Shmee.Me

February 16, 2016February 16, 2016

Forza 6 Is What Forza 5 Should Have Been!

If you can remember back from two years ago I quite liked Forza 5, but Forza 6 is just a little better in every department. There are more cars, more tracks, the graphics are a little more sharp, the cars handle just a little bit better, and the way you progress through the game makes more sense. It is what a good sequel should be, more of a good thing, but in this case it also shows how limited Forza 5 was out of the box.

Two new track features added to this edition of the game are night driving and driving in the rain. Driving at night isn’t that big of a change other than the corners seem to come up on you a little quicker, but driving in the rain is crazy. Not only do you have to worry about keeping your car on the track at 150 MPH, but you have to dodge puddles while you do it. Hit a puddle at the wrong time and you are no longer driving where you want to go. They are dastardly. Of course Forza’s signature ‘rewind’ feature is there to bail you out, but the added tension you feel on a wet track is definitely real, and if you are playing online there is no ‘rewind’.

It is also nice that this time around Forza is less reliant on micro-transactions. While you can buy tokens to pay for things, the game provides more than enough in game cash to buy what you need, and with a little saving buy what you want. Plus every time your ‘Drivatar’ levels up you get a free spin on a board that hands out anything from free exotic cars to cash to another new addition ‘Mod Cards’, so you always feel like you are getting something.

The aforementioned Mod Cards do a verity of things. Rare ones will lower the weight of your car and add more power, while some will give you one time boosts to race payouts or Drivatar XP. If the currant circuit you are on seems a little easy you can add ‘Dare’ Mod Cards that increase the weight of your car or lessen your breaking ability, but if you can still manage to win you get more cash or XP.

Forza 6 is more of Forza 5, but with everything tuned a little bit to make it that much better, and with more stuff added to make it a more complete package. Not to mention a feedback loop that keeps promising more cars, cash, and cards that will have you itching to complete just one more race. Turn 10 Studios has made yet another amazing racing game!

February 12, 2016

People Are Upset By Quantum Break Giving Away Free Stuff?

I was going to write a little post about how awesome Quantum Break’s Xbox One pre-order bonus of a free download for the PC version was, but instead I am going to write a little post about how crazy people are.

First a little background info: Yesterday Microsoft announced that anyone who pre-orders Quantum Break for the Xbox One would also get the Windows 10 version for free. Not to mention backwards compatible versions of the Alan Wake games. This pre-order bonus is a great idea. It shows off the power of Microsoft’s new unified Windows 10 store and Xbox Cloud saves since you can sync your game saves between the two platforms. Microsoft I am sure thought this would be a great announcement and that everyone would be happy. They were wrong.

Xbox One loyalists got all upset that an exclusive game would ship for the PC on the same day and date as the Xbox One version, and that it would include Xbox features (the aforementioned could saves). Somehow Microsoft releasing a game for both of its platforms made the Xbox One less valuable. The Xbox One zealots felt like Microsoft was stabbing the Xbox One platform in the back.

This if course is crazy. Microsoft should have been doing this from the start. As soon as Windows 10 and the unified store launched cross-buy between the Xbox One and the PC should have been possible. You know how great it would be to be able to play your games in more places, and keep your same friends lists and saves?! And it is very close to being a reality. Sure for Quantum Break this is only a pre-order deal, but it should be an all the time deal. That way you can sell it to publishers like this, “You sell you game on the Windows 10 store you not only gain access to the millions of Windows 10 PC users, but to millions of Xbox One users as well and vice versa!” It doesn’t weaken the Xbox One platform, it strengthens it.

Quantum Break was going to be on my birthday list this year, but now it looks like I may have to pre-order it so I can get both copies of the game. For all of you that are somehow hurt by this great deal, look at the big picture. This is a great thing for PC gamers and Xbox One gamers, and something that can bring more games to the platform and not less. I hope cross buy is a trend that continues!

February 11, 2016February 11, 2016

Shmee Explores The Living Dungeon!

The Living Dungeon by RadiationBurn is a great strategy board game that you just happen to play on your PC or Xbox One! So it is perfect for people like me who love to play complicated board games but hate to clean them up. Hurray for games for lazy people!

The way The Living Dungeon works is you get five dice that have different actions on them: like move, attack, jump, ranged attack, and then some very special ones like spin a board piece or maybe flip the board piece to change up the dungeon completely. These five dice are the actions you are allowed to complete during your turn. So each person takes turns rolling dice and moving their characters. The Dungeon Master (DM) also has dice, but his have actions to move or add monsters, give special action cards to players, or change up the board even more. The image below kind of shows what I am taking about:

What is great is that you can either have the computer play the DM or let a friend do it to let him screw with you. It is also fun to trade off being the DM so everyone has equal opportunities to be a jerk. A lot of people can play The Living Dungeon at one time too with local multiplayer for up to nine, eight standard players and the DM, but it is still fun with less than that or against AI opponents. On top all of the multiplayer content there is a single player component too, but it is the same game with a story attached. Fun for if you can’t get any friends to come and visit. It is a shame this game doesn’t have online play because it would be a great way to kill a few hours with random strangers or friends that hate to drive.

The Living Dungeon is not without issues. For one the camera: it seems like it is always flipping around, and sometimes it is pointed in just the perfect way to get you killed. It really needs a top down view. Another is how actions are selected. When you pick a die to play the character will automatically have the action ready to go, but they are generally going to do it the wrong way, so accidentally pressing a button to quickly has disastrous consequences, and of course there is no way to back out of the action once you have committed to it.

These small issues aside, The Living Dungeon is a lot of fun, and a great game to pick up if you love board games, or strategy video games for that matter. These small games are why the indie game scene is so important. Something like this would never come out of a major publisher. If you have an Xbox One or a PC you should give The Living Dungeon a look!

January 28, 2016January 28, 2016

PlanetSide Warhammer 40,000? Yes Please!

To be fair the game is called Warhammer 40k: Eternal Crusade, but it is pretty much a PlanetSide clone using the Warhammer 40k license, and that is just aces with me! For those of you that don’t know, PlanetSide is a persistent online first person shooter with different factions fighting for territory. This game is described the same way except it is third person shooter, but the difference is minimal, and I am super excited! For a more gameplay focused look at the game check out this video:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z7bzsNowc4s

The game looks a little rough right now, but the dev, Behaviour Interactive, says they are focusing on gameplay first, so that is actually quite encouraging. You can play right now if you are willing to pay for ‘Early Access’ through Steam, but since the game comes out in May, I think I will just wait for reviews. Even so, it is an exciting concept that I hope turns out well!

January 27, 2016January 27, 2016

Shmee Owns An Xbox One Elite Controller!

When the Xbox One Elite Controller was announced I shrugged it off as an expensive luxury that was sure to fail, but when reports started to come in that it was amazing, I was intrigued. When I started to hear from everyday gamers saying that it was the best controller they had ever used, I had to have one. After months of saving my money, hording Amazon gifts cards and waiting for it come back in stock, it is finally mine! So what do I think of this expensive piece of plastic? It is pretty darn great!

Overall they didn’t really change a lot from the normal Xbox One Controller, with the exception of the paddle buttons on the back and the trigger switches, but everything is just a little better. The buttons are all ‘clickier’, the directional pad is more responsive, the texture of the controller feels better in your hand, and the weight is just a little heavier. However, all those little changes make the controller so much better as a whole!

Getting back to those paddle buttons and trigger switches, they are a great addition as well. The controller adds four paddles to the back of the controller to map as any other button using the Xbox Accessories app. For myself, I took two of the paddles off and then remapped the paddles I left on as the bumper buttons, and it has been a much better game playing experience. The trigger switches are nice because they shorten the distance the triggers have to travel before they are fully pressed, so for a first person shooter it means you can shoot faster. Halo players rejoice! Playing Forza? Flip the switches back to get a more responsive ‘gas pedal’.

Other features like being able to change out the thumb grips and d-pad layout on the fly thanks to the controller’s magnetic connections are nice, but I don’t see myself doing that a lot. Though using the magnets to rearranged paddles on the back, I have already used quite a bit, and it is pretty slick. If you are wondering, the magnets hold very tight, so I am not worried about anything coming loose.

All in all I am very happy with my purchase. Should every Xbox One gamer get an Xbox One Elite Controller? It is hard to say. Yes it is better then the normal controller in just about every way, but enough to justify the $150 price tag? For me yes, no regrets, and if it was $100, I would say yes for everyone, but as it is now, I would say it is just for people who spend a lot of time with their Xbox One. If you do get one, I am sure you will enjoy it.