Interested in some Tom Clancy’s The Division? Check out our video for some information!
The Division launches March 8th, 2016 on Xbox One, PC, and PlayStation 4.
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.
Pros:
+Big weapons that pun the female life
+Amazing story that gives our heroine a 90’s video game start
+Map designs using top down design offer a delightful Diablo-esque experience
Cons:
-Requires a decently powerful PC to play
-Controls on keyboard may be slightly disorienting to non-PC gamers
-Quest NPCs can be difficult to find
When looking at companies 3D Realms and Interceptor have been known some of their fantastic titles like Rise of the Triad, Duke Nukem, Shadow Warrior, Prey, Blake Stone, and many more. With their recent departure from Duke Nukem it was a wonder as to where Interceptor and 3D Realms would go. Their answer? Replacing Duke Nukem with a female character who is full of slap shot one liners, big guns, and an attitude to boot. Sherry is not your average female protagonist, instead she’s a bad ass who has weapons named things such as “The Motherflakker” and the “P.M.S.”. Names you’ll get used to as you go through the game.
The opening moments of the game go as expected. Our enemy force, in this case alien like reptiles are assaulting the White House, and our hero of the day is on her way. Driving like a mad woman we see her arrive at the scene of the “crime” and this is where our game begins. For many, Bombshell seems almost lackluster, if you read the reviews out there – it’s being compared to Duke Nukem quite heavily, and in turn this is where I’ll say stop reading if you are wanting a Duke Nukem style game, this isn’t that. Instead this is Interceptor’s adventure into a new terrain they haven’t been apart of quite yet, which is the birds-eye-view point while implementing shooter and RPG mechanics into a game.
While “boring” may come into mind to some people since the game does follow rather interesting enemy behavior’s, boss mechanics, and similar level designs; Bombshell has remained a game that is rather fun, interesting, and one of those where I’d not have minded if a story was not present in the slightest. Why? I’m a fan of these style games, I love to explore, blow things up, and even take on bosses that may, at times, present a level of difficulty, which they did not disappoint on the higher difficulties away from “Normal”. While missions will seem generic once players are taken to the alien worlds that Shelly aka Bombshell will traverse, the levels are still enjoyable and quite fun in comparison to what one may think. Ever played Diablo? The levels were pretty much the same in the first and second games, just a different paint job. While my biggest complaint with the title wouldn’t be the story or the level design, it’d be the fact that enemies didn’t variate much nor did they seem to want to do so. While enemy placements could have used a clever working to them, they still offered a challenge that lead me to dying more than once, and even throwing my hands up in pure frustration due to having died to thinks I knew I could have avoided. Things as simple as a few bullets that could have been dodged using Shelly’s abilities to my advantage.
While reading many reviews out there, you’ll see that Bombshell has been getting nagged at for what may seem like a simplistic design, one that will take you back to the 90’s era of gaming, but the thing I’ve not seen mentioned is simple. Combat mechanics, the RPG elements or even the abilities that Shelly will use, which in truth – is frustrating, so our review? Won’t be focusing on the level designs, the monotonous story that may seem remnant to a Duke Nukem title (not saying this is bad at all) or even the fact we’ve encountered a few bugs we were able to bypass in the long run.
As stated, Bombshell at its core is a top-down RPG shooter, where our lead lady will grow more powerful as you play. This includes leveling up her health, energy, and even her armor. The one thing that stuck out about Bombshell is that the game is unique, it’s not trying to be another game, but instead is going with what 3D Realms and Interceptor know best. Fun, puzzling, and exploration filled titles that will drive players to pay attention to what they are doing, but also their surroundings as they undergo combat situations and explore. The most noticeable of all this is the fact that Bombshell’s abilities do play a rather large role in her combat situation. Things such as her dash or shoulder charge will quickly render her free of enemy damage for a moment. This will even get her away from combat long enough to recharge her armor and energy to provide another blast of combat prowess. Let alone do players level her up, they also level up her weapons, and in turn make them even deadlier in combat. All of this at the cost of the in-game currency called Ky.
While some of this seems simple, many of these mechanics began to shine during the boss fights. Players will find themselves constantly dodging, moving, and even switching up weapons as their ammo begins to go limited due to ammo being hard to find in boss fights. This means players will find themselves not just utilizing Shelly’s weaponry and gadgets, but also her abilities such as her Trap, her rush, and the previously mentioned charge, which knocks enemies back. Though players will need to cautiously navigate areas in order to not die during these fights as terrain can be just as deadly as the enemies they take on.
Bombshell – PC (Reviewed)
Developer: Interceptor Entertainment Publisher:3D Realms Cost: 39.99 USD Release Date: Now Available
This currency follows a similar situation with games like Dark Souls and Bloodborne where players will need it to by medpacks, ammo, and even weapon upgrades. All the while allowing players to button hammer away in order to stay alive and take out their enemy to the best of their capabilities. If one thing is true about Bombshell, it’s not that it’s a wasted game, it’s the fact too many walked in expecting Duke Nukem out of it. the game is challenging with some puzzles that require weapons to have certain upgrades or even for Shelly to have certain abilities unlocked in order to continue.
If you are one that likes to explore and find hidden collectibles for in-game missions and listen to some witty 90’s-like one-liners? Bombshell is right up your alley and is one that provides a rather enjoyable story as well as gameplay mechanics.
Stay tuned for our second review coming from David Murphy, which will cover his thoughts on the game in our duo review.
Our review is based upon the final version that the publisher provided us with. For information about our ethics policy please clickhere.
Final Score: 8 out of 10
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.
Tom Clancy’s The Division is one of 2016’s most anticipated titles to release after having been announced in 2016. Ubisoft has announced that starting Wednesday, if you have an Xbox One, the Open Beta will be hitting Xbox consoles for players to begin. For PC and PlayStation 4, you’ll be getting in on this starting Thursday. While not much has changed, we have learned that players who have tested in the beta previously will get to experience a new story mission sooner than those that haven’t. Players who also participate in this beta will receive a special in-game reward for their agent(s) when the game launches on March 11th, 2016.
If you haven’t had a chance you can check out our coverage for The Division hereon our YouTube and catch a glimpse of some gameplay while you are at it. Will you be what the world needs to bring peace to a broken New York? Find out soon.
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.
Pros: +Beautifully crafted story and characters +Graphics used are perfect for the game offering a departure from hyper-realism +The use of colors is a superb choice from lush greens to vibrant oranges +Story will break hearts and cause tears
Cons: –Only characters actually seen in the game? Are a body and well your own character –Very, very short for 19.99 USD
There’s a point where I’ve begun to tell people that games can’t connect to us on a singular emotional level. That we are bound by our human nature into letting our minds play the tricks on us that we need. Want a good scare? Good. Go play games like Slender, Dead Space, DOOM 3 BFG, Outlast or any other disturbing game out there on the market. You’ll get the few cheap thrills you need to make your skin crawl. While being fearful is a natural emotion for us, so is the idea that it derives from our brains impulses to be scared. In ways, that is how we connect to some of the games we do. But the game I’ve decided to take on through my own wallet is not a game that derives from the use of fear or even the subtle hint of violence, but instead it derives from the heart. For me, it is rare that games can connect on an emotional level. Sure the death scene of Sniper Wolf in Metal Gear Solid worked up a few solid tears. If you’ve ever seen movies like Disney Pixar’s UP! or even the same companies film Inside Out, you already know the opening is going to hit you with an emotional punch. That’s what happened with Firewatch.
For many of you, you know the game just came out on Steam and PlayStation 4. You also know that the game is a rather story-driven, first person title, set in the year 1989. The game was developed by Campo Santo, and published by Panic. Panic being a Microsoft Studio, makes it interesting to let us even see the game hit PlayStation 4 versus Xbox One. In this title by Campo Santo, we take on the role of Henry, and overweight, bearded guy who is running away from his life. His problem becomes very real and one for many people to easily touch with. His getaway from these problems? A fire watchtower in the middle of the Shoshone National Forest in Wyoming. Henry isn’t the guy you’d expect him to be, with the voice talent of Rich Sommer in the place, we get a character whom has a deep,but gentle voice, one that is emotionally touched and leads us to believe Henry could be a very real person. For many of you, you may be stating in the back of your head that there is no way this could be your typical video game lead character. In truth? I’d agree with you to some extent, but not all of it.
For many of us, we get to take on the knowledge that Henry is a white, able-bodied, and male lead. One that has a bit of extra meat on him, but likes to take his long afternoon and morning hikes while doing his job as a Firewatch. At his side? We get his Firewatch leader, Delilah. Henry fortunately isn’t a character we can attribute to characters like Isaac Clark of Deadspace or even Jason Brody from Fallout 3. Instead? He’s just your average Joe, which lets us feel like we could know him in person. That’s where this games charm takes place.
Firewatch’s true charm isn’t the fact that our character is just running from his problems outside of what he is doing. It’s the fact that Henry is story driven when working with Delilah while exploring the National park. With the graphics being as stylized as they are, it didn’t take long to see why almost anyone could play this game, even people with a moderately low end PC. If you have either or just a PS4? You’ll be getting the maximum capacity out of the title when it comes to graphical prowess, which helps feed the games experience. The experience is unique as we trek through the woods, one where we find our characters discussing the reasons as to why they are even doing their job. Why the forest is the way it is and even discussing as to why Henry isn’t back home with his wife. While the narrative is rather immersive, the real charm as stated isn’t just our character development we get. Sure we have two very realistic characters, both featuring amazing voice talent and even chemistry, but we also get the idea that these two could be people we’ve known all our lives and just never really got to know.
While there were moments I found myself chuckling at the snarky conversations and the plot twists, I did find myself commonly wandering the simple thing – why didn’t we ever get to really see Delilah, but instead wandered mindlessly through the forests while trying to stop people from starting fires, uncovering age-old mysteries, and even finding missing persons letters? While the different landscapes are charming, and beautiful, the wildlife itself seemed lonesome; fire watchers must be a rather lonely bunch. If it wasn’t for the radios they keep on their person in order to communicate.
As stated, much of our story comes to life through our characters Henry and Delilah, Delilah being voiced by Cissy Jones (Fallout 4’s Doctor Duff, The Wolf Among Us). We get the idea her character is a veteran fire watcher. One that has been there for some time and has even gotten to know the other watchers that have come in and out of the watch tower Henry has been assigned to. One that offers a very different scenery than his home back in Boulder, Colorado. While one would expect to see other people, our only human contact comes down to Delilah outside of the set of girls we get to rudely interrupt while they are swimming in the park causing trouble as usual. While the two girls offer a few chuckles, both Delilah and Henry (sometimes called Hank by Delilah), offer us an emotional spiral as the story tension begins to spike due to the events taking place. Some of it can be from her being genuinely upset by the choices made or even the fact that she has completely stressed out. Regardless, the game gives players a genuine since of anguish as we tug at her emotional strings. This is where the game finds its central lifeline anchored in; it’s only then do you realize just how important Delilah is to the Firewatch title.
When it comes to interaction choices with Delilah between each day on the radio, players are given a chance to pick their responses. These responses do matter and are critical to the character development, but also as to how Henry and her get to their endpoint. So time does matter as do your decisions. Miss something that may be an important part? Your conversations can change drastically as she may take your version of Hanks silence as an insult. Even then there is a chance she could just sign off her radio, and go silent for the day. This time leaving you to your devices. Like any game, however, it’s hard not to see that Firewatch starts off normally. Delilah works as your supervisor. From there she gives you a few tasks at hand to help clean up the park or patrol, only to eventually have you move carefully across the park in order to investigate things going on while learning both characters back stories all the while.
Viewing past this trailer contains spoilers. Reader discretion advised.
Firewatch – PlayStation 4 (Reviewed), PC, and Linux
Developer: Campo Santo Publisher:Panic Cost:19.99 USD Release Date: Now Available
What makes Firewatch unique isn’t just how the game deals with love, loss, and new friendship; instead it deals with being human. Making human choices. These choices are kicked off by us finding out that Henry’s wife is sick with Alzheimer’s. She has gotten to the point that she barely recognizes him. So to escape from her worsening condition he has taken up the job to help out at this park. In turn our character development takes the biggest twist when two young women go missing. Fires start and Delilah becomes Henry’s new interest based upon the choices you make. All the while she helps him come to terms with what is happening and giving him the idea that maybe, just maybe, he should stop running from his troubles in order to take care of his ailing wife. While many could frown upon the idea of infidelity towards his marriage, we are given characters that are unique, human, and are flawed instead of perfect. Their flaws are what makes their story twist around so perfectly as both characters secrets get flushed out closer and closer to the end. While the ending itself, based upon your choices, may offer a bit of an emotional punch to the heart as players find themselves in Delilah’s watch tower awaiting rescue as a raging fire tears through the park.
While the game does offer unique twists upon missing teen girls, the last firewatcher who was in your tower that just suddenly disappeared, and even the notion that the park in Firewatch truly has the mysteries it does. That being said, Firewatch is a gem, one that Campo Santo has carefully crafted to give players a taste of what true gaming can be like when stepping away from all the blood, the gore, and violence in order to tap into a true human existence. It’s hard to say that I’m not one that hasn’t played games a few times over. In truth I found myself sucked into for more than one playthrough just to see how diverse Delilah and Henry could be and I wasn’t shocked to see that the choices change their dynamics tremendously. If there is an appraisal, it’s the fact that Firewatch is unique, it is carefully crafted, and offers a very real human interaction through emotional aspects. This leads Campo Santo’s Firewatch to be one of the best stories I’ve played in years.
Firewatch is out for Windows, Mac, LINUX, and PlayStation 4 at an affordable 19.99 USD.
Our review is based upon the final version that the publisher provided us with. For information about our ethics policy please clickhere.
Final Score: 9 out of 10
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.
Before I begin on my rant this week, I want you all to know that every Saturday or Monday we will be doing a new topic called “The Weekly Rant” and this one just happens to focus on one of the most anticipated games of 2016: DOOM.
DOOM, when you hear the name you already know the franchise is one of the founding fathers of the FPS genre. The game back in the 90’s was known for its grim music and Hell like settings that ranged from UAC bases clear to the very landscapes of Hell. This trend has been on going for more than 20 years and is one that hasn’t come to a halt. For fans the past ten years have been agonizing as leak after leak of DOOM 4 had gotten released, the game we know went into development Hell, and for all the fans knew – it was done for. John Carmack departed from the company and went on his own way to work on Oculust RIFT, which he had become renowned for by making VR possible with DOOM 3. Lets not forget the fact the man along with Adrien Carmack, Ivan Punchatz and his son Greg, and John Romero became iconic founders of Horror FPS as a singular genre. They made creatures and gameplay that would give anyone nightmares. The franchise itself inspired musicians, artists, gamers, and even modders in the early age of PC gaming.
What DOOM wasn’t known for was a campaign. The series had never been known for one as the surroundings told you a story more than anything else. All you needed to know then? You’re a marine. One of the last ones on the UAC base you were put on, and now you are fighting your way through tight corridors with big ass weapons, and a blood soaked suit of armor. What you also knew was the fact there were demons galore for you to simply walk up, punch to a visceral pile of bone and organs or simply hunt down the BFG 9000 or as my generation called it… The Big F**kin’ Gun. Why? Anything in its scope was just going to be a giant pile of ashes. Was there a quarrel with this? Nope. But when DOOM 3 wandered around? This did become a problem. Why? The series went from a push forward premise where you didn’t want to stop running from side to side and never stop moving forward. Why? Your guns were huge, your enemies were bigger, but they were no match for you with a little bit of patience.
Fast forward a good generation of consoles ahead? That changed tremendously as fans were getting their hands on DOOM, which embraced the Halo-like atmosphere of dark corridors, flick aiming, and backtracking from enemies in order to stay alive. Let alone was it inspired by its classic creatures and origins, it embraced a newer approach to a generation that had story elements, voice acting, and a want to push graphics to a whole new forefront. Interestingly enough? It did, but if you ask any fan out there the response will be the same: DOOM 3 is not a DOOM game in comparison to the past titles. Instead it was a step towards games like Fatal Frame, Silent Hill, with a touch of Halo. Reason I use Halo as an example? It was a bullet Hell title. DOOM 3? Followed the route as a Bullet Hell title and went in to incorporate many elements that can be compared to Halo. Now that’s not to say that DOOM 3 was inspired by Halo, we know it wasn’t, but there are many comparisons we can make to the Halo franchise in the overall approach of gameplay execution. But that’s not what we are discussing today.
As stated previously, DOOM has never been known for its campaigns, and honestly? It shouldn’t be. After taking in many hours of DOOM footage, gameplay mechanics, and even the closed Alpha, my lips have been tightly sealed on what I saw in the Alpha. After all, NDA’s, sorry folks. We love our partnership with Bethesda too much to break our NDA’s, so our lips are sealed. If you haven’t seen gameplay mechanics? Go ahead and head to the official Bethesda Zenimax YouTube and soak in all the videos you can. Just note you have to be 18+ to view the content. With that being said? I’ve been questioning for some time if DOOM would have a narrative as a story and even beating in my own skull for even thinking that. Why? I realized that it doesn’t need a story. Who the Hell cares if it has a story. Do we really want to be bogged down by finding datapads and documents again? I sure don’t want to be. I’d rather be ripping off the heads of Demon’s, Zombies, and making crap explode like a Michael Bay film. Just with more blood and targeted towards an adult audience. Not the crowd that wants more booms and lens flare. This time around? I’ll be the first in the entire room to stand up and scream if I get a narrative. Why? I’m all about Classic DOOM gameplay. The more blood, the better. The more demon’s for me to stomp the heads off, rip the eyes out of, and crap down their throats? The better. Why? That’s the DOOM I know and love. After all I’ve seen at events like E3 and QuakeCon? I really hope there isn’t a story. If there is one? I’d be fine if it was radio chatter versus DOOM 3’s backtracking and hiding to find the narrative. The crap got old and fast.
But the question I know many will ask me? What will we do if we don’t have a story or narrative to drive the gameplay so that our marine is trekking through this Hellish life of his trying to survive? Guess what kids? Daddy’s got a secret – your imagination works wonders here. I know as a kid I grew up writing stories in my head about what DOOMs narrative would be, why the marine was fighting what he was, and why Hell broke out the way it did. The simple explanation behind it all was? UAC did a craptacular job containing a extra-dimensional rift and let Hell into our universe and in turn the universe has literally gone to Hell. Now? Our character is tasked with eliminating the source of it. Some demon that is unleashing its armies or we are simply trying to find the device that caused the entire scenario. Regardless it didn’t matter to me all that much in the end. I had nightmares, I loved the game, and to this day I still play it with a grin on my face to the fact that the original team didn’t need a story to make a game that has had over 20 years worth of replay value for me. I still go back to this day, go to Steam, and turn DOOM on. Why? It’s just that game that is always there no matter how old it gets, it still challenges, and it’s a visceral blood bath. Something that we know from the new DOOM trailer that we will see happen in May thanks to the new brutal system that will allow players to kill a demon in all sorts of cruel and unusual ways. All of them legal in all 51 states as well.
While we know DOOM’s story hasn’t been the focus of the game after a Q&A with Marty Stratton stated that the story itself was second focus with combat coming first. This means DOOM seems to truly be going back to the roots of the series. The game will be heavily supported post launch as well, which shows that the team is dedicated to the fans. Hell even with the snap map editor we know the game will see plenty of downloaded maps, pieces of content, and even fan created
If you haven’t seen the release date, DOOM is set to release on PC, PlayStation 4, and Xbox One on May 13th, 2016. Stay tuned for our review coming this May.
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.
Tom Clancy’s The Division is possibly one of the most anticipated games of 2016. This was easily demonstrated by how quickly beta codes ran out during the betas duration. For those that got to experience Tom Clancy’s The Division, we were given an opportunity to take a glimpse at a game that was rather interesting and well crafted. Tom Clancy’s The Division Beta takes place shortly after a weaponized version of smallpox has managed to go pandemic and wipe out a giant sum of New York’s residents, but it had also managed to go worldwide and do the same amount of damages in confirmed locations such as London where their recovery attempt is under way from what we are able to assume.
For us? Efforts to restore New York have gone underway. The JTF as well as The Division and local rescue teams have begun helping those that need it. Doing so included building quarantine zones, setting up checkpoints, and even going as far as locking down zones such as the “Dark Zone” where only the best of the best or the worst of the worst even go to look due to contamination. This is where players got to spend a lot of their time in game if they weren’t already out and about doing alerts.
What the Game Has Stayed True to Since 2013
The Division has been a game we’ve all watched with wonderment over what it would become. Some of us probably assumed the development teams at Ubisoft Massive, Red Storm Entertainment, Ubisoft Reflections, Ubisoft Annecy have been busy at work making. What we’ve seen of the game until now was a rather visceral future that could potentially happen if someone was crazy enough to weaponize a virus to this scale. The gameplay footages we’d seen were true tactical sessions where players would find themselves bouncing from cover to cover to find vantage points. With weapons being highly customizable we also knew this would be playing another large piece within the game’s world. What we didn’t know was just how in depth our character editing would go since the gameplay footage had never really shown this bit. In the sessions we’d seen from gaming events we also knew the game was going to be rather beautiful, something Ubisoft has become known for in the most recent future, and something they seem to be at peace doing. This is another portion of the game that has also managed to stay alive over the years as fans around the world sat on edge for the Beta itself.
So the question is what has changed if anything? To be honest? Nothing. Ubisoft’s teams have managed to keep exactly to what they said the game would be. A tactical game that would offer players a chance to team up to take on enemies on the streets and help the citizens of New York. Let alone would the game offer varying degrees of difficulty, it would also offer high amounts of customization so that players can utilize their characters to how they see fit. Something that was well done in the beta thanks to weapon tuning, weapon modifications, and even armor pieces. They also had mentioned that the games Dark Zone would be one of the most dangerous locations in the games as teams of four can work together to take over, or simply go rogue and take out other agents, and steal their loot. This also stayed rather true in the beta this weekend. They’ve carried through with their words quite closely, but the one thing that was a bit troublesome is that character customization (as seen in our video below with gameplay and commentary), is that it was limited to a randomizer not showing us the full depth of customization availability or even how it works. While this may be due to the game being in development at the moment, we know that crunch time is here, and the teams are hard at work giving the game a few finishing touches.
The Things We’ve Learned from the Beta – The Good
Like any beta, especially Destiny’s, we’ve been given a taste of what the game will be about. While the beta was a 24.8GB install, we know that much of that install was the release title, and much of that content was locked due to how the game was set up for this test. The good part of it was we got to finally see what Ubisoft has been showing off for the past several years, which was fine tuned to the extent of being immaculate. While a few flaws did stand in place, they were nothing that won’t be fixed within the final version, which is expected.
First of all weapon customization was a key factor within this beta. Being able to add scopes, grips, laser sights, larger magazines, all of it gave us the idea of what the final version would have in store. For my time in the beta? I spent a vast majority of it with an L86SW running around with a acog scope, a larger clip, and even a compensator to help my weapon stabilize a bit. This is much different from my choice of using a SCAR-L with a marksman scope, front grip, large magazine, and even a silencer to hide myself a bit better from enemy forces. Hell it even helped in the Dark Zone when going rogue with a group of friends. (The video below contains us going Rogue Agent as well as objective based gameplay where we decide to take out thugs around Manhattan)
Though weapon customization was a bit fascinating it was also interesting to see that Ubisoft paid a lot of attention to detail with the virus and contaminated zones. The game had zones that would warn players if their masks were not safe for that area by telling them if their contamination levels were safe or not. If not? It’s safe to assume that getting healed up at a decontamination zone or even using a anti-viral would be the safest bet. However we were unable to test this since there weren’t safety zones that the beta would require higher level breathing masks. We also got to take a glimpse at itemization, which includes gloves, knee pads, armoured vests, supplies such as water, food, snacks, grenades, and much more. Each of these all played their own pivotal role in how players would approach combat situations. If you had bottled water? Best time to drink it was before combat and using healing items as it made them much more effective. Want a tactical advantage against your enemies? Easy, throw out an incendiary grenade and force your enemies to abandon their cover and re-situate themselves.
While the beta offered plenty of NPC encounters, the beta had really given us a glimpse of what to expect from assisting the JTF, but an idea of what we can find in the Dark Zone whether it’s off NPCs or players or simply both. The approach to collecting Dark Zone items comes at a heavy cost for some players as rogue agents are always hiding in the shadows with a squad or simply with highly powerful weapons.
The Things We’ve Learned from the Beta – The Bad
Even though we knew the game was going to have a beta, the problem with the beta wasn’t that it wasn’t a solid tactical shooter or even squad shooter, it was the fact the beta came with a handful of weapons, a handful of JTF situational objectives, and even a small amount of story mission. This meant players got to do two missions. Report to their soon to be home base, save the doctor for the medical wing, and hunt down supplies in order to open up the recovery ward. Outside of that? The beta proved that the game has a lot that it can account for, but dared to show off more than just a sip of the kool aid.
But one thing did become apparent to this game. Anyone in the squad could mark map objectives, change mission objective locations they want to at anytime, and even run off and leave their friends behind in order to complete the missions. In the beta? This type deal actually caused me to have to redo the one side mission we got, which was to locate a missing woman, and bring her back alive if she is alive. I had to go back to part three out of four on this side mission and complete the last two steps in order to get the mission completion. Even then? It still felt odd that I was having to complete a portion of the mission we’d already completed even though I was two steps behind him.
The Things We’ve Learned from the Beta – The Ugly
One of the weakest points of the game was the fact it feels like a slight graphical downgrade from the versions we’d seen at E3, Paris Game Show, and even Gamescom. The gameplay was gorgeous, don’t take it the wrong way, but it wasn’t as cinematic as the trailers or gameplay we’d seen before, which makes us wonder if what we saw before was a devkit running the game at settings consoles can’t handle. Or if we’re going to get another Watch_Dogs situation where the game was gorgeous, still is, but just not cinematically gorgeous. Then again this can all come tumbling down to cost, performance, and limitations based on what can be delivered at launch. If I had anything to say about this? Someone needs to get Kojima Studios on the phone and see how they can go about an engine like his own, but for now? The graphics will do. We just hope to see a bit more polish on them when the game launches since we only saw the beta, not a finished product.
The truth is? If one were to go into the Dark Zone, we’d expect to find looters, enemy factions such as the Riker’s or even The Cleaners. Truth is? It was rather empty unless players wandered around for a good ten or fifteen minutes assuming another squad didn’t wipe out the enemies, take the loot, and wander off. If you were wanting equipment? Best chance players had was getting lucky with drops or simply having a strong enough squad to wipe out enemy forces. Half the time? It meant all out war near extraction zones for equipment. During those moments? Players who wanted to crouch while sneaking to cover? Good luck doing so, this wasn’t happening so far in The Division, which is a feature odd not to have in a title like this one since we were able to sneak in titles such as Assassin’s Creed, Watch_Dogs, and even Rainbow Six. Hopefully this can somehow be added in at a later date.
If anyone is one to open up the minimap and listen to comms chatter or even just basic comms chatter? Many will become accustomed to hearing “He killed Alex!”, which is quite troublesome as it is a name we hear quite frequently throughout the time spent on the beta if players end up walking around the streets. Biggest issue with that? We don’t have a clue who “Alex” is and why we should care about him. All we know? He was killed. Don’t be like Alex until we figure out who Alex is.
Post Release DLC Plans – These Actually are Interesting
We already know Tom Clancy’s The Division is supposed to be a single entry game. Something that we’ve seen The Crew do when it released last year and managed to stay on track by adding expansions to itself. We’ve also seen this happen with Rainbow Six Siege as it is getting DLC over time and will allow for players to enjoy a single title with a rather hefty amount of future content. For Tom Clancy’s The Division owners? It’s suggested to spend a bit extra and just get the season pass. So let’s take a look at the post-launch plans.
“The free updates to be released for all players will add new game modes such as challenging group-oriented operations to test players’ abilities in co-op mode and win unique rewards.
The 3 paid expansions are included in the Season Pass and will be released over the course of the year. Each expansion builds on The Division, continuing your agent’s journey and progress with new content, gear and gameplay as you fight to take back New York:
Expansion I: Underground
This first major expansion opens up a new area to players as they explore the uncharted underworld of New York City with up to 4 friends for intense co-op action
Expansion II: Survival
In this expansion, players will have to survive as long as possible in a very hostile environment that will challenge even the most talented agents.
Expansion III: Last Stand
Stay tuned for more information.
At launch, Season Pass owners will also unlock the exclusive Sawed-off Shotgun, a unique sidearm customized for short-range destruction. Season Pass owners also receive a set of exclusive outfits and weapon skins, as well as access to special monthly benefits including exclusive content drops and special events.”
While it seems that Ubisoft will support players who have the season pass and those that don’t rather fairly? It’ll be interesting to see just how many people pick up the season pass in order to get the unique items, unique events, and the bonuses as they are released throughout the games life-span.
Closing Thoughts
Even though I’ve found a few things to grunt about with Tom Clancy’s The Division, it’s hard to say that these things are something worth raising a racket over. I’m sure if Ubisoft was dealing with a roar of complaints? They would find themselves in a situation much like Destiny is in now where many players have already begun to abandon the game, much like I did back October. Let’s just hope that Ubisoft has taken notes on what to do and what not to do in the long run.
Tom Clancy’s The Division is set to release on March 8th, 2016 for PC, PlayStation 4, and Xbox One starting at 59.99 USD.
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.
Pros:
+Matches can be short, quick, and fun for players wanting a quick time burner
+Astounding graphical uses and sound quality
+Challenges do make the game a bit more tougher per round played
+Weapon variations allow for increased difficulty
Cons:
+Vibrant and flashy colors and textures could make the game tough to play for those with epilepsy and seizures or those who are colorblind
+Control scheme may be hard to understand at first unless players go into the menus
+Absolutely no story for those wanting story and depth
When first contacted about AIPD I had no idea what this game was or what the initials stood for. Let alone had I never heard of the developer Blazing Badger, I decided to check the press email, contact the PR guy in return (thanks again for this opportunity!) and decided to submit a request for a review code on PlayStation 4. While Xbox One and PC also got this game, I decided to take it out on PS4 since we have more PS4 controllers in our office than Xbox One/PC controllers. Also we weren’t sure how the game would run on our Windows 10 PCs since we made the jump recently.
When looking at AIPD as the type of game it is, it’s hard not to think about games like Geometry Wars since both games are in the same league. Both are twin stick shooters, both require a high amount of attention span, but both also use vibrant color schemes in order to keep your attention. What AIPD does lack is something that would have made it intriguing, interesting, and even more drawing for those wanting to play it. A story and multiple maps to play on versus the one singular backdrop. While this worked for games like Flow, AIPD attempts to offer a rather fun twin-stick shooter, which is honestly fun for a little while, but quickly grows to a dull bore. If you want a game to burn time between errands or before work? Then this game is right up your alley as it does offer that since average matches last anywhere from one minute to approximately twenty to thirty depending on challenges (these up the difficulty) that are picked as well as difficulty chosen.
To start AIPD is an interesting concept, it’s premise is the fact the game has no story, but what it offers in return is a classic arcade like experience. This experience is brought on by the fact this game, much like classic games such as Galaga, Centipede and some of the older more classic games, did not use very many maps in play if any. This is the case in AIPD where players will be accustomed to a singular map that does not change, evolve, or developed into a different scenery outside of the enemies coming in swarms, the enemy drops that may occur and the EMP fields that players will have to watch out for. The game is fairly straight forward in the sense that it offers several game modes that change how players will encounter enemies. This includes one where enemy heavy ships will have extra shielding or even abilities to make it a bit more difficult for the player to survive. This does tend to happen while players are attempting to survive being attacked by incoming enemy ships.
Even though the other modes are basically additions onto the Standard game mode, this review will primarily be focusing on the games core mechanics and the Standard Mode as well a mode that allows for players to make their own custom game creation. The base game is simple, as mentioned you play as an AIPD ship, from there your goal is to eliminate all threats on screen as they come at you in large groups. These swarms can easily be taken out as players learn to dodge, maneuver, and shoot at the same time. Taking out enemy forces allows for players to gain pick-ups, one offensive, and one defensive may be equipped, however you can only pick one up after using one that you already have equipped. These can include shotgun like weapons, swarming missiles, overshields, ice like barriers or even time slows. While all these seem like they might be useful at all times, that is not always the case due to the enemies that may be attacking. If too many approach? Some of the support pick-ups may not seem as effective as the offensive ones.
The one thing that did seem to make the game a bit more challenging was the fact that players can choose modifiers for bonus points after each level. These can variate between a EMP field that will form a ring, making it so that players may only use the center of the map momentarily to enemies having more powerful weapons. To offset this imbalance at times? Players can team up with four people in local-cooperative play. Unfortunately due to having only one spare controller, it was an enjoyable time just teeming around alone in order to see if scores could be beaten on the leaderboards.
AIPD: Artifical Intelligence Police Department –Xbox One, PC, PS4 (Reviewed) Developer: Blazing Badger Publisher: mamor games Cost: 9.99 USD Release Date: Now Available
Even though other modes offered things such as all environmental hazards enabled to allowing enemies to have all abilities enabled, the creative mode was where the game stood out the most in my opinion. Here players are able to choose what modifiers enemies have enabled clear down to what weapons the enemies may have. Perhaps you don’t want to let enemies have anything, but instead want a rather deadly map? That’s okay too. Got friends over and want to enjoy a rather fun time of creating a map with a few modifiers each? Go at it. There’s three slots players can use to store their created modes from. It’s just a matter of how creative players can be in order to create a rather lethal and fun time.
Due to how little there is, it is hard to state that AIPD is a game that will keep you busy for days on end. Luckily this game is like titles such as Geometry Wars where players will come back to burn a little bit of time. We just hope to see more levels and variations launched for this game now that it’s available. Till then? The game is enjoyable if played in short spurts or with friends. Some? May find this game just as fun as others.
Our review is based upon the final version that the publisher provided us with. For information about our ethics policy please clickhere.
Final Score: 6 out of 10
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.
You’ve probably been putting hundreds if not thousands of hours into TESO since it has launched. Well not thousands, but we can pretend. You’ve uncovered the secrets of Tamriel as it has spilled out before you. You have culled thwarted the plans of your enemies, you have saved villagers, and ultimately you have began to tend to the worlds problems. You’ve probably even picked a few pockets here and there and relied on your stealing techniques to get what you want.
As of today we’ve been given the ability to reveal the upcoming DLC content for The Elder Scrolls Online: Tamriel Unlimited. Below you will find the trailer with the upcoming content. Enjoy.
Currently there is not a release date for the Thieves Guild expansion, but it is coming soon. We will provide you more information in regards to pricing and availability when that time comes.
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.
If you’ve been following up on Far Cry Primal you by now know that the game has gone back to the tribal roots that the series has explored in multiple entries. This time it goes back to the times when man was not the top of the food chain and mankind had to be in groups to survive. This meant tribes.
In the new trailer released by Ubisoft, we know that the game is brutal, beautiful, and one that we absolutely have been awaiting for as it finally shows the tribes, dialogue and plenty of the scenery. It has also given us a glimpse at what we can expect from the future of the series. Due to the trailer containing violence and blood, we require you to head here and be signed into an 18+ of age YouTube account.
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.
Update: It looks like as of earlier today the beta signup reservations went back to functioning properly. Whatever the cause for the outages had been looks to be resolved now. Stay tuned for our hands-on impressions coming soon.
Original:
If you are like many of us out there, The Division is a game you’ve been eyeballing like a piece of candy your parents told you that you can a have at a later date. This time around the parents would be Ubisoft and our “having at a later date” just became a reality as the Beta Sign-Ups have temporarily gone offline.
For those wondering what “offline” means, it means just that. According to the website as seen above, it looks like Ubisoft is doing something behind the scenes to ensure that the beta functions as intended when it launches. So for those of you and us who pre-ordered? It looks like our wait may just get a bit longer to get into the beta. The beta is set to launch on January 28th for Xbox One and January 29th for PlayStation 4 and PC.
We have reached out to Ubisoft to find out what the expected period is before players can once more submit their beta code spots. So if you’ve pre-ordered in the last few days and haven’t registered? Hang onto those codes while we wait to hear back from officials at Ubisoft.
The Division will release on March 8th, 2016 for PlayStation 4, PC and Xbox One.
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.
