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Overwatch Toxicity and You

August 8, 2017 Sydney Articles

There is really no need to ever get mad at a game.  Okay, correction, there is usually no need to get mad at a game.  Frustrating things happen, you get titled, a certain player isn’t pulling their weight, you’ve been put in a lobby with a dreaded thrower… I’m looking at you Overwatch.  You?  Yes, you.

I really enjoy playing Overwatch, like a lot- not like it was one of the only games I owned on my PC or anything, but I really like it.  It’s just cool to be a part of the team, and know that victory is only possible if everyone works together.  Unfortunately, that’s the dream, and not always the reality.

In truth, Overwatch is at times an extremely toxic environment.  It is ripe with anger, hostility, irrational thinking, and people who are so quick to pit the blame on their teammates.  It’s not fun being on the receiving end of these comments or just being a bystander to it all.  It sucks and it’s just not fun.

Most people play games to get away from it all, to just relax and wind down after a long day.  Unless your career is Overwatch, then I guess you just play for a living.  Truth be told though, the majority of people are not playing Overwatch for a career, most people are in the huge percentage of people who just play for fun, enjoying a bit of competitive play every once in a while, but then that’s the part most people seem to forget; the whole “fun” aspect.

There’s just no need to get so mad about something so small in the grand scheme of things.  It’s not your job to play Overwatch, so why waste energy getting mad at something you have no control over.

I don’t have the best internet in the world (there’s a reason I don’t host the streams on the Lifecast), so I know I’m not alone when a ping spike can ruin your good time.  It’s tilting, but I find too often that everyone else is madder at my inability to play than I am at my internet.

In the past, I’ve always ignored the onslaught of insults I have gotten from picking a certain hero, or from my inability to properly play because of my connection, or even just from not playing terribly great for any number of reasons.  It doesn’t help me feel better that you’re yelling and honestly, I can’t imagine it helps you much either.

So, then that begs the question, why get mad in the first place?  That’s a question easier asked than answered.  I know I can’t just hardwire everyone’s brains to be nicer to each other, but I can ask people to just step back for a moment and really think if being mad is worth it.  I mean honestly, your either mad at someone else, or yourself, neither of which is worth the time or the energy- especially since it would be negative energy.

It’s exhausting being mad.  Like, truly tiring and draining and it’s just not fun and it’s not worth it.  It makes you mad, it makes everyone else uncomfortable and mad, it’s a vicious cycle of anger and frustration and it needs to stop.

I’ve stated before that ignoring the toxicity can work, but it only works for so long.  You need to step up, take a moment to breathe and ask if it’s worth it.  Probably not, right?  So, then what can you do to be a better team player, and less toxic person in the gaming community.  Well, I’m glad you asked.

1.) If you’re not in a good mood don’t play.

It seems easy enough on paper, but having restraint and knowing your own limits is huge.  I know that when I’m not feeling right I don’t want to make other people feel bad.  So, next time you feel like crap maybe don’t pick up a team-based game.  Might I suggest a nice single player immersion game?

2.) Get up and go for a walk.

You don’t have to go on a vision quest or run around the block a dozen times, but just get up from your computer and walk- to the fridge, to get a snack, to the grocery store, across town- pull yourself out of the gaming mindset even just for a few minutes and focus on something else.  It’s amazing what going to make a nice little meal can do for your psyche.  Who knows maybe you’ll go back to your game with a clear head and a full belly

3.) Try not to get tilted- and if you do, don’t let other people know.

Now this doesn’t mean you can’t offer constructive criticism, but you can do it in a more delicate way.  A friendly suggestion is A-Okay, but screaming and swearing is not.  Just don’t do it.  It is fine to be mad or disappointed, but pitting the blame on others just lowers team morale and that’s no good for anyone.

4.) Stop blaming others and start blaming yourself.

Okay, let me rephrase that.  Instead of constantly blaming your teammates and pointing out their flaws, maybe acknowledge that you’re not perfect either.  We all make mistakes, even professionals mess up and that’s okay, but it’s not okay to get so absurdly angry.

 

And finally, …

5.) Stop playing.

You don’t have to stop entirely, but if it’s too much just stop.  It’s not worth getting mad over and even worse, hurting yourself or others.  If you are so mad about losing some rank in competitive, then just stop.  Turn off the game, pick up something different, go out for a bit, or nap… personally I always recommend naps.

 

Getting mad is no good when playing games, so maybe next time you feel a little flustered of find yourself trying to bite your tongue… or if it’s too late and you’ve already succumbed to the evil that is toxicity, consider these strategies to chill out and cool off any hot-headed feelings.

And remember, it’s just a game.  🙂

Overwatch: Summer Games 2017

August 4, 2017 Adam News

In a developer update that released on August 1st, our boy Jeff, from the Overwatch team stated that the Summer Games would be coming back for a second year in a row. Although some of the skins will be the same, it’s not without some changes.  

This time around the Summer Games take place in Sydney, Australia. The event will have all of the skins from the previous year, but this time all of them will be available to purchase with in-game credits, a feature that wasn’t present in last year’s summer games. The old skins will be available for the same amount of currency that your standard items have (1000 for Legendary, 250 for epic, 75 for rare and 25 for commons), while the new ones will stay with the traditional event price gouging (3000 for legendary, 750 for epic, 225 for rare and 75 for common).

There will also be a new map for Lucioball, a soccer game mode where the only playable character is Lucio. The new map will be set in Sydney, Australia while the Rio map will also be available to play. This game mode will also feature a ranked mode where players can get competitive points for participating. There are also some balance changes for Lucioball. Lucio’s ultimate ability will now raise his speed and decrease his cooldowns for a period of time. You will also no longer be able to boop enemies, only the soccer ball.

Summer Games 2017 will start on August 8th and will run all the way to August 29th.

PUBG Update: Introducing the “Crate and Key System”

August 3, 2017 Tiffany News

Player Unknown posted the Early Access Month 4 Update for PUBG and this is all the character stuff in a nutshell!

Two new face presets and hairstyles have been added for both genders.

The “crate and key system” will tested in the servers soon. There are two types of free-to-open crates that will be available: Survivor and Wanderer crates. The crate prices will be reset every Monday and the maximum number of crates you can obtain per week six. You can trade the items on the Steam Marketplace as well. The images below show what items you can receive from each crate.

For more information, check out the Early Access Month 4 Update. (provides all the images found here)

We Happy Few: Early Access Impressions

July 30, 2016 Adam Articles, Reviews

For a long time now we’ve been hearing about We Happy Few and during that time people managed to create their own expectations for it. These expectations basically boiled down to a Bioshock-like experience. Basically what we’ve been told is that it will be a story driven experience with some forms of procedural generation. Now before I get into this discussion I’d like to make a few disclaimers. This is an EARLY ACCESS PRODUCT meaning the game is nowhere near being finished and any judgements being made are for in its current state, not what it will be. Therefore, there will be no review score at the bottom. I should also mention that I’ve been playing the Xbox One version, so any performance issues I’ll be talking about don’t represent the PC version. Ok, let’s get into it.

When you first start up We Happy Few, it takes you to the section that was shown at E3 this year during the Microsoft press conference. This E3 gameplay trailer ended right as the game actually opens up. You get knocked out by the guard and you end up in your underground residence. The game doesn’t really tell you how you got here, you just have to keep moving forward. That’s all they have for the story parts so far. They even mention it in their disclaimer before you start playing the game.

 

WeHappyFew1

*said disclaimer* (source: Google Images)

 

So there’s not a hell of a lot to judge on that front other than its immediately interesting, this opening section is immediately interesting and I would like to know more. Unfortunately we won’t know any extra story bits until 1.0 comes along, and judging by its current state that’s going to be a long time away. After this opening segment you’re introduced to an open world where you can wander wherever you’d like, until you either die or run into a bridge that is.

Much to my surprise, this game is actually a roguelike with survival elements. When I say survival elements, I mean it’s got them all. It has a crafting system, survival meters (hunger, thirst, sleep and health), and you even search through abandoned houses and such to find these scraps. There’s also other elements of the survival aspect that aren’t immediately apparent. Some examples being, if you eat rotten food you’ll get sick and if you take your Joy pills you’ll go through withdrawal symptoms when it’s over and your other meters will drain faster. This wouldn’t be all that bad if it wasn’t so damn overbearing. The meters are draining at an almost constant basis and after a little while it just becomes a massive burden. Rather than surviving while playing the game, you’re just spending all of your time surviving.

When getting into the other roguelike elements, like restarting after your character dies just seems unnecessary. Now, I’m a massive fan of roguelikes Spelunky is one of my favorite games ever made, so I’m not necessarily a stranger games resetting your progress upon death. However, in We Happy Few, it does something that I’ve never really encountered in any roguelikes and it really rubbed me the wrong way. When you die and restart, the quests seem to stay the same. So every time I had to restart I found myself doing the same quests over and over again. It became very repetitive and almost completely unnecessary. They way that Compulsion has set this game up is basically an open world adventure style game, only when you die you have to repeat the same quests. When you have a roguelike set up like this it massively takes away from the fun. I found myself doing the same quests over and over again. It inevitably started to feel like a chore. It got to the point where I just decided to turn the permadeath off completely and it ended up providing a much better experience. This game misses the core of what makes a roguelikes so damn fun, learning from your mistakes. Instead of attempting to change how you approach each run, it felt like I didn’t have any options and it was just trial and error. The way you play this game doesn’t lend itself well to traditional roguelike tropes.

Now, it isn’t all necessarily negative because this game doesn’t really have to change a hell of a lot for it to drastically improve. This game has a fantastic art style and mood. In the first few minutes it really managed to make me feel weirded out and very interested to find out more about what happened to the world. There’s something to this game and I can’t exactly put my finger on it. Basically, it’s just trying to accomplish too many things at once, it almost feels like somewhere along through development it lost its destination and now it’s just going wherever the hell it wants.

In its current state, We Happy few also has some massive technical issues on the Xbox One version, but that’s to be expected in an early access game. Frequent frame drops, excessively long loading screens, a lot of texture problems and sometimes signs even turn up in the middle of the street. In addition to these technical problems, the A.I is also incredibly wonky. A lot of the time there’s no given reason as to why some of them will attack you, they just do. I’m not sure if that’s something that was intended or not because of how little they actually tell you about the game, but regardless when it happens it seems to have no rhyme or reason to it.

 

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A happy little sign (source: a screenshot I took)

 

For an example on how buggy this game currently is, there are bridges in this game that serve as checkpoints. You need to have a few things accomplished in order to enter them. I tried entering one of them with none of the criteria met. The gate opened and it let me through which was already surprising. However, after it let me through I got stuck in a wall and beaten to death by the guards that let me through. This wasn’t a thing that was supposed to happen either, other times I had tried to enter the guards tell you that you can’t get through and then proceed to beat you to a pulp. But the game saw it that I had met all of the criteria in order to enter, then realized it fucked up and murdered me.

 

We Happy Few in its current state does not leave good impressions with me. It’s currently a mess and it has no clear focus. I’m not entirely sure if releasing this game in early access was a good idea for them, especially because Compulsion Games has been getting such a massive pass with its aesthetics alone. If you’re considering buying into We Happy Few now, I’d suggest maybe waiting a little bit until they have some things figured out.

Iron from Ice- Telltale Game of Thrones Season 1 Review

July 20, 2016 Ricky Reviews

When you play the Game of Thrones you win…or you die. However this game doesn’t seem to follow those rules. While its a great prospect to have control in events of Game of Thrones, especially if you are a huge fan of the series like myself, you’ll see that this game quickly drops the ball as the episodes go by.

Gameplay

In typical Telltale fashion, the game places emphasis in how you respond in conversations and choices to advance the story. Often these are presented with multiple prompts for response with a time limit. You can always choose to stay silent as an option. Something handy in these games is that it allows for multiple saves and a “rewind” function, allowing you to amend a decision if you regret it.

The few times there is combat, they are always in the form of quick time events. A lot of them require a lot of trial and error, especially when they need you to hit a certain target, which can be a tad more difficult when not playing on a console.

in typical telltale fashion, you decide wheather you want to bow to another, or stand your ground. Image Source: Gamepressure.com

in typical telltale fashion, you decide whether you want to bow to another, or stand your ground. Image Source: Gamepressure.com

One frustrating element during these quick time events is sometimes the game won’t fault you for missing them and sometimes it will. There was a section where I missed a command prompt and was presented with the death screen (Saying “Valar Morghulis” as would be typical for Game of Thrones). I tried it again and succeeded, but happened to miss a command thirty seconds later, yet the character still dodged and continued just fine. And these combat sections get very monotonous, very fast.

Beyond combat, you are allowed to walk around and examine from time to time. While they help show more of the community you are in and the characters in it, too often it feels like it’s  breaking up the action, and all you want it for it to end.

Graphics

The Telltale art design blends very well with the world of Game of Thrones, helping to create nearly spot-on likenesses of characters (aside from Margaery looking a bit off in my opinion). The lip flaps may not perfect, not always moving in perfect rhythm with what’s said. In one scene,my game didn’t show the mouths didn’t move at ALL. But that same kind of quality doesn’t carry over to the scenery.

Although its pre-rendered, the look gorgeous, especially with the light and atmosphere of each set piece helped to convey the mood and paint the world as vividly as possible.

Ironwrath quickly shows itself to be one of the best designs in the game, making the Forrester castle’s segments the most beautiful. Image Source: Game of Thrones.wikia.com

 

The scenery also works well in tandem with some fantastic music to set up key moments of the story. And that transitions into my next point.

Sound

The voice acting in the game is all-around very well done. Although some characters like, Mira, have voices that are a little too monotone. Image Source: Geeklyinc.com

The music in the game seems like it was taken straight from the show, showing the quality of this original score. Music coming in and out of certain hard and tense decisions only helped to show the gravity of the situation and the risks shown.

For voice acting however, it can be hit or miss. They even bring in actors from the show such as Peter Dinklage(Tyrion Lannister), Lena Headey (Cersei Lannister), Kit Harrington (Jon Snow),Emilia Clarke (Daenerys Targaryen), Natalie Dormer (Margaery Tyrell), and Iwan Rheon (Ramsay Snow). While Dinklage, Headey, Clarke and ESPECIALLY Rheon  bring their characters to life, Dormer and Harrington sound a bit too bored.

For non-show voice actors, they are for the most part very well done. I especially highlight Gared’s voice acting as some of the most moving in the whole game. However, I hope you’re a fan of Yuri Lowenthall, because he is everywhere in this game.

Story

The real highlight of a Telltale game. If you are familiar with the Game of Thrones universe, then you know the setting ideally. If not then the game won’t really hold your hand. You take on the role of several members of House Forrester, a noble house of the North who are loyal to the Stark Family. They are very much like the Starks, but don’t trust the wrong people as easily. Their rivals are the Whitehills, who both fight for control for resources and land.

In continuity of the show, the game begins at the end of Season 3 and the beginning of Season 4. If you haven’t gotten that far in the show then I recommend you stop reading.

Certain characters you can favor more than others, and that will affect their role in the story. Image Source: Gamestar.de

The first episode begins as House Forrester is betrayed by the Boltons and the Freys at the Red Wedding. From there on you play as Gared Tuttle (a servant to House Forrester) at the Wall, Mira Forrester at King’s Landing, Asher Forrester at Essos/Mereen, and Ethan Forrester at Ironwrath, the Forrester family castle. That isn’t the limit of playable characters, but telling you would spoil the game.

Several cast members of the show make an appearance. Some more worthless than others however.  Tyrion and Cercei are hard to outmaneuver and just as crafty as they would be in the show. Ramsay Snow is every bit as sadistic and disturbing as you would expect. However, while it’s great to have Kit Harrington come in as Jon Snow, aside from a minor moment with Gared, he has no impact on the plot. The same could be said for Emilia Clarke as Daenerys. If you aren’t as big a fan of her in the show, then you will despise her in this game, acting overly hostile and going back on deals.

As great as it is to have Gared learn from him as a mentor, Jon really offers nothing in terms of the story, and really acts as more of a glorified cameo. Image Source: IGN.com

One of the biggest criticisms I have for this game’s story is that while oftentimes it will say “Tyrion will remember this” or “Margaery appreciated that”, when really, it has no bearing on what happens later. Characters will completely forget any kindness or slight you’ve done to them in favor of furthering the already set path of the story. Because the story really is on a set path…no matter what you do.

Sure there may be slight variations, but things generally end the same for all characters, and no choices really affect the ending until the final two episodes. However, despite the lack of freedom the game is supposedly built on, the story is actually very good. In classic Game of Thrones fashion you can’t count on anyone to make it out in one piece, but you still grow to love the characters and want the Forresters to make it out on top.

Even the Whitehills are even placed in a human light. While they all seem to be insufferably annoying brutes, they do have some humanity that you can discover, and even exploit if you wanted.

Final Verdict

Season 1 of Telltale’s Game of Thrones starts off very strong but fails to deliver as time goes on. A lot of game changing decisions don’t take place until the final two episodes, but the story none the less is well done. The designs and music help to elevate the story that fits in perfectly within the universe of Game of Thrones. Despite some flaws in the story choices and the quick-time events becoming monotonous, the game is still a good experience, especially if you are a Game of Thrones fan. I recommend if it is ever on sale, then go for it.

A lost opportunity. Image Source: ausgamers.com

Furi – Intense Combat, A+ Soundtrack (Early Impressions)

July 7, 2016 Deanna Reviews

OH MAN. Here we go, guys. Furi is a game where many of my favorite things intersect. First, you have a neon-dipped, fast-paced game based around satisfying controls and combat. Next up, a somewhat vague story driven by characters who sincerely kick ass, in more ways than one. And finally, to round out this list of things, a shorter list: a killer synth-based soundtrack with collector’s edition vinyl, and immensely difficult gameplay.

I should preface the rest of this review by saying that I’m not used to difficult games by any margin. I’m pretty sure Bloodborne and Hotline Miami rank among the hardest games I’ve played. I don’t know if that says anything about me as a person, but I like to take it easy in my games. You know, go along for the ride.

Furi is having none of that. Even during its tutorial level, Furi pushes gameplay that’s challenging to most people. The fights are long and frustrating at times, and my only qualm here is that a checkpoint after a boss has lost a certain amount of health, maybe two-thirds, would be nice. Furi offers an easier difficulty for those who don’t want to put up with the normal one, but you sacrifice the ability to earn achievements and unlock harder difficulties. You also lose the ability to unlock their speed run mode.

There’s something that keeps me coming back to Furi even as the difficulty ramps up. There’s no feeling quite like decimating a boss in their final stage without getting hit, and it’s something that comes with practice. Even in my limited play time so far, I can see myself improving. And we’ll get to that in a bit.

To set the scene, where I’m at, anyway, you’re an unnamed silent protagonist breaking out of prison with the help of some other unnamed dude wearing a purple bunny hood. To gain your freedom, “The jailer is the key. Kill him, and you’ll be free.” After every battle, you learn more about your guide, and about why you were locked up in the first place.

This boss features Carpenter Brut’s “You’re Mine”, composed for the game. (via PlayStation Blog)

Gameplay and Handling

If you’re going to make a boss-rush bullet hell game, you need to nail the responsiveness of your controls. And congratulations, The Game Bakers, you’ve done it. Moving around is satisfying, as it should be with twin-stick games. You have a parry which will heal you when successful, a slash attack, and a dash at your disposal to get yourself out of tight situations and inflict damage. Parrying an attack at the last second activates a “perfect parry”, which knocks the boss down.

There’s some advanced tech in the movements as well, where you can charge a slash while dashing to avoid enemy attacks.While I find a lot of these are situational, it’s pretty nice to know. Along with healing after a successful parry, there are green projectiles that turn into health orbs when shot. They’re few and far-between, and it can sometimes be riskier getting to them than staying put.

There are a couple mechanics which make the long fights more manageable. One which I find breaks up the monotony of endless dodging is that after knocking out a boss’s shields, combat shifts to a close-quarters fight. Additionally, when you take a full bar of life off a boss, your current one is entirely healed. Conversely, the boss gets this advantage as well, and if you fail in close-quarters, the boss heals up their shields, too. This is another area where I’m critical of the choice. It seems unfair sometimes, as parrying while in close-quarters or during the shield phase doesn’t heal all too much, but it’s not a deal breaker.

Between the bosses, there’s a fair amount of exposition. These are like walking simulators with some story and background. I’m not a huge fan of walking through them so slowly. The great thing here is that there’s an auto-walk option, so you can sit back and enjoy the cutscene leading up to the next boss.

There isn’t much but talking and walking. (via The Game Bakers)

Difficulty and Frustration Factor

While I’ve already covered how difficult the game is, I haven’t quite covered how infuriating some battles are. There’s a lot to watch out for, and a lot to focus on. Sometimes due to the colorful nature of the game, projectiles and ground attacks blur together. And while it makes for interesting visuals and some pretty hard stuff to dodge, unfortunately it makes it so I can’t sit for hours and work my way through. I can do 45 minutes at most without getting sloppy– dodging directly into damage, parrying poorly, and giving up too much of my precious life bar. And unfortunately there’s nothing I can do to combat this but get better at rushing the boss and taking breaks.

I don’t want to, though. I want to be able to sink hours into the game without tearing my hair out, and to prove to myself that not only can I get good, but I can actually withstand the difficulty a game puts in front of me without falling off in how effective I am at fighting. I feel like the real fight here is to not set the difficulty to an easier one. And trust me, that temptation is alive and kicking even as I write this.

Up close and personal with the first jailer. (via The Game Bakers)

Soundtrack

Despite all the shortcomings I have with difficult games, the one thing that keeps me going is the soundtrack. Initially I heard about the game browsing on YouTube. I can’t remember what led me there, but I saw a new track with Carpenter Brut’s name on it. I wasn’t a hard sell, Carpenter Brut is among one of my favorite synthwave artists. He sits among several others that are well-known for their music: Danger, Lorn, Scattle, and Kn1ght, to name a few. It’s available for purchase on Bandcamp (here!) as either a digital album or a collector’s edition vinyl, which is limited to a run of 800. Excuse me while I stare out my window and wait for it to arrive, please.

It’s worth the exorbitant shipping price, you gotta believe me. (Image via Bandcamp)

In Conclusion

If you enjoy difficult games, or even just a challenge, do yourself a favor and add this one to your collection. I can’t urge you enough, without being entirely repetitive, about how much you should play this game. Even if you have to do it on easy mode, do it. There’s no game I’d recommend more from this year so far.

Why Linearity Trumps Open Worlds

June 27, 2016 Greg Articles, Best Of, Blog

The Lifecast’s Greg Fernandes discusses why he prefers linear games over their more open counterparts.

Eon Altar: Cooperation Innovation

June 22, 2016 Greg Articles, News

Eon Altar is a cooperative turn based RPG where the players use their phones as controllers. You might be thinking. “Eh? What the point of that?” And what a great question that is you beautiful bastard. The addition of the smart phone into your standard co-op RPG is that every player has their own screen in which to do handle all their business. All the inventory management, all the leveling up can be handled without interrupting your fellow players. Now you’re probably thinkin’, “Oy, we’ve had games that’ve done that ‘afore!” And you would be right, you paragon of justice.

What makes Eon Altar especially interesting is how it uses this second screen for narrative purposes.

Dialogue:

During cut scenes all the characters are fully voice acted outside of the player characters. Instead the game expects you to voice your own characters. It’s not technically required but your fellow players will be missing out on lots of the world building if you just kinda skip over the dialogue. But it’s best when you have friends who don’t mind getting into character. It ends up feeling like a light tabletop RPG experience.

Personal Objectives:

The thing that initially drew me to this game on the PAX floor was the concept that your character’s can have a personal objective separate from the party’s main goal. So at some point there could be conflict within the party as one’s personal objective clashes with the party’s. I haven’t put enough time into the game to see how the mechanic works when fully fleshed out but I’d be lying if I said it wasn’t insanely interested in finding out.

Narrative Choices:

Last but not least is the concept of player choice. While certainly not a new idea by any means, seeing it in a cooperative game is very interesting. You might make a decision that heads towards your personal objective, or you do something evil for more a greater reward. I can only imagine the fights that might erupt because of that.

On the topic of fighting. This game forces the players to sort out all the loot drops. And there are even opportunities where a player might notice some treasure another one does not.
I’m not sure how these mechanics will hold up for multiple playthoughs but the first seems like it’ll be a crazy ride. Expect a full review somewhere down the road. My first impressions of about 2 hours say this has the potential be a contender for GOTY 2016.

Battle Mage

Both photos from Flying Helmet Games’ social media.

If this seems like somethin’ you’d be interested, in Eon Altar: Episode 1 is available on Steam fresh outta early access for $5.59 USD until June 29. $6.99 USD normally, or you can pick up the Season pass for $14.99 USD.

Hitman Episode 3: Marrakesh Review

June 17, 2016 Adam Reviews

In the three episodes of Hitman we’ve gotten so far, they’ve all been set in very diverse locations. I don’t mean only setting wise, each of the three episodes gives us very different play styles that fit according to each location. In Paris, it was all about infiltrating a runway show. It had quiet outskirts and a very dense center, this allowed the player to do all of their dirty work on the outskirts and plan their way in. Sapienza was very sparse and had a lot of hidden entrances, this time the player could explore the vast setting of Italy and really plan how they got the job done. In Marrakesh, the area is as dense as it could be and it makes you react quickly and improvise frequently. Marrakesh provides the most unique experience while giving you plenty of options to dispense of your targets, making it the strongest episode of Hitman so far.

When you start your mission in Marrakesh, you immediately realize that this isn’t the traditional in-and-out hit. Both of your targets are in two heavily guarded areas on opposite sides of the map. You quickly realize that you won’t be able to get away with that much when the whole area is filled to the brim with witnesses.

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As you start exploring and plan your infiltration a lot of “opportunities” will arise. Opportunities are Hitman’s way of telling you that there might be a way in if you follow through with what’s going on around you. Opportunities are multistep processes that will eventually lead you to your target. This time around the opportunities let you do some incredibly fun things. One of them you get to pretend to be a masseuse and snap your targets neck while massaging him. While in another one you can pretend to be a cameraman a drop a giant moose on your target. However, my favorite of the opportunities involves shoving a toilet onto your targets head. I won’t ruin all of the fun for you but trust me, it’s pretty damn awesome.

Source: Namelessdreadx37x

 In the other episodes of Hitman you don’t necessarily need to complete the opportunities because of the open nature of them but Marrakesh provides a much more tight and controlled experience, which I ended up liking a lot more than Paris, for example.

The opportunities also make replaying Marrakesh more fun than ever. In previous episodes the opportunities were often left to the side and it wasn’t that fun to see them through. This time around I ended up playing the mission multiple times just so I could see how each of them played out. Each of them have some bizarre and fun twist in them like the ones I mentioned earlier.

Exploring the areas of Marrakesh also end up being more interesting because of the nature of the mission. When going into places you’re never guaranteed to get away with anything. There’s always someone around to ruin your plan making your windows to get stuff done a lot smaller and a hell of a lot more satisfying when it all falls into place. This also makes it so you can’t necessarily brute force your way through the mission like you could in the other two episodes.

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!

Call of Duty: Why “Boots on the Ground” Should Stay in the Ground

May 30, 2016 Greg Blog

Call of Duty: Infinite Warfare’s reveal trailer is now officially one of the most disliked video on YouTube, second only to Justin Bieber’s “Baby.” There are four major reasons for this.

One: Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare Remastered is being “sold” as a pre-order bonus for Infinite Warfare. Now that’s a total scumbag move, probably the worst example of pre-order bs and all but, that’s not what we’re here to talk about!

Two: people are upset about the direction the series is headed wanting a more traditional “boots on the ground” shooter experience from Call of Duty.

Three: people just despise Call of Duty. There’s been this long running thing where Call of Duty is the face of all that’s wrong with gaming. Even though there are PLENTY of games with a worse record than Call of Duty and before this new Modern Warfare Remastered pre-order business their record was relatively clean.

Aaand four: The trailer was just kinda bad.

Today however! We’re here to discuss that second category and why I think the future is the best place for Call of Duty to head from both a design and thematic standpoint.

1. Design:

Call of Duty is a “twitch-based first-person-shooter” this means it’s all about testing how fast a player can understand the situation in front of them and whether or not they can execute what’s needed to succeed. Now in earlier Call of Duty’s since the games were set in a modern setting you would only really fight on flat stages where you primarily just shifted your sights from left to right to fire, only adjusted upwards to aim for the head or to hit someone at a slightly higher elevation.

Notice most combatants will just approach you on the same Z-Axis.

In recent iterations of the franchise they’ve recently started upgrading the amount of mobility the players have. With jet-packs and sliding maneuvers added players are now required to adjust their sights more dynamically in order to properly engage enemies. This adds some much needed depth to the series and depth is always good especially when it’s simple to understand. The added mobility adds much needed “outplay” potential for both players in a fire fight and such depth just isn’t possible in a “boots on the ground” experience without becoming Counter Strike.

Notice the combatant flying through the air and another about to pounce standing on the tank.

2. Thematics

Call of Duty is dumb. I mean this in the best of ways. Call of Duty is a simple game about seeing who can shoot each other in the face before the other. Call of Duty is a dumb action movie with player interaction so the stories and settings should reflect this. A futuristic story lends itself to all the absurdity Call of Duty deserves. In Call of Duty’s most recent iteration Black Ops 3 the developers are seemingly starting to understand that. This game sports a roster of characters all pulled straight out of action films. Men, women and robots with dumb special abilities and dumb taunts. It’s fantastic.

Look at um’ LOOK AT ‘UM!

A “boots on the ground” experience, while still fantasy, holds more weight to it as it is based on real experiences that real brave men and women have. In other words you gotta show it some respect. Let Call of Duty be dumb please.

If you are still looking for that “boots on the ground” experience luckily for you within the same week as the Infinite Warfare trailer a Battlefield 1 came out sporting a World War I inspired setting. If that’s not a message from the gods then I don’t know what is.

Let’s Talk: What to Expect in DayZ

May 26, 2016 Tiffany Articles

BAM to the zam through the pituitary gland! I’ma go straight in and say DayZ is worth getting if you like survival games. There are definitely a TON of zombie-related games like Call of Duty zombies, Left 4 Dead, The Walking Dead, Dying Light… Plants vs Zombies to name a few. Whether it’s single-player or not, we just wanna feel the thrill, test our survival skills, and gore is always a plus (at least for me). Let’s put the dim, flickery spotlight on DayZ for a moment, shall we?

Current Status

DayZ is still in Alpha through Steam since Dec 16, 2013. Based on their twitter profile, they plan to release it on Xbox and Playstation in the future.

The devs at Bohemia Interactive seemed to be slacking and the whole community was convinced the game would never go into Beta, but the devs are picking it back up again!

Gameplay

I wouldn’t consider it much of a zombie game, since you have to worry about other players way more than the actual zombies. The biggest threat a zombie could be is giving away your position. But before this all happens, I have to mention that it’s a pain to get into the “good” servers (amount of lag based on the host). There is a 50 player maximum in a server, which means it can be a pain to get into the same server as your buddies. Another thing– it can take an insanely long time to cross each other’s paths. Sometimes you gotta die a few times to finally meet them, too. There will be times where another player begs you to kill them, so don’t be surprised! The map is HUUUUUGE!! There is no default auto-run key, so you gotta set a macro for it. Because, believe me, your hands start to ache.

Interactions

Talk if you don't want to die

You could end up in this situation (Image taken from official DayZ website)

I can’t say this enough, but communication is extremely vital in this game. State your intentions immediately. Your ability to negotiate and the level of cooperation in both parties will determine your fate! After all that time and effort looting, it would be a shame to die and become a Bambie (aka fresh spawn) again. You never know what types of people you’re going to encounter, so it would be safer to listen to whoever has the advantage.

Note: if you’re looking for a chillax time, I recommend going to the”Roleplay” and “No KOS” (Kill On Sight) specific servers. Image below is a perfect example of how involved you can get in the community!

DayZ

My former DayZ family forming a circle around a fist fight. It was after a trial we held about a cheating wife having intimate relations with the man’s best friend

Aside from the cookie-cutter buildings, the graphics look noice. Imagine how it’ll look when it comes out of Beta! (hopefully soon)