Anthem: Will it Rise Above a Rocky Debut?
The deck is set against Anthem. Destiny is an established brand, providing looting and shooting against an inspired science fiction backdrop. The Division 2, which releases weeks after Anthem, is showing great promise as developer Massive Entertainment learned from the mistake of a flimsy launch and just put out a confident–if not slightly buggy–beta. Let’s not forget that Diablo...[Read More]
Talking The Division 2 with Massive and Red Storm
Massive Entertainment’s arduous process of shaping The Division into more than just a competent looter shooter was one that went well past the game’s initial development process. Only after a year of tinkering with bugs, cheaters, content drips, and quality of life improvements did the game truly feel as if it lived up to that incredible–if not lofty–E3 2013 reveal trailer....[Read More]
Onimusha: Warlords (PS4)
When I fondly look back at the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 era, I think of the wonderful franchises birthed as high-definition came into its own. Despite bickering about 780p and 1080i, games had never looked better as polygons became densely packed together and textures were slicked with more pixels than ever before. Even with the blockbuster success of the PlayStation 2, the real deluge of new ga...[Read More]
Discussing the Expanded Scope of Far Cry: New Dawn with Ubisoft Montreal
Ubisoft Montreal has placed itself in the precarious position of crafting a direct sequel with Far Cry: New Dawn. The bombastically chaotic FPS series often keeps its tone in check, skirting the fine line between too serious and too dumb. We all have stories of gunning down a band of soldiers after a brisk wingsuit flight from some distant peak, only to be attacked by a voracious predator like a b...[Read More]
The Division 2: A Brighter Dark Zone
On March 8, 2016, I took off work and celebrated my birthday with a few friends by binging on Tom Clancy’s The Division until I couldn’t keep my eyes open. We had all been frothing at the mouth for the game’s release, poring over footage and losing ourselves in pre-release betas. Destiny, the catalyst for our tight-knit bond of companionship, had hit an exhausting slump. The Take...[Read More]
The Crew 2 Demolition Derby
The Crew 2 Demolition Derby update proves yet again that Ubisoft has an uncanny ability at putting its hooks into players. The publisher’s stable of games are more than one-off voyages down a narrative path. Content drops months down the line tantalize us into seeing what that shiny new feature or mode or expansion is. At times they reinvigorate a dormant game but most often give a dedicated...[Read More]
Hitman 2
Since 2000’s Hitman: Codename 47, the core premise of Agent 47’s covert undertakings have undergone little change. The bald and barcode-tattooed assassin is one of gaming’s signature killers, instantly noteworthy in his black suit and red tie. The trail of expired corpses left by 47 has been paved by bloody headshots, clumsy explosions, lethal injections, and countless fatalities...[Read More]
Starlink: Battle for Atlas
Starlink: Battle for Atlas is a joy to play. Every night for the past week I have spent hours popping spaceships onto my DualShock 4, interchanging pilots, and swapping weapons, all while watching them instantly form in my game. 20 years ago, a much more blissful Ben obsessed with Ninja Turtles action figures and video games would have lost his mind over the toys-to-life proposition. Starlink is a...[Read More]
Assassin’s Creed Odyssey
Homer’s Odyssey is one of those bodies of work that has etched itself into countless forms of entertainment. While many of us may roll our eyes, recounting semesters or summers spent fumbling through its pages as required reading, the Odyssey is, simply, a classic. The grueling and treacherous steps Odysseus takes may seem hard to relate to in our electronic age but his tale is a very human ...[Read More]
Transference
Transference opens onto a darkened street void of any human activity. When wearing a VR headset, most players will likely turn their head to the left or right and then in the opposite direction in an attempt to get a sense of space. Behind is the deep black of nothingness, front-facing is a three-story apartment building dulled by the bright pink neon glow of a sign saying “Harmony.” T...[Read More]
The Personal Journey of Assassin’s Creed Odyssey
When you’ve only played six hours of a game that could reach well beyond 50 hours, you don’t want to rush judgement. And let’s be honest, hyperbole is rarely a friend, especially if it only serves to bite you in the ass a few days down the line. Yet here we are. In the past month I’ve had about eight hours with Assassin’s Creed Odyssey–a large chunk of the openi...[Read More]
For Honor: Marching Fire Preview
Much like its warriors who have blazed a bloody trail through countless battlefields, For Honor is a ferocious being that can’t be tamed. The proverbial cuts and bruises that Ubisoft’s one-of-a-kind fighting game have suffered only serve to bolster the development team’s dedication towards a product that is challenging, brutal, and rarely without thrill. Like a fine wine, time st...[Read More]