Category: Computer

Now that the Mirror’s Edge Catalyst beta is over, I thought I would give my impressions.  For those of you that don’t remember 2009’s Mirror’s Edge by EA’s DICE (creators of Battlefield), Mirror’s Edge is a first person platformer about couriers who pass secret information back and forth in a future controlled by a totalitarian government which is run by giant corporations.  Faith is the best of these couriers, and of course she gets caught up in a giant conspiracy.

Catalyst instead of being a sequel to that story is kind of a reboot.  It sort of has the history of the first game, but at the same time it pretends it didn’t happen.  It is an odd choice considering the franchise consists of only two games.  Maybe the writers felt constrained or something, or they were worried not enough people would remember story of the first game.  Who knows.  The story isn’t that important anyway.

What is important is if the platforming/free-running/parkour elements are good, and thankfully they are.  Running around the rooftops finding the best path to get from A to B is a lot of fun.  There is a red guide line to show you where to go, but half of the fun is to kind of ignore it and see if you can get there faster by making some slight deviations.  Honestly this game would be wonderful if it wasn’t for a few pretty major issues.

First up is the seemingly random mission failure rules.  Like hey you hit that guy wrong, or you didn’t go over there first.  This wouldn’t be a big deal except for the second issue: Long loading times.  If you die or fail a mission the game thankfully has a great auto-save feature that puts you right back to where you need to be to try again, but if you are like me, you will die and fail a lot, and the loading times are excruciating.  I just want to run and jump across a city skyline, not stare at a black screen.  The other small issue I have run in to is that the game can get pretty choppy during cut-scenes.

Now this is a beta so they do have a little time to fix a few small things like the cut-scene stutter, but since the game is coming out in June, I don’t think they will be able to fix the load times.  Unless this build is much older then the one they are going to ship out and they have already fixed it.  I hope so.

For the people that loved the first Mirror’s Edge, Catalyst should be a welcome return.  For everyone else, wait until the game comes out and see what reviewers have to say about the load times.  If they have shortened them up, I think you will be in for a treat.  If they are still long, you may want to wait for the game to hit the bargain bin.

Fallout 4 got its first piece of DLC, and I have to say it is pretty good.  I wasn’t so sure about Automatron when I first heard about it.  Sure it had more robots and a random villain, The Mechanist, to shoot, but no new city to explore.  Well I was wrong okay!  It turns out Automatron was just what Fallout 4 needed: more loot, and more ways to use the loot you already have.

Automatron starts off with you getting a new radio frequency to listen too, and if you tune in, you hear a distress call from some traders.  When you rush to help out you will be too late, but you will find Ada the robot programed to defend the caravan, and she will want vengeance on The Mechanist for her fallen group.  If you help her, you will gain the ability to build a robot work shop to customize not only Ada, but bring to life as many robots as you have the scrap for.  Of course you can only bring one robot companion with you at a time, but it still it really lets you build some pretty great robots.

Making the bots is the best part of the Automatron DLC pack.  If frees you to design the perfect companion.  Auto laser canon? Sure.  Freezing canon and a hammer to break apart your foes? Absolutely.  Need someone to pick locks for you? The bots got you covered!  The robots can fly, walk, or roll on the ground it is up to you.  Well provided you have the perks to do it.  The perks to build the robots are the same as all the other crafting perks: Armorer, Gun Nut, and Science.  Since you will be fighting a ton of bots it might also be good to have Robotics Expert as well.

Now if you don’t have those perks don’t fret.  There is another way to build the bots you want, and that is from killing other robots.  They will drop parts that will go in to your Mods inventory that you can attach to your robot pals.  The cooler the robot you destroy, the higher the likelihood that they will drop something sweet for you to take home and strap to your favorite metal friend.

When you start Automatron you may disappointed with the apparent lack of customization offered, but don’t worry once you beat the quest all robot mods will become visible to you.  You will still need the perks to build those mods, but at least you will be able to see what you need to get what you want.  Side note: It was nice that this quest offered a couple of outcomes which is sadly rare for Fallout 4.

Automatron has made Fallout 4 better.  The quest, while generic, did at least have a couple of endings, but the creators of this DLC really understood what makes Fallout 4 tick, and that is loot.  By giving players more ways to use loot in a creative ways it really adds to Fallout 4’s already addicting feedback loop.  While the main quest-line in and of itself probably isn’t enough to recommend Automatron, building cool robot friends is.  Even if after a while they do seem to be a little over powered.

A few short days ago IO Interactive and Square Enix released the first part of their new Hitman game, and I am happy to report that the Hitman franchise is back on track, but it still has quite a few bugs to work out.  Pretty much like every Hitman game before it, there are just a few things holding it back from perfection.  Well except for Absolution there were a lot of things holding that game back from perfection.

As with all the Hitman games you take the role of Agent 47.  This game starts before he was the feared assassin, and has you complete two humorous training levels complete with plywood yachts and tarp oceans, but the main focus of this game is later in 47’s career at a Paris fashion show.  It might be one of the best Hitman levels ever made.

There is so much to do and interact with in Hitman: Paris.  The map truly frees your imagination to complete the objectives in any way you see fit.  You want to knock out a supermodel steal his outfit and literally bring down the house while walking down the runway? Cool.  Want to dress up like a waiter and poison a drink? Good plan!  There are a ton of ways to go.  Meaning you can play this level over and over again.  Which is good since otherwise this game would be incredibly short.

To make things even better they have brought back Contracts mode allowing people to make their own assassination contracts and share them over the internet meaning there will always be a new take on the mission.  Hitman has also added optional objectives that help you gain ‘Mastery’ on levels.  The higher your ‘Mastery’ score is the more stuff you unlock for that map, like new starting locations and disguises or weapon drop off locations.  Also later they are going to add Elusive Contracts that are only live for five hours, and once you accept it you will only get one chance, so pretty much like a real hit.

All of this is great, but sadly Hitman has some problems.  For one this game can be glitchy.  People’s voices will sometimes change without reason, or people will walk through walls.  There was one time I had it where when I loaded the map from a game save I could see people warp from their starting locations to the closets that I had stuffed them in.  Also if there is a crate next to a railing make sure that the crate is highlighted and only one ‘Y’ button is showing.  If there are two ‘Y’s on screen you are going to dump that poor sap over the railing and on to the ground below.  I did this a lot.

The biggest downer is the online connectivity.  For the Contracts mode or the objectives to work you need to be online, and more to the point their servers need to be handling the load of all the people playing the game.  If not, if you are playing online and the servers crash, your game will crash back to the menu, or if it forces you to play in offline mode you cannot gain any ‘Mastery’.  It is really a bummer.  I have seen some people complain about load times, but they haven’t bugged me too much, but I am using an external drive, so that may be helping.

For $15 you get a bit sized chunk of assassination with Hitman Part 1.  It took me almost three hours for my first play through of Hitman, but I am drawn to play the Paris level over and over.  I am also thinking of going back and playing the second training mission over again to see if I can get the Silent Assassin achievement, so for me it is well worth the price of admission.  Despite the glitches and the down servers, this might be shaping up to be the best Hitman yet.  I just hope that they keep up with the monthly content like they promised for parts 2-5, and that they fix their servers.