Action Figures, Video Games, Comics, Toys, Superheroes, Wrestling — We've Got Game.
While the other GHG-er’s are out covering E3, your favorite TV-reviewing Texan is covering Houston’s Comicpalooza 2016 this weekend.
A big thank you to the original Hulk, Lou Ferrigno, and SkyHouse Houston for this interview.
Stay tuned for more interviews from GHG and Houston’s Comicpalooza!
In today’s special #E32016 Edition of The Bible Scale, GHG ranks the games focused and played on Day Two (Wednesday).
Enjoy!
FOR HONOR (Ubisoft – PS4, X1, PC – February 14, 2017) – Of the impressive slate of Ubisoft titles to showcase at the Expo this year, For Honor was the one I got to play the most. It was also the title that most surprised me. Strange.. because, last E3, I was able to tangle with YouTuber Angry Joe in a rather simple, oft-frustrating multiplayer setting as a knight.
We fast forward one year later, and I’m still the same bloody knight–just much more textured, more responsive, and, most importantly, by my bloody self. For Honor‘s campaign was easily one of my highlights of E3…
(cont.) While the game’s clear-cut focus is still on its rather plodding and extra brutal combat, there was far more cinematic experiences that came into play than expected. The narrative isn’t going to win any kind of Golden Globe noms or anything, but it was certainly suitable enough to set the stage for bigger things to come.
More importantly, every fight–be it with the sword and shield, or lumbering axe–felt real and heavily rewarding; as the usual hack-and-slash button-mashing will absoutely not work in this game. It takes the proper stance, reading your opponent’s stance, and well-timed blocks to push throughout the battlefields.
WATCH DOGS 2 (Ubisoft – PS4, X1, PC – November 15, 2017) – While the score might only show 3.75 Bibles up above, don’t get the wrong impression: I’m excited as fuck for Watch Dogs 2.
That’s a statement I didn’t think I was ever going to make based on the strength of the original. The one thing the first game did have going for it was setting the stage for a better sequel. From the dev diary and the trailers, WD2 is everything I ever wanted to happen for this game.
Having played roughly 20-minutes yesterday behind the Ubisoft booth, I can tell geeks having any doubts to chill: there’s far more life to everything to the world of Watch Dogs 2. People are doing more, the insides of buildings are no longer just cardboard boxes, pallets and crates, and the whole effin’ Yay Area map is twice the size of The Chi.
(cont.) Marcus Holloway is such a cool, smooth criminal, with a now floating “Force” extension of hacking abilities right from the palm of his celly. The extra hacking gadgets (mini copter drone and a jumping mini scooter drone) are sweet, too. And, thankfully and ever-so-broodingly trenhcoatless, our protagonist can now rock any type of fashion to your liking. Thugster.
Although I wasn’t able to peep Silicon Valley, Oakland or much more than Pier 39 at the Fisherman’s Wharf during my brief hands-on time yesterday, it’s pretty easy to see that the diverse locations of the Bay are going to be fun as hell to explore–so long as you allow yourself to deviate from the linear quests every now and then. Like the best part of GTA, mess with every car; mess with everybody; and start some shit, hacking style.
That notion becomes even more thrilling when co-op multiplayer comes into action. No longer does that portion of the game feel like a detached annoyance, as fellow DedSec hackers can help you infiltrate rival gangs and accomplish missions tied into the story’s overall arc. It’s a big change that should hopefully make the entire Watch Dogs experience that much more fulfilling.
In today’s special #E32016 Edition of The Bible Scale, GHG ranks the games focused and played on Day Two (Wednesday).
Enjoy!
4.75 Bibles.
BATTLEFIELD 1 (DICE/EA – PS4, X1, PC – October 21) – With EA separated from the main E3 show, they granted people the opportunity to visit their own venue right next door and experience new hot titles arriving this year. Among them was Battlefield 1, and visitors were given a treat of more information about the game and a chance to go hands on with the new World War 1 shooter.
Initially, we were brought into a room and shown a video (sorry, no pictures or recording allowed) that explained the gameplay and new features of this latest release in the series. Of course we are seeing the return of 5-person squads, vehicular combat, class loadouts and weapon customization.
(cont.) One new feature to the series is a weather system, which was quite amazing to experience. We played a 32 vs. 32 conquest mission, and among my respawns I played as the “scout” class, which equips you with a bolt-action rifle with scope, M1911 pistol, shovel, gas mask, etc. I made many successful sniper shots, helping my team capture and hold points, but when the weather made a sudden change and the fog rolled in, I was left holding my pistol hoping to see the enemy before they saw me. I managed to defend against 1 or 2 attacks, but eventually was laid to rest by a shovel to the head. Yes, Mother Nature can definitely change the tide and your team’s strategy.
Another feature they stressed was the battle blimp. When the game is nearing the end, this monster appears to help the losing team give one last effort to turn the tables and win. As crazy as this sounds, it’s not an instant win situation; the “Bad Year Blimp” doesn’t move very fast, and requires teammates to man the guns and shoot down any oncoming attacks while you steer the behemoth and drop bombs to clear the field.
(cont.) While the game was a blast to play, there’s one thing I found wanting that will hopefully be fixed before release: Class customization works well and wasn’t cluttered, but the lack of gun description or a picture did make choosing the proper weapons and tools a bit tougher. If you know your World War 1 guns and kits you’ll be fine; but the rest of us will have to do some guess-work or do some Googling before its release.
All that aside, the game is everything we love about Battlefield in a new–or would that be old?–time period. Controls are smooth and feels familiar, graphics look excellent, and, overall, a great experience. This saint is definitely sold on the game when it arrives this fall, and is excited to battle it out in the beta that is supposedly dropping before release!
CALL OF DUTY: INFINITE WARFARE (Infinity Ward/Activision – PS4, X1, PC – November 4) – Allow me to begin by saying that I was not a fan of Call of Duty: Black Ops III, as I felt it was a bit repetitive and stagnant about halfway through. From the footage I witnessed at E3 of Infinite Warfare, however, the series appears to wipe the slate clean.
The new direction was equal parts CoD of old (old meaning good), Star Wars: Battlefront and touches of Mass Effect. Developer Infinity Ward has left the terrorist streets of the last decade and has moved to a sci-fi future where humans have settled most of the galaxy and are at war with rival evil colonists called the Settlement Defense Front–or.. those darn “Space Nazi’s!”, as Art Director Brian Horton likes to call them.
Stepping away from rogue agents and terror cells might be the smartest move CoD has done in years, especially in the current political climate of recent real-world attacks. Call of Duty has always been an open playing book for how to attack real world locations, so switching to battles less loosely connected to reality is looking the better play.
The behind-closed-door footage starts in Zurich, Switzerland but soon moves to space as your T-Fighter lands to scoop you up. Then, the action really kicks in: you take part in an intergalactic space dog fight, attempting to land on a rival battle cruiser, all the while vacating your ship to fight in zero G’s. Never thought I’d say this today, but Infinite Warfare had me on the edge of my seat throughout the whole demo.
Note: Bible score is leveled on a 1-5 scale, based on how we felt about the E3 video and/or demo impressions of the game. Subject to change upon release.
In our special #E32016 Edition of The Bible Scale, we begin GHG’s ranking of the games focused and played on Day One (Tuesday).
Enjoy!
INJUSTICE 2 (NetherRealm/WB Interactive – PS4, X1 – 2017) – GameSpot’s live E3 stage had Mortal Kombat creator Ed Boon on to talk about his next gen fighting game, Injustice 2. To start off, this game has improved leaps and bounds from the prior edition–despite how awesome the first one was. The gameplay shown included Superman, Supergirl, Aquaman, Batman, General Grodd, and Red Lantern Atrocitus.
The biggest add-on to the game shown was the games new gear system. Ed revealed that the new DC fighting game will feature loot drops and gear, win or lose, that can alter your character’s appearance and make your character stronger. “There’s a moulding so to speak, as you keep getting gear you keep deciding if you want to use it and if you want to focus on offense or defense or enhance certain moves or unlock certain moves.”
(cont.) The game footage went through a range of different armor choices for most the characters, and showed the ability to change armor colors. For instance, if you want Red Crimson Sun Superman you can create it. We also got a glimpse of some of the characters’ “fatalities” which have definitely improved from the first.
The only downsides I watched sitting through this otherwise enjoyable experience: Aquaman looked like an extra from a gay porn video like you see on the fuckedgay website here, and Superman looked like he had just come off of a creatine bender — all bloated in blue velour. From the little bit of cutscenes shown, we can assume that Superman is still in power and Batman is still trying to stop his friend from ruling the world.
LEGO DIMINESIONS: WAVE 6 EXPANSION (Traveller’s Tales/WB Interactive – PS4, X1 – September 30) – Witches, Gremlins and E.T. oh my! After numerous rumors and leaks it has finally been made official about all the new characters and adventures coming to the LEGO world: Sonic the Hedgehog, Adventure Time, Harry Potter, E.T., Gremlins, Goonies, Beatlejuice, etc. The new expansion packs will release on September 30th with additional new releases stretching all through the summer of next year.
(cont.) Although I was in the Disney Infinity fan club, call me impressed. For starters, I love how immersive and collector happy this game is. In just the second year of content WB is not making you go out of your way to buy a whole new system. Yes–you heard it–all you have to do is buy one of the new expansion packs and it updates your current system for the new characters and a new multi-battle arena with full game modes. I was able to get my hands on one, “Capture the Flag”. It was a ton of fun, as I skydived onto Harry Potter’s Quidditch field as Finn from Adventure Time and outraced E.T. and one of the new lady Ghostbusters to capture a flag. Also, those lucky to see the footage and gameplay at E3 received a Green Arrow exclusive lego fig for the new game.
Note: Bible score is leveled on a 1-5 scale, based on how we felt about the E3 video and/or demo impressions of the game. Subject to change upon release.
In our special #E32016 Edition of The Bible Scale, we begin GHG’s ranking of the games focused and played on Day One (Tuesday).
Enjoy!
FINAL FANTASY XV (Square Enix – PS4, X1 – September 30) – Today, I was able to play the “Trial of Titan” demo and witness a “Special Stage Presentation” over at the Square Enix booth, with Director Hajime Tabata.
Before I get into my hands-on experience, let’s talk Wait Mode. This option gives players the chance to become more strategic in combat–momentarily haulting the action to select targets, cast spells, and fully utilize teammates’ actions–which should prove beneficial to many old school FF players since FFXV offers a far more robust Devil May Cry level of action than the slower, turn-based sequences of before.
During the presentation, Tabata also introduced spell crafting (a.k.a. magic syntheses)–mixing up different elements of fire, ice and lighting to your own liking and effect.
(cont.) As for the gameplay itself, it was fun! True–and, like most Japanese games I’ve played, the camera can wind up a little wonky in some spots, as looking around mid-combat will take some time getting used to.
Thankfully, going from quick knife paces to more lumbering large blades and ice storms was a pretty seamless transition . I was never once frustrated mixing up an array of techniques to defeat any AI, or the giant hand-swiping manrock. Or, was the AI just dumb? Was the difficulty tempered a bit to engage new players into this new next-gen era of Final Fantasy? Likely, a mix of both. QTE’s were in effect, too; but my timing felt smooth as I blocked, parried, and teleported my way around the fight.
As usual, despite how pretty the game is, framerates weren’t great during the open-world presentation videos or game demo.
Still, FFXV‘s action is frantically fun, and the world seemed filled with so many splendid things to do that it even managed to make upgrade screens set around a campfire look fun.
With the Electronic Entertainment Expo — E3, parishioners — officially beginning tomorrow, we’re down to our final 3 games to preview. Whoo-hoo.
***DAY ELEVEN, June 13th — CRACKDOWN 3, MADDEN NFL 17, FINAL FANTASY VII REMASTER***
Archives:
“SAINT” PATRICK OBLOY @offthegeekend
CRACKDOWN 3 (ReAgent Games/Microsoft – Xbox One – Q3 2016) – First announced at E3 2014, Crackdown 3 is set to release this year. It has been 9-years since the release of the first entry in the series and 6-years since the second one. David Jones, creator of the original Crackdown, is onboard again. Not much is known right now aside from an upcoming beta and that the game will become more open world with a new, larger city and improved customization/cloud computing. It has also been announced that the first portion to be playable will be multiplayer only. It’s unknown whether this is through a beta release or a standalone multiplayer release, with campaign to be added later.
“MONSIGNOR” TRAVIS MOODY @travmoody
MADDEN NFL 17 (Tiburon/EA Sports – PS4, X1 – August 23) – So, every year I review the annual Madden football video game, and every year I enjoy it, only to get pissy about the presentation and be done with it once the “fresh new coat of paint” that smells exactly like the previous 3 editions starts to fade. Now in Madden NFL 17, it looks like my prayers have been answered. Kinda. It has yet to be seen if EA will finally bring in the kind of “2K-style” presentation so sorely missed for the past, oh, 12-years? I’m talking proper pre-and-post games, in-studio halftime shows, etc. Maybe that will have to wait a year.
(cont.) But, for now, here’s what’s on this August’s pigskin agenda: updated stadiums & jumbotrons, pylon cams, dynamic coach & multi-cams, and–best of all?–new game commentary! Yes! No longer do players have to hear the stiff, phoned-in playcalls from NFL broadcasters who obviously make way too much money to give a shit. Bye Jim and Phil! Instead, we’re blessed with weekly ongoing and updating audio tracks from Brandan Gaudin (probably my fav current voice in the NCAA) and Heisman trophy winner Charles White. From the footage above, it’s quite obvious the new booth is as excited for the opportunity as we are to hear from them.
“APOSTLE” LANCE PAUL @Lance_Paul
FINAL FANTASY VII [REMAKE] (Square Enix – PS4 – TBA 2017/2018) – Little is still known on this classic remake that has had all the nerd panties soaked since first being announced a couple years ago. We do know the original creators are back, and that the story may take some liberties changing and expanding on the original–just like Robert Kirkman tweaking his Walking Dead. Similar to FFXV, the new remake will come out as expanded episodic content built on the Unreal Engine 4 and will feature full voice acting. Thank God, ’cause rereading Cloud’s love story again would make me cross-eyed. Hopefully, E316 brings us more than just a trailer like last year, maybe a release date.