5 Pros and Cons of Titanfall 2

All your mecha fantasies realised, at last.

Titanfall 2, where parkour and giant mechs come together at last, is straight up fun. It’s not perfect, by any means, but it’s the first game in months that has me daydreaming about the next time I can fire it up. The addiction is too real for me.

But the more I play Titanfall 2, the more I realise that it isn’t for everyone. And while I may be shooting myself in the foot (because I really, really want more people to join this game), I think it’s only fair that I share the bad points of Titanfall 2 along with the good. (But seriously, if you feel the good points outweigh the bad for you, get this game stat.)

Without further ado:

Battlefield 1 – A Farewell to Dubstep

EN GARDE BITCHES

Battlefield 1 takes on an entirely different theme compared to the previous couple of titles, but it’s still business as usual under the hood.

The Steam Link: From Computer To Couch

Valve’s war for the living room continues. From Big Picture to the Steam Controller, it’s clear that they really want you to stay on Steam and away from those filthy, nasty consoles.

Available now is yet another tool in their arsenal: the Steam Link. It’s designed to take advantage of Steam’s In-Home Streaming function, leveraging the power of your PC and displaying the output in your living room through a dedicated device…all for the affordable price of half a Benjamin.

Worth? Let’s find out.

Thanks To Brutal Doom, I Finally Beat Doom 2

There is no God (mode).

If you’re a law enforcement officer, don’t arrest me or anything, because I totally played Doom when I was a kid.

Yep, that’s right. I was under legal age, and I totally prowled those pixellated hallways, wasting undead soldiers with a pump-action shotgun. And look at me now! Functioning in society and everything!

But honestly, the real problem with playing Doom as a kid is that the game can get pretty fucking tough.

Rocket League – See You In Church

GOOOOOOAAAAAA-

Forgive me, Father, for I have sinned.

For the longest time, I was on the fence about Rocket League. I saw some matches streamed on Twitch and it looked interesting enough, but I couldn’t fathom the concept in my head. What’s so great about soccer with cars?

Well, let’s just say I have seen the light.

The Revenant (without the bear)

Well, I’m back.

I stopped writing because, in all honesty, I simply grew tired of the industry. The endless outrage, the weird gender politics…it was bewildering at the time, not to mention depressing. Games were meant to be my escape from these kinds of heavy topics, not repurposed as someone’s twisted political platform.

I eventually grew jaded and cynical at all the manufactured “controversy”, and stepped away from it all. It was only after finishing the main quest line of The Witcher 3 and just taking my time with my backlog that I began to realise that all the background noise is just that. I’m happy to tune it out.

So, I’m pretty much out of the loop. I used to scour my gaming news feeds on a regular basis, and now I can’t even remember the last time I logged in to Feedly. I’m now several months behind in terms of releases (and, of course, my backlog has only increased in size since then) but I’m still really excited about the future, particularly with VR.

I’m not sure what I’ll be covering. I wish I could travel more and find more interesting gaming-related culture bits in the same vein as Pete’s Room. Hopefully an opportunity will present itself.

This game supports more than two players

I had time to cool off after my last post, because I wanted to provide some kind of fair and balanced view on the whole ‘Social Justice Warrior vs. Men’s Rights Activism’ conflict going on that has somehow spilled over into the gaming sphere.

I was musing on this for a few days, trying to express my thoughts clearly, and failing.

TotalBiscuit beat me to it with an excellent blog post.

It’s really, really long, but it’s a read with so much value and meaning packed in there. However, if you are already firmly entrenched on one side or the other, then you won’t find any value it in. You’ll see it as non-committal, fence-sitting tripe, because in your minds you’re already thinking, “Well, if you’re not with us, then you’re against us. If you’re not a social justice warrior / men’s rights activist, then you’re a fucking entitled-cishet-prick / psychotic-otherkin-tumblrjockey”.

That’s fine. Stand for your beliefs. Engage the enemy. Fight your holy war. I’m staying the fuck away from it, and from you.

For everyone else that wants to make sense of it all, this post may help you.

By any other name: the integrity of ‘games journalism’

Journalism at its finest.

People have gotten it into their heads that, somehow, somehow,  Zoe Quinn’s sordid tale has ripped the covers off the supposed sanctity of games journalism. She slept with all these games media fellows, so…did she exchange sex for favours or something? Is she is encouraging other websites to censor articles on the subject? And hell, why are video games websites showering us with all these social justice articles, anyway? Who’s agenda are we dancing to? Who can we trust now?

I don’t see the big deal at all, because in my mind ‘games journalism’ was never a thing.

Dust: An Elysian Tail [5 Minute Review]

Anyone who can kill things with a hat pulled over his eyes is tops in my book.

Dust: An Elysian Tail is full of surprises. The graphics, presentation, voice acting and art style are fantastic for indie fare. The gameplay, with its simple collection of combo strings, Metroidvania approach and mild RPG elements, is oddly addictive and compels you to see the game through to completion. What’s most surprising of all, however, is the whole game was designed and programmed by one guy. Not a bad effort at all.

I Hate That I Love You – Battlefield 4

Getting there, one step at a time.

An orange-red triangle lights up on my minimap; someone has spotted an enemy near me, and they’re headed my way. I change tack and ready my PDW, weapon trained on the corner. Sure enough, the enemy comes into view, and I open up on them. Bullets spray forth, but my hit marker only flashes sporadically. He just keeps on walking, unfazed by my attack. Frustrated, I switch to my sidearm, but he suddenly wakes from his stupor, bringing his Type 88 to bear and perforating me with a handful of rounds. I die in a heartbeat. The screen fades to grey and highlights my killer: an AA vehicle, sitting at the edge of the map, firing blindly into the sky.

I sigh, feeling my jaw tense, and wait to respawn.