What I've Been Playing This Week (aka Pile of Shame Sunday)

Can't tell if this is meant to be a Norwegian tourism ad...

The following post is part of a series of posts that are published every Sunday to update readers on what Mark G has been up to with respect to finishing off games on his "Pile of Shame". The games to target are picked by Choicest Games contributors Choona, Luke and myself. As I'll be talking about my progress through these games, there may be spoilers ahead, especially for games containing a narrative. Consider yourself warned.

For Honor

• Picked by Me
• Percentage Complete = 10%

Didn't get around to playing this.

Stardew Valley

• Picked by Me
• Percentage Complete = 20%

On hold while I'm playing other games. 😊

Battlefield V

• Picked by Me
• Percentage Complete = 40%

Not sure if this should be on the "Pile of Shame" since technically it's a brand new game and hasn't really had a chance to sit on the Pile of Shame compared to many of my other games, but since I use this post to reflect on what I've played this week, it's as good a place as any.

Battlefield V has so far turned out to be a good experience overall. As usual, the maps are truly breathtaking in this game and I quite enjoyed the three War Stories available on launch which tells the story of the Special Boat Service and their raids on airfields in Crete, the Norwegian Resistance and their role in stalling Germany's nuclear weapons program, and the Senegalese Tirailleurs in Operation Dragoon. While creative license is used quite liberally in these stories, they piqued my interest enough for me to research what really happened. Overall, it took me about 4-5 hours to complete all three of the War Stories: a couple of them even employed sections that reminded me of games like Far Cry or Assassin's Creed, where you had outposts distributed over a large area with occasional patrols passing by along the roads between these outposts. While going in guns blazing is a feasible option, it's probably not the best way of handling things considering each outpost has alarms that will alert reinforcements and you'll often come across stealthy alternatives to your standard weapons.

Multiplayer has been fun overall, especially the game modes Frontlines (which reminds me of the game mode with the same name in Verdun) and Grand Operations, which plays out like a mini-campaign complete with cutscenes. I'm also a fan of how each side in the game finally gets its own vehicles (unlike Battlefield 1 where every side got access to tanks from both the Entente and Central Powers); I also like the customisation options for your "Company" – it's very much like Rainbow Six Siege now.

The soundtrack is another aspect of Battlefield V that's truly astounding. It probably comes as no surprise that Battlefield V's soundtrack is composed by the same chaps that composed the soundtrack for Battlefield 1.

The game does have flaws and for me it's mainly bugs (such as getting stuck on the loading screen when the map changes) as well as some performance issues (e.g. occasional cutscene lag and in-game lag). The AI also has some pathfinding issues in the single player campaign, like the one mission I played where four of them were clumped around a tree and couldn't figure a way around it.

Urban Empire

• Picked by Me
• Percentage Complete = 50%

I didn't get to play Urban Empire this week. Too much Sid Meier's Pirates! and Battlefield V.

Assassin's Creed IV: Black Flag

• Picked by Luke
• Percentage Complete = 50%

I didn't get to play Black Flag this week. Too much Sid Meier's Pirates! and Battlefield V.

Sid Meier's Pirates!

• Picked by Choona
• Percentage Complete = 68%

Wow, I think I've almost finished all there is to do: I managed to get revenge on the evil Marquis de la Montalban, rescued my entire family and married the "beautiful" daughter of a Dutch governor, all before the age of 33! I've also found two lost cities of the Inca and Aztecs which means I only have two more to go. After that, the only thing left to do would be accumulating lots of wealth or rising up the ranks.

LINK:
[ The Pile of Shame ]