One of my complaints about Phoenix Point is that the stealth is poorly integrated into the game. From my otherwise enthusiastic review:
Combat is very gamey and deterministic, but stealth is all under-the-hood voodoo. You never know whether an alien will see you or not. You can see a stealth number and a perception number, and you can affect these numbers in different ways. You know the interaction of these numbers determines whether someone is visible. But there’s no indication of how the numbers interact. It’s the worst kind of information: presented without any of the context you need to make decisions. There’s no way to make sure your sneaky assassin stays out of sight as he creeps around the map while everyone else is shooting. Stealth is obviously supposed to be a gameplay system in Phoenix Point, which has cloaking suits and noiseless weapons and varying levels of light to affect visibility. But in its current state, it is no such thing. It’s a locked black box, good for stubbing your toe and not much else.
Yet stealth is part of how gear is tuned, which in turn is part of how characters are developed and factions are balanced, both a fundamental element of gameplay progression. Will that change next week? From developer Snapshot Games’ latest blog entry about the May 25th update:
…understanding enemy awareness was important for players trying stealthy maneuvers, and we wanted to help players know when they might be in jeopardy. Enemy perception range is now visualized when hovering over a selected enemy, so you can see which of your soldiers may be at risk.
At least, my infiltrators might actually be able to infiltrate! The new Festering Skies DLC will also be available on May 25th. It adds more stuff for your interceptors to do and a giant alien ship that flies around terrorizing the globe.
John McClane and John Rambo are coming to Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War’s Warzone mode and they’re bringing special additions to the map. Yes, that’s Nakatomi Plaza in the screenshot above. According to Activision, while all 35 floors of the building’s interior may not be modeled, it will have a few floors accessible to players that they may recognize from Die Hard. In this video, you can clearly spot the lobby, office fountain area, and the rotating vault. Of course, the all-important helicopter landing pad rooftop will come into play. For my money, it’s just not Nakatomi without Argyle bopping in the limo.
The 80’s Action Heroes additions for Warzone begins on May 20th.
Between the three of us, we have at least three full playthroughs of the latest Resident Evil. Join us as we dance awkwardly around spoilers trying not to ruin the story for anyone.
Podcast (games): Play in new window | Download
Subscribe:
Remember that time when Resident Evil tried something new and different? Resident Evil 5 cast horror in a new light. Africa’s equatorial sun blew the usual cobwebs out of the series in favor of something different and even controversial. It finally played like the shooter it had been trying to be for so long. It even introduced an exciting new character. And that was back when representation was more a prerequisite for taxation than a cultural imperative. But what’s become of Sheva now? Why does Capcom keep going back to the white-bread familiarity of their Chrises and Jills? Why are they all-in on the tragedy of the faceless Ethan Winters, aptly named for being as bland as the driven snow, searching for his wife and/or daughter the same way he searches for green herbs, handgun rounds, and whatever arbitrary cog, key, or crank handle unlocks the next heavily scripted set piece? Mia, Rose, press X to Jason, all just meat for the refrigerator. The shadow of Silent Hill looms over so many games, yet so few of them understand what made it tick.
Since Resident Evil 5, the series has alternated between updated remixes that work well enough and new stories that have been various levels of awful. Maybe The Village can thread the needle between effective gameplay and a new setting, style, and characters.
Continue reading →
A new action movie from the guy who did Hardcore Henry? Sure! From a script by the guy who wrote John Wick? Of course! With Better Call Saul star Bob Odenkirk as an action hero? And it’s not even a comedy? How is that going to work?
Podcast (movies): Play in new window | Download
Subscribe:
Tom Chick is serving up woolly mammoth burgers, Mike Pollmann is gathering “resources”, and Hassan Lopez has moved beyond ghosts.
(We had to use a back-up recording, so apologies for the keyboard noise.)
Podcast (games): Play in new window | Download
Subscribe:
Tom Chick claims Hunipop is more Jane Austen than porn, Nick Diamon debuts his best dwarf voice, and Jason McMaster forces people to watch cutscenes they’d otherwise skip.
Podcast (games): Play in new window | Download
Subscribe:
We choose our picks for this years Oscars, but we don’t limit ourselves to the nominees. So many overlooked movies, so little time…
Podcast (movies): Play in new window | Download
Subscribe:
Microsoft has dropped the requirement for a service subscription to access online features of free-to-play games today. You can now fire up Fortnite or Korgan (pictured above) on an Xbox and only spend money on cosmetics, XP boosters, episodes, or loot boxes the way the publishers intended, rather than wasting your hard-earned cash on the basic ability to get the Xbox console online in the first place. (You’ll still have to pay someone for home internet access unless you’re sneaking onto your neighbor’s Wi-Fi, but that’s on you.) The full list of truly free-to-play games is here.
The announcement was first made in January when the company reversed a decision to increase the price of an annual Xbox Live Gold membership. Since then, Microsoft has de-emphasized the Xbox Live Gold plan in favor of the Xbox Game Pass Ultimate service that includes access to premium games like Outriders and MLB The Show 21.
The United States is officially a real civilization in Age of Empire 3: Definitive Edition. Microsoft, Tantalus Media, and Forgotten Empires just added the new faction to the game. Unlike some fan mods that tried to bring the USA into the game as a playable faction, this DLC doesn’t just port the single player campaign version over. In fact, the United States works quite differently from the other factions. As you level up through the ages during a game, the United States adds federal states that bring unique cards to a player’s deck, instead of choosing politicians and generals with explicit supply or unit bonuses. For example, choosing Virginia when you progress to the Commerce Age adds these two cards to your deck:
– Virginia General Assembly: Ships 1 State Capitol Wagon and makes the next upgrade researched at the State Capitol FREE (excluding Spies and Blockade).
– Culpeper Minutemen: Arrives fast! All existing Town Centers spawn 6 Minutemen. Minutemen retain their hit points 75% longer.
Since each state addition adds two more cards to the deck, the Home City of Washington D.C. starts with a smaller initial deck than other factions.
It’s a decent stab at solving the meta-game progression issue a lot of folks felt the Definitive Edition version had at launch. Because the original game’s requirement of unlocking cards via XP felt unfair for new players, the DE revamp just unlocked all the cards and only left cosmetic Home City bits as XP rewards. Unfortunately, this made the Home City progression about as exciting as watching a C-SPAN broadcast. The United States faction moves the card unlocking mechanic into the main gameplay.
Did you know there’s a game called Warzone that’s not a Call of Duty battle royale mode? It’s a turn-based strategy game available on mobile platforms and PC browsers that was developed largely by one person and launched in 2017, years before Call of Duty took the name. It’s a bit like Risk and it’s Randy Ficker’s baby that he started in 2011 as WarLight.
Randy Ficker wants Activision to stop using his game’s name, or pay him, so he sent Activision a cease and desist notice in 2020. Activision’s counter-complaint points out a dozen other mobile games that came out after Call of Duty: Warzone launched that they feel cannot be confused with their non-mobile game. Ficker says in his GoFundMe appeal that his game was first to market and he’s the one that’s been saddled with confused Call of Duty players horning in on his business.
“People tell me all about how their Xbox can’t connect, or how their PS4 got hacked, how they wish they could carry teammates, etc. My game isn’t even on Xbox or PS4. I send the same reply to each of them: ‘Warzone and Call of Duty: Warzone are different games. You should contact Activision.'”
War never changes.
Mike Pollmann gets to choose from sixteen different characters, Hassan Lopez will steal your friends off your own front lawn, and Tom Chick can’t tell a salmon from a trout.
Podcast (games): Play in new window | Download
Subscribe:
There’s an Easter Egg in Homefront: The Revolution that allows a player to access a couple from levels from TimeSplitters 2. It’s tucked away in an arcade cabinet on the top floor of a deserted apartment building in the semi-open world of Dambuster Studios’ 2016 game. (You can watch how to access it here.) What no one knew until a few days ago is that Homefront: The Revolution actually has the whole of TimeSplitters 2, including the multiplayer, buried in the code. Matt Phillips, who was senior programmer on Homefront: The Revolution, revealed the secret in a tweet reply to a call for game developers to discuss their proudest Easter Egg achievements.
“My proudest moment. Fully playable, native 4K port of TimeSplitters 2 hidden in this arcade machine in Homefront: The Revolution.”
PC Gamer verified that the tweet meant what it appears to mean. Phillips was talking about a full version of the game and not just the two levels accessible now. Unfortunately, they also found out that Phillips lost the cheat code to access the game-within-a-game, and the only other copy of the code was deleted on Discord. A tragedy! I imagine some eager hacker is already working on extracting the hidden game right now.
Jason McMaster kills things to make pants out of them and Tom Chick loses interest in world domination. And if you’re looking for a place to send your children to get an education, Chick Academy is accepting students!
Podcast (games): Play in new window | Download
Subscribe:
I don’t mean to belittle dumb movies. Some of my favorite movies are dumb. But Godzilla vs. Kong is steeped in a special kind of concentrated studio inanity. It stinks of dumb. It is the most profoundly stupid “vs.” movie since Batman vs. Superman. It’s not even worthy of Syfy’s Animal X vs. Animal Y movies, which can at least pretend they’re being deliberately campy. Godzilla vs. Kong is so profoundly dumb that it doesn’t even know it’s dumb.
Continue reading →
