“Return of the Patriarch” Content Now Available for Killing Floor 2

/ Dustin Murphy / Leave a comment

As you know not long ago, matter of a fact, a few days ago we published our preview for the upcoming “Return of the Patriarch” content that will has now landed on Steam as of now. Still on Steam Early Access for $29.99 (US), ₤19.99 (UK) and €26.99 (EU), Killing Floor 2 offers fans a chance to go into a full blown cooperative experience while taking out the fan favored boss “The Patriarch”. Known by many as the former CEO of Horizon Biotech as Kevin Clamely, fans will get to take him on as his new form “The Patriarch” a monstrosity that seeks nothing but vengeance.

 

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As always, with new content, the game will feature information for new additions, bug fixes and tunning through the  Official KILLING FLOOR 2 Game Group on Steam.

The brand new Return of the Patriarch Content Pack for KILLING FLOOR 2 includes the following:

  • New Boss – The Patriarch
  • 2 New Maps – Farmhouse and Black Forest
  • 1 New Perk – Gunslinger
  • 1 New Playable Character – Oisten Jaegerhorn
  • Zed-conomy and Trading Floor Store
  • Other New Features including server welcome screen, various bug fixes and improvements, steam mod and map workshop added and much more!

 

PlayStation_Experience_2015_Logo

The Tripwire team will also be showing off the PlayStation 4 version of KILLING FLOOR 2 for the first time ever at booths #1193 / #1194 during the PlayStation Experience in San Francisco, California on Saturday, December 5thand Sunday, December 6th. Will you be there? If so, let us know your thoughts about the console version if you’ve played the PC version.

About the Writer:

dustin_batgr_prof

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.

Hands-on-Impressions: Killing Floor 2 – Return of the Patriarch – The King has Returned

/ Dustin Murphy / Leave a comment

 

Pros:
+Significant performance improvements
+New boss the Patriarch has returned with new capabilities
+New Gunslinger class welcomes in classic dual wielding pistols
+New playable character Oisten Jagerhorn is a delightful personality
+New dual wielded pistols are a blast to use

Cons:
-None that we can note

 

As you’ve seen in past articles, Killing Floor 2 has quickly become one of David and I’s favourite games to date on PC. For us this game offers up a delightful experience in coop and it doesn’t end there. Thanks to our friends over at Tripwire’s PR team, we’ve been able to go hands on with this game over the Thanksgiving Weekend with its latest content patch preview.

In it we did take note to several things that were an overall improvement to the experience. The micro-transaction DLC has been implemented into the menu, for players who wanted an easier to see and navigate menu were also given that, but also they were given the ability to optimize settings for Nvidia FLEX, which allowed for a more beautiful and gory time than before.

With all these vast improvements we’ve taken note that Tripwire has finally began to also take on the crowd like my dad that prefers to use a controller versus a mouse, something I myself have began to appreciate. With those little things aside, we get to take a new look at the upcoming content, which was more delightful than we had ever imagined.

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“Return of the Patriarch” offers up several new things outside of technical things and appearance. First off we get to see two new maps such as Farmhouse and Black Forest, both of which are amazingly entertaining and creative. First off Farmhouse, which many will reflect upon a past Killing Floor map that introduced us to well, a boat house and a field full of zombies, this is much the same. This map does offer a diverse experience as players will take on the fight through a barn house, a cellar and even the farmhouse itself, which is two floors. Black Forest, however, is a step away from that as it is a rather large and forested area with a stream, cave, crashed experiment shuttle and well… Tons of Zeds who just want to maul you to death or cover you in hugs and kisses. That’s for you to decide, but I’ll go with the third option and go through them with dual wielded Desert Eagles as a Gunslinger. The Gunslinger offers a unique role to these maps and offers a wider variety from past classes. Something that is a very welcomed sight as we’ve spent quite a bit of time on this game in order to find each unique hidden token on the map. Plus, who doesn’t want to run around slinging guns like they were playing a western film? I know David and I did. It was spectacular needless to say.

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One of the most unique things about this update isn’t just the fact they have introduced the return of The Patriarch, but they have changed him in ways that make him more challenging than before. Let alone has his weakness point changed he can stealth, rush players and even lure them in for a devastating attack that can seemingly be prevented as long as players attempt to stay back far enough from his brutal attack that will send players flying into a tree, stream or off a cliff if they aren’t careful.

If you’re wanting to know a bit about Oisten don’t be afraid. This character is vibrant in the sense his mouth is like a sailors. He’s not scared to trash talk and he loves to watch Zeds fall before him. Who doesn’t though? His customizations are quite simple, overall Oisten looks like he could be Casey Jones’ long lost brother-from-another-mother that doesn’t wield a hockey stick or a goalie mask. Instead? He’s just a badass with a few guns, flame throwers or what have you based on your class of choice.

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Killing Floor 2 – PC (Previewed)
Developer: Tripwire Interactive
Publisher: Tripwire Interactive
Cost: 39.99
Release Date: Now Available via Early Access

While the Patriarch himself is quite challenging he adds in a new bit of situational awareness to the game compared to Hans Volter. Offering the challenge it does, Killing Floor 2 is a title that does not spare itself any shortage with this new content update as it seeks to bring the title closer to a full-fledged release title. While the game could use a few more maps, a few more bosses and even a few more guns, the game is very well fleshed out thanks to this upcoming update. We just hope to see more like it in the essence of challenge, improvements and overall content whether it’s free or paid DLC. This DLC is sure to bring players in for a lot more Zed killing and seems to almost give it a console feel thanks to the ease of movement with a controller.

Our preview is based upon the preview version that the publisher provided us with.  For information about our ethics policy please click here.

About the Writer:

dustin_batgr_prof

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.

Review: Sword Coast Legends – A DnD Adventure’s Legend is Troubled

/ Dustin Murphy / Leave a comment

Pros:
+Beautiful top down cRPG that follows a play style close to Baulders Gate
+Class system is very much along the lines of pen and paper DnD in real time
+Character creation is in-depth, intuitive and does require attention to stats

Cons:
–Requires an online connection to play due to account login
–Extremely Limited Dungeon Master Mode
–Character classes at start are limited as are race selections
–Horrific quest markers that seem out-of-place and rather misleading

 

Editors Note: Since the game is still a fresh-release we will be placing this review under a review-in-progress status as we know there will be future updates and content for it. Our reviewer, we understand, was quite critical of the game based on his past with DnD. His review should be read at your own discretion and understanding of his view point. Any screenshots scene below are property to n-Space and Digital Extremes and are used for our review purposes only as we do not have our own screenshots available at this time.

 

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Let’s just pretend I’ve never played Dungeons & Dragons a day in my life. Except I have, I’ve played hundreds of hours with former friends Matt and Ben. We used to sit around the table watching Ben’s wild antics as his rather awkward and brilliantly thought out idiotic Half-Orc was about as hilarious as watching a Bill Murray stand up back in the actors prime. However, let us take away the need to stand around or sit around a table, discussing what our moves are, rolling the die needed for certain interactions and even the hysterical moments where players can hear the excitement in each other’s voices. Now? It has been limited down to a digital screen that doesn’t seem to quite have an idea of what it wants to do.

My starting hour was probably the most painful as my Dwarven Great Weapon warrior went about with his claymore and splint armor in tow. As his quests became revealed after a unique opening scene where we witness the parties alleged home at the time being assaulted and burnt to the ground, we are given the idea that the game isn’t just about our character after all, but instead about a group of friends that had some wretched occurrence happen to them and now they seem to be coping with it. Instead of taking on heroic tasks as one would predict this game to start out with, Sword Coast Legends does quite the opposite. We are introduced to a typical MMO element where our characters are sent off to gather mushrooms, fight off some bandits and take on a few Goblins, find missing persons, help bring a friend of ours back to the caravan only to be ambushed and sent on a quest. Meanwhile this is all happening my fingers began to tap onto the escape button since I’m a rather fast reader and prefer not to listen to the dialogue. Downside? You can’t skip it. While the voice acting could be worse, it’s not exactly all that exciting as players will be encumbered with listening to rather monotonous voices and poor voice acting. Just be glad it’s not the original Resident Evil kind of bad. Being as intrigued by what was going on, it was nothing in comparison to the Demon my little NPC team encountered within the fifteen opening minutes. While this was a seemingly enjoyable affair at first, it seemed to turn into one that quickly caused my head to hit my desk in frustration only to shake it off after a few moments.

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After a few hours of gameplay my head began to throb as I encountered not just one mistake, but multiples. Let alone are the conversations using the in-game graphics, even on Ultra High the game looks almost like it cloned itself from older titles such as Baulder’s Gate mixed with a touch of Diablo 2. While I appreciated the aforementioned titles, this game doesn’t do it well as character models once zoomed in upon could quite easily be seen as horrific as the quests and story elements that the game has come across. Seeing as I’m a die-hard DnD fan, take no mistake that I’d be rather hard on this game in every element possible. As the quests I mentioned earlier are undertaken the game finds itself attempting to use quite a bit of filler elements such as taking care of your items, stats, party members, going to vendors and even fighting your way through a few small crowds along the way. After a while the game does tend to warm up to players as they settle into the design choices by n-Space and publisher Digital Extremes (Warframe anyone?). The game to some will be quite enjoyable, but to the die hard fans it could be a game that should be played with mildly low expectations to begin with.

Taking notes from rather successful titles such as Shadowrun, Sword Coast Legends does at times tend to miss the idea of what makes DnD locales such as the Sword Coast such an exciting place. Let alone is this place beautiful, it is filled with mystery, story and rather interesting inhabitants, but the game seems to miss the idea of using these elements in its favor just isn’t happening at this point in time. Let alone do the dungeons begin to blend in, many of them use rather familiar tile sets, design choices and even encounter points at any-one given time.

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If you’ve played titles like Divinity: Original Sin or Pillars of Eternity, two of my favourite cRPGs to date that have released within the past year, you know that my love for hand-drawn art is rather unique approach and one I prefer. This is something that Sword Coast Legends tends not to use, but instead they go with a more fleshed out and realistic approach. One that works quite well with this newer DnD title. This sticks true to when going into the beautiful fields, forests, cities and sewers that the game brings to life in every aspect. This includes flowing streams, branches swaying in the winds and even small attention to details within the cities. But how does this hold up in comparison to what players will really want – cooperative play via a DM game mode or even the story.

From what I experienced in my five hours of gameplay in the first day, Drop-in, drop-out co-op works like you would expect. It’s seamless and does not interrupt when a player joins or leaves the title. Much like you would expect the game seems to be pretty well rounded despite the fact it was delayed for a short while. While you’ve read in other reviews, I quite agree with many of them as how the game should be played in cooperative. Unless players are friends who are working together, combat can be quite enjoyable, but with strangers I also can’t recommend a difficulty past easy. Simply due to the fact I was constantly dying in these adventures and scoffing as I felt myself leaving the lobby to take on a solo adventure with the game’s A.I. Unlike DnD however, the game doesn’t play like one would expect from titles of this kind. It doesn’t follow the seemingly classical use of turn-based elements. Instead the game takes on a role of its own as players take the Neverwinter Nights approach and go into combat as one solid team and use the Diablo style controls I mentioned for picking a target and attacking them. Minus the fact you can’t click your mouse repeatedly in order to attack since auto-attack does that for you.

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Like one would expect from a DnD game, the title does manage to follow through with the game’s rulebook where abilities will go through cooldown periods. The time between their cooldowns is filled in between each characters prefered form of attack whether it’s a melee swing or something as simple as spells when managing combat. Luckily the characters that aren’t controlled in regards to A.I. will take care of what they must through pre-set combat tactics. Sound familiar? It should, quite a few RPGs have used this option. Unlike in solo mode the game will not allow you to set tactics and the likes while in cooperative since the characters are controlled by players and will require communication in order to find success in combat.

Where the game’s biggest fault hasn’t been shown yet, there seems to be a problem with the Dungeon Master mode in regards to the playability of it. To my experience, which honestly wasn’t long, Dungeon Master mode does seem irrevocably troubled due to the DM’s limitations, which follow close to the game’s campaign itself and doesn’t allow for much deviation from it. While DMing was one of my favourite parts of a good DnD adventure, this mode is troubled in the sense that I’ve encountered issues with the inviting process where sometimes it seemed as if the game just wasn’t sending out invites. While I would say the DM mode is fun, it isn’t a game mode that I found enjoyable since there wasn’t any true dungeon crafting left to it in comparison to what one would get if they were to simply go out and buy a few DnD books and learn how to make a grand adventure in pre-made scenarios or ones of their own. While this mode seems like a staple point of the game – it wasn’t hard to take off and go back into campaign where those I did play with seemed to find a bit more fun in the campaign in comparison to the Dungeon Mastering portion of the title.

Sword Coast Legends – PC (Reviewed)
Developer: n-Space
Publisher: Digital Extremes
Cost: 39.99
Release Date: Now Available

While this game is not on par with classic DnD titles such as Neverwinter Nights, Icewind Dale or Baulders Gate – Sword Coast Legends does have a lot of growth potential and it seems that the developers are quite aware of this as the game does have, as stated, potential. Even though it’s not a classic DnD game it is one that is slowly growing on me in the way that past titles such as Diablo have. While my time on record may not be nearly as high as many other players out there, my time is high enough that I enjoyed the game and was capable of discussing it with fellow friends who are tempted to give it a spin since it’s on sale at the time of writing for 26.99 through Steam.

Our review is based upon the final version that the publisher provided us with.  For information about our ethics policy please click here.

 Final Score: 6 out of 10

About the Writer:

dustin_batgr_prof

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.

Hands-On Impressions – Tom Clancy’s Rainbow Six Siege – The Legacy Besieges Next Gen

/ Dustin Murphy / Leave a comment

b2c2d-rainbowsixsiege

 

Editor’s Note: Due to the limited content available on the Beta, we’ve been unable to experience all of the operatives that will be available in the final version of the title. While we would also like to have more pictures, we still have to get them uploaded through both Xbox Live and PlayStation Network. Thanks for reading and enjoy the article.

 

With Tom Clancy having passed away what seems just like yesterday, his legacy has continued to live on without him and the legacy seems to be going into the right direction. With his passing we’ve seen one of the most anticipated titles of 2015 coming soon and with it coming as soon as it is, I’ve spent plenty of time playing a game that carries on a franchise I’ve come to love over the last seventeen years. Originally released in August of 1998, Rainbow Six set up one of the most tactical games we’d ever get to play next to franchises such as Delta Force and SWAT. The difference between all these? Rainbow Six has come to be one of the most renowned and long lived franchises in the tactical FPS genre. However, many of you may know that Tom Clancy’s Rainbow Six Siege has seem some major changes over the last few years since it was originally announced as Tom Clancy’s Rainbow Six Patriots, which would feature an ever changing campaign based upon player decisions as well as occurrences that would remain outside of player control or rather as The Doctor would say “fixed points in time”.

So what has remained since the conception of Rainbow Six Patriots to Siege? The multiplayer content, which will feature an always online portion of the game for competitive play. Much like the rather successful Ghost Recon Phantoms, Siege takes on a note that the online modes are where players will be constantly turning to. Unlike Phantoms, Rainbow Six Siege does not feature highly customizable characters, instead players will find themselves decking out operatives who have a special set of skills, specialized weapons and even specialized stats for each of them. Such as Mute who is an important operative to have on TDM – Bomb where players will eliminate each other while trying to seize an objective. This includes Mutes (defender only operative) ability to place jamming devices that disable enemy drones as well as technology so that they can’t use it against the defending team in the manner they choose. On the flipside we have Ash who is a force to be reckoned with thanks to her over-penetrating explosive round that goes through breachable walls only to detonate on the other side and causing havoc around any corner that enemies may be attempting to use to their advantage.

Thanks to these minor changes there are a few things that players will find new compared to past titles, which some of it’s good and some the bad, so let’s take a look at “The Good”, “The Bad”, and “The Ugly” to see what direction this game has taken as well as what could be changed back into it at a later date.

/-/ The Good /-/

Tom Clancy’s Rainbow Six has seen some major changes compared to its rather successful previous entries known as Rainbow Six Vegas and Rainbow Six Vegas 2. In the past titles we saw heavy amounts of customization as well as unlocks thanks to the ACE system we’d grown to love on those games. This included the ability to unlock varied types of protection via armor, various attachments to each gun. While this has returned in many forms, there is something quite enjoyable and fulfilling about this new system they’ve used in regards to upgrading operatives the way they have. With these unlocks players will be able to unlock operatives starting at 500 renown each per faction (so this seems to be based on each faction, but I have seen this reset from 1,000-1,500 back to 500 after a set time) only to go up to 1,000 renown after having unlocked a second character, which went from Ash to Thatcher. When going to the “Operatives” menu, players can click on their unlocked operatives in order to unlock attachments for their specified weapons, setting them up with unlocks that range between 150-600 renown only to adapt their guns to better stats based upon their play style. This includes reducing recoil, sound, hiding muzzle flash even to grips in order to help stability while firing or scopes to allow for more range as well as accuracy for players who prefer not to use iron sights.

These benefits don’t just work when standing still on a flat platform such as a floor, a ceiling or aiming down from destroyed layers to other players. With Rainbow Six titles we’ve seen subtle changes to reality such as bullet penetration, velocity and range, but now we get to see one of the changes we’d never seen before; locales that can be almost fully besieged. This big change is what has truly fulfilled the games name “Siege”. As players approach through the only competitive mode in the open-beta referred to as TDM – Bomb, teams select a starting locale for both Offense and Defense, this can range from places such as offices, basements or even base-level locations. So lets use the most commonly rotated map called “House”. In this map players can choose a Children’s Bedroom, Master Bedroom or the Garage where players will attempt to lock down these areas as “Defenders”. As “Defenders” there are several things that will play a very integral role into winning or losing such as setting up proper defenses I.E. barricading walls, windows, doorways and setting up improvised traps like C4, electrified walls (Requires Castle) and communication as the biggest part of defense. While players can hide against walls and fixtures that can’t be penetrated by breach charges or bullets, there are other things such as flash bangs, grenades and even C4 sticks that can bring havoc upon defenders that are ill prepared. Thanks to those pesky little drones this can be worse as they can find enemy defense locations if they spot it or even players if they are detected. Luckily these can be jammed by Mute, slowed by barbed wire floor traps or shot.

On the offensive side there are a few things to take note of that can disrupt your luck of winning. Enemy teams, as stated, can prevent your breaching via electrified walls, reinforced walls, windows, traps and even the unmentioned security cameras. All of these play a key role in both attacking and defending since both teams are after the same objective, taking the defense point and eliminating the enemy team at whatever cost possible. The difference here is that offensive players can actually leave the building that they are attempting to invade in order to complete their mission goal of breaching it via any means necessary, finding the enemy objective and stopping it however possible. Many of these points of insertion to the locale to be breached can be rapelled while players can detonate charges on Windows, Walls, and floors depending on the level they are on whether it’s an upstairs room, floor level room or basement entry point. The most important thing to take away from these insertion points if they are reinforced is that characters on the offensive such as Thermite can break through these walls in order to detonate the flooring for players to breach through reinforced walls if they are not electrified.

This biggest change is a huge game changer for those who are veterans of the series.

/-/ The Bad /-/

There’s always things that help improve a game and degrade a series from further progression. As many fans of Rainbow Six are familiar with Rainbow Six Vegas and Rainbow Six Vegas 2 brought in a mechanic that would soon become a phenomenon that many games would begin to adopt later in. One that we’ve become familiar with thanks to games such as Gears of War, Binary Domain and even future entries to games that have yet to release. While this system was not initially created by the minds at Red Storm Entertainment and Ubisoft, many can attribute it to tactical games such as Metal Gear Solid, Splinter Cell and even games such as Syphon Filter or even later titles such as Killswitch among many others that would heavily rely on stealth features. However, with this latest entry we see a removal of this system in exchange for things such as shield placements and tactical kits that would make up for the removal of this system. While this system could seem troublesome with the newer mechanics it is a system that would help during breach situations so that players don’t find themselves so heavily exposed against besieged rooms.

Another ugly part of this game is the removal of character customizations as well as custom kits to fit a player’s setup in the way they prefer such as appearance, gear, primary and even secondary weapons. While it would be hard to implement this feature it is one that is yearned for among the in-game chats that seems to echo out among die-hard fans of the franchise. While it’s one that has been seemingly pushed to the side and forgotten while many players have discussed the idea within game chats that this would be a subtle yet very welcomed implementation through later updates. What makes this even worse through earlier titles? While it is fun to earn renowned and have a lack of a campaign there seems to be no sign of future uses of a Titanfall-esque campaign narrative between matches to give players an idea of what, why, where, when and how they are being deployed on their current tasking at hand. While many of these things are miniscule to most players, it’s something that the game does direly need with talents such as Angela Bassett taking a role as the leader of Rainbow Six. Another issue is how easy renown is to unlock for players who spend a few hour with boosters on the game. While this is nice it will quickly cause the game to run its course and eventually become another game on the shelf in the very near future. While this seems plausible it may not be possible if the game hosts as tactical and enticing gameplay as it does now through the various other modes that will hit when it launches.

/-/ The Ugly /-/

When it comes to ugly there’s always some things that absolutely should not be included within the game and the lack of several features makes this truly problematic. If you play games such as Battlefield or other tactical games, you are used to being able to lean around corner in order to acquire a target. While one would assume this is easy to do in Rainbow Six Siege, it’s quite opposite and seems almost absent from the game that makes it seem almost like a distant cousin to the Rainbow Six series. While this may seem miniscule to problems such as the login delays, party disconnections and even server time-outs, the game presents itself as a troubled title to its initial launch. With having already experienced several server time-outs and even random app-locks, the game finds itself needing a few hotfixes before its launch. Most of these bugs? Seem only present within the Xbox One version in comparison to the PlayStation 4 version of the game. Does this mean that the PlayStation 4 version is flaw free? No, it doesn’t, quite the opposite really. While graphics between the two versions are one-in-the-same the game does see some minor graphical slow downs in regards to FPS during moments of explosions and high particle effects the PS4 version seems to hold steady during these occasions and not degrading any form of performance in that regard.

While I would like to say everything is perfect on the PlayStation 4 I would be lying to you in truth. The PlayStation 4 does carry its own flaws in regards to certain parts of performance with matchmaking. The biggest issue comes down to matchmaking in the networking area. This has to do with the servers being incapable of finding matches when in parties of 3-4. While this would seem to be a minor problem to most this problem does exist and can lead to matchmaking taking upwards to 10-20 minutes before finding a lobby or a partner to fill those open spots. If this problem exists during the game’s initial launch, fans will find themselves a bit disgruntled when it comes out next Tuesday.

/-/ Final Thoughts /-/

While it may be hard to dissect every possibly good, bad and even horrible situation with this beta, the current state of the title, it seems that Ubisoft has been hard at work trying to kink out every single little bug possible before the game’s launch. With many of the subtle changes that could be made to the game post-launch let’s just hope that the Xbox One’s performance issues seem resolved with a Day One Patch or a post-launch patch within the following days.

With the game launching on Xbox One, PlayStation 4 and PC on December 1st, 2015, stay tuned for our upcoming review on both the PS4 and Xbox One in the upcoming days.

About the Writer:

dustin_batgr_prof

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.

Just Cause 3 Gets Final Dev Diary

/ Dustin Murphy / Leave a comment

jc3_gamescom_sc1

If you aren’t already familiar with Just Cause as a franchise, the developers behind Just Cause 3 have some big plans for their protagonist Rico as well as the fans who take the chance to play the latest entry.

In the final dev diary we get to learn more about the games engine as well as an inside look on how they went about making this title even bigger, better and more explosive than past entries. So take a look below and see it all unfold.

Just Cause 3 is set to launch on Xbox One, PlayStation 4 and PC.

About the Writer:

dustin_batgr_prof

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.

Review: Fallout 4- War, War Has Changed

/ Dustin Murphy / Leave a comment

Fallout4_Logo

 

Pros:
+New graphics engines are beautiful and bring the Wastelands to life
+Voice acting for main characters is spot on and immersive
+Weapon customizations and city building are welcome changes
+New perk system is spot on for S.P.E.C.I.A.L. talents

Cons:
–Frame-rate issues can pop up in certain situations
–Some load times take longer than others
–Companions can sometimes seem to be lost heading to assigned towns

 

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Editor’s Note: Due to the sheer size of the game and massive amounts of content we’ve had to put this and file it as a review that will continuously be in progress till the reviewer feels that the review matches the quality needed to properly represent our thoughts on the game. We will keep you updated once we take the review out-of-progress and when we make changes to it. Thanks your your understanding.

 

Review Update #1:

As you know our review has been in progress for a couple of weeks now. This latest update, which is the first of many, will discuss the community building situation as well as the modding system for both weapons and armor as well as your Power Armor, which we are sure by now you’ve become rather accustomed to owning.

When talking about a Fallout game we aren’t talking just about how small it is, but we are discussing in general just how big the game is thanks to massive amounts of content. With Fallout 4 we’re looking at more content than I’ve come to realize it has from dungeons to explore to sheer new additions. The latest may seem familiar to some of you who play Fallout Shelter as your goal is to build a community of Vault Dwellers, to take care of them, to get them to come around and become a living and breathing entity. Fallout 4 has embraced this philosophy with allowing players to take a place such as the starting area of Sanctuary or Sanctuary Hills and build a community out of it once completing the beginning game up to a certain point.

When in the building mode, players may become familiar with a small bit of information at the top of the screen that will indicate amount of settlers, happiness, defenses, electricity/energy, food, water, beds and capacity for settlers. These both will be manageable as long as players remember to have the proper resources built into place such as Gourds, Watermelon and even Tato’s in order to properly sustain their food sources. These can later be added to as players progress through the game in time, but so can their population by placing the proper items such as radio towers that will signal survivors to their settlement. Just remember, to bring in more? You have to have more water, higher defenses, proper energy, food, water, beds and even places for them to stay. This is quite important and will require players to improvise by putting down walls, fences, building houses, establishments and even bringing vendors into town in order to sustain a usable economy. Don’t forget though, these towns can be attacked and it won’t be uncommon if or when this happens. One problem that was noticed came with texture collision when it comes to fence angles, item locations and even some terrain based problems. While these problems can be overcome with slight changes in angles or item placement, it does leave a certain irritation for those who want to be perfectionists.

When encouraging players to build a settlement, it’s quite interesting to see that both upgraded weapons and even armor won’t go to waste since settlers (your named ones) can equip these items if players talk to them in order to trade. By doing so this will provide odds that are better suited for the players advantage. For example in my own town I’ve gone as far to equip Preston (you should be well acquainted with this gentleman by now). In my town Preston is no longer in his default armor. Instead he has been heavily upgraded using Synth armors and even some other under armor from the Gunners in order to provide him better protection during any fights he may get into.

When discussing armor it’s important that players do take note that some gear with have a “+” or “-” next to certain stats. Many times this is because an armor has been pre-modified thanks to enemies and of course a players luck. These modifications provide extra energy defense as well as things such as radiation protection as well as basic damage protection. These upgrades to armor can also include poison resistance, extra damage resistance, extra carrying capacity and even lowered weight in order to help players weigh less when wearing heavier pieces of equipment or simply avoiding a strength build to start off with.

Among this unique crafting system “food items” that are collected from enemies such as Mutant Hounds, Hounds or other animals, can and will create foods that can reduce things such as Rads, improve max HP or even increase max AP in order to make characters more effective in combat. The same can go for items such as Buffout, Jet, Psycho and the likes. All of these can be modified in order to make their effects stack with each other, but only if the player has the proper components for the combining of these items.

Weapons have also gotten much of the same treatment as armor in the regards that weapons can be fully upgraded for better damage, lower recoil, bigger clips, better accuracy and silenced, muzzled or however players prefer to have them set for their situations. These weapons, all of them pretty much, can be modified in order to provide better combat prowess for players. We’ll take a deeper look into this as we begin to modify weapons such as the Rocket Launcher, Institute Pistol and even the Laser Rifle with screenshots to follow.

 

There was a time when I could have told you that I’ve seen it all, done it all and felt that war had finally began to change only to once more be thrown into a Wasteland that seems familiar yet very different from the ones we had seen before. Fallout has become a franchise that Bethesda Zenimax fans like myself can tell you holds a soft place in our hearts thanks to the company’s creativity and attention to detail. With this never-ending attention that they give each of their respective IP’s we’ve seen some of the most amazing open-world RPGs come to life. One of these renowned titles was The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim, which can be noticeably seen in many respects of this game and with good reason. Many of them can be seen deep within the game’s mechanics, skill system and even the overall use of dialogue-defining choices players will make throughout the game.

For many of us Fallout 3 was the last big one we truly enjoyed and found the most creativity in and for many of us it has been a long wait to see another polished title by the amazing minds at Bethesda Studios, but a little bit has changed since our last departure from the safety of our Vault-Tec Vaults. With now seven years behind us it has come our time to place the disks in our consoles and even our computers in order to take on this large-scale experience that has been carefully crafted, but this experience as foreign as it may seem will seem oddly familiar to fans who have explored the wastelands once before. As someone who has been playing Fallout for well over ten years, the games install screen has been one of the most entertaining as the game greets players who decide to boot the game up the moment the install finishes they will be welcomed by a Vault-Tec guide to the wastelands and the stats they will use as well as how they will influence your travels through the Wasteland. The videos being what they are, reflect a 1950’s like era where animated cartoons helped illustrate the world how we should know it.

Fallout4_SC04

Once we’ve exited this little introductory portion of the game it’s time to get down to one of the most entertaining portions of any Bethesda game, character creation after we’ve gone through the game’s introductory sequence that helps build up where we want to see things. In these opening moments we are greeted by a married couple, our choice of Wanderers, a male and a female one. Here we get to select our gender, our appearance clear from hair, nose, lips, cheeks, make-up (assuming you are playing a female), eyes and so forth. Unlike before, the game offers us some rather unique look into the world before the bombs fell, before our characters became test subjects to whatever their vault was using tests for. What’s most unique about the characters we play is the fact they are fully voice acted. Let alone are we given a new choice system, but we are given a unique response between both of the genders. While it’s nice to see such a thing approach the most interesting part is that the voices should come familiar as Courtenay Taylor (Resident Evil 6’s Ada Wong) and Brian T. Delaney (Halo 5: Guardians – Roland). While both of these are interesting choices for voice actors they add a rather lively aspect to the game that was never there before in the franchise.

With that aside the game does seem to visit a familiar face as the game at its core remains largely intact from its predecessors where players will focus on several things. This includes exploration, quests, factions and even quests, but the major plot is completely new, original and offers a twisted view as to what could happen if your son had been kidnapped while you were in cryosleep. A large question will emerge as fans attempt to figure out how long it had been since your kid had been taken from you. What’s the exact time frame since your sons kidnapping and your awakening, how long had it been since you saw your family fall apart before you? As your exploration of the Wasteland comes underway players will find themselves going through familiar places such as Fenway Park, the Freedom Trail and even other unique locales that could very well be visit in real life. Though some of these unique places will send players into fighting things such as Super Mutants, Yao Guai and even Synths. While Synths sound like the common one, there is something rather peculiar about them that you’ll find out by entering Diamond City.

Fallout4_SC01

The truth? They are the new enemy, the new focal point and even our newest and greatest enemy that will come before us. The question about the Synths and their creators “The Institute” can make things a bit more interesting as we learn that humans are being replaced by them little by little with their Synth counterparts. Story wise, Fallout 4 follows the tracks just as Fallout 3 did; something has happened, you are hunting your family member and the outcome may depend on how far you are willing to go in order to solve your latest problem. This one is why your kid was kidnapped, why they would want to and the outcome to finding out the resolution.

While on your adventures it won’t be odd to not go alone. Easier than in past titles to obtain, followers become a large part of this game. You’ll meet some such as an oafish Super Mutant named Strong to the famed series member Dogmeat clear to the rather uppity character named Codsworth or even the ill-reputed reporter Piper who just seems to piss a lot of people off with her news reporting. While each of these offer unique dialogue they all have their competitive advantages. While Dogmeat is a dog, he offers a chance to snag-and-snare enemies and even disabling them in combat by doing so. While other companions have the chance to use guns as well as more armor than Dogmeat sometimes it’s nice not to hear them randomly bantering as you explore or even their feedback about quests you are taking part in. Even though it’s nice to have human interaction among the Wasteland sometimes it’s just too much depending on what is going on and how. So what has really change this time around outside of companions that can’t die?

For those of you who are familiar with the level up system, many of you are accustomed to S.P.E.C.I.A.L. system there has been a few changes since players can now choose a state to level up or even a perk to level up. Just as before, some of these perks require certain levels, certain stats and even certain requirements in order for players to progress through the game with a bit more ease than before. While many of the perks return, there are some new ones that allow for weapon upgrading/crafting, food making, armour crafting and even alchemy items(drugs, medical supplies, etc) to be created so that players may take to the Wastelands with a bit more ease. Such as crafting items to make stealth a bit more effective, pocketed armour pieces to allow for players to carry more items and even padded so that players can take a bit more damage than before while weapons see vast amounts of choices to increase damage, range, decrease recoil and the likes.

Fallout4_SC05

Fallout 4 – PlayStation 4 (Reviewed), Xbox One and PC
Developer: Bethesda Softworks
Publisher: Bethesda Zenimax
Cost: 59.99 USD
Release Date: Now Available

While there are flaws I could outline many of these are because of minor bugs that seem to pop up and disappear just as quickly as they first emerged. While some may find these bugs such as dialogue cut outs, randomly situated combat scenarios and even oddly placed items that may not be retrievable. While these minor things to some are critical, we do find ourselves enjoying the game in all its intoxicating craftsmanship. If you haven’t already found yourself down the rabbit hole and still falling we are sure that you won’t be landing anytime soon in regards to the sheer amount of content there is to explore. We just wish we could see the hundreds of thousands of people wandering the wastelands.

Stay tuned for further review updates that will include town building, friendships, etc. We do apologize that this bit isn’t in the review, but due to the sheer size of this game and the amount of content I was unable to include it in the initial review this far.

Our review is based upon the final version that one or more of our team members purchased.  For information about our ethics policy please click here.

 Final Score: 9 out of 10

About the Writer:

dustin_batgr_prof

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.

Hands-On: Overwatch – Blizzard Sets their Troops on the Ground

/ Dustin Murphy / Leave a comment

Overwatch

The Overwatch beta has been out for a few weeks and I’ve been lucky enough to participate in the fun. Blizzard is planning their stress test this weekend, which will include another round of beta invites on Friday.

For those of you who aren’t familiar, Overwatch is a multiplayer first-person shooter in development by Blizzard Entertainment. The game shares similarities with Team Fortress 2 but incorporates MOBA style cooldown abilities that can be skillfully executed.

Overwatch_Team_Artwork

Overwatch currently has two 6v6 objective based modes where teams either defend or attack. There are currently 21 unique heroes with varied abilities that fit into four role types; tank, support, defense and offense. The defense role currently has two smaller archetypes, sniper and builder.

Blizzard’s UI offers suggestions for a defense and an offense team but at this point in the beta many teams consist of what each individual wants to play. There is a built-in VOIP that isn’t often used strategically but seems well put together. There is also a text-based chat box. You can immediately tell when you are playing a match against a team communicating and working together, while your team consists of four or five of the same ‘offense’ hero.

Thankfully, if the game is a slaughter, it is quickly won or lost. More commonly, both teams have synergy and are working the objective. These matches are magical and are incredibly addicting.

There are certainly heroes who are too powerful and will most likely be tweaked but overall the game feels balanced. Some heroes are played more often than others but within a few rounds I’ve seen every hero played. I’ve rarely tried a hero and thought it felt weak or boring. I, infact, had the opposite reaction most of the time I learned the abilities of a hero (usually warranting expletives – in a good way).

At the end of the match, a player is acknowledged for “Play Of The Game” video recap. Four players are recognized for exceptional skill and you can view your personal scores. A scoreboard showing your team’s scores is not currently available and I’m unsure it will be in the final version.

Dorado_001

The maps are beautiful and colorful. They are thoughtfully put together, connected with the heroes’ stories and have an almost “Pixar” art style. The Hollywood map is part of Hollywood Boulevard and a film studio, containing a sci-fi film set with aliens, and an old western film set. Map Hanamura, located in a Japanese suburb and temple, is sprinkled with vibrant, falling cherry blossoms. Map Dorado is located in the Mexican city, Dorado, and is a night map, lit up by the warm glow of street lights.

The Overwatch team has made sure there is something interactive to do, while you wait for teams to build or matches to start. When teams are forming you are able to explore a map and exchange fire with the other team, in a deathmatch style mode. No scores are kept during this time and when the teams are full it will pull you out of the map into the character selection screen. This was surprisingly refreshing and allows you try out characters you haven’t played before.

Overwatch is great. It is fast-paced, fun and challenging. The only thing I am concerned about when it comes to the beta, is that it will end soon.

Overwatch is set to release in 2016 on PC, Xbox One and PS4. Find out more information at PlayOverwatch.com.

 

About the Writer:

annie_helseth_batgr

Annie is an avid gamer who takes her love for gaming to the written format with her thoughts, opinions, and discussions regarding games in their current state, but as well as the industry. With her insight to PC gaming, Annie is one step ahead of the team, and looks to keep it that way.

 

Ready to Save? We’ve Compiled the Best Black Friday Gaming Ads

/ Dustin Murphy / Leave a comment

Best_Buy_Door_Buster_Xbox_One

When it comes to Black Friday, the holidays and amazing sales, we’re going to try and have you covered the best we can. Why? Even as a team of journalists, we don’t make any money off B.A.T.G.R., but instead our every day jobs. So to us, saving money is a big deal as our member(s) spend hundreds to thousands a year on games, hardware and things such as TV’s in order for us to bring you the news we do. So this week? We’ve dug through the best video gaming deals we think you could enjoy and compiled them for you. So lets take a look below as we count down to the best deals with the last one being the one we felt as a team would be the best for your family gamers. So what have we done? Found the deals that seem the best and even linked each of the Black Friday Ads for you. Below we’ve listed the best deals we felt for each of the price ranges. While there are many more games and items to be listed, we couldn’t list all of them, but we have, as stated, linked to the Black Friday Ads for you to dig completely through.

Wal-Mart

3-Months PlayStation Plus – 7.96
3-Months Xbox Live – 12.50
PlayStation 4 and Xbox One Controllers – 39.99
Assassin’s Creed Syndicate – 34.99 – Xbox One and PlayStation 4
Destiny: The Taken King Legendary Edition – 34.99 – Xbox One and PlayStation 4
Dragon Age Inquisition Gold Edition – 34.99 – Xbox One and PlayStation 4
Forza 6 – 34.99 – Xbox One
Fifa 16 – 34.99 – Xbox One and PlayStation 4
Metal Gear Solid: The Phantom Pain – 34.99 – Xbox One and PlayStation 4
Mortal Kombat X – 24.99 – Xbox One and PlayStation 4
The Witcher III: The Wild Hunt – 24.99 – Xbox One and PlayStation 4
Splatoon – 24.99 – Wii U
The Legend of Zelda: Majora’s Mask 3D – 24.99 – Nintendo 3DS
The Elder Scrolls Online: Tamriel Unlimited – 24.99 – Xbox One and PlayStation 4
Batman: Arkham Knight – 24.99 – Xbox One and Playstation 4
Bloodborne – 24.99 – PlayStation 4
Gears of War Ultimate Edition – 14.99 – Xbox One
Rare Replay – 14.99 – Xbox One
Disney Infinity 3.0 Edition Starter Pack – 39.99 – PlayStation 4 Version Only

Best Buy

Grand Theft Auto V – 34.99 – Xbox One and PlayStation 4
Need for Speed – 34.99 – Xbox One and PlayStation 4
Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain – 34.99 – Xbox One and
PlayStation 4 – Other Platforms Possible
Assassin’s Creed Syndicate – 34.99 – Xbox One and PlayStation 4
Forza 6 – 34.99 – Xbox One
Splatoon – 34.99 – Wii U
Batman: Arkham Knight – 24.99 – Xbox One and PlayStation 4
The Witcher 3: The Wild Hunt – 24.99 – Xbox One and PlayStation 4
Mad Max – 24.99 – Xbox One and PlayStation 4
Borderlands: The Handsome Collection – 24.99 – Xbox One and PlayStation 4
Just Dance 2016 – 24.99 – Wii U
The Elder Scrolls Online: Tamriel Unlimited – 24.99 – Xbox One and PlayStation 4
PlayStation 4 and Xbox One Controllers – 39.99
Disney Infinity 3.0 Edition Starter Park – 39.99 – Xbox One and PlayStation 4 – Other Platforms Possible
Guitar Hero Live – 69.99 – Xbox One and PlayStation 4

While we would like to say Target’s Black Friday Ad is much different from the others, it’s not. If you wish, you can take a peek at it here. Below we saved the best for last when it comes to bundles.

Xbox One Consoles – 299.99 – 349.99 – Best Buy | Target | Wal-Mart
Uncharted: Nathan Drake Collection PlayStation 4 Bundle – 299.99 – Best Buy | Wal-Mart | Target
Wii U Console – 249.99 – Target
New Nintendo 3DS XL – 179.99 – Target

We hope this gives you a few ideas for that gamer or upcoming media person in your family! Let us know if there are other savings you wish to know about while we wait for GameStop to release their Black Friday and Cyber Monday ads. Will you settle for the Gamers Club Unlocked at Best Buy in order to save 20% off those amazing deals? Let us know who you settle for in order to complete your shopping and why.

About the Writer:

dustin_batgr_prof

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.

Fallout 4 Sales Approximately 12 Million Units Totaling Around $750 Million USD

/ Dustin Murphy / Leave a comment

fallout4_allplatforms_3D_box-06_1433339942

If you are like the millions of people around the world, Fallout 4 has become a huge part of your life and without a doubt the most played game across the three platforms it launched on. Since Fallout 4’s launch on Xbox One, PlayStation 4, and PC players have ranted, raved, and even highly appraised the game. Many of these fans have also excitedly displayed their Fallout 4 Pip-Boy Edition’s, which sold out within hours of having been announced earlier this year.

With major retailers having informed Bethesda of the tremendous consumer interest in Fallout 4, with some having even noting that Bethesda’s latest titled is the most pre-ordered game of the year, quite easily topping Halo 5: Guardians and Call of Duty Black Ops III in sales. With such a large interest, Fallout 4 copies are having to be shipped to meet the consumer demand as many retailers are unable to keep up with sales.

Let alone has physical sales broken records, the digital sales have been following suit with Steam having noted that Fallout 4 is the most game played concurrently with over 470,000 players playing the game. The games companion app, Fallout Pip-Boy has become the most downloaded and accessed app according to the iTunes App Store. The game has also become the most viewed game since its launch according to Twitch.

“We’re extremely proud of Todd Howard, Game Director at Bethesda Game Studios, and his experienced team of developers for their talent and dedication in creating this extraordinary game,” said Vlatko Andonov, President of Bethesda Softworks. “Fallout 4 is a masterpiece in game development and storytelling, providing fans hundreds of hours of fun as they explore and are challenged by this fascinating, beautifully crafted world.”

Fallout_4_Appraisal

Fallout 4 has earned critical acclaim since the games announcement back in June. The title has also obtained over 160 awards at E3 2015 while also coveting the Award for Best of Show, which was voted on by a group of independent journalists from 39 of the industries leading media outlets that cover the video game industry.

Reviewers have noted for particular praise the game’s storytelling, its vast, detailed world, crafting systems, exploration, meaningful player choices, shooting mechanics, hours of gameplay, and most importantly, total freedom of action. Your choices, your world, you do what you want with it as The Wandered from Vault 111.

“A huge thanks to our fans that’ve made this all possible,” said Todd Howard, Game Director on Fallout 4. “After four years of development, it’s not complete until our fans get to play it and make it their own. We can’t wait to hear about their adventures.”

For many, Fallout 4 reminds them why Bethesda Game Studios stands among all developers with its elite status. With each of the last three titles developed from the studio, each of them have earned a consensus of “Game of the Year” winners and rank with some of the highest-scoring titles within the industry. Fallout 4 follows up to the 2008 ‘Game of the Year’ winner, Fallout 3 and stands among the best with their most recent release since 2011’s ‘Game of the Year’ winner, The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim.

Fallout 4 is now available for Xbox One, PlayStation 4 and PC.

Review: Halo 5: Guardians Multiplayer – Halo, the Training Day Edition

/ Dustin Murphy / Leave a comment

Halo5_Guardians_Multiplayer_Trailer_SC01

Pros:
+Friendly character call-out’s is a welcomed tactical use for those not using headsets.
+Warzone offers a unique blend of competitive PvP and Player vs A.I.
+REQ System’s Rewards are fun, unique and offer fun twists to a Attack & Defend situation
+The removal of Spartan Armor Abilities offers a return to classic like multiplayer
+ADS on all weapons offers a nice blend of combat styles for all players

Cons:
–Spartan customization is rather underwhelming in comparison to Halo 4
–REQ Packs offer a nice variation between player setups
–Lack of modes such as Spartan Ops offers a lack of variation for co-op choices

Halo5_SC_Warzone02

By now we know you’ve had a chance to consume our review for Halo 5: Guardians’ campaign and now we’re finally breaking down the multiplayer in its current state as Big Team Battles is on its way in the games update with a few maps to accompany the title. You can be rest assured we’ll have a hands-on for that portion of the game once it releases. But for now let us focus on the state of the game as it is now as we get to see how the Spartan’s train in the games universe)

Many things have changed over the last couple of installments with Halo as a franchise, especially to the multiplayer what seems to remain as the game’s core piece and keeps the fans coming back more than once. Unlike Halo’s Reach and Halo 4, Halo 5: Guardians has decided to step back from how we knew Spartan Abilities to work by having completely removed them and once more placed Power Ups back into the game the way they needed to be. As this has helped return Halo to its former glory, don’t let this change throw you off as things such as increased speed, active camo and the likes have all been thoroughly implemented into the game thanks to Halo 5: Guardians and how the REQ system works.

So what exactly is this REQ system that’s been mentioned several times? For those of you who haven’t had a chance to jump onto Halo 5’s multiplayer yet here is what the REQ system is. By playing matches, winning, losing or whatever have you, REQ points are earned for completing matches in general. Through meeting certain requirements or simply saving up points, players have the chance to unlock new REQ packs, which in-turn can be purchased in order to unlock new things such as weapons, vehicles, exp boosters and even certifications for new items via the REQ pack unlocks. These packs can can also contain unique versions of each gun as well as rarities that provide slightly different capabilities than lesser versions. Though these weapons can only be used in Warzone modes, it’s nice to see them available for those wanting to use them.

Halo5_SC_Warzone

While much of the multiplayer remains untouched from the previous mentionings of REQ Packs we do see a few things that would have been viable to the game outside of Swat, Team Arena, Slayer, Breakout, Free-For-All, Weekend Shotty Snipers, and Weekend Doubles with Big Team Battle to be introduced into the game in the nearby future in the games next content update. While many of these modes may seem fairly simple to understand, there are rankings for each one that players will find themselves earning in order to compete with people of similar play styles as well as skill levels known as CSR (Competitive Skill Rank). Thanks to this new system players are divided into several categories such as Bronze, Silver, Gold, Platinum, Diamond, Onyx and finally Champion. Thanks to this new system players will find themselves growing in rank as they win matches as well as decreasing in progress towards their next rank as their teams proceed to lose, which is great, but also punishes players who may have done great on their team only to have been let down by their teammates who may be complete randoms. While Bungies old ranking system was interesting, hard and downright challenging – it almost seems this new system is to balance out the good, the bad and the pro in different ways. The issue with this one? Your rating is also based on your win/loss ratio during your matches as well as your performance overall. I got stuck into Diamond, the issue? I only have a 0.87 K/D which pales into comparison against some of the people I’ve managed to play Halo 5’s multiplayer with.

While I could write extensively on the changes that have been made as well as their supportive attempts to play fair for an entire community, let us take a look at the things that hold Halo 5: Guardians back in ways that Halo 4 succeeded and still does at its core. While the newest game mode Breakout offers a unique spin on the familiar gameplay seen in Call of Duty’s Search and Destroy, the newest mode offers fans a chance to fight over a singular flag with one life in this Sudden Death version of Capture the Flag. While the mode is fun, challenging and ultimately difficulty – some do tend to treat it as an elimination mode, which takes away quite a bit of the games fun. But in truth? It still doesn’t take away the fact that Halo 4 still succeeds in many ways that Halo 5 does not.

Many of you are probably familiar with the episodic storyline from Halo 4 known as Spartan Ops. In this mode players (up to 4) took control of Spartan-IV team members in order to complete special tasks that would help the USS Infinity gain more knowledge of the enemies they are up against. Let alone did this chance give them boots on the ground outside of Master Chief and his hunt for the Didact as well as the after events, but it also gave the newer Spartan-IV’s a chance to go from green to mean. Their story primarily covered the hunt for Doctor Catherine Hasley, the very woman responsible for the experiments that lead to Spartan Augmentations being possible. As she is hunted the teams find out more and more about what’s going on behind the scenes and in turn Hasley is painted to be a traitor. While many of you may know the occurrences, lets leave the rest to wonderment by those who have not had a chance to play Spartan Ops just yet. While this series was a large fuel for success in Halo 4, many players have been clambering for more episodes, some that even take place during the events of Halo 5: Guardians so that players can see more on the side of what Sarah Palmer and her command of Spartan-IV’s can do. Especially with our new villain literally tearing the universe apart just because he or she can.

Halo 5: Guardians (Xbox One – Reviewed)
Developer: 343 Studio
Publisher: Microsoft Studios
Cost: 59.99 USD
Release Date: Now Available

While this episodic series could pose a chance for return thanks to fans hitting the Halo Waypoint forums by force, Halo 5: Guardians could use a bit more to it as the story, as you read in our last review was lacking, plot-hole filled and needed quite a bit of filling in, which Spartan Ops would offer a nice chance for 343 Studios to do in a future update. The only downside? They’ve pretty much said this wasn’t happening according to several websites, we can only wait and see what happens to this since 343 Studios carefully crafted both Spartan Ops and Firefight together with Warzone. Downside? If that’s what we are stuck with, there seems to be quite a few fans that aren’t having that slice of cake and even eating it. They’re throwing it on the ground. Much like Spartan boosters that can be activated during combat, so let us discuss the new Spartan Armor system.

While many of you might be giving off a small shriek of hope for abilities such as Promethean Vision, Active Cloak, Hardlight Shield and the others I would like to say, it’s okay to cry, they’re gone. While it would have been nice to see such streamlined capabilities came back, 343 Studios Opted for something a bit more useful, self-explanatory and unique based on the Spartan Armor tech that the UNSC and ONI command would realistically be using. So what did they bring in? Boosters, thrusters and even hovering modes on the armors allowing for players to hover while using ADS, slide and shoot after sprinting, wall climbing and even a boost that allows players to quickly maneuver to a direction they desire. This allows for players to clamber up walls in order to hit those ledges they need, but also requires a new sense of awareness as players may just get shot in the back if they aren’t careful.

All around Halo 5: Guardians remains quite unchanged in comparison to past titles. Thanks to a slight boost in both combat pacing as well as situational awareness, Halo 5 remains very much the title we’ve grown up with regardless of the small changes that have been made. Whether you use hipfire or ADS, boosts or no boosts or even simple things such as power-ups in Warzone, players of all types will find this game quite suitable for themselves no matter which mode they find as their own. Halo 5’s multiplayer sticks true to its roots in many aspects while risking influences heavily seen in modern FPS titles. While transitions may be difficult for some to learn, Halo 5: Guardians’ multiplayer remains very much the same beast as before. Now if only we could get Custom Games matchmaking and an arena mode for Griffball.

<< Halo 5 Review Part 1

Our review is based upon the final version that one or more of our team members purchased.  For information about our ethics policy please click here.

 Final Score: 9 out of 10

About the Writer:

dustin_batgr_prof

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.