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    Half-Life: Alyx Review – An Amazing Return To City 17

    in Game Reviews

    Posted

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    Publisher: Valve Software
    Developer: Valve Software
    Reviewed on: PC

    The Half-Life series possesses a combination of historical significance and fan enthusiasm that few other franchises can match. With that kind of tradition and audience, Valve releasing its long-awaited continuation as a VR exclusive is controversial. However, the moment Half-Life: Alyx’s intro text faded and I opened my eyes to a Combine-infested Earth, I was convinced. The phenomenal atmosphere of City 17 is apparent from the moment you see a towering three-legged Strider knock debris loose as it ascends a building, and that feeling of awe continues all the way to the game's jaw-dropping finish. Centered on Alyx Vance, a main character from the series made playable for the first time, Half-Life: Alyx is an unforgettable adventure that undeniably pushes VR forward.

    The gameplay is equal parts shooter and puzzler, encouraging immersive exploration of the beautifully realized environments. These components are enhanced by the VR control scheme, which feels tight throughout and only becomes more natural as you play. The story (which is set between the events of Half-Life and Half-Life 2) finds Alyx on a journey to rescue her father from Combine captivity; you don’t need to be a fan of the series to appreciate the narrative, but diehard fans have their patience rewarded. 

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    Half-Life’s stark world has never felt so alive as it does here. Whether you’re marveling at the disgustingly realistic viscera on corpses in the sewers or counting the teeth on the ceiling Barnacles waiting to suck up passersby, the gorgeous setting is immersive. I watched for nearly a minute as a headcrab scrambled over a pile of luggage to get at me, pulling bags down and falling on its back in an unscripted display of the game's impressive physics. Intricately detailed faces follow you through conversations, and gorgeous vistas take your breath away. Seeing Half-Life staples rendered with modern technology, explorable in virtual reality, is truly stunning. Experiencing it with this level of closeness and interactivity gives me a new appreciation for the series' specific brand of dystopian future.

    Controlling Alyx feels great thanks to the gravity gloves that help you manipulate the debris in your environment. If you see a chunk of Resin (the currency used for weapon upgrades), you simply reach out and flick your wrist back. This sends it flying toward you, and then you grip to catch it when it reaches you. This never stops feeling satisfying, and using it in conjunction with other actions, like storing ammo over my shoulder and managing more complicated weapon reloads, feels instantly intuitive and fun to master. By the end, I was using my hands independently like a pro, unless any enemy got the jump on me and my panicked movements had me pulling the trigger on an empty gun and scrambling back for some breathing room.

    The gravity gloves are technically called R.U.S.S.E.L.S. – named for Resistance techie Russel, a lighthearted voice in your ear who guides you through City 17 in pursuit of Alyx’s father. Every time he chimed in on my earpiece was a welcome relief from the oppressive surroundings. I especially depended on him for levity in some of the more horrifying sequences, including a nightmarish encounter with a creature called Jeff. Despite its status as a prequel, the campaign ventures into new territory for the franchise and pushes it forward in compelling ways. From a story perspective, Half-Life: Alyx is an enjoyable and essential entry in the series.

    Combat isn't the highlight, but it still produces exciting moments. You find only three weapons, all of which can be outfitted with game-changing upgrades like a grenade launcher or laser sight. Combine soldiers soak up headshots on the higher difficulties, making careful use of cover a necessity. I learned to make smart grenade throws, move around my environment carefully, and loot bodies mid-fight, the latter of which was enhanced by lifting corpses with my hands to access ammo and health hidden in back pockets. It is as satisfying as it is morbid. Firing, reloading, and switching weapons all feels great in VR thanks to responsive controls and smartly designed guns that subtly highlight the action required. For example, a red underglow on the pistol slide you forgot to pull back helps negate a lot of frustration of not knowing why your gun won’t fire. Ducking behind cover feels natural and fair, and listening for enemy reloads before popping out is satisfying.

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    The freedom of room-scale VR sometimes clashes with the linearity of Half-Life: Alyx’s design. Zombies won't be pushed back if you wield a chair like a lion tamer, and in one puzzle I attempted to pull a large crate under a garage door to stop it from closing and watched as the door pushed the crate down under the map and closed unfettered. But if you play by the rules, you are rewarded. Physics puzzles are fun to solve, and shooting for enemy weak points like Combine gas canisters result in beautifully grim death animations as you wave goodbye with your in-game hand.

    Puzzles litter the world, with some that are necessary for progression and others that unlock optional caches of extra ammo or health. One puzzle type requires you to guide electricity from circuit to circuit by pointing your multitool around a room to illuminate the maze, which is a fun way to explore the environment. However, other puzzle types quickly wear out their welcome, including guiding one point to another along a globe while avoiding Tron-like red lines, or remembering pairs of colors and matching them after they disappear. Some of these are repeated so often that I would sometimes skip the optional loot just to avoid going through the motions yet again. 

    I experimented with every movement mode on offer, which includes blinking for those prone to motion sickness and full thumbstick locomotion. I eventually settled on sliding, a middle ground option where you select your target destination and move quickly to it with full physics presence. This felt the most natural and helped me avoid even the slightest motion sickness through the whole campaign, which is never a guarantee for me in VR. Other options like view-based subtitles and choosing a dominant hand for weapons are implemented well.

    Half Life: Alyx is a must-play game worthy of the series' legacy. Despite some puzzles and encounters that feel like filler, the overall experience is strong. The stunning setpieces, beautiful world, and smart writing stand out no matter the medium, and mark a return to form for Valve. If you were waiting for a killer app before you made the investment into virtual reality, this is it.
     

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    Score: 9

    Summary: Valve ups the ante for virtual reality with a rich campaign and clever controls

    Concept: Deepen the world of Half-Life with an astonishingly detailed VR shooter set between the first and second games

    Graphics: Gorgeous environments and eerily detailed enemies litter your journey through City 17

    Sound: Everything from tiny water drips to massive set-piece moments are realistic and inescapable with rich audio

    Playability: Intuitive weapons and gadgets set a new benchmark for VR controls

    Entertainment: The dense campaign never lets up with surprising reveals, new enemies, and witty dialogue to carry you through the exciting journey

    Replay: Moderately Low

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    MLB The Show 20 Review – Solid Contact

    in Game Reviews

    Posted

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    Publisher: Sony Interactive Entertainment
    Developer: SIE San Diego Studio
    Rating: Everyone
    Reviewed on: PlayStation 4

    Baseball in real life is often criticized for its slow pace, but I like its flow in MLB 20. It’s different from most other sports in that the moment-to-moment experience isn’t continuous, but I enjoy the built-in tension before, during, and after crucial plays in MLB The Show 20. The action goes from 0 to 60 with seemingly routine throws, pitches, and at-bats because the gameplay is demanding but tight. Every inning has these pressure-cooker moments that culminate in triumph or defeat.

    Everyone likes a blistering home run, but one of the achievements of The Show is how it makes hits of all kinds satisfying because the outcomes are believable. Swinging the bat at pitches around and outside the strike zone with different timing and bat coverage (as indicated by the improved, customizable PCI hitting reticle based on the player) produces a range of realistic outcomes. It sucks grounding into a double play, but at least you know why it happened by the way you hit the ball.

    Conversely, getting the new perfect/perfect feedback for the perfect swing timing and contact result with your bat makes you feel like you belong in the big leagues because you know you really got ahold of the ball. A perfect/perfect doesn’t actually guarantee a hit, which is good. It prevents those hits from being overpowered, but still rewards a good at-bat almost all of the time.

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    Similar to the hitting, fielding is a demanding-but-rewarding experience. They don’t call it a “routine throw to first” for nothing, but even the defensive plays you’re supposed to make can go south with an errant throw if you’re not careful. The tweaked zones of the throwing meter don’t drastically change the timing from last year, but these and the increased reliance on your skill and the player’s attributes, magnify the stakes and excitement whenever the ball is put into play.

    Getting an error because I miss the timing on a throw doesn’t bother me compared to the continued intermittent fielding errors. Players are sometimes immobile right before a fly ball drops, they dive or jump for a ball without a true awareness of where it actually is, and they can fail to detect balls on the ground. Players also respond sluggishly to baserunning commands, which has led to some frustrating outs.

    The otherwise sturdy gameplay can also be tested in the new Showdown objectives in Diamond Dynasty mode. Here you draft players to complete a series of scenarios on the way to a face off against mini and final bosses. It replaces Moments as a source of Program stars, and I like that it’s another way for solo players to play the multiplayer-focused mode.

    Showdowns can be challenging in a good way, but they also strain hit variety. Hits that would otherwise fall into a gap or go out of the park in the mode (and at times during in the Road to the Show mode) are being caught. The CPU can also deploy strong catch-up A.I. that doesn’t always feel fair. It’s hard to judge these perceptions when dealing with intrinsically overpowered Diamond Dynasty players or situations, for instance, but I hope future gameplay tweaking can smooth out these annoyances.

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    In general, MLB The Show 20’s modes are strong, if not radically upgraded. Custom online leagues have been added, March to October now includes managerial trade decisions, teams can be relocated and rebranded in Franchise mode, and Road to the Show gives gameplay bonuses for teammates who work well together.

    Out of the modes, Road to the Show and Franchise need to be refreshed. The former needs new situations for your player career (I don’t want to change positions again!) and more interesting interactions between players beyond just progress toward perks. Meanwhile, the latter is a little dry and could use improved CPU roster management so star players don’t inexplicably leave.

    Of the modes, March to October is my favorite because of the way it truncates a full MLB season while still conveying a sense of what’s at stake, and I like Diamond Dynasty for the variety of ways you can progress in it.

    MLB The Show 20 mainly nails its core gameplay, and its many modes deliver compelling experiences. It’s not the best the series could be, but it makes you hold your breath in that moment before a crucial pitch or swing of the bat – a moment I love living in.

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    Score: 8.75

    Summary: Another good outing for the series, complete with additions across the board and gameplay that emphasizes skill.

    Concept: Sustain the series’ good name through thoughtful additions and changes

    Graphics: The stadiums – and the lighting that makes them come alive – look fabulous

    Sound: I enjoyed most of the commentary and loved the sound made by good contact with the bat. Important instructions from your third-base coach in Road to the Show mode frustratingly aren’t always delivered

    Playability: The timing meter for defensive throws is exacting but exciting. Errors caused by wonky player movements, however, are less amusing

    Entertainment: MLB The Show 20 has something for everyone, which isn’t low-key praise. It’s an acknowledgement of the breadth of good work done by the developers

    Replay: Moderately High

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    Doom Eternal Review – Bloody Brilliant

    in Game Reviews

    Posted

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    Publisher: Bethesda Softworks
    Release: March 20, 2020
    Reviewed on: Xbox One
    Also on: PlayStation 4, Switch, Stadia, PC

    Rip. Tear. Celebrate. Doom Eternal is an FPS feast that bombards players with adrenaline-soaked excitement and ridiculous amounts of gore. In this direct continuation to 2016’s reimagining of Doom, developer id Software plays the role of angel and devil, empowering the legendary Doom Slayer with more might, while simultaneously giving the demons more hellish ways to inflict pain. This clashing of titans is a spectacle to behold. Explosions and guts soar across the battlefield as heavy metal pounds to the carnage. No matter who is left standing, the player is the beneficiary of the series’ best combat, which hits an exhilarating fever pitch.

    The Doom Slayer has always been powerful, but now he’s armed to the teeth with a truckload of gear. He’s carrying eight firearms and can call upon an awesome new shoulder-mounted launcher with a vast array of ammo types. Ranged combat isn’t his only means of destruction, though. The Slayer also has a blade that extends from his arm to yank hearts out of chests, and when things get dire, he can once again whip out the Crucible, which is basically a one-hit lightsaber. The selection of weapons gives players the tools to approach combat from a number of new vectors and change course on the fly, resulting in a deep and strategic experience that kicks like a mule.

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    Given how many enemies stand in the Slayer’s way – not to mention the immense amounts of ammo needed to drop them – his weapons can be depleted in a flash, leaving him with nothing but a noisy chainsaw (which is also a blast to use, especially since it rewards him with ammo for every gun). The combat, as gory as it may be, is beautifully orchestrated, and once again embraces the “push forward” design, meaning you need to keep moving from enemy to enemy in order to survive. Slowing down or ducking behind cover will almost certainly bring death. Even as you dart across the battlefield, demons teleport to your location and you need to drop them quickly to advance to the next dance of death.

    With its new additions, Doom Eternal is a far more challenging game than its predecessor. That being said, it feels fair and manageable given the firepower you now pack and the numerous ways you can regain slivers of health. Part of the difficulty increase comes from the introduction of new enemy types. While the threat delivered by the pain elemental doesn’t quite live up to its name, the archvile is a serious nuisance that must be dealt with immediately. He spawns enemies everywhere, protects himself with a fire shield, and has a thick hide that can soak up ammo. Most encounters, whether against foes old or new, put up a decent challenge and can be deadly if you are sloppy in your execution.

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    Many adversaries can take a beating, and you can now see it with your own eyes through awesome new cosmetic damage. Each shot picks away at their armor and flesh, and if they look like walking skeletons, they’re surely ready to meet the reaper. This is a fantastic way of showing mid-battle progress, and it looks great.

    When a foe is about to fall, you see it flash orange or blue, meaning you can execute them with a glory kill. These finishers are as gruesome as they are comical – one demon may be ripped in two, whereas another may have its head smashed into its chest like a whack-a-mole. Glory kills once again serve the role of a much-needed three-second breather that allows players to think about their next move (and also gain a little health back).

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    Much like the 2016 game, the action runs smoothly and is all about pinpoint precision and exploiting enemy weaknesses. The controls are beautifully fashioned, allowing players to quickly switch weapons, toggle between their various firing modes, and dart across the battlefield like a high-flying trapeze.

    The gunplay may be the bloody centerpiece, but it is accented by greatly enhanced environmental traversal. The player can double jump, dash, latch onto walls, swing from poles, and even use a meat hook (which is fired from the super shotgun) to latch onto an enemy and zoom to its location. Some of these actions are sewn into combat, but when the last demon hits the ground, you will likely be tasked to use them to traverse hazardous terrain – complete with the spinning fireball chains from the Mario games. These sections are excellently designed, and require precise timing and trajectories. The platforming element also comes into play to solve environmental puzzles – perhaps to open a door or reach a new area.

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    Some of these puzzles are flat-out silly and feel out of place in a game like Doom Eternal. The greatest killer in the cosmos apparently has to shoot buttons and push blocks to figure out how to open doors. To ensure players aren’t stumped for long, id even color-coded puzzle elements in glowing green, meaning you don’t really have to put too much brainpower into them. They are more of a nuisance than anything.

    Doom Eternal is overflowing with secrets to unearth; some are fun collectibles, and others simply flesh out the lore. The most important secrets are upgrades, and there are plenty to track down. Mods once again give your weapons special abilities that you switch to on the fly. For instance, the combat shotgun can fire sticky bombs or turn into a fully automatic weapon. These mods are clever and give each tool of destruction a decidedly different feel. You can also track down tokens to upgrade these mods, again giving you plenty of reason to explore the linear levels fully.

    The Slayer’s suit can be enhanced for both combat and cosmetic purposes, deepening the gameplay further. It even allows you to tweak the flow of play itself through runes. These powerful stones assist the player in everything from enhanced airborne movement control to slowing time at the brink of death, and much more. All of these upgrade systems make a huge difference.

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    On the multiplayer front, Doom Eternal is a huge step back for the entire series. You can’t deathmatch, make your own maps, and the only option available at launch is an asymmetrical 2v1 experience called Battlemode. It’s basically a game of cat and mouse between a human-controlled Slayer and two human-controlled demons. The Slayer, who has all of his gear from the campaign, is the cat. The battles are frantic, and playing as demons like the Revenant and Mancubus is amusing, but there isn’t much meat on this multiplayer experience’s bones, and it pales in comparison to the series’ other offerings.

    From a combat standpoint, you couldn’t ask for much more from Doom Eternal. It roars with excitement, and just keeps getting bigger and better as it goes. Yes, it stumbles a little in puzzles, but players are frequently rewarded handsomely for making the efforts to crack them. Id Software made Doom relevant again with the 2016 game, and now the developer is clearly having fun showing players how wild this vision can get.

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    Score: 9.25

    Summary: The slayer is in rare form in this sequel, wielding an expended arsenal and more acrobatic moves.

    Concept: A sequel that empowers the Doom Slayer with more weapons that he uses to punish an even bigger and deadlier demonic army

    Graphics: The game roars at a smooth clip and looks devilishly good. The forces of evil are shredded in extreme detail

    Sound: Mick Gordon’s soundtrack is heavy, yet the beats are catchy. The double bass also lines up with the player’s heartbeat when the fights get bloody

    Playability: New weapons and enemy types add significant layers of complexity to the combat. It’s fast, fun, and loaded with variety

    Entertainment: The 2016 game now looks like a primer for a much more elaborate battle against the forces of hell

    Replay: Moderately High

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    Call of Duty: Warzone Review - Coming Back For More

    in Game Reviews

    Posted

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    Publisher: Activision
    Developer: Infinity Ward
    Rating: Mature
    Reviewed on: PC
    Also on: PlayStation 4, Xbox One

    Warzone eschews the moments from other battle royales where you’re perched for minutes on end, staring down your scope at a barn where you think an enemy might be hiding. Instead, it goes all-in on familiar Call of Duty shooting, throws in color-coded loot, and removes all inventory management. It's a stark contrast from Black Ops 4’s Blackout, which was more rooted in creating intense, lethal meetings between teams – here, you're going to be seeking out your next fight at all times, and death often isn't the end. You’re in there to blast your enemy, and the focus on that singular goal works. While those who want to cobble together the perfect weapon and find the perfect sniper’s roost may be better off in another battle royale, the bid to take Call of Duty’s top-notch gunplay into a much larger field is a fun (and standalone/free!) change of pace from Team Deathmatch, Headquarters, and Kill Confirmed.

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    Warzone smartly incentivizes constant action. If you’re not looking for another team to engage, don’t worry, because they’ll find you instead. Other battle royale games can be over quickly thanks to “one and done” formats that means you’re out for the match when you die. However, Warzone can often go on much longer due to some smart mechanics that offer opportunities to come back into the conflict even after death. The first addition is the Gulag, a feature that whisks you away to an isolated off-map prison. The first time you die, you’re sent to a battle to the death with one other fallen player – a 1v1 gunfight in which both players have the same loadout, and the victor gets catapulted back into the main match. 

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    If you’re playing with friends, the Gulag is even more fun during a team-wipe scenario. As you wait in the queue for your own 1v1 redemption match, you can watch your teammates’ fights – but you aren’t just a passive observer. You can throw rocks in an attempt to disorient a player down in the death pit, or even convey intel to your teammates about the enemy’s movements.

    Should you die in the Gulag, you still have more chances to return to the game, like your teammates buying you back for a modest sum at buy stations scattered across the map. These comeback mechanics take away the sting of death from the battle royale experience. Although they deplete the intensity and tension, they also keep players fighting and more willing to engage in combat instead of acting as strict survivalists.

    Another clever way Warzone guides players to continual friction is via a contract system. In each area, various contracts task players with opening supplies, gaining control of an area, and hunting bounties. Bounty contracts tell you where your target is, and reward you for tracking them down and eliminating them. Of course, this means you’re going to have to take out their teammates too, and bounties can be placed on you and your friends. A tracker keeps you informed of how close you are to your hunter/prey, so this system is more about forcing action between two groups than it is about a being a predator, since either side can come out on top of the bounty.

    As you collect weapons and take out players, you start to accumulate money. You can spend it at buy stations for a variety of perks, but the most important investment (beyond bringing your friends back from the grave) is the loadout drop. Here, you can import your loadouts from Call of Duty: Modern Warfare, which can give you a distinct edge in battle, since you are probably far more proficient with your comfort weapons than you are with random guns on the ground. You face a significant risk/reward with calling in a loadout that drops from the sky, as other players and teams nearby are alerted and may want the haul for themselves. All of these various injections to the battle royale formula are great, and keep the fight raging at all times. No skirting the outskirts trying to track down holdouts hiding in bathrooms – get in there!

    The core battle royale game in Warzone is by far my favorite mode, but players looking for a large-scale experience without any of the knockout risks may gravitate to Plunder instead. With no circle to stay in and infinite respawns, Plunder is a decidedly less intense experience where the goal is to collect the most money and not lose it by dying. Big-bankroll players are highlighted on the map, so running around with a stash is quite risky – teams can bank their dosh by airlifting it off the battlefield, so you need to continually decide where your time is best spent, either by avoiding other players and squirreling money away or by become a big-time bounty hunter after the big purses. Plunder lacks much of the gravity and weight of the standard battle royale, but that may be exactly what you’re looking for.

    Infinity Ward’s battle royale offering doesn’t reinvent the genre, but it does add systems that keep you ravenous for constant carnage instead of precision survival. With a bit of arcade flash and an intelligent engagement loop, Warzone is easy to enjoy.

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    Score: 8.75

    Summary: Infinity Ward's take on the battle royale is all about the action.

    Concept: A grand battle involving 150 players unfolds on a gigantic map full of activities and weapons

    Graphics: Like Modern Warfare, the game looks amazing whether you’re shooting from the back of a truck or posted up in a grocery store

    Sound: Important audio cues guide gameplay, making sound an essential part of the experience

    Playability: Jumping in is easy, making this one of the more approachable titles in the genre

    Entertainment: Warzone trades the complexity and tension of other battle royale games for streamlined, constant action with some great new twists – and it works

    Replay: High

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