Want an excuse to go back to two of the best games of the previous generation? Looks like Warner Brothers is giving us one! The first two Arkham games are being redone with the Unreal 4 Engine, so they should look and feel great. I own these already, but I may have to get them again!
My Overview Of The Overwatch Beta!
Like just about everyone else this weekend I played a little of the Overwatch beta, and it was a ton of fun. That being said I am still a little hesitant about this title. Why? It is multiplayer only and there isn’t a huge verity of game modes. I feel like I just need something else to feel better about dropping $60 on this game. Maybe if I was getting the PC version for $40 I could better justify it, but $60 for a Team Fortress 2 clone? That is hard to pull the trigger on. Especially since TF2 is free.
Should I feel this way though? I mean Blizzard has done an amazing job with this game, and it is so well balanced and smooth it is a joy to play. Not only that if you are like me and not great at competitive shooters there are so many hero types that you can find one that you are good with and be a help to your team. Building turrets, healing players, handing out armor, or just being a big guy and absorbing bullets. So you know TF2, but a little different.
I think Overwatch lists that there are like five game modes, but they all are pretty much go and either defend a location or attack a location. It is just that sometimes you have to escort the location around. Not that I am complaining too much since that is fun, I just wish that there was something else. Like the single-player/co-op form Battleborn. If I could somehow merge Battleborn with Overwatch I think I would have created the greatest game of all time, but I can’t.
Overwatch is a lot of fun, and it is polished to perfection. Which I think should be enough, but I still find myself wanting more. I guess we gamers are spoiled these days, but I want what I want, and I want more.
Shmee Doesn’t Know What Game To Buy This May!
I am in uncharted territory, there are three games I want to buy in May. Yes the May before summer. Yes the May where we usually just have to play whatever mediocre game some major publisher decides to bless us with. Not this May! This May I have to make a decision.
This first game I am desirous of is Battleborn:
I am a little hesitant because it is a little too MOBA-y, but I really like Gearbox’s games, and the single player/co-op part of the game I liked. Maybe if there were some straight up shooter multiplayer modes it would make my decision easier.
Next up is Overwatch:
Say what you want about Blizzard, they know how to make a great game and then support it forever. The only thing holding me back from Overwatch is that there isn’t a single player. It is just multiplayer, so if I suck at the MP it will be a wasted purchase.
Lastly but not leastly Total War: Warhammer:
Finally a game that encompasses how epic the Warhammer universe should be! The problem with this game? It is an RTS, and I am less than par at RTSs. I always mess something up with my attacks and defenses. I guess I am bad at grouping things, but the gameplay has looked amazing.
Any normal May just one of these games would be coming out, so they would have been a must purchase, but this May, I have to pick one. I am thinking I will end up with Overwatch because I know that Blizzard will make sure this game is as perfect as it can be, and then I will get Total War: Warhammer on sale later. Battleborn? If my friends get it, I will get it, so I can play with them. Still what a great problem to have in May.
Are you getting a game this Spring? If so which one and why?
47 Takes Care Of A Few Things In Italy!
Hitman‘s second location has arrived and this time you are whisked off to the fictional town of Sapienza, Italy (it is the name of a University in Rome however). There you will have to take down a scientist and his protégé, and destroy a new bioweapon. It will be all in a day’s work for the world’s greatest assassin Agent 47.
Sapienza builds on the great level design of Paris. The areas are varied, and each area creates a new wrinkle for how you are going to get in and earn your pay. It also seems like this map is a bit bigger than Paris, and considering how big the fashion show was, that is no small feat. Even better Hitman seems to load twice as fast, and a lot of the glitchiness seems to have been fixed. Plus the servers haven’t crashed once, so things are looking up for Hitman.
However, even with all the bugs they have fixed it looks like they have added one. Once you start map if you start to follow any ‘Opportunities’, the little guided events in the game, but then do something wrong so you load a game to a point before you started that ‘Opportunity’, it will not track it anymore. This is a pain since you earn ‘Mastery’ for completing ‘Opportunities’. Fortunately there are several to find, and you just have to remember to save right after you start one. It is just annoying. I hope they fix it soon.
Each level of Hitman so far has been better than the last, so this is shaping up to be the best Hitman game yet. The only thing holding it back may be value. If you are like me and are going to play through this level a few times than the $10 to pick it up makes sense. If you are only going to play it once, and you aren’t going to explore the map you could beat this in like an hour (it took me about two hours my first attempt), so it is a tougher sell. For Hitman fans this is must buy, for everyone else you may want to wait for a sale.
Mirror’s Edge Catalyst Beta Impressions!
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.