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Logo by:Meghan Duffy and Daley Wilhelm
by CJ Streetman There’s a certain amount of respect I have to give Unworthy for the sheer level of shameless inspiration it clearly takes from the Dark Souls series. In most circumstances, the level of similarity between the two games would probably border on one ripping off the other, but Unworthy is a gem that we all need to be paying attention to. To discuss the basics, Unworthy is a ruthless sidescrolling action game with emphasis on careful rolling, attacking, and blocking. On a mechanical level, Unworthy really takes advantage of the work of its predecessors, allowing Souls initiates to comfortably slip in to the way the game works, while its simple design would be easy to adjust to for newcomers. Your actions are essentially limited to move, roll, attack, and this simplicity lends itself well to the 2D format. It features some clever innovations on the Souls formula as well, such as only being able to block every once in a while based on a recharging meter. The aesthetic of Unworthy is simply phenomenal. The entire game is represented in simple silhouettes that miraculously manage to always be easily recognizable and understandable. The color palette of drab blacks and grays, with the occasional splash of red blood, really hammers home the bleak world of the game, that here there is only a cycle of death and violence. Finally, the boss battles, or battle, as I was only able to reach and defeat one boss, are suitably unforgiving, and do a wonderful job of slowly ramping up the difficulty. As the boss’ health drops, they slowly add more and more moves into their arsenal. Because of this, an easy fight against a giant skeleton that strictly took slow swings quickly evolves into a frantic balance of managing my stamina as I dodge swords, fire, and undead hands reaching from the ground. Initially, the plan for this preview was going to be to address the content that already exists, and then predict what kind of content could and should be added in, but frankly, there’s terribly little to ask for that won’t obviously be added in the full game (i.e. saving), as the game even boasts features like controller support already. Other than those basics, all there is to want is more of the same. Unworthy is a title that I can easily see matching or even surpassing its inspiration. In a way that many games have tried and failed to, Unworthy makes abundant use of Souls concepts as a springboard, rather than a crutch for its own brilliant ideas. More information on Unworthy can be found at its website, unworthygame.com, where you can sign up for a newsletter and the chance to be in future beta and alpha tests. This preview is based on alpha build 1.1 of Unworthy. All images from: unworthygame.com and Facebook
by CJ Streetman Reviewed on Xbox One Destiny: Rise of Iron is the last expansion to Destiny, also kicking off Year Three for the long-living console game. Rise of Iron comes following the tremendously well-received The Taken King, and frankly, it’s a pale shade of an expansion following the massive adventure aboard the Dreadnaught. Back to what you know The single strongest point of Rise of Iron is the heavy emphasis on Destiny’s strong core gunplay. From the very first mission every moment is about motion and marksmanship against an aggressive horde of enemies. There are significantly fewer arena fights than in previous expansions, which gives a feeling of constant forward momentum through each and every moment. Even the arena fights are significant shakeups of the previous formula of shoot enemies until they stop spawning. As an example, the final mission of this expansion, which may be the best single mission in Destiny, puts a very special weapon into your hands for the duration of the arena fight. Even the new raid, Wrath of the Machine, focuses on one or two new mechanics with very little in the way of puzzles and a whole lot in the way of shooting baddies. Contrary to last year’s Kings Fall, Wrath of the Machine is infinitely more about execution than puzzling out the scenario you find yourself in and genuinely deserves consideration alongside the brilliant Vault of Glass as the best raid in Destiny. In the same field, the new Crucible mode, Supremacy, is excellent in that it forces players to rush into dangerous situations. The only major failings of the new mode are the heavy emphasis on Titans, with their advantage in close-range and the forced uselessness of sniper rifles, due to their long range. I actually like these people, I guess? I cried over a character in Destiny, which is something I genuinely never expected. One of the major failings of Destiny over the last two years has been an inability to ground the player in the universe, lore, and characters with whom they interact. The closest thing to a great, world-building triumph in Destiny until now had been the genuinely excellent Books of Sorrow. Where Taken King dipped into that field, by humanizing characters like Cayde-6 and Eris Morn, Rise of Iron dives straight in. I found myself genuinely caring about characters like Lord Saladin. Perhaps most telling of all is a moment with Ghost. As the two of you overlook the place where he found you two years ago, he reminisces about the search for you. In the most shocking moment of Rise of Iron, wherein you fight horrific SIVA perversions and become a hero of an ancient order, I cried over a character in Destiny, which is something I genuinely never expected. Sounds like a good vacation spot The Plaguelands is the new area directly connected to Old Russia’s Cosmodrome. It’s terribly unimaginative and small, so that doesn’t really lend itself to exploration. The hidden alcoves all just reveal temporary weapons or collectibles, and the patrol missions become tedious faster than in the other patrol zones. The bright spot of the Plaguelands is definitely the Archon’s Forge, which itself is a rather shaky experience. The new PVE arena is an unreasonably hard feature to activate that, for all intents and purposes, replaces the Court of Oryx, where players can only carry one SIVA offering item at a time as opposed to upward of 100 Runes in the Court of Oryx. This leads to a very disjointed experience in the arena, where between bursts of exciting and intense gunplay, everyone pauses to check their inventory to see if they even have one of the ignition items to start another round. UPDATE: After the time of writing, Bungie uploaded a hotfix that fixed the economy of the Archon's Forge. More patrols guarantee SIVA offerings and the Forge itself is much more likely to reward the player with SIVA offerings. While only being able to carry one offering at a time still leads to frustration, it's much more likely that a fireteam will be able to start another round of the Forge immediately. That’s a lot of glimmer Now let's just talk logistics. Rise of Iron costs $30, the two Year One expansions cost $20 each, and The Taken King cost $40. In my opinion, the biggest sign that Rise of Iron is a letdown is that I have never previously felt like I've been shorted by Destiny, and that’s coming from someone who actually shelled out for Silver, the game’s premium currency that allows the player to buy emotes and other aesthetic items. Rise of Iron includes around six missions (more to be revealed as you discover exotic quests), one strike, one raid, a new mode, three new maps, and one decent area. This is unavoidably compared to Taken King’s 20 story missions, three new strikes, a raid, three new subclasses, two new modes, eight new maps, a raid, and an intricate and exciting to explore new area. Frankly, Rise of Iron feels like one of Year One’s short DLCs except overpriced and overhyped. TL;DR What is in Rise of Iron is excellent and possibly some of the best content in Destiny so far. Unfortunately, what is there is so incredibly small that I will be genuinely shocked if I find myself playing Destiny in even a few weeks. It’s worth noting however that, in modern Destiny, the worst piece of content is still incredible fun. +A return to focus on Destiny’s incredible gunplay +Heavy focus on character development +The moment with Ghost in the quest for Kvhostov +New raid is fun and straightforward -Campaign is maybe 3 hours long -Price feels too high for the amount of content -Archon’s Forge is disjointed and hard to start -The Plaguelands are fairly dull All images from The Daily Dot, VG 24/7, Digital Trends
by CJ Streetman Seventeen years after the cult classic Blair Witch Project¸ and some number of years after the other one that we all try to forget even happened, Blair Witch picks up the story as a direct sequel to the movie that birthed a genre. Blair Witch follows James Donahue, brother to the original movie’s Heather Donahue, as he tries to uncover what happened to his sister in the Black Hills Forest of Maryland. What follows feels like two completely different movies: one that is always several steps away from success, and another that almost makes you glad you trudged through the first. There is some masterful tension building throughout the first half of the film that is ruined by... cheap tactics that ultimately make the first half of this movie feel fairly pointless. A chore of an introduction What begins with a fairly engaging plot, believable motive and, perhaps most miraculously, non-migraine-inducing found footage, quickly devolves into a series of short cuts, loud noises, and a complete lack of tension. It’s in this first act that it becomes clear that the makers of this movie felt the need to make some serious concessions to modern found-footage film. There is some masterful tension building throughout the first half of the film that is ruined by a fake jump scare such as someone coming into frame with a loud noise accompanying them or a camera malfunction. All cheap tactics that ultimately make the first half of this movie feel fairly pointless. Nope, I’m out of here The one thing that the first half of the movie has seriously in its favor is the believability of the characters. Each of the characters feel like fairly sensible people who react appropriately to the increasingly messed up situations they find themselves in. Wake up in the morning to find that a dozen occult-looking dolls are hanging over their tents? They leave. Can’t find their friend who has been separated from the group in the middle of the night? They wait till morning to search. This is one of the major successes of the film; the fact that these characters generally avoid making stupid decisions drives home exactly how screwed they are as the night gets worse and worse. As the film goes on their decisions become less and less logical, but the decisions in question are made after extended periods of fear and exhaustion. How is this even the same movie? It’s in the second half that everything really comes together, and some very clear instances of impressive directorial restraint appear. Jump scares stop being fake outs and are even accompanied by less ridiculously loud noises. A scene many will recognize from the trailers shows a character crawling through tunnels is simply brilliant, playing on fears and expectations almost masterfully. Ultimately, what really brings the finale of Blair Witch to the next level is that it clearly doesn’t view its audience as stupid in the same way that movies like Paranormal Activity do. The latter feels the need to shove every little fact down the viewers’ throats, whereas Blair Witch proves that trusting the audience can pay off immensely. The answers that the characters spend the whole movie searching for are there, waiting for viewers to notice the clues and piece together the larger puzzle. Spoiler-free tip: pay very close attention to landmarks that are mentioned as important. TL;DR While the final moments leave a lot to be desired, the second half of Blair Witch is a genuinely good horror movie. It takes time to build tension, consistently raises the stakes and toys with the viewer’s expectations. It’s just unfortunate that we had to watch the first half as well. Overall, Blair Witch is a mostly fun movie that will likely be forgotten in a matter of weeks. +Builds tension -Ruins that tension with jump scares +Doesn’t treat the viewer as stupid +Believable characters -The first half is just lazy All images from Forbidden Planet International Blog, Movies Philippines
by CJ Streetman @GalledGiatric Lazer Team is the first feature film by Rooster Teeth Productions, a more than decade old entertainment company famous for the groundbreaking Red vs Blue series. The film earned its place in the public eye for being the most crowdfunded film of all time, earning over 2.4 million dollars through Indiegogo. Lazer Team tells the story of four small-town idiots who stumble upon a suit of alien armor and accidentally become the champions of Earth, forcing them to prepare for a long-awaited alien threat. The film, directed by Matt Hullum, stays securely within Rooster Teeth’s roundhouse of talents, sci-fi comedy, and is genuinely one of the funniest movies of the past year. The Team The leads all performed beautifully despite the characters themselves being fairly flat or one-note. Zach (Michael Jones) is the dumb, entitled jock, Hagan (Burnie Burns) is the small town cop, Herman (Colton Dunn) is the has-been football star, and Woody (Gavin Free) is a dumb hick. Each character gets plenty of time in the spotlight to really show what depth they do have, and all establish themselves as genuinely funny characters. Despite Burns, Jones, and Free’s acting experience being limited to, admittedly talented, voice acting and work in RT Shorts and series, the three truly shine, while Dunn proves his comedic and acting talent once again. These characters never stray too far away from these stereotypes, but strap alien weaponry to them and make them try to work together and the comedy and interactions just click. The real standouts of the cast are Alan Ritchison and Michael Jones. Ritchison delivers a surprisingly emotional and genuinely captivating performance as Adam, the would-be hero of Earth, who now has to train the morons who stole his birthright. Jones, for his part, plays one of the most convincing douchebags of modern cinema. In one of Zach’s establishing scenes we see him crash an opposing football team’s party, declaring “I won, they’re all my parties,” start a brawl, and ultimately punch a cop in the face before laughing it all off. It’s impossible to see this movie and not think, “I’ve met this prick.” The story starts out seeming fairly straight forward, but evolves act by act into an incredibly engaging and surprising narrative. The comedy is classic Rooster Teeth, effortlessly mixing ridiculous slapstick, cleverness, and crude comedy. Despite the seemingly cookie-cutter characters, the comedy never feels stale, and more than a few moments had me laughing hard enough to require pausing the movie. Some of the jokes even come across as subtle (pay attention to Woody when they put the suits on). There are very few Rooster Teeth references as well, making the whole experience very accessible to any viewer. The Lazers The action and special effects of Lazer Team are some of the more surprising aspects of the movie. The action sequences are never handled with straight-faced seriousness, and where they find themselves lacking weight on an action level, it is absolutely made up in comedy. The special effects hold their own for the most part. Aside from one or two less than impressive moments, the CG is done very well. Anyone familiar with Gavin Free’s work as one of the Slow Mo Guys will be completely unsurprised to find that the use of slow motion is both abundant and beautiful in Lazer Team. Throughout the entire film, the cinematography is very impressive. The shots always successfully emphasize the tone of the current scene to tremendous effect. The best example of this is the first time Herman attempts to use his boots in earnest and the rapid shift from a dynamic and beautiful shot to an unflattering and straight-faced shot is simply brilliant. In a finding-the-Holy-Grail-level miracle, Lazer Team ultimately feels like a 102 minute RT short, without ever feeling like it should have been a YouTube video (looking at you, Smosh: The Movie). This is in large part thanks to Hullum’s excellent directing that combines the technical skill of an experienced director with the smart, focused direction that he has perfected over more than a decade with RT. The absolute only other weak points on a technical level are a couple of overly cheesy moments, like one moment in which a character deliberately stares down the camera, that really took me away from the experience. The level of care that is immediately apparent in all of these elements is what has always set RT in a league apart from many other entertainment companies rising in the age of YouTube, and once again, they do not disappoint. TL;DR A welcome relief from the constant slice-of-life comedies that have been inundating the box office for so long, Lazer Team focuses heavily on its sci-fi elements without ever sacrificing the chance to make a joke, while still crafting a plot that will keep you guessing. It’s a brilliant freshman effort by Rooster Teeth Productions and, for a movie operating at about 2% the budget of its triple-a competitors, Lazer Team genuinely earns its place on the silver screen, and is bound to become a cult classic in its own right. +Laugh-out-loud funny throughout +Beautiful camera work +Surprisingly engaging story +Accessible to all audiences +Brief cameo by The Joy of Painting +Great chemistry between actors and characters -Aside from a few brief moments, very little emotional depth -CG lacks weight in some instances -A few overly cheesy moments Originally posted on January 25, 2016
by Byte's Editorial Board It's the end of 2015, which means it's time to select the best games of the year. To celebrate, members of Byte's editorial board picked their favorite games to highlight. The games below are the favorites of CJ Streetman (@GalledGiatric), Byte's Reviews Editor. 5. Life Is Strange "You are all that matters to me." Life is Strange is the single best version of the overused episodic point-and-click genre. Despite some hello-my-fellow-teens-esque dialogue, the story focuses so acutely on the protagonist pair that it overcomes the problem of your choices not seeming to matter. The game culminates in a single decision that overrides all the rest, but it is a decision that is so morally grey on both sides that to this day I keep flipping sides on what I believe is the best choice. It is a narrative experience that relies more on how you as a player will feel than what your characters will experience as consequences. It’s a fresh take on a genre that’s quickly becoming very old. 4. Destiny Year 2 "Huddled at the mountain’s base, we had no choice but to beat our ploughshares into swords once more.” There was a serious discussion about whether I could put this game on my list, due to Destiny 1.0 releasing over a year ago. However, anyone can go back and look at my own review of the vanilla game to see how what I thought of the initial release. Destiny has, more than any other game in my opinion, improved dramatically since launch, to the point where I do consider Year 2 Destiny a completely different game. It’s terribly important to have others to play with, however. Get a clan (I personally recommend either the Dames of Destiny or the Safe Gamers), pick up a weapon, and go fight the Darkness. 3. Spooky's House of Jumpscares "Or are there even a thousand rooms? Cuz I really don't know." Spooky’s is a charming, horrifying, hilarious juxtaposition of straight-faced seriousness and mockery of the horror genre. It draws you into a false sense of security and slowly – very slowly – reveals that you have been tricked. In most games, the joke would end here, but Spooky’s goes the extra mile, bringing you into the joke, letting you live it just a bit longer before finally delivering a punchline that every single room has been building toward. 2. Her Story "Oh, the wind and the rain." Her Story is unlike anything else that has come out in a decade. It is the prime example of how to bring back a genre. More importantly, however, the vast majority of the experience, the mystery, the search, the unraveling of an out-of-order story told through lies, is mostly optional. The game encourages you to quit when you feel that you’re done. This, combined with the game never confirming a truth, means that any player can have an entirely different conclusion about the events of the game. It’s a truly masterful, and intriguing, mystery. 1. The Beginner's Guide “To play this game properly, you must keep your eyes closed.” This is the game of the year. This is the single most important and brilliantly executed game of the year. This is the game that made me experience the widest breadth of emotion of anything out there. This is the game that anyone who cares about games and how they’re made need to play. There’s not a lot to say that won’t spoil the experience, as it is a short journey. Simply, The Beginner’s Guide is a masterpiece.
By CJ Streetman Evolve just might be the best multiplayer experience I’ve ever had, but only when everyone who is playing is on the same page. My very first match, I played as the Goliath. It’s an experience unlike any other to go from the tense feeling of stalking through the jungle, feeding and evolving, and then going through moments of pure terror as you hear a hunter shout out “I see him!” Even better is the adrenaline rush of the final confrontation. The monster reaching its final evolution, the hunters retreating back into a defensible position, waiting for the monster to make its move, and then the sheer chaos of the monster launching its assault was one of the most tense and exciting finales I have ever experienced in gaming.