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    Call Of Duty: Modern Warfare Review – A New Theater Of War

    in Game Reviews

    Posted

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    Publisher: Activision
    Developer: Infinity Ward
    Release: October 25, 2019
    Rating: Mature
    Reviewed on: PlayStation 4
    Also on: Xbox One, PC

    Modern Warfare is familiar in name, but its content carries a different tone and flow than we’ve come to expect from the annualized Call of Duty series. Developer Infinity Ward takes big chances in both multiplayer and the single-player campaign, and while some of the ideas hit with deadly precision, others fall flat.

    As great as it is to have a single-player campaign back after its hiatus in Black Ops 4, Infinity Ward shifts the focus away from the large-scale conflicts the series is known for towards more intimate firefights where the horrors of war are thoroughly (and grossly) explored. This story experience gets uncomfortable, putting the player in direct control of a young girl who is forced to kill with a knife and gun, as well as a soldier who is captured and waterboarded. The waterboarding even unfolds through a terrible minigame where you have to move your head back and forth to dodge the water. These gameplay sequences feel shoehorned in and do nothing to move the narrative forward – they just make it uncomfortable.

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    Innocent civilians constantly barge through doors right in front of you or pop up from behind cover, creating intense and disturbing moments where you may accidentally shoot them. Infinity Ward wants you to feel the gruesomeness of war, and its tiring how often you are presented with these scenarios. Outside of a couple of cleverly designed sniping missions and a ridiculous moment where I piloted remote-controlled toy planes, I didn’t enjoy playing through many of the story missions, not just from their heavy themes, but rather the fairly pedestrian combat scenarios within them. Raiding a home, cave, or high rise can be intense, but knocking down doors isn’t as compelling as partaking in the sprawling wars this series is known for. There are a couple of big battles, but they don't last long or deliver much in terms of memorable set pieces.

    While the campaign isn’t as big in scope or as thrilling to play as most Call of Duty games, it does tell a hell of a story – perhaps the best in this series since, well, Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare. The character performances are fantastic – especially for Captain Price, Farah, and Hadir – who get plenty of screen time and are legitimately interesting, especially how they are woven into the conflict at hand. The story is nicely paced, establishes villains you can't help but hate, and is engaging from start to finish. I also appreciate how the story and gameplay flow seamlessly from moment to moment without loading screens, much like a Naughty Dog production. I completed the campaign in roughly five hours, yet found I enjoyed watching it more for the twists than actually having a hand in some of the battles.

    As is the case with most Call of Duty games, the beating heart of Modern Warfare is competitive play, which succeeds by both shrinking and expanding the scale of war. The most rewarding multiplayer experience is a new mode called Gunfight, and it's designed for just four players. These 2v2 matches unfold on tiny square maps that deliver immediate action and end almost as quickly as they begin, since only two kills are needed for a team to win a round. Part of the brilliance of this mode is how level the playing field is: Both teams have the same loadouts and the map designs are fairly symmetrical. Laying down and camping is also frowned upon, as the match timer counts down quickly, and overtime pushes both teams to be the first to capture a flag. I can’t stress just how fun and frantic these battles are; I couldn’t get enough of them.

    Click here to watch embedded media

    Modern Warfare also balloons more than you would expect in a new take on Ground War, which borrows a page from Battlefield’s playbook with 64-players battling for a handful of control points on a sprawling map. This is another enjoyable avenue of play, but for entirely different reasons. Skill and precision take a backseat to organized chaos, as snipers line rooftops, kill streaks rain death every which way, and a tank could blast you from halfway across the map. Ground War is frantic, and while you won’t make much of a difference as one player, ends up being a great way to blow off steam after competing in this iteration’s excellently designed team deathmatch. Other multiplayer diversions like the new Realism and Night Vision modes are also good fun.

    All of the competitive modes offer cross-play and prop up Call of Duty’s legacy gunplay. It's phenomenal in Modern Warfare, and deeper than ever. The kill streak rewards are nice and powerful, and the speed and feel of weapons still rank among the best in gaming.

    Much like leveling a character in an RPG, players can level up guns – a process every bit as captivating as it sounds. With over 50 unlockable attachments and perks per firearm, players can sculpt their wares to their liking, and are pushed to keep using the same loadouts to power them up. I transformed my M4A1 into terrifying beast that was good for both blitz and distance tactics with a grenade launcher and 4.0x flip hybrid sight attachments. These alterations elevated my game significantly, but for every pro there’s a con. My sight zoomed further, but the zoom speed was reduced.

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    As awesome as competitive play is, I can’t recommend players spend much time in Special Ops, Modern Warfare’s troubled version of cooperative play. Traversing a huge map with friends to hack computers and destroy heavily armored vehicles is a fun concept, and requires strategy. Aggravating bot spawns that can happen right behind you make the experience overly difficult in an unfair way. Even when my team was organized and moving slowly to clear out any threat, all it took was one enemy from behind to kill someone and create an unrecoverable scenario.

    All told, Modern Warfare should have received a new Call of Duty subhead given just how different its avenues of play are. Not every one of Infinity Ward’s ideas works, but a few are successful enough that I could see them as series staples. Modern Warfare’s accomplishments may not be as pronounced as Black Ops 4’s (Blackout being one of them), but it still delivers a hell of a multiplayer experience. Gunfight alone is worth the price of admission.

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    Score: 8.75

    Summary: This annualized series continues to pound out excitement, but this time in ways you may not expect.

    Concept: A three-headed experience that succeeds in multiplayer, gets lost in the dark in single-player, and misses the mark completely in cooperative play

    Graphics: Infinity Ward’s new engine delivers a high level of realism in the lighting and character models, but the environments are mostly mundane given the focus on smaller conflicts

    Sound: The music, voice acting, and rattling gunfire are all excellent, heightening the intensity in all modes

    Playability: The pitch-perfect gunplay is joined by a wide selection of multiplayer modes that give players variety, including short and fun 2v2 fights

    Entertainment: Leveling up guns is ridiculously fun, and the breadth of modes keeps this experience from feeling repetitive. This is a game you can sink tons of time into

    Replay: High

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    MediEvil Review – Leave The Skeletons In The Closet

    in Game Reviews

    Posted

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    Publisher: Sony Computer Entertainment
    Developer: Other Ocean Interactive
    Release: October 25, 2019
    Rating: Teen
    Reviewed on: PlayStation 4

    Some games are better left dead and buried, and MediEvil is one of them. The successful remakes of Crash Bandicoot and Spyro the Dragon raised my excitement for this re-release, but within seconds of starting it, I realized protagonist Sir Daniel Fortesque no longer has a jump in his step, and instead controls like the clumsy zombie he is. Developer Other Ocean Emeryville gave this 1998 PlayStation classic a dramatic graphical overhaul, which makes the eerie graveyards and darkened tombs pop in 4K. The studio also re-recorded the score with an orchestra, but all this doesn’t do much to help the gameplay, which was considered sloppy even back when the original released.

    MediEvil’s setting and story are still fantastic. I love that Sir Dan is heralded as a hero (with his own tomb and giant commemorative statue), yet ended up being the first soldier to die, taking an arrow to the eye in the battle of Gallowmere. It turns out that the villain in this world, the sorcerer Zarok, is just as terrible at his craft, and in raising an army of the dead to take over the world, accidentally resurrects Dan, who now has a second shot at becoming the hero the people believe he was.

    Click here to watch embedded media

    The visual aesthetic for MediEvil was clever and beautiful when it originally released, and Other Ocean takes it to the next level, giving the environments and character models the little details that couldn’t be achieved on the old PlayStation hardware. Every texture and effect looks like it belongs, and the jawless Dan is as goofy and oddly charismatic as ever.

    On the gameplay front, players are tasked to lead Dan against a variety of creepy or possessed foes. You encounter a decent selection of adversaries, and have plenty of ways to defeat them – just not with much precision. Dan can switch between a variety of close-range melee and projective-based weapons, but none of them control well. Aiming with the crossbow is particularly challenging, as you are waiting for a little light to appear over an enemy’s head. Just swinging the sword is equally frustrating, since landing hits takes more work than it should given how fidgety the adversaries are. You run circles around foes jabbing at them hastily, hoping that the sword is aimed the right way. Dan’s powerful charge moves are also a bit hard to read and land. Other Ocean tweaked the camera tracking a little, but it wasn’t enough to truly follow the action. It still gets blocked by walls, and unexpectedly zooms directly onto Dan.

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    Early in the game, sustaining damage is no big deal, as Dan has plenty of health, and healing stations are usually close by. You probably also have some handy instant-use health vials in reserve. As the difficulty escalates making enemy attacks and environmental obstacles more lethal, every little misstep hurts. If you die, most levels don’t have checkpoints, meaning you’re going back to the beginning to try again. Even if you reach the boss at the very end of the level, you have to start over. Welcome to gaming in 1998, people.

    MediEvil still deserves to be heralded as a classic for its time and place in gaming, and I love how it looks in revitalized form on PlayStation 4. However, its gameplay is a relic of yesteryear, and an example that shows us just how far games have come over the years. Rest in peace, Sir Dan.

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    Score: 6.5

    Summary: It may look like a fairly modern release, but it plays like a troubled game from the '90s.

    Concept: Sir Daniel Fortesque’s return is a little too true of a remake, enhancing the visuals, without doing anything to help the troubled gameplay

    Graphics: The graveyards pop with new atmospherics and beautiful texture work that meshes well with designs from the original release

    Sound: The same great soundtrack was re-recorded by the Prague Symphony Orchestra. Jason Wilson also returns as Sir Dan

    Playability: Controlling Dan is rarely fun, as wild sword-swinging and projectile-shooting are the foundation of the gameplay

    Entertainment: The story and writing are still clever, but Dan’s adventure hasn’t aged well, and ends up being a chore

    Replay: Low

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    The Outer Worlds Review – Good Company

    in Game Reviews

    Posted

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    Publisher: Private Division
    Developer: Obsidian Entertainment
    Release: October 25, 2019
    Reviewed on: PlayStation 4
    Also on: Xbox One, PC

    Your crew on the Unreliable are some of the best and brightest in Halcyon – but considering the sorry state of civilization in deep space, that isn’t saying much. Your compatriots include a religious zealot, a heavy drinker, a compulsive cleaning robot, and other imperfect individuals. However, despite their flaws, this plucky team can help you find remarkable and unconventional solutions to the colony’s biggest problems. Whether you want to heal a rift between warring factions or destabilize a governing body, the underdogs of the Unreliable can get it done.

    Like the misfits it features, The Outer Worlds finds inspiring success despite its rough edges. It has technical and visual quirks, and can veer dangerously close to feeling archaic, but these aren’t the qualities that define the game. Instead, The Outer Worlds distinguishes itself with a crumbling space colony controlled by cartoonishly evil corporate interests, then sets you and your party loose to explore, aid, and incite. Maybe that involves gunplay and innocent casualties – or maybe you can talk your way out of conflict altogether. The Outer Worlds finds brilliant and fun ways to blend signature aspects of well-known series like Fallout and Mass Effect; it is a space adventure featuring a likable cast and an irreverent-yet-dangerous frontier, with entertaining gameplay bridging the gaps. 

    Click here to watch embedded media

    The single best part is the freedom you have in approaching the various problems plaguing Halcyon. The corporations have done a terrible job taking care of their workers/citizens, so you need to reroute power, recover salvage, and reconcile militant factions across various planets and space stations. As you try to address these issues, The Outer Worlds deftly presents options beyond simple “stealth or melee” scenarios; depending on how you build your character and which tasks you complete, you can pursue a wealth of available options with rewarding outcomes.

    In one case, I needed to access a high-security area in a government building. I found a woman who could sneak me in if I convinced her I was interested in a romantic rendezvous, or I could investigate a lunch-related feud between her and a coworker to win her over. Another option was simply stealing a disguise, which also required a silver tongue to divert suspicion if detected. Of course, I could have also opened fire and fought my way through, but I was so adept at lying and persuading that I usually only considered naked hostility as a last resort. This kind of flexibility makes The Outer Worlds especially satisfying, because no matter how you specialize, the team at Obsidian provides something clever to do apart from deciding how to kill folks.

    Though I often sought nonaggressive solutions, I had fun with combat when it happened. Again, the flavor of encounters changes based on how you’ve allocated your skill points. My first character was melee-focused, with lots of points invested in buffing my companions; eventually, they could handle most fights without me. For my second playthrough, I made a more active hero, specialized in handguns and rifles with perks spent on improving a tactical time-slowing power (similar to Fallout’s V.A.T.S. system). Regardless of your focus, the controls are responsive and feel great. I especially liked firing my off my companions’ cinematic attacks.

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    The crew of the Unreliable are solid traveling buddies, assuming you choose to recruit them. In different ways, they all struggle to find a place to belong in Halcyon, and I enjoyed getting to know them gradually through a mixture of conversations, ambient banter, and personal quests. However, these interactions are too sparse. What’s there is excellent; their dialogue and stories are well-done, and I like how most of them don’t fit neatly into established archetypes. But they can also feel oddly peripheral considering the time you spend with them by your side.

    Structurally, the game follows the blueprint established by classics like Knights of the Old Republic. You go to a planet or settlement, do some quests, and eventually make a bigger decision that determines the fate of the area. Over the course of my two playthroughs – one thorough, one fast – I saw these scenarios play out in different ways, and I was a bit disappointed at how black-and-white the options are. Most boil down to siding with a heartless corporation or a group of freedom-loving dissidents, though completing sidequests usually reveals an optimal third option, like bringing feuding groups together. This predictability diminishes the magnitude of the seemingly significant choices, and combined with the static explanation screens you get during the ending, this is an area where The Outer Worlds feels outdated.

    Even if the larger beats don’t always land, The Outer Worlds shines with a constant stream of small, bright moments. An amusing interaction with a clueless guard. A sugary corporate jingle. A brutal sneak attack. A solution to a problem you are sure won’t work, but it does. The team at Obsidian excels at encouraging creative experimentation within its responsive and absurd setting, ensuring that every visit to Halcyon is full of delightful surprises.

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    Score: 9.25

    Summary: The Outer Worlds finds inspiring success despite some rough edges, much like the team of space-faring adventurers it follows.

    Concept: Create a unique RPG that finds a meeting point between Fallout and Mass Effect, with space-faring action and choice-driven progression

    Graphics: While the visuals aren’t cutting-edge, the colorful graphics do a good job conveying the strange new worlds of Halcyon

    Sound: Your crew has an excellent cast of voice performers, and the music successfully evokes wonder and urgency as appropriate

    Playability: Cumbersome inventory management is my only complaint on this front. The controls work well otherwise, regardless of your preferred playstyle

    Entertainment: Finding your way through (or around) various problems is fun, and a streak of silly humor keeps the tone light enough to counterbalance the darker themes

    Replay: Moderately High

    Click to Purchase

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    Oct 17 Server Patch!

    in Apex Legends

    Posted

    Hello Legends!

     

    A small patch dropped today, it was server side so there's no need to check for an update. 

     

    • Quips during Drop Ship

    • Initial Circle Fixed (folks on the edge of the map won't be caught by an instant circle)

    • Charge Rifle Update -

      • It now uses 3 Ammo per shot.

      • Mag size changes

        • No Extended Mag = 9 Ammo (3 Shots)

        • Level 1 Extended Mag = 12 Ammo (4 Shots)

        • Level 2 Extended Mag = 15 Ammo (5 Shots)

        • Level 3 Extended Mag = 18 Ammo (6 Shots)

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    Happily Lost In The Heart Of Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order

    in Game Previews

    Posted

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    Publisher: Electronic Arts
    Developer: Respawn Entertainment
    Release: November 15, 2019
    Platform: PlayStation 4, Xbox One, PC

    Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order draws on a number of sources to produce its unique breed of action. In moments of timing-focused dodges, parries, and varied melee attacks, the most recent God of War comes to mind. As I open shortcuts, respawn enemies after a rest, and retrieve lost XP following a death, Dark Souls is in evidence. And in moments of sliding down ice drifts from which I leap and swing on ropes across deadly gaps, I’m reminded of Uncharted. Chasing too many influences can sometimes tank a game’s potential, leaving everything a half-measure. But that somehow doesn’t happen here, as these and other borrowed ideas ably meld into one, at least in the all too short hours I played a near-final version. That’s because behind all the disparate ideas, Fallen Order nails one central guiding principle; it feels like Star Wars.

    My demo drops me in the middle of the game for nearly three hours of exploration and combat. Fallen Order is suffused with the drama of inhabiting a Jedi in the time frame after Episode III. Cal Kestis is a young Jedi living in hiding as he gets targeted by the Empire, and pulled into a plot involving an ancient culture of Force-users called the Zeffo. From the first moments in-game, the visuals and audio nail the vibe of the franchise. The music nods to the classic John Williams score, but charts its own motifs and melodies in a seamless blend. Igniting lightsabers, Imperial blaster fire, and landing ships match familiar sound effect cues. From the beat-up starship Cal flies in, to the ancient ruins of the planet I explore, the world has a lived-in feel reminiscent of the films.

    Flying around the galaxy, players have options of what areas to explore and when. As my demo opens, I can pursue the main story thread on Zeffo, or investigate mysteries on the dark landscapes of Dathomir. Wanting to see more of the unfolding narrative, I head to Zeffo and begin to navigate an abandoned village and the expansive underground temple far below.

    jfo_launchscreens_zipline_s01_v04.jpg The droid named BD-1 is your constant companion, but unlike some video game companions, he never gets in the way

    Exploration is a big part of the game. Paths through the level at first seem linear, but I can often find shortcuts that connect back to earlier areas, recalling games like Bloodborne. While it’s hard to surmise if it’s indicative of the broader game structure, Zeffo is focused on lengthy stretches of traversal and discovery, punctuated by occasional fights against both Stormtroopers and aggressive local fauna. In one area, I have to Force Slow a spinning fan blade to create a series of platforms to cross. In another, I divert into a darkened cave, and must use my lightsaber as a flashlight. Inside, Cal uses the rare Force ability of Psychometry to sense echoes of events from objects; in this case, I learn of a desperate mother fleeing from some unnamed threat with her child. I also find an expansion for my healing stim capacity, proving the value of investigating off the beaten path.

    Combat is fast-paced, with smart defense as the key to success. Reflecting blaster bolts (which is great fun), parrying attacking troopers, and dodging charging creatures all lead to better outcomes than wild button-mashing assaults, but each demands that I observe enemies carefully, and tap the button in the precise window afforded. On standard difficulty, the timing is generous, but when I try combat on higher settings, enemy damage is dramatically amplified, dodge and parry windows are smaller, and death comes much faster. No matter the challenge, animations look great and varied, especially as Cal learns new powers and dashes back and forth across the field of battle.

    Those powers unlock using skill points that I spend at meditation spots scattered across the level. Kneel in one of these campfire-esque locations, and the skill tree spreads out in front of Cal, roughly split into the three categories of Force, Lightsaber, and Survival skills. Leaping Slash and Dash Strike are just two of the new moves/button combos I try out on foes, while other skills like Empowered Slow or Superior Blocking have a more indirect effect on battle. At these same meditation points I can rest to regain health and uses of healing from my buddy droid, BD-1, but it also means all the enemies I’ve fought respawn.

    jfo_launchscreens_cal_ninthsister_v14.jpg In a separate brief demo, I got a taste of boss combat from later in the game, where the expanded moveset offered a lot of play variety

    A significant chunk of my time on Zeffo unfolds deep underground, as I explore a temple from the forgotten race of Force-users and their towering (still active) stone tomb guardians. Within those cavernous walls, I solve an involved puzzle that demands the opening of passages filled with high-powered wind, Force-pushing giant stone spheres, and leaping through an increasingly complex set of traversal challenges. I appreciate the approach to puzzles; I can solve them entirely on my own, but if I’m just not in the mood or get stuck, a button tap calls up a hint from my droid that points me in the right direction.

    With secrets I won’t spoil here finally discovered, I make my way back to the surface, and notice along the way how newly acquired Force Push powers have revealed new avenues for exploration; there’s a sense that every planet could offer up new secrets after moving past its main story beats. The ascent also changes up what enemies wait for me, including an exciting combat that sets Jedi against AT-ST Walker. On a broader level, my hours of play manage to walk the challenging design tightrope between skill-oriented battle simulator, story-focused explorer, and occasional set-piece thrill-ride. It’s too brief a time to get a complete sense of the game’s overall quality, but it is certainly enough to say this with confidence: If I was excited about a new Star Wars single-player game before I played, I walked away with far greater confidence that Respawn has captured a very real slice of the magic that defines the beloved series.

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