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UHQBot

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    Exclusive New Marvel Ultimate Alliance 3 Heroes Revealed

    in Game Previews

    Posted

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    Publisher: Nintendo
    Developer: Team Ninja
    Release: July 19, 2019
    Rating: Rating Pending
    Platform: Switch

    We recently returned from a trip to Nintendo North American HQ, where we had the opportunity to go hands-on with Marvel Ultimate Alliance 3: The Black Order for the first time. We played with a bunch of the characters (the full roster is well over two dozen names long) but we were especially excited to be introduced to two newly announced heroes who have joined the team as playable characters.

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    Hawkeye should need little introduction to anyone who has been following along with either Avengers comics over the many decades, or for those more familiar with his Jeremy Renner-portrayed appearance in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Whichever version you recognize, you know that the bow-and-arrow wielding hero brings a versatile array of ranged attacks to the table. That same flexibility defines Hawkeye’s appearance in Marvel Ultimate Alliance 3, as he takes out enemies through a variety of precision arrow shots and explosions.

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    While lesser known in many circles, her dedicated fans will be thrilled to learn that Ms. Marvel (also known as Kamala Khan) has also joined the Ultimate Alliance 3 hero list. She’s had a stint as an Avenger in the comic books, but she’s also headlined her own comic book, and her larger-than-life personality (and powers) have made her a rising star in the Marvel universe. By stretching and enlarging her body parts, her in-game version fills up some significant screen real estate as she bashes the bad guys with oversized fists and feet. 

    We’ll take a closer look at both Ms. Marvel and Hawkeye later this month, and also offer some dedicated gameplay impressions. In the meantime, if you want to learn about character leveling and progression, endgame activities, and details on the expansive Infinity trials game mode that we saw during our visit, check out our cover story, which rolls out in our digital issue later today.To switch your print subscription to digital, click here, or to create a new subscription to the digital edition, click here.

    And to follow along with new Marvel Ultimate Alliance 3 coverage throughout the month, click into the banner below to visit our content hub.

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    New Gameplay Today – Layers Of Fear 2

    in Game Previews

    Posted

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    The original Layers Of Fear scared the pants off a lot of gamers back in 2016 and now its sequel, set aboard a spooky ocean liner and featuring the voice work of Tony Todd, looks to do the same later this month. We got to play through a section of the game and talk about our thoughts on the game and our hopes for how the sequel can improve upon the original.

    For more on Layers Of Fear, here's our review of the original game here.

    View the full article

    Dev update on cheaters and spammers - 05/02/19

    in Apex Legends

    Posted

    Hey all, in the blog post last week, I mentioned we’d have an update on anti-cheat for Apex on PC. We’ve got some updated stats and some interesting tidbits on things we’re doing.

     

    We’ve been working closely with key experts across EA including: EA Security and Fraud, the Origin teams, our fellow developers at DICE, FIFA, and Capital Games, in addition to Easy-Anti-Cheat. While we’ve already rolled out several updates (and will be continually doing so for the foreseeable future), others will take time to fully implement.

     

    While we can’t share details on what we’re doing so as to not give a head’s up to the cheat makers, what we can say is that we’re attacking this from every angle, from improvements to detecting cheaters, bolstering resources and tools, to improving processes and other sneaky things to combat sellers and cheaters. We can share some high level stats of progress that’s been made:

     

    • The recently added in-game reporting tool has had a big impact on discovering new cheats, including previously undetectable cheats that are now being found automatically via EAC

    • Total bans are now at 770K players

    • We have blocked over 300K account creations

    • We have banned over 4,000 cheat seller accounts (spammers) in the last 20 days

    • Total affected matches on PC impacted by cheaters or spammers has been reduced by over half in the last month due to recent efforts

    We take cheating in Apex incredibly serious and have a large amount of resources tackling it from a variety of angles. It is a constant war with the cheat makers that we will continue to fight.

     

    We’ll be back next week with an update on another one of the issues called out in last week’s post. In the meantime, there have been a number of reports of the missing close footsteps audio on Reddit. We have only seen a few videos of those situations, so if you could please include video with your post illustrating the issue that will be a big help for us in ensuring we can fix the problem.

     

    -Drew

     

    (Source) (AHQ Discussion)

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    Supraland Review – Little Guy, Big World, Great Puzzles

    in Game Reviews

    Posted

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    Publisher: Supra Games
    Developer: Supra Games
    Release: April 5, 2019
    Reviewed on: PC

    In Supraland, you are the prince of the red people tasked with figuring out why the blue people are tampering with your water supply. Your whole world exists in the sandbox of a child who, according to the lore, built the elaborate environment over the course of six hours. Zooming out even further (by watching the end credits) you learn that much of the game was created by a single developer, David Münnich. As a result of the small team, the seams show occasionally and the production values are underwhelming, but Supraland overcomes those shortcomings by offering fantastic puzzle design and a big world that rewards exploration at a steady clip.

    You explore a series of interconnected areas in first-person, solving puzzles and acquiring new items that help you get past previously impassable doors and blockades. In this way, it feels similar to the Metroid Prime series. Upgrades range from boosting your sword strength to getting a special magnet that lets you climb metal objects with ease. Even the smaller stat-boosting upgrades feel significant, and they’re tucked away in just about every nook and cranny, which makes exploration worthwhile and consistently rewarding.

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    Supraland shines brightest with its puzzle design. You can generate a block out of thin air to help you platform or activate switches, but that’s just the beginning. Puzzle mechanics rarely repeat, and have you jettisoning yourself and bullets from jump pads to hit switches, using paint to re-color certain objects, and directing electricity currents through water. Up to the final boss, I was always stretching my arsenal of puzzle-solving tools in interesting and unexpected directions.

    Combat falls short compared to the exploration and puzzle solving, but it only occupies a small portion of the total experience. You have a sword and a gun, but it wasn’t until I was about halfway through and had acquired a healthy collection of upgrades that I started feeling powerful enough to look forward to conflict.

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    In the context of the story, the narrative is being directed by a young boy overlooking the sandbox. With that understanding, I suppose the bad dialogue and constant references to pop culture could be considered a purposeful choice, but I mostly found it distracting. At one point, a character dressed like Marty McFly from Back to the Future appeared to give me some help, but his outfit had no bearing on his character or the story. Even if the juvenile story is supposed to be coming from the mind of a child, the boy isn’t enough of a presence in the narrative (or physically in the environment) to reinforce that concept.

    The dialogue and combat shortcomings ultimately make up a small portion of Supraland’s total experience. Exploring, tracking down upgrades, and solving the puzzles are where the game flexes its creativity and fun, and it leans on those strong elements with most of its weight to create a consistently compelling experience.

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    Score: 8

    Summary: Supraland's production values are underwhelming, but it overcomes those shortcomings by offering fantastic puzzle design and a big world that rewards exploration at a steady clip.

    Concept: Play as a little guy in a big world as you explore a series of interconnected areas filled with enemies, upgrades, puzzles, and secrets

    Graphics: The environments look good and subtly point you in the right direction, but the designs of the characters, both friendly and deadly, are underwhelming

    Sound: The music does little to stand out and the sound effects are generic

    Playability: Moving, platforming, and solving puzzles in first-person feels great, but it takes a few upgrades before the combat feels satisfying

    Entertainment: What Supraland lacks in production value, it more than makes up for with fantastic puzzle and level design

    Replay: Moderate

    Click to Purchase

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    Jon Bernthal Joins Ghost Recon: Wildlands For New Missions Today

    in Game Previews

    Posted

    Publisher: Ubisoft
    Developer: Ubisoft Paris
    Release: March 17, 2017
    Rating: Mature
    Platform: PlayStation 4, Xbox One, PC

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    Ubisoft revealed today new missions for Ghost Recon Wildlands, their multiplayer squad-based shooter would be launching today and are bringing some start power with them. Titled Operation Oracle, the new missions set off a free weekend for the game and seemingly tease a new Ghost Recon game. Moreover, they also star Jon Bernthal, who played Shane on AMC’s The Walking Dead and the eponymous Punisher in the Netflix show.

    Check out the live action trailer of Bernthal below.

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    Bernthal plays Ghost team leader Cole D. Walker, who Ubisoft points out is a bit of a loose cannon with his own agenda. The mission is fairly story-based and, as the blog post for the new content points out, "What you will discover here might very well set the scene for the future." It is very hard to interpret that as anything other than a tease for more new content or a new game.

    The missions accompany a free weekend that launches today, so you can try them out right now, especially if you're a fan of Bernthal.

    Ghost Recond Wildlands is available on PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and PC.

    View the full article

    Tensions Come To A Head In Life Is Strange 2 Trailer For Episode 3

    in Game Previews

    Posted

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    Brothers Sean and Daniel haven't had it easy since running away from the law in the opening hour of Life Is Strange 2, and it looks like things are about to get harder. A new trailer for the upcoming episode, called Wastelands, finds our brothers trying to make a place for themselves in a small forest community in California. 

    However, negative influences and bad luck seem to conspire against the pair once more. You can watch for yourself down below:

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    Episode 3 is due out on May 9. You can read our reviews for the first and second episode in the meantime.

    View the full article

    New Gameplay Today – Observation

    in Game Previews

    Posted

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    Publisher: Devolver Digital
    Developer: No Code
    Release: Spring 2019
    Rating: Rating Pending
    Platform: PlayStation 4, PC

    Scottish developer No Code, formed by developers who worked on Alien Isolation, won big in 2017 with Stories Untold, a creepy and stylish horror adventure. This year, the company is bringing its audience to the horrors of space with Observation, a game where you play as an artificial intelligence on a space station where things have gone terribly wrong.

    We got to play the first hour of the game, which is a pretty neat combination of Alien and 2001: A Space Odyssey. If you want to see why Observation is a game you should be keeping an eye on, watch the first 45 minutes of the game above.

    For more on No Code's games, check out our review of Stories Untold. Observation releases May 22 on PC and PS4.

    View the full article

    Pandora's Box

    in Game Previews

    Posted

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    Publisher: 2K Games
    Developer: Gearbox Software
    Release: September 13, 2019
    Platform: PlayStation 4, Xbox One, PC

    There’s a certain expectation for video game sequels to do everything the previous game did bigger and better and also revolutionize the series in a way that previous games were not able, either through technology or time. This expectation may not always be fair, but when Borderlands 3 was revealed earlier this year, developer Gearbox Software emphasized the former rather than the latter. After some time with the newest game in the Borderlands 3 series, it looks to be bigger and better than every game in the series before it, and that feels like the way the game chooses to revolutionize itself.

    The Borderlands 3 demo starts on the planet Promethean in the Meridian Metroplex, which is home to the Atlas Corporation. After the events of Tales of the Borderlands, Telltale’s episodic narrative set in the Borderlands world, Atlas has ended up in the hands of protagonist Rhys. A rival corporation, Maliwan, is attempting a hostile takeover of Atlas by invading the planet. Maliwan is working with the game’s villains, Troy and Tyreen, who are looking to drain the universe’s vault monsters and absorb their power. This leads you on a quest following Rhys’ second-in-command, an Atlas soldier named Lorelei.

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    In this demo, Gearbox let players use two of the announced vault hunters, the siren Amara and the skilled operative Zane Flynt. Both characters, which are effectively different classes, tackle every encounter differently. Amara, unlike previous sirens Lilith and Maya, is a bit more of a bruiser who prefers to get into the middle of the action rather than crushing enemies from a distance. Zane, meanwhile, can use a drone to fire on enemies, set up decoys to also fire on enemies, and exchange places with a decoy at a button press.

    Single-player Borderlands 3 often pairs you with AI partners that would be relevant during the story. On Promethean, the vault hunters caught up to Lorelei, who was looking for a way to send Maliwan’s goons and Tyreen’s zealots back to where they came from. She aids you in battle on a motorcycle with one surrounding giant wheel until eventually the players meet Zer0, the ninja vault hunter from Borderlands 2. The game seems to want to pair you AI characters during story missions because of their new ability to revive player characters, meaning you’re less likely to get into cycles of dying and respawning and getting frustrated.

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    That said, while the non-playable characters can revive the player, this might still be too far, too busy, or too dead themselves to do it.

    The biggest change to multiplayer Borderlands, however, is the introduction of loot instancing. What this does is, regardless of a character’s level, all loot will be appropriate for their level. If a player with a level 30 character joins a friend in a quest for a level 10 character, the loot will be appropriate for both in their own games. Moreover, one player taking the loot doesn’t remove it from the other player’s world. The enemies will also be level-appropriate for each character. This mode can be turned off to just play it like classic Borderlands multiplayer, as well, but it seems to be ideal for players that can’t always schedule the time to play with each other and may have a disparity between their levels and gear.

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    The demo concludes with a boss fight against the Gigamind, the enemy artificial intelligence controlling their security system, taking the form of a brain in a jar and a small body. Gigamind attacks you with dozens of small pieces of metal floating around him, seemingly designed to keep the player from standing in place and shooting at them. Eventually he succumbs to your gunfire and the brain he drops is given to Rhys in exchange for his help in tracking down the vaults.

    In a lot of ways, Borderlands 3 acts like it is designed to fix criticisms of the series’ past, like movement-free boss fights and loot distribution. For a lot of series fans, the idea of a bigger Borderlands is more than enough, especially given the seven years since Borderlands 2. It is however a little unfair to call the third numbered game merely just a bigger Borderlands, as it is a more refined Borderlands from the get-go. The new ideas coalesce around tried and tested gameplay foundations to hopefully make for the best version of this concept yet.

    We'll find out for sure when Borderlands 3 releases on PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and PC on September 13.

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