Thursday iReview, Delays, and Cops Vs Robbers

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This morning the Review for Evolve was posted, written by a friend I work with. She’s playing it on the PC, and I don’t own it yet. You can find the review here. She even picked out her own notable achievements :O.

Last night I installed Battlefield Hardline, a whopping 43GB on the Xbox One HDD, and I’m excited to play it tonight. I’ll be streaming it on Twitch, and posting my first impressions tomorrow.

In other news:

Titanfall 2 Confirmed

Coming off the heals of the Titanfall one year anniversary, the previously rumoured, and more or less expected, Titan fall 2 was confirmed by Respawn CEO Vince Zampella, and will be a multiplatform release. No official title.

I’ll be playing some more Titanfall this weekend in honor of the anniversary.

Cities: Skyline Open House

Colossal Order and Paradox Interactive have announced its city-building sim Cities: Skylines has wracked up sales of 250,000 in its first 24 hours. There’s still lots of love out there for city sims, especially after the Sim City reboot struggled. A lower price point at $35 definitely helps, and no mandatory online connection required. I’ll be picking this up shortly to share my thoughts. Stay tuned.

Saddness on the Homefront

Homefront: The Revolution has been delayed until 2016.

Dambuster studios picked up the IP for the Homefront franchise off of Crytek UK, who had picked it up off of the now folded THQ. After the acquisition, and in the interest of focusing the efforts for a quality product, the studio has announced the delays. Not really unexpected as there hasn’t been a lot of information about the title.

Go Outside!

-iRogan

Cro0ked Review – EVOLVE – Bring Friends. Get Eaten.

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Title: Evolve
Developer: Turtle Rock Studios
Platform: Xbox One, PS4, PC
Publisher: 2K (Take-Two Interactive)
Reviewed on: PC

I first heard about Evolve last year, after my friend returned from PAX Prime and told me about this new multiplayer game that had been showcased at the convention. He said that he played a hulking, squid-faced monster, and had to eat wildlife to evolve into a bigger and better beastie so he could kill four of his friends in PvP play.

Come at me bro!

Come at me bro!

Wait. Four friends against you?

Hell yes! Play as the single ferocious monster, or one of four hunters determined to track it down. Evolve is the first one versus four game – a pioneer of a new, interesting take on multiplayer – developed by Turtle Rock Studios (the creators of Left 4 Dead) and published by 2K. The game boasts a myriad of options for you to choose from: as the single player, you get your choice between the beefy Goliath, the long-ranged Kraken, or the swift Wraith. Hunting monsters more your style? There are four Hunter classes to choose from for your four-man team: Assault, who deals the majority of damage; Support, who buffs the hunters; Medic, who heals the hunters; and Trapper, who traps the Monster. Each hunter class has a choice of 3 characters, with the first tier of characters available upon booting up the game. The other two tiers you have to unlock by “mastering” the previous one’s abilities, effectively making sure you’ve played each one enough times to understand how to use them.

Evolve is the first one versus four game – a pioneer of a new, interesting take on multiplayer

The game is currently played in two modes: Skirmish Hunt mode, in which the Hunters must track down and kill the Monster before it evolves to Stage 3 and kills them (or destroys the power relay); or Evacuation mode, which is played over a series of 5 matches – these matches are played over 4 different game modes and will all take place on a different map. Gameplay consists mostly of evading the Hunters and eating wildlife to evolve and acquire new skills as fast as possible when you’re the Monster, and running after tracks, corpses, or fallen trees to stay on your quarry’s trail as the Hunters…then shooting the beast to death once you find it.

Now is the time to PANIC!

Now is the time to PANIC!

The Cons

If you’ve heard of Evolve, you’ve likely heard of 2K’s questionable launch decisions. To start, there were confusing packages available for pre-purchasing the game, priced from $60-$120. For many of them, the content you paid for was not available on launch (and is still not available, but will be…soon™). Evolve was also released with day one DLC which sparked quite a bit of discontent from gamers who just dropped $60+ on the title. The biggest note about the DLC is this – it is currently cosmetic only. TRS has been very clear in stating that all future maps and modes will be made available to everyone free of charge, and that the only DLC that will be paid for are cosmetic weapon or monster skins or new characters.

The game was also plagued with bugs upon release. Hunters dying and dropping like stones through the floor, Monsters turning invisible and progress resets on Xbox One are just a few of the major bugs present in the game right now. There is an upcoming patch to fix these issues, but it’s been a month coming so far, with only the Xbox progression issue fixed to date. The game isn’t unplayable, but a few of these bugs definitely cause frustration for both Hunters and Monster players alike.

Speaking of matches, the matchmaking in the game is getting negative reactions from some players. The matchmaking system allows you to set a role preference, but it prioritizes a human player for the Monster over an AI, so even if you set the Monster as your least-preferred role you may be stuck with it anyway on occasion. Luckily there are no real penalties for leaving a lobby if you don’t want to play the role you’re assigned, just a one-minute timer before you can re-queue, but TRS has indicated this will change in the future due to abuse.

Some players have noted a lack of re-playability for the game, as the modes and maps are limited for now. This con is subjective – it depends on your preferences when you game. If you need badges to pop up every time you kill someone, or see your rank shoot up over everyone else, you may find the game dull after a week or two. For those gamers who look for improving their skills slowly and coordinating with a team, it may be much longer for you.

You really need a microphone. The game is frustrating at best if your team does not communicate, and due to the fast pace and constantly changing engagements, verbal communication is the most effective.

Evolve Monsters

You must always be able to predict what’s next and then have the flexibility to evolve.

The Pros:

This game is fun. It is the most fun I’ve had with a new release in quite some time. The adrenaline rush you get as the Monster is undeniable, and the thrill of chasing a hulking beast through an alien world – knowing it could jump out and kill you at any moment – is exhilarating. This game is even better when played with other people – either friends or randoms. The player community on PC is the only one I can really speak about, and I must say that this game has the least amount of flaming I have ever experienced in a PvP PC game. The community seems to embrace new players, teaching them the ropes and helping them to improve rather than telling them to (expletive) themselves with a (expletive).

You really need a microphone.

I also find that the unlocking system they have in place, though tedious, is essential to furthering your gameplay. It ensures that you have an understanding of each Hunter character before moving along the line to try the next one. This comes in especially handy during matchmaking, where you may not get the role you prefer. That way, when you enter the game you (hopefully) have a grasp of all the characters, not just your preferred class. This also makes sure you don’t select some of the more nuanced characters right away, whose role in a fight may differ slightly from the norm.

Another refreshing thing about this game is how engaged the developers are with the community. They are regularly haunting their forums and taking suggestions from the community seriously. Though a bit slow to get things out, they show their appreciation for the Evolve fanbase through community play events, even releasing their TRS developers signature gold Monster skins to the public for free this past weekend. The player community for this game is also thriving, even though the playerbase has dropped since launch due to the DLC fiasco and the buggy release. There are still active players in many forums, and the majority of them are very friendly and willing to teach new players.

All in all, if you are willing to spend the $60 on this title, Evolve is a ton of fun. It’s a unique experience with a rush you won’t quite get anywhere else. Though the release and marketing could have been more streamlined, the gameplay itself is well worth the cash for hours of hunting.

Notable Achievements:
Cockroach (Kill the Monster while incapacitated outside of the Tutorials) – 30G
12-Sided Die (Reach elite status on all Hunters) – 90G

-Cro0ked

What I’m Playing, Pipe-line Projects, and your News Fix

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As Assassin’s Creed IV – Black Flag warms up, and I’m loaded into the head office of Abstergo Entetainment, I’m happy to see the triangle logo is still in place. Curiously missing or at least less prominent in the last few Creed title, I was beginning to worry they had done away with the logo entirely. Worrisome, considering I do have the tattoo on my wrist.

Animus Unite

Animus Unite

Assassin’s Creed IV – Black Flag, not really considered a new release anymore. Can’t fault me for sticking to my slow methodical pace through some of the AAA titles on my shelf. Not that I don’t bang off a new title now and then, but it really needs to grab my attention. Or must stray from the default 3rd person Ubisoft Open World platform genres, FPS, or Racing title.

But when it comes to the Assassin Creed title, I’m usually always at least one generation behind.

I think the title’s annual similarities is the reason. They sometimes take months to complete, and the next edition then comes out later that year, and is just more of the same type of game play with tweaks to the story. At least when you consider Assassin’s Creed II, Brotherhood, Revelations. III started the trend into the right direction, and then IV really is a breath of fresh air. Because you’re on a boat. Ha!

Assassin’s Creed IV is the current title under review, and as mentioned in an earlier post, I wrapped Never Alone (Kisima Ingitchuna) in co-op, so expect a quick review of that. I’m also playing Sniper Elite III in co-op, and playing through Forza Horizons 2 Storm Island DLC. In the pipeline is Far Cry 4, and Shadow of Mordor.

Lastly, I’ll be providing my first impressions of EA and Visceral’s Battlefield Hardline with the early Access on March 12th. Cities: Skylines is also on the list for the next PC game I want, but I’ll need to upgrade my graphics card first. So close :(.

Tomorrow morning I’ll be posting a friend’s review of Evolve, as she’s been playing it on the PC, and has some thoughts. Very nice of her to provide that.

To increase game-time, gotta get news-time out of the way…

Uncharted 4 Delay

Naughty Dog’s highly anticipated release of the next Uncharted game, 4: A Thief’s End has been delayed until spring 2016. It’s not uncommon for Naughty Dog to delay games, as they do have an incredibly high standard for their products. The wait will be worth it, and it gives me the extra time to save up for a PS4.

GTA Online Heists Launch Issues

Tell me if you’ve this before…Rockstar’s long waited Online Heists DLC update has had a bumpy start, as players are experiencing problems connecting. After about 24 hours the service seems to be more stable. This news isn’t entirely surprising as the GTA Online mode had a rocky start to begin with, and there’s been a lot of hype for this DLC to boot, so obviously a lot of people would be trying to play it as soon as they could. Now I just need some friends to play it with. 😦

Titanfall DLC for Free – One Year Anniversary

Celebrating the one year anniversary of Titanfall, the 3 DLC packs have been made free. This includes nine new maps. No use to me, as I had already purchased the season pass on launch, but this does give me the motivation to jump back into the game. Unknown is how long the free season pass will be available for.

Check my review from Titanfall: Not Here, but Here

Remember Me 2 is “Ready to be Made”

Capcom’s Remember Me developer, Dontnot, has made a statement that the sequel is, technically, ready to be made.

“We know what we would do for Remember Me 2,” said Dontnod creative director, Jean-Maxime Moris. “The main story has been written, we know what we would add to the recipe. We know what we would fix. It’s a game that’s ready to be made, but that decision is Capcom’s to make.”

So development hasn’t been started. Better than no news I suppose. I have a lot of Reviews “ready to be made” too. They just have to be written first. :p

Check my review of the first game:  Remember Me

That’s all for now. Check out the Evolve review tomorrow.

Go Outside!

-iRogan

New Game Release Tuesday, and the Report

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Tuesdays come and go, and my wallet becomes a tad lighter, and my game shelf, or Steam account, a little fuller. Also, after the break is some news. Tomorrow we’ll discuss current works in the pipeline, and what I’m playing.

We’ll start things off with some new and notable releases for Tuesday, March 10th, 2015:

  • DmC: Definitive Edition (Xbox One, PS4) – I played this game when it first came out on the 360 and really enjoyed it. It was very stylized, quick paced, and didn’t require the same amount of  practiced button mashing sequences it’s predecessors required. Definitive Edition includes the DLC and some different modes. I don’t need to re-buy it.
  • Hotline Miani 2: Wrong Number (PS4, PC) – I played the first on the PC, and will likely play this one as well. The first was original, and colourful, and brutal. And difficult. While it was interesting, I quickly found it to be repetitive, and inevitably didn’t make it much further than the first few levels.
  • Assassin’s Creed Rogue (PC) – The PC release of last year’s, last-gen finale to the Assassin’s Creed III and IV Black Flag trilogy. This game came out the same week that Assassin’s Creed Unity was released on the current gen consoles, and was plagued with some bugs and lack of polish.
  • Cities: Skylines (PC) – I’ve always loved simulation games. I’ve never been particularly good at them, as I’m usually pretty quick to go bankrupt. That being said I am excited for this new City Sim game. Reading through some of the reviews, the game sounds like a better version of the SimCity reboot in scale and management, but lacks the visual quality and helpfulness if something is going wrong within the city, and does not have any disasters to play with. Very excited to try this out.
  • Far Cry 4: Valley of Yetis (Xbox One and PS4) – DLC for Far Cry 4. A further reminder that I have yet to open this game, yet its been sitting shiny on my shelf since November.

In other news…

Turkey Bans Minecraft?

Last month, the country’s family and social policies department initiated an investigation into Minecraft, for allegations that it’s too violent. Arguably, Minecraft is a game that encourages creativity. Granted, there are monsters in the game, and you have some weapons to defend yourself, but the game doesn’t encourage the player to attack the other players or villagers. As of today, the proposal to outright ban Minecraft is moving forward, as the report shows that the game is too violent.

Who knew?

Xbox’s Weekly Gold Deals

The latest offering of Deals with Gold for Xbox Live Gold subscribers is up, offering some new discounts for established titles. XBox One has 2013’s Tomb Raider Definitive Edition on sale, Ryse: Son of Rome Legendary Edition, and Dragon Age: Inquisition. Xbox 360 has 3 Assassin Creed games for sale: Assassin’s Creed, Assassin’s Creed Revelations, and Assassin’s Creed III.

Battlefield Lo-Res

Visceral Games announced today that Battlefield Hardline, the next installment in EA’s Battlefield franchise, won’t be able to hit today’s standard TV resolution (1080p) on either major console.

As Visceral is targeting 60 frames per second, Battlefield Hardline will run at 720p on the Xbox One and 900p on the PlayStation 4. This is the same situation as we saw for Battlefield 4, which launched at the end of 2013.

Hardline on the PC will be optimized for 1080P of course, with higher quality settings. March 17th is the launch. I’ll be playing it March 12th, with EA Access, to let you know my impressions.

Out!
-iRogan

Gamenight, Twitch, and Today’s Updates

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Game nights are fun, and sometimes necessary. They help get friends together, to settle differences, and to remind us what gaming once was, and how it continues to keep us together, even if we’re miles, or countries away.

Game night is usually quite the event at my place. Usually involving 4 large flat screen TV’s, 4 Xbox’s (360 and now the One), and two handfuls of people. Quite the epic Friday night filled with Pepsi and drinks.

We typically dabble in Halo, as it’s the easiest game to organize a large group of people, over multiple boxes and TVs, into one online lobby. Alternatively we’ll play some arcade style games. This past Friday saw us playing in The Master Chief Collection, Riptide GP2, #IDARB, and Rayman Legends.

Lately I’ve also been playing around with my streaming capabilities, and Twitch.Tv. This started when I first got the Xbox One when it was released. Streaming through the Xbox is great, especially since it has the Kinect functionality with the camera and microphone. Less great is when you want to switch games, or stream from another console entirely. This problem was apparent to me around the time of the Extra Life charity marathon last October. I was going to be playing a full play-through of Half-Life 2 through the Xbox 360 Orange Box. I had my Xbox 360 plugged into the One, but Twitch only supports XBone games.

My fix was to pick up a capture card. The Elgato Game Capture HD, and a couple webcams. This allowed me to record and broadcast through my TV, game, audio, and the surrounding room, through the webcams.

Ready to Broadcast

Ready to Broadcast

I use Open Broadcast Software to record and stream. It supports multiple inputs, and allows for text overlays. So with my 24 Hour stream, I had the game, the name of the game, 2 webcams, a tinyURL to my charity page, my webpage, and a 24 hr countdown clock.

Lately I’ve been streaming my game nights, or just the random nightly session. I’m not pro yet, mind you. But one day I might start doing game-play videos. We’ll see.

Moving on to some newsworthy stuff….

GTA V – Online Heists

New info started coming out today about the GTA V Online Heists content patch, for those lucky few that started seeing it already, patch is reportedly sitting around 4.8GB in size, on the Xbox One. I have the re-mastered XOne version. However, as I’m writing this, none of my friends do, so I don’t have anyone local to test out these heists with. We’ll have to wait and see, or maybe try on the 360.

Halo Master Chief Xbox One Bundle

Microsoft is launching a Master Chief Collection XBox One bundle to help boost their numbers. The no-frills bundle is available without a Kinect, and a digital copy of the Master Chief Collection. No custom box, no custom controller, standard 500Gb HDD. Kind of a letdown.

Borderlands Aplenty

At Pax East this weekend, Gearbox announced both, the next installment to the Tales From The Borderlands, and the next DLC for Borderlands: The Pre-Sequel.

Tales From the Borderlands, Telltale’s game, will have episode 2 released March 17th, 2015. I’ve been sitting on the TellTale Collection for the XOne for some time now, and I haven’t gotten the chance to start these games. But will soon.

Also announced was the next DLC to Borderlands: The Pre-Sequel – Claptastic Voyage. The DLC takes place inside Claptrap’s head, and is supposed to help bridge the gap between the Pre-Sequel and Borderlands 2. Release March 24th, 2015.

Also released that week is the Handsome Jack Collection, which I’ll be picking up. I was uneasy about the idea of the Pre-Sequel being released on the Xbox 360 and figured that it might be re-released on the One, and lo, here we are. Combo of the Pre-Sequel and Borderlands 2 re-mastered. The Pre-Sequel also includes the Season pass for DLC.

“”I wonder if i plant you in the ground, if you will grow taller?” -Psycho”

Destiny News

A new interesting tidbit from Destiny this week is the Inferno game-play mode in the Crucible:

From the Grimoire:

“A modified variant of multiple Crucible match types, Inferno tests your Light against the darkest of conditions.

Darkness prevails, leaving Guardians to rely on their weaponry and combat skills alone. The enemy can only be found by sight and sound alone. Rely on your teammates and keen tracking to stalk your enemies and shut them down without the trust in your most powerful abilities.

True skill put to the ultimate test. No trackers. No Supers. No bonuses. Only kills earn points.“

I’ve been meaning to do a follow-up to December’s review, as I did continue to play, and made it through the DLC, completed the Raid, and made it to level 30. I also quit cold turkey one day, and haven’t really looked back.

Maybe I’ll do a quick play through of the first DLC and write up a follow up/2nd opinion piece. Title it “Change of Heart”, as its both applicable, and the name of an achievement from the game.

Change of Heart (Reverse a decision you made in the upgrade grid) – 20G.

So witty.

Out!