Here we are folks, IT’S ABOUT TIME! It’s been close to 20-years — and about 20 racing games — since the last mainline addition to the Crash Bandicoot series. Was 20 years worth the wait? Let’s find out.
Crash has always held a little place in my heart as some of my favorite games on the good ole PlayStation 1. And though its almost two decades later and a whole new developer at the helm, Crash Bandicoot 4: It’s About Time still has a lot of the heart of the originals. No longer developed by the big dogs over at Naughty Dog, the newest addition to the series is developed by Toys For Bob, who most will be familiar with from the Skylander series…
Stylistically, you can tell the game takes on much more of a cartoon aesthetic along the lines of Skylanders, which may put off fans of the original series. As you get acquainted with the characters you come across throughout the game, however, it becomes apparent how befitting it is. And speaking of characters, you’ll get to play a range of different characters as you traverse the different timelines— some familiar, some new, and each of them unique to play as (aside from Coco, who plays the same as Crash). And the game does play much like the original games in the series, which is both a good and bad thing.
Depth perception still stinks when it comes to some of the platforming, especially when attempting to jump to/from ropes. And the game can seem a bit too safe and familiar at the beginning. But as you dive deeper and further, Crash 4 feels more evolved thanks in part to some cool level design. Hell, did it ever cross your mind how much the series could benefit from the addition of an Austrailian alligator wielding a vacuum? These shockers each add their own twist in gameplay to give you a bit more than what you come to expect out of the Crash series.
All in all, It’s About Time gives the Crash franchise a renewed interest for both older and newer generations of gamers. It’s not a game that’s going to overstay its welcome with the campaign easily being completed in under 10 hours. But it’ll also offer a bit of replay value for completionists in the way of attempting to collect the 6 diamonds for every stage and unlocking/completing N.Verse stages.
It’s familiarity will be both its blessing and its curse depending on who you ask; but, there’s enough here in Crash 4 to differentiate it not only from other platformers out there but also from its own past. And let’s just all be grateful that Toys for Bob didn’t make buying figures a requirement! 3.75/5 Bibles.
Almost immediately after hearing about the upcoming release of Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 1 + 2 my initial excitement slowly became tainted with a bit of sadness and dread. As a massive fan of the series, I couldn’t stand to see yet another nail driven into the coffin of the franchise. That’s not to say I expected this remake to fail; but with so many of the most recent additions to the franchise having done that, common sense told me to prepare for the worst…
Temperatures Rising.
A little about myself: I spent over a decade of my life on a skateboard beginning in the mid-90s, and the Tony Hawk games played a huge part in keeping me on my wheelie-board for so long. Like many others, these games were a major influence on me– one of the biggest influences of my life, in fact. They helped expand my taste in music, they introduced me to professional skaters that I’d never heard of but would soon grow to idolize. I even spent a number of my adolescent years wearing a black hoodie just because Jamie Thomas wore one in the first game and he was my favorite skater at the time.
And don’t even get me started on how the early games affected my social life. Most of my skater years were spent in Memphis, TN, and there weren’t many of us there, especially in those days. My friends and I were lucky to find each other and aside from skateboarding itself, the THPS games served as the active ingredient in the glue that held us together.
With all that said, it’s probably abundantly clear that I have a strong emotional connection to the series, which is why it hurt like a knife to the heart every time a mediocre new game or a thrown-together remaster of a classic was released. By the end of my 15-disappointing minutes with THPS5, I’d decided I just couldn’t take another THPS engraved knife to the chest. I wiped my hands of the franchise and decided to move forward with only my fond memories of the glory days. That was my intention, at least. But then, five years later, the THPS1+2 release trailer finds me.
As I’m watching the original pros rip through the beautifully redone levels to “Police Truck” by Dead Kennedys, my wounded heart began to flutter just the way it did during the first THPS trailer I ever saw. It felt true. It felt right. It felt like I wouldn’t be let down this time. When the trailer was over, I sat excited but also still skeptical. The skepticism wasn’t rooted in a fear of wasting money but rather my fear of seeing the series I love so much take another hit.
Make sure you get those Adidas in there.
Despite this internal battle of emotions, being the fan that I am, I decided to day-one download the game, and let me tell you.. it was one of the best decisions I’ve made in a long time! This combo-remake was truly made with the love and respect these world, society and life changing games deserve. Finally.
I booted up the game after it downloaded but was still installing so I only had access to the tutorial and free-skate in the warehouse. I began the tutorial to knock off some of the rust I’d collected over the last decade and a half. It’s a very decent and effective tutorial. Complete the challenge, skate to the next one, repeat. I spent more time just skating around, appreciating the graphical improvements and the tightness of the updated controls than completing the tutorial objectives.
Ain’t nothin’ to it.
Speaking of, the default controls are more akin to those of the 3rd and 4th THPS games than the first two, allowing you to execute multiple maneuver switch-ups during a single manual or grind by tapping any combination of two face buttons excluding the Ollie button. Reverts have also been included in the default control scheme so players can now pull off the insane, over the top, million-point combos that weren’t possible (or very difficult) without cheats in the first two games. This added with the faster, more aggressive gameplay makes shredding through maps like the Mall and New York with endless combos an even more adrenaline inducing, finger blistering blast.
For players who prefer the classic controls of the first games, they can easily be switched on in the options menu. I personally enjoy the default controls and feel like they work perfectly on the classic levels but I appreciate the ability to switch to the old school controls should I so choose. My only real problem with the controls on the PS4 is that the touch screen opens up the profile menu and with such a button-heavy game, it’s very easy for my thumb to slip and open that menu while I’m pulling off a combo, costing me time and all those precious points I worked so hard for. It can be really annoying. Other than that, the controls are clean and responsive.
So after my game finished installing and I felt confident that my muscle-memory had returned, I decided to head straight to the online multiplayer and ended up spending a good number of hours there. The multiplayer isn’t without some issues, but, boy, is it fun as hell! MP is simple and virtually seamless with only a handful of modes for each level. On each map you’ll play through the modes Graffiti, Trick Attack, Score Challenge, Combo Challenge and Combo Mambo with a thirty second break between each play. Once players have played through all of those modes on one map, they’ll move on to the next one and start again.
I really like that matchmaking only happens once when you begin an online session. After that, you’re in your joined lobby until you decide to leave and players can come and go without disrupting the session for anyone else. Because of this, how quickly the matches move along and the sheer fun of it all, it’s very easy to get stuck saying “okay, just one more game” to yourself for an hour after you decided to stop playing.
AEW Full Gear.
As I mentioned earlier though, the MP does have its flaws. I’ve lost more than a couple of matches due to some pretty severe, spontaneous lag. There’s also the occasional bug such as one that caused my character to skate around in a circle endlessly despite commands from my controller. Another one I found on the Chicago Skate Park level caused the balance meter to disappear and “perfect balance” to kick in when doing a tailslide around the lip of the pool (which isn’t necessarily a bad thing).
Fortunately, these bugs mainly seem to happen between matches. The aforementioned lag is what causes problems during matches and will hopefully be fixed in a future update. But even with these issues, online multiplayer is a great time. And on a personal level, it only helps to know that in the 10-or-so person lobbies, at least a couple of those people are experiencing the same intense nostalgia trip that I am which creates sort of a potential unspoken bond between players.
Nearly all of the songs that make up the amazing soundtracks from the first two games are here excluding one of my favorites from THPS1, “Committed” by Unsane, and possibly a couple others that I’ve yet to notice are missing. There have been a good number of new songs added to the playlist that make it even more epic, which I honestly wasn’t sure was even possible. There are a few, more modern songs that, in my opinion, feel a bit out of place in the game; though I’m aware that could just be the stubborn, fist-shaking-at-the-kids-on-my-lawn old man in me. Over all, the soundtrack still invokes the same, if not more excitement with the whole experience.
The single-player modes are as fun and addicting as they’ve always been. There are some added challenges and collectibles so even veteran players who remember how and where to get everything will have new challenges to take on. Speaking of challenges, there’s a massive new overarching challenge and upgrade system. It’s OK. Leveling up and completing those challenges was less exciting the more I played. I can’t say they’re not worth doing, as you can unlock secret characters, money for gear and level up your skaters. There’s just so many of them — literally hundreds, many of which aren’t a big deal — that I stopped paying attention after a while. It’s still a nice enough addition to the game, though and definitely didn’t take away from my enjoyment.
Skate or (Get) High.
Overall, Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 1 + 2 is the remake that long-time fans and players new to the series need. It’s incredibly well done and almost makes up for the disappointment brought on by more recent Tony Hawk games. Notice I said “almost”. It’s a modernized classic that sets out to please everyone and while that isn’t something that’s possible, Vicarious Visions and NeverSoft did a hell of a job trying. The game looks better than ever, sounds as great as it always did and plays exactly how it should. Welcome back, THPS! We’ve missed you. 4.5/5 Bibles.
-Shaka Smith
By the way, if you haven’t already, I highly.. highly recommend watching the THPS franchise’s new documentary Pretending I’m a Superman, available now on Amazon Prime (peep the GHG review for that one too right here). As someone who’s life consisted of little more than skating and playing THPS games during the 90s and early 00s, it nealry brought a tear to my eye. Maybe it actually did. I’ll never tell. But I will say that it’s a great piece for anyone, whether you skated and/or played the games or not.
On the occasion of the highly anticipated demo release of Tony Hawk Pro Skater 1 + 2 Remaster tomorrow, yours truly was given the privilege to watch the brand new tie-in documentary, Pretending I’m a Superman: The Tony Hawk Video Game Story.
This doc deals with the beginning of the urban skateboarding culture from the 70’s, which a few decades later led to the development of one of the biggest and most unexpected successes on the video game front. It also introduced a whole new generation of punk-rock hits from music bands like Dead Kennedys and Goldfinger in a time before we easily shared music across the globe (using the magic we call the internet). It was a thing of beauty, Tony Hawk Pro Skater‘s soundtrack has forever etched itself on my mind.
FROM ZERO TO SUPERHERO
In the slightly over an hour-long documentary, “vertical skateboarding” legend Tony Hawk takes us on his journey from being a young, daring and tall-skinny skater who was relatively unknown outside the skateboarding circles, to becoming a world-renowned and very successful ambassador for a “neckbreaking” sport that had not previously gained a firm foothold in the mainstream media before X Games was televised.
Son set.
The fact that it was illegal in the past to skate in several places in the world (including in my home country Norway from 1977 to 1988) did not exactly make it easier to get the sport widely accepted, but Tony Hawk was one of the main contributors who changed how the sport was perceived, which made the interest in skateboard culture flourish globally like never before.
In the documentary, we also get other insightful interviews of a number of well-known skaters who have contributed to the creativity skateboarding and THPS series is known for. One of the greatest is undoubtedly Rodney Mullen, also known as the “Godfather of Street Skating”. A pure genius on the griptape, known for having developed more tricks than anyone else in the game and is considered to be one of the most influential in the science of trick wizardry.
LIVING room.
Other high-profile skaters such as Jamie Thomas and Steve Caballero also share their thoughts on what it was like to grow up in the underground skateboarding environment that eventually resulted in careers they could only dream of as children.
APOCALYPTIC SKATEBOARDING
Further in the documentary, we get more insight into how Hawk gravitated towards the gaming industry, which turned out to be anything but easy. There was a lot of adversity, skateboarding was considered a niche by the gaming industry and the story could have quickly ended here. But after a long, clammy and boring business meeting with Activision and their men in suits, Tony Hawk was presented with something that would change everything.
Developer Neversoft, which had previously released the action game Apocalypse for PlayStation, presented a rough and unfinished prototype of what was the start of Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater. It was literally Bruce Willis on a skateboard, a 3D model with a machine gun on his back that was taken straight out of.. Apocalypse.
Hawk saw the potential and the small Neversoft team with no skateboarding background got to work with the legendary skater as their advisor and motion-capture talent. A demo of the finished game was distributed and it was met with an unexpectedly good response. It was the start of THPS games that made its mark in the gaming industry but also among young people who had not previously opened their eyes to skateboarding.
It suddenly became very cool to skate, something that the professional skaters in the documentary express to be very proud to have contributed to. The sport and interest grew as a direct result of the game series, something they never thought was possible. And the successful sequels to the THPS just added to the interest in the skate culture and also pushed the boundaries of real-life tricks to new limits as a result of the game.
DIRTY SANCHEZ
As expected Activision (unfortunately) milked the THPS series for all it was worth, until it reached the point of pain. The quality of the games was downgraded with each new sequel and mimicked Jackass more than the more authentic skateboard “feel” it had before and interest waned as THPS began to receive lukewarm reviews with noticeably fewer copies sold. Former Neversoft employees and Tony Hawk talk openly in the film about where things went wrong, the declining interest and how EA woke up and seized the moment, releasing their own game called, Skate, which became the new king of the streets– leaving Pro Skater in the gutter as a thrown away toy.
But despite the upturn ending with the downturn for the THPS series, the first games have eternal classic status with the fans. And the previously dying THPS series seems to have risen from the grave with the remaster edition launching on next month on September 4th. The first impressions among those who have been given early access are overwhelmingly positive and TH will once again smile all the way to the bank.
Pretending I’m a Superman: The Tony Hawk Video Game Story is definitely made for fans, but not necessarily the gaming fans. This documentary focuses more on the skateboarding culture than the games, the development behind the games and the pro skaters involvement. I would be more interested to see that part of the story. The pro skaters and their personal history we can find on YouTube if we really want to know more. The gaming aspect of the story was what I wanted to see and learn more about, so that portion was a bit lackluster.
I also feel it’s a bit of a missed opportunity to not show behind-the-scenes work from of the upcoming Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 1+2 Remaster as it is gaining a lot of positive momentum at the moment by gaming media. And also maybe tease what’s to come for this revived franchise. 3/5 Bibles.
Being the annual franchise that Call of Duty has become, it was inevitable that a year like 2018 was going to happen. Since the original Modern Warfare in 2007 raised the bar for console shooters with its explosive, blockbuster campaign the series has had to find a way to outdo itself. When the narrative, literally, reached the stars in Infinite Warfare there had already seemed to be a scramble to figure out ways to make the campaign, which could arguably be seen as the average CoD players second (or even third) favorite mode to multiplayer and zombies, still feel relevant.
Then came Black Ops IIII in 2018. At launch the multiplayer, zombies, and even the new battle royale ‘Blackout’ mode seemed like the solid, polished product players had gotten from Call of Duty for the last twelve years, but there was one glaring admission — the campaign mode was a no-show. A slight narrative started to form based out of rumors and insider info that Black Ops developer Treyarch was attempting a major shift away from the traditional CoD linear campaign format and attempting a slight open world design to make the series seem fresh. Allegedly, this was scrapped when it didn’t seem to come together well enough to meet standards as the product was getting closer to being shipped.
Then there were even rumors that a campaign DLC would launch later that year never came to fruition, and thus the large chunk of the CoD holdovers that primarily played the game for the campaign were left in the dust. It seemed this year all Infinity Ward had to do was simply deliver a standard campaign and a set of refreshed multiplayer modes, and the wounds could start to heal until the next gen systems came out…
CAMPAIGN
“Brother” Myke Ladiona @onemyke
PS4, PC, and Xbox One users have been blessed by an early present — Call of Duty: Modern Warfare (2019) feels like next-gen come early. Like all the Hollywood action blockbusters have been doing in the last five years, this is a familiar skeleton but with flashy new-tech driven skin. There is a very noticeable leap in the audio-visual fidelity of Modern Warfare that can be a feast for graphical comparison videos from even Infinite Warfare and World War 2. The lighting and textures are stunning on what are about to be the last-gen consoles, and the audio has significantly improved making the “Battlefield has better sounding guns than Call of Duty” argument almost null and void.
Gunfire in hallways and enclosed areas have a reverberation to them amplify the closed quarters, claustrophobic feel, while large scale battles no longer sound like a wall of sound and rather a dynamic multi-layered audio experience that actually helps you in battles. While every mode benefits from this new shine on the gameplay, it is one of the marquee features in the back-to-basics narrative. With the campaigns lack of celebrity performed characters and likenesses, increasingly futuristic vibes and gadgetry, and the scaling back of the conflicts to a more personal level — the technological leap makes the classic feel brand new again.
It’s easy to dismiss reboots as another cash grab, but that argument doesn’t seem to hold water in the video game space. Everything is about pushing new features, enhancing gameplay, and finding ways to incorporate the more modern ways of making money into the fold with loot boxes, in game currency, and multi seasonal endgames. Modern Warfare’s narrative campaign being rebooted feels more like a creative team wanting to find solid footing again.
The whole experience feels as fresh as the original Modern Warfare did in 2007. The overall pacing is well done, but nothing the studio hasn’t done before. The campaign features a mix of blockbuster set pieces, mixed in with more intimate story driven moments that are more cutscenes disguised as playable levels. By stripping out all the excess in the world building that the series has escalated to (CoD in space on paper felt like a joke), Infinity Ward was able to rediscover characters and find more creative ways to deliver their story.
Wot? Ya miss me?
Aside from the return of Captain Price, the new characters feel a lot more specific and unique that the player protagonists have ever been in the past. Starting out as a CIA officer in Alex is already a fresh new take as you’re not the usual infantry soldier, or even specialized military private. Then there’s the SAS Sergeant, Kyle Garrick who embarks on a bigger journey than anyone in the game going from the streets of London to running missions with Captain Price. The real standouts are Farah and Hadir, though. The game gives them more development in mere acts than a lot of characters have gotten in an entire game. Without spoiling it, there’s legitimate drama and intrigue on display here with the likes of which have been featured in more prestigious single player campaign narratives in other games, but were never really a feature in Call of Duty.
Setting the main conflicts in a mashup of real life locations, with fictional countries also lends itself to a more focused, “action blockbuster” narrative since it doesn’t have to do a dance around real life conflicts. Unfortunately there are a few key moments that parallel actual world history, and in some cases weren’t as cleverly disguised, and the thematic implications and perceived messaging can easily divide certain players; the mileage on whether or not that will be a particular turn off may vary on one’s own knowledge of history and inherent cultural biases and perception. Yet, thematic mess aside, the single player campaign itself is almost the best it’s ever been and fans and newcomers alike should celebrate that we got this redefining moment of the franchise’s identity a year before this generation comes to an end.
Campaign = 4.5/5 Bibles.
-Myke Ladiona
MULTIPLAYER
“Shepherd” Daniel Sorensen @danielsoerensen
The rebooted Modern Warfare seems to tick almost all of the multiplayer boxes this year. In the age of loot boxes and season passes, Activision surprisingly goes the other direction this year. All upcoming maps and weapons are free to all. No loot boxes and no pay to win.
Instead, we will be introduced to freemium and premium seasonal Battle Passes where you can unlock cosmetics and even COD currency points, just like in Fortnite and Apex Legends. Modern Warfare also offers cross-play and cross-save across PC and consoles, enabling friends to play together regardless of platform and controller types. Leave no man behind…
COD:MW also manages to reinvent itself while sticking to its award winning formula. The multiplayer offers everything from the competitive 2v2 Gunfight mode played on tiny maps, to grand scale 64 player conflicts in Ground War with tanks, helicopters, ATV’s etc. Something that surely appeals to fans of the Battlefield series. If co-op is more your flavor, join your friends in Spec Ops. Pick a class and play different missions together in a huge open world map where the A.I will do its best adapting to your play style, throwing curveballs at your team when you least expect it– Left 4 Dead style.
More over, Modern Warfare nails it with its audiovisual presentation and gameplay. Gunplay feels incredibly rewarding and the vast amount of challenges keeps it fresh while leveling up your weapons and unlocking new killstreaks, field upgrades, emblems etc. Gameplay is slightly slower paced than previous titles with larger, more complex and realistic designed maps, too. Some say this ruins the “run’n’gun” flow of the game, but it only takes more time to master compared to the dusty old three-lane map design before you dominate out in the open. The last time I was anywhere near this excited about a Call of Duty game was with Black Ops 1. Yeah, it’s been a while.
Flame on.
Is the new Modern Warfare perfect? No, expect updates to spawn logic, weapon balancing, net code etc and hopefully in-game chat audio. But it is the best “boots on the ground” fps game available bar none. I am looking forward to all the upcoming free maps, weapons and and special events. The only thing missing, really, is a Battle Royale mode. But leakers with a proven track record claims that BR will come early next year as a separate free to play client and it will be played on an extended version of the Spec Ops map. Roll on 2020.
Jet packs and magnetic wall running boots all tucked away, boots on the ground is back. So is finally Modern Warfare. And I’ve had the great pleasure of testing the alpha and two betas for three weekends in total. So what did I learn about this upcoming Call of Duty game? Will this be a return to former glory? Well, that can only be fully answered when we have our full review of the retail version that comes out late next month. But, for now, we’ll have a closer look at the alpha/betas, giving you our first-hand impressions of what I think so far…
ALPHA – 2V2 GUNFIGHT
Our first look at the new Modern Warfare (MW) gave us the taste of the new 2v2 mode called “Gunfight”. It’s round-based with random weapons in your arsenal. No loadouts, no respawns, no minimap, no killstreaks and first team to 6 points wins the game. The five small, tight and very symmetric close quarters maps are comparable to small paintball arenas, albeit more varied. It’s not your typical Call of Duty experience, but it’s fast-paced fun and very esports friendly– a unique experience within CoD that should be extremely popular on streaming platforms as it’s very straightforwardly and audience/viewer friendly. I’m looking forward to set up private 2vs2 matches, which will ruin more friendships than Monopoly and I can hardly wait.
Overall I had so much fun with this mode and had little to no technical issues other than footsteps audio being a bit all over the place and name tags displaying when out of sight, revealing your position unintentionally. These issues were fixed, but footstep audio is being closely monitored by Infinity Ward and will be continuously improved on.
ALPHA – GUNFIGHT OSP
The same as normal Gunfight, but with a twist: all weapons are pick-ups, giving this mode an old-school vibe. You will always have pistols close to your spawn, but going for the big guns is a risk/reward game in itself. Will you go directly for the big guns and skip the pistol, shaving off a second or two when rushing your foe? Or do you go for the trusted pistol first and risk the ballsy opponent rolling up on you with an AUG to your face? Your call! I honestly can’t decide which mode is more fun, this or regular 2v2 Gunfight.
The alpha was a great tease, but it didn’t let you experience the full re-imagined Modern Warfare multiplayer with its lack of standard modes. This is where the beta came in, to satisfy the masses and cure the itch.
BETA TIME – WHAT DID WE PLAY?
The two betas included a lot of familiar game modes. The beta also included the 2v2 Gunfight modes but since we already got that covered, so let’s move on to the list of the other modes I played in the beta builds:
Team Deathmatch – Your only objective, find the enemies and shot to kill. Nothing new or exciting really. A standard in any FPS.
Domination – Another classic. Hold capture points for to win and get annoyed over your teammates who don’t PTFO.
Headquarters – Hold a specific area until it’s captured. Die, rinse and repeat. It’s more fun than it sounds, I promise.
Cyber Attack – Similar to Search And Destroy, attackers plants a bomb on the objective to win while defenders will try do disarm the bomb or eliminate all players. Unlike Search and Destroy you can revive your fallen comrades, making this mode a bit more accessible to new players.
Realism Mode – Stripped for HUD. No mini-map, no hit-markers, no crosshairs. Increased damage. The mode for the hardcore crowd
NVG Mode – Play the nighttime version of maps with night-vision googles on. A claustrophobic and intense mode as aiming down your laser sights reveals your position to the enemy. Cool concept on paper, but it got old real fast with everything being dark or green. And the NVG really narrows down your field of view. I don’t see this becoming an extremely popular playlist based on those reasons, but I could be wrong.
BUT WAIT.. THERE’S MORE: GROUND WAR!
Ground War is a massive 64 player mode. Sure, it’s not the first time Call of Duty exceeds their normal player numbers. Last year, the franchise decided to jump on the Battle Royale bandwagon with the Blackout mode that supported 100 players in one lobby. So why is Ground War special? Ground War is a page ripped straight out of EA’s Battlefield playbook, it’s basically a really large Domination mode with all the vehicular craziness. Want to blow people up in the comfort of your own tank? Knock yourself out. Want to flank the enemy as quickly as possible? Jump on my ATV, buddy! Or maybe you just want to dominate from the highest spot on the map with the sniper rifle. No problem, get to the choppa and you can parachute down to the perfect spot.
If you can handle it, Ground War is the most action-filled multiplayer experience ever in the long history of Call of Duty. This will without a doubt draw in new fans to the franchise and possibly steal some from Battlefield since their latest iteration is really not doing so hot. Battlefield tried to steal COD fans with their Metro-type maps, and COD just returned fire, louder and more deadly. Your move EA/DICE…
FINAL THOUGHTS
I haven’t been this excited about Call of Duty since perhaps Modern Warfare 2 or Black Ops 1. The series has felt like a copy/paste job for so many years with the exception of Blackout. So far, 2019 Modern Warfare ticks so many boxes. It’s got cross-play, cross-progress between platforms, a new engine to show off, amazing sound effects and more realistic map design where the traditional three-lane design has been scrapped.
And let’s not forget about the gunsmith. There are so many attachments, all with their pros and cons. Gone is the pick-10 system, customize like crazy. Go nuts, make Xzibit proud. And as always there’s a lot of perks and killstreaks so you can create your own John Rambo. The beta was capped at level 30, so we didn’t get to try out everything. We’ll get back to all this with our review when we have the full version in our sweaty hands.
The elephant in the room during the start of the beta, however, was the mini-map, or the lack of one, to previse. Infinity Ward didn’t want us to blindly chase dots on the mini-map, so they replaced it with a compass on top of the screen instead. This was not well received by the community and could have been the start of the end for Modern Warfare. Luckily that didn’t happen because Infinity Ward listened to their fans and came up with a good compromise, mini-map was back but with a slight change that we all could live with. The mobs lowered their pitchforks, for now. But Infinity Ward’s work is far from finished.
There’s a lot of things that needs to be fixed and/or adjusted. Spawn logic on some maps somehow got worse during the beta, resulting in spawn trapping which is infuriating and unfair. Some people were caught glitching under the Ground War map, racking up enough kills acquire the game-winning nuclear missile illegitimately. Again, Infinity Ward has acknowledged these issues and will put the massive amounts of data collected in the beta to good use when squashing these bugs. These are just some examples of what was broken in the beta build.
Some bugs got fixed during the betas, so Infinity Ward definitely showed us that they did pay attention to the feedback on Reddit and YouTube and they took action. And that’s a good sign at least. 4/5 Heckler & Koch MP7’s.
Crash Team Racing (CTR) was a game changer for the original PlayStation back in ’99. Finally a karting game that could not only challenge the old, Italian plumber but beat him silly at his own game.
That ass-whupping was delivered by none other than Crash Bandicoot, Sony’s own mascot and their answer to Nintendo’s Mario and Sega’s Sonic. CTR was a fantastic game that entertained me and my friends for countless of hours back in the days with its addictive 4-player split-screen support. There were bruises and broken controllers, all part of the fun. Question is, how does the gameplay hold up 20-years later with Crash Team Racing: Nitro Fueled?
Felipe “The 3rd Deacon” Crespo @F7ovrdrv
Since Daniel remembers the O.G. series better than I do, I’ll let him handle all those comparisons and Adventure Mode. And I’m reviewing the Switch version as opposed to the game on PlayStation 4. But above all, we’ll both answer what you’re wondering: If I have Super Mario Kart, do I need this?
DANIEL: Yes. Beenox nailed this refuel by understanding and respecting what Naughty Dog achieved back in 1999. If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it: the distinct feel of the karts, the gratifying feel of executing perfect slide boosts around corners, the colorful and exciting tracks, the instant recognizable music, the teeth-grinding and punishing weapons in your arsenal. Everything that made CTR great is here and has not been tampered with. What has changed drastically though is the graphics and design.
As nostalgic as the original game makes me feel, I’m glad they didn’t just up the resolution and threw together a half-assed remaster for easy money-grabs. The updated graphics captures the CTR design perfectly throughout the whole game. I recognize the characters and tracks from the original, but with the current hardware they’ve managed to enrich the world of CTR even further for new and old fans to enjoy.
Winner gets a lifetime supply of Pop Tarts?? Whoopeeee!!
FELIPE: Yeah, D– I’d say Nitro Fueled is worth a purchase. First off, let’s be honest; Mario Kart is great, but gott-damn if those tires aren’t worn out. Hell, most of us know a lot of those tracks by heart. CTR is a breath of fresh air in the Kart racing genre where MK (no fatalities here) has reigned for a while. The graphics are colorful and vibrant, and the characters have tons of personality. It’s immensely satisfying to beat friends and celebrate at the podium with Crash’s “suck it” dance.
In case you’re wondering, CTR: Nitro Fueled has the same modes as before; Adventure Mode, Time Trial, Arcade, Versus, Battle etc. But since we’re not stuck in 99′, there’s online multiplayer too for those who don’t have four buddies available for split-screen when you feel the urge to own a son or two.
DANIEL: Yes, sir! In Adventure Mode, our hero Crash is on a mission to save the world from Nitros Oxide. You accomplish this by winning races against minibosses to collect keys that opens up new areas and tracks, which all leads up to the final race against the alien scumbag. Along the way you can now change characters and there’s a lot of customization items to unlock. And I was pleased to see that there’s no “surprise mechanics” aka loot boxes. No micro-transactions at all, just like in ’99.
FELIPE: Well thank the Kart racing gods for that. Fair warning, though. Don’t think that because you’ve mastered Mario Kart, you’re going to come to CTR and run laps around the competition (huzzah!). Even on medium, you’ll have a tough time adjusting as the relentless AI keeps snatching first. Also, the drift/boost mechanic just doesn’t feel as smooth as it should be.
Yeah, not cold. Not cold at all..
DANIEL: Fair points, but the new challenge is what separates this racer from its (sadly) more popular predecessor. In the end, I hope Nitro Fueled is the spark of more CTR games to come. 4.5/5 Ooga Boogas.
FELIPE: Yup. This remaster has lots to unlock, a fun multiplayer, and outstanding visuals and animations. Just watch the learning curve and brutal AI. 3.75/5 Bibles.
