‘Assassin’s Creed Origins’ breathes fresh air into a stale franchise
This review is based on the Xbox One version of Assassin’s Creed Origins.
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This review is based on the Xbox One version of Assassin’s Creed Origins.
This review is based on the PC version of Bubsy: The Woolies Strike Back and was conducted on a PC with an AMD Radeon HD 7500, i7, 8GBs of RAM.
by Daniel O'Connell This review is based on the Xbox One version of Assassin's Creed Origins. Assassin’s Creed, a series of action-adventure stealth games, has been a long-running franchise in the video game industry and will be celebrating its 10th anniversary this month. Despite its long time in the industry, some gamers and critics have felt that its more recent games have seen a severe drop in quality when compared to their predecessors. Some believe that this drop in quality began around the end of the Ezio trilogy (which was completed with Assassin’s Creed Revelations). Others believe it began after Assassin’s Creed IV: Black Flag. Regardless, it is generally agreed upon that the recent games in the franchise have been of mediocre quality. They were all playable in their own right, but they were not quite as good as the previous entries. Finally, after years of mediocre games, Origins marks a return to form for the Assassin's Creed series. Story and characters Assassin’s Creed Origins is a landmark for the franchise, as it takes place the furthest back in history, beating the record for the original Assassin’s Creed (which took place during the Third Crusade in the Holy Land in 1191). Origins takes place in Ancient Egypt during the last days of the Ptolemaic era, specifically during the civil war between Ptolemy XIII and Cleopatra. The central plot focuses on Bayek of Siwa, one of the last of the Medjay, an elite paramilitary force that served the Pharaohs. Bayek now seeks vengeance for the death of his young son, Khemu, who was killed by the Order of the Ancients. The Order of the Ancients, who serve as a precursor to the Templar Order of the previous games, are a group of various influential people who seek to control Egypt and the rest of the world. Bayek’s pursuit for justice reunites him with his wife Aya, an assassin who serves Cleopatra. As both Bayek and Aya hunt down the members of the Order, they begin to gather allies who will form the original Assassin’s brotherhood. One of the strengths of the game is its cast of colorful characters, which was one of the strengths of the Ezio trilogy and Black Flag. Bayek and Aya both stand out as likable lead characters for the game. Bayek’s quest for vengeance for his dead son is understandable and relatable, making the player sympathize for him. Aside from that, Bayek is fond of children due to his son’s death, making him more likable as a result. His wife Aya’s sense of loyalty to Cleopatra makes her engaging, as does her chemistry with Bayek. The Order of the Ancients, the main antagonists of the game, are made up a wide variety of influential figures ranging from politicians to priests, and they all make for interesting targets for Bayek to go after. They each have their own motivations, such as the Jackal and the Lion, who manipulate Ptolemy and Cleopatra respectively to increase their own personal power. Other members can be surprisingly sympathetic, such as the Hyena who simply wants to resurrect her dead daughter. Like the previous games, Origins features historical characters as a part of its plot. Here, it uses the historical figures of Ptolemy XIII, Cleopatra, and Julius Caesar. However, the game places a heavy focus on Cleopatra over Ptolemy XIII. Ptolemy appears in two important cut scenes within the game and only says a handful of lines. The only real importance Ptolemy has to the plot is that the Order of the Ancients are using him as a figurehead. Origins features very few historical characters, with the only other significant historical character being Pompey the Great (whose only contributions in the game is to die his historical death). Gameplay The standard gameplay of the previous Assassin’s Creed games has been revamped for Origins, and this is a welcome change. The “Eagle Vision” of the previous games has been replaced with Bayek’s animal companion, an eagle named Senu. Similar to the owl in Far Cry Primal or the drone in Ghost Recon Wildlands, players can take control of Senu and use him to scout areas in advance to highlight enemies and other important objectives, which will become visible when returning to Bayek. The use of Senu takes time to get used to, but it is a great alternative to the Eagle Vision of previous games. The most drastically changed aspect of Origins is the game’s combat system. In the previous games, combat would simply be dictated through player input to have the player character do a simple animation, which made fighting predictable and boring. The system in Origins has been reworked, with the new one being comparable to the combat in The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt. It is now much more complex and focuses the player on dodging, blocking, parrying and using a combination of fast and slow attacks to take down enemies. The switch from using melee attacks to ranged attacks with a bow is now quick and almost seamless. The new combat system is refreshing, exciting and engaging when compared to the other games. Bayek has access to a wide variety of weapons, including swords, spears, dual blades, battle-axes, blunt weapons and staves. He also has access to different kinds of bows, ranging one that can fire multiple arrows in a rapid succession to a bow that can fire up to five arrows at once, comparable to a shotgun blast. These weapons feature different damage outputs and stats that can affect how one plays the game. Old weapons can either be upgraded by blacksmiths or broken down into crafting components that can upgrade Bayek’s armor and equipment. Another returning feature is naval combat, which was featured in Assassin’s Creed III, Black Assassin’s Creed IV: Flag, and Assassin’s Creed Rogue. The players take control of Aya for these missions and steer a war galley. The object of these missions is to destroy enemy ships. In place of the cannons of the previous games are archers with flaming arrows, fire bombs and catapults with flaming payloads. These missions are fun and exhilarating, constituting a welcome return to the series. Content Like with its predecessors, Origins features a wide-open sandbox that gives players side quests to do and places to explore. The world of the game is comparable to the Caribbean in Assassin’s Creed IV: Black Flag in size, just with the water being replaced by land. The world of Ancient Egypt as presented in the game is very immersive. The entire world feels authentic, and one can tell that the developers did their research when creating the game world. You can find many famous landmarks in the game, including the Giza Pyramids, the Great Sphinx, the Lighthouse of Alexandria and the Library of Alexandria. The world features a wide array of content, including side quests and area that can be explored. The side quests usually range from rescuing prisoners, assassinating a specific target or escorting someone. These quests can get repetitive after a while. However, a challenge that returns from the Ezio trilogy is the presence of military outposts. Players are encouraged to infiltrate the outposts, kill the captain and its commanders, and be rewarded with a treasure inside of the base. Another feature that returns from the Ezio trilogy are the tombs. These tombs can be found and explored to find either rare loot or an Ancient Tablet (which will give Bayek an extra ability point). Two new additions in the game are the hippodrome and the gladiator arenas. The former allows the player to compete in chariot races a la Ben-Hur. The latter has Bayek fight waves of increasingly difficult enemies, which culminates in a boss fight. Both of these can be done in exchange for money and different weapons. It is a great alternative for those who do not want to waste time exploring or fighting enemies for money and loot. One complaint that should be addressed is the presence of mircotransactions in the form of the game’s store. There, you can buy rare weapons, equipment, locations of map icons and rare outfits in exchange for a currency that is bought with real money. However, the store can simply be ignored for the most part. It is not linked to the core gameplay, is not necessary to complete the game and most of the rare items in the store are quickly surpassed by the weapons and equipment that is found in-game. Featured image from Ubisoft
by Tanner Kinney This review is based on the PC version of Bubsy: The Woolies Strike Back and was conducted on a PC with an AMD Radeon HD 7500, i7, 8GBs of RAM. It’s no question that 2017 has been a fantastic year for games as a whole. There have been so many amazing, near-perfect games that end-of-the-year lists are going to be a real struggle for people. One genre that has had a hugely successful year in particular is the platformer. The once-great genre has seen some amazing titles in past years, but it mostly sticks to small indie games nowadays. This year, however, had some truly amazing platformers like Cuphead, Super Mario Odyssey, Sonic Mania, A Hat in Time, Metroid: Samus Returns, Mighty Gunvolt Burst, and arguably Yooka-Laylee depending on how much the player enjoys dull collect-a-thons. Just playing platformers this year would give you a great set of games to play. Bubsy: The Woolies Strike Back is not one of those games. The plan of releasing a reboot to a franchise that exists only as an internet meme within the same month as Super Mario Odyssey was certainly a bold one. What could POSSIBLY go wrong? Looks equivalent to a hairball Bubsy is 2.5D this time, being a 2D platformer with 3D visuals. That’s fine; it has worked in the past for some games and not worked for others. Woolies Strike Back unfortunately doesn't quite cut it. Booting up the game immediately gives some underwhelming computer-generated (CG) graphic art, and the 3D models themselves aren’t anything impressive. In motion, the game doesn’t look much better. It’s not completely horrific to look at, but man is it just very, very bland. Bubsy’s animation on the world map deserves special attention for how horrific it is, and the attempt at animation they do with the 2D CGs is just sad. On the bright side, at least it runs well. The overall art design of the game is fairly reminiscent of the original Bubsy: Claws Encounters of the Furred Kind, except 3D and missing the soul that Bubsy had (if dated pop culture references count as soul). It’s almost disgusting to say, but the original had so much more visual flair to it compared to Woolies Strike Back. Every frame of movement for Bubsy had so much character and radical '90s energy to it. The different death animations for all the dumb ways Bubsy died also added a lot to the game, even if some were a little too long. The reboot completely drops the ball here. It’d be like if in the Crash Bandicoot remake all of Crash’s deaths were just him flying off the screen. It’s unfortunate for Bubsy, but compared to any other modern 2D platformer, this game just doesn’t stack up visually. Bubsy’s one-liners are meowsic to the ears, unlike the actual soundtrack Bubsy’s existence is based around him being essentially Duke Nukem as a bobcat. He quips, makes dated pop culture references, cracks meta jokes, and occasionally mocks the player. In fact, it could be argued that the only reason people remember the definitively mediocre Claws Encounters of the Furred Kind is BECAUSE Bubsy makes a dumb quip at the start of every level. In Woolies Strike Back, at least at first, Bubsy doesn’t talk at all. This is obviously a disappointment, because that’s the best part of Bubsy’s lack of a character. It took until the second boss for the discovery that the game is bugged and Bubsy should’ve been talking the whole time. For some reason, Bubsy doesn’t speak by default. The game must be paused and unpaused for Bubsy to start talking. This may or may not be a bug across all platforms though, so just keep an ear out for it. Strangely enough, the game genuinely becomes more enjoyable once Bubsy starts talking. There’s even a slider in the options menu to determine how often Bubsy will have a one-liner. Cranking it up all the way has him talking with nearly every move he makes. This is a great option for those who love self-inflicted pain or want the true Bubsy experience. A personal favorite line is Bubsy picking up a shirt power-up and saying “Ah yes, the fashionable equivalent to the chainmail bikini.” Does this improve the game’s score at all? No, no it doesn’t. The soundtrack, on the other hand, is a massive miss. There were maybe three tracks in the entirety of the 19 songs within the game that were enjoyable. There are some funky bass-lines, and one track even tries to sound like the first level music from Claws Encounters of the Furred Kind, but it’s just not good. Depending on how infuriating the level is, hearing these obnoxious songs loop for five minutes could make someone want to throw their entire console into the dumpster. The legitimate jams do deserve props though, a favorite being the music that plays while fighting the first boss. Functional gameplay terribly lacking in fun Bubsy: The Woolies Strike Back stays very faithful to the original games, only changing the really bad parts of the gameplay. While in most reboots this would be a good thing, for Bubsy it is the worst move the developer could’ve pawsibly made. The thing about the original Bubsy games - the big secret behind why they are such a joke - is that the games are not fun to play. The games work, mostly, but suffer from bad physics and Bubsy having no weight in any of his movement. Bubsy’s speed ramps up to ridiculous levels, and his traction is basically zero so the player just slides into enemies most of the time. It’s just terrible. To the credit of the developers, they made a good effort to modernize Bubsy and iron out the most frustrating parts of playing the originals. Bubsy’s speed is now consistent, meaning he’s easier to control. There’s no more falling damage. Jump and glide are now two different abilities, meaning not every single button jumps. One-hit deaths are also less punishing with more frequent checkpoints and a lot of lives. Bubsy even has an attack button, which brings a whole new set of problems, but means jumping on the bad enemy hitboxes is less of an issue. With these things fixed, Woolies Strike Back should’ve been a much better game, but it’s just not. The biggest problem with Woolies Strike Back, and a problem that a lot of mediocre platformers have, is that movement has no flow to it. Not including how awkward it is to do a simple double jump by pressing two different buttons in sequence, Bubsy’s abilities cannot be chained together freely. Bubsy has a new pounce ability, but it can only be used after a jump. It’s impossible to glide into a pounce or pounce into a glide, which just makes the movement feel awkward. Compare this to, say, Mega Man X2, where the player can jump into an air dash, into a chain grappling to a wall, into consecutive wall jumps, and then do it all again. A Hat in Time, though it is a 3D platformer, allows the player to have complete control over when they use moves and in what order. The movement in those games is crazy fun to experiment with, and Bubsy doesn’t have anything like that. This is all on top of occasional wonky physics, bad hit detection, and some weird hit boxes. In addition, the pounce attack deserves special mention for being a move that deserves an F-. It’s a horizontal arc attack that flings Bubsy’s frail bobcat body over enemies and into obstacles. It’s almost better as a tool for getting through the dull, uninspired levels faster rather than being a useful attacking move. The second boss in particular is really frustrating because of this, as Bubsy can launch himself into the spikes that line the walls of the arena. The game is functional, yes, but is so devoid of anything interesting that I only started having fun when Bubsy started talking because it broke the droning, humming noise that serves as gameplay. Featured image from Destructoid
In what might be the quickest turn-around between allegation and repercussion, the manager of Overwatch e-sports team San Francisco Shock Max Bateman was let go just 14 hours after the abuse allegations were shared over Twitter.
by Nolan Leahy Warning: This review contains minor spoilers for Super Mario Odyssey. Super Mario Odyssey is the latest Mario title for the Nintendo Switch and it takes influences from 3D platforming games like Super Mario 64 and Banjo Kazooie. This installment aims to give a special experience to newcomers while giving nostalgic euphoria to Mario veterans. The game’s visual pitch delivers high expectations but whether or not those expectations are met is entirely up to the player. Orbit, jump, throw, possess Within Super Mario Odyssey, the player encounters a ghost-like companion named Cappy soon after the game’s exposition. After Cappy initially offers his help, he rarely leaves Mario’s side and offers powers that are given to the player for liberal usage. Players can use Cappy as a projectile, jump on him as a platform or throw him against enemies or NPCs to possess and gain control of their bodies. With Mario’s basic physics and controls up to par, Odyssey feels like a worthy successor to Super Mario 64. The possession technique serves as the central thrust of the game. Each world that Mario enters offers at least one or two enemies to take control of which include classic Mario enemies like Goombas and Hammer Bros. Each possession has a specific usage that can be used to solve puzzles, fight enemies or complete specific challenges like fighting bosses or doing races. This mechanic is incredibly ambitious and pays off by encouraging a sense of curiosity and experimentation. In my personal playthrough, I raced to progress through each level because of my unending craving to possess new creatures. Cappy’s platform ability also serves as a fantastic tool to get to farther distances and make farther jumps. In some cases during the game, the player must abandon Cappy in order to complete challenges. The difference between having Cappy at hand and being alone is much starker than imagined at times and these moments highlight Cappy as a warm welcome addition to the Mario universe. (Nintendo, please let him come to a new Smash Bros. game.) The only minor downside to Mario’s basic mechanics is the motion controls that are used to execute certain actions, like the homing attack, which can hinder the experience at times. Moons for days To say that there are a ton of moons (Odyssey’s currency, similar to Super Mario Galaxy’s stars) in Super Mario Odyssey would be a massive understatement. There are hundreds of moons to collect within the game and by the time I finished the game’s story, I had only collected roughly 170 moons with many left yet to find. Many of these moons are incredibly fun to collect with excellent challenges provided. Some challenges include traveling across ice, using possession techniques to travel across ginormous chasms or are simply well hidden within the levels that may have you coming back later for a second glance. The greatest part about collecting these moons is that unlike the 3D Mario games that have come before, the collected objective doesn’t forcefully eject the player only to simply re-enter the world. Once a player has collected a moon within a world, they can keep exploring the same world like in Banjo Kazooie. Even though many of the moons are fun to collect, others are a bit uninspired within their collection. A prime example of this is that within each and every clothing shop within the game, the player has the option to buy a moon for a considerably cheap price of 100 coins. Though this makes sense for the first clothing store to introduce the store’s role of cosmetics within the game, it’s unnecessary. I feel as though many of these moons could have made for additional moon challenges. Others may also feel a bit less thrilling because of the obvious nature of how they can appear. Thankfully, the well thought-out challenges outweigh the uninspired ones. On a final note, the bosses within the game offer multiple moons for their defeat. Initially, these bosses are silly and enlightening. However, after some time spent in the story, it would be nice to not have to rematch many of these bosses for a second time. The move sets of these bosses change slightly on the second encounter, but it doesn’t feel like a drastically different fight than the first encounter. Calm, yet also celebratory The level design within the game is the defining factor of what makes Super Mario Odyssey fantastic. Each level has its own themes that help flavor the challenges that come with gathering moons. One level leads the player into a forest with a splash of an industrial presence, while in another level the player may explore a small, uncharted island. Challenges seen in these worlds are reflected through the worlds’ enemies and NPCs with the possession technique, and they will often be able to deal with the world’s specific hazards and problems. My personal favorite level is New Donk City, the most frequently presented level throughout Nintendo’s marketing. This level has fewer enemies than the normal Mario level yet it has its own sense of charm in jumping up the large buildings and participating in challenges that reflect portions of human culture. Though I was hoping for the level to be bigger than what Nintendo provided, I always wanted to come back to New Donk City for the fascinating platforming and environment. On an additional note to these worlds, the art and music reflect these well-made levels with excellence. At times it’s difficult not to gawk at the serene nature of the skyboxes and stay to visit at the moments that call for celebration or deeply valued nostalgia. An additional point that deserves praise is that after the player completes the main story, a musical Toad will be located in each previously visited world so that the player can select their favorite music in the game as they search for more moons which can make the gameplay more enjoyable with a variety of tonality. With all of the moons available for collection, Super Mario Odyssey has enough content to keep the player busy for a couple dozen hours at least. Bowser has brought his best personality to this installment with his fighting style, dialogue and his motivational goal in marrying Princess Peach. Despite some moons being less ambitious in their design and some returning bosses lackluster, Super Mario Odyssey is a worthy addition to any Switch owner’s library whether they are a Mario veteran or a newcomer to the franchise. The levels are fantastic and inquire on player experimentation while the aesthetics of the environment do a swell job in selling a delightful experience to the newest generation of gamers. Featured image from The Daily Dot
This weekend at BlizzCon, among many things, Blizzard announced the new Overwatch hero Moira—a support healer who has no ethical boundaries when it comes to her work.
This review is based on the PlayStation 4 version of Middle-earth: Shadow of War.
This review is based on the Nintendo Switch version of Fire Emblem Warriors.
Nintendo recently announced that Pokemon Ultra Sun and Moon would have a villain team composed of villains from every (mainline) game from the past 20 years. What?! Is that even legal? All of the most dastardly Pokemon meanies team up to destroy Alola or the gap between dimensions and parallel universes or something; I lost track of the plot after Alpha Sapphire’s post game. This means that not only do we get to see some favorites like Archie and Maxie again, but also Cyrus, Ghetsis, Lysandre, and Giovanni. Also the Aether Foundation from Pokemon Sun and Moon I guess, but who cares about that? This means whole new encounters with fan favorites along with remixes of amazing songs for their new battles. The question we all ask now is, who’s the best villain? Which ones were the most effective, most devious, or most memorable villain of the bunch? Well, I’m going to go through and give a short rundown on what each villain accomplished or failed to accomplish in their respective game. There will probably be a few lore errors, and if you have a problem you can email me at this webzone rethinkyourobsession@getsomehelp.com; I’ll even give you a pizza roll. Only one though.
by Gunner Masters This review is based on the PlayStation 4 version of Middle-earth: Shadow of War. Middle-earth: Shadow of War is the anticipated sequel to Monolith’s Shadow of Mordor that released in 2014. The games follow the story of Talion, a Ranger of Gondor who is stationed at the Black Gate with his family. Sauron’s forces attack the fortress and his servants (the Hammer, the Tower and the Hand of Sauron) sacrificing Talion along with his wife and son to resurrect the wraith of Celebrimbor, the maker of the Rings of Power. Instead of heeding their call to return to Sauron’s side, Celebrimbor possesses Talion and the pair set out on a quest to conquer Mordor and defeat Sauron. Story The story in Shadow of War follows where the previous installment left off, with Talion and Celebrimbor forging the New Ring within Mt. Doom and eventually waging the all-out war the elven wraith desires. Talion’s motives are different in this installment. Instead of vengeance for his family, the Ranger seeks to save the remnants of Gondor’s holdings in Mordor and to keep the Dark Lord’s forces at bay long enough to give the rest of the world hope for survival. There are also various characters that Talion and Celebrimbor meet, fight alongside, and rescue. These characters include Idril, the young daughter of General Castamir in Minas Ithil, the last Gondorian bastion in Mordor. She tends to the various artifacts held within the fortress, but that doesn’t mean she spends all her time in a library. Idril is a brave and persistent fighter who leads raids against the Orc invaders. Another compelling character is Shelob the Spider, who appears as a woman in a black dress for most of her scenes and gives Talion grim visions of the future he seeks to prevent. The story, while mature most of the time, has lighter comedic moments that break the tension caused by Shelob’s visions and the constant fighting and dominating of Orc captains and fortresses. These moments serve to present a human side to Talion and some of the Orcs he works with during the conflict. But it isn’t Mordor without betrayal and darkness, and this sequel presents those elements in spades throughout the various quest-lines. These elements lead to utter surprise on Talion’s part at a crucial moment and build to a grim fate for him. At one point in his bewilderment, Shelob visits him again and says, “You pitiful man. I gave you sight, yet you did not see.” Gameplay Gameplay in Shadow of War is much akin to its predecessor with combat and climbing, but it has slight improvements to speed and accuracy for both Talion and the mobs of Orcs he fights. However, these mechanics become cumbersome during massive battles where Talion is surrounded by enemies and allies alike. Sometimes the game suffers from input lag during an attack combo, failing a block and resulting in lost health and Might, the meter that allows you to do executions and other abilities. At other times, Talion will end up auto-targeting the wrong enemy or ally when you are in the heat of battle trying to attack or heal. This can make the fort assaults and defenses frustrating. However, when actions work they really work. An intentional domination or execution that lands when it’s supposed to can turn the entire battle in Talion’s favor. Another minor complaint is the addition of microtransactions. These leave a bad taste in the game as it and other single-player titles have taken a step toward the pay-to-win system often seen on free mobile games, but it is avoidable altogether as Orcs and loot already in-game are more than sufficient to complete the game. Shadow of War also adds new upgrades to familiar abilities from Shadow of Mordor, such as the Wraith Blast ability which can send out waves of poison or frost instead of fire, or the Attract ability which can be charged up to send out a physical wraith to kill or brand an enemy. Some of the new abilities in the game allow for Talion to tap into Celebrimbor’s power to summon a Spectral Glaive, a type of halberd/spear, to slash and sweep enemies around him, or allow him to use stealth kills on enemy animals such as the vicious Caragors. Next up is the series’ most famous distinction on enemy and story development: the Nemesis System. Shadow of War improves vastly on the previous incarnation of this system that procedurally generates enemies based on looks, weapons, armor, personality, strengths and weaknesses. In the previous game, each enemy was somewhat unique, but later they started to feel similar in terms of strengths and weaknesses. Here each enemy captain, war-chief and overlord has even more listed strengths and weaknesses that cover everything from fear of Caragors, hatred of betrayal, to commanding a gang of warriors and using war banners to rally their allies to attack harder. There are also more cosmetic features to the various Orc leaders that depend on their clan such as Dark or Mystic. Dark Orcs tend to wear hoods and darker clothing and use cursed weapons to disrupt your wraith abilities, who Mystic who wear silver armor and masks. The Nemesis System also more accurately portrays personalities and makes each enemy unique. One might be called the Screamer because instead of speaking he will let out loud and obnoxious cries in and out of battle, while another might be called the Collector because he has a penchant for absorbing the strengths of his vanquished foes by claiming trophies from them. By extension, their titles and looks can change based on their interactions with Talion. An orc captain could be cleaved in half only to return encased in metal armor from head-to-toe a la Darth Vader, identifying as “the Machine” and saying, “My brothers put me back together, but it was you who created me.” Talion can also shame Orc leaders to reduce their level, with a possibility of making them either deranged (weaker) or maniacs (stronger). Their minds will be broken and they will become shells of their former selves, making Talion into something of a Sith Lord on top of the desire to conquer Mordor. One such Orc is a proud Olog-hai (a smarter type of troll) who calls himself Ar-Benu the Bludger and crushes every one of his enemies with his mace. Talion decides to dominate this Olog and make him his bodyguard, but a sudden betrayal leads to Ar-Benu being too strong-willed to be taken back into Celebrimbor’s influence. After repeated shaming, Ar-Benu’s mind collapses with fear and loathing, causing him to mutter gibberish and cry in despair, then erupt with cackling laughter. Talion kills the broken Olog out of mercy by cutting his head off to end his suffering quickly. Overall, this game is a worthy installment in an awesome franchise that has far-reaching effects on the larger Tolkien lore of Middle-earth. It expands on the world by exploring the Second Age exploits of Celebrimbor, Sauron and others. It also adds in sprinkles of lore for lands outside the borders shown on the maps of Middle-earth, such as Rhun, the Heradrim and Numenor. Fans of the series and the Lord of the Rings trilogy will enjoy it for its 50- to 60-hour campaign and its pages of lore that describe things not well-known outside the books. Featured image from LOTR Wiki
Back in February, Byte put out a review for Bossa Studio’s (Surgeon Simulator and I Am Bread) alpha build of Desksplash, a game who’s “concept lies somewhere between Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater’s graffiti mode and Splatoon.” According to Bossa Studios, unless Decksplash gets some serious play, the game isn’t leaving it’s alpha stage. Ever.
by Evan Hatfield of the Ball State Daily News This review is based on the Nintendo Switch version of Fire Emblem Warriors. Nintendo’s Fire Emblem series has had a remarkable few years, to say the least. At the start of the decade, it seemed the end was near for what amounted at the time to a tertiary title in Nintendo’s lineup of franchises. Seven years later, it’s an entirely different story: between a range of great 3DS games and a successful move into mobile gaming, the series is more popular than ever. The mere existence of the new spin-off Fire Emblem Warriors goes some way toward proving that. It's not the best spin-off game ever, but that doesn't stop it from giving gamers a good time anyway.
by Tanner Kinney Gaming is a business that is designed to make money. It’s hard to remember that when you’re out having fun skewering Orcs in Middle-Earth, force choking people as Darth Vader or doing high-octane racing but the games industry needs to make money. This is great, capitalism is great, and developers should be rewarded for their efforts. Games have changed though. It’s no longer about putting out content worth giving hard earned dosh for in high quality DLC quests, maps or characters. It’s about siphoning the customer for as much as possible while exerting as little effort as possible. Thus, from the dredges of the mobile market comes the triple A publisher’s new get-rich-quick scheme: the lootbox. For those who don’t know, the lootbox is a digital box with randomly selected items that can be used in the game. This can be as simple as a new voice line to a whole new character in some games and the value of what’s in the box can fluctuate wildly. It’s sort of like getting a box of chocolates. Except, in the case of the lootbox, this box of chocolates could contain the most decadent Belgian chocolate you’ve ever had in your entire life or it could contain a fun-size Snickers. And the box cost you five dollars. And the chance of getting the Belgian chocolate is roughly 3% but you aren't told that. Now, assuming there’s a Belgian chocolate in the box, that’s a huge steal. The value of the box was well worth it. If you were to get the fun-size Snickers though, you would feel cheated. I certainly would, at least give me a king size Snickers or a packet of Rolos, not this. That’s the lootbox and if that sounds like gambling and something questionable to you, then you are officially more in touch with things than the Entertainment Software Rating Board (ESRB). It’s hard to really tell where the lootbox started popping up in triple A games. Earliest reports of it I’ve found have been in Mass Effect 3 multiplayer, where the store had packs that gave you randomly selected characters and/or weapons of random quality for upwards of three dollars. The business model has shown up in other games since then but stuck mainly to mobile titles or free-to-play games where it belongs. Of course, when something starts to turn a huge profit, the greedy game publishers can’t help but to put these things in their 40 to 60 dollar games. The biggest, most popular case of this was Blizzard’s Overwatch, who’s lootboxes have turned into both a meme for how bad people’s luck was and a sign for other publishers that people will eat it up. They also realized these people will then vehemently defend it in online forums when people justifiably question why you can’t just straight up purchase what you want directly, instead having to HIT THE LEVER and hope that you get Witch Mercy during the one month it’s available. But hey, at least you got the Happy Halloween D.Va voice line and green recolor Hanzo! Again. Guess you either gotta play a bunch of matches or fork over more cash to try again! Overwatch isn’t the worst offender though. Technically, you can obtain everything without having to pay a dime. You can use the coins you can ONLY obtain from playing and from lootboxes to buy a specific skin. Nothing that costs real money is game-changing, just cosmetic. Also, Overwatch is only $40 (as if that makes a difference). These are the arguments the community makes to defend their gambling habits like a chain-smoker on the slots at a casino saying they can quit whenever they want and they’re gonna win big eventually. https://twitter.com/reaperoween/status/923376294821117952 The real problem examples come from the real heavy hitters in the triple A industry. Forza 7 had features that were previously part of the series gutted and put into “prize crates.” Features like racing at night and challenge modes are put behind a paywall that Turn 10 stated would become part of the game. Destiny 2 has powerful weapons hidden inside of lootboxes you can either earn in game or, more easily, fork over cash for. WWE 2K18 will have loot crates that are slated to only be purchasable in-game, and I’m sure the pristine peaches at 2K Games would never go back on their word because of how trustworthy they are. All of these games cost 60 dollars (or more in the case of Destiny 2 which will have expansion packs). Whether it was unlocked through cheat codes or in-game feats, the content in these crates used to be a part of the game. Gone are those days. We now live in the era of the lootbox. https://twitter.com/CaseyExplosion/status/906149184067166208 But wait, there’s more! Middle-Earth: Shadow of War, the next game from WB Games is working the achieve a brand new low in the lootbox craze. The new feature allows you to open loot crates to get Orcs that are used in both multiplayer AND single player. Not so bad, it doesn’t seem like it’s required at first, just a quick way to gain power of other people or the AI if you like your games to be that easy. Do you want the true ending though? The ultimate final cutscene for all your efforts? Well guess what, you get to either grind or go to the slots to try and get legendary Orcs and gear. Sure, you can get them in game if you are lucky but that’s a long grind to get enough to get the best ending. Don’t even get me started on Star Wars Battlefront 2’s Star Cards, which are somehow worse than all of my previous examples by being truly pay-to-win. Since the game is still about a month away, this system could could be changed before it launches. Let's hope that's the case because the last thing 60 dollar games need to have is another micro-paywall behind the initial paywall so you don’t fall behind in a multiplayer game. With how awful and manipulative these glorified digital slots can be, the debate now is over whether lootboxes are actually gambling and should be regulated. The answer? They kind of already are. At least in Asian countries, due to stricter gambling laws, games with similar lootbox systems (called “gacha” games after the popular gachapon toys) are mandated to provide statistical odds on what the player can get. If you’ve played Fire Emblem Heroes, you’ve probably noticed this with the best units given a 3% drop chance. Fair enough, at least you have some idea what the odds are. It doesn’t do away with the gambling but it’s regulated as such. This is not the case in the west. It might even be worse in some respects like during the CS:GO gambling controversy where actual children were targeted by real gambling websites. The battle already seems lost here especially since the ESRB has officially declared that lootboxes are not gambling. These virtual items do not have real world value so you cannot gamble for them (which means the $100 CS:GO knives are bought with fake money then, I assume). Of course, the ESRB is funded by publishers and having to disclose blatantly anti-consumer business practices would just be a shame for the poor multi-billion dollar corporations to have to do. They might lose sales! How will they ever go on? Right, because I’m supposed to feel sorry for the publishers who’ve been carving up games for the past 10 years. The only part that really concerns me is giving control over to the government or some third party to start regulating games. Regulating the content of games should not happen and I’m afraid of giving them an inch. After all the battles the gaming community have fought for Grand Theft Auto or Mortal Kombat, we shouldn’t be so quick to give up control of our medium. One part of me sees the obviously greed-fueled lootboxes and wants something to be done about it but the other part of me is afraid to let anyone touch the gaming industry we know and, well, maybe not love but sorta kinda like. Now, you may be asking, “Why bother complaining about it? There’s nothing we can do to stop publishers from doing it. All you’re doing is screeching into an echo chamber.” You know what? Maybe you’re right. I’ve seen 10-20 different threads online about this topic. All of them say the same thing and the discussion goes nowhere. Is there anything we can do to prevent games from getting progressively more and more anti-consumer? Well, not buying into games that have these scummy systems or at the very least not buying the lootboxes is a start. Getting awareness out about games that attempt this is another way, something review aggregate OpenCritic is attempting. https://twitter.com/mrfeelswildride/status/918325121109999618 Finally, I would say giving praise to good games from big publishers that don’t resort to a lootbox scheme is a way to discourage publishers from continuing this predatory trend. Publishers may not care, they may keep going like with season passes and microtransactions but maybe, just maybe, the consumer will finally be able to stop them from playing with our hearts and wallets. Then Nintendo will acknowledge F-Zero, world peace will be declared and Capcom will finally announce a new Mega Man game! Call me cynical, but I’m not holding my breath. Horse armor was just 11 years ago, and things have only gotten worse. Let’s see how low we can go, shall we? Sources: Kotaku, PC Gamer, IGN, OpenCritic Images: Tanner Kinney, Twitter, YouTube
The voice acting union SAG-AFTRA has announced this week that they have voted to potentially end their strike on video game publishers such as Electronic Arts, Activision and Take 2.
Nintendo has announced their newest in the Animal Crossing franchise, Animal Crossing: Pocket Camp. As the name implies, the new game is coming to mobile devices, rather than the Switch or 3DS, late Nov 2017.
by Eben Griger Nintendo has announced their newest in the Animal Crossing franchise, Animal Crossing: Pocket Camp. As the name implies, the new game is coming to mobile devices, rather than the Switch or 3DS, late Nov 2017. In the game you manage a campsite, rather than a town. Gameplay revolves around building furniture and amenities like pools and lounges for animals (each one has their favorite thing). Complete quests for camp-goers to build up their friendship levels, and you get materials to craft these things. Quests can be anything from picking apples, to fishing, to bug catching. High end furniture and amenities take longer to create, and some crafting materials can prove elusive, but like any mobile game, microtransactions are the answer. You can spend “Leaf Bucks” to speed up crafting times or get crafting materials. This currency can be obtained through real-world purchases or through in game activities (though no doubt in smaller quantities). Friends are a big part of this game too. You can visit the camp sites of friends and occasionally find your friends wandering around your camp site (provided your friendship level is high enough). Pocket Camp also includes things like a marketplace for new clothes, a fully customizable RV, seasonal events and a real-time day/night cycle. Source: YouTube Image: YouTube
Visceral Games, the studio behind Dante’s Inferno, Battlefield Hardline, and the Dead Space series, is “ramping down and closing,” according to EA’s Executive Vice President, Patrick Söderlund. This announcement came over a blog post, along with information on the Star Wars game the studio had been developing.
Unities, a new label from Sony Music, will publish video game titles on platforms such as the Nintendo Switch and PC, according to an announcement this week.
I really never thought I’d have to talk about Nazis this much in the year of 2017. But here we are.