The Witcher 3 Delayed

The highly anticipated RPG,The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt, has been delayed from Fall 2014 to February 2015. CD Projekt Red explained in a letter to fans:

"We know many of you would have liked to play The Witcher 3 sooner, as soon as possible, even. We're sorry to make you wait longer than you, or we, initially assumed you would. At the same time, we believe the game will prove to be worth the wait and meet the expectations you have of us. We believe The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt will be an exceptional RPG, one of the best, providing many hours of wonderful entertainment."

There is a lot to expect from this title considering it is said to have an open world that is 20% larger than Skyrim. With all these AAA titles that try to reach a deadline once a year, developers who have been taking their time polishing their game have come out with greater responses from the community of gamers. This delay can only improve the quality and entertainment of the final product.

Trailer: 

Titanfall Preview

Titanfall dropped in as a seemingly smash hit with it's announcement gameplay trailer at E3. Since then the game has had nothing but positive reactions from the gaming community. Jason West and Vince Zampella, who were originally known for the development of Infinity Ward, founded Respawn Entertainment. Using the funding provided by EA, they started off with their first project called Titanfall. This game seems like an ordinary first person shooter at first glance, but with the addition to special abilities, fast and fluent free running, and the use of giant mechs called titans, it takes on a new perspective of how shooters should be played.

Although the titans seem overpowered, they do have their advantages and disadvantages making everything in the game very well balanced. While the titans can withstand a beating and have heavy gun power, the soldiers will be able to get to certain vantage points and use weapons specifically to take out these monstrous machines. Players will even be able to take the risk of jumping on these titans and shoot at their wiring to do much more damage to it, leaving it helpless. Unless the pilot of the titan has certain perks that allow it to defend itself from these attacks.

Each players can customize their pilots after a certain level. They can choose their weapon, weapon attachments, abilities, and their titans abilities. All abilities give advantages to help the team win. Leveling up will unlock more weapons and abilities. Completing challenges will increase the player's XP and also reward players with burn cards. A burn card gives players a special ability they can use only once and will only stay active until death.

Gameplay feels polished and strategic. The AI interacts with players to either give them strategic advice or create a randomly generated event that makes the battle seem all too real.  There are teams of 6 players who will be accompanied by multiple waves of AI to fight each other. Players will be rewarded more points when they kill another player rather than an AI. Some of the AIs are robots called specters that you can hack to take control of and make an ally.

The maps are very well made. Each part of the map can provide tactical advantage on the enemy. Whether it be for cover, high ground, or running from the enemy, each bit of the map is easily accessible and maneuverable. After many playthroughs, players will find a starting route they like the most that will allow them to get the advantage if they run it right.

There is so much to say about this game. Overall Titanfall is a must have out of this years upcoming titles. Titanfall will be released on March 11th for Windows and Xbox One.

Assassin's Creed IV Black Flag Review

Assassin's Creed Black Flag takes an interesting turn from it's predecessors. The story no longer follows the life and memories of Desmond Miles' ancestors, but now follows a new unnamed character who works for Abstergo Entertainment. This company takes the memories of employees' ancestors and turn them into products such as video games and movies. The protagonist is currently researching the life of Edward Kenway; a pirate who gets caught in the war between the Assassins and Templars.

Players must traverse the immense world to complete missions, find treasure, and explore the vast seas. The visuals are stunning. With the lush tropical islands, the vast powerful sea, and the well-designed cities the game looks amazing. While you run through the streets and across rooftops, it looks and feels smooth and realistic. The sound design however sounds quirky at times and repetitive. While swimming you hear the same two sounds over and over again. At points when you are near a person that is a mission objective, they may repeat a line 3 or 4 times in a row before changing what they say making it really noticeable that it is an AI.

Although most missions allow you to decide whether to sneak past stealthy or run through and kill everything, you do get a completion bonus for doing it without going into combat. There may also be another side objective such as killing enemies around a corner or inside a hidden area. You may restart from a checkpoint at the beginning of the mission to retry as many times as you want until you are satisfied with how you completed it.

Players will find themselves spending most of their time on sea. Their ship will encounter whales, hurricanes, and other ships that will seek to destroy them. The ship battles are fun but get repetitive after a short while. Controlling the ship may be a challenge at first but players will catch on fairly quickly. Upgrades will be available for your ship, armor, and weaponry as you progress through the game.

Overall, Assassin's Creed Black Flag gives a strong feeling of adventure. Exploring the tremendous world and learning your surroundings creates an experience that allows players to have strong control over the outcome of each mission. Although it may have moments where it feels repetitive, there is enough missions to choose from to enjoy the game in general. Even if you are not an Assassin's Creed fan, this game is worth picking up and playing through.

PS4 FAQ Summary

The PlayStation 4 will have a similar account system as the Xbox One's. Gamers will be asked to choose a console to a PS4 to use as their primary console. All the accounts on the same primary console will have access to the features given from subscribing to PlayStation Plus and the games that are downloaded on that console. When moving an account to another console, users can downloaded the games they bought on that account to the new console. The PS4 will not support MP3 files, youtube, and external capture devices. It will allow players to stream on Ustream and Twitch. The controller will have an audio jack to plug in headphones and there will be cross game chat available. The console will have voice command capabilities. For more information go to the PS4 FAQ at this link: http://blog.us.playstation.com/2013/10/30/ps4-the-ultimate-faq-north-america/ 

Batman: Arkham Origins Review

Batman Arkham Origins is the third installment to the Batman Arkham series. The game delivers hours worth of fighting criminals, solving mysteries, and a city to explore. It has an enriching story with greatly interactive gameplay. Although, there are some frustrations in the game such as  indirect waypoints in some areas, bad respawns, or bad checkpoints.

The story is a prequel to the past two games. Batman is just a myth to the city. The game opens on Christmas Eve with news describing a prison break led by a infamous criminal known as Black Mask. Batman, of course, goes out to save the day. Black Mask hired 8 assassins to take out Batman. Each of them have their own special abilities and fighting styles. Killer Croc, Deathstroke, Bane, Copperhead, Deadshot, Shiva, Firefly, and Electrocutioner all compete for a bounty of $50,000,000 to kill off Batman, luring him by causing mayhem throughout the city. Batman decides to find Black Mask to end it all, but on his mission he meets many new challenges, mysteries, and enemies to face.

The gameplay is another button masher with occasional quick time events. Although this seems dull, the fighting is really fluent, the counters are precise, and the fighting just looks and feels realistic. The boss battle against Deathstroke was an example of amazing game animations. Both the player and Deathstroke can attack, block, and counter with different moves each time. It closely similar compared to an action movie. The fight became harder as it goes on bringing new surprises to the battle causing the player to react differently every moment.

As stated before, there are a few imperfections with the game. At some moments, players may find themselves dying and being respawned across the city from the current objective. This can be frustrating after a couple attempts to complete the mission. Also, the level design can make players look around for something as simple as a door that was hidden around a corner they couldn't see and will cause the player to search for hours to find out the exit was just in a spot they passed multiple times. There are also some missions that can will be activated when you enter a certain area that are literally impossible to complete at the location you start at. Fortunately if you fail, the game will respawn the player closer and it will be easier to start again.

The game is very interactive with the player. There are many puzzles that can be solved in many different ways. It can range from hacking a radio signal, to throwing a Batarang at a button. Enigma is one of the main sources of these puzzles and adds much more enjoyable game mechanics. There are also interactive crime scenes that the player must locate and analyze each part of the scene to figure out what had happened. Batman gives off some commentary to explain to the players what events took place to leave the scene the way it is, so there isn't much thinking needed to be done from the player. It is rather an interactive cut scene.

Players can upgrade their equipment or learn new abilities with points they gain from leveling up. There aren't many choices of upgrades at the beginning of the game but they can alter your gameplay slightly. You gain levels from completing mission and defeating enemies in combat. You gain more experience from defeating an enemy stealthily or with a high combo.

Batman Arkham Origins is a fun, interactive game that make players think logically, strategically, and creatively, whether it is to take down targets or complete a puzzle. With very few weak points, this game has a strong design that plays great and looks beautiful. It is a game that all gamers should play and all Batman fans should appreciate.

Dark Souls 2 Beta Failure

Unfortunately due to server issues, the Dark Souls 2 beta did not launch for North and South America at the time specified. The developers worked hard at keeping fans informed on the state of the server but could not fully fix the problem. Although the beta testers could not log into this beta, they have a secured spot to participate in the next beta test. The beta was a "server load test using massive simultaneous logins from all areas," so it was expected to have these problems. There is no set date for the rescheduling, but Namco will release that information sometime this week.

Playing By the Rules

by: Zippynom

“I'm jumping on the bed!” Exclaims my sister, while she makes Link duck up and down on a bed. I can barely constrain myself from telling her that she's supposed to be going up Death Mountain to save the Gorons from all the monsters. She insists, instead of following the plot, on hanging out in Lon Lon Ranch doing pretty much nothing. Between gritting my teeth and trying to hint her where she is supposed to go I realize she isn't playing the game wrong, but playing it the best way a game can be played: Her way. She's participating in a world that functions understandably and having her own kind of fun.

Games often do their best to constrain the player in a set of rules. These are usually physical limitations – Mario can only jump so high and Masterchief can only soak so many bullets. However, most video games will leave a lot of the justification of specific character action to the player. Almost never will a game constrain the player's head narrative. Is Mario finally tired of the princess being in another castle? Does Masterchief have PTSD? Why did your Pokemon choose now to evolve? Once questions like these are asked within the context of a game it can potentially be a lot more interesting. The best games for this type of play are sandbox games, but you can express your play style in unlimited ways across genres.

In Skyrim your interactions with NPCs are extremely limited and many characters are rarely very fleshed out (though this is probably a result of the world being so huge and there being so many). This leaves a lot of room for the player to imagine their own stories. In one of my playthroughs Lydia, one of the games many followers, had grown up in the city Whiterun and joined the Companions, a fighter's guild of sorts. After a certain fantastic skirmish with roaming giants Lydia was handpicked to serve the Jarl. Afterward she could only watch as the land of Skyrim was wracked by civil war while her Jarl wrestled with which side he should join, if any. It was about this time I met her and she became my Housecarl. With this imagined backstory Lydia became a much more interesting character. This impromptu style of filling in the story where there is none applies even better to the player's character, and the game is kind enough to leave your background mostly open-ended whether you play a thief or a mage.

Mass Effect might seem like a game where this playstyle would not apply, but think again. There is no better application of your imagined character's ideas and beliefs than constant testing. The basis of one of my playthroughs was simply unite as many allies as possible against the Reapers as possible, which led to more than a few decisions I might have made differently playing for myself. Another playthrough I was a space cowboy while another I was a lost romantic who never quite understood the weight of my decisions, always filling in the story for my characters when there wasn't one or it wasn't enough.

The best games find ways of giving the player as much freedom as possible while still following its rules. Arguably many videogames are merely skeletons for you to build a personal story or experience out of. Maybe next time you play a videogame play as if your character had an odd religion or was afraid of water(sometimes part of the gameplay if water kills you). Maybe make up a backstory for another character or enemy that doesn't have one, insignificant or not. You can imagine all kinds of ways to play your games then.