The Character Unlock Podcast

Welcome to another episode of Character Unlock, the video game-centric (but equally shambolic) Failed Critics sister podcast. In our 17th episode, usual host Andrew Brooker has stepped aside to let his partner in crime John Miller take the reigns, guiding us through the news from the past couple of weeks and keeping things on track as the guys share their last couple of weeks of gaming.

World War II is the focus of a big portion of this week’s news as the pair dig into the worldwide reveal of the latest Call of Duty instalment: WWII. Going back to its roots, as we discussed back in January, Activision’s yearly franchise has gotten someone all excited with its promise of things to come, while somehow really managing to get on the guys’ nerves with their incessant buzzwords and marketing nonsense. Elsewhere, there’s the welcome addition of Xbox digital refunds, exciting looking indie games, and playing Battlefield 1 DLC for free.

A mixed bag fills the last fortnight of gaming. From playing co-op games on their own and suffering for it, to spending a more than healthy amount of time playing iPhone games; all via a couple of episodic Telltale games, Character Unlock certainly have been keeping themselves busy recently.

Join us again in a couple of weeks for more nonsense, from us to you.In the meantime, find us on a Twitter, Facebook and Instagram and let us know what you think of our latest episode.

And we’re back.

Fresh on the heels of the mammoth Mass Effect special episode – an entry that tested the sanity of everyone involved – hosts John Miller and (returning from exile) Andrew Brooker attempt to return to some kind of normality with very little in the way of success.

Getting into the biggest news of the week straight away, the dynamic duo get into the newly released specs for Microsofts latest (but as yet unnamed) console: Project Scorpio. Demonstrating little-to-no understanding of technical lingo, the guys try to make it sound like they know what they’re talking about and pass judgement on the use of the word TeraFlop. A brief chat about the closure of controller maker Mad Catz wraps up our news.

Things get back to normal when the pair get into this week’s What We’ve Been Playing. Pledging to play something new for this week’s episode, Brooker dives in to legendary game director David Jaffe’s latest creation, multiplayer shooter Drawn To Death. He also spends a bit of time with Wildlands, the latest entry in the Ghost Recon franchise; and ponders on the point of yet another Ghost Recon short film. John continues his journey not only through Mass Effect: Andromeda, but also to try and explain his favourite franchise to his co-host – with an unexpected left turn into a chat about WWE 2K17.

Join us as our regular hosts struggle to keep things on track and hit tangents that include films (not like there’s a podcast just for that), Wrestlemania and calling into work sick. Shenanigans a-plenty in this week’s episode. Come back next week for more.

In the meantime, find us on a Twitter, Facebook and Instagramand let us know what you think of our latest episode.

Welcome to the latest Character Unlock episode: Our Mass Effect love-in. First, an apology or two.

We are very sorry for the quality of the recording this week. Whilst it isn’t as bad as it has been in the past, there are sections that fall far below the lofty standards we hold ourselves to. Secondly (and not completely unrelated) we are sorry about the delay in getting the latest episode to you. Whatever could go wrong, did go wrong this week and tech issues before, during and after recording have been trying very hard to put a stop to our shenanigans.

But anyway, we are here and the show must go on…

Back 2007, Mass Effect landed on our consoles – the RPG franchise that some call the greatest in video game history.

Now 10 years later, the fourth instalment, Andromeda, has hit the shelves. In true Character Unlock fashion, the guys are going over a history of the space RPG and what made them love it… except for regular host Andrew Brooker, who we may or may not have tied up somewhere so to not ruin the Mass Effect fanboy fest.

Joining Commander and host, John Miller, are Lieutenant Lee Loverage and C-Sec officer Brian Plank. Together they prevent an invasion of rogue AI units, embark on a suicide mission to the galactic core and save the galaxy from genocide, all while punching journalists in the face, falling in love with aliens and making sure they “hold the line.”

Welcome to the thirteenth episode of Character Unlock, unlucky for some.

With little going on in the world of video games at the moment, hosts John Miller and Andrew Brooker have opted to spend just over an hour chatting about stuff that is about to happen with the imminent release of the Nintendo Switch and the recently announced Xbox Game Pass, an Access style rental service for Microsoft’s console, before digging into an extended What We’ve Been Playing.

Having definitely found his comfort zone recently, John continues the tales of his journeys with Mass Effect and Tom Clancy’s Rainbow Six: Siege; whilst Brooker waxes lyrical about his short-lived fun times with full price PlayStation VR demo VR Worlds and reviews the first couple of hours of Horizon: Zero Dawn.

To top things off this week, John goes into detail about the time he spent with the HTC Vive, a Steam based Virtual Reality headset. Hear about the games he was playing and enjoying while Brooker grills him about the tech.

Join us in a couple of weeks with first-time guest Jack Woodcock, who’ll be giving us a detailed rundown on Nintendo’s latest console and its games. Until then, find us on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram to keep up with what we’re up to.

It’s Valentine’s Day!

OK, it was Valentine’s day when we recorded…

What better way to spend your time than with the consoles that you love so much and the games that make you feel good about yourself? How about spending a couple of hours talking about those things with your mates? Welcome to this week’s Character Unlock podcast.

Fresh off the back of the last jam packed episode, hosts John Miller and Andrew Brooker spend a bit of time digging into the news from the last week or so. From Call of Duty going back to its roots and what that might mean for the series, to the insanity that is selling public access tickets for E3; the lads kill a bit of time wondering about the point of it all before heading to a marathon session talking about the games they’ve been playing.

As John continues his mission to finish the Mass Effect series for the 132nd time in preparation for the new game, Brooker has to justify spending a small fortune on a PlayStation VR completely on a whim by playing almost everything made for the thing in a very short space of time. What was worth playing? What made him so sick that it completely ruined his day? All that and more as a featureless episode ends with the guys talking nonsense for more than may be healthy as the bitter pair let everything off their chest.

Come back and join us for more of the same in the next episode in a couple of weeks. If you want more from us in the mean time, come find us on Twitter, on Facebook, and guesting on the recent Resident Evil based Failed Critics film podcast.

And so, as the first month of 2017 comes to a close, the first big video game of the year to make waves has finally arrived. But unlike Resident Evil VII’s intrepid hero, Character Unlock is bringing back-up.

Poached him from his regular seats on both Failed Critics and the Retro Gaming Discussion Show, hosts John Miller and Andrew Brooker enlist the help of Matt Lambourne in their exploration of the Baker Family House.

The gaming trio also wade through the swampy undergrowth of the last week’s gaming news. There’s plenty to talk about: Between theorising the possible ups and downs of a Marvel/Square Enix collaboration, there’s a brief chat on the soon-to-be-released Prey remake, and a trip down memory lane reminiscing on old Namco games in honour of the company’s recently departed founder. Brooker finds himself in Hell as John talks more on his Mass Effect series playthrough and Matt discusses the pitfalls of being a FIFA Ultimate Team player to the detriment of all other games.

In this week’s main feature the team discuss their history with the world renowned Resident Evil series. From its humble beginnings, through its bloated action phase, and finally on to the newest first-person frightener: is it a return to form for the series? Has Resident Evil lost its way entirely? Is it possible to finish the game without staining your trousers? We answer all the burning questions (and a few more) in episode 11 of Character Unlock.

It’s business as usual this week as Character Unlock forgets the specials… Forgets the films… And forgets to do any form of planning.

In the latest episode of the video game-centric podcast, hosts John Miller and Andrew Brooker thank their lucky stars that the big conference detailing Nintendo’s latest console, the Switch, happened because otherwise they would have nothing to talk about. Shambolic as ever, the lads pick apart Nintendo’s new machine, the games that are/aren’t coming with it and the extra gubbins you need to buy just to make it worth owning. The guys wax lyrical on whether or not it’s worth picking one up at launch and whether the possibility of a new Xbox this year (that totally isn’t racist) is the better option when it comes to who gets their money.

In other news, there’s an attempt to tackle the cancellation of Platinum Games/Microsoft exclusive JRPG Scalebound’s cancellation and the closing of a studio near and dear to Brooker’s heart.

Also this week: John finally gets his hands on Assassin’s Creed: Syndicate; Brooker tries desperately to finish even one game from his pile of shame; and both prefer Madden to real life football at the moment. Such are the lives of these boring-ass gamers.

Join us again in two weeks so the guys can share stories of acting like frightened children after the release of Resident Evil VII.

So begins 2017, the year that will almost certainly end with our hosts ruining the podcast completely because they refuse to stop talking about their big games once they come out. Wondering how much time the lads can actually spend talking about Mass Effect and Horizon: Zero Dawn? Stick with us this year and find out.

But back to the present; with the Failed Critics guys having a well deserved week off (have you heard their stuff from the back end of the year? We’re surprised Owen is still standing) we have decided to fill in the film flavoured hole that they’ve left this week. What better way to do that with rolling in an Assassin’s Creed special that ends with us chatting about (and spoiling) the latest video-game adaptation?

Fresh from their New Years Eve hangovers, hosts John Miller and Andrew Brooker return to dissect the decade old stealth series and have invited Failed Critics regular and Assassin’s Creed super fan Brian Plank into our dark and dingy gaming basement to help us talk about the franchise that has moulded Ubisoft’s gaming model for nearly ten years.

Come spend some time with us as the boys enlighten you about their history with the Creed. What’s John’s favourite game in the series? Who is Brooker’s top Assassin? Is Brian a secret (American) psychopath? All this and more in our epic special.

Join us in a fortnight when we will… well, we don’t know. Join us in two weeks when there will be a podcast. About something. Shambolic as ever.

In the mean time, come find us on Twitter or Facebook (both @CharacterUnlock) and join in the conversation.

As the year draws to a close and everyone takes this opportunity to breathe a sigh of relief that the seemingly unending misery of the year of our Lord 2016 is finally over, it seems that we’ve actually had a pretty decent year for gaming.

To celebrate, join hosts Andrew Brooker and John Miller as they rattle down their best games of the year; and scrape the barrel to name a couple of rubbish ones. The lads drag out some games that they’ve talked about before on previous episodes, refusing to stop beating those dead horses and instead opt to get as much life out of them as possible; as well as finally getting to talk about a couple of games that they’ve been holding on to for just this occasion.

Tension and drama aplenty as John tries to big up one of his favourite games of the year but throws abuse at it instead, leaving Brooker to defend not only that, but the TWO Bethesda published games that John refuses to believe are good. Will this episode turn into a shouting match? Will either of them come out alive? Can you guess the one and only game the lads agreed on? All these answers and more in our final episode of 2016.

Join us bright and early in 2017, hopefully before anything awful has happened, to welcome a couple of guests onto the show where we dissect the Assassin’s Creed franchise.

Merry Christmas everyone. Thanks for listening to us ramble on over the back end of this year and we look forward to prattling on for hours on end come the new year.