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Gaming’s Undervalued Treasures: 1080 Avalanche

June 8, 2016 colin Articles
Image courtesy of Giant Bomb user velior.

Image courtesy of Giant Bomb user velior.

1080 Avalanche, a great GameCube exclusive
1080 Avalanche is the lesser known sequel to the critically acclaimed N64 game 1080 Snowboarding.

1080 Avalanche manages to maintain the lightning speed of the first game and contains some cutting edge graphics for the GameCube. To top it off, it has a unique trick system and a wide variety of modes to play and creative tracks to ride on.

Why would a sequel with this much polish be overshadowed? SSX 3 was released the same year for all three consoles at the time, the PlayStation 2, original Xbox and, of course, the GameCube. 1080 Avalanche’s comparisons to SSX 3 were inevitable, but odd, since both games are completely different.

SSX 3 may have a slightly easier control scheme and more of a broad appeal. 1080 Avalanche just happens to be more of a difficult game, but when the player sticks to it, 1080 Avalanche is incredibly rewarding and a blast to play.

About to head down the mountain! Image courtesy of GameFAQs.

About to head down the mountain! Image courtesy of Giant Bomb user rabidweasel91.

1080 Snowboarding’s impact
The first time gamers played 1080 Snowboarding, there was no other action sports game like it. A snowboarding game that had a focus on tricks and racing. Somehow, Left Field Productions, the second party developer at Nintendo, emulated the speed of F-Zero. 1080 Snowboarding was a massive hit for Nintendo and is fondly remembered as being one of the best titles on the N64.

A sequel was unavoidable and in 2003, Nintendo Software Technology (NST) developed 1080 Avalanche after Left Field Productions dropped out. The game was previously going to be titled 1080: White Storm in reference to Wave Race: Blue Storm, another underappreciated GameCube exclusive.

Blistering speed makes up most of 1080 Avalanche
If there is one phrase to describe 1080 Avalanche, it’s from the classic 80s masterpiece, Top Gun.

Shredding down the mountains of 1080 Avalanche will urge the player to keep going and marvel at the speed and snow effects. The snow crashing towards the player camera and the wind affecting the character’s clothing on the mountain certainly give the player rushing adrenaline, as if they are on the mountain themselves. With a focus on racing as opposed to tricks, this is a good feature of 1080 Avalanche which brings the player into it’s crazy, snowboarding world.

These screenshots don't show off the speed of the game well. Image courtesy of GameFAQs.

These screenshots don’t do the insane speed of the game justice. Image courtesy of GameFAQs.

The control set up does not hinder the great gameplay of 1080 Avalanche
The original 1080 Snowboarding is a game that perfected controls on the bizarre looking, and rather unintuitive, N64 controller. 1080 Avalanche is able to replicate the success its predecessor had. However, there is a rather steep control curve for first time players.

1080 Avalanche’s controls have a strange layout. The main face buttons on the GameCube controller, A, B, etc. will do the jumping and speed boosts. To do tricks and to grind properly, the player will have to incorporate the shoulder buttons and Z button. The player will have to hold down the A button to get the jump they want, which is similar to how professional snowboarders will have to find the right momentum to get the air they want. In addition to this scheme, players will be incorporating the control stick, if the player wants to perform spin and flip tricks along with their grabs.

Tricks can be complicated or simple. Image courtesy of Euro Gamer.net.

Tricks can be complicated or simple. Image courtesy of Euro Gamer.net.

The player’s hands will be all over the controller to perform a trick, making strange claw like hand formations. Whereas SSX 3 had a far easier control set up. This may come as daunting to first time players, but spending more time in the freestyle trick parks of the game will be great practice.

Once a player can master the controls, they will find 1080 Avalanche to be a fulfilling experience as the game is consistently challenging.

1080 Avalanche features a good amount of single players modes, as well as split screen multiplayer. The main mode, Match Race, will have the player select a circuit, with the difficulty of each circuit represented the three levels of difficulty skiiers are used to. Green, Blue and Black Diamond. Completing these will also unlock the Expert level. Other modes are trick attack, which can take place in a park or a slope, time attack, which is great for building stats and gate challenge. They are all fun in their own way and can manage to keep the player busy enough.

Image courtesy of Giant Bomb user pixelrevolt.

Image courtesy of Giant Bomb user pixelrevolt.

Each part of the mountain the snowboarders will populating has a unique feel to it and no track feels the same as the other. There are some basic ones, but 1080 Avalanche has tracks that take place in abandoned saw mills, a posh resort area with a gigantic Mario ice sculpture and shiny ice caves. Of course, all this pales in comparison to the nail biting final level, where you are trying to outrun the growing threat of an avalanche. It’s a truly gripping finale, and one of the few games to capture the dangerous nature of snowboarding in an avalanche.

The GameCube’s graphics present the tracks with enough life in them and manages to capture the snow and ice perfectly. The rest of 1080 Avalanche has a great stylized look to it, as each of the snowboarders have their own unique look.

Similar to the first game, 1080 Avalanche only has five characters to choose from. Returning is Ricky Winterborn, Akari Hayami and Rob Haywood. The two new characters are the Brazilian Kemen Vazquez and “hip-hop diva” Tara Strong (who is not played by the famous voice actress of the same name). The five characters have alternate costumes which exemplify their personality and have their own boards.

The game also has a ton of unlockable snowboards that are unusual, but reflect the nature of the game. There is an NES controller and a live penguin the player can have Ricky Winterborn and the rest of the crew to ride on.

The NES controller even makes 8-bit sounds when jumping. It's great! Image courtesy of Giant Bomb user rabidweasel91.

The NES controller even makes 8-bit sounds when jumping. It’s great! Image courtesy of Giant Bomb user rabidweasel91.

1080 Avalanche had a special edition, which included a DVD titled “Snow Sessions.” It is stock footage from various Warren Miller movies set to the soundtrack of the game. It’s not much, but for fans of Miller’s ski/snowboard movies, it’s worth checking out. Strangely enough, the DVD is the same size as a GameCube disc.

One of Gaming’s Undervalued Treasures
Peel away the incredibly dated mid-2000s radio rock (Finger Eleven? Yay.) and steep learning curve of the controls and 1080 Avalanche is a worthy sequel to an immensely popular game. 1080 Avalanche’s gameplay is immensely entertaining and the races are sure to rip through a player’s cornea with its breakneck speed. It’s a fantastic snowboarding game that remains satisfying throughout the time spent on the mountain.

 

My Hopes and Predictions for Pokemon Sun and Moon

June 6, 2016 Kennedy Uncategorized

As I’m sure we all know by now, Nintendo recently released a new trailer for Pokemon Sun and Moon–not only do we now have confirmation that the region is based on Hawaii, but we now also know who our new Professor is, his assistant, the names/types of the new legendaries, and the names of a few new characters. Perhaps the most surprising (in a good way) thing Nintendo announced was the Rotom Pokedex–something we’ve never seen anything even close to in previous Pokemon games. Despite this well of knowledge Nintendo has gifted us, there’s still plenty that we don’t know yet, and won’t know for some time–or at least until after E3 because Nintendo Treehouse said that they’ll be talking about Pokemon after E3. So without further ado, here are my predictions and hopes for Pokemon Sun and Moon:

 Hala– the man in the yellow coat

Image courtesy of Daily.Pokecommunity

Although nothing was said about this man in the American trailer, the Japanese trailer states that his name is Hala. Although originally speculated to be the professor of this region (after all, the hala is another kind of tree native to Hawaii) we now know that Kukui is the Professor of this region. It’s also safe to assume that Hala won’t even be his assistant, as we know that will be Lillie’s role (and I’ll talk about what I think about her later.) My guess is that he’ll either be a “secret” (only for a short while) gym leader or a member of the Elite 4–possibly the champion, but I think it’s less likely. In previous Pokemon games, there’s almost always a gym leader or member of the Elite 4 that meets the trainer and helps them a few times before they face each other in battle. If nothing else, I’m sure he’ll be very relevant to the plot somehow–perhaps he knows what the evil team is doing and he tries to stop him? Maybe he has information, maybe even involvement with the legendary Pokemon? I’m guessing he’ll be one of the next few details about the game to be explained at least a little more since everyone else that’s been shown in the trailers has been given a name and a role.

Lillie

Image courtesy of Bulbapedia

There seems to be a big stir about her everywhere–she’s the professor’s assistant, but why are we only now seeing her? Why does she hate battling Pokemon? She looks so sweet–why the stern look on her official art? I predict that she’ll end up being an antagonist of some kind–probably related to whatever evil team this game has. Her profile explicitly states that she hates battling Pokemon and I’m sure that’s going to be crucial to these games. My guess is that this game’s evil team will either follow something close to Team Galactic’s “We’re liberating Pokemon!” idea, or that she’s actually a master Pokemon battler–perhaps to an extreme level that we’ve never seen in Pokemon. If that were the case, if she’s not on our trainer’s side (I highly doubt she’s on our side, her facade seems to innocent) she might be involved in extreme levels of Pokemon battling, to the point where she battles them to the death. Perhaps that’s what the evil team in this game is involved in, as well.

HMs as Key Items

Image courtesy of aminoapps

This one is all hope rather than prediction. Having HMs be key items rather than moves is something Pokemon fans have been wanting for a while. For anyone unfamiliar, let’s take Cut for instance: Not a particularly useful move in battle, right? But you need something with cut on it in case you run into a tree. What if instead of cut taking down the tree however, you’re given a pair of gardening shears–a key item–that will cut the tree down? And if you still want one of your Pokemon to learn cut it can be turned into a TM instead. This eliminates the need for HM slave Pokemon while still giving an option to people who want their Pokemon to learn the moves regardless. It would be incredibly convenient.

Starter Evolution Lines

Image courtesy of gameskinny

Before I go into detail on this one, I’d like to point out that I’m assuming all the “leaks” of their evolutions that we’ve seen thusfar are fake and I’ll continue to think that until we see confirmation, so you won’t hear me talk about any of them. Since that’s out of the way, here’s what I’m guessing is going to happen: Rowlett will retain its Grass/Flying typing throughout its entire line and will shift from looking really cute to more like a Noctowl on steroids in a pile of leaves and branches. Litten will almost certainly pick up a second type in its next evolution–judging purely by its design, it will likely be dark type or ghost type. Phantom cats exist in a fair number of Hawaiian folktales so I’m leaning towards fire/ghost. If that’s the case, it’s next few evolutions will take a more ghostly appearance until it eventually looks like one of the phantom cats. Popplio is harder to to make such a confident guess for since its design could go in many different directions at this point and its inspiration is from sea lions. I’m leaning toward that it will be water/fairy for two reasons though: 1. Fairy types being so new and well-liked, it would make sense for Popplio to eventually become half fairy for the sake of adding more fairy types to the dex.  2. Fairy-type Pokemon tend to be more playful, happy, and cute in the traditional sense–all of which Popplio is. Again though, it has a much simper and, for the sake of guessing evolutions, vague design so it could just as easily go in any other direction. After all, how many of us predicted Piplup to eventually become half-steel?

 

Mega Evolutions

Image courtesy of PokemonRubySapphire

We’ve seen the mega bracelets on the trainers in this game–mega evolutions are here to stay. As for what Pokemon we’ll see new megas for, I’m guessing we’ll see at least one of the following: Rotom (because of the Pokedex), Dragonite, Flygon, Lunatone, Solrock, Kingdra (because there are seahorses in Hawaii–I’ll admit, my reason for thinking this will happen is pretty flimsy, but I’m holding out hope.), Solgaleo, Lunala, Magmortar (because of Hawaii being famous for its volcanoes), Electevire (because if Magmortar gets a mega they’d give one to Electevire, too) the final evolutions of the starters, Milotic (honestly, I just think its design makes it look like it’s begging to megaevolve. Besides, given the setting, I’m sure that there’s gonna’ be at least 2 or 3 water Pokemon getting new megas since water Pokemon will certainly be particularly important in this game) Corsola, Tentacruel, Raichu. As for ones I simply just hope get mega evolutions but it seems more unlikely for them, the main one I’d like to see is megas for even one or two of the Eeveelutions just because they all look like they could evolve again–besides, Eevee being the evolution Pokemon, it would make sense. In fact, I wouldn’t mind if only Eevee received a mega evolution for that same reason. Some other unlikely hopes I have for mega evolutions are Dunsparce, Stunfisk, Arcanine, Hitmonlee, Hitmontop, Hitmonchan, Torkoal, Delibird, Sigilyph, and Hawlucha. All of them just look like they’re just waiting to evolve–besides, I’d love to see them all become more competitively viable choices.

Games Gone By: Jak and Daxter

June 6, 2016 Ricky Articles

Time passes. Franchises come, Franchises go. Some end when they could have gone longer. No where else is this as apparent than with Jak and Daxter.

With the success the game had both commercially and critically, its easy to see why the game got re-released under the Playstation’s “Greatest Hits Banner”. Image Source: Amazon.com

Jak and Daxter The Precursor Legacy was developed by Naughty Dog and released in 2001. The game was originally meant to be Naughty Dog’s first foray into deeper and more character centered story telling. The game focused on the young mute protagonist Jak and his snarky human-turned ottsel (yes Ottsel, a combination of weasel and an otter) companion. Together they try and change Daxter back into a human by finding the sage of Dark Eco, the material that turned Daxter into an ottsel to begin with. Along the way, the pair need to traverse the huge world made up of different hubs. Each hub is centered around a different colored eco that each has a different property (i.e. Green for health, Blue for Speed, Yellow for Energy blasts, etc.).

The first hub in the game is the village centered around Green Eco. Though not very smooth, the setting is still a fantastic marvel to look at. Image source: PlaystationPalo.wordpress.com

To get from place to place, the player needed to find “power cells”. These could be gained by going through a temple, doing a side mission, or performing some very skillful platforming. It was a fun and charming title. Having come out after Naughty Dog’s hit series Crash bandicoot, the game still held up and show’d their talent for more charcter focused games. For the sequel, the story became even more prevelant, but got MUCH darker. And in my opinion, even better.

One of the few times adding guns to a franchise doesn’t seem like its desperately trying to be edgy. Image Source: Amazon.com

Jak II came out on the Playstation 2 in 2004, upping the anti in a LOT of  ways.First off: the story. Jak and Daxter, as well as a few side characters, find themselves being sucked into the future by a mysterious and enormous beast, who calls out Jak ominously. They soon find themselves in a dystopian future in the fascist Haven City, which is currently under the rule of the tyrannical Baron Praxis. Jak becomes a prisoner and is experimented on for two years until Daxter comes and frees him (What he was doing is shown in the PSP spinoff Daxter). Jak and Daxter then set out to get revenge on the Baron and free Haven City. Oh and Jak can talk now. Not a huge difference but hey, adds to character development and moves the plot along. The game has you talking to freedom fighters, criminals, and other interesting characters around Haven City, making it feel really alive.

The new Dark Jak form has a lot of uses, and can be made even stronger as the game goes on, giving a lot of room to grow. Image Source: Fanpop.com

The gameplay also is ramped up. Instead of focusing on different color eco for fighting, you now have an assortment of guns to deal with enemies. Also, Jak can now collect dark eco to turn into “Dark Jak”, a powerful and nearly unstoppable force, if only for a short while. The inclusion of more car based gameplay is also fantastic, as you can often take whatever ride you may want from the drivers of Haven City. Take from the wrong person however, and you may find yourself being the target of the city guards’ fury.

The sequel added so much and expanded so greatly on what made Jak and Daxter fun. Unfortunately the same could not be said for Jak III.

You’d think a match up of Jak and Daxter and Mad Max would be amazing right? One would think, but one would be wrong. Image Source: Amazon.com

Jak 3 comes out on the Ps2 only a year after the first, and it really shows. There was a three year difference between the first two games. Time to sit and time to innovate. With Jak 3, it felt slightly rushed. Am I saying it’s a bad game? God no. This game still looks great, plays great, and has a somewhat decent story. However, compared to Jak 2, not much has changed. The gun and fighting system is copy and paste, the story doesn’t break much new ground, here’s a “light” form for Jak now, and more focus on vehicles. Although they don’t hover this time. Woo hoo.

It suffers from resting on what works instead of trying anything new. I can’t entirely blame them because Jak 2 was a fantastic game that took a gamble and won. I just wish they took more time to think of something better and a little bit more creative.

What could have been a great game came out with too little WAY too late. Image Source Amazon.com

Thats not to say time  work miracles, as Jak and Daxter The Lost Frontier would eventually surface after a racing game and the Daxter spin-off . They had a good idea of adding ariel combat and bigger stage story, however it came out too late in the Playstation 2’s lifecycle and got very little exposure. And this game came out in 2009! Three years after the Playstation 3 had come out. If they wanted this series to still stand chance they should have shifted focus to putting it on the next-gen console. Although its possible Sucker Punch wasn’t enthusiastic for the series to continue, as they were more focused on the Uncharted series, they gave the Lost Frontier over to High Impact Games. A few people in Sucker Punch wished they gave Jak a better send-off than he got, and I don’t blame them. The game felt like a half effort with minimal stakes in the story and not enough interesting in the gameplay to keep the dusty formula relevant again.

However, I have hope that one day we may see Jak and his snarky side-kick once again.

Image Source: Tumblr.com

Rare Games that Don’t Suck: GameCube Edition

June 4, 2016 dan Articles

Many things can make a game rare, but it’s usually something along the lines of limited quantities, exclusivity, a specific print of a game, or simply being so well-loved that anytime one comes on the market, there’s a few dozen people who want to own a physical copy of one of their favorite games. Despite that, reasons like limited quantities and exclusivity tend to be the bigger things that make a game rare, and because of that, a lot of rare games don’t tend to not actually be too good for their price. The Flintstones: Surprise at Dinosaur Peak on NES, for instance, isn’t anything special. In fact, for the time it came out, it’s painfully average. And yet, because it was just such an exclusively released game, it’s slipped through the grasps of many collectors, and is now worth around $1000 if it’s in good enough condition. This game, though, is only one of many examples of games all across systems that are just not worth the price their rarity is asking for. This got me to thinking about which games are actually worth that rare price that people might actually enjoy as a game rather than just as a collector’s item. Today, we’re going to be talking about the games on one of my personal favorite systems of all time, the Nintendo GameCube.

The first game we’re gonna’ be talking about is the fantastic Skies of Arcadia: Legends, a remake of Skies of Arcadia on the Dreamcast. Chances are you’ve heard of this one, because it’s received very high critical acclaim all around the board (32/40 from Famitsu, 9.2/10 from GameSpot, 9/10 from GameInformer), and consistently mentioned when people talk about the GameCube. Skies of Arcadia: Legends is a simple story about a group of sky pirates. Yes, sky pirates, and it’s just as awesome as you think it is. Sadly, neither the original Dreamcast version nor the Gamecube version sold well, and have become very hard to find because of it. I lucked out and found mine for $15 at a Gamestop, only to find out a few years later that this game is going for $75 on average for a good copy.

Image courtesy of GameTBD

Image courtesy of GameTDB

The story is fairly simple, but not in a bad way. It’s the standard “evil group of people are trying to collect magic items to rule the world and our heroes must stop them” storyline, but what it lacks in how unique its concept is, it makes up for with good, engaging writing, characters who are loveable from the moment you meet them, and just the right amount of self-awareness. It has a lot of fun with itself and it encourages the player to have just as much fun as its having, if that makes any sense. You’re going to get your standard RPG gameplay here with random encounters, shops everywhere, elemental alignments, and all of that good stuff. While none of it brings anything new to the table mechanically, it’s done incredibly well. What it does bring that’s super cool, though, are airship battles. Keep in mind when I say airship, I mean that they are literally pirate ships that are flying instead of on water. You can build up your ship’s weaponry to fight other ships in a style that has you plan out your actions before hand, and then watch them happen. It leaves the standard RPG formula for these battles and instead goes into some weird turn-based strategy game. And these breaks from regular gameplay aren’t jarring in the least; they fit very well in the game. On top of this, you have a lot of sidequests, the bounty system, and new discoveries, most of which is not found in the Dreamcast version. Couple this with great graphics for its time and a pretty good soundtrack, and you’ve got yourself a game that shows that you don’t have to do anything out of the ordinary to be impressive. It doesn’t try to be unique, it takes what it has and makes it the best it can be.

Up next, we have Gotcha Force, from none other than Capcom themselves. This game is rare for a similar reason to Skies of Arcadia: Legends, but with one thing making it even more rare and expensive. See, instead of being a critically acclaimed game that didn’t sell well, Gotcha Force is a game that got a lot of mixed reviews that sold pretty badly, but retains a devoted cult following, one of them being me (though again, I lucked out and found this for like $30 at a Gamestop). The average reviews for this game were between 5-7/10, but when asking its following, they’ll say it’s one of the best games on the GameCube. For a complete used copy of Gotcha Force, you’re looking at a staggering $150 – $170 price tag.

Image courtesy of GameTBD

Image courtesy of GameTDB

Gotcha Force is an action game focused around collecting toys to do battle. You’re put into an arena, which is normally just a regular park or a kid’s room, to fight other small toys with swords and laser beams in a style somewhat similar to the Armored Core games. You can compose a team of toys, called Gotcha Borgs. The Gotcha Borgs are pretty much if the Transformers in the show were the size of their real-life toys. Gotcha Borgs are separated into different types, and each have different stats, and having good team synergy is key to beating this game, because it’s hard. Very hard. Half because of its awful camera, half because of the actual difficulty. Content wise, this game is pretty long, with a story that will last around 10 hours, probably more of you’re as bad as I am, and if you want to complete everything in this game, you’re gonna need to dump in at least twice that. There are so many Gotcha Borgs to collect that just trying to find them all is going to run you a few more hours, and you may have to look for more just to complete the story if you see yourself getting beaten by a particular enemy a lot. It’s got some of the most fun multiplayer you’ll ever play, just because of how fast-paced and crazy the screen gets with four people going all over the place trying to kill each other. This game is great for parties. You know, if you don’t mind leaving your $150 game out for people to constantly play. Graphically, it’s a pretty nice-looking game. The Gotcha Borgs are well designed, and for a game with so many, they do a really good job at making sure they look unique from one another. Musically… Ehhhh. Not good, not bad. Gotcha Force is a game that’s really good if you just want to sit down for a few hours and have some fun, fast-paced shooting action while still looking at cute things and cool robots.

Now, we’re going to talk about the rarest and most expensive game on here, and one that has a very fun story to go with it as well: Cubivore: Survival of the Fittest. Cubivore was originally released in Japan as Animal Leader, and upon receiving mixed reception and bad sales, Nintendo decided to not bring it over to the west. Then, after hearing that, Atlus came along and decided to give it a North American release. A very limited North American release. Combine that with the fact that even in comparison to the limited release, this game didn’t sell very well over here and still had mixed reception, and you’ve got a recipe for a rarity. A complete used copy of Cubivore will run you between $175 – $220 depending on the condition. Yes, you read that right. $175 – $220. For a game about cubes eating each other.

Image courtesy of GameTDB

Image courtesy of GameTDB

Funny story about how I got my copy of Cubivore. Back when I was in middle school, my friend needed to sell some games for some money, and just didn’t know what he had. Granted, I didn’t either because I was like 12, but point is, I bought this $175 game for $10 because neither of us knew about it.

Either way, Cubivore is… Weird. Is it an adventure game? Survival? RPG? You can’t really tell. You’re a cube who eats other cubes to evolve into a bigger and stronger cube in order to eventually become the biggest, baddest cube in all the land. You’re trying to become this better cube not just live better and longer, but to overthrow the Killer Cubivore, who reigns over the top of the food chain and who has eaten the essence of the land along with his allies, causing the land to dry up. If you can overthrow the Killer Cubivore and become king, you can restore the land to what it once was. You evolve by literally eating other cubes and absorbing their forms. But not in a cute Kirby kind of way where he sucks ’em up and then poof, new form. No, this is actually quite violent. You bite into the other cube, shake them around, and then literally rip their limbs off with your teeth. You then get a new limb, or a different limb. Each set of bodies/limbs functions differently, which means you have to change your approach when hunting. You progress by eating enemies and bugs, which bring color back to the land. And, well, yeah. That’s it. The main story takes about 12 hours to complete, but the game takes a lot of getting used to, since it’s so weird. So it’ll probably take you a bit longer. Cubivore is slow, but pretty fun. And it’s definitely one of the most unique experiences on the gamecube. All for the low, low price of $175. Oh, and one more thing. This game was developed by Intelligent Systems. You know, the team behind every Fire Emblem game.

SPEAKING OF FIRE EMBLEM!

Image courtesy of GameTDB

Image courtesy of GameTDB

I’m not going to go into too much detail on this one, because so many people already know how great it is and how rare it is, but it’s something that has to be talked about. Path of Radiance is the other fan-favorite Fire Emblem game after Awakening, and it goes for around $100 used. Its incredible story (that is continued in Radiant Dawn which is an equally rare and expensive game on the Wii) and loveable characters make its more-dialogue-than-gameplay style very enjoyable, and the gameplay itself is very good. Path of Radiance is one of the harder Fire Emblem games, and it shows. It forces you to be very tactful in your decisions, and is not a game that you can brute force your way through. Great looks, great soundtrack, great everything, really. Fire Emblem: Path of Radiance is a strategy game that you’re gonna want to pay the money to play.

Just remember, if you have some extra cash, don’t do the smart thing and buy something that will help you in the long run, spend it on a stupidly expensive video game, because that’s what money is for.

Let’s Talk – What’s the Difference?

June 4, 2016 Deanna Blog

Most people don’t play video games specifically for the violence. Or, if they do, I haven’t met them… nor do I want to. Growing up, I heard the authority figures in my life talk about how video games are making kids violent, and that every time there was a news story about a kid going rogue, it was because he played video games.

Much to my parents’ dismay, I took a liking to ’em. I discovered that while there are always rumors about video games making kids violent, and at this point I’m convinced there always will be. And for the most part, that’s what they are– rumors. A vast majority of gamers I’ve met are, without falling in to cliché here, nice people. While the majority of gamers are fine, you always run into those that like to spite people for fun. You know, like people who unabashedly support Donald Trump because of his stances on non-white Americans and women.

The Hatred logo. Looks like a parody of DOOM, perhaps?

This is where a game called Hatred comes in. (Image from Wikipedia)

Right at the beginning of the summer last year, Destructive Creations released Hatred, and it was instantly disapproved of as a whole. I mean, the backlash was wild. Twitch.TV banned anyone from streaming the game in a matter of days, and it even caused them to rework the guidelines on what users can broadcast on their site.

Basically, the game boils down to the fact that you, as The Antagonist, need to kill people. The Antagonist is even quoted as saying this in the announcement trailer for the game, which was released in October of the previous year:

My name is not important… What is important is what I’m going to do. I just fucking hate this world and the human worms feasting on its carcass. My whole life is just cold, bitter hatred… and I always wanted to die violently. This is the time of vengeance and no life is worth saving. And I will put in the grave as many as I can. It’s time for me to kill… and it’s time for me to die. My genocide crusade begins here.
(via Polygon)

First of all, The Antagonist doesn’t care for his life or the life of anyone else. He’s got a death wish and his main goal is to fulfill it, no matter the cost. This leads to a rampage across New York City, in which he decimates innocents and criminals alike.

If you’re like anyone else with a conscience, this is irritating. Some developer decided to give gamers a game they really wanted, where the main character is just as violent as they want to be, or that’s what it seems. It seems like Hatred is a game based on rumors that got too out of hand, and maybe now they actually have some claim. Of course, there’s always gonna be that kid who wants to steal a car because that’s what they saw in GTA. Then again, they’re kids and their parents should really have better discretion about their media consumption, but I digress.

Here’s an example of violence in a game done so, so right. (Image via Youtube)

Here’s where DOOM comes in. The fourth installment in Bethesda’s Doom series, I can’t say it’s ponies and rainbows compared to other games, but it is indeed a violent game. And I can’t help but feel that it takes the violence angle and does it right. You, as Doom Guy, have a mission to protect your home, which happens to be Hell. It’s been used for energy and gain by the human race, and you’re a demon who’s gonna put an end to that.

But really, what’s the difference between DOOM and Hatred? They’re both games where the main character rampages across the setting. You have a clear mission in both games. But when you pull back from the oversimplified facts, the difference really lies in the message behind the games.

Hatred is a game that was made in response to all the “political correctness” that many gamers feel has infiltrated the market. Simply put, people want to see themselves in games, as diverse and expansive as they are. There’s nothing wrong with that. What I’d assume that the devs of Hatred took that to mean was that every so-called special snowflake wanted their specific self in a game, and thought that slaughtering the masses in a fictional New York City was an appropriate response.

What’s up with that? (Image via MediaMath.com)

DOOM is a game that has rage and anger at its center, but because humans on Mars have ravaged hell for its energy and thus, provoked the wrath of hell itself. It’s your typical video game plot about a bunch of bad guys stealing artifacts from the good guys and using them to their own personal gain.

When you look at it objectively, both games are about shooting something in the face until it’s really dead. But the fact that Bethesda took the time to at least continue their franchise and put some other meaning behind the whole thing rather than just taking their frustrations out on people wanting to see more faces than white guy with brown hair and stubble in games means that there’s a lot to be said about the culture that allowed Hatred to become a fully-realized game.

A studio, who had experience with the industry in the past, allowed some of their devs, designers, and marketing people to sit down at a formal, professional meeting and listen to someone pitch this idea. This idea was then approved, and actual real life money was put into making it. It went through the normal steps of getting published through Steam, and albeit without a big publisher, this game made it to the public eye. And for what? Is this really the impression of gamers that Destructive Creations wants to give off: violent, homicidal dudes with a death wish?

Gaming’s Undervalued Treasures: Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles III: The Manhattan Project

June 4, 2016 colin Articles
The cover art was done by longtime TMNT comics artist, Michael Dooney. Image courtesy of Hardcore Gaming 101.

The cover art was done by longtime TMNT comics artist, Michael Dooney. Image courtesy of Hardcore Gaming 101.

The Manhattan Project is one of the last great NES games

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles III: The Manhattan Project is arguably the best TMNT game on the NES. The less said about the first game the better and its sequel, the Arcade Game, is a mediocre port of an otherwise memorable game.

GUT TMNT 3 1

Image courtesy of uvlist.net.

Which is a shame, since the game came out when Nintendo and Konami were starting to strictly focus on the SNES and was unintentionally swept under the rug.

A gem in the long line of Ninja Turtle video games
The Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles are a massive franchise that, despite being incredibly silly and starting out as a parody of overly violent comics of the 80s, has stood the test of time. The heroes in a half shell have been adapted into children’s cartoons, critically acclaimed comics and have had more than a few major motion pictures made about them.

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles is also a franchise that has naturally branched out into video games. The colorful universe lends itself quite well to the world of gaming and Leonardo, Michelangelo, Raphael and Donatello have been treated fantastic in regards to other comic book characters.

TMNT games are more consistent than most give them credit for. Fans often point to the classic arcade game released in the late 80s or or the SNES version of Turtles in Time. However, the Manhattan Project deserves to be up there with some of the best games adapted from the franchise. The Manhattan Project also pushes the NES to the limits and really shows off what the system was capable of doing, even on its last legs.

TMNT goes out with a bang on the NES
The Manhattan Project features something that the more well-known TMNT games do not have. A unique intro. The four turtles are relaxing in Florida but instead of hanging out, the Shredder is making New York City into a floating island. Shredder hijacks one of April’s newscasts and taunts the turtles to stop him. This is done impressively for the time, in an extensive opening cutscene.

GUT TMNT 3 9

Bummer indeed, Michelangelo. Image courtesy of Azn Badger’s Blog.

In fact, something about the entirety of this adventure feels original. The Manhattan Project is not previously based on any arcade game, which gave the team at Konami more leeway with the creativity of the game and they weren’t afraid to take a few liberties with the license as well.

Instead of the streets of NYC or arriving in some sort of building, players are immediately greeted with vivid colors of the beaches in Florida. The turtles fight the Foot Clan in all kinds of unique environments and the game even does the surfing level before Turtles in Time and is far more challenging in this game. Players will see how much Konami is pushing the NES to its absolute limits. In 1991, the NES was being phased out, but the team still wanted to showcase the power behind the system.

The graphics are on par with some of the best, more vibrant looking NES games. The animation is good too, with each turtle having their own idle animation. Raphael flips around his sai, for example. It’s a small touch, but adds more of the personality of the franchise which is always key for any TMNT adaptation.

The Manhattan Project is also showing off the NES’ sound quality as well. The music is also 100% original, aside from the always classic TMNT theme song which plays in the intro. It is also insanely catchy, and probably the best soundtrack out of any TMNT video game.

Gameplay wise, it is the same setup at the arcade game, but feels tailor made for the NES. Of course two player mode is in the game. Beat ‘em ups weren’t the NES’ forte, but its games like The Manhattan Project that will definitely make the console appear to be adept at the genre. Hit detection is much better than in the arcade game port for the NES, and aside from the obvious flicker and slow down (this is the NES after all) the gameplay remains consistently solid throughout.

Fighting the Foot Clan in Florida!

Fighting the Foot Clan in Florida! Image courtesy of 8bit.com.

The Manhattan Project contains a feature other TMNT games did not have at the time. Each turtle has his own unique special move. This can be done fighting game style, by pushing buttons in a certain order with the correct directional controls. Leonardo can spin brandishing his katanas, Donatallo has an overhead whacking technique, Raphael has a drill move with both of his sais and Michelangelo will do this bizarre hopping technique. Turtles in Time has the spinning move, but for all the turtles as a power up.

GUT TMNT 3 5

Gaming in a half shell
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles III: The Manhattan Project is one of gaming’s undervalued treasures and one that can be considered the definitive TMNT video game. The game’s lively and animated graphics show off the power of the NES and the polished and highly addictive gameplay will keep fans coming back with their favorite turtle to stop the Shredder. Most importantly, the game feels more original than most Ninja Turtle games and creativity is ideal for anything related to the ‘Turtles.

The Return | Ep.15

June 3, 2016 The Lifecast Podcast, The Lifecast

Welcome back, guys! It’s good to be back.

We’ve recorded a new episode this week, and we’re broadening our horizons. The Lifecast is now a fully-fledged video game talk show podcast and website.

This week we get right back into our roots with discussion about Overwatch and the various communities that have cropped up surrounding it, the incredibly Mighty No. 9, and No Man’s Sky.

After that, we introduce a new segment, email time! It’s not a new concept but it’s new to this podcast. Since we didn’t get any questions in by email, we stole some from a tumblr ask meme. If you have questions, shoot them to contact@thelifecast.net, or the email we specified in the podcast.

We’ll be back next week with more!

Twitter | Facebook | Website

 

Host/Producer – Deanna Minasian

Guests – Dan Silvia, Greg Fernandes, and Adam Osmani

Intro and Outro – Fluffing a Duck by Kevin Macleod

Podcast (lifecast): Play in new window | Download

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Resident Evil Will Be the “Final Chapter” For An Era of Game Movies

June 2, 2016 Ricky Articles

Next year the Resident Evil movies finally come to an end with “Resident Evil: The Final Chapter”, and with it, hopefully the end of horrible game adaptations.

It’s amazing that the series has been going on so long. Critics hate it. Fans hate it. But yet its still continuing as a series. Why? The reason is that most of its revenue is coming in from foreign markets, which more than double what’s being made from its showings in North America. However, now thats its over, the brand will end and so will the foreign market’s interest in this kind of movie. Because when you think about it, these kind of movies aren’t really made anymore.

Hitman tried its hand at a movie once more last year, but its critical reception and abysmal box office have shown a difference in the era of game movies. Image source: Foxmovies.com

With the power of the internet, movies are now swapped and changed much more than in the 90’s. Back then, studios would make video game movies and gave little attention to the source material during production. Now? Studios are coming under fire because they didn’t get the original Sly Cooper to voice the character in his upcoming CGI movie. Series fans seem to hold more power than ever, if really because they are a good amount of the demographic the movie is aimed at. The keyword may not essentially be good, but faithful. That is what’s getting people to give it a shot.

Resident Evil tried way too late to be faithful to the original games’s designs. Although credit where credit is due, their version of Wesker is beautifully over the top. Image source: comicvine.gamespot.com

People don’t want to see Mario and Luigi in an apocalyptic alternate dimension with little references to the game, they want to see Mario and Luigi as they are in the games. The movie Warcraft coming out has designs for the orcs that are nearly pitch perfect to how they are presented in the game. Studios know that they can’t do whatever they want with a license, they have to research it, respect it, and be close enough for the fans to recognize it as a faithful adaptation of what they love. The Resident Evil movies changed almost everything about the story but key character names and certain monsters. Nowadays, that won’t cut it anymore.

While not the best movie, Ratchet and Clank was far more faithful to its source material than nearly every other video game movie to date, with the much of the game’s voice cast, designs, and comedy all present. Image Source: Comicsbeat.com

The Resident Evil movies have seemed to beat expectations and continue on its ludicrous and nonsensical storyline that has managed to jump the shark more than a low-rent Vegas stuntman. However, as it finishes, it brings hope that video game movies can start to be what people always wanted them to be. Effort is now at the forefront of making these movies, as the Assassin’s Creed  and Sly Cooper seem to have gained a lot of attention, so hopefully Hollywood won’t disappoint.

Whether it be good or bad, this movie has Michael Fassbender. What more do you need? Image Source: Screenrant.com

 

 

The Importance of Villains in the Fighting Game Community

May 31, 2016 dan Articles

What is a villain? Well, when you think of a villain, you think of this antagonist who’s bigger and better than the hero. Evil intentions, scary, and just genuinely bad people, right? Villains in the fighting game community (or FGC) aren’t as over-dramatic as that, but still are a cause for a lot of tension and drama in their respective communities. That said, even though these villains cause a lot of drama, they’re a good thing to their communities. Be it through a persona they made for the sake of a good show, or if it’s just how they naturally are, villains generate hype, get the crowd invested, and make the mood of whatever it is they’re competing at much more intense, all by providing someone for the audience to root against.

Villains are a special breed of competitive player. They retain the skill and consistency to compete with the strongest players in the world, while also following up this skill with as much disrespect as possible. This can range anywhere from trash talk, to showboating, to really anything, so long as whatever is done contains major disrespect towards individuals, or the community.

Normally, the reaction to these kinds of people is disdainful, as it should be. They’re going out of their way to be disrespectful to others; of course they’re going to make people react negatively. This kind of behavior is generally known to be toxic, and when done by a regular member of the community, it is. But, when it’s done by the proper person, it changes from complete toxicity into nothing but hype building, and when it comes to the FGC, hype is the backbone of the community. Building hype increases player and audience investment, overall showmanship in major tournaments, and more. Villains generating hype through this kind of disrespect create a consistency that is otherwise not there.

But how does being so disrespectful generate hype? Quite simple, actually. Like I said, villains give the audience someone to root against. People don’t like seeing villains win, because they’re not nice people. So when a villain is up against someone who can compete against them and potentially take them down, that match will get the audience ridiculously invested, and the reaction to everything happen will be even greater than it would have been if it were between two other players.

This heavy focus on who wins the match makes it more exciting, and both outcomes help to make the community more invested in the game. If the non-villain wins, then the crowd goes crazy because they saw the villain get taken down. If the villain wins, the initial negative reaction to the crowd will eventually go towards an even better positive reaction when the villain finally does lose. Something big happened a few months ago with Ultimate Marvel Vs. Capcom 3 villain Ryan “Filipino Champ” Ramirez at Winter Brawl X. He had a match against Ultimate Marvel Vs. Capcom 3 EVO champion Kane BlueRiver, and FChamp, also being an EVO champion in the same game before Kane BlueRiver, starts taunting him after every win. Yelling at him, talking down to him. Making it known that he is the best, and there’s nothing that can be done about it:

Video courtesy of Youtube user BasedMonster

Listen to the crowd when he taunts Kane BlueRiver. Listen to the crowd when he screams “THIS IS MY GAME!” Listen to the crowd every time he antagonizes Kane BlueRiver. He’s making the audience gain so much energy, making them get hyped up for this match, for the chance to see Kane BlueRiver destroy FChamp after being taunted. On top of making the crowd so invested in the game, his antics add flare to an otherwise regular exhibition match, which makes the event as a whole a much more entertaining show. This is the kind of impact a really good villain can give a competitive scene.

And it’s not just traditional fighting games where this happens either. Without a doubt the most notorious villain in the FGC is the incredibly talented Super Smash Bros. Melee player, Leffen. As much as FChamp has in his showboating game, and how much he taunts people while playing, there is nobody in the FGC who can compete with the sheer amount of trash talk that Leffen spits out.

Video courtesy of Youtube user Levoki

Leffen is a fantastic player, knows it, and isn’t afraid to say that he is. He generates hype in a different way than FChamp does. When FChamp does it, while he does trash talk outside of games, he does it in the moment more than prior to or after a match. Leffen will seemingly talk smack about anyone when given the opportunity. The sheer amount of trash talk Leffen speaks makes him a top contender for the “I really want to punch this dude in the mouth” contest. This whole situation between Leffen and Chillindude was started over Leffen trash talking him on Twitter, which Then ended up being a huge event at Apex 2015, where Leffen won. Leffen’s victory caused two reactions with the crowd: them freaking out because they liked Leffen, and he won, or people freaking out because they hate Leffen, and they’re mad he won. Either way, due to Leffen’s disrespect, he was able to make the huge crowd get involved in the match, and be the cause of what is probably one of the most well-known matches in Melee.

Without these villains to put into the mix, all we would have in the FGC are a bunch of really good players who all just kinda show up and play. The conflict and drama these people add to the formula provides a great show for the audience. Being a villain that is capable of generating so much energy within both the audience and community is a talent in and of itself. It takes a lot of devotion to the game and the community to be perfectly fine with being viewed as “that guy” for the sake of the game, and these villains need to be shown a bit more appreciation for what they contribute to this great community of hype.

Grave Digging: The Nerf Mentality of Warframe’s Update 18.13

May 31, 2016 Deanna Articles

I’ve been playing Warframe off and on for about a year, now. When I’m into it, I could spend several hours a day claiming rewards, leveling gear, and maintaining this monstrous undertaking of a game and not think anything of it. When I’m not into it, it’s a chore to open the game and get closer to that ever-elusive login reward.

Update 18.13 happened in one of my off bouts. Relatively cut off from the community and what exactly was happening with the update, I checked my Twitter feed one morning and was met with this.

Now, the Viver nerf was before my time. I remember just getting into the game and watching a video from Mogamu, a popular Warframe YouTuber, much like Quiette Shy, talk about the fact that “there will always be a Viver“. For some background, Viver is a map on the planet of Eris where players would group up, infiltrate a ship, and destroy infested hives to complete the mission. From what I understand, a certain team setup would yield immense amounts of experience and allow players to level their equipment quickly and efficiently.

While I agree that devs should balance their game to minimize the need for power-leveling, I also advocate for power-leveling in Warframe’s case. To be considered adequate for high-level play, you need a full arsenal of mods, better-than-decent weapons, and a fleshed-out build for your warframe that maximizes your participation in the team. Luckily another map, Draco, was found to be the next-best place for power levelling.

That being said, maps like Draco and Viver become vital to long-time players looking to throw themselves into the hardest endless survival missions they can find. They don’t want to spend an excess amount of time leveling gear and frames, they want to challenge the game with all they’ve got. These long missions are sought after due to Warframe’s issues with enemy scaling. After a certain amount of time, enemy levels ramp up quickly, and after a while, their levels start glitching out. As seen below, a five-hour survival mission in the games highest endless survival brings on enemies over level 3000.

Update 18.13 brought some changes to certain frames. Some received passive abilities if they didn’t have them beforehand. Other frames were tweaked to improve their performance and make it so that the powers, based on the theme of the frame, had more synergy. One frame, Mesa, the so-called gunslinger, received a buff to her abilities. Her ultimate ability, which had been nerfed late in 2015 to remove its horrendously AFK-enabling auto aim, scales with secondary weapon damage, as many people called for prior to the update, to name one positive change.

As for other frames, such as Mag, a magnetic-based frame, Trinity, the dedicated healer, and Valkyr, the berserker, had no such luck. The aim was to make the frames more balanced, but instead, as was the case with Mag and, in my opinion, Trinity, they have been made relatively unusable.

Valkyr’s ultimate ability granted her invulnerability for as long as a player’s energy pool would sustain it. Now, not only does this ability eat more energy per second it is activate, but also deals a percentage of the damage Valkyr would have taken back to her after the ability is dispelled if she is standing near any enemies. This is one nerf that I’m fairly content with. It removes the “press 4 to win” mentality that Valkyr carried, similarly to Mesa. I see both of these as improvements: they open up different options for builds per frame.

However, Mag, who once dominated a specific enemy faction in combat with her Shield Polarize ability, no longer has the one-button area of effect (AOE) ability that players essentially relied on after her previous nerfs. Trinity’s heal ability no longer targets all players across the map, but limits its range to 50 meters, in game. To me, this diminishes her as an asset to the team, but could give her additional survivability on her own.

Since the nerfs came at a time when I haven’t been too involved in Warframe, I’m in the process of giving both Mag and Trinity their dues. While I’ve picked it back up over the last few days to tweak builds and see how they actually perform, I’m not optimistic for the future of the game overall. The scaling issue has been around for a long time, and while Digital Extremes (DE) promises that it’ll be fixed Soon™, I’m beginning to wonder if they’ll just leave it as-is and let players have at it.

There is a responsibility for devs to make their game balanced, as I stated earlier, but punishing players for making the most of unpopular frames, at least in Mag’s case, doesn’t feel right. I’ll come out and say it now, I’m very biased. Mag was the frame I started with. The fact that I had a certain mod for one of her abilities gave me an edge in starting out, and I was able to overcome the learning curve by being included in higher level missions because of it.

One of Mag Prime’s last promotional images. (Via Warframe.com)

Bias aside, it’s unfortunate to see Warframe suffer so many nerfs in such a short period of time. These sudden changes not only confuse the player base and make it harder for players to challenge themselves, but it also gives the impression that DE really doesn’t care about their community. It seems to me that DE wants Warframe to be played a certain way, and if the player base isn’t playing the game the way they want it, their solution is to force players to do so, but not by editing their game’s core mechanics. Instead, the logical thing to do is to make the frames less powerful and hope that we’ll just get the message, right?

Fallout 4 Far Harbor Review: Far From Home

May 30, 2016 Adam Reviews

*This is a review of the PS4 version of Far Harbor and I cannot speak for the performance issues on PC*

 

Far Harbor is Bethesda’s first meaty expansion for the underwhelming Fallout 4, they had some additions like Automatron and Wasteland Workshop, but this is the expansion that everyone was looking forward to.

Taking place on Bethesda’s representation of the Coast of Maine, Far Harbor starts you right where you left off the last time you played Fallout. Unfortunately for myself, the last time I actually played Fallout before this was back in December so it ended up being a little jarring trying to remember where the hell everything is. Much to my surprise, I forgot I managed to piss off every faction and was immediately being shot at upon loading the save.

After I handled all of that, I started the expansion. You arrive at Valentine’s office and quickly learn that a girl named Kasumi Nakano is missing and you have been hired to go find out where she is. You go look for evidence around the house, and this is when I was immediately reminded that I was still playing Fallout 4.

After finding out she went to a place called Far Harbor, you follow suit and go find out what’s really going on. Upon arrival, you’re greeted by one of the new factions called the Harbormen. The introductions are quick as you’re thrown into a fight with creatures that come from the Fog. The dreaded, dreaded fog.  And with an otherwise very interesting introduction, this is also the first time you realize how much of a problem the fog is going to be. It’s not because the enemies are tough or anything, but because the frame rate drops substantially whenever you’re fighting anything in the fog. Unfortunately for the players, the entire island is covered in this fog and this makes traversal through the island almost unbearable. Which is a shame, because I really like the aesthetic of the island. It presents itself as very eerie and mysterious. Throw in some abandoned ships and sea creatures and I’ll be bound to enjoy the look.

In between meeting these factions, you get an important quest that the Children of Atom have useful information and you need to go get it. Once you get to the computer that has what you need, it sends you to this virtual world and you find out that there’s puzzles separating you from potentially having fun again. On PS4, this area runs like crap and the puzzles aren’t fun whatsoever. It’s basically just horrible filler that made me angrier at the game just for including it. It almost felt like the game was wasting my time. Just take a look for yourself.

Source: HarryNinteyFour

The other two factions you meet along the way are The Children of Atom, who are nuclear energy addicted crazy people with no real relevance to the storyline and Arcadia, who are a group of Synths. Most of the important quests are linked to Arcadia as DiMA, the lead synth is the character you’re dealing with a lot of the time. None of the newly introduced characters are necessarily interesting either, most of them are one track minded and don’t add anything to the story other than “I’m a synth and synths are great” or “I’m not a synth and I hate synths” until much, much later in the expansion.

However, every character in this expansion seems to have two things in common. One being, their hatred of the fog and the other being how much the Children of Atom suck. The game doesn’t do much to sway your opinion from this and it ultimately ends up with the player not necessarily caring about what happens to them. *HEAVY SPOILERS, SKIP A FEW SENTENCES AHEAD IF YOU DON’T WANT TO BE SPOLIED* Which is why I ended up blowing them up to smithereens the second I had the chance to. Right when I was almost finished with the game they give me this decision, so I finished all of my side quests with them and quite literally, blew them to the wind. Now, the really unfortunate thing about this is that there’s no repercussions for this decision whatsoever other than one line of dialogue. When I went back to Far Harbor, it went a little like this. The leader said my decision to do this was unbearable and wasn’t justified. That conversation ended and I started another one with the same character. She then began to praise me for all of the fantastic work I had done for them so far. It was a very polarizing minute and a half.

Since this is probably the last time I’ll be playing Fallout, there was nothing keeping me from doing whatever horrible actions I wanted to do. I feel like now, more than ever the game needed consequences for your actions but I literally eradicated an entire faction for no good reason other than wondering what could happen. *SPOILERS OVER* The finality of this expansion was something I think worked against it substantially. Even if they plan on making more expansions, which they do, they make this whole expansion feel like one last trip back to the wasteland.

Source: Kotaku Australia

Source: Kotaku Australia

The expansion ends on a high note and actually wraps the character arcs up a lot better than I was anticipating. However, they don’t necessarily give you any reason to go back to the island. It ends with you leaving in the boat that you came in with and I think it ends like this for a few reasons. One, so they can load in a whole new island because the game already runs like crap without the added island to it. And the other being because it thematically fits. I ended up finishing all of the side quests before I saw the ending and it felt like that was the way to play this properly. By the end of it I had a good sense of accomplishment in my pocket and the way it ends gave me a sense of relief. Unless you care about settlement building or want to find secrets, there’s no reason to go back after you finish the main & side quests which took me roughly 12ish hours give or take.

Paragon: Another MOBA Comin’ to Town

May 30, 2016 Tiffany Articles

For the past few years, Multiplayer Online Battle Arenas (MOBA) have become increasingly popular. With League of Legends and DOTA 2 being at the top spot in terms of popularity, SMITE and Heroes of the Storm are starting to make their mark. Paragon is currently in Beta and I managed to gain some in-game experience from the first Free Beta Weekend. I personally hate fighting against AI, but that was my majority experience due to my “ability to wait”. Each individual playing the Beta had already received an invite via email, so the chances of experiencing a full lobby of players are kinda slim. (Insert sad face here)

The game will be a PC and PS4 exclusive.

Epic Games

This company is behind the scene’s of the well-known Gears of War series, which is one of the most graphically amazing games of our time! I’m more than confident that Epic Games will make this game beyond worthwhile. I also want to make it crystal clear that Epic Games truly impressed me. Why? They are pouring in effort and addressing problems to make the MOBA community a better place.

Graphics

Oh, my lord.. The graphics… The all-mighty gods of the gaming world have answered our prayers! *As you read this article, you begin to faintly hear “Hallelujah” in the background* Every visual aspect of Paragon is ABSOLUTELY PHENOMENAL. I consider myself very picky when it comes to graphics, but oh man.. I cannot point out a single flaw about the game’s appearance– the up-close look at heroes, detailed minions/mobs, the eye-opening scenery of the battleground, the clean design of the game lobby. Just see for yourself!

What you see when you spawn in a match (Screenshot by me)

What you see when you spawn in a match (Screenshot by me)

I took a screenshot in spectator mode

Screenshot taken in spectator mode, which is why the teams are displayed

How could you deny such pleasure from seeing these screenshots?! (Or maybe it’s just me)

Heroes

So far, there are 16 playable heroes and I’m certain more will be added throughout their release. After playing multiple MOBAs, it would be cliché and obvious to call the heroes “unique” because each MOBA has its own set of different heroes. They wouldn’t be different characters if they were all similar. However, there seems to be is no lore for the heroes! It was worth mentioning because everyone knows the character’s lore is “important” in a MOBA, right? lol

One of the unique Heroes in Paragon

One of the heroes, Muriel, available to play in Paragon

To view more information about the heroes, click here.                                                           or here! Decide your path 😀

Gameplay

What I enjoy about this MOBA is the incorporation of the elevated surfaces. The map isn’t one flat area with walls, comparable to a maze. Paragon has a third-person POV, so you are actually IN the action. It is similar to SMITE‘s camera view, but I find the gameplay more intense. The heroes’ skills may be a factor, to be honest. The skill effects, overall, make it look like you’re in a movie but without the cinematic angles. On top of that, the music adds that epic, desire-to-win vibe. Getting into the actual gameplay, it felt slow-paced although it took the average amount of time to finish a game. After waiting a long time to successfully experience a Player vs Player match, the match ended in 42 minutes.

Not only that, but the health/mana potions refill (3 charges) every time the player is back at base. I find it neat because you don’t need to constantly invest your money on pots! Also, unlike League of Legends, creep score (last hitting minions for more money) is not important. All you need to do is walk over orange orbs obtained by fallen nearby minions! Since today is Memorial day, I’d like to take a moment to remember the minions who served for our team. (I’ve always felt bad for minions. They blindly fight to death for people who don’t care about them!)

Players can also collect various cards to form decks and further use in game, which is awesome sauce!

There are many cards to collect and use

There are many cards to collect and use

These are some of the ones I’ve collected so far. As of today, there are a total of 259 cards sectioned off into categories: Order, Intellect, Corruption, Fury, Growth, Universal. Builds are already being formed and tested as we (technically I) speak!