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fridge-reviews · 5 years

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Hand of Fate 2

Developer: Defiant Development Publisher: Defiant Development Rrp: £23.79 (Steam) and £24.99 (Gog.com) Released: 7th November 2017 Available on: Steam and Gog.com Played Using: An Xbox 360 Control Pad Approximate game length: Over 30 Hours For years I have worked on the game, this game of chance and choice. It is but a pale imitation of the real world, but it allows the player to hone their skills for the times ahead. So traveller, why don't you sit for a spell and play with me? Hand of Fate 2 is a digital board game and honestly I can see why is has to be digital, there are just too many components and variables to keep track of. I should mention that, yes, I know that there is a real world Hand of Fate board game, I own a copy of it and I can vouch for how good it is, but there are just some things the board game cannot capture that this game does. In this game you work your way across twenty two challenges (in the adventure mode) unlocking new cards as you go. Along the way you'll be testing your skills with arkham style combat, pushing your luck in dice rolls and four card monty, and lastly testing your timing with swinging pendulums and spinning wheels of cards.

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At its core this game is near identical to its predecessor, however though the core the may be the same everything surrounding it has been greatly improved, especially the combat. One major difference in this game is a running narrative. Each of the challenges you face (of which there are twenty two) will link onto the others, even if its just tangentially. When you enter a challenge the Dealer will lay out the cards face down before you, these cards will act as encounters and will activate as you move your player piece onto them. Just like with the previous instalment of Hand of Fate you construct the deck that the Dealer plays from with encounters, equipment, supplies and companions that you should find in each challenge (with exception of companions who will usually start with you). Of course, the Dealer adds some cards of his own to the deck, you can't have it all your own way after all. Within the deck that you construct you will find that there are three tiers of card, normal, platinum and brimstone and each challenge will only allow a specific allocation of each.

The challenges you will face can usually be completed to two levels; Silver and Gold. Silver means that you did all that was required of you to complete the challenge whereas gold involves you completing every optional part of the challenge. However I said 'usually' for a reason, in some cases there is no Silver completion in which case its an all or nothing challenge. Within each challenge your piece will move from one encounter to the next and with each new card that is revealed your piece will consume one food. If at any point you run out of food each new card revealed will take ten points of health instead. There are several mini games (known as gambits) that you will end up facing as part of your playthrough. Some of these gambits were a pain in the butt for me, but my fiancé found them easy so mileage may vary on them, thankfully certain pieces of equipment you can find will make these gambits easier.

A completely new feature to the game is that you can have a companion. Companions provide assistance such as casting spells, and attacking opponents in battle. Most also have a benefit that can be performed outside of combat, such as Malacylpse allowing you to redraw a card during the card wheel mini game. If you accept the offer to use this benefit your companion will be unavailable to you until you reveal three new encounters. In combat your companions are unkillable, however they can be stunned. In the event of that you'll need to get into close quarters with them to get them to stand back up and rejoin the fight. Thankfully this is a rather quick affair that can be performed in between attacks.

The combat feels a lot less like a arkham clone and is far more responsive, yes the game still has indicators that appear above your enemies heads allowing you to anticipate their moves somewhat but the enemies won't always come at you one at a time. While you're facing off with the Northman Berserker one of the trappers can be winding up a long range attack while a shaman buffs them both. As you may have gleaned from the last sentence the range of enemies you face has greatly increased from the last game, each of which having their own strengths, weaknesses and unit types that will require a different approach. For example the Empire have soldiers that will use their shields to block incoming attacks while protecting their riflemen who will attempt to hurt you at range. Meanwhile the Northmen never block, but will attack with great ferocity hitting hard and often. It should also be mentioned that not every enemy will be human, most will, but definitely not all of them.

There is an optional mode called 'apprentice mode' that makes the game easier by increasing your damage and making the prompted riposte and finishers automatic, everything else is left as is. The offer of this mode will appear if you die a few times, like I did. Personally I think this is a great addition to the game and even though I won't use the feature myself, it will allow less skilled (or stubborn) players to play more easily and is easily deactivated in the options menu. There is now an 'Endless' mode to play which changes a few rules, such as making all your equipment degrade overtime with exception of your base weapons and shield. Another thing that is different are the Trail cards, these make your game more difficult but will give you a reward for achieving it. You do all of this to attain 'Endless' points, which is just for score attack, however this mode is also a great way to unlock new cards.

I've got to say I have loved my time with game, so much so I fully intend on keeping it installed and getting all the DLC's. It should be mentioned that the game has lots of free content as well as three pieces of DLC that you can purchase. On top of all of that there is also mod support included. All that being said I can't claim that this game is perfect, there are plenty of minor issues such as the camera during combat and trap sections being a bit awkward and positioning itself in such a way that you can end up fighting blind.

On the whole though this game is a vast improvement over the original, I really hope they make a third just to see what they do next. If this appeals to you perhaps try; Guild of Dungeoneering Slay the Spire Children of Zodiarcs

#defiant development #hack and slash #roguelite #indie #indie games #independent #independant #indie game #game review #game reviews #games review #games reviews #video games #video game #video gaming

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beyondmistland · 5 years

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“May your heart be your guiding key” (Full thoughts on Kingdom Hearts III below!)

Graphics:

Ø The game is bloody gorgeous, which helps mitigate the long and frequent cutscenes

Ø The lip-syncing rarely fails

Music:

Ø The new remixes are awesome and the brand-new tracks don't disappoint either

Ø What does though is the actual audio mixing:

More often than not I struggled to hear the music over the sound effects during gameplay and the voiceovers during cutscenes

Ranking the Worlds:

Ø #1: Corona: The world is huge, with varied terrain and a kick-ass final boss

Ø #2 Olympus: The sheer scale and scope of the world took my breath away, plus we (finally!) get to fight all four titans

Ø #3 The Caribbean: Assassin's Creed IV meets Kingdom Hearts, what's not to like

Ø #4 Monstropolis: While not as eye-catching as some of the other worlds the way it intersects with the broader KH lore is really neat and the final cutscene was a delight in that it averts the Disney characters being useless when dealing with the original KH villains, on top of which its straightforward design is a nice change of pace, my only complaint is that there are only four types of Unversed

Ø #5 San Fransokyo: The story is surprisingly short, which means you don't really get the chance to explore the environment, which sucks because the verticality and day/night cycle are awesome, plus there are a number of memorable boss fights

Ø #6 Twilight Town: If it had been fully recreated based off the KH2 version the world would be much higher on my list but despite how small it is I love the liveliness, not to mention how peaceful it is in comparison to the other worlds, the same can be said for Hundred Acre Wood

Ø #7 Keyblade Graveyard + Final World + Scala Ad Caelum: Though jaw-dropping in terms of visuals and audio they're not fully realized worlds, the same can be said for Dark World

Ø #8 Toy Box: I loved the final boss as well as how the story tied into the larger plot of the game and I would be lying if I said I didn't enjoy exploring Andy's room while "You have a friend in me" played in the background

Why then is Toy Box so far down on my list, world design

Even with endgame stats (LV40-45) the Gigas are tough to take down and as a result they come off as gimmicky in the worst sense of the word, beyond that the fact that the majority of the world is set in Galaxy Toys made me feel constrained and claustrophobic, which could have been partially alleviated if we'd been allowed to make our way through the parking lot outside, finally, the story kind of got repetitive with the backtracking whenever the characters were about to leave because "someone went missing yet again"

Ø #9 Arrendelle: Though it has one of the best final bosses in the game along with Corona there is so much wrong with this world that I wonder if it's less Square Enix's fault and more Disney placing an insane amount of red tape on their favorite cash-cow:

1) Elsa does not become a party member even after you beat the world

2) You do not get to explore the city or the ice palace despite the latter being fully rendered on the map

3) Larxene, a lightning-based character, randomly traps you in an ice labyrinth when that would have made a lot more sense both logically and thematically if it had been Elsa

4) Speaking of Larxene, she does practically nothing the whole time you're there unlike Marluxia and Luxord, who are at least semi-active

5) You climb a mountain and get knocked off of it so many times that even Sora gets fed up

6) The bloody minigame where you have to find Olaf's body parts

7) Forcing us to watch the entire "Let it go" sequence and then having "Do you want to build a snowman" play over Anna's voice as she's explaining herself to Sora

8) So much of the story is excised that you have little clue as to what's going on to the point Hans appears for all of five minutes, doesn't say any lines, and isn't even named when it would have been cool, not to mention, just plain better, if he had started off as a guest member of your party

9) As a result of #8 Sora, Donald, and Goofy's presence feels like even more of an afterthought than usual in the sense that them not being there wouldn't have changed anything at all apart from Hans' Heartless then having no one to defeat it which can be seen by the fact that when they leave no one tells them goodbye unlike in every other world

10) The visual design was bland and tiresome after a while

11) The world's gimmick was uninspired to say the least

12) Fighting alongside a giant snowman (AKA Marshmallow) was awesome and in terms of pure gameplay the labyrinth was actually quite fun

Story Pros:

Ø Master Xehanort's new voice actor is good but after hearing Leonard Nimoy's voice for the past couple of games the change is a bit jarring

Ø The way previous games are referenced and tied together is a nice way of bringing new players into the fold while also setting up the finale's resolutions

Ø The game has a better sense of humor than previous installments

Ø Sora is more like his KH2 self than the bland caricature we saw in 3D and quite a few characters display some degree of genre-savviness

Ø Master Yen Sid gets out of his chair to lend a hand for once

Ø Donald Duck is the most powerful mage in Square Enix canon (and I am not making that up)

Gameplay Pros:

Ø Being able to switch between different save points in the same world is a welcome addition

Ø The secondary ability of all shotlocks to airstep is ingenious

Ø You can have more than two party members finally!

Ø The secret ending isn't too hard to unlock

Ø You can upgrade your Keyblades, which means older ones aren't automatically relegated to redundancy

Ø Donald and Goofy are useful again after being nerfed into uselessness in KH2

Ø Towns and cities are actually populated by fully-voiced NPCs!

Ø Cutscenes in Theater Mode are unlocked after completing each world rather than after beating the game

Ø I never tried the Classic Kingdom minigames but the cooking one with Remy was a nice break from the normal gameplay (I suck at the egg-cracking one though)

Ø The camera doesn't get in the way like it infamously did in KH1

Ø I like the new main menu design (Feel free to disagree though)

Ø The Gummi Ship is entirely optional outside of a few mandatory boss battles

Ø Moogle Tickets are a nice way of giving players a second chance during difficult encounters (I do wish they didn’t activate so quickly though)

Gameplay Cons:

Ø The game never once tells you that you can switch between Situation Commands using L2

Ø The game never once tells you that you keep all your lower-tier magic (Fire, Fira for example) and that your shortcuts don't automatically update to include the higher-tier version of whatever magic you have equipped

Ø There's no real incentive to switch between Keyblades (That being said, my favorites are Wheel of Fate, Nano Arms, and Happy Gear/Ever After)

Ø Attractions lose their charm quickly and completely ruin the flow of combat

Ø Summons aren't too big of a deal since I only ever ended up using them once and even then it was by accident

Ø Donald still heals you at the wrong time more often than not

Ø Even on Proud Mode the game is way too easy for the most part (Apparently Critical Mode addresses this but I can't confirm that)

Ø There is a lack of sidequests and post-game content that contributes to the feeling Square & Disney gave us half a game (For example, there is only one secret boss, said secret boss has a generic design, no ties to the story, and can be defeated at LV40 on your first attempt)

Ø Hollow Bastion, Mysterious Tower, and Destiny Islands are not playable

Ø The parkour from 3D has been nerfed too much in terms of distance to actually be useful

Story Cons:

Ø Nomura fridged Kairi and he worfed almost everyone the first time you arrive at the Keyblade Graveyard!

Ø The wrapping up of plot points and character arcs from prior entries was a little too nice and neat for me

Ø The out-of-nowhere introduction of Subject X

Ø Pete and Maleficent do literally nothing the whole damn game

Ø The pacing is awful:

Almost all of the game's resolution is held back until after you've beaten the last Disney world

Ø There are two important cutscenes in the Final World that you can accidentally miss because for some reason they are optional

Ø We don't get to see what happened to Lingering Will, which also means we don't get any more insight into the third aspect of being (AKA the soul)

Ø There are no Final Fantasy characters in the game, not even Sephiroth!

Ø What happened to Demyx?

Ø Master Eraqus has absolutely nothing to do with Terra’s restoration

Changes I’d make:

Ø Require us to go through the Disney worlds a second time like in KH2

Ø Have Aqua and Ven be saved halfway through the game instead of at the end, they could then spend the second half of the game resting or join you on one of the Disney worlds to refresh themselves

Ø Have Lea and Kairi join you on one of the Disney worlds to get practical experience

Ø Make the Keyblade Graveyard sequence be a series of one/two/three-on one battles so that members of Organization XIII can use their full arsenal of attacks from previous games

Ø Let us play the second battle between Lingering Will and Terra-Xehanort

Ø Speaking of Terra-Xehanort, we should have fought him alongside the Guardian Heartless

Ø Have us explore Scala Ad Caelum while hunting down the individual replicas before then making us fight all of them in a boss battle

DLC

Ø The presence of it says a lot about the game and not in a good way

Final Score

Ø 7/10-8/10

#kingdom hearts #square enix #disney #kingdom hearts iii

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automaticnightkingdom · 3 years

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The Binding Of Isaac Revelations

Featuring a brand new custom floor full of new threats!

Tboi Revelations Wiki

The Binding Of Isaac Revelations Chapter 2 Free Download

Steam Workshop::Revelations (Obsolete)

The Binding Of Isaac Revelations Chapter 2 Descargar; Binding Of Isaac Revelations Chapter 2 Items; Start studying Religion Quiz 2. Learn vocabulary, terms, and more with flashcards, games, and other study tools. This is the OST of the second chapter in Binding of Isaac Revelations, includes all tracks heard in the game in the Tomb floor, as. Team-Revelations Original Poster 4 points 2 years ago The fire effect is a visual decision that's integrated with synergies, but the main focus isn't this being fire, its more about the burst-firing aspect.

Seal of Approval for following submission guidelines.'>

Rev:Ch1 is a brand new mod for the Binding of Isaac. Featuring: - a divergent Basement path to a new floor with special mechanics - 8 new unique bosses - Dozens of brand new enemies - Over 20 new items - 1 new playable character - Plus, an optional challenging new peril. Enter the Glacier. A frosty welcome awaits Isaac as he braves the frozen chambers of the Glacier. Ice is prevelant, so he best watch his step lest he slide into incoming foes. Many rooms are exposed to freezing blizzards which chill him, making the simplest of movements tough. But, fear not: warmth is always within reach for those who look for it. Terrifying new threats lurk in every cold corner of the floor. How will you handle Stalagmight, eternally trapped in ice with only his raging temper to keep him company. Or, the lonely Freezerburn, so desperate for a hug. Face old friends now lost and broken, adapted with new forms to survive the ever-chilly climate. Monsnow and Flurry Jr, to name a few. Brave it all and face a new threat that's eerily familiar... Dress up as Sarah, the Loved. Strong of faith, but broken and unable to hold onto her heart. --------- The Binding of Isaac: Revelations is a chapter-based mod. Each additional chapter will expand with a new floor with 3 chapters planned, culminating in a fully alternate path. This mod is entirely additive, designed to be bolted onto any player's run and simply accessed when prefered. We have not modified the core game in anyway beyond adding 25 more items to the pool and an extra core path boss. Glacier, and all additional planned floors, are purely optional. --------- We very strongly recommend disabling other mods for your first Revelations runs. Running additional mods may cause compatibility issues, however we will be addressing these in post-patch updates. Please bare with us, as this will be an ongoing development process. --------- Ashkal - Founder, Spriter (Floor, Promo Art) Sentinel - Founder, Coder (Mechanical Focus) Boogs - Community Manager Filloax - Coder (Item Focus, Videographer) Wertandrew - Music and SFX BlorengeRhymes - Spriter (Bosses, Enemies, Items) Gavitro - Coder (Enemy Focus) AnonymousKoala - Designer, Community Manager JonTheRealJon - Spriter (Bosses, Enemies, Items) Jerb - Lead Tester DeadInfinity - Coder (General Badass) Quartz - Spriter (Enemies, Items) THX - Spriter (Enemies, Items) NotYourSagittarius - Spriter (Enemies, Items) Special Thanks to Testers: Bustin Bullet Ella.

x 243

- ice worms shoot the instant they hide from being above, and have max delay when they get up. more time to hit them + hopefully a more obvious gimmick

- narcissus's movement phase nerfed overall. less speed, less dodge, more firedelay

- lil frost rider & mirror shard work with box of friends

- lil frost rider is turned to ice tray by birth control

- charged baby spawns batteries with birth control

- fix a nil value error in narc, and a typo in stageapi that might've messed up any old ice hazard rooms

- replaced lil frost rider's slippery creep with aquarius creep.

- doubled the size of mirror shard reflected projectiles

- mirror shard now orbits on the same layer as cube of meat

- Friendly fire auras

- Smoly caves fix

- Lil ff + fires fix

- Fix callbacks being somewhat broken

- Fix ice blocks

- Fix empty rooms

- We've been hard at work on chapter 2, which has been gradually taking form and is already looking to top what we produced for chapter 1. In addition to Tomb, we've also gone back to add an extra layer of polish to Glacier. With that in mind, we would like to introduce the Champion update.

- Champion forms of each boss. These unlock once you've killed each boss once, and have their own unique look and very unique mechanics, while retaining the initial flavour of the original line up.

- 3 New Enemies. Yellow Snow, Stalagtrite and Ice Worms, along with a bunch of new rooms to take advantage of these chilly fellas.

- 1 New Item. Lil Frost Rider. A feisty little customer inspired by one of our favourite bosses from chapter 1.

- In addition to this, Narcissus has had some heavy rebalancing, optimisation and new active items added to his attacks. With some extra reskins for vanilla enemies that find their way into Glacier, with some greed waves thrown in for good measure. Along with various bug fixes for a number of issues affecting the mod in general.

- And last but not least, a little treat for anyone interested in chapter 2: Tomb. The splash art featuring all the bosses, and the new playable character.

- https://i.imgur.com/wC345gz.jpg

- Hopefully this will tide you over until Tomb. We'll aim to tease some of the items over the coming weeks as more of chapter 2 comes to fruition. Thank you to everyone for your great feedback and your amazing support.

- Sarah gains a halo when she will get an angel room

- New character menu icon for Sarah

- Fixed seed changing and caves 2 having the same layout as glacier 2

- Fixed boss music in catacombs

- Chargers and maggots got a glacier reskin

- Brother bloody shotspeed down

- Chill Grace Period & Sarah Grace Blocked on greed mode

- Fix AB floor rooms not working

- Fix Stalag Phase 2 Sounds

- Stalactite got a Tell

- Disabling locked items instead of rerolling them

- Fixed snow particles not appearing in phase 2 for stalagmight

- Boss system restructure, shouldn't bug out now, other than not making the original boss visible for a split second

Tboi Revelations Wiki

- Frost rider is forced with BoR

- Burning bush buff, now constant dmg increase in tears, slightly longer fire, and warms you in chill rooms by a bit

- Warm auras now fade out instead of instadisappearing

- Fix braziers respawning

- New commands

- Floor transition music

- More debugging for boss error

- Updated titlescreen sprites

- Added External Item Descriptions support (WORK IN PROGRESS, SOME DESCRIPTIONS ARE INCORRECT)

- Flurry ice block spawn creates a poof

- Hyper dice corruption

how do i get it to work? if u know please contact me on discord: Giorno Giovanna#6477

Giovanna#6477 and ur name is kuyasu? how ironic

i like it

undefined i cant leave the first room after defeating the boss... does anyone know how to fix this?

who's from TearOfGrace

me notswipez

good but im not have afterbirth +

afterbirth + cuz when you get afterbirth + you cant change it to afterbirth so its afterbirth + only

Can you use this for Afterbirth? On the Steam mods page, it says it is compatible with the DLCs Afterbirth and Afterbirth+

Also i have no ideas how to download mods

HOW DO I ACTIVATE THIS MOD

nice mod go go go go

making Mods takes time. however Revelations Chapter 2 has been shown off a bit. I've seen the Thumbnail so it should be here sooner or later.

its out look at steam

i made that post months ago. i know it's out.

no you dont stop lying dude

I hope that you will continue to work on this mod . I'm waiting for chapter 2

This mod is so good, that once completed, it could rival Antibirth! this mod is amazing!

soooo... can u made this for rebirth???

GOOD MODING: defiantly download and play if you finish the normal games with one character

When i put mod folder to mods , this folder will be removed when i run the game.

Having the same problem.

Nevermind. Remove the numbers behind the folders name and it should work.

about the Heavenly Bell. what are the speficif effects it can have. i saw the 'Crawlspace under the dead shopkeeper' one. but what does the rest of the effects do?

THIS IS THE BEST MOD THANK YOU SO MUCH!

This mod won't work for me. I've followed every guide I could find so far and still nothing.

nice mod bro

afterbirth +

is for afterbirth or rebirth?

its for afterbirth+

ÐŸÑ€Ð¸Ð²ÐµÑ‚ Ð²ÑÐµÐ¼! HI Guys. I am not speak English Sorry. Ð¢Ð°Ðº Ð²Ð¾Ñ‚ ÑÑ‚Ð¾Ñ‚ Ð¼Ð¾Ð´ Ð‘ÐžÐ–Ð•Ð¡Ð¢Ð’Ð•ÐÐÐ•Ð!

Real pro work, congrats Anonymous_Koala. I wish it could work for afterbirth+.

but it does .-.

Well, then it's even better!

The best mod ... ever...

nah i think antibirth is better

This looks rad! i'll have to get it after I complete my 100%!

The Binding Of Isaac Revelations Chapter 2 Free Download

Indeed! there are a lot of mods I want to try, but I want to finish the game normally first. After that, the good stuff will ensue!

Love the concept of the mod, and enjoyed playing it too. The only problem I have with it is when I fought the new harbinger-guy (forgot his name ), after some time he stopped moving, and when I killed him the flys he spawned in ice could not be destroyed (destroying the run). Other than that, I really like this mod.

404, downloads not found

How can i install this? I try to just put it on my aftherbirth+ modÂ´s folder And nothing... Help!!

download by steam workshop

does it work for just afterbirth?

nops...sowwyy

You can find it on the steam workshop, download it from there and THEN you can play it with AB and AB+

I can't wait for more ;)

this mod is really Beautiful

This mod is great!!

hello there

anonymous_koala respect for going down to the comments and answering

Uh. How do I instaaall?

Put it in your Afterbirth+ Mods folder in 'my games'.

My opinion of the mod:

I love the sprites and the concept of the new floor. Amazing job!

wonderin' if it will work...

Now this, this is a good mod.

Steam Workshop::Revelations (Obsolete)

Nice mod siiir

0 notes

ahiddenpath · 6 years

Text

Vidja Games

So I checked out Game Informer’s list of the top 300 greatest video games, and they are objectively wrong, lol (I can’t imagine the fights that went into making this list??)!

I’m no critic, and I’m not interested in attempting to objectively rate games, but here are my (subjective) faves in rough order-ish, if you’re interested! They are arranged by franchise for my sanity below the cut.

The Elder Scrolls (TES)

My all time favorite video game series is TES, although I wasn’t able to stomach playing I and II. In order, my favorites are: Morrowind, then Oblivion, then Skyrim.

Morrowind is unfriendly to casual gamers, and even experienced folks need to learn the lay of the enormous world, how to fast travel, and even how to level and plan characters to best effect. The learning curve is enormous, and if you decide to play a different type of character later on, you’re stuck! You might even have to start over, since you level your character by increasing the major and minor skills you chose upfront.

But I have never experienced such an open, imaginative world. The later installments felt both smaller and less varied. In Morrowind, you’ll find everything from sprawling floating cities to houses built into enormous mushrooms, with ashlands, swamps, and mountainous terrains in between, complete with hell-on-earth smack-dab in the middle of everything.

Oblivion is more user-friendly than Morrowind, and it has some of the most engaging quests in the series. What it loses in environmental diversity and sheer exploration potential, it almost- almost- compensates for in fun quests (there’s much less ‘fetch me some swamp muck’ involved), easier transportation, and the wonderful world of Shivering Isles, an expansion.

Skyrim is the most accessible of the three by far, and it’s forgiving in that it allows players to change their play style on the fly with little repercussions. It also has the best combat. Sadly, the repetitive environments make it far less compelling to explore than its predecessors, which is a huge part of TES’s charm for me. I also found the enemies repetitive. The more fanciful enemies are almost absent, and the few that exist are tied to specific daedric quest lines. Do you know how hard it is to recharge enchanted items when you only encounter a handful of daedra? Wolves and trolls just don’t fill them back up well.

Also, while the accessibility widens the target audience considerably, it cuts into the customization options previously available to more experienced gamers. That was a huge disappointment for me, personally.

To be clear, though, I still adore Skyrim.

Personal anecdote: My Morrowind strategy book was so worn that it fell apart, so I punched holes in the pages and kept it in a binder. I took out the fast travel map and the local map of whatever area I was combing to find a dungeon door tucked into a cave hidden behind ivy or whatever. I still have it; it’s a sentimental treasure.

The Sims

The more open-ended a game is, the more I like it, and The Sims is king of that arena! For me, 3 is by far the best installment. 2 introduced the idea of having types of Sims with personal goals to meet to create direction for the player, but ultimately, it felt like I was stuck with the same five Sims over and over again. The wishes and moodlet system of 3, along with the five slots for personality traits, gave me so much more power to create Sims that felt like actual characters.

I... don’t even want to know how much of my life I’ve put into The Sims...

My ranking: 3>1>2>4

It should be noted that I didn’t mind 1′s lack of direction, since my imagination alone is way more than enough to pull me forward in a sandbox game. In comparison, 2 felt restrictive by creating five character types, limiting me to that in a way I couldn’t ignore.

Personal anecdote: I received the original Sims for Christmas when I was in middle school. I accidentally played from bed time until 4 AM, which is the closest I’ve ever come to pulling an all-nighter.

Sonic the Hedgehog

WHERE DO I EVEN START WITH THE BLUE BLUR.

Sonic was an enormous part of my childhood, guys. I played all the games. I watched both cartoons (the one with Sally and the Freedom Fighters and the one where it’s just Sonic/Tails/Eggman/some robots), I learned to read with the comic books. I have a vivid memory of my brother taunting me by refusing to let me see his comics “because I couldn’t read”... So I spite-learned using the comics when he wasn’t paying attention.

I don’t think I can pick a favorite! As a kid, I played Sonic 3 the most; I was a huge Knuckles fan, so that might have played a role (also the original Sonic was too difficult for me at the time, although I certainly tried). But I also loooooved Sonic Adventure and Sonic Adventure 2. And Sonic Generations was so much fun!

Mario Bros

Lord, I was playing Mario games before I could read, I don’t... Mario has always been around for me, okay? It’s a huge part of my story, and the franchise is so iconic that there’s little for me to say. There are way too many amazing games in this franchise for me to name, but personal faves include: Super Mario RPG, Super Mario World, and Yoshi’s Island.

The Legend of Zelda

This is another franchise where I don’t know what to say... It’s too iconic for me to offer much. Zelda games are known for their exploration and adventure, even from the beginning. Ocarina of Time was a big part of my childhood, but I also adore the newest installment, Breath of the Wild. And I know this may be silly, but I love Hyrule Warriors! I can’t wait to play it on the Switch with all the DLC.

And the music??? Guys????? THE MUSIC?!?!?!

Bioshock

Amazing atmosphere, fun game play, and one of the best stories in gaming history add up to an unforgettable experience. Also a fore-runner to the idea of playing dialogue and recordings while the player explores, a trend that caught on in a huuuge way.

Persona

It’s hard to describe Persona games... They basically combine Jungian psychology with various mythologies, sprinkle in some horror (or glob it on in the case of 3), throw in an RPG, and add a heaping serving of everyday high school life. The games tackle a wide range of ideas and game play, creating a unique experience that has drawn a devoted following.

I’ll make this quick:

3: Best story and atmosphere, worst/most needlessly frustrating game play, very prickly cast lol

4: Best characters and character development

5: Best game play (exquisitely polished game play, really), best overall style, worst story and character development

My ranking is 4>3>5. It should probably be noted that story and character are king for me, so while 5 was incredibly polished mechanics wise, the comparatively weak story and characters sunk it to the bottom of the list for me. It was one of those games where I understood where they were going hours ahead of time, and then they would explain��“the twist” to the player for half an hour over and over and over. Frankly, it was... kind of insulting, and soured the experience for me.

Also, Mona, I swear to god, how am I supposed to pass school if you don’t let me study or do my homework because you think I need to sleep at 5 PM every day ahhhhh! XD

Harvest Moon

Oh god, here’s another franchise I don’t want to delve into in terms of hours I’ve spent playing O_O

I can’t even explain why I like these games... In HM, you are a farmer, and your job is usually to prove to the villagers that you’re a valuable member of society so that they won’t evict you from your own inherited property. (I’m curious about their deeds and legal policies, lol. How do you write that clause up?).

These games combine farming with socialization and light dating sim elements, and time management is the name of the game. They pull in players by tapping into the universal desire to create order and advancement.

My favorite installment is Friends of Mineral Town. I also adored Harvest Moon 64, but the controls are sadly too dated for me to replay it.

Pokemon

I’m sure I’ve missed at least one, but I’ve played almost every mainstream release of Pokemon since Red and Blue came out. It must be doing something right, lol!

I’m a huge sucker for games where you choose monsters to raise. It’s so fun to assemble a team based on your tastes and raise them just so!

My favorite release is the remake of Gold and Silver.

Monster Rancher 2

OH MY LORD I played this game to the point where I’m shocked the disc still works. In Monster Rancher 2, you find monsters by placing discs into your Play Station, which each encode a monster. In order to access the strongest monsters, you must raise your rank as a trainer by winning official tournaments.

I wish I could explain why I latched on to this particular game so hard, but... I think it had something to do with the massive variety of monsters, the difficulty of the tournaments (I never did hit S rank, and not for lack of trying!), and the myriad of odd ways to unlock special monsters.

Mario Kart

Seriously, who doesn’t like smiting friends and family on the race track? MK is a fun, family-friendly way to deliver a beat down... As long as you contain your desire to cuss like a sailor, anyway.

It’s so hard to pick a favorite here! It’s hard to top the original for the challenge... But Double Dash and Infinity are contenders, too.

Danganronpa

Danganronpa games are visual novels that mix survival, horror, and crime-solving into a dark, bizarre, unique experience. I’ve written a ton about this series lately, so I won’t delve into it here, but you can check out the danganronpa tag on my blog for more.

Kingdom Hearts

These games are so charming and fun to play! I’ve never completed one on my own- linear games are rough for me- but I’ve seen my husband play them all, even the (many) extra installments. KH2 is probably my favorite, although Birth by Sleep was amazing, too.

Final Fantasy

I’ll admit that I don’t really enjoy playing Japanese RPGs; linear gameplay doesn’t appeal to me much in general. But the FF franchise is famous for its sweeping narratives, imaginative environments, and breath-taking music, and I enjoy them for that. I’ve watched my husband play X-XV, and I briefly joined him in playing XI and XIV. My favorite is probably X... Although I have an enormous crush on Ignis from XV.

My favorite FF game to play is Theaterhythm: Curtain Call.

Mass Effect

How do I say this... I don’t think I’ve ever played a game that better simulated becoming an entire universe’s hero and moral center. In Mass Effect, you shape the world and the political climate in unprecedented ways. By the end of 3, every player is so deeply invested in their Shepard and the world s/he created. In that sense, it’s en epic experience without peer.

Destiny

I love playing Destiny with my husband and our friend! I’m a titan, Tony is a hunter, and our buddy is a warlock, and together, we are... three guardians, lol!

Okay, so the vanilla Destiny release needed some help, but it became a great game with the expansions. I’m still waiting for that breath of rejuvenation for 2, but I treasure the time we spend together kicking ass as a team.

Left 4 Dead

This game redefined what co-op meant to me. I always thought of it as Halo, basically competing on the same team against other players. And yeah, you do that in L4D... But the cooperation angle that this game brought to the table was more or less unprecedented.

In L4D, if your team of ragtag survivors doesn’t work together, it’s unlikely that anyone will survive. I spent a lot of free time in college playing this with my friends spread out over different schools. I had so, so much fun with it.

Although 2 had more varied game play, which was great, I enjoyed the original more, mostly because the online game play wasn’t as loaded in favor of the zombie team. Objectively speaking, though, the sequel was the more robust game.

Personal anecdote: L4D is where I learned about dealing with males online. With Halo, which I also played at the time, I only enjoyed it enough to play it with people I knew. I loved L4D so much that I would log in to play even when my friends weren’t available, which meant that I was teamed with random players.

I have a very feminine voice, which apparently means that I am meant to be treated like crap online. Even though it’s a co-op game, and communication is important, I spent most of my sessions with the headset turned off.

Borderlands

THIS GAME, I HAD SO MUCH FUN WITH IT! The crass humor, the expanse of wastelands, the gun-slinging insanity, the incredible couch co-op! What’s not to love?

Sadly, the sequel was a downgrade from the original, but the first game was an amazing ride. I’ve been considering replaying it with Tony with all of the DLC.

Metal Gear

I’ve never played these myself, but I watched my husband play the first three. They’re so cinematic and goofy and over-the-top and awesome! I love breaking out my Solid Snake gravel voice, too. My favorite is... probably 3? It’s hard to pick between 2 and 3, though...

Disgaea

Hmm... How to describe these games... They’re tactics games, I guess? And there’s a lot of story, too... Game play wise, the later installments perfect what the earlier ones started, but you can’t beat the story and characters of the original. Laharl is still one of my all-time favorite male video game characters. He’s... such a brat? I love him???

Honorable mentions in no order (ie, I’m tired of writing descriptions, sorry to the rest of these games):

Halo, Dragon Age, Fallout 3, Ratchet & Clank, Resident Evil, Portal, Soul Calibur, Tetris Attack, Uncharted, Ms. Pacman, the Batman Arkham games

EDIT: I forgot Nier: Automata and Super Smash Bros! FOR SHAME!

#video games #vidja games #hidden's favorite video games #my favorite games

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shadyobservationtragedy · 4 years

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Arma 3 Contact Communicate With Alien Entity

Arma 3 Contact Communicate With Alien Entity Search

Arma 3 Contact Communicate With Alien Entity Alien

PLEASE NOTE, YOU WILL NEED THE MAIN GAME 'ARMA 3' TO PLAY THIS EXPANSION (DLC). ABOUT THIS GAME What if humanity suddenly encounters extraterrestrial intelligence on Earth? Bohemia Interactive presents: Arma 3 Contact –. Departing from its long-standing tradition as a highly-realistic military-sim, the Arma 3 ‘Contact’ expansion pits players against mysterious aliens. Although one would think that putting aliens as your enemy would degrade your reputation as a military simulator, does it really? After all, considering the unfathomable expanse of the universe, it is highly unlikely that aliens.

Alien Entities (Arma 3: Contact) Alien Grunt; Alien Hominid; Alien Reef (Hungry Shark) Aliens (The Hum) Alimbic; Alkari; Allayi; Allosaurus (FMM-UV 32) Amblyr; Amoeboid; Amorphous Trandicula; Amperi; Amphituber; Andrewsarchus (FMM-UV 32) Category:Android App Species; Angara; Anglerfish (Outer Wilds) Anjellyun; Anode Beetle; Anodite; Antenna Beetle. If you pre-order Arma 3 Contact before the official release date, you can start testing the new terrain as of right now (with the new weapons, vehicles, and gear to follow soon). The expansion's singleplayer campaign will unlock later on Arma 3 Contact's planned release date on July 25.

Arma 3 players patiently waiting for the alien encounter expansion to be rolled out for the online military, simulation, first person shooter, will be pleased to know that it is now available via Steam priced at $27.99, €24.99 or £21.99 depending on your location. Check out the launch trailer below to learn more about what you can expect from the new Arma 3 Contact expansion and the single player campaign.

“What if humanity suddenly encounters extraterrestrial intelligence on Earth? Bohemia Interactive presents: Arma 3 Contact – a spin-off expansion about the most important discovery in the history of mankind. As a soldier deployed to Livonia’s militarized Nadbór region, you will be among the first to study our alien visitors and determine their intentions. However, amid the tension and chaos, armed conflict inevitably unfolds. Arma 3 Contact’s military science fiction campaign arrives together with a massive new terrain, and introduces new factions, weapons, vehicles, outfits, equipment, and more to the wider Arma 3 sandbox.”

If you’re interested in Arma 3 Contact but do not yet own the Arma 3 base game, we recommend purchasing the Arma 3 Contact Edition. This includes the Contact expansion plus the Arma 3 base game at a much lower price than when both are bought separately. For those that don’t delay a 10% launch discount via Steam is available until August 1st, 2019.

Source: Steam

Filed Under: Gaming News, Top News

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Released 25 Jul 2019

I was as skeptical as anyone when the news showed up that the next Arma 3 expansion was going to be about aliens. 'Oh no,' I thought, 'this always goes badly.' And while the game's latest content pack, Contact, winds up being a fun kind of X-Files diversion into what can happen in single player, it's of limited use to anyone who thinks about Arma as a war simulator.

Look: I'll save you the trouble of reading the rest of this review. If you're hoping for weird alien technology that you can work into your warfighting scenarios, this package doesn't have it. For the purposes of general Arma play, what you get with this is basically a couple of robots, and that's about it. When we work this piece of DLC into our master list of 'Arma Stuff You Must Have,'Contact will rank very near the bottom. That being said, I liked this campaign a lot. Contact shows Bohemia and its partners at their most creative, although as ever this weird scenario does come down to a cold war popping off hot in a small regional area that is, strangely enough, cut off from the rest of the world's communications.

Here's the gist: You are Spc. Aiden Rudwell, a linguist-turned-drone operator on a field exercise near the Russian border in a fictional state called Livonia. You're in some comms unit working with local Livonian partners on a combined arms exercise that's definitely not supposed to annoy anyone on the other side of the wire.

Quickly things go pear shaped, thanks in no small part to a PFC you're friends with who was already on latrine duty and has global conspiracy theories on the brain. A routine drone training exercise results in an armed bomb landing within walking distance of your lookout point and, well, guess who gets to check it out?

This all takes place so you can get acquainted with your first bit of new equipment: There's the drone, yes, but what you'll be married to for this entire exercise is the Spectrum Device: A tool that can jam radio, pick up radio signals, and work out where those signals are coming from.

As the campaign progresses, you'll use the Spectrum Device to send spoof missions to enemy command and work out where enemy squads are working. It's not a bad piece of kit, on paper - you can spot-jam enemy communications - but it feels like you're carrying out the most basic of tasks.

Indeed, the campaign has you use this piece of equipment over and over - mainly to make sure the people at an area you want to go to aren't there when you get there. And that's all fine. But even when you get a new antenna for it that lets you 'communicate' with extraterrestrials, its use is strictly limited by the script of the story. Within that story, there are some admittedly clever bits, I should say. Using a recorded 'move left' order from Livonian command on an enemy (look, it's complicated) squad prowling out in the woods at night feels very Cold War Kids, at least once I worked out what it was the game wanted me to do.

The other headline piece of tech that comes with this expansion is the ED-1 UGV, which is a tracked R/C car with an armature, probe, and camera on it. As you might expect, it's a fun little toy to mess around with at first, but it's only useful within the bounds of the story missions Contact sets up for it. Even then, what you're ultimately doing with it most of the time is 'go to location A to poke thing B.'

You could uncharitably say that about most Arma objectives, sure. And it's what Contact does to layer meaning onto those simple tasks that makes it a fun X-Files style diversion. It feels fresh, mostly because instead of shooting things most of the time you're waving a radio antenna around in the woods, trying not to get spotted. The missions open up a bit in the middle acts, and you can choose which order you want to take on objectives, but narratively they all boil down to a core of well-meaning military officers and scientists trusting the future of humanity to an E-4 and his ability to make his way through the woods with a radio jammer. Having spent some time as an E-4 myself, I don't like our odds.

Contact has some truly standout moments baked into the campaign (which I won't spoil), and you've certainly never seen in Arma before. Alien tech makes certain things spookily hover just above the ground sometimes, and the scenario writers were smart enough to keep the actual aliens themselves hidden from you. The rest relies on scary noises and lights in the woods combined with what your own brain makes up for the majority of its runtime. But as diverting as those moments are, it doesn't change the fact that the storyline is a bit hamfisted, and at best might have made for a middling two-episode X-Files arc. That's enough to keep me entertained for a few hours, and I suspect the same is true for quite a few Arma players. Thankfully the payoff, when you get it, is pretty grand.

Arma 3 Contact Communicate With Alien Entity Search

However, that's not near enough to put this on any list of truly ‘essential’ Arma DLC, particularly when you realize that the hardware it introduces is effectively useless outside that scripted story campaign. The Spectrum Device is literally unusable anywhere outside Contact's story missions, and the UGV it brings in is effectively the same - unless modders want to start adding 'probe material at location X,Y' to their list of missions in Arma's sandbox.

A couple other notes worth mentioning: Contact brings with it a new landmass, Livonia, and that's certainly interesting enough. It's some hilly woodland featuring a radar base and steep terrain - it's nothing particularly dramatic, but it's certainly more land on which to do Arma things. I was, however, disappointed to find that Contact seemed to make Arma 3 perform even worse on recommended settings than it had before, and this was after I had installed a brand new RTX 2070 Super graphics card in my PC. This is a game that's feeling its age.

All that said, I hope it's pretty clear where Contact lands in the panoply of Arma 3 add-on content. From a wargamer's perspective it's probably the least essential piece of DLC Bohemia has ever put out for the game. But it's an entertaining and, by Arma standards, unique story experience that's worth playing through once, and that bit at least is characterized by Bohemia's pleasingly authentic ear for military dialogue and characters, even if it can be a bit uneven and cartoony at times.

But Contact is also Arma 3's most expensive piece of DLC, with a price tag that's higher than the massive and game-changing Apex expansion. Contact, sadly, makes almost no impact on the broader game and even at its highest moments never really justifies itself. It's a fun little story, and that's it - unlike almost any other piece of DLC, it doesn't make Arma 3 itself more interesting at all.

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game-reviews-by-cody-blog · 7 years

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First review: Call of Duty World at War

My first review will be of Call of Duty Word at War the fifth installment of the franchise Call of Duty or CoD as it is more commonly know and referred to and will be used for the sake of brevity in this review. World at War was released November 11th 2008 in North America and is one of the most highly regarded games of the CoD franchise. I will be sectioning this review into several parts so as to give as full a scope of the game as I can.

Plot: The plot of this game takes place throughout WWII, mainly sticking to two theaters of war. The first being the Pacific theater where you as the player control Pvt. C.Miller of Carlson’s 2nd Marine Raiders. As Pvt. Miller you take part in several important campaigns such as the capture of the Peleliu airfield, the battle of Okinawa, and the assault on Shuri castle.

Pvt. C. Miller. Photo from call of duty wiki

The second theater of the war the game has you play in is the Eastern front. Where the player takes control of Pvt. Dimitri Petrenko of the 3rd Shock Army of the Soviet union. Pvt. Petrenko just like Pvt. Miller fights in several historical battles including, the siege of Stalingrad, the battle of Seelow Heights, the invasion of Berlin, and the capture of the Reichstag (the German parliament building).

Pvt. Dimitri Petrenko. Photo from call of duty wiki.

During these missions you have fellow soldiers that play significant parts in the story. For Pvt. Miller there is Sgt. Sullivan (who dies in the initial attack on Peleliu) Sgt. Roebuck (initially starts out as a Cpl. but is promoted after Sullivan’s death) and finally Pvt. Polonsky a young new solider who joins you team before the battle of Peleliu. For Pvt. Petrenko there is Sgt. Reznov the man who helps you survive Stalingrad, and Pvt. Chernov, a solider in the red army who’s more compassionate morals frequently tend to clash with Sgt. Reznov’s more brutal ones towards the German soldiers.

At the climax to Pvt. Miller’s campaign there is a moment were the player must choose to either save Sgt.Roebuck’s life or Pvt. Polonsky’s from the hands of Japanese soldiers who faked surrendering. This choice comes suddenly and without much warning this causes the final battle to be very emotional as you have just watched one of your closest allies die at the hands of your enemy when you were so close to going home. This does a great deal to add to both Roebuck and Polonsky’s character (depending on who you choose to save) not to mention making the ending very bittersweet once you have achieved victory.

A somewhat similar situation happens in Pvt. Petrekno’s campaign. Just before he and his squad can enter the Reichstag Pvt. Chernov is severely burned by a German solider with a flamethrower. This leads Sgt. Reznov to kill the soldier in revenge. But before Reznov and the others enter the building he takes Chernov’s diary in an act of compassion towards his fallen comrade and says, “Someone should read this.”

Black Cats mission icon. Photo from call of duty wiki.

One mission in the game however is a outlier as you play neither as Pvt. Miller nor Pvt. Petrenko. Instead you play as Petty Officer Locke, a gunner on a PBY Catalina or Black Cat with the callsign Mantaray. You and your crew along with a second Black Cat callsign Hammerhead attack a Japanese merchant fleet carrying supplies to Okinawa. Shortly afterwards your radio man receives word that a fleet of U.S. ships has been attack by Japanese Kamikazes. In the process of responding to the distress call Hammerhead is shot down by Zeros which leaves you the sole defender of the fleet and rescuer of those in the water until reinforcements can arrive. You are saved at the by last minute by a squad of Fu 4 Corsairs as three Zeros bare down on your aircraft. This mission is very similar to the mission Liberators in CoD 2: The Big Red One where you play as a crew member of a B24 Liberator for a single mission.

This mission feels a little strange however. It takes you out of the boots on the ground action you have been used to up until now and puts you more into an on rails shooter. It is a definitely fun and interesting mission however, one could argue that it messes up the games pacing. So far the game has had more of a rising action and this mission being placed pretty much in the middle of the campaign it can be argued that it slows down or even stops the rising tension. This does not mean the mission is bad, it is quite fun and is very unique to the standard gameplay that has happen up to this point. However, having it this far into the campaign seems to detract from the ongoing stories tension.

Overall the plot is pretty solid with good characters, some very good plot twists, and a very unique mission in the form of Black Cats. Score 8/10

Controls: This section fairly strait forward and will look at the game’s default control setup. CoD has used a very easy to learn and master control layout since Call of Duty 3. This control layout consists of, left trigger to aim down sights of your equipped weapon, right trigger to fire the currently equipped weapon, left bumper to throw special grenades, right bumper to throw regular grenades, left stick to move and when pushed in to sprint, right stick to look around and to melee when clicked in, X button to reload currently equipped weapon, Y button to swap weapons, B to crouch or if double hit or held to go into a prone position, and finally the A button to jump. This control layout is so easy to pick up and learn not to mention being very efficient with the buttons provide on a standard controller it has been used in nearly every CoD to date and is used by various other first person shooter games including CoD’s rival the Halo series where this control layout was offer to players in Halo 5 Guardians where it is called the Fish stick layout. This control layout plays smooth and makes the best of a dual stick controller. These controls are so good in fact that some call them the universal shooter controls as they are used or some version of the are used in most first person shooter games that are released.

Overall when talking about a control layout that has stood the test of time like this and has been used by multiple other games and was even a layout offered to those in a rival game there is no doubt that they are top notch. Score 10/10

Graphics: This portion will explore the games graphics how good they were at the time of release and if they hold up today. As stated earlier World at War was released back in 2008 making the game at the time of writing this review nine years old. At the time of release the graphics were rather good and made the best used of the power of the consoles at the time. Nowadays however its age is clearly starting to show as much higher definition games such as CoD Infinite Warfare and CoD WWII come out on more powerful consoles with HD graphics capabilities. One aspect of the graphics is quite unique however, and that would be it’’s graphic depictions of injuries. This was the first CoD game in the franchise where if someone was killed via an explosion or by a high caliber weapon limbs would be ripped/torn off leaving bloody stumps with portions of bone protruding from them. This was one if it’s huge selling points back in the day, and to this day a CoD had yet to recapture that truly graphic content until the recent release CoD WWII. This gore/graphic content still holds up quite well adding an extra sense of realism and shock value to the game.

Overall the graphics are still fairly decent for a game that is close to 10 years old but, what really adds the proverbial cherry on top is the the graphic injuries and gore truly illustrating how devastating both war and the weapons you are using to fight it can be. Score 8/10

Multiplayer/extra modes: This category is dedicated to a game’s multiplayer or any bonus modes the game may include other than it’s main story line. WaW as with the majority of CoD games has a multiplayer where one can play in various game types against others who through an online connection are playing the game too, as well with most CoD game its multiplayer was touted as one of the best at the time of its release. A rarity in this installment of the CoD franchise was the ability to play the game’s story mode either in a split-screen mode or with others online, a feature that not return to the franchise for quite some time. Today WaW’s multiplayer is is not often played as there are many more CoD games that offer much better experiences, as well hacking is quite rampant in it today leading to games that very hard to enjoy. A mode that made it’s debut in WaW was Nazi Zombies, a game mode that was unlocked after the story mode was completed. The mode was initially only meant to be a bonus for the player however, its popularity exploded leading to an expansion of the mode with several DLCs adding new maps a story line and characters. The Zombies game mode would go on to become as staple in the CoD franchise spawning many additions and spinoffs.

Overall the multiplayer experience is a far cry from what it once was though it does earn some merit for the co-op campaign. The Zombies game mode does give it a good boost however, with it’s linear style and lack of diversity it’s not enough to pull it back. Score 7/10.

Thank you for reading my review of Cod WaW, and if you have any comments or questions feel free to share them with me. I want to be able to have a dialog with people so that I can be better at doing reviews as well as making others feel like that have some input as well.

#Cod #Waw #call of duty #world at war #gaming #game reviews #video game reviews

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salsabythebay · 5 years

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Assassin's Creed Unity

I used to make pre-orders well in advance on big releases and especially collector's editions. The last Assassin's Creed Unity did not escape the rule! I was able to recover a lot of DLC and a beautiful pocket watch thanks to the special edition of Amazon.

After a meticulous unpacking, I insert the toast in the toaster and the PS4 starts to install the game. First surprise for me, the installation time is very slowbut on the other hand when we know that the city of reference for this title is Pariswe have no doubt that the content must be colossal. Only here, just the game installed, it is necessary to download two important updates… and as in the majority of games, even if you can play it remains essential to connect to servers Ubisoft.

Ubisoft servers … But since when is it necessary to connect an account UPlay to play? Mmmmh … Since some versions of the game actually … Of course it brings " bonus But somewhere it's surprising because when I buy a game console, I like that the online functions are related to my account PSN … and especially not to be forced to create a rely on another site (in the publisher site) to access game content or privileged content. Finally, it seems to be a contagious disease, EA (see the last two Mass Effect) we already made the blow for a long time why not Ubisoft.

Whatever, the game is launched! No, is it really the game? Not sure, we start with a presentation of the famous Abstergo software that allows you to explore the story. But after a minimalist introduction (unlike Assassin's Creed III where the intro was almost a third of the game) we start to explore Versailles then Paris.

pretty similar interface what we used to see if it is that the username appears at the top left of the screen, above the life bar. In the menu options, it should be noted that the interface is defined in widgets that can be turned on or off at leisure. Finally there … no, it bug so it does not work, we bet that the download update will fix it. In short, we remain in known territory, likewise the Arno hero's control system is identical. It will also be noted that an effort has been made to improve the fluidity of travelit is no longer necessary to press the right button at the right moment to jump from one platform to another or over a chasm … One could rejoice in this " casualization If it could really improve Arno's handling. But this is not the case.

We regret that this simplification already initiated at the level of combat (since Assassin's Creed III) does not really improve travel. We find ourselves in effect with many unwanted jumps, improbable acrobatics making some access impossible (hatches, ladders, windows …) for example Arno systematically jump over a roof hatch (provided with scale) rather than suspend as could be done in previous titles. It's so much annoying it will take the scale in the perfect alignment to go down otherwise it's simply impossible. It's even more painful when you have to infiltrate quickly in a house (example of the last mission of the theater where one must kill a brigand particularly well guarded).

The scales, true problem in combat because it's impossible to climb them for the simple reason that you can not leave your target unless you run away from it (awesome in a closed environment) even when you use smoke to escape. Some will say it is enough to face the enemy … Certainly but to face the enemy, it is necessary to be relatively well equipped and to be level. Remember the Teutonic knights of the very first Assassin's Creed, well here it is, it gives you the balance of power with some enemies that can kill you in one fell swoop, beautifully choreographed elsewhere … Anyway, we would happily do without when it happens 3, 5, 10 times in a row … And yes, if you had lost the habit of dying since Brotherhood you will quickly take it back … Indeed, it will not be rare to be killed by a rifleman! One bullet is enough. Yes, it's realistic, but of course … Good by cons do not hope to kill a guard level 3 (there are 5 levels visually marked by small circles above the target life bar) with a single ball. It even happens that some murders will go miserably and that you get pierced by a blade in the blink of an eye. It's so stealthy that sometimes we're there, staring stupidly at the screen watching Arno collapse without knowing why. A bullet, a blade, or whatever … It's a bit like there's latency in death, and it's very frustrating to be able to identify what killed you … Not at least as frustrating as being unable to launch menu no longer appears, not as frustrating as finding yourself in a unwanted fight and can not flee because targeting is persistent… and yes, the targeting is so " attended That you can not even choose to target or not … And so it is impossible to disable it except to run very far as I mentioned earlier, artificially increasing the difficulty and may be the life time.

ACIII although visually stunning had been a disappointment, both script and technical. Not to mention the craze to sell the game with 90% of the content and force the players wanting to finish 100% to buy the DLC … Finally it was already the case in previous Assassins Creed … But the collection of objects, hunting and the infinite travel time had made this game uninteresting to the possible… On the other hand, AC Black Flag had really reconciled me with the license by taking again the only real good idea of ACIII : navigation at sea. And suddenly, I had great expectations for this latest opus … Similarly, load times, fluidity of travel, framerate … in short there were many good things. And without the bar was put too high, we had to wait a little more Assassin's Creed Unity. We will note the recovery of the companion app to download on tablet or smartphone to see in real time Arno and make him do special missions to unlock in-game content Only if you do not have a tablet, there are chests that you will not be able to open… nice, right? But besides, you will have to buy the Premium application to access cards in co-op, to unlock exclusive content from the database (already present in the game! shit so we have to pay more to access what we bought …) unlock exclusive assassins … power recruit 5 additional assassins, unlock the music present in the game, double its "Nomad" points (other currency …). No you are not dreaming, you cauchemardez same … For information, to date, I still have not figured out how to unlock the chests with the application … So, zero interest, frustration one.

Skyrim since they have largely pumped the visual aspect … well let's go on there too.

can walk in a Paris in revolution, to visit the bastille and some other kindnesses, but apart from that, the Wonder is not at the rendezvous for a title quite simply banal. We will find the idea of the property to buy and improve. They did better than for ACIII, here it is a magnificent theater that will restore. In fact, the trick if you do not want to spend real money is to immediately bet on it! And wait until the dividends fall to improve it and so on … Otherwise you will tear your hair and you can not progress calmly.

Otherwise, I did not mention the online mode … must say that given the harm I had to join the Ubisoft servers … Yet the idea of doing the missions in cooperation is good! The idea of assassin's Creed with real players I have a problem, the "Club" that must be created disturbs me on a game that is intended to be offline … There is confusion of sorts and I do not like that. Soon the license will be fully online with a mission of two hours as a scenario … Assassin's Creed is a game that we enjoy, we investigate, we study, we learn, we compare the real story of the story told … But with the invasion of online content we are gradually losing the substantive marrow that made this license a game out of the ordinary.

AC Unity is extremely long to load for the current hardware, it trains on all media, it is limited to become unplayable, how is it possible? 2GB update in Day-One, servers missing, content to be redeemed immediately, recurring defects not corrected, new gameplay defects, and the introduction of micro-transactions to play as was done in the latest titles to explore everything, make money, collect weapons and armor before embarking on the background story? Not only Ubisoft sells us an unfinished game, kit and you have to pay extra to be able to play normally. But who's laughing at you? I think we hit the bottom!

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recentanimenews · 4 years

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Life After Re:Mind: A Personal Post-Mortem on Kingdom Hearts III

I’ve been on the Kingdom Hearts roller coaster for almost its entire run. For the uninitiated, that’s about 18 years, approximately eight games across five different platforms (not even counting all the re-releases), technically a movie, and an ongoing mobile game’s worth of my gaming dedicated to this one franchise. The iconic, almost infamous Disney x Square Enix mashup has certainly made its mark on the industry in its long history, and its most recent entry—Kingdom Hearts III—stood out as a highly-anticipated title with 13 years of build-up and six years of development.

While the state of its completion upon launch was rather questionable, a DLC add-on was rolled out almost a year later to fill in some of the gaps. Re:Mind was released on January 23 as a supplemental story that sought to provide further insight into the narrative and paint a more complete picture. It even added some new content and playable elements to boot.

For all intents and purposes, Re:Mind brings the story of KH3 to a close. But how well does it do that? Rather than simply review the DLC, I’d like to take a deep dive (pun intended) into how complete the game feels now. As a hopelessly-devoted Kingdom Hearts fan who wanted so much more out of KH3 initially, I went into Re:Mind hoping for the package to be more substantial. In many ways, Re:Mind delivers on its promise of a fuller experience. But from what I’ve played thus far, I’m still not very confident in saying that the game as a whole is in any way perfect.

But before we even get to Re:Mind, I should talk about my thoughts on the base game. After about a year of careful consideration, my reaction is lukewarm at best.

**MAJOR SPOILERS FOR KINGDOM HEARTS III BELOW**

I have to admit that those first couple of hours were magical. With so many installments touting completely different play styles, KH3 had a strong start. It began as a return to form for the franchise, combining its classic action-RPG gameplay with some of the best mechanics from other games in the series. I felt that my patience, tenuous as it was, was rewarded with a gameplay experience that was both nostalgic and refreshing.

But when that initial charm wore off and the game progressed, it started to take a bit of a nose dive. Its enormous worlds had almost nothing in them and the dazzling gameplay became so broken that I don’t think I got a Game Over throughout the entire story. Not to mention there were fan favorite characters that saw little to no spotlight, and the conclusion to the long-running Xehanort Saga that director Tetsuya Nomura promised us left more questions than answers.

I won’t say I hated it. Seeing characters like Terra, Roxas, and Xion make a comeback during the climax was so emotionally gratifying that I can barely think about those scenes without crying. With so many characters having been resigned to grim fates throughout the series, it was all too satisfying to see some happy endings go around. But even then, it was missing far too much to be among my favorite Kingdom Hearts games.

If you compare it to any other title in the franchise content-wise, KH3 was a barebones and almost empty affair that left much to be desired. The final chapter proved to be lackluster with its shockingly unchallenging clip show of bosses from games past and a last world that was barely explorable. And the bittersweet cherry on top came as Sora disappeared by the end of the Keyblade War while his friends were alive and well, an ending that was far too hard to swallow for a story that has long deserved a real and honest conclusion.

Re:Mind, in its entirety,sought to change at least some of this. This three-part DLC package (three parts that I know of, at least) promised to deliver more playable characters, a deeper insight into the story, more real gameplay challenges, and a glimpse into the future of Kingdom Hearts. I’ve played and struggled through the first two (Re:Mind and Limited Cut), and am currently working on conquering the third (Secret Episode). But I have plenty to say on the matter already.

I’ll go in order, starting with Re:Mind itself. As a retelling of the final chapter, this first episode went into further detail on Sora’s journey to rescue Kairi’s heart after she perished by Xehanort’s hand. His own heart traveled back through time to collect pieces of Kairi, passing through every Keyblade wielder during their final respective battles, which lent itself to allowing the player to take control of different characters and use their abilities.

This was, without a doubt, my favorite part of the DLC. It gave me everything I wanted out of the conclusion of KH3. It wasn’t difficult to get used to any of the new characters (gameplay translates rather consistently between each of them), but it was so exciting to have some of my favorites take an active part in the final conflict and truly helped to raise the emotional impact of their returns.

The big team-up between every Keyblade Master and Mickey Mouse’s unyielding efforts to fight back the darkness with his dwindling strength easily served as some of the most powerful gameplay moments in the entire series. It gave me the same kind of vibes I would get from watching epic anime battles ala Gurren Lagann or My Hero Academia. Characters from across the series overcame severe hardships in order to arrive at one last fight against Xehanort, which resulted in an immensely satisfying conclusion for the supporting cast.

What made this first part work was how it directly addressed some of the flaws of KH3’s denouement. While working its way into the main story, it was able to course correct much of the narrative payoff it tried to achieve the first time around. It was more than just Sora, Donald, and Goofy fighting one more evil person. It gave everyone a chance to shine and allowed its fans to be directly involved in seeing their stories through. Is it a perfect game after Re:Mind’s first chapter? Far from it. Do I lament that this content wasn’t available at launch? You bet I do. But Re:Mind itself was exactly the climax I wanted one year ago, and getting it now certainly counts for something in my book.

The same can hardly be said for what comes after.

Upon completing Re:Mind, you unlock the Limited Cut. Taking place one year after the main story, Riku and company have worked tirelessly trying to track down Sora with nothing to show for it. While trying to compare notes with Radiant Garden’s crew of Final Fantasy characters, they discover a strange collection of old Organization XIII data, and compile a digitized version of Sora to investigate it. This results in a gauntlet of bosses that pits you against beefed-up versions of the Organization members. And these fights are substantially more difficult than anything that the base game had to offer.

This could’ve been a good thing. One of the major complaints I had with the initial KH3 release was that you could very easily unlock combat abilities that were nigh-invincible and easily tore through any enemy the game threw at you, even final bosses and secret enemies. By and large, these new bosses offered no such luxury.

Reminiscent of KH2:FM, each Organization member required their own strategy and featured original gimmicks that you had to overcome. Almost none were so simple as “mashing the X button so you could press the Triangle button so you can mash X better.” This collection of newer bosses would’ve been nice to add as a secret room where you could test your abilities, and I certainly felt like a champion conquering them one by one. But it fails when you include it as a linchpin to the rest of the story.

Limited Cut presents itself as a legitimate continuation of Kingdom Hearts. In other words, surmounting this glut of superbosses was a requirement in order to know the rest of the story. That isn’t how superbosses should work. I enjoy being challenged with sidequests and extra content in any Kingdom Hearts game, but not when it serves as a barrier barring me from actual narrative. In the past, secret bosses were optional challenges that you could take on, where you’d be rewarded with extra scenes if you beat them. What came after Limited Cut hardly felt worth it. There were cutscenes to be had and I did learn something new in terms of what Riku must do to save Sora, but having to tear my hair out through several difficult bosses just for that one fact was the furthest thing from a fair tradeoff.

In fairness, that wasn’t all I got from beating Limited Cut. It granted me access to the Secret Episode, but that’s an entirely different beast as of now.

As the episode begins, we miraculously find Sora alive and well, albeit stranded in the Final World. He soon encounters a mysterious young man named Yozora (who you might remember from the Toy Box gag commercial and the original secret ending). Strangely enough, Yozora had been asked to “save Sora,” though his version of it seemed to involve drawing his weapon against him. So ensues one of the toughest, almost confusing boss battles I’ve ever encountered in Kingdom Hearts.

As of writing, I still have yet to defeat Yozora. I hope to do so soon just to see if anything comes after. If the secret content of previous games is any indication, it probably won’t be too much, but the potential of narrative compels me to see it through to the end. And that simply compounds the problem that the content after the main story seems to have.

There’s a stark difference between beating a regular boss to further the story and beating secret bosses to further the story. This unrelenting test of my skills feels more like a requirement for my KH3 experience rather than just a side challenge. The sense of accomplishment I might get from overcoming these enemies is diminished when you replace hidden content with vague and mandatory narrative as a reward. Of course I want to know more about what’s happening in the story, but having to work this hard for it has proven to be rather unappetizing.

The way I see it, the entire DLC package of Re:Mind worked at its best when it played into the game it’s attached to. The first chapter doesn’t fix all of the base game’s problems, but I found a much greater sense of gratification in seeing characters I’ve followed for years get a redo for their long-deserved epic comebacks. Unfortunately, it began to lose me as soon as the DLC started to stray away from the core experience.

As I mentioned before, Tetsuya Nomura promised us an ending to this saga of the Kingdom Hearts story. Even if the series continues from here, as it undoubtedly will, I still wanted that one decisive ending before moving on. I didn’t get it the first time around, what with the ambiguous final scene and two secret endings in the base game. Limited Cut and Secret Episode brought me even further from it, while kicking my ass to boot.

I wasn’t so naive as to think that Kingdom Hearts was ever going to end. The whole reason why I got the DLC in the first place was because I wanted more of it. When all's said and done, Re:Mind reflected my initial experience with Kingdom Hearts III. The first few moments dazzled me, but despite its best efforts and toughest challenges, there still remains so much more that could be done to salvage this game in its current, seemingly final, iteration.

Have you beaten Re:Mind yet? Which secret boss gave you the most trouble? Let us know in the comments!

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Carlos is a freelance features writer for Crunchyroll. Their favorite genres range from magical girls to over-the-top robot action, yet their favorite characters are always the obscure ones. Check out some of their satirical work on The Hard Times.

Do you love writing? Do you love anime? If you have an idea for a features story, pitch it to Crunchyroll Features!

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ftwrthtx · 6 years

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Developer Ivory Tower has unleashed the highly anticipated sequel to their 2014 release The Crew. Does The Crew 2 live up to the standards of its predecessor, or was the series a victim of the sophomore slump?

Read our review to find out

Ubisoft and Ivory Tower teamed up for The Crew and published it almost 4 years ago. The continued support with DLC and updates took an already great game ( we gave it an 8 upon release), and continued to make it better. New vehicles, and new vehicle classes, took the game to another level from launch and added a depth that we didn’t even realize was missing. Fast forward to now and The Crew 2 is fully released to the world, bringing with it even more vehicles and classes, adding even more depth to this fun racing title.Upon launching the game for the first time, you are introduced to the Extreme Racing series, and three of the racing classes that will be available to you. The opening sequence starts you out in a street car, racing at high speeds through a big city, then you’ll be tossed into a boat for some serious power boat racing, followed by some air time with some airplane racing, and then tossed back onto the street to finish out the course. No need to worry about how you finish because the introductory race is just for show and has no real bearing on the game. It is an awesome introductory experience, and should get you hyped about the fun that is to come.

So Many Racing Classes

Once you’ve finished the intro, you are given a choice of one four classes to begin with. You can head to LA for some Street racing, New York for some Pro Boat racing, the Midwest from some Off Road racing, or Salt Lake City from some Freestyle events. Whichever you choose, you’ll be given a vehicle to start out with and it can already hold its own with the beginner races. We went with the boat racing, because we wanted to try out something new with the series. Boat racing within the game isn’t just racing across flat water in an empty lake, it also includes open water racing in the ocean, where you’ll have to fight the waves of nature, as well as the waves from the boats in front of you, if you’re not leading of course.

As you finish races and meet the criteria of the event (usually that means finishing in the top 3), you’ll earn new parts for that class of vehicle. Quite often in games, these parts are locked to the specific vehicle or make that earned them, and you’ll have to grind out new parts for any future vehicle purchases within that class. Not so with The Crew 2. Unlock a new motorcore for your first boat, and you’ll also be able to install it into a future, possibly faster base boat. One of our favorite classes in the game is the drag racing class, and being able to swap out parts came in handy there. While we are huge Ford fans, and started out with an awesome drag class Mustang, we found out that the Chevy Corvette, and it pains us to say this, was the better drag racing car. Being able to swap out all of the previously earned parts took the Vette to a level above what the Mustang was, even though the Performance Level was the same.

Performance Level and You

Every vehicle in the game has a current performance level, and a max available performance level. Earning new parts will slowly raise the performance level for that vehicle. Each events has a recommended performance level, and each event can also have its difficulty raised, which in turn raises the recommend performance level of your vehicle. The difference between a normal difficulty event and a hard difficulty event is pretty big, and we advise you to take heed of that recommended number. It’s not some random number but is a solid recommendation of what you need to compete. If it says you need a level 380 vehicle, trust us when we say you better have something pretty darn close to that, or higher, if you want to complete the challenge.

As you finish races and tasks around the country, you’ll be earning followers. The number of followers you have determines your current status. You’ll start out as a Rookie, slowly working your way up to Famous, then on to Star, and finally to Icon. Once you hit Icon status, leveling up adds a number to your icon name and also earns you icon points, which in turn are used to unlock extra perks found within the Pilot Profile menu. This isn’t something that was pointed out very well within the game, but once we found it, was easy to use and the extra perks do come in handy. Leveling up your Icon status can also earn you new vehicles, so climbing up the Icon ladder should keep you busy for some time to come.

How’s the actual racing?

The game has a lot of bells and whistles, with tons of eye candy and awesome graphics, but the bottom line with any racing game has to be how the game actually plays when it comes to driving and racing. There are generally two different types of racing game: the arcade racer and the simulation racer. The Crew 2 is clearly an arcade racer, with unrealistic drifting, cornering abilities, and super high speeds. That’s not a bad thing, it’s just an arcade thing. If you want realism, play some Assetta Corsa or Project Cars 2, but when it comes to pure fun and adrenaline with no need for serious driving skills, a good arcade racer like The Crew 2 can’t be beat.

Full Size Monster Trucks in a Half Pipe.

The game does have its flaws, and Street Racing highlights one of them, as it can be a frustrating experience. There’s a term called rubberbanding that comes into play and what that means is, no matter how well you do, the AI will stay right there with you, or be able to catch up even if you build a huge lead. Case in point is the Papa John Race, where you are in the Papa John Camaro and the AI is in several other older cars. It’s a race of decent length, and we had as much as a full 7 second lead at one point, but then out of nowhere, near the finish line, the AI closed that gap in a flash and we were having to fight them off. The AI had to have skipped several checkpoints in order to close that gap. We only saw this in the Street Races, so at least it wasn’t in the other classes as well.

Meant to be Played with Friends

The Crew 2 is a lot of fun to play solo, but it is even more fun to play with friends. Ubisoft knew this and was nice enough to send us four review codes so we could all play together online. Flying or driving in formation will net you bonus followers, as will doing events together. When racing in a crew and competing in events, it doesn’t really matter if you do well as long as someone in your crew meets the challenge of that event. This can allow a crew to be made up of folks that enjoy different classes and excel in those classes, while maybe not doing so well in others. Team up with someone that’s good at street races, while you are better at air racing, and you’ll both benefit when playing these events.

Some of these events can be time consuming, and the Hyper Car races can be extremely long. While the world record times may say 35 minutes, you may end up spending 45 minutes or more, so be prepared and be sure to set aside enough time to complete them. Hyper cars won’t become available until you reach Icon status, but once they do, they are long races. Every event also becomes available once you reach Icon status, so climbing up the Icon ranks will happen faster than you may think.

So Much to See and Do

The game starts out with only four items on the map of America, but as you climb the popularity board, the map fills up nicely. Areas like Miami, New York, and LA are jam packed with events for you once you hit Icon status.

The Beginning

Icon Status Unlocked

For completionists out there that are always looking for extra stuff to do, there are speed traps to be found and photo opportunities to be had. Speed traps can be found using the menu, but the photos will require you to drive around and find them. Some photos will also require you be in a crew, as we came across one that required a Ferrari to be jumped over by a monster truck. Photo mode is easy to use and all of the photos you take are saved as if you used the share button. This was smart thinking by the developer as it makes sharing these photos a breeze. You can see some of them in the photo gallery below this review.

Developer Ivory Tower took the successes of the original game and built a solid sophomore title with The Crew 2. This is arcade racing at its finest. Now go and get you AND your friend a copy.

The Crew 2: Gold Edition review codes provided by publisher and reviewed on a PS4 Pro. For more information on scoring, please read: What our review scores really mean.

The beginning

The Crew 2 Review - Top Notch Racing with Friends Developer Ivory Tower has unleashed the highly anticipated sequel to their 2014 release The Crew. Does…

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