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?
So I Guess Paragon Is A MOBA…
For some reason, maybe due to the people making the game, I thought Paragon by Epic Games was another asymmetrical arena shooter. It turns after I played it a bit during their recent free-play weekend that it is instead another MOBA (Multiplayer Online Battle Arena). I am not a big fan of MOBAs, so you may have to take my opinion with a grain of salt, but I thought it was fine.
The main features Paragon brings to the genre are tight third person shooting and faster movement speed. At least compared to the other MOBAs I have tried. Other than that pretty much everything else is the same: There are lanes, you can grind mobs, you level up and gain skills, you get items, you shoot down towers, and then finally you shoot the tower at the opposing side’s base to win the match.
Now this game is apparently still in alpha, so I wouldn’t consider this a review of any sort, but so far besides the tighter shooting mechanics nothing stood out about Paragon. It is just a third person MOBA, and with the glut of MOBAs out there that is not great. It needs some sort of hook. Like I said, I am not a big MOBA fan, so I could be missing something, and honestly the whole time I was playing Paragon I wished I didn’t have to do all the MOBA-y stuff and could just shoot the other guys. I guess I wanted an arena shooter, and that wasn’t what I was playing.
I may give Paragon another shot in a few months to see if they have found their hook or not, but this free-play weekend kind of killed any enthusiasm I had for the game, and since I thought it was something else that is probably my fault. However, with so many games to play these days just being ‘fine’ probably won’t cut it. In short, I hope Epic finishes the new Unreal Tournament soon.
Looks Like They Are Going Ahead With That Tomb Raider Movie After All…
While the internet is freaking out wondering if Alicia Vikander is physical enough to be the first lady of video games, I am just amazed that they are actually going to go ahead with this movie.
First off let me get this out of the way, Alicia Vikander (pictured above) will be fine as Lara Croft. She is an Oscar winner and very talented, and she looks very similar to the new young and athletic Lara Croft from the rebooted Tomb Raider franchise. To say that she can’t do an action movie because she has never done one is bull crap. You hear me internet! If the script is good, she will be too, but that is the problem I am having. Video game movies up till now have been terrible. Not because the source material is bad, but for some reason writers have had a hard time translating games to a non-interactive medium.
The first Tomb Raider movies staring Angalina Jolie were at best so-so, and sadly that ranks them amongst the top of the video game to movie heap. They also only did at best so-so business at the box-office. Again that sadly ranks them at the top, so why are studios so excited to jump back in? I know they are out of ideas, but I am getting sick and tired of good games getting crappy movies because picture people don’t understand the medium they are converting to the big screen, and nothing I have seen recently has proved to me that they are getting any better at it.
If there was ever a video game character that should be easy to bring to life via film it would be Lara Croft, but they are going to screw it up. They are going to go all in on some weird mystic stuff and leave out all the adventure, fun and charm. Then they are going to panic and put poor Alicia Vikander in something sexy and tight to try and cover up that their script didn’t work out. In other words we are getting another Tomb Raider movie, and I think the two we got were more than enough.