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(01/28/18 2:36pm)
The first week of the spring split is always an explosive one. New teams have entered and are battling it out with the former kings. Massive roster shifts tend to inevitably shake up who’s at the top, and many power rankings look like they were put together by frauds. As I fully admit from the start that I’m a fraud, I will say that I misjudged the power of certain teams. Then again, only one week of games where each team has only played two games is a bad judge of the power of teams. Many teams take a while to gel and become powerhouses; while other teams naturally click, but struggle to have the natural ability to hold their high ranking. So, which teams are struggling, which teams are succeeding, and which matches next week are going to be the ones to watch? Let’s get into that.
(01/28/18 1:51pm)
By Tanner Kinney
The first week of the spring split is always an explosive one. New teams have entered and are battling it out with the former kings. Massive roster shifts tend to inevitably shake up who’s at the top, and many power rankings look like they were put together by frauds. As I fully admit from the start that I’m a fraud, I will say that I misjudged the power of certain teams. Then again, only one week of games where each team has only played two games is a bad judge of the power of teams. Many teams take a while to gel and become powerhouses; while other teams naturally click, but struggle to have the natural ability to hold their high ranking. So, which teams are struggling, which teams are succeeding, and which matches next week are going to be the ones to watch? Let’s get into that.
No king rules forever, my TSM (and CLG)
The biggest shock of the first week was that two teams that topped many analysts power rankings, including my own, floundered and failed to pick up a win. Both Team Solomid and Counter Logic Gaming not only failed to pick up a win, but got completely crushed in one or both of their matches. It was strange to see players like Hauntzer and the bottom lane (bot lane) of Zven and Mithy get completely routed by their counterparts on the other side. Were teams like 100 Thieves and FlyQuest just better than analysts expected, or are there problems within the teams of CLG and TSM that might need to be addressed? Let’s take a look at a couple of the matches that were good examples of what happened.
TSM versus FLY was supposed to be an easy win for TSM. Simply comparing the teams, people like WildTurtle and Stunt competing with the former kings of Europe seemed laughable. FLY wasn’t even using their starter in Fly, instead using former Gravity mid laner Keane, who is the substitute and mid laner on FlyQuest Academy. Even Flame is only considered just slightly better than Hauntzer, though people who genuinely believe that are delusional. I haven’t seen enough of AnDa to really rank him against MikeYeung, but even then it would seem that, on paper, TSM has 3 out of 5 roles that are just straight up better than FlyQuest. On top of that, FlyQuest lost the day before to a stellar Echo Fox showing, so the cards were almost completely in favor of TSM.
Despite this, TSM got routed by the FlyQuest roster. TSM had a strong start, holding a sizeable advantage over FlyQuest for much of the mid game. Eventually though, good teamfighting from Keane, AnDa, and Stunt manage to tear TSM apart and swing the game in FlyQuest’s favor. The deciding factor of the game, however, was FlyQuest’s vision control and, particularly, Baron control. While they gave up two (relatively useless) Cloud drakes to TSM, FlyQuest picked up every objective that mattered. They never really lost the leads they made while holding the Baron buff, and frequently got picks on a rough looking MikeYeung. MikeYeung getting picked near the very end of the game allowed FlyQuest to push without fear, and a pair of good ultimates from Flame’s Gnar and Keane’s Azir sealed TSM’s fate.
While blame was passed around between the European bot lane and MikeYeung, the person who took the brunt of the blame was TSM’s mid laner, Bjergsen. This weekend, Bjergsen put in a good scoreline of 5/0/5, not dying once, but many believe he failed to make an impact, calling him a “KDA player.” One Reddit thread in particular pointed to one play from their game against Team Liquid, where Bjergsen recalls while his team engages a fight. Even though Bjergsen tried to return to the fight, his teammates had already fallen. I disagree that this was all Bjergsen’s fault. This was a fault of communication throughout the whole team, which seems to be TSM’s current biggest issue. Fortunately, communication can be fixed, and perhaps we’ll see a much stronger TSM after this wake-up call of a first week.
CLG versus 100 Thieves was, admittedly, a match anticipated to be fairly close. While CLG failed to beat Cloud 9 (C9) the day before, C9 looked like a much stronger team than 100 Thieves. On top of that, even though 100 Thieves looked good in their match against OpTic, no one expected OpTic to be that great. In fact, OpTic actually was beating 100 Thieves in the early game. CLG has always been known as a strong team early game, one that can create leads from good early rotations from Huhi and formerly Aphromoo. Now that I write that though, I guess it’s really no surprise how 100 Thieves beat CLG, since that amazing playmaker in Aphromoo just so happened to be on the other team.
The thing here is that 100 Thieves didn’t just beat CLG; the Thieves completely stole the game away while CLG was sleeping. The CLG botlane got completely embarrassed by Cody Sun and Aphromoo, with occasions where it seemed that Biofrost just was running it down. Reignover also got picked off a number of times, much like the day before. While the top and mid lanes didn’t completely get trashed by their lane opponents, the whole unit of 100 Thieves just performed better than CLG. I’m not sure I could pinpoint exactly what on CLG isn’t working. Personally, I think Reignover is still underperforming, and that CLG is missing that shot-calling voice they had in Aphromoo. Both Biofrost and Reignover aren’t the leaders that CLG used to have, and that could end up hurting in the long run. Someone will need to step up. But, as a CLG fan, I’m very familiar with having faith. If I had no faith, why would I even be here?
New kids on the block have a bunch of hits
The big story of the first week was that the new teams are performing very well, minus the Golden Guardians. The standings may not show it very well, but 100 Thieves, OpTic, and Clutch Gaming all had very strong performances in the first week. 100 Thieves went 2-0 for the week, completely destroying CLG and having a very good showing against OpTic. Clutch Gaming may have went 1-1, dropping a game to a very strong looking Echo Fox, but all the things that worked with EnVy before are simply heightened in this team. They took down the Golden Guardians with ease. Even OpTic, despite going 0-2, showed a lot of promise, as they gave Team Liquid a much harder time than TSM, and did a good job challenging 100 Thieves in the early game. The only new team that failed to deliver was the Golden Guardians, to the surprise of no one. The only reason their game against C9 even had a chance to go in favor of the Guardians was because Hai picked up Zoe, an incredibly strong champion who picked up a 90% ban rate in the first week.
Some of the older members of the LCS who formerly stayed in the low end of the bracket have also climbed to the top. FlyQuest, while not at the very top, have shown their team CAN perform on a higher level, and may potentially challenge more top teams in the future. Team Liquid, of course, stunned the world by not completely choking. They absolutely styled on their opponents this week, and will a be a huge target in the coming weeks. If you can beat this Liquid roster, you have a chance to go places. Echo Fox also delivered two very strong performances this week, going 2-0. While Echo Fox’s games may have been against “weaker” teams, they also just simply showed how strong they were, with former SKT top lane Huni crushing FlyQuest with his trademark Lucian top, much to the enjoyment of Echo Fox owner and former NBA superstar Rick Fox.
https://twitter.com/RickFox/status/954901842022027264
Games to watch this weekend
TSM versus OpTic on Saturday at 6:00 pm EST:
This game may not seem exciting, but as an armchair analyst, the predicted last place team who seems to be performing reasonably well in OpTic are facing the predicted first place team who so far have failed to find a win. If TSM can’t beat OpTic, there are going to be some serious questions that will be asked about this TSM roster. At the very least, TSM needs a victory to bring some confidence back into the team.
100 Thieves versus Team Liquid on Saturday at 8:00 pm EST:
Two currently top of the table teams are battling to not get an L on their record. Both teams are looking very strong mechanically and as a team, with both having good team environments and communication. Will the loser start to tilt and go on a losing streak? That’s the main question. Either way, the game should be very high quality.
Cloud 9 versus 100 Thieves on Sunday at 6:00 pm EST:
I haven’t talked about C9 much, because they performed to expectations. I’m interested to see how they perform against the very strong 100 Thieves roster, especially the jungle match-up with Svenskeren taking on former C9 jungler Meteos. The memes for this match should at least be high quality, as Sneaky and Meteos were once the best power couple in the LCS. They battle on the rift, with Meteos and his new love Ryu challenging Sneaky and his current love Jensen. Will love bloom on the battlefield? Absolutely, yes please.
Golden Guardians versus CLG on Sunday at 8:00 pm EST:
Similar reasoning to the TSM match being one to watch. I don’t think Golden Guardians are as good as OpTic is, so I highly don’t they will be able to beat CLG. However, if they do, things are going to definitely be wild. This next weekend may decide if CLG or TSM start doing roster swaps or not. I don’t think they should this early in the season, but teams have made weirder roster decisions.
That’s it for Week 1 of the NA LCS. Will Team Liquid be able to keep their dominating performance up this next weekend? Will TSM be forced further down in the standings, or will they pick up wins against teams they are supposed to beat? And when does OpTic play? These questions and more will be answered this weekend. And for those curious about power rankings, all three of you, I’m not going to do more rankings until more games are played. Another list will probably be made during the off-week of the LCS, so watch out for that. For now, remember to ban Nunu in all of your solo queue games because Riot decided he was going to be the next overpowered champion. Thanks Riot, can’t wait to see that in the LCS in a couple of weeks. Absolutely mental.
Sources: Reddit, YouTube, Twitter
Images: Esportsranks
(01/24/18 4:03pm)
Fans and motors whir and lights blink on as a subtle beep confirms the machine’s coming to life. A game is booted up and worlds and universes of infinite possibility open upon a screen, a window into the digital realm. Perhaps a story of a legendary warrior imbued with mystical powers or a fast-paced multiplayer shooter with friends and strangers set in the battlefields of the World Wars.
(01/24/18 2:47am)
By Gunner Masters and Teri Lightning Jr.
Fans and motors whir and lights blink on as a subtle beep confirms the machine’s coming to life. A game is booted up and worlds and universes of infinite possibility open upon a screen, a window into the digital realm. Perhaps a story of a legendary warrior imbued with mystical powers or a fast-paced multiplayer shooter with friends and strangers set in the battlefields of the World Wars.
These experiences harken back to familiar times when Pac-Man and Galaga ruled arcades. Whether people are screaming at a significant other in Mario Party, moving their body to Just Dance, or testing their skills against another player in Street Fighter, gaming plays a serious role in many people’s lives.
Zach Sexton, a graduate student at Ball State University began playing video games when he was young and his first experience with gaming led him to become a lifelong gamer.
“My first memory of playing video games was playing Sonic the Hedgehog with my dad on Christmas,” Sexton said, as he reflected on that cherished experience and he explained that his parents grew up as gamers. “He got a Sega Genesis and decided that a good way to bond as father and son was to play games.”
Chase Neukam, the president of the Cardinal E-Sports Club at BSU, also became a gamer because of his family.
“As a kid I stayed with my grandma and she had a Nintendo 64 and I don’t remember my first game, but I remember playing Mario Kart and Donkey Kong 64,” Neukam said. “It honestly changed my life.”
“I originally got into gaming because of stories,” Neukam said. “Zelda: Ocarina of Time was the first game I ever one-hundred-percented because I loved it so much.”
Chris Robinson, the media director for the Cardinal E-Sports Club, grew up gaming as well.
“I would say my first game was either Pokemon Red or Blue on the GameBoy Advanced and if I wasn’t playing that it was something on the PlayStation 2,” Robinson said. “I think I was in third grade at the time.”
(01/21/18 12:25am)
Another year means another season of the North American League Championship Series (NA LCS) is upon us. A number of huge changes were made since the last summer split, but I’m only going to talk about the most important ones here: franchising and format shifts. The NA LCS was completely redone to include security for teams. Previously, the worst teams would have to compete against challenger teams to keep their spot in the championship series, but now teams simply had to buy into the LCS for a spot in the new franchising system. While fan favorites such as Immortals and Dignitas went down, new blood enters the split with some teams bringing in fanbases of their own. OpTic, a popular organization within the Call of Duty competitive scene, is launching a team in the NA LCS. Several other teams funded by NBA organizations also have bought spots in the LCS. It’ll be interesting to see how these more “professional” organizations compete against the old guard of TSM, CLG, C9, and TL.
(01/20/18 8:41pm)
By Tanner Kinney
Another year means another season of the North American League Championship Series (NA LCS) is upon us. A number of huge changes were made since the last summer split, but I’m only going to talk about the most important ones here: franchising and format shifts. The NA LCS was completely redone to include security for teams. Previously, the worst teams would have to compete against challenger teams to keep their spot in the championship series, but now teams simply had to buy into the LCS for a spot in the new franchising system. While fan favorites such as Immortals and Dignitas went down, new blood enters the split with some teams bringing in fanbases of their own. OpTic, a popular organization within the Call of Duty competitive scene, is launching a team in the NA LCS. Several other teams funded by NBA organizations also have bought spots in the LCS. It’ll be interesting to see how these more “professional” organizations compete against the old guard of TSM, CLG, C9, and TL.
The format has also shifted from best of three series to a now best of one — meaning surprise strats and the random upswings and downswings of normally successful teams are back on the menu. Formerly, when the NA LCS was a best of one format, you’d have teams like Complexity or Team 8 who only served to play spoiler to the teams at the top of the table — dubbed “blue shell” teams by the community. Will they return this split? No idea, but it’ll be exciting to see.
The predictions I make here are purely speculative. At the time of writing no team has played yet, aside from a couple players from OpTic subbing in for their academy team counterparts. The rankings are based on perceived power, synergy, potential to overachieve, and potential to self-destruct horribly. Things are likely to change as the split goes on and we start seeing results, but as of now, here are my power rankings.
1. Team Solomid #TSMWIN
TSM made a lot of changes during the offseason, keeping only two players from their previous World Championship team. But are these changes for the best? Absolutely. TSM kept their two hugely successful solo lane carries in Bjergsen and Hauntzer, while picking up Zven and Mithy, who were widely considered one of, if not the best bot lane players in Europe. By sheer star power, these four alone make the team a force to be reckoned with, and should be able to communicate fairly well as a unit. The only questionable part is jungler MikeYeung, who impressed during Rift Rivals on Phoenix1, but couldn’t make waves during the rest of the season. To be fair, Phoenix1 was not a very good team and had many issues that beyond MikeYeung’s control. An aggressive, shot-calling jungler like MikeYeung could be TSM's ticket to success. Then again, previous TSM junglers had been aggressive shot-callers before joining the team and essentially losing their teeth. They are still likely the strongest team with the least chance of completely tanking.
2. Counter Logic Gaming #CLGWIN
I'll admit to a little bit of bias here; I was a CLG fan during previous seasons because I enjoy being horribly disappointed. I have my reasons, however, for placing them so high in my ranking. CLG has the team most likely to gel instantly. With no perceived communication issues; existing synergy between the three returning members of the roster (Huhi, Darshan, and Stixxay); two replacements who at least break-even in terms of what is being gained; Reignover serving as an easy upgrade to OmarGod; and Biofrost as a much stronger mechanical support than Aphromoo had been, CLG is promising this season. The potential problems with CLG lie in strength of shotcalling and Reignover. Losing Aphromoo meant CLG lost their strongest shotcalling voice for Biofrost — who was reportedly kicked for not communicating well with TSM. Reignover was also incredibly inconsistent towards the end of his run on Team Liquid during summer split 2017, being a non-factor in many games. At the very least, CLG should be stable enough to not hit the bottom of the table — unlike the next team.
3. Team Liquid #TLWIN
On paper, Team Liquid has one of the best rosters of any team in the LCS right now. Their team has been completely overhauled by adding Impact from C9; Xmithe, Pobelter, and Olleh from Immortals; and the legend himself, Doublelift from TSM. This roster is incredibly stacked with existing synergy outside the top lane and three players who recently competed together on Immortals and Doublelift and have played with Xmithe and Pobelter in the past. On top of that, every player (apart from maybe Impact) is in the top 5 in their role at the lowest within the NA LCS. That’s all well and good, but there’s one huge problem with this team: Team Liquid itself. Team Liquid has somehow managed to squander any potential their teams have had since 2016 and has ended both of the last two splits at the bottom of the table before trying to use money to patch the holes in their terrible teams. Liquid owner Steve Arhancet has spent all the money in the world to get this stacked roster and, while it could possibly even be better than TSM, I wouldn’t be surprised to see another TL roster barely breaking the top 5.
4. Cloud 9 #C9WIN
Second only to TSM in terms of current fanbase in the NA LCS, Cloud 9 made some roster shifts that unfortunately lower the team's overall potential. The previous Cloud 9 roster made it to quarterfinals at worlds, but thanks to TL’s massive checking account, lost their rock in Impact. Losing Impact and getting Licorice, while not a terrible swap, is a complete downgrade. Picking up former TSM Svenskeren for jungle may also be seen as a downgrade, but Sven has shown himself to be a strong player when given the proper tools to play the game. On top of that, C9 kept their main powerhouse players in Jensen, Sneaky, and Smoothie, so they still have a lot of potential to climb high in the standings. With the top lane as stacked as it is this season it might be hard for Licorice to make much of an difference in the game. It’ll depend on the bottom half of the map for C9 to win games, which they definitely can. There just will be more pressure on Jensen and Sneaky to perform at and beyond their normal levels. And if Jensen doesn’t perform, all they need to do is bring in the ultimate NA talent GoldenGlue. Raise your VaultBoys.
5. Echo Fox #FOXWIN
Here’s a team that’s probably surprising to see this high up. I put Echo Fox in the middle of the table, but they could easily swap with the next two teams beneath them. Echo Fox is a fantastic organization that spent the past two splits plagued by some truly awful players. Even with better players in 2017, the constant roster swaps when things started going poorly made Echo Fox look like a complete joke. Thanks to that delicious NBA money, Echo Fox has finally picked up a roster that has probably the most volatility of any team currently in the LCS. Former SKT Huni in the top lane is a monster, Dardoch and Fenix have had games were they popped off, and the former Dignitas botlane of Altec and Adrian was absolutely rock solid, if a bit underwhelming. If Huni, Dardoch, and Fenix are firing on all cylinders and have completely amazing performances, Echo Fox could easily compete with teams like TSM. Huni and Dardoch, however, aren’t really known for being consistent. Huni can be a complete terror in the top lane or play dumb things like Lucian top into Maokai. Dardoch can be a presence around the entire map or tilt and flame his teammates who are former world champions. It’s a tough call, but I’d like to believe Echo Fox can finally break the top five this season.
6. 100 Thieves #100WIN
The cool new kids on the block who’ve developed probably the strongest fanbase of the new teams, it seems 100 Thieves focused on building a brand first before building a good team. Not a bad idea, of course, and the players have had good performances in the past, but there’s not much in the way of synergy. In addition, mechanically, it could be argued a couple of these players are washed up and might just quit halfway through the season. Both the jungler Meteos and midlaner Ryu of Phoenix1 had issues with burnout during the last season, and support Aphromoo has been noted to make a lot of really questionable plays in lane despite good shotcalling. Top laner Ssumday of Dignitas and AD Carry Cody Sun are good players, but will they be strong enough to carry if the rest of the team slumps? I’m not convinced. Still, it’s not a terrible roster, and they could easily break the top five. I don’t think they’ll be able to compete with TSM or Team Liquid, but definitely can style on some of the weaker teams.
7. Clutch Gaming #CGWIN
While Clutch City Gaming (now just Clutch Gaming, apparently) came into the LCS with one of the best worst names of the new teams, their roster is just looking like it’ll struggle to break the top five. While players like Lira (formerly of EnVy) and Febiven (formerly of H2K Gaming) are both superstars in their own right and the bot lane of Apollo and Hakuho (also formerly of EnVy) are fairly solid, this team simply seems like a slightly better version of EnVy. EnVy wasn’t terrible, of course, but still stayed towards the bottom of the table during their time in the LCS. Synergy and communication were always a struggle for EnVy and, while getting rid of some problematic players like Seraph helps, it’s still a problem. The biggest question mark for me, however, is on toplaner Solo, who has never looked very impressive on any team he’s been on. If the team performs like EnVy did, but slightly better, they could place somewhat higher, but I doubt they have the ability to break the top of the table.
8. FlyQuest #FLYWIN
FlyQuest is a team famous for doing really well, then doing really poorly, then doing really well again. The former FlyQuest team had three washed up members of the golden age of C9 trying to regain former glory, but they couldn’t cut it mechanically. Fortunately, FlyQuest has made some changes. Unfortunately, I’m not sure these changes are going to help them all that much. FlyQuest lost the leadership of Hai who, despite being a lackluster midlaner in terms of mechanical skill, could shotcall and make ambitious plays like no one else in the league. Players like Flame and Fly are good of course, but there isn’t too much in the way of synergy for this team. The bot lane of WildTurtle and Stunt in particular seems very lackluster. We’ll have to see how they perform to really judge how their synergy is really going to play out, but as of right now, I doubt FlyQuest will be able to make it very high unless Flame pulls off a miracle.
9. Golden Guardians #GGSWIN
That delicious NBA money did not save the Golden Guardians from picking up a roster that looks like it was taped together last minute. Players with no real synergy in Contractz (formerly of C9) Lourlo and Matt (both formerly of Team Liquid) and Deftly, who was pulled straight from the challenger series, don’t seem like they can bring star power or good team play. At the very least, GGS has the benefit of the shotcalling legend Hai in the midlane. Hai can micromanage even the worst teams into pulling off some cheesy wins, but it won’t be enough to climb the standings once teams get used to their shenanigans. The only positive thing I can say about the Golden Guardians roster is that they probably aren’t going to be the worst. That spot belongs to, of course:
10. OpTic Gaming #OPTWIN #GREENWALL
Oh, poor, poor OpTic. The ultimate meme team coming from Call of Duty, I had hopes you would pick up a good roster so I could torture my friends by screaming #GREENWALL. If anyone lost the off-season in terms of getting a team together, it was OpTic. Every other team has at least one player who could pull off a miracle and drag their team across the finish line. FlyQuest has Flame, Golden Guardians have Hai’s shotcalling, Clutch Gaming has Lira, all of them can single-handedly win games. OpTic’s best and most consistent player is PowerOf€vil, who only left Europe and joined OpTic for that sweet, delicious North American dollar. I’d like to believe he won’t just cash his paycheck and phone it in, but it wouldn’t surprise me. Surrounding Po€ is Zig, a top laner who failed to make really hard-carry games on Phoenix1; Akaadian, who both carried and tanked Echo Fox depending on whether the week was even or odd before being benched for Grig, unbenched, then benched again; Arrow, who was wildly inconsistent on Phoenix1 and rarely wins lanes against better AD carries; and old man LemonNation, who is admired for his ability to draft good team comps, but is easily the worst support (mechanically speaking) in the entirety of the LCS. So, OpTic has a horribly weak botlane, an inconsistent jungler, a toplaner who only found success on Rumble and Kled, and a mid laner playing for the money and not for the glory. I may be repping that OpTic flair in my solo queue games, but I’m almost certain this team isn’t going to get anywhere near the top, let alone above 9th place.
Once the season starts, we can talk upsets, surprises, chokes, and amazing hail mary plays, but for now we only have predictions. If you have your own prediction and they don’t line up with mine, just remember that the only thing really on the line here is my reputation. If OpTic somehow ends up in the top five past the middle of the season, I’ll exclusively play Kindred for the rest of the season. That should make up for the dishonor I’ll have put on my name.
Images: YouTube, The Score Esports
(12/29/17 11:30pm)
by Emily Reuben, Nolan Leahy, Aidan Kearney, Tanner Kinney
Another year of Byte reviews allowed us to shine a light once again on a wealth of games worth playing. Sure, there were some duds, but the masterpieces far outweighed them. The year 2017 featured improvements on recent installments of the Destiny and Sonic franchises, plus a spectacular first-year showing for the Nintendo Switch including obligatory new beauties in the Mario and Zelda departments. And with Cuphead bringing some mainstream attention to a brand-new indie studio, the future of independent gaming has never looked brighter.
(12/26/17 12:00pm)
by Tanner Kinney
Pokemon is a gigantic franchise. Kids love it, adults love it, and every Pokemon game seems to sell just as well or even better than the previous title. You show an everyday person a silhouette of Pikachu, there’s almost a guarantee they know what it is or, at the very least, that it is that Pokemon thing. There are hundreds of YouTube channels devoted to EXCLUSIVELY Pokemon content, whether it be WiFi battles or Let’s Plays or weird conspiracy videos. Kids grow up with Pokemon everywhere, and enjoy it in whatever way they want to. I definitely grew up with Pokemon Sapphire, the Pokemon Trading Card Game, and the Pokemon Advanced dub by 4Kids with all of Brock’s “jelly filled donuts”. Even then it was massive, now it’s even more prevalent in popular culture.
But Pokemon wasn’t always this huge franchise that had a massive budget behind it. Like all big things in popular culture, it started small: a simple game on Gameboy. The fact that Pokemon even came together and worked (mostly) as intended was truly a miracle of engineering from the geniuses at Game Freak and Nintendo. To celebrate the release of Pokemon Ultra Sun and Moon, and to make it so those games would actually be reasonably fresh, I went back and revisited the first generation of Pokemon, Red and Blue version (and Green but also not really). For future reference, once I start talking about the game, I will be talking about Pokemon Blue version, as that’s the one I own.
(12/20/17 7:05pm)
With all the different ideologies in the Star Wars universe, two have always stood out and have become the center for basically any and all things that happen in that universe: the Sith and the Jedi. Jedi represent all that is good and Sith represent all that is evil. However, in between those two ideologies is a grey area that takes the best of both worlds and creates the ideology of the Grey Jedi.
(12/19/17 9:29pm)
by Emily Reuben
It’s the series that launched a fleet of frightened let’s players’ careers on YouTube. It grew into a series famous for its cryptic lore and even more cryptic clues outside of the games. It spawned a series of video games, three books, a feature film currently in the works, a line of figurines, apparel, and other merchandise, and more creepy fan art than just about any other indie PC title. Five Nights at Freddy’s has seen its latest installment abruptly release. Dropping rather suddenly, Freddy Fazbear’s Pizza Simulator is anything but an average simulation game.
Bringing something new to the table
The game begins with a classic 8-bit style game where you, as the animatronic Freddy Fazbear, feed children pizzas. While the bright sounding music and cheerful demeanor of the children are optimistic, fans of past FNAF games should know that things begin to take a turn for the ominous rather quickly.
After an unsettling audio tape sequence, an introduction prompting the player on the purchase and maintenance of a Freddy Fazbear establishment begins to play, changing the tone back to upbeat. The best part is the blatant irony that becomes increasingly apparent as the introduction sequence plays. Dwelling on factors such as “liability” amongst pictures of children eating pizza and thumbs ups.
After this not-so-optimistic rundown, the player is taken to a product catalogue where they can browse and purchase items for the establishment. Initially the items available are...primitive. Instead of ball pits and intricate animatronics, you have options like “No. 1 Crate”, or “Mr. Can Do”. While not the most exciting of options to start with, as cash flows in, more products become available for purchase.
Aesthetic is not the only reason to buy items. Each product comes with various stats to consider before placing it in the establishment. These include Atmosphere, Health and Safety, Entertainment, Bonus Revenue and liability. These are all relatively self-explanatory, but can make a major difference in terms of gameplay ease.
After purchasing items, you can place them around the establishment and even play test certain products.
Back to the familiar FNAF formula
After the bright colors and charmingly happy music lulls you into a state of ease, the game very suddenly drops you back into the familiar FNAF environment. From the terminal, you must do boring administrative jobs like monitoring cleaning and ventilation, buying products, and cleaning. This sounds simple in theory, but add an array of animatronics that want to kill you and the situation becomes far more grim.
The gameplay here is a blend of past FNAF games with a new slant. You perform all of your tasks (such as checking the audio, motion detector, and cancelling annoying pop-up advertisements) on a computer screen while checking vents on either side of your computer.
After you successfully complete each day, you are given a survey for inspecting and salvaging animatronics found in the alleyway for parts. Here, you have a choice to simply throw the animatronic away or attempt to salvage parts for cash. While the prospect of extra cash is enticing, there are risks to consider. As the game so kindly mentions, “those benefits come with risks...choose to keep it and you run the risk of certain consequences, namely death.” When salvaging for parts, you check the animatronic for stability and hardware. Successfully salvaging the animatronic will net you some cash, but it will also prowl the pizzeria trying to reach you in typical FNAF fashion.
But what if you throw it back into the alley you found the robot in? Doing so means that there will be no animatronics trying to kill the player. What about throwing out each and every animatronic? Is that even allowed? If the animatronics are never kept in the restaurant, then each night that would otherwise be filled with terror serves as a brief interlude between moments of restaurant management and interior design.
Freddy Fazbear's Pizzeria Simulator is familiar, but different enough from older titles to remain interesting. There is some customization and choice here regarding difficulty, which can really spice up gameplay. Despite these options, Pizzeria Simulator does nothing to change the gameplay that has characterized every single main FNAF game.
Breaking from tradition
The monotony of the classic FNAF formula is broken up by not only the simulation aspect of the game, but also by the various games available. Some of these are just random RNG sequences that have a chance to unlock items, but others push you to navigate a maze, keep characters from falling, and even some side scrolling shooter action. For fans of FNAF’s ongoing lore, these short games harbor a ton of hidden clues. The various mini-games available, if played right, reveal new information that fans of the series will love.
Another way that Pizzeria Simulator breaks with tradition is in its price. This is the first main line FNAF game to be freely available to the public. This is a great move on the part of game creator Scott Cawthon. It lets players who have abandoned the series back in with nothing to lose, and it also staves off some of the series fatigue that may have set in for gamers tired of paying for a game that did not evolve its core mechanics through the years.
Freddy Fazbear’s Pizzeria Simulator succeeds on several fronts. It wraps up the lore of the series in ways that are satisfying for those who have played since the first game’s release. It also provides more new gameplay mechanics that make this an interesting evolution of the Five Nights formula. Finally, Pizzeria Simulator is a great value. Being free means that all players have to lose is their time and patience.
Images: Steam, Magic Game World
(12/17/17 9:00am)
by Tanner Kinney
Another year, another Game Awards ceremony comes and goes like an unpleasant distant relative with many wrong opinions. The gaming equivalent of the Oscars is quite the event, funded completely by former IGN employee and television presenter Geoff Keighley and is respected by many in the field. Gamers themselves tend to just use the Game Awards as a reason to get angry and complain about corruption and Geoff Keighley being a sellout. I’m not here to argue whether Dorito Pope Keighley is a sellout fraud or whether the Game Awards being two-thirds ads makes the show less legitimate. What I am here to argue about are the results of the Game Awards, analyze the trailers being shown, and relay the good word from Josef “video game Tommy Wiseau” Fares about the Oscars, which you can listen to below.
Images all taken from The Game Awards Youtube.
Trailer Hot Takes
In a time honored tradition, The Game Awards shows EXCLUSIVE WORLD PREMIERE EXCLUSIVE trailers that take up a majority of the show. In previous years, these trailers tended to even overshadow the awards themselves, particularly back during the Spike VGA days. I remember seeing Fortnite announced as a trailer during one of the earlier VGA’s, which finally actually released this year. These days, big publishers sometimes show things off, but it tends to be dominated by more low-key trailers, with one or two massive ones being shown off during the show to keep people watching. Let’s be real here; no one actually cares that much about the awards. They care about the trailers.
This year delivered with a number of big surprises, cool trailers, and enticing teasers. A new Bayonetta game is coming to Nintendo Switch, which is pretty exciting, because Bayonetta is awesome. PUBG is getting an new map, and Fortnite is getting a new game mode. That’s all very… exciting? I think? An awful looking World War Z game got announced which won the award for worst trailer of the night. Second place for worst trailer would probably go to Fade to Silence, but that was more boring than awful. The best trailer of the night (minus the big one, we’ll get to that later) was for a game called Witchfire from the team behind The Vanishing of Ethan Carter. The trailer caught me off guard as it started like a walking sim but turned into a fast-paced, stylized FPS. Did you know this team also made Bulletstorm and Painkiller, two of the most insane FPS’s created in the past couple decades? Yeah, apparently they did. I’d say I’m excited for that game to release moreso than any that were announced.
A lot of VR titles had trailers, all of which made me sick thinking about playing them. A new Soul Calibur got announced by the coolest looking man at the event, and that’s pretty exciting because Soul Calibur has always been pretty hype. FromSoftware also teased their new project with a trailer as long as a Vine, and that got people excited. It’s probably that Shadow Tower reboot they were talking about, but who knows? Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild had the release trailer for it’s DLC which was good enough, and now Link is on a motorcycle. And Campo Santo, the developer of Firewatch, is making a game about adventurers in Egypt called In the Valley of the Gods. I’m sure that’ll win awards during the 2019 Game Awards.
The trailer we were all looking for, though, was the newest trailer for Hideo Kojima’s Death Stranding, a game that was originally shown off at the Game Awards last year. Kojima is famous for making insane narratives but also got held back by Konami and logic. So now that Sony has given Kojima a blank check and infinite time to make a game, how is Death Stranding looking now? Well, we now know that Norman Reedus may be playing a man named Sam Porter. And that’s about it.
The Death Stranding trailer somehow both made no sense and all the sense at the same time. I felt like my mind was expanding as I watched the trailer, horribly confused but also enlightened by everything being shown. It looks stunning, and the whole world built from the trailer is definitely very intriguing. The invisible oil/goo monsters have been suspected to be Lovecraftian horrors of some kind, and that’s always fun. Also, Norman Reedus swallows the baby from the last trailer in this one, and to show that it was inside of him, they have the camera zoom into Norman Reedus’s mouth, down his throat, and show the baby giving a thumbs up.
Long story short, watch the Witchfire and Death Stranding trailers, and start mentally preparing yourself to play Death Stranding when it releases in 2022.
The Advertisement Awards
There are always three parts to the Game Awards: exclusive world premiere trailers, some awards, and a whole lot of advertisements. As much as I love to talk about selling out, I’m going to skip that for now. To briefly mention it and give this the authentic Game Awards recap experience, I’m going to emulate it here. Ebay Ebay Ebay, Schick Hydro, McDonalds and UberEats order now, Microsoft Mixer only available on Xbox One, cringey Bethesda advertisement, Nintendo Switch buy now please we’re still trying to make money back from the WiiU, and play Warframe: it’s like Destiny 2, but it won’t punch you in the gut and rob you blind.
Now repeat that to yourself for roughly an hour. Good. Now with that out of the way, I’m really craving some fresh, never frozen beef. That’s why I go to Wendy’s. Eat at Wendy’s today to get all of your food fresh and of the highest quality, because quality matters.
Now onto the awards. For the most part, I had few complaints. My own personal predictions were basically all wrong, except for Cuphead sweeping the indie categories and getting best art direction. Granted, those were predictions for what I wanted to win. My realistic predictions were more accurate, because I’ve watched enough of these shows to get an idea as to what wins: companies with the most money--I MEAN quality games. Any award I don’t talk about didn’t give me enough of a reaction to actually care about it.
The Surprises
The big winner for this year has to be Ninja Theory’s Hellblade: Senua’s Sacrifice. I’ll be honest; I didn’t peg this game to win a single award despite being nominated for 5 awards. It didn’t win Best Narrative or Best Indie, but those were tough categories to begin with. The other categories it was in also seemed very tough. It went up against the two Nintendo titans in Best Audio Design; and in Games for Impact it had to fight a bunch of think-piece games, along with the prequel to previous Games for Impact winner Life is Strange. I’m still salty Life is Strange got that award in 2015. Undertale was robbed, damnit! Despite that, Hellblade cut the competition down and took home three awards, as many as Breath of the Wild and Cuphead. So good job Ninja Theory! I’m glad you took down the competition--mostly just the Games for Impact award though. Good to see actual games winning an award for games. I’m looking at you, Life is Strange: you and your long, melodramatic, interactive movie self.
NieR: Automata taking home Best Score was probably well-deserved, but I personally like Persona 5’s soundtrack more. I’m glad NieR won something, at least, for everyone’s favorite robot waifu 2B. Metroid: Samus Returns winning best handheld surprised me as well, considering Metroid has been dormant for a long time. Then again, it’s competition wasn’t that stacked, only Fire Emblem: Shadows of Valencia and Monster Hunter Stories really stood a chance. The award for Best Student Game existing at all was another surprise and a nice touch for Geoff Keighley to add.
The Non-Surprises I Begrudgingly Complain About
The award for best narrative going to What Remains of Edith Finch did not shock me but did disappoint me. Compared to the uniquely told and captivating narrative of NieR: Automata, along with NieR having some meaty gameplay to work with the narrative flawlessly, I think it was better deserved elsewhere. Despite that, I still figured Edith Finch was going to win. Maybe I just have a bias against walking simulators, but then again I loved Final Fantasy XV (joke). The Last of Us II winning Most Anticipated is also a non-surprise, but I would’ve liked to see the award go elsewhere. Mostly to games not nominated. Fun fact: every game nominated for Most Anticipated is either a PS4 exclusive title OR a game coming onto PS4. Coincidence? Probably. PUBG also won best multiplayer, not that anyone noticed because they forgot to announce it. Too much time (or maybe not enough time) spent with Josef Fares, the most passionate man in gaming.
The Robbed and the Robbers
https://twitter.com/thegameawards/status/938952286872616960
There were fewer awards I actively thought were wrong choices this year, which was a surprise considering how cold and jaded I am. Despite that, I still disagree with some of them. For example, I don’t think Wolfenstein II: The New Colossus deserved Best Action. In a different year, okay, maybe I’d accept it. This year though it was up against Nioh and Cuphead, both stellar actions games with wildly different and fun gameplay. NieR: Automata wasn’t even nominated for this award (but dull Destiny 2 was), and that was one of the best action games of the past decade. Wolfenstein II struggled from some bad level design and not being able to separate itself from its predecessor. Nioh’s unique take on the Souls-like genre definitely deserved more recognition.
The biggest joke of the event though was Overwatch taking two awards in a year it didn’t even release in. How did they do that? Well, it first won Best Esport. Yes, a game that only JUST developed an esports scene and a spectator experience that isn’t complete garbage got it. This is over Dota 2, a game with multi-million dollar prize pools consistently. This is also over League of Legends, which sold-out the largest stadium in China. Hell, even Rocket League deserved it more because Rocket League doesn’t give the viewer a headache trying to follow everything. But no, Blizzard’s barely-an-esport esport takes the crown. Am I saying that Activision-Blizzard bought the award? Maybe. But hey, you can say it was a fan category and the rabid gambling addicts who still play the game voted en masse for it. I can live with that.
Second, Overwatch took home one of the new awards: the Best Ongoing Game award. What does that mean, exactly? Well, it means a game that’s still being updated long after release, like World of Warcraft (not nominated), or League of Legends (also not nominated), or the fantastic Final Fantasy XIV which had an amazing new expansion release this year (take a guess). The nominees were already a joke, with a game released this year being included as an “ongoing game” and the cash-grab money-void GTA: Online getting nominated just in time to advertise their new DLC coming soon. Warframe I can accept, but it’s also been shilled hard on Twitch for the longest time so I don’t buy it. The nominees are all frauds!
So of course Overwatch takes it; it’s the most deserving nominee on the list. It’s like the award was set up specifically to keep giving Overwatch awards every year after it stole Game of the Year last year. You can’t even blame fan vote on it; that award got voted on mostly by the “elite panel of 51 influencers.” Combined with the Game Awards orchestra taking time to play a medley of Overwatch songs during the show instead of, you know, the WINNER FOR BEST SCORE OR ANY OF THOSE NOMINEES, and it starts to reek. Smells like money descending into Geoff Keighley’s pockets. I respect the man’s hustle, but once you start shilling for irrelevant things like Microsoft Mixer and Ebay, I start to doubt your dream of an awards show that’s well-respected.
Huh? Game of the year? Oh, right. Yeah, Zelda deserved it. I would’ve liked to see Super Mario Odyssey or Persona 5 take it because I enjoyed those games more, but Breath of the Wild deserves it just as much. Can’t get angry about that.
Final Thoughts
The Game Awards were better this year than previous years. I’d honestly say this was the best one of all of them. It had enough big reveals, deserving winners, and funny non-cringey jokes to be worth the time. The sellout nature of the whole thing still gets in the way, but it’s less obnoxious, and the crowd jumped on making fun of the sellout-ness. Now, if they could get it down from three hours long so I could get some sleep next time, that would be great. If you don’t have time to watch the show (I don’t blame you), at least check out the greatest interview from any of these god-forsaken shows. Josef Fares is a blessing upon mankind, and I definitely already have 5 copies of A Way Out pre-ordered just for him.
Maybe next year the show will get even better. They’ll include live lootcrates you can purchase and a random game gets an award. Overwatch and The Witcher 3 are commons, and Horizon: Zero Dawn isn’t on the loot drop list. I’ll feel such a sense of pride and accomplishment from it. I kid of course; it’s just fun to hate on the Game Awards. But remember that with all of this hate that there is still one true enemy: the Oscars.
Sources: YouTube
Images: YouTube, Twitter, Don't Feed the Gamers
(12/11/17 2:00pm)
by Daley Wilhelm
Here’s another desperate, alarmist article explaining how net neutrality is a deadly serious thing that you need to be paying attention to. Because it really is. Later this week, the anticipated repeal of net neutrality will have immediate and far-reaching repercussions. You should expect big changes in how your everyday use of the Internet will be effected.
This is just a taste of a future without net neutrality.
https://twitter.com/DavidLetternan/status/939557674504552448
You know when a web page isn’t loading, but the ads are? When an ad plays perfectly fine, but then the video you actually clicked on is a buffering mess? That’s largely what the Internet will look like without net neutrality. As it stands now, Internet Service Providers like Comcast and Verizon have to treat all traffic equally—ads and the content that you really want are allocated the same speed.
This means that big sites like Amazon and obscure sites like bytebsu.com are equal under net neutrality. Stranger Things and Vine complications will be using the same amount of internet. Federal Communications Commission Chairman Ajit Pai seeks to change that.
https://twitter.com/MarkRuffalo/status/933059877743755265
Specifically, Pai is for repealing net neutrality in order to give big Internet providers more room to make revenue off of internet users. Without net neutrality, Verizon would be free to slow the loading of sites that it considers to be competition and speed up connection to sites that possibly cut expensive deals with the ISP in order to make sure its content is accessible, all while charging users for access to specific sites in package deals similar to cable.
(12/04/17 5:34pm)
We all know there are games that make gamers question why they played this game and how exactly it got created. The games in question have a concept that is completely out there and gameplay helps solidify it. These games below are triple-A titles of strangeness because there are a ton of weird independent games out there, and it would take me at least a year to gather that precise Top 5. Now with out a further delay, let's look at five of these weird games that just make your heads turn to the side and say, “huh.”
(11/29/17 10:30pm)
by Michael Robb
Out of all the Star Wars video games ever created, the original 2004 Star Wars: Battlefront and the 2005 sequel hold an extremely special place in the hearts of fans. So when news of a franchise reboot for the series came to light, a large amount of hype and equally large expectations formed around the project. The first of the new Battlefronts, released in 2015 by Electronic Arts, was praised for its stunning visuals and accuracy in representing the Star Wars universe. However, issues with squad mechanics and DLC prices truncated the game’s lifespan, and a decent first step into recreating the golden age of Battlefront ended in a stumble.
EA and DICE, the developers for the new Battlefront games, had a second chance with the newly released Star Wars: Battlefront II.
In the weeks leading up to the game’s release on November 17th, trailers and early access gameplay excited fans with the promise of more depth than the previous title, a single player campaign, and free DLC after launch. But as more and more players got their hands on early access copies of the game, glaring flaws began to show themselves. Criticisms of the loot crate microtransaction system, locked hero characters, and a horribly ‘grindy’ progression system have led many to boycott the game. Unfortunately, these criticisms prove to be well founded in this new addition to the Star Wars video game galaxy.
Campaign
Of all the new features contained within Star Wars: Battlefront II, the campaign was among the most anticipated, and for good reason. The story that was advertised was interesting and unique: Iden Versio, a special forces trooper in service to the Empire, would serve as the protagonist. Seeing the Star Wars galaxy from the perspective of those who are traditionally the antagonists sounds like a breath of fresh air. And for a short while in the campaign, it is. As Commander Versio, you take on the rebellion using advanced tech and weaponry, all for the glory of the Empire.
But regrettably, the twist in Star Wars: Battlefront II flips the entire narrative on its head, which in this case is not a good thing. Even worse, this twist occurs only four missions into the 12-mission campaign.
Beyond the above-mentioned direction they decided to take the story in, Battlefront II suffers from shifting character perspectives. At many points during the campaign, certain missions will have you play as a famous character from the Star Wars saga. These characters include Luke Skywalker, Princess Leia, Han Solo, Lando Calrissian, and Kylo Ren. While Luke and Kylo’s missions made sense in the context of the story and fit the narrative well, the other characters felt extremely out of place. It seems as if the developers included these characters simply to check off the “included iconic character” box on their campaign to-do list.
As disjointed and cobbled together as the campaign is, the actual gameplay experiences you get to take part in are classic Star Wars. You want to hijack an AT-AT walker? Battlefront II has that. You want to take part in massive space battles where you take on swarms of fighters and capital ships? This game has that too. And all of it is stunningly beautiful and realistic, and feels as if you are playing through a full-fledged Star Wars film.
Overall, the campaign for Star Wars: Battlefront II starts off with the story you want to experience, but then switches to something that has been done in Star Wars a thousand times before. Fortunately, the game makes up for that through epic singleplayer gameplay moments and stunning visuals.
Multiplayer
Moving on from the campaign, the multiplayer modes of Star Wars: Battlefront II are what will bring players back in the weeks and months after the launch of the game. At least, that is the hope. If you enjoyed the multiplayer in DICE’s previous Battlefront installment in 2015 (because let’s be honest, that’s all that game had), you will likely enjoy this one as well.
The biggest addition in this sequel reminiscent of the older Battlefront titles is the inclusion of Clone Wars-era content. You can finally play as clone troopers and droids on Kashyyyk, fly Tri-Fighters and V-Wings above the oceans of Kamino, and duel as Yoda and Darth Maul on Naboo. The two other eras available revolve around the Imperial/Rebellion conflict from the original trilogy and the battles between the First Order and the Resistance of the newer films.
The multiplayer overall is a ton of fun, with four different classes to play as across the eight different factions. You will play as these factions in the majority of the game modes that are available, including Battlefront’s biggest game type, Galactic Assault. In this mode, you either attack a set of objectives or defend them against the enemy team. The objectives shift depending on the map, and are integrated within a miniature narrative that takes place as the match goes on. This creates a fantastic sense of immersion that, when combined with the stellar graphics, makes you feel like you are a part of the Star Wars story.
Other modes within the title include Blast—a standard team death match mode, Strikes—a mode focusing on close quarters combat with objectives similar to capture the flag, and Heroes vs Villains—a four-versus-four battle between the light and dark side heroes of the Star Wars saga.
However, one mode that has yet to be mentioned is without doubt one of the greatest parts of the game: Starfighter Assault. This game type pits 12 players against 12 others in spaceship combat across all three Star Wars eras on five different maps. The space combat present in this game is a huge step up from the 2015 Battlefront due to an increased focus on match objectives and a complete overhaul of the flight controls. Not since the days of the Star Wars: Rogue Squadron games has ship-to-ship combat been this fun, and many may find themselves spending more time in this game mode than any other.
Progression System
In Star Wars: Battlefront II, the graphics, gameplay, maps and modes are varied and overall are entertaining. However, one aspect of the game that overshadows all others is the absolutely horrendous progression system.
There are several ways to progress through Battlefront II. The ultimate rewards you are chasing are unlocking Star Cards and new heroes to play as. Star Cards are items you collect and buy that give boosts to different character classes, ship types, and heroes. These cards are obtained randomly through the purchase of Crates, Battlefront II’s version of the loot box.
What makes the progression in Battlefront II so painful revolves around how Crates and heroes are obtained, as well as their cost. Both Crates and Heroes are purchased with Credits, the in-game currency. Inherently, there isn’t anything wrong with that. The real problem with this system is that the rate at which you earn credits is incredibly slow. At the end of each match, a player will on average earn between 200 and 300 credits. Crates cost between 2,000 and 4,000 credits each, depending on what type you buy. Heroes cost even more than that. Iden Versio, the hero from the campaign, costs 5,000 credits, while Luke Skywalker and Darth Vader, arguably the most popular characters in Star Wars, cost a whopping 15,000 credits each. With each multiplayer match taking between 10 to 15 minutes on average, you will have to play for a ridiculous amount of time to unlock what you want.
But do not fear! EA is here to save you time… as long as you’re willing to give them more money. Before the launch of this game, EA had plans to incorporate a currency different than the normal Credit system. This currency, called Crystals, would be purchasable with real-world money and could be spent on Crates to help speed your progression along. As a result of this, many players who had early access to the game spent huge sums of money to purchase Crates for Star Cards, giving them an unfair advantage over others progressing normally.
The backlash from the fan base that came about afterward was so intense that EA and DICE disabled the ability to buy Crystals temporarily, and have promised to bring back the option to buy them at a later date after they rework the system.
Unfortunately, this seems to be too little, too late. The system that is in place right now drip-feeds the player Credits at an agonizingly slow rate, and appears to have been designed that way to incentivize players to buy loot boxes so EA could make more money. This creates a piss-poor progression experience for the normal player who isn’t willing or doesn’t have the money to spend on extra currency.
Featured image from DualShockers
(11/28/17 10:13pm)
by Emily Reuben
Around this time last year, I reviewed Pokemon Sun and Moon, Game Freak’s latest entries to the beloved Pokemon franchise. The new Alola region promised plenty of new creatures, exotic locations, new Z-moves, and Alolan forms of Kanto Pokemon. Fans were ecstatic building up to the release. With all this shining new content, what wasn’t to love?
Sadly, a lot. Sun and Moon are quite a mess, featuring some clunky framerates during battles, little exploration, mind-numbingly simple gameplay, and the greatest offense of them all, the horrendous cutscenes. Initially, I had given the game a 7.0 largely overlooking the massive flaws in favor of the wonderful environment and enhanced gameplay features. As time has passed and I have had more time to fully experience all the Alola region has to offer, I would downgrade that 7.0 to a 5.5 or 6.0 to be generous. Sun and Moon seem out of character, simplified, and downright tedious to trudge through.
So here we are a year later with the release of Ultra Sun and Ultra Moon. Do these games fix many of the original flaws in Sun and Moon?
(11/16/17 10:58pm)
As always happens with the release of a new Pokemon game, there are inevitably some fake leaks that float around online as to what the fresh batch of pocket monsters might look like. Sometimes these leaks are way off base, but other times they're eerily close to the final product, as with what happened before the release of Pokemon Sun and Moon this time last year.
(11/16/17 2:00pm)
The first Star Wars film released in 1977 catapulted the franchise into a multi-billion-dollar empire that covers media from film, T.V., books and gaming. With Battlefront 2 nearing release and fans hyped to once again battle across famous planets and The Last Jedi just around the corner, perhaps it’s time to reflect on the past games that gave players so many hours of enjoyment.
(11/15/17 9:30pm)
This review is for the Xbox One version of Wolfenstein II: The New Colossus and may contain minor spoilers.
(11/15/17 7:05pm)
By Gunner Masters
The first Star Wars film released in 1977 catapulted the franchise into a multi-billion-dollar empire that covers media from film, T.V., books and gaming. With Battlefront 2 nearing release and fans hyped to once again battle across famous planets and The Last Jedi just around the corner, perhaps it’s time to reflect on the past games that gave players so many hours of enjoyment.
Star Wars Battlefront’s name first entered households in 2004 and the arcade-style 3rd person shooter produced by Pandemic allowed for players to conquer several planets in both the Clone War and Galactic Civil War eras in the famous Galactic Conquest and create quick matches in Instant Action either alone, with a friend or to compete in online instant action.
Its sequel, Battlefront 2, came in 2005 and expanded in every aspect of the game. There were more planets, space battles, playable heroes and a small, but enjoyable campaign that followed a Clone-Trooper of the 501st Legion, the eventual Vader’s Fist, from the Battle of Geonosis to Order 66 and beyond. I can’t fathom the hours I spent conquering the Galaxy as the Empire or defending the beaches of Kashyyyk, the Wookie home-world, as the Republic. Or when my cousin used a leader bonus as the CIS on Polis Massa, allowing him to play as Darth Maul, and the terror I felt as his red dual-bladed lightsaber cleaved through swathes of clones, including me. I eventually got my revenge as Obi-Wan on Utapau and turned the tide of that PvP Galactic Conquest, which culminated in the Republic’s victory.
This nostalgia is what hyped Star Wars fans like myself and my cousins because the films, books and games were a large part of our childhoods and having a new film and a Star Wars Battlefront series stirred up excitement to once again travel to a galaxy far, far away.
However, nostalgia can only hold a fan base’s attention for so long before cracks and flaws begin to appear in the once perfect image of a renewed childhood experience.
A principal complaint of EA Games and Dice’s version of the franchise was the lack of content for a full-priced game. Namely, the first Battlefront lacked Galactic Conquest, space battles or any real campaign mode and there was a small number of maps. Single-player and co-op was lacking as well by comparison with only a few modes such as Battles and Survival. Another complaint was the size of the multiplayer matches capped at 20 vs. 20 in whereas the original Battlefront 2 allowed 32 vs. 32.
However, EA’s Battlefront 2 seems to have taken some of these complaints into account and added all eras from the Clone Wars to the New Trilogy with 11 heroes/villains, space battles and single-player campaign that tells the story of Iden Versio, an Imperial Special Forces pilot, after the destruction of the Death Star II. All of this is exciting, but there are still missed opportunities that EA and Dice could have taken advantage of to expand the depth of Battlefront such as adding in single-player/co-op Galactic Conquest, perhaps even online Galactic Conquest and allowing battles to be seamless between space and land with larger match lobbies and maps.
I imagine two fleets orbiting a planet, the attacker sends down landing craft and vehicle support, while the garrisoned defenders do their best to set up their positions. Meanwhile, waves of fighters and interceptors engage in space and the skies while the capital ships and their frigates start pounding each other with heavy cannons and missiles. The destroyed fleet would crash into the map, much like the Jakku map on EA’s Battlefront, and change the landscape. Perhaps even the hero combat could be more fluid like the highly acclaimed Jedi Knight series’ where lightsaber moves and force powers were controlled by button presses, positioning and direction the player faced and moved.
These mechanics would make EA’s Star Wars Battlefront series a great successor to the originals and appeal to new and old players with more depth than a rushed product that lacked most of the components that made the franchise great. It might even revolutionize the idea of sci-fi multiplayer shooters as more focus is given to gameplay and being player and consumer friendly with a fully fleshed out game. Perhaps it is time for gamers to start demanding finished products with compelling expansions instead of sections of a game being stripped out and resold in season passes. And perhaps what gamers want is long-form stories that show characters interact with the galaxy and change over the course of a conflict rather than a 6-8 hour campaign that just offers a sliver of what could be a ground-breaking narrative with amazing multiplayer to boot.
Images: YouTube, starwars.com, WCCFTech, Game Axis
(11/14/17 7:00pm)
Warning: This review contains minor spoilers for Super Mario Odyssey.