and if I played it back on PS2 it would have been one of my favourite games of that generation.

Jumping into this game I was expecting an Asterix game, not an Asterix looking game with more parodies than I could imagine. The first enemy type I encountered was jarring because it was a Roman soldier dressed as Mario, specifically Mario from Super Mario Sunshine, decked out with the water gun. Every enemy type parodies another game. You even have Roman soldiers dressed as Sonic, as Rayman, as Pac-Man. Some levels have sections that are clearly made to look like Donkey Kong, like Space Invaders. This game was a massive treat and had me laughing at the absurdity of what I would come across next. I started writing a list of them as I came across them and I couldn’t keep up. One of the final bosses even parodies the Agent Smith battles in The Matrix. Honestly, I’m unsure of how they got away with doing all these parodies, but I loved it.

There are a few things that stop this game from being great in 2023. Firstly the cutscenes are all ripped from the PS2 game. They even show the cutscenes at two-thirds of the screen so it doesn’t look even worse if it was stretched out. There aren’t enough cut-scenes to be a major problem, but you wonder why they didn’t just remake them. The biggest problem which may be addressed in an update is how the game runs on this PS5 version. It stutters like it is running at twenty frames at times. Surprisingly the hard drive space of the game is one third of the PS4 version. So that shows they’ve obviously utilised the game for the PlayStation 5 because there are plenty of instances where games are exactly the same size like they’ve just thrown it onto the store under the PS5 banner.

Overall, this is a fun game from the past. As long as you know what you’re in for you will enjoy your time. It’s longer than I thought but not long enough to take you more than a few game sessions to complete. This game is a free upgrade for the PS4 version and that version is on sale often if you are worried about jumping in at full price. Available now on PS4, PS5, Xbox One, Nintendo Switch, and PC.

Are you a fan, or have you played any Asterix & Obelix games?

Robert Ring

PlayStation Essentials for January 2023

This is a great month for January.

Starting off the list is Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order (PS4 & PS5). This game is great. At the time this was the game coming off two poorly received Star Wars Battlefront games. People were ready to write this game off with EA’s poor track record. Aside from some bugs the game was a thrill, a hit, and finally we got to feel like a Jedi again. This game is a souls like and it’s probably the best entry into that genre while surprisingly feeling at home in the Star Wars universe. This is definitely a game I recommend and great for returning players who want to prepare themselves for the sequel releasing in March.

Fallout online sounded ideal, all we wanted was a single player Fallout game that we could play with friends. Instead we got a Fallout game that felt stripped of content. No NPC’s, and No real storytelling. If the world was more eye-catching it could have carried the game through the bad press. It stopped many people from jumping into the game and I may have liked playing it more if more people I knew jumped into it. Instead I was playing a solo Fallout online game with little for me. Times have changed and like Elder Scrolls Online the game has turned a new leaf. The team has added plenty of new content, and has a remarkable player base of dedicated players. It’s good to see that the game has changed and I may return to see what changes have been made. Check out my original review for Fallout 76 here.

Axiom Verge was a modest hit when it came out and while the sequel doesn’t seem to have made as big of a splash I plan to check it out myself. Axiom Verge 2 (PS4 & PS5) looks really good. I have not played enough metroidvania style games, plus it might be a good palette cleanser before ALL the releases we are getting this year.

All three titles are available now for the PlayStation Plus Essential tier until 06/02/2023.

Any excitement or disappointment with this selection of games?

Robert Ring

Nukie and the Problem with Collecting

There have been a lot of collectables that have seen their value raised in the last couple of years. In part thanks to the pandemic, scalpers and streamers. This ebb and flow happens. Recently market manipulation has become more aggressive with artificial prices of items being jacked up to dictate the market in the case of VHS.

The market has fluctuated especially in card games like Pokemon because of streamers dishing out millions to buy cards. It has made that market skyrocket, that is until the popularity goes down again, and stabilises that market cap. Due to mass production of newer card sets the value of the cards has come down dramatically because they just aren’t as rare as they once were.

Don’t get me wrong, but physical media is great and of value in most sectors. VHS however could not be more dated. VHS was met with so many detrimental values from its release. The tape shows deterioration the more the tape is played, tapes easily build up mould if not kept right. VHS are completely obsolete to DVD, Blu-rays and digital streaming in quality. I can see why there could be a market for Laser Discs since they were an in-between of VHS and DVD, besides they looked like vinyl records.

Red Letter Media has made a sincerely funny statement exposing what has become a joke with VHS prices of late in their newest video.

Red Letter Media took a terrible film they collected, destroying all but one, and putting it on auction with a starting price of $500. Not only has Red Letter Media made a joke out of this experiment. The VHS Nukie is currently sitting at $77,900 at auction with five more days to go. Already it is the highest selling VHS, and that certainly has to be more than the production costs for that terrible movie. The final sale will be donated to two charities, showing some good can come from this preposterous VHS market.

Overall nothing will come of this marketplace, yet it’s interesting to watch. I wouldn’t jump into buying and selling collectables in such a fragile market. Even Lego resellers get burned holding onto products for too long as Lego sometimes resells a similar set later that is even better making the old one irrelevant.

It’s fascinating to watch, don’t you think?

UPDATE: Nukie sold for $80,600 (WOW)

Robert Ring

A Splash of 2023 Titles to Look Forward to

2022 was a year of casual gaming for me. I didn’t play many of the big titles of 2022. I just didn’t have the bandwidth between fatherhood, work, and the economic stresses we’re all feeling. With the minimum amount of games I did play however, it’s hard to think that any game could beat Return to Monkey Island for 2022.

This year we will be receiving not one, but two new Yakuza games. First off is Like a Dragon: Ishin! Set in 1860s Japan at the end of the Samurai era. This title is a remake although the original was never released worldwide so it will be a fresh title to many of us. The original was well received. Looking at how well they remade Yakuza and Yakuza 2, it’s sure to be a success. Like a Dragon: Ishin! is slated for release on February 21st for Playstation, Xbox, and PC. The second Yakuza game is Like a Dragon Gaiden: The Man Who Erased His Name, and will be released later on in the year. It is said to be a smaller experience than the lengthy Yakuza games we are used to so I would imagine around the length of Yakuza 6. The game takes place after the events of Yakuza 6 and you will once again be able to control Kazuma Kiryu. The story takes place between Yakuza 6 and upcoming 2024’s Yakuza 8. No set in stone date for this title yet, though you can look forward to it on Playstation, Xbox, and PC.

When the Resident Evil series remade Resident Evil 2 to critical acclaim, I was excited for the eventual Resident Evil 4 remake. It felt like it was going to be a long way off.. and now we can count the days. My excitement for this title is met with a bit of hesitation, not for the quality, instead for my nerves. I didn’t finish Resident Evil 2, or Resident Evil 7 because it filled me with fear. Resident Evil 8 was the sweet spot for me. Regardless, Resident Evil 4 is one of my favourite games of all time so I will push through the tension and tears for this stunning looking game. It’ll be interesting to see if it will replace the existing Resident Evil 4 for those of us that adore it. You can look forward to Resident Evil 4 (2023) on the 24th of March for Playstation, Xbox, and PC.

Remember when Telltale Games shutdown. The management of that company seemed to have brought on the downfall of the studio. The amazing stories the team were working on were stuck on a problematic engine that would be filled with bugs. The games needed to be stable at least, not streamlined with promises of further games in the pipeline. It sounds like it ended up a mess. Luckily a group of creatives from that defunct studio pulled together to create Dramatic Labs and with it their first game, Star Trek: Resurgence. I love the Star Trek IP so I hope the game is great and the storytelling is exceptional. This could be the make or break for this new studio, so I have faith in them with this project. We shall find out come April on Playstation, Xbox, and PC.

Judas might be the most anticipated game of them all for next year. From the mind of Ken Levine we have a new.. well it’s a Bioshock game isn’t it? No, it does look like one. We may have the offical Bioshock sequel announced sometime this year and have it similarly competing, as we saw with Callisto Protocol and Dead Space remake. I am hyped for this. Narrative is what I’m coming to a Ken Levine game for, and it looks to bringing fantastic gameplay too. I’m surprised how much of a glimpse we saw. I thought we would almost get a splash screen with just the title, so it is likely going to come out sometime this year. We can look forward to seeing this game come to Playstation, Xbox, and PC.

There has been a relentless amount of Pinocchio adaptations recently. Guillermo del Toro’s recent Netflix adaptation is flawless and the first in many years to substantially change the source material.. that is until I saw Lies of P. The title alone is perfect, it’s subtle and then once understood makes complete sense. The atmosphere alone in this game is striking, with environments I’m eager to explore. There’s a lot of mystery I’m excited to uncover and it may be the first souls-like I finish if it succeeds to live up to the hype. Lies of P will be coming to Playstation, Xbox, and PC sometime this year.

Those are just some of the titles I’m excited to play this year along with many more.

Are any of these games on your most anticipated list?

Robert Ring

The Last of Us: Part 1

A revision of the remake won’t be found here, and I’m ok with that. Actually, it’s my preference in a game like this. The Last of Us is primarily about the narrative. While it did change the standard for gameplay in third person action games, it will eventually become dated. So a refinement of the stellar gameplay while keeping everything as it was is just how I want to see titles like this preserved in the future.

From my perspective as a lover of film, we’ve been through all this before. There has been the famous George Lucas edits that have him replace characters with CGI some twenty years later, to directors cuts which can completely change the narrative (Donnie Darko) and don’t always make for a better film. There was a considerable amount of films being transferred to high definition with the noise and grain removed, thus making them seem oddly flat. It takes time and care to bring movies that were pre high def to high def. Games age out much faster than films, mainly by their gameplay mechanics, as we’ve finally hit a plateau for graphics. Every remake needs to be catered for separately. For something like Mega Man it is entirely possible to make additions, say further content. It just needs to be modernised, and that’s not to say 3D. For games like this it’s nice how they are collected with multiple games in the series. Usually you can swap between the original, which is always nice to have.

The story begins with one of the best openings in gaming history. We start off playing as Sarah, daughter of later protagonist Joel, as she is awaken in her suburban home to explosions. Sarah searches the house for her father Joel, when she finally sees him abruptly run into the house locking the door in a panic. A neighbour runs through the glass, resembling a human only by shape, and Joel shoots him dead as he lunges. They leave the house immediately with Joel’s brother Tommy and see that this is happening all over. You see terror everywhere; people running, houses on fire, and ZOMBIES. What follows is shocking and I won’t spoil it, but we then pick up years later to a much older and rugged Joel. The world has not recovered. People are living in shambles on day to day rations. Outside of any safe perimeter are Clickers, look they are zombies that are aesthetically cooler than any zombies we’ve seen in the medium. No cure has been found. There are factions that fight each other. So Joel in a trade for weapons is tasked with transporting a girl, Elle. A weird task, until they learn that she had been bit and didn’t turn. Elle is potentially a study for a cure to those who are turned after being bitten. The plot as told is fantastic, similarly like Children of Men, without zombies. For myself and most people it’s the relationship of Joel and Elle that we enjoy watching. All the little things add up and it’s the most rewarding relationship I’ve ever seen in a video game as journey through good and bad times with her by your side.

The Last of Us: Part 1 continues to show what a perfect game is and has the potential to be. Unless you have shot for shot comparisons in front of you, you won’t notice the difference, nor should you. This is a perfect way for newcomers to experience this masterpiece, and will be the preferred way to play it once people experience HBO’s live action The Last of Us tv show. To the point of the show it is starting to feel like the IP is getting oversaturated. Surprising for an IP with only two games to date. HBO’s series is looking like a winner, and the question of where it’s success will go once the first season is out remains to be seen. A season or two taking place between Part 1 and Part 2 has a lot of potential. However, Part 2 is a dramatic change in direction so for my curiosity I want to see where the show runners run with it.

This remake is controversial for being remade already as it came out originally back in 2013 and was remastered in 2014. Sure, the point can be made that it is unnecessary at this time, but I’m glad we have it for the PlayStation 5. The price point is expensive, so perhaps wait for a sale if you’ve already played it. Eventually it will end up in the PlayStation Plus Catalogue of games which is where it will remain, so the choice is yours to wait or buy.

Robert Ring

The Artful Escape

Remember those space pulp stories like John Carter from Mars, well this feels like one of those engrossing adventures that sucks you into many of those worlds. Thus the title The Artful Escape is perfectly fitting.

The game begins in a small folksy place that is known for being the birthplace of once famous singer Johnson Vendetti and it is the day before the twentieth anniversary of his debut album. The supporting act is set to be by his nephew, Francis played by you. Francis is struggling with a bit of an identity crisis. He’s a talented musician in his own right, although he feels compelled to follow in the folksy tones of his Uncle. Riffing on his own he plays out of this world space tunes. After meeting Violeta, an apparent stranger to the town and a no care attitude he is taken in the night by the space man name Lightman. Lightman takes him to be the opening act to his galactic space concert.

Space is radical in this game. From the colours to the floras and faunas. The artistry of the game is the major draw along with the amazing tracks you riff, which gives life to the background art. Watching as Francis grows into his new persona is an appealing arc as you choose to see him act more humble or cocky. You latter choose his new name and his apparel. Playing through twice and changing the choices I made previously change nothing to the narrative. So it’s just you essentially creating in your own mind the type of character you are perceiving him to be. The gameplay is simple with battles that have you mimic the opponent with little to no difficulty.

There are many famous voices in this cast of characters. From Jason Schwartzman to Carl Weathers, Mark Strong, and Lena Headey. I adore the game overall and it’s a great one to play in a sitting with headphones on. The game is roughly 3-4 hours, a length that doesn’t drag and doesn’t go too quickly. At the time of writing this the game is available to play through the PlayStation game catalogue.

A must play for gamers that want an exceptional, and artistic experience.

Robert Ring

Far Cry 5 Season Pass

Far Cry 5 was a great entry in the Far Cry series, divisive to some, but what it had was great and memorable villains in a tried-and-true formula. The season pass takes the engine and creates three very different experiences to the base game.

HOURS OF DARKNESS

A game taking inspiration from one of the greatest movies, Apocalypse Now, which was adapted from one of the greatest novellas, Heart of Darkness. The DLC is set during the Vietnam War with you playing an American soldier shot down in a helicopter. You and your squad mates have been captured and are situated throughout the map. It’s up to you, whether you rescue them or skip straight towards the extraction point. Saving your squad mates has them help alongside you to extraction.

The simplicity of the idea is appealing, however the execution is lacking fun and variety. To make it feel like Vietnam they have used a filter that makes the experience headache inducing, and cheap looking. The AI is bland and repetitive so there are never any surprises that really make you change your gameplay, while some areas lack any real number of enemies to worry about stealth. Playing through the first time on normal I attempted most of the side content which didn’t offer much aside from squad mates. On my second play through I did the Action Mode, almost an easy mode with extra bullets to be reminiscent of an 80’s action movie. Finally on Survivor Mode I headed straight to the end and completed the game within an hour.

If they made an entire game to the premise instead of a tongue in cheek title to a mediocre DLC outing we could have been given an exceptional game. Instead we have this completely fine experience to pad the season pass.

LOST ON MARS

If you took Tremors and Starship Troopers and made a B-style action game you would probably get something like this. The game begins with you being taken to Mars to fulfil a ridiculous promise to Hurt. The story does not take itself seriously for that 80’s action effect. I like it for that. When you get to Mars, Hurk is in nearly twenty pieces as part of a collectible, and to progress the story to its climax.

Lost on Mars is a meaty expansion. Unlike Hours of Darkness, there is an arsenal of new weapons, upgrades and gadgets that all make the gameplay more endearing and rewarding as you play through. The enemy variety is great considering these are all new enemies that were not in the base game. In the beginning the game feels tough as these enemies can overwhelm you quickly, and the Queen arachnids they have are extremely tough until you get better weapons and player upgrades. There are also objectives that take you on a drug fuelled dream into portions of Far Cry 5. A lot of bang for your buck in this experience.

DEAD LIVING ZOMBIES

This DLC is as bonkers as the last in the way that you are playing through seven zombie movie pitches. Unfortunately it’s your typical zombie mode where you need to clear an objective while having zombies chase you. Some are more entertaining as you are met with undead animals or nifty surprises. After completing each pitch you can replay it to challenge yourself by achieving a high score. In a gaming atmosphere where many zombie games are doing it much better, this one fails to stand out as anything more than an evening romp.

OVERALL

While the Far Cry 5 Season Pass contains three downloadable adventures you could be satisfied with just the Lost in Mars pack. At the time of writing this the season pass is often on sale for half price and is well worth the price. Personally, the season pass is worth it alone for Far Cry 3 Classic. Far Cry 3 was the game of the year by many outlets and rightfully so as every game in the franchise since has followed in its successful gameplay elements. Hours of Darkness could be more enticing with a friend in co-op but is wanting in single player. Lost on Mars is where the fun is at. Traversing a new terrain with a sense of accomplishment as you complete side objectives is the kind of experience you would hope to get from each DLC from the season pass. With that said the Dead Living Zombies would be a fun evening in co-op.

As a whole package Far Cry 5 and the season pass make for an action packed experience that will have you occupied for quite some time.

Robert Ring