Category: Xbox One

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Injustice 2 Drowns Players In Content!

With the success of Injustice: Gods Among Us it was only a matter of time before Warner Brothers and NetherRealm Studios released a sequel, and they really went for it this time.  Just about all of your favorite characters are available in this twisted take on the DC Universe, and you will not run out of things to do any time soon.  My only complaints are:

  • I am really bad at fighting games
  • They really push the micro-transactions

If you unfamiliar with the DC Injustice Universe let me fill you in: The Joker killed Lois Lane and that sent Superman down the path to the Darkseid, so Batman and a group of reformed villians needed to take down Superman and his Regime that wanted to murder all bad guys.  Injustice 2 starts some time after Clark’s defeat, but now Brainiac has shown up and the world may need Superman again.

If you are thinking that is a pretty involved story for a fighting game, you would be right.  The single-player story is excellent in Injustice 2.  I would almost call it a must play for any DC Comics fans out there.  Even if the Injustice Universe is a dark mirror to the actual DC Universe (though Batman v Superman did hint at it).  The story and cut-scenes are just great!

As I said, I am terrible at fighting games, so I am probably not the best person to extol a fighting system, but Injustice 2’s feels intuitive to the point where it is easy to understand, but I am still trying to get the hang of the finer points, so my combo game is not on point.  What I am saying is, it feels good even if I have to play the game on easy.

Besides single-player, just about every mode you can imagine is available.  Including a new Multiverse mode that changes up the game’s mechanics, but the real addition is the loot.  There is tons of loot to customize the characters with.  If is fun to open Mother-boxes and see what is inside to slap on to my fighters.  Even if most players online force you to turn off all the equipment’s bonuses.  Not to mention you will need to level your heroes and villains to just put on a lot of the stuff you get.  Meaning you will have to play Injustice 2 a lot to get the most out of the ‘Gear’ system.

The biggest flaw this game has is all the focus on micro-transactions.  There are like five types of currency in this game, and you can pay for four of them.  I just paid $60 for this game, I don’t want to be nicked and dimed for other crap.  New characters is one thing, but paying to trade in ‘Gear’ is another.

I have been loving this game, and I am trying to get better at it, so that I can enjoy it more.  The terrible micro-transaction system is not enough to keep me from playing it.  If you like fighting games or DC Comics, Injustice 2 is well worth checking out.  Maybe you will see me online, and you can destroy me.

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Phantom Dust Is Back! … And Well … Its Back!

Hey remember Phantom Dust from the original Xbox?  No?  Well you are not alone, but you should remember because it was an excellent game.  It is a third person action/RPG/Collectable Card Game!  Yes, it is all of those things.  Phantom Dust has had a troubled past, but now you can play it for free!  That is right, FREE!  And you should.

Phantom Dust was a Japanese game for the original Xbox, and as such it never really caught on, but those that did play it, loved it, and those diehards have been asking for a sequel/reboot for years.  It seemed in 2014 that those fans were getting their wish, but the reboot got canceled.  Then at E3 last year Microsoft revealed that they were rereleasing the title with achievements and Xbox Live play, but they didn’t really talk about it for a year until like a month ago when they did a gameplay video with Polygon.  Then two days ago they just released it … for free.

Since it is an old game it will run on anything with Windows 10, even with the high resolution turned on (though to go full screen you need to hit Alt-Enter, I had to go on Twitter to learn that), or of course you can play it on your Xbox One.  While the graphics are nothing fancy, they do hold up surprisingly well.  With the exception of the in-engine cut-scenes: they look terrible.  A word of warning, the single-player starts off slow.  I mean really slow.  The deck building component doesn’t come in for a few hours, and that is most of the fun.  Just getting random Skills and then spamming them at bots gets a little tedious, though it is a good reminder on how to play.

Oh yeah, how you play.  Pretty much you make an Arsenal (AKA Deck) then you hope the Skills (AKA Cards) that you selected show up in the order that you want them to in the form of orbs on the battlefield, so you design your Arsenal around Skills that compliment each other.  Then run around trying not to get hit with other player’s Skills while launching Skills of your own.  Though not all Skills are attacks.  Some are shields or let you fly, steal or wipe out other player’s Skills, that kind of thing.  Anyway, it is a great way to represent a card game in an action game.  The more matches or single-player you play, the more money you get, so the more Skills you can buy, or you can spend real cash on Skills as well.

Since Phantom Dust is a rerelease and not a reboot, don’t expect to be blown away, but the core gameplay holds up very well, and with the non-existent price of admission, you should give it a shot.  Though if you are going to grind through the single-player to get cash and Skills, remember to be patient.  It gets better, much better.

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What Is Going On With Game Studios Today?!

The internet has been going crazy the last 24 hours with reports that BioWare Montreal in the middle of restructuring, and since they were the new “Mass Effect” studio, the second Mass Effect: Andromeda game is on hold, but is it really?  Now I can see restructuring, finding a new lead dev team and bringing in some better writers, but even after Mass Effect: Andromeda’s “failure” (it has already sold way over a million copies) it is still one of the most popular gaming franchises out there.  If I see people wearing game related clothing out and about, 50% of it is Nintendo, 30% is Minecraft, but most of the rest bears a large N7 and the BioWare logo, and coming in third to Nintendo and Minecraft is nothing to upset about.  If you are EA you don’t just toss that kind of brand awareness away.

I am guessing the next game is delayed a year or so.  Just enough time to clear out some games that BioWare is currently working on so they can shuffle teams around.  Is this bad news for the people that lost their jobs? Yes (though apparently most of them didn’t), but there will be a Mass Effect game out before we know it.  EA likes to make money, and a good Mass Effect game makes them tons of cash.  We will see how things go, but I am guessing we will hear about a new Mass Effect game around E3 2019.  A long time to be sure, but considering all the games in BioWare’s pipeline, it will just take a little longer to come around again.  Now to things that aren’t okay…

IO Interactive is being sold off by Square Enix.  In some regards this understandable since Hitman is not one of Square’s major franchises, but on the other hand Hitman sold very well and won several game of the year awards.  It isn’t clear yet if the sale will include IO’s IP (Hitman, Freedom Fighters and Kane and Lynch), or if they are just selling the physical assets.  Though like most things in life, I am guessing that is negotiable.  Unlike BioWare Montreal, IO should be hard at work on its next game and reveling in its success.  I hope they find a buyer soon, so they can continue making games and avoid being shutdown.  If IO doesn’t find a buyer and I don’t get my second season of Hitman, Square Enix will enter my World of Assassination!

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Postgame Report: Torment: Tides Of Numenera!

After a little over twenty hours my trip through the crazy world Numenera has come to a close.   This post will be a quick follow up to my earlier review.  Even a few days after beating the game I think about it from time to time.  The things I saw, the different things that I could have said to people.  Companions that I could have taken with me, but didn’t.  Whether I want to play through it again or not.  That’s what Torment: Tides Of Numenera does, it makes you think, and I appreciate it for that.

The only real letdowns from the game were, if I was forced to fight the combat wasn’t great, and the ending, while interesting, wasn’t as satisfying as I had hoped.  Just to make sure I checked online to confirm that I hadn’t missed anything, I hadn’t.  That was just the way the game ended.  That is not to say that it ruined the game, it definitely did not, but still, it did stick out.

Games like this are not made every day, and people should be reward for making them, so you should go out and play it too.  Your brain will thank you.  If nothing else you will get to see a city built inside an interdimensional monster.  That is always fun!

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Shmee Battles Back The Vermintide!

How do you feel about rat-men?  If you like them this is not a game for you.  You will murder more of their kind in thirty minutes with Warhammer The End Times: Vermintide than you have probably seen in your entire life,  but if you enjoy crushing Skaven (what rat-men call themselves) under your boot, or just endless hordes in general, you will probably like Vermintide.

If you were wondering about Warhammer The End Times: Vermintides story, don’t.  It is simply that the world is coming to end and the city you are in, Ubersreik, is being overrun by Skaven.  You and a band of heroes must work together to save the people that remain.  What this means is that you will hack and slash and shoot your way through thousands of rats with up to three other players.  For all of you that have played Left 4 Dead this should be very familiar, but with more focus on melee.

That is not a knock on Vermintide.  In fact it is a compliment.  There has been a big hole in the gaming scene since Left 4 Dead 2 came out, and why Left 4 Dead 3 has never materialized is anyone’s guess.  Fatshark Games did change things up enough that it is not a ripoff of Valve’s zombie classic, so it is more like a game in the genre that Left 4 Dead helped define.  Not to mention the pull to slay endless waves of rat-type-people while leveling up and getting new loot is strong.

That is not to say everything is perfect.  Fatshark to prevent screen tearing has locked in the framerate to 30FPS and turned on V-Sync.  The problem is sometimes when there are a few dozen evil rats on screen the frame rate will dip a bit, and with V-Sync turned on, that means you will drop a frame or two.  When you are surrounded by rats it is not a great time for the game to “freeze” and then come back to show you that the world has changed around you.  AKA you are about to take quite a bit of damage.  They should let us turn off V-Sync,  a little screen tearing will be worth always keeping the swarm in front of you.

I have only played the first few levels of Warhammer The End Times: Vermintide, but it was a lot of fun (even though we got teamed up with an elite player who did not care a lot about hanging out with the party).  I will journey to Ubersreik to slay Skaven again, and since this game seems to always be on sale, you may want to come with me.  I mean who doesn’t like to take out their aggressions on a few hundred rats?