Monday’s Almost Here, but Hey – New Games are Coming! March 2016 Releases!

February 28, 2016February 28, 2016 / Dustin Murphy / Leave a comment

So the Monday blues are almost here. Many of you’ve been settling in from your long weekend off and have decided… That Monday is about to ruin your day. Well it does for many folks and that’s an understatement of how detrimental the day can be. With it being over, we know many weekend warriors are preparing to put their joysticks down for a few days, and pull on their big boy and big girl pants. However, is it really that bad? Not really, here’s why: New games are on the horizon, so lets take a look at the upcoming games list for March.

March 1st: Mortal Kombat XL (Windows PC, Xbox One, and PlayStation 4) – If your setup for Mortal Kombat X only included the original fighters and no season pass? Here’s your entrance to two groups of new fighters including all characters from Season One and a new face never seen before. Did we mention it includes Kombat Pak’s 1 and 2 as well as all their content?

March 3rd: Black Desert Online, (Windows PC) — That trailer above is the real deal. If the game is anywhere as interesting as the trailer, we’ll be playing it off and on.

March 4th: The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess HD, (Nintendo Wii U) – Our favourite pointy eared heroes are back on another adventure to save the world around them. This time in a graphical upgrade from the titles original GameCube and Wii graphics.

March 8th: Tom Clancy’s The Division, (Windows PC, Xbox One, and PlayStation 4) – If the world ending through a pandemic wasn’t a realistic thing, we’re sure our attention wouldn’t have been grabbed so heavily by Ubisoft’s Action-RPG MMO title that puts us on the forefront of a world ending viral outbreak. Players will take on the role of Division agents in order to bring peace to the streets of Manhattan.

March 11th: Hitman, (PC, Xbox One, and PlayStation 4): We’ve all been welcomed to Hitman one way or another. This time, Square Enix and IO Interactive have given Agent 47 a once over by taking him into an episodic series that’ll later release as a full series on disc. All we know is? 47 is back, more lethal than ever, and he has gotten a graphical upgrade on the new gen consoles.

March 15th: Aegis of Earth: Protonovus Assault, (PlayStation Vita): While the game looks interesting, Aegis of Earth: Protonovus Assault is an action-adventure game that seems to be built mostly around strategy tactics. Something that seems quite reasonable for the PlayStation Vita.

March 15th: Senran Kagura: Estival Versus, (PlayStation Vita and PlayStation 4): There’s no doubt that the busty fighters of Senran Kagura are back. This time they are serving up a new form of beating as they are teleported to a tropical paradise where they’ll be taking on a new set of enemies and formidable foes. This also means they are once more up to no good, but this time on both PlayStation 4 and Vita.

March 15th: EA Sports UFC 2, (PlayStation 4, Windows PC, and Xbox One) – For those fans who don’t get enough UFC in their life. It’s time for them to take it to the ring once more with another EA Sports title.

March 18th: Pokken Tournament, (Nintendo Wii ) – Ever wondered what a true Pokémon fighting game would look like? Well Nintendo is serving that right up for the Nintendo Wii U. Surprisingly this one is skipping out on the Nintendo 3DS.

March 25th: Hyrule Warriors Legends (Nintendo 3DS) – If you are one that absolutely loves the world of The Legends of Zelda and the idea of a cooperatively created title to become a Dynasty Warriors style game, here’s your chance to experience Nintendo and Koei Tecmo’s work together. The new version will feature new chapters, characters and even amiibo support for those who collect.

March 29th: MLB 16: The Show (PlayStation 3 and PlayStation 4) — I can’t say I’m a huge fan of sports, but sitting down with friends to play a bit of baseball is always a nice thing to have. The game has undergone a few changes to assist in perfecting the game including perks for career mode and bullet time for needed time during key moments in career.

For those of you looking for some things to do, March is going to be a semi-busy month offering a variety of upcoming titles. If these aren’t your cup of tea, we highly suggest checking out Tripwire’s Killing Floor 2 (PC), Warframe (PC, PS4, and Xbox One), Wrack (PC), and even Fractured Space (PC).

About the Writer:

Dustin is our native console gamer, PlayStation and Nintendo reviewer who has an appetite for anything that crosses the boarders from across the big pond. His interest in JRPG’s, Anime, Handheld Gaming, and Pizza is insatiable. His elitist attitude gives him direction, want, and a need for the hardest difficulties in games, which is fun to watch, and hilarity at its finest. You can find him over on Twitter, Google+, and or you can find him on PSN with RaivynLyken.

Opinion: Far Cry Primal Reinvents the Franchise Perfectly

February 27, 2016February 27, 2016 / Dustin Murphy / Leave a comment

Lets sit down and look at the modern day of games. Today we are surrounded by games that emphasize themselves upon real-world modern-day problems – drugs, weapons, guerilla warfare, third as well as first world problems, and even insane leaders who just deserve to perish. This is a common trend we’ve seen in recent days. With titles such as Call of Duty Advanced Warfare, we got to see the ugly side of privatized military, Far Cry’s 3 and 4 let us see an insane warlord and a rather interesting dictator gone warlord. Sound familiar? It’s a trend that has continued on for the last decade or so. The what and why have changed, but not the overall outcome. In recent days, we’ve seen titles that decide to start breaking the trend, and even go away from the idea all together. Some of them are the fight for humanity, survival of the fittest, and even the simplest things in life – friends and family.

In the past week we’ve finally got to go hands-on with one of the most anticipated games of 2016 – Far Cry Primal from Ubisoft. The title reverts from what we’ve known about the franchise for the past.. Well decade or so. The team has taken off their coats, rolled up their sleeves, and dove ten thousand almost twelve thousand years into humanities history. They’ve decided to let the series shed its old skin and grow anew, much like a phoenix, and their approach has worked rather well. In an extravagant way of displaying their finesse for storytelling, design, and locations this new approach has been exotic to say the least. Their world of Oros is truly believable. The war between tribes, believable, but also the sense for the need to survive comes to the helm of the game. While riding in on a Wooly Mammoth is a sound idea just as much as riding into combat on a saber toothed tiger sounds as fun as it is, the game puts the ideas on a backburner, and even lets it simmer so that players can enjoy the larger details the teams at Ubisoft have designed.

Goodbye guns, bombs, and other fun things. Hello Spears, Clubs, and Pointy Sticks

When departing from what we’ve known with any modern title in the FPS genre, it’s hard to really categorize where a game belongs, and why. It’s easier said than done on any scale, but it happens as the genre is a generic label, much like cola is for any soda that’s dark in colour. What does work though is the fact that the team has cast away guns, knives, and explosives only to go primitive as we weren’t able to see our ancestors with those mentioned items. Instead they were surviving off clubs made of bone, bows made of wood and animal tendon or even reed peelings, but also knives as well as spears made from wood and stone held together by anything possible clear down to animal hide.

What the game does right is a massive amount of things, but what it does the best is giving us a glimpse of true survival that is brutal, dangerous, and has put humanity on the lowest portion of the food chain. With saber toothed tigers lurking about at every corner, vicious packs of canines, and even those huge wooly mammoths, humanity is at its finest point in the history of the species. In doing so we are able to test out the things that would’ve been used to survive such as the mentioned weapons, spears, clubs, and other pointy items including traps, which have been absent from the series since Far Cry 2. While they were there, they weren’t as useful as they were in Far Cry and Primal has made them return in all their, well almost all their former glory.

This means that players will survive, but they will require knowledge of all their weapons and how to use them accordingly.

Goodbye Modern Languages and Hello Primitive Tongues

Let’s pretend for a second that modern English (especially our American English) has been wiped clean from the map. Same with Italian, Greek, Latin, Russian, and others have been completely wiped off the map. The dialects are all, but modern. Welcome to the new world of Uros. A world that is primitive, brutal, and does not know the modern languages we do. But the question you may be wondering is one I’ll answer. How does this work out? Does it truly make the game more immersive?

At first the game truly can throw someone off since they will be reading the subtitles. Trust me, I’ve been there and done it, but over time it was as if the subtitles no longer existed. I found myself briefly glancing at them to take in the lines the characters were saying only to find myself fascinated with what was going on. The world feels alive, one that we could live and even touch if it were possible to do so. The most amazing part? The fact that Ubisoft’s teams were careful and researched quite a bit before bringing their language in the game to life. The detail shows and even makes the title more immersive than before.

How Far Cry Has Gone from Open World War to Open World Survival

Some Far Cry fans may hate me for this and call me wrong. While in many ways I am, one thing is true. The series has always been about survival to some extent. Players gather herbs, meat from animals, and crafting materials from the world around them. The difference in Far Cry Primal? Survival is the focus. This means hunting, gathering, working with your tribesmen are going to be at the forefront. With this goes the need for modern medicine, modern knowledge of elements, and back to the stone age survival needs that our true ancestors would’ve had. The use of flint for fire, the need to wonder perilously through caves to find resources. Craft fur clothing for colder climates and even protect your village from impending attacks.

While at first the game may feel similar to former Far Cry titles, the Wenja Tribe (your characters tribe) will feel small at first. One that is on the end of extinction due to enemy tribes, and dangerous hunts. With progression through the game, the tribe will grow, and so will the need to survive as resources will need to be gathered from around the world of Uros. With the need to go further out, so does the need to survive, and the dangers that come with it. This is where the world of Far Cry Primal has expanded and even made itself more dangerous than previous titles as players will worry about snakes, bears, mammoths, saber tooth tigers, wolf packs, and even enemy tribes at every turn. Now if only we had to worry about illness, exhaustion, and the likes in a survival mode. Damn.
Going Back to Modern Could Hurt the Franchise

While working on the review play through we have, it was hard to go back to titles like Far Cry 3 and Far Cry 4. I grew accustomed to Brody and Ajay. They are likable characters in a realistic setting. One that provided fantastical dangers such as enemy troop checkpoints, traffic routes, and even skirmishes, but there is something to be said when removing oneself from the modern day conflicts of life and third world countries to an entirely new setting.

Far Cry Primal – as stated previously – takes away from the need to viciously fight through extremely inhabited areas of people, but instead utilizes the wild life and people to make it more vicious than ever. It takes away the modernized sense of vicious tenacity to bringing down a more humanized sense of survival and discord. Doing this brings a more human approach to it and allows for players to get a glimpse of a world that we had only once imagined. The only issue here? It leaves the yearning desire for the game to go fully into the survival mode where food, water, and overall health does matter. Then again, some may tell me to go play Ark: Survival if that’s the case.

Closing Thoughts

When looking at Far Cry Primal, it was hard to accept the fact the series was going back in time, that it was going to destroy the franchise for what it were. While I was interested in the idea of fighting against the wildlife in that time such as saber tooth tigers, wooly mammoths, wolves, and even wooly rhinos, I was trying to remain not to hyped for a new installment to a series.

While the anticipation grew towards the launch, I can say the outcome has been quite pleasant and even entertaining. So much so that our review will be coming out next week based on the PlayStation 4 version of the game.

About the Writer:

Dark Souls III Digital Pre-Orders are Live

February 27, 2016 / Dustin Murphy / Leave a comment

For those looking to venture once more into death defying dungeons, a vast and twisted world that is fully connected, and face dangers that seek to throw a difficult challenge and rewards for completing them in an action-RPG wait no longer. For those waiting to get their hands once more on the Souls franchise can now pre-order the latest installment on Xbox One, PC, and PlayStation 4.

For a limited time on the Xbox One, those who pre-order Dark Souls III will be able to get Dark Souls free through the Xbox 360 Backwards Compatibility. This means those that haven’t had the experience of Dark Souls can now get it within 7-10 days through the Xbox Message Center once pre-ordered. For those that do pre-order, you can redeem the code through your Xbox One console or at https://xbox.com/redeemcode. For Backward Compatibility information, https://xbox.com/xbox-one/backward-compatibility.

For those that Pre-Order on PlayStation 4, you will receive a digital version of the game soundtrack as well as a pre-order theme for the PlayStation 4 itself. For those that want to access their soundtrack, it’ll be available starting April 12, 2016. For Steam owners, you will receive the official soundtrack, and for those that already own Dark Souls and Dark Souls II, you will receive $5 USD discount towards your copy of Dark Souls III.

For those wanting the digital Deluxe Edition of the game, you can pre-order it through any of the three platforms. The Deluxe Edition will run for 84.99 USD and will receive the pre-order bonuses listed as well as the Dark Souls III Season Pass, which will expand the games world at a later date.

Will you be able to survive the horrors that await starting Mach 24th, 2016?

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Final Fantasy XIV: Heavesward Gets Patch 3.2 – “The Gears of Change”

February 26, 2016February 26, 2016 / Dustin Murphy / Leave a comment

For those of you playing Final Fantasy XIV: Heavensward has received it’s patch 3.2, “The Gears of Change”. The new update features a new hall titled “Hall of the Novice”, where players can embark on specialized tutorial quests that ultimately will help them understand the online groups such as raids, dungeons, and other forms of grouping. The hall also has introduced several new NPCs that are designed to introduce new online gamers to the MMO terms of survival and basic maneuvers. The new mentor system will also provide a more tailored approach to assist those new to the game.

For veterans of the title, the Main Scenario Quests will bring players to the climax of the Dragonsong War as it draws closer, and will also find themselves amidst the storm of change as the story rages on. This also featues two high-level dungeons for Lv. 60 players such as the Antitower, a place of abandoned Sarlayans that has become overrun by magical guardians, and the Lost City of Amdapor (hard) where the evil continues to lurk on after Diabolos has been defeated. Take a peak below at the full list of Patch 3.2 content!

More exciting content to be implemented in Patch 3.2 includes:

·         Main Scenario Quests: The climax of the Dragonsong War draws closer, and adventurers find themselves in the midst of a storm of change.
·         Two high-level dungeons: Level 60 players can challenge the Antitower, a place of mystery abandoned by the Sharlayans now overrun by magical guardians, and the Lost City of Amdapor (Hard), where evil continues to lurk following the defeat of Diabolos.
·         Containment Bay S1T7: This new primal battle pits adventurers against Sephirot, the Fiend, the first of the Warring Triad who has been awoken from his vengeful dreams.
·         Alexander: Midas: The Illuminati are once again gearing up for war in an attempt to conquer the realm. Return to the iron fortress with your allies to take part in the brand-new raid.
·         Further Hildibrand Adventures: New side story quests lead the player to join Nashu at the Holy See of Ishgard on her search for the brave inspector
·         Beast Tribe Quests: Learn more about the trials and tribulations of the Nonmind, exiles from the Gnath colony, who aim to separate themselves from the Onemind.
·         Stone, Sky, Sea: A new training ground to test players’ might against an assortment of striking dummies tailored to the strength of legendary foes
·         The Feast: A new PvP arena to be implemented two weeks after patch 3.2, where the goal is to obtain opponent medals. Individual rating and ranks will be assigned to players and the highest-ranked participants will be awarded a special prize
·         New crafting recipes, hairstyles and more

Further details on Patch 3.2, The Gears of Change, can be found on the promotional website at:
http://na.finalfantasyxiv.com/pr/special/3_2_The_Gears_Of_Change/

The full Patch 3.2 notes can be found at:
http://na.finalfantasyxiv.com/lodestone/topics/detail/c755d756aece79cc9707f5444ad0980ac2b5a39c

Stay tuned for our upcoming write-up regarding Heavensward.

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SENRAN KAGURA: Estival Versus Gets Dated and a “Endless Summer” Edition

February 26, 2016 / Dustin Murphy / Leave a comment

Ever wondered what would happen to those Buxom Brawlers we’ve become familiar with? What about the fact the series is about to bring it’s busy beat-’em’up touch to the PlayStation 4 this year? For those unfamiliar, both the PlayStation Vita version and PlayStation 4 versions of the game will launch on March 15th this year.

With the titles getting dated, our friends at XSEED Games have also revealed that the newest team of badass beauties, the Overseers of the Festival, will be showing their faces in the newest title. For those of us who played the Japanese version have become acquinted with Sayuri, Ryōki, Renka, Hanabi, and Kafuru, who each possess a unique Shinobi Transformation and utilize powerful Ninja Art. These deadly ladies also seem to have taken a liking for their sunny island of paradise where… They’re in another dimension. Our silly ladies from the well known SENRAN series are whisked away and forced to operate the mystical Kagura Millenium Festival that seems to beckon new guests to this deadly island.

In turn, our friends at XSEED Games have also released a packshot of the new “Endless Summer” edition that will release through retailers in March. This release contains a 108-page art book packed full of artwork from the SENRAN KAGURA series, a randomly chosen set of ten 2.5” by 3.5” holographic “pin-up cards” featuring one of the six factions of buxom beauties each in two distinct poses, and a 2-disc soundtrack containing 70 total tracks. Players can grab the Vita version for 39.99 USD or the PS4 version for 49.99 USD.

This should be more than enough to keep you busy for a while! Stay tuned for our review.

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Super Evil Megacorp’s Vainglory Named “Best Mobile Game” at 2016 GLOMO Awards

February 26, 2016February 26, 2016 / Dustin Murphy / Leave a comment

Editor’s Note: Before we begin, we here at B.A.T.G.R., want to congratulate Super Evil Mega Corp on their new title. As someone who plays Vainglory a lot in my free time, the game has taken a soft spot to my heart, and one that indeed shares the same thoughts about Vainglory being crowned “Best Mobile Game” by the GSMA and Gamelab Mobile at the 2016 GLOMO Awards in Barcelona.

If you are anyone that plays mobile games or even tablet games on either iDevice or Android, you aren’t going to want to miss out on the title “Vainglory”. This game is the world’s leading touchscreen eSport title that finds itself in the MOBA genre. During the 2016 GLOMO Awards, GSMA and Gamelab Mobile crowned Vainglory as the “Best Mobile Game”. The awards ceremony, held at Mobile World Congress in Barcelona recognizes the best of the best in mobile games. This includes the most innovated, immersive, thrilling and even sophisticated games from 2015. This includes Vainglory.

For the GLOMO Competition this award recognition isn’t any small feat as there were more than 930 entries received by the GSMA. Over 285 nominees that were shortlisted for over 40 awards in over eight categories. This amount of competition can become nailbiting for those watching and attending the event. If that’s not some tough competition, we don’t know what is, but this is definitely a challenge for many competitors attempting to be crowned victor. Judged by independent experts, analysts, journalists, academics, and even mobile operator representatives; the GLOMO Awards hosts some of the top names in the industry to help determine the winners.

“It is an honor for Vainglory to be recognized as the ‘Best Mobile Game’ by the GSMA,” said Kristian Segerstrale, COO and Executive Director of Super Evil Megacorp. “The rate at which the Vainglory community has grown and the eSports competition has increased throughout 2015 has been incredible, and we can not thank our players enough for their dedication across the globe. We are still early and have a lot to do in 2016, but we are very excited about progress so far!”

His statement? One that stands true as a faithful Vainglory player. We can’t wait to see what is coming in the terms of the game, but also as an official eSport title that continues to grow to this day.

For those unfamiliar with Vainglory, the game puts players amidst a battle of two teams, both being played by three real life players. These players will control a singular hero in attempts to take out enemy players, destroying turrets, and gaining ground control of the Halcyon Fold. The team that is able to destroy the enemy’s Vain wins the match. Something that we here at B.A.T.G.R. have done multiple times, and even found it as one of our favorite mobile games of 2015. The title is even one of the fastest growing mobile games on Twitch in 2015.

After a very successful Live Autumn Season Championship, Vainglory kicked off the Winter eSports Season in January while boasting a Lunar New Year-themed map skin including fireworks and other rather beautiful graphical effects in the Halcyon Fold. The Winter Championships for North America will be held at the Red Bull eSports Studio in Santa Monica, CA starting March 11th through March 13th. In turn, the European Event will be held in London at the Gfinity Arena from March 18th through the 20th. If you want to attend the events, they are now available and can be purchased for $12 USD at http://vainglorywinterna.eventbrite.com and http://vainglorywintereu.eventbrite.com. We know we’ll be watching and cheering on the teams as they attempt to take the victory title for Winter Season. If you want to give Vainglory a try, head on to the Apple App Store here or over at Google Play here.

You can also check out our review for Vainglory to see what we thought of the game.

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Pokémon Sun and Moon Announced for 2016 Holiday

February 26, 2016February 26, 2016 / Dustin Murphy / Leave a comment

It isn’t all that strange to see Pokémon titles come out every year to every couple of years. Why? The game is always evolving. Fans of the series are always pushing to be the best of the best and even causing the developers to plan ahead with how much of the franchise they consume. It’s not all that different anywhere, fans love the franchise, and the devs themselves love the franchise.

As of yesterday, there was a “leak” that hinted that a new set of games would be launching this fall. Their names? Sun and Moon. As of today, Pokémon.com has confirmed these two titles that will coincide together will launch this holiday season exclusively for the Nintendo 3DS family.

Stay tuned for more information as we await to hear about the upcoming titles.

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Review: Warframe: The Second Dream U18 – Your Children Sleep No More, Natah

February 22, 2016 / Dustin Murphy / Leave a comment

Pros:
+Gorgeous cinematics using in-game engine
+Storyline that will leave players hungering for more
+New warframe Ivara offers diverse and unique gameplay mechanics
+New ship designs offer a unique blend for players to enjoy
+Designing your Tenno
+Moon tile set is a blast and brings a new breath of air to the game

Cons:
-The want for more story that takes place post Second Dream

Warframe, when you hear the name many gamers will give a nod to the game or a shake of their head. The fact of the matter is, that Warframe is one of the few games that has given me hope for the free-to-play with in-game microtransactions for people who want to spend the real money or people who simply want to mess around with the in-game market and make some money. As one of my favourite free-to-plays, I’ve had no problems getting around with spending as little money as possible since it’s launch, and intend on keeping it that way thanks to the open trade market that the developers allow us gamers to have.

But what is my articles real focal point on, you might ask, and that’s the idea that triple A free-to-play games can exist. Recently I returned to the game and was welcomed back by some of my friends at both Digital Extremes and through PlayStation Network. My return has been enjoyable thanks to my friends Amber, Alec and a few others. My welcoming back even included the games newest update, which includes a fully cinematic storyline with missions, and even cutscenes as you might imagine. This even includeded a detailed origin of our Warframes operator, the Tenno, and who they are. Titled as “The Second Dream,” the update brings in some amazing changes and even includes a revamped variant of the Stalker known as “Shadow Stalker.”

Known as a previously laughable foe, The Stalker was one that players like myself would group up, run missions, and if Stalker came after us, turn him into stringed confetti with our swords. That has since changed as he has been completely reworked due to this new update, and he now plays a larger role in the game than what he did previously. Sounds impossible? Not so-much. But I do want to advise, if you continue reading, please do so at your own will. Mechanically the game is very much the same beast as I remember it a year ago, but with a few changes to Warframes like Trinity, Excalibur, and my all-time favourite Saryn who has taken position as the new “Prime” for Update 18.

The biggest changes that can be noticed are the fact that things have been reworked, Stalker is a new monster, one that is more lethal before, and even provides a challenge from any range of combat. The prefered range of combat used for multiple occasions has been a mix of up-close with melee, and eventually range with bows or guns depending on the person’s play style. The major change to Stalker is that his loot table has seemingly changed it up a bit. His newest entry is the sword Shadow Stalker uses called “War”. This sword is amazingly powerful and even comes with its own stance mod, one that includes Stalkers weapon stance, and provides players the chance to feel, well, like the Stalker to say the least. As for the mechanics part of the review? There’s not been just a whole lot of changes that we can see as of now, but we will come back if anything noticeable happens.

SPOILER WARNING BEGINS HERE

Many of us over the years since the games launch have been twiddling our fingers, drawing up conclusions, and even discussing what each Warframe is and if they have a story. Now? That has drastically changed from what we originally had thought as we now know who the Tenno really are and why they play such a pivotal role in Warframe, but also for Lotus herself. The story starts out with us decoding a message, one that causes Lotus to go missing, and in turn we are met with a new not-so-charismatic person, but one that sees the flaws in everything; Teshin. For those unfamiliar, Teshin is a conclave master, and the one that we’ve seen a few times before hand, mostly for those who PVP like myself from time to time.

But now he has been given a larger role with Warframes newest update and story arch, one that blows the lid off everything we’d previously thought about the game. This story arch uncovers the truth about the Lotus and her hidden past. We learn that her race is nasty, they are the sentients, and ones that wanted to wipe out the Tenno due to their true power and in turn destroy what was left of humanity. Once discovering this, we find out that the Lotus calls upon one of our most hated nemesis, the Corpus leader known as Alad V. Alad V for many who don’t know has been troublesome since his first appearance. Now? He’s to help us stop an even far greater enemy by the name of Hunhow. A sentient being who has been locked away for seemingly hundreds, if not thousands of years in an ancient chamber where he has slept, and now the Grineer seek to find him, awaken him, and reverse their physical degradation due to over-cloning themselves. As our story gets underway everything eventually begins to become explained as to why the Tenno have become so important to the Lotus and why she has been adamant in protecting “her children”.

Once towards the end of the story it all begins to become explained. We learn the truth behind these child warriors, why they were asleep in their “second dream,” and even as to why their Warframes were in the original chamber and “awoke” from their “dream”. The truth is now out there, our Warframes were the only thing that awoke, our Tenno were put in stasis in order to keep them from going insane and leading the same fate as what Stalker had. With them now awake, we learn our child warriors are one of the greatest things to happen to the universe, but there are only so few of them left in the world. Their mission has been to keep peace, to maintain balance, and even follow the ways of Naramon, Madurai, Unairu, Vazarin or even Zenurik. Each of these ways lead different ways of combat for the Tenno. For the review, the choice was Naramon, the way of the tactician as it can be called since it leads to confusion, and weakness in the enemies.

These focus also give base to the past our Tenno lived. With Naramon, our Tenno were master tacticians, ones that used enemy confusion, displacement, and weakness against them. This even allows us to see our Tenno appear through their Warframe and unleash tremendously powerful abilities that weaken enemies and cause disarray among their legions. This opens up quite a bit of combat advantage for those who want to put their enemies asunder. As we learn about these ways, Natah or rather Lotus, guides us to what each one was, she even describes to us that she found the ship that housed the Tenno. She explains as to why they are even her children due to her being barren, much like the rest of her kind after slipping through the Void, which leaves the idea that our Tenno are truly going to be unique if they suffered the same consequences from going through the Void themselves.

As this review winds down to its end, it’s hard to think that a game a few years ago was primarily a mission to mission game has come full circle to begin its journey as a story-based MMO style game with a very lively group of gamers who enjoy the story just as much as myself. If there is anything to be said about Warframe, it’s that the game is very much alive, and one that will continue to evolve into a beautiful cinematic experience at this rate. One that we’ll be along the ride for.

The Review is based upon the latest update version of the game that can be downloaded for free on the PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and PC. For information about our ethics policy please click here.

Final Score: 9 out of 10

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Review: Street Fighter V – Familiar Faces, Different Streets

February 21, 2016February 21, 2016 / Dustin Murphy / Leave a comment

Pros:
+New characters offer new combat tactics
+Old Characters somewhat redesigned for the modern era
+Online ranked matching is fun, especially when PC vs. PS4 matches happen

Cons:
-Connectivity issues persist off and on for Capcom Fighters Network
-Lag can cause problems while fighting
-Ranked matches do not go based on skill level unless chosen

Author’s Note: Due to the game having just released, our review will be getting updated from time to time with the listed changes above the previous review. As the future content is released, that will be added as well as the games lifespan continues.

Since it’s release in 1987, Capcom’s Street Fighter has been a series that has taken the world by storm. It has brought some of the best players around the world to fight against each other in order to compete for best in the world. The series has also kept true to its formula by keeping the classic arcade button smashing antics alive to this very day, but one thing has changed a lot since 1987 and now. Street Fighter has gone online and even created a ranked matchmaking in order to allow the best of the best to throw some shoryuken’s, hadoukens, and even a few yoga flames at each other, but not all has been smooth with this latest iteration. This time around the game is seeing itself as a PlayStation 4 and PC exclusive, which leaves Xbox fans in the dark. Why’s this? Cross-platform play is all we can assume as PC players and PS4 players are now fighting each other for best in the world.

Much like building a house, games go through the same steps. A solid foundation must be in place, it must be smooth, strong, and supportive of what it does. Something that Street Fighter V has been trying to do since it’s launch last week. The game has seen itself stumble a few times as it begins to stand back up. The problem it’s facing? Online server issues as players begin to storm the servers in order to show down for the best in the world rankings or even take to the casual modes that’ll allow players to throw a few punches into each others faces and shake hands with their console or PC counterparts when done. If there is anything we’ve learned it’s that Capcom has taken on a large task, one that Microsoft did once before with their title Shadowrun. Now? It’s time for Capcom’s debut into the cross-platform arena and for their first attempt, it’s not half bad even though the game is still building its foundation via both fighters and online stability.

For our review the PlayStation 4 version was decided upon since our gaming rig seems to be a bit under the weather, which is quite alright as it serves its purpose when Sussie (the ASUS RoG gaming laptop we use) is up for the task. For now? PlayStation 4 did just fine. Upon our initial connection attempts to the fighting network on launch, Street Fighter V found itself with some trouble both the night before and the day of as servers were down for maintenance, and the problem persisted not just for a few minutes, but for a few hours. Once they were up? It was time to take on the story mode.

“Wait…. Where’s the arcade mode, the story was too short?”

As you might imagine, Street Fighter isn’t a series renown for its stories even though they draw is in, teach us the basics with each character, and even give us a bit of an idea as to why our characters are even in the fighting arena in the first place. Unfortunately this is told through a very short four fights with each character, and you’re done. With only sixteen characters at launch, the story isn’t exactly all that long, and it’s one that was quite easily completed within a matter of an hour. That’s right, you read it, one hour. The nice part about it, however, is that we aren’t stuck with the adventure of a single fighter, but instead all sixteen launch characters. Some of them even having been redesigned to show some aging such as Dhalsim who has gone grey, grown a beard, and still remains annoying as ever with his seemingly unending reach across the screen. Let alone has he seen changes, we also get to see M. Bison having gone grey with age, and even seen families flourish through the years. Ken now has a kid, imagine that, and Ryu is still trying to control the Satsui no Hado as in previous titles.

The troublesome part about this title isn’t that the fighting mechanics for most fighters haven’t changed at all. It’s the fact that the game does not feature an arcade mode for those who don’t want to go online and duke it out a few matches with a random NPC, but instead? They are stuck with a Survival mode, which challenges players to stay alive as long as possible, spend their score on buffs or health, and continue on their way to see how long they can survive. While this mode has difficulties to choose from, it’s just not as satisfying as it would be with a simple arcade mode so that players can choose the fighter they want, when they want them. Though this isn’t where all the troubles do begin, instead we are used to seeing costume swaps in the more recent games, and this game does depart from that in some ways. The new way is we get to unlock color pallets for completing the story mode, and additional ones for meeting certain goals in the games “Survival” mode that was previously mentioned. These colors can be unlocked using the in-game currency known as “Fight Money”. This currency can be earned in several different ways: Playing the story mode, playing ranked matches, survival mode, and even through casual matches. As easy as it sounds to unlock things, that would be completely opposite of the truth, but instead unlocks are a rather painful grind. One that’s even more-so painful than trying to beat Ludwig from Bloodborne’s first DLC on New Game++.

“If players have enough skill, there’s always a chance they’ll show up on Shoryuken..”

But where the game shines is truly the Capcom Fighters Network where players can choose to take on their rivals and duke it out to settle the score or even the ranked match where players who are the best of the best can go head to head. Eventually the best players even have a chance to go to pro tournaments where they will be recognized for their skill and eventually have it tested. We can only assume that they will take on the likes of players like Lupe Fiasco, Momochi, Daigo Umehara, LPN, and even Ricky Ortiz. These players have all been recognized for their skill and natural coordination within these games. This includes beating players into the ground, breaking faces, and taking names in matches that may only last a mere twenty seconds or less. If players have enough skill there’s always a chance they’ll show up on Shoryuken’s ranking website if they enter the tournaments. While online ranked matches may sound as fun as they do, they will test the skill of players across both PlayStation 4 and PC unless the player selects the same platform option. While this option can be utilized, it’s not suggested from personal experience as the movement between both Steam players and PSN players seems about the same in skill, and even the want to slap heads into walls when getting utterly annihilated.

Though there is a small piece of information that may grab players by the ears and will be updated into our review at a later date once it launches. Coming soon to both platforms, players will be able to take the offline Challenge Mode where players will be able to take on daily challenges in order to hone in on their skills and even accomplish tasks for prizes. While that sounds a bit dull, the wait may actually help for those who don’t like playing online, but where the focus of Street Fighter V is, there doesn’t seem to be much hope for those who just want to play offline and practice. For those wanting more story? The cinematic expansion won’t be landing till this June, which might frustrate some players, and even discourage some of the upcoming players as they just might wait out another variant of the game to release, if one does.

Street Fighter V – PC, PlayStation 4 (Reviewed)
Developer: Capcom
Publisher: Capcom
Cost: 59.99 USD
Release Date: Now Available

While Street Fighter V has see some rocky bits with its post-launch the days after have gone a bit smoother, lag between matches has seemingly disappeared, and the disconnection issues seem to be almost completely eradicated. While the roster features mostly new comers with some old timers left, the game hasn’t change much in any means, and even the use of EX abilities seems all, but familiar. Mortal Kombat X’s X-Ray moves anyone? No pun intended, but both work much the same and offer the same amount of usefulness when wanting to put a match to a quick end. Street Fighter V in its new formula seems to be quite the game, feeling a bit empty, but one that will come to fulfill its destiny to bring in a huge experience at a later date. While Capcom’s newest release is interesting, the players who get bored quickly will find themselves stepping away sooner than later as the focus seems to be on the die-hard online fighters who want to go pro. For the casual fighters, Street Fighter Vs best offering may just be the fact characters will be added in later through the shop that will us the in-game Fight Money in order to make their roster feel whole. Till that does? This latest Street Fighter at times feels a bit empty and a game that could use a bit of polishing in order to keep casual gamers from being bored.

The Review is based upon a version we purchased ourselves and was completed based on currently available content. For information about our ethics policy please click here.

Final Score: 7 out of 10

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The Weekly Rant: Smite on PS4, HTC Vive’s Pricing, and Bioshock Collection for Next Gen

February 21, 2016February 21, 2016 / Dustin Murphy / Leave a comment

This week has been one with a few good size releases and even some better sized news. Fresh off the table are two things that have hit the mainstream, one being that HTC Thrive price has been confirmed, pre-order dates in place, and the hardware shipping with it listed. Meanwhile on the other end we’ve learned that Smite has officially begun its launch onto PlayStation 4 with the closed Alpha having started just very recently. Oh and did we mention the fact that the Brazilian ratings boards have possibly confirmed a Bioshock: The Collection for PlayStation 3 and PlayStation 4? While the PlayStation 3 idea might just be a bad one, we can’t argue that it may be a decent idea, and one that’s worth possibly buying into for those who don’t own a PC for gaming or, well, have had the chance to jump to PlayStation 4 or Xbox One as of yet.

So lets break down this weeks rant into a few sections.

Smite: Battleground of the Gods on PlayStation 4

There’s no secret when it comes down to the idea that I absolutely love a good MOBA and I’m always willing to give one a go. After all I’ve invested hundreds of hours into Vainglory since it’s launch on Android last year and still continue to play it this day. Now SMITE is a bit of a different story since I’ve played a decent amount on Xbox One due to convenience of a rather large screen compared to the one that my laptop has built in (we really do need a new review computer, add that to the list of things to do, when possible). SMITE is a rather interesting take on the MOBA genre since the game is one, if not the first third person MOBA that offers a third person shooter or even a third person hack and slash view of the battlefield.

The game itself is rather interesting as it brings deities from beliefs from around the world. Players can take on the role of playable characters such as Athena, Kukulkan, Nezha, Bellona, Kali, and many more through out the religions of the world. While the game has been largely available to the PC and Xbox One communities, the game has finally begun its movement to dominate the PlayStation 4’s free-to-play market, much like titles such as Warframe, Blacklight: Retribution, and even War Thunder. With the beta coming in March, it’ll be nice to see the community for SMITE grow in size.

HTC Vive Priced at a Steep 799.99 USD

When we first wrote about the cost of VR gaming due to the Oculus Rift price announcement, our jaws tightened, and our wallets began to flicker with flames coming to life. With the price leak of the HTC Vive, our hearts have sank and our wallets withered away as we watched any hope for affordable VR coming to life become a possibility. Instead one of my personal favourite hardware manufacturers has jumped in at the high-end price of hardware marketing. Unlike the Oculus Rift that was priced at 599.99 USD, it looks like HTC may have just taken an arrow to the knee on this one, and hobbled to the back of the VR race.

With Sony having not priced the PlayStation VR just yet, we can only hope that Sony doesn’t follow in the path of both the Vive and Rift so that players may have an affordable experience, but if anything sticks true – the future of VR gaming may just cause some people to set their wallets on fire and walk away without any form of a smile on their faces. Only thing HTC can do now? Hope that UploadVR is wrong and they’ll be dropping the price due to the feedback of consumers who might just not want to spend that much on a VR headset with two controllers. I know I sure as heck won’t be.

BioShock: The Collection Rated in Brazil

We all know that if someone said that they haven’t been even the slightest of the last gen franchise BioShock, we all know they are either lying or they genuinely aren’t interested. My guess is more-so the first half since the franchise takes a rather interesting turn with the idea of human genetics and alteration. Let alone does it do that, the first two games are almost legitimately skin crawling as players will take on enemies that are physically damaged, mentally degraded due to their need for Adam, and even psychotically motivated with anything they do.

With the series having only three installments and a handful of DLC, it’d be an interesting move if publisher 2K decided to bring the franchise over to the next gen consoles with a bit of polishing, and even higher frame rates and resolutions than when they were previously released. Though the idea that the games could possibly see a Sleeping Dogs type release can make anyone cringe since Sleeping Dogs didn’t see just a whole lot of upgrading between last gen and the current. If BioShock does anything, we just hope 2K gives a true HD re-release for home consoles. Who wouldn’t want to exit a bathysphere once more only to take on lunatics. If the titling is true and this is happening, we’ll see the collection on all consoles for Xbox and PlayStation as well as PC. Wait, why PC? That’s beyond us, but this does give us some hope. Now if only we could get titles like Dragon’s Dogma and the Mass Effect Trilogy on the current gen.

Closing Thoughts

Lets just pretend for a moment that all of this is actually coming true. Mostly the BioShock portion, we already know that the series has become beloved by their fans, and with SMITE now on PlayStation 4, we can only hope that BioShock: The Collection and even a remaster of Dragon’s Dogma will head this way. Till then? We’ll be content playing some of this years upcoming titles and even taming some saber toothed cats on Far Cry Primal while clearing the streets of Manhattan as Division agents with Tom Clancy’s The Division.

About the Writer:

Blast Away The Game Review

A little bit of news, a little bit of reviews, and bit of games from around the world for you.

Author: Dustin Murphy

Monday’s Almost Here, but Hey – New Games are Coming! March 2016 Releases!

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SENRAN KAGURA: Estival Versus Gets Dated and a “Endless Summer” Edition

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Review: Warframe: The Second Dream U18 – Your Children Sleep No More, Natah

Final Score: 9 out of 10

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Review: Street Fighter V – Familiar Faces, Different Streets

Final Score: 7 out of 10

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The Weekly Rant: Smite on PS4, HTC Vive’s Pricing, and Bioshock Collection for Next Gen

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Final Score: 9 out of 10

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Final Score: 7 out of 10

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