MacDirectory magazine is the premiere creative lifestyle magazine for Apple enthusiasts featuring interviews, in-depth tech reviews, Apple news, insights, latest Apple patents, apps, market analysis, entertainment and more.
Issue link: https://digital.macdirectory.com/i/500190
MacDirectory 51 CONTENTS DEPARTMENT REVIEW GAMING > UBISOFT BRINGS A WIDE RANGE OF GAMES TO GAMERS! BY THADDEUS RAZDOW Rocksmith 2 For guitar beginners, to seasoned players, to graduates from RockBand, Rocksmith 2014 is a great way to kill a few hours gaming without coming out the other end empty handed. Not quite a sequel, this update adds new songs, new functionality, a smoother interface and new play modes to what was already an innovative cross between a game and a learning tool. Like RockBand, and the first RockSmith songs notes are visualized in a scrolling tablature that mirrors your fretboard, one gripe is that you have to get used to visualizing the fretboard and strings as numbers and colors, there is no option to flip the board's orientation or to show note and chord names. One of the most exciting additions to Rocksmith 2014 is the ability to activate a "riff repeater" which isolates a section of a song and lets you repeat it or slow it down until you can hit every note and bend effortlessly. "Guitarcade" is also a welcome now mode. Here you play retro style skill games designed to get you familiar with techniques, scales and chords. After using the game for a few weeks it's easy to see how playing Rocksmith every day for an hour or two could really improve and accelerate your guitar or bass playing ability. With its comprehensive library of learnable songs, helpful learning modes, and a slicker more user friendly interface, Rocksmith 2014 is a huge improvement and an excellent way to hone your skills on the guitar. https://www.ubisoft.com/en-US/game/rocksmith-2014- edition/ The Crew The Crew attempts to take the innovative success of Burnout Paradise and bring it to next Gen consoles like XBox One and Playstation 4. A true open world racer, the crew plays out on a seamless yet condensed map of America that includes major cities and landmarks. You can race everywhere on the map at any time, without having to unlock zones or progress through missions to explore further. There is a storyline of missions to play through that give you some direction and purpose, despite being plagued by typically uninspired voice acting and a plot that makes 2-Fast 2-Furious look like Citizen Kane. The real draw to this game is the online, social aspect. The games namesake stems from the ability to create a "crew" with other online players or your friends and go wreak havoc on the streets. Annoyingly there is no split screen mode, though to be fair this seems to be the direction the industry as a whole is going in. But if you would rather race a friend you can actually see or share some chips with, you're out of luck. Outside of its online multiplayer support, The Crew feels like a typical arcade style racer. Car physics are expectedly unrealistic, and flame shooting nitrous boosts are a regular occurrence. In the end it feels like The Crew wasn't able to hit the mark, it feels like a less polished version of a 4 year old Need for Speed game. It's not quite over the top enough to be fun as an arcade racer, not quite serious enough to be a good competitive racer. https://www.ubisoft.com/en-US/game/the-crew/ MacDirectory 51 REVIEW