A cute little time management game wrapped in a Farmville shell is what My Hospital is like. Running a hospital doesn’t seem like much fun when you think about it, but it’s bright and cartoony graphics make this game enjoyable.
You play as the head of a small hospital, tasked with healing sick patients, adding doctors and expanding your facilities. You place doctors in your hospital that have different specialties like appetite, skin and tummy doctors. Each doctor needs specific elixirs or syrups to cure their patients. Creation of these happen in your lab. You use the elixir and syrup mixers to make the raw materials, then drag and drop them over the test tube makers. You will have to wait a little while before you can claim your finished product or use gems to speed up the process. Think of it like planting wheat or corn in Farmville, then harvesting.
There is a Facebook login option, so if your friends are playing you can visit their hospitals and see what it looks like. There are also novelty items to dress up your place, like plants, vending machines, and chairs. Don’t let the hospital theme discourage you from this game. It’s cute look and feel make it enjoyable to play. And if you are familiar with Farmville style games, you will pick this up quickly. My Hospital is available for free to download and play.Trailer at the bottom!
BUILD YOUR HOSPITAL -Construct and manage your own hospital. Build doctor’s offices, diagnostic rooms, the treatment centre and laboratories. Expand and upgrade your hospital and share it with friends!
CREATE UNIQUE CURES - Farm and harvest plants with healing properties, produce dozens of elixirs, and blend syrups to treat more than 80 funny diseases. Whether it’s a chilli throat condition, frozen hands or slimey lungs, you’ll be sure to find the cure! Unlock new remedies, treatment rooms and new conditions with every level and complete fun challenges!
DECORATE YOUR HOSPITAL - Customize each area of your health center to make your patients feel at home. You have tons of decorations to choose from and when you finally manage to make it look as pretty as a picture, show it off in front of your friends!
PLAY WITH FRIENDS - Connect with your Facebook account to access your friends’ Hospitals around the world. Buy, sell cures and compete with other Hospital managers. Tell them about your achievements via Google Play Games and Facebook.
Chủ Nhật, 12 tháng 2, 2017
Thứ Tư, 16 tháng 11, 2016
Tyranny Review
Being evil is not a new concept to role-playing games, but Tyranny takes playing the bad guy further than I’ve ever seen before. While I’ve sided with demons, robbed innocents, and even slaughtered many a bystander just because I felt like it in other RPGs, the nasty stuff is taken to another level in Obsidian Entertainment’s latest opus. How wicked is it? Well, at one point I was encouraged to murder an infant by the tyke’s own grandfather, no less. At another, I was given the option of tossing a captive off a tower to deliver a message to friends far below. I even got to listen to a soldier ally tell me how much his parents would be proud of him if they could see him now... right after he recounted how he had to murder them both to achieve his present position.
Such atrocities would qualify Tyranny as one of the most disconcerting games of the year all on their own. But what really sets this game apart from the crowd is that you play more of a cog in a machine instead of the usual capital-V villain. The old Hannah Arendt phrase about the Nazi banality of evil ran through my mind constantly as I played through the campaign, doing my bloody duty over and over again to prop up a conquering empire. Yet even though I found all of this deeply unsettling, the mature and realistic handling of the dark side of humanity drew me into what has to be one of the most thought-provoking games that I’ve played in ages. The game makes it all too easy to relate to evil acts, as the typically bleak circumstances depicted herein frequently make atrocities seem necessary. You’re often killing to expand the locked-down order of your empire and avoid more bloodletting and chaos, so even the most heinous actions somehow come off like justice being served. It’s only when you look back at what you’ve done that you realize how monstrous you’ve become in service to the idea of, well, a tyranny. Add in stellar roleplaying depth, constant opportunities to make decisions that affect the entire game world, and brilliant tactical combat mechanics, and you’ve got one of the best RPGs of this--or any other--year.
The setting is the fantasy realm of Terratus, which has been wracked by war for centuries due to the ambitions of the monstrous Overlord Kyros. This enigmatic immortal never actually appears in the game, but she (or he, as nobody even knows if the tyrant is female or male) looms over everything as kind of a cruel god that has steadily conquered the entire world. As befits the game’s malicious leanings, you take on the role of one of Kyros’ top servants, a freelance judge and executioner called a Fatebinder. First up on your docket is looking into the brewing civil war between factions in the Overlord’s squabbling army, a dispute causing problems in the effort to subjugate the last free refuge on the map. Kyros has grown so tired of the delays that she fires off a spell that places the entire region under a curse that will kill everyone in the area if the enemy citadel isn’t captured within a week.
Heavy story development gives even more weight to everything that you do. Politics are paramount, and fear is the one constant motivator. Kyros’ chief lieutenants are demigod-like figures called Archons who wield incredible power within their own spheres of influence--and are, of course, constantly jockeying for position with the boss. You directly serve the Archon of Justice, Tunon the Adjudicator, but are also heavily involved with two others. Graven Ashe leads the military fanatics in the Disfavored, while The Voices of Nerat command a psychotic gang of rapists and murderers called The Scarlet Chorus. Most of Tyranny sees you bouncing between these two sides, choosing whether or not to align yourself with one or the other depending upon the circumstance and personal choice.
And there are a lot of choices to make. Tyranny is loaded with meaningful dialogue, and the options you select have an immediate impact on the people, factions, and even the land around you. Everything is so responsive that the game feels like a Choose Your Own Adventure novel. The game actually begins exactly like one of those books--you decide on courses of action in the prologue that can be used to set up the world differently for each campaign. Whatever you decide to do and say during this opening makes a huge difference. At one point, you select between burning a magical library to the ground with no warning to the inhabitants or giving them advance notice of the coming arson so that they can flee. Choose the latter option, as I did, and the those inside are nicer and even compliment you for your mercy when you show up there later in the game.
Choices carry even more weight once the proper story gets underway. I don’t think I’ve ever played an RPG packed with so many personal choices, most of which can be seen to dramatically change the world at large. Just about every other comment you make causes a reaction. Be too harsh with a party member, and that will increase his or her fear of you. Play the nice guy, and you build up loyalty. Act the same way when it comes to a faction, and you engender loyalty or wrath. Too much of either approach with the Disfavored and the Scarlet Chorus, and you’ll inevitably form an alliance with one and develop enmity with the other.
Most of your choices also have a moral dimension to them that rarely involve black-and-white situations. While you can act like a serial killer and slaughter people for kicks, most of the time you’re stuck right in the middle of that good old banality of evil. Decisions pop up out of nowhere all the time. You run across criminals being escorted to an execution and are asked to make a ruling on their fate. You have to make hard calls about how to best reach quest goals, solve dilemmas that often come down to deciding if you should take the easy route and kill people or look for more creative solutions. Not much here is clear cut. The game includes few (if any) good guys, so sometimes murder is the more sensible option to keep the peace and leave fewer problems for yourself down the road (yes, the game is a downer; heck, even the soundtrack is pretty much one long moan). These ethical predicaments don’t exactly add up to Nietzsche, but they still made me think a lot more than I would during a typical RPG.
This is a unique experience that makes you think about human nature, morality, and what role mercy and compassion should (or even could) play in a centuries-old war.
Which side you lean toward has a big influence on how your campaign plays out. I wound up siding with the Disfavored choosing the Lawful Evil path of these medieval fascists instead of the crazed Chaotic Evil of the rampaging Blood Chorus. I enjoyed this alliance, although it left me wondering what my game would have been like if I’d given in to bloodlust. As a result, I was constantly planning out what I would do in my next playthrough, which bodes well for replay value. It would probably take a good two or three plays to even come close to seeing everything the game has to offer.
Tyranny is a spiritual successor to Obsidian’s last RPG effort, 2015’s Pillars of Eternity, and this game uses the same general engine and interface. As expected, it’s loaded with role-playing depth (as well as gorgeous spell effects and detailed background art). Characters are not bound to set D&D-style classes. Instead, you freeform it by boosting core abilities every time you level up and select options from extensive skill trees that cover all manner of specialties from might to magic. An innovative (if fussy) rune system governs how you research and learn spells. Many of these incantations are a bit out of the ordinary--and a bit sadistic. Fire magic causes inflamed foes to scream horribly for mercy, and other spells like the ability to place a water bubble on the head of a victim, drowning him in the open air, perfectly match the ghastly nature of the overall game.
Combat is equally captivating, although it always takes a backseat to the storytelling. This is a long way from a hack-and-slasher, but the traditional Baldur’s Gate-style tactical approach used here relies on a pausable real-time engine to provide tense battles. Tyranny doesn’t include the ludicrous mob scenes that hampered and dragged out Pillars of Eternity, either. Most scraps are short, nasty affairs with no more than a handful of baddies. Thinking strategically is often a necessity in these fights, although the party AI is so good (especially when it comes to spellcasters) that you don’t need to micromanage too often. I actually left the AI on a lot of the time to help me sail through most battles. The difficulty is also nearly perfectly balanced on the default setting, with battles steadily scaling up until you hit the challenging boss fights at the end of the game.
Some aspects of the game feel overly convoluted or unnecessary. Every NPC seems to come with about 10 minutes worth of dialogue, much of which serves little purpose aside from adding color to the game world. Three different values of currency are used here, for no apparent reason. Most items have been given such a wide range of stats that it’s difficult to compare them on the fly. I’m all for +2 swords and the like, but not bronze swords accompanied by a half-dozen numbers rating their damage per second, parry and accuracy ratings, recovery time, and so forth. Some frills are barely used. I didn’t understand the point of the missives section where you could send off letters seeking advice from other Fatebinders. Being able to conquer and set up magical spires as bases of operation with special buildings to research spells, make weapons, and train characters, also didn’t seem all that necessary. I took them over pretty easily, but then only used them afterward when the plot demanded it.
Tyranny also isn’t quite as wide open as you might expect. The game is brief in comparison with many other traditional RPGs. I got through the campaign in under 25 hours, despite taking a lot of time to read through dialogue and complete most of the side quests. Such brevity is good in some ways, allowing for a tight focus on the story and linear maps that get right to the point. But the story ends too soon and too abruptly, stranding you without a fulfilling climax. Just when you think you’re gearing up for a final showdown, the game simply stops and presents you with clips recounting what you did during your adventure and letting you know what the future holds for both the realm and your companions. It feels like the game was chopped in half at the last minute, so you can probably expect DLC or a full sequel to arrive in short order.
Evil may be banal, but Tyranny is not. While I have some personal misgivings over how much I enjoyed such a twisted, unscrupulous game, this is a unique experience that makes you think about human nature, morality, and what role mercy and compassion should (or even could) play in a centuries-old war. It reaches beyond the standard heroic fantasy RPG where you slay monsters and save the kingdom, inverting that familiar story and setting and creating something utterly different--and somewhat depressingly realistic.
Such atrocities would qualify Tyranny as one of the most disconcerting games of the year all on their own. But what really sets this game apart from the crowd is that you play more of a cog in a machine instead of the usual capital-V villain. The old Hannah Arendt phrase about the Nazi banality of evil ran through my mind constantly as I played through the campaign, doing my bloody duty over and over again to prop up a conquering empire. Yet even though I found all of this deeply unsettling, the mature and realistic handling of the dark side of humanity drew me into what has to be one of the most thought-provoking games that I’ve played in ages. The game makes it all too easy to relate to evil acts, as the typically bleak circumstances depicted herein frequently make atrocities seem necessary. You’re often killing to expand the locked-down order of your empire and avoid more bloodletting and chaos, so even the most heinous actions somehow come off like justice being served. It’s only when you look back at what you’ve done that you realize how monstrous you’ve become in service to the idea of, well, a tyranny. Add in stellar roleplaying depth, constant opportunities to make decisions that affect the entire game world, and brilliant tactical combat mechanics, and you’ve got one of the best RPGs of this--or any other--year.
The setting is the fantasy realm of Terratus, which has been wracked by war for centuries due to the ambitions of the monstrous Overlord Kyros. This enigmatic immortal never actually appears in the game, but she (or he, as nobody even knows if the tyrant is female or male) looms over everything as kind of a cruel god that has steadily conquered the entire world. As befits the game’s malicious leanings, you take on the role of one of Kyros’ top servants, a freelance judge and executioner called a Fatebinder. First up on your docket is looking into the brewing civil war between factions in the Overlord’s squabbling army, a dispute causing problems in the effort to subjugate the last free refuge on the map. Kyros has grown so tired of the delays that she fires off a spell that places the entire region under a curse that will kill everyone in the area if the enemy citadel isn’t captured within a week.
Heavy story development gives even more weight to everything that you do. Politics are paramount, and fear is the one constant motivator. Kyros’ chief lieutenants are demigod-like figures called Archons who wield incredible power within their own spheres of influence--and are, of course, constantly jockeying for position with the boss. You directly serve the Archon of Justice, Tunon the Adjudicator, but are also heavily involved with two others. Graven Ashe leads the military fanatics in the Disfavored, while The Voices of Nerat command a psychotic gang of rapists and murderers called The Scarlet Chorus. Most of Tyranny sees you bouncing between these two sides, choosing whether or not to align yourself with one or the other depending upon the circumstance and personal choice.
And there are a lot of choices to make. Tyranny is loaded with meaningful dialogue, and the options you select have an immediate impact on the people, factions, and even the land around you. Everything is so responsive that the game feels like a Choose Your Own Adventure novel. The game actually begins exactly like one of those books--you decide on courses of action in the prologue that can be used to set up the world differently for each campaign. Whatever you decide to do and say during this opening makes a huge difference. At one point, you select between burning a magical library to the ground with no warning to the inhabitants or giving them advance notice of the coming arson so that they can flee. Choose the latter option, as I did, and the those inside are nicer and even compliment you for your mercy when you show up there later in the game.
Choices carry even more weight once the proper story gets underway. I don’t think I’ve ever played an RPG packed with so many personal choices, most of which can be seen to dramatically change the world at large. Just about every other comment you make causes a reaction. Be too harsh with a party member, and that will increase his or her fear of you. Play the nice guy, and you build up loyalty. Act the same way when it comes to a faction, and you engender loyalty or wrath. Too much of either approach with the Disfavored and the Scarlet Chorus, and you’ll inevitably form an alliance with one and develop enmity with the other.
Most of your choices also have a moral dimension to them that rarely involve black-and-white situations. While you can act like a serial killer and slaughter people for kicks, most of the time you’re stuck right in the middle of that good old banality of evil. Decisions pop up out of nowhere all the time. You run across criminals being escorted to an execution and are asked to make a ruling on their fate. You have to make hard calls about how to best reach quest goals, solve dilemmas that often come down to deciding if you should take the easy route and kill people or look for more creative solutions. Not much here is clear cut. The game includes few (if any) good guys, so sometimes murder is the more sensible option to keep the peace and leave fewer problems for yourself down the road (yes, the game is a downer; heck, even the soundtrack is pretty much one long moan). These ethical predicaments don’t exactly add up to Nietzsche, but they still made me think a lot more than I would during a typical RPG.
This is a unique experience that makes you think about human nature, morality, and what role mercy and compassion should (or even could) play in a centuries-old war.
Which side you lean toward has a big influence on how your campaign plays out. I wound up siding with the Disfavored choosing the Lawful Evil path of these medieval fascists instead of the crazed Chaotic Evil of the rampaging Blood Chorus. I enjoyed this alliance, although it left me wondering what my game would have been like if I’d given in to bloodlust. As a result, I was constantly planning out what I would do in my next playthrough, which bodes well for replay value. It would probably take a good two or three plays to even come close to seeing everything the game has to offer.
Tyranny is a spiritual successor to Obsidian’s last RPG effort, 2015’s Pillars of Eternity, and this game uses the same general engine and interface. As expected, it’s loaded with role-playing depth (as well as gorgeous spell effects and detailed background art). Characters are not bound to set D&D-style classes. Instead, you freeform it by boosting core abilities every time you level up and select options from extensive skill trees that cover all manner of specialties from might to magic. An innovative (if fussy) rune system governs how you research and learn spells. Many of these incantations are a bit out of the ordinary--and a bit sadistic. Fire magic causes inflamed foes to scream horribly for mercy, and other spells like the ability to place a water bubble on the head of a victim, drowning him in the open air, perfectly match the ghastly nature of the overall game.
Combat is equally captivating, although it always takes a backseat to the storytelling. This is a long way from a hack-and-slasher, but the traditional Baldur’s Gate-style tactical approach used here relies on a pausable real-time engine to provide tense battles. Tyranny doesn’t include the ludicrous mob scenes that hampered and dragged out Pillars of Eternity, either. Most scraps are short, nasty affairs with no more than a handful of baddies. Thinking strategically is often a necessity in these fights, although the party AI is so good (especially when it comes to spellcasters) that you don’t need to micromanage too often. I actually left the AI on a lot of the time to help me sail through most battles. The difficulty is also nearly perfectly balanced on the default setting, with battles steadily scaling up until you hit the challenging boss fights at the end of the game.
Some aspects of the game feel overly convoluted or unnecessary. Every NPC seems to come with about 10 minutes worth of dialogue, much of which serves little purpose aside from adding color to the game world. Three different values of currency are used here, for no apparent reason. Most items have been given such a wide range of stats that it’s difficult to compare them on the fly. I’m all for +2 swords and the like, but not bronze swords accompanied by a half-dozen numbers rating their damage per second, parry and accuracy ratings, recovery time, and so forth. Some frills are barely used. I didn’t understand the point of the missives section where you could send off letters seeking advice from other Fatebinders. Being able to conquer and set up magical spires as bases of operation with special buildings to research spells, make weapons, and train characters, also didn’t seem all that necessary. I took them over pretty easily, but then only used them afterward when the plot demanded it.
Tyranny also isn’t quite as wide open as you might expect. The game is brief in comparison with many other traditional RPGs. I got through the campaign in under 25 hours, despite taking a lot of time to read through dialogue and complete most of the side quests. Such brevity is good in some ways, allowing for a tight focus on the story and linear maps that get right to the point. But the story ends too soon and too abruptly, stranding you without a fulfilling climax. Just when you think you’re gearing up for a final showdown, the game simply stops and presents you with clips recounting what you did during your adventure and letting you know what the future holds for both the realm and your companions. It feels like the game was chopped in half at the last minute, so you can probably expect DLC or a full sequel to arrive in short order.
Evil may be banal, but Tyranny is not. While I have some personal misgivings over how much I enjoyed such a twisted, unscrupulous game, this is a unique experience that makes you think about human nature, morality, and what role mercy and compassion should (or even could) play in a centuries-old war. It reaches beyond the standard heroic fantasy RPG where you slay monsters and save the kingdom, inverting that familiar story and setting and creating something utterly different--and somewhat depressingly realistic.
Funcom's Conan Exiles Will Hit Eary Access In January
Players will soon be able to get their hands on Funcom's new open world survival game set in the Conan universe, Conan Exiles. In just under three months, the game will hit early access on Steam and players will be able to delve into the world of the famous barbarian.
The game will be available in 11 languages to start, “We want to make sure the game is available to as many people as possible from the very start of Early Access,” says Funcom CEO Rui Casais. “Releasing a game into Early Access means building a community of players around it that helps us as developers realize the full potential of the game. The more people we can include in that process, the better it will be for the game and for the players.”
Funcom also announced that they have partnered with Nvidia to implement their cutting-edge Ansel technology which will let players take breathtaking 360 degree screenshots of the game. These screenshots can even be viewed in VR with devices such as Vive, Oculus Rift, and mobile VR.
On describing what Conan Exiles is all about Funcom stated "Conan Exiles is an open-world survival game set in the brutal lands of Conan the Barbarian, the world's greatest fantasy hero. The game can be played on private and public servers, either in multiplayer or local single-player. Journey through a vast, seamless world filled with the ruins of ancient civilizations and uncover its dark history and buried secrets as you seek to conquer and dominate the exiled lands yourself..."
Funcom continued "You start with nothing but your bare hands and forge the legacy of your clan, from simple tools and weapons to gigantic fortresses and entire cities. Enslave the bandits of the exiled lands to do your bidding by breaking them on the grueling Wheel of Pain. Sacrifice the beating hearts of your enemies on the blood-soiled altars of your god to seize true power and glory. Summon the colossal avatar of your god and see them lay waste to your enemies and their homes." The game should be hitting early access in January of 2017.
Source : tri peaks
Thứ Ba, 1 tháng 11, 2016
EA Responds to Criticism of Titanfall 2 Releasing So Closely to Battlefield 1
Both games "fulfill very different motivations in what a player is looking for," EA CEO Andrew Wilson says.
Titanfall 2 released this past Friday, October 28, and received much praise from critics. Despite the glowing reviews, analysts believe the shooter's sales will be "substantially disappointing" because of it releasing a week after Battlefield 1 and a week before Call of Duty: Infinite Warfare.
In today's earnings call, EA CEO Andrew Wilson was asked if he'd do things differently in the future and refrain from releasing future shooters so closely to each other. Wilson said that while Battlefield 1 and Titanfall 2 "have some overlap," they "fulfill very different motivations in what a player is looking for."
"We think there's really three types of players," Wilson said. "People that really love Battlefield and that kind of big strategic gameplay that will orient in that direction; the player that loves the fast, fluid, kinetic gameplay of Titanfall 2 that really orient in that direction; and the player that just has to play the two greatest shooters this year and will buy both.
"And again, we're very very excited about the quality in both titles," he continued. "We believe they both will have a long sale cycle, both this quarter through the festive season and deep into the years to come.
"And so as we think about the long game on this, we couldn't be in a better position for what we think is delivering great games to a very, very big player base."
Wilson also noted that Titanfall 2's plan to provide free DLC maps and modes "is receiving really positive feedback." EA CFO Blake Jorgensen said that the publisher plans to work with developer Respawn Entertainment on building the Titanfall franchise "for many, many years to come," noting there's "huge opportunity" to continue expanding it.
"Part of the strategy of building a franchise is you have a long view," Jorgensen explained. "You think about the business differently than you might an existing franchise like a FIFA or a Madden. What that means is we're looking for ways to not fragment the player base early, but to include [as many players] as we can to continue to build that franchise. We think that's the right strategy for a product like Titanfall."
Titanfall 2 received a score of 9/10 in GameSpot's review. Critic Mike Mahardy concluded, "In many ways, Titanfall 2 feels like the game Respawn should have made in 2013. It's a fantastic sequel. It's a fluid shooter. It's a spectacular game."
Source : http://webofsolitaire.com
Thứ Hai, 24 tháng 10, 2016
Terminal velocity.
Titanfall 2 is a game about momentum. It knows when to rush forward at a breakneck pace. It knows when to give us time to breathe. Both in its single player campaign and its multiplayer modes, Titanfall 2 has a more measured pace than its predecessor, making the build-up to its climactic battles just as enticing as the events themselves. It's every bit as kinetic and fluid as the first Titanfall--but in many respects, it's a much better shooter.
As with the first game from Respawn Entertainment, Titanfall 2 revolves around two layers of combat: conventional firefights between human combatants, and clashes between massive bipedal mechs. As a boots-on-the-ground pilot, Titanfall 2 feels more like a traditional shooter--albeit one with pristine controls and a fluid traversal system. The first Titanfall sparked the trend of shooters focused on movement, and with its sequel, the series reestablishes its place at the head of the pack. The loop of sliding, double jumping, vaulting a ledge, and running along a wall to flank an enemy feels invigorating and intuitive.
Then it comes time to call in your mechanical ally from orbit, and everything changes when it hits the ground. Because it's when these two layers engage in a tug-of-war that Titanfall 2 reveals its true brilliance. What was once an even fight becomes a David versus Goliath scenario: a pilot rushes to cover, fires off a rocket, glides along a nearby wall, avoids a missile salvo from her robotic opponent, activates her cloaking device, and enters a nearby ravine to order a Titan of her own.
This sequence is intense, but in Titanfall 2, it's commonplace. Momentum often shifts as one team gains control of the battlefield, only to lose ground when the other notices a weak spot, and attacks it.
This is crucial in Titanfall 2. Now more than ever, combat requires forethought and intelligence. Humans may be careening across the map with grapple hooks, while phase-warping ninja mechs cut through laser-powered robot warriors--but beneath all of this is a hidden nuance. Despite the bombast and spectacle, Titanfall 2 is a thinking person's shooter.
The sequel's new Titans embody this sentiment. In place of the basic light, medium, and heavy variants from the first game, Titanfall 2 employs six distinct walking battle tanks with arsenals of their own. They're almost like superheroes: one attacks with a thermite launcher and flame attacks, while another fires a chest-mounted laser cannon at unlucky opponents.
Each of the Titans' abilities are easy to learn, but difficult to master, as the saying goes. Their loadouts immediately make sense, and it's easy to see that Northstar's low armor and long-range railgun make her an ideal sniper--but new layers reveal themselves the more you play. Take Scorch, for example. His flame shield dissolves incoming projectiles, providing extra protection while he tries to back away from close-quarter engagements. But the flame shield has other uses: at one point, an enemy pilot came flying at me on a grappling hook. By igniting my fiery barrier, I melted him just as he came close to my cockpit.
Learning the intricacies of each Titan is paramount not just for offense, but defense, too. Each mech has a distinct aesthetic, so as you round a corner and see a Ronin approaching you, you know to put distance between your Titan and the shotgun-toting enemy. There are elements of fighting games or MOBAs here--each Titan has a tell, and you only have a few brief moments to counter it to your advantage.
The new Titans lend a very different pace to multiplayer matches. While the first Titanfall was always turned up to 11, so to speak, with smaller maps and cookie-cutter Titans focused on dealing damage, Titanfall 2 understands the value of breathing room. It doesn't burn you out with an onslaught of firefights--its maps are focused on exterior environments, and are often on the larger side, giving you time to plan out your attack with the intricate Titan loadouts. The plan may go awry, but it lends more weight to each enemy encounter. There's a sense of build-up as you approach a capture point, knowing full well which Titans occupy the area, and thinking through each step in your head.
Each multiplayer mode is tailored to facilitate Titanfall 2's interwoven combat systems, but also to twist the formula in creative ways. Bounty Hunt is my favorite--you gain currency by killing the enemy team and AI grunts that litter the map, and at the end of each wave, you're given the option to deposit your loot in one of several banks. But here's the wrinkle: you have to leave your Titan in order to do so. What's more, clever players will camp near banks to pick off unsuspecting Pilots as they approach their goal. It's a frantic game of cat and mouse that increases in tension as the banks open and each team knows exactly what the other is doing, or trying to do.
As with the first game from Respawn Entertainment, Titanfall 2 revolves around two layers of combat: conventional firefights between human combatants, and clashes between massive bipedal mechs. As a boots-on-the-ground pilot, Titanfall 2 feels more like a traditional shooter--albeit one with pristine controls and a fluid traversal system. The first Titanfall sparked the trend of shooters focused on movement, and with its sequel, the series reestablishes its place at the head of the pack. The loop of sliding, double jumping, vaulting a ledge, and running along a wall to flank an enemy feels invigorating and intuitive.
Then it comes time to call in your mechanical ally from orbit, and everything changes when it hits the ground. Because it's when these two layers engage in a tug-of-war that Titanfall 2 reveals its true brilliance. What was once an even fight becomes a David versus Goliath scenario: a pilot rushes to cover, fires off a rocket, glides along a nearby wall, avoids a missile salvo from her robotic opponent, activates her cloaking device, and enters a nearby ravine to order a Titan of her own.
This sequence is intense, but in Titanfall 2, it's commonplace. Momentum often shifts as one team gains control of the battlefield, only to lose ground when the other notices a weak spot, and attacks it.
This is crucial in Titanfall 2. Now more than ever, combat requires forethought and intelligence. Humans may be careening across the map with grapple hooks, while phase-warping ninja mechs cut through laser-powered robot warriors--but beneath all of this is a hidden nuance. Despite the bombast and spectacle, Titanfall 2 is a thinking person's shooter.
The sequel's new Titans embody this sentiment. In place of the basic light, medium, and heavy variants from the first game, Titanfall 2 employs six distinct walking battle tanks with arsenals of their own. They're almost like superheroes: one attacks with a thermite launcher and flame attacks, while another fires a chest-mounted laser cannon at unlucky opponents.
Each of the Titans' abilities are easy to learn, but difficult to master, as the saying goes. Their loadouts immediately make sense, and it's easy to see that Northstar's low armor and long-range railgun make her an ideal sniper--but new layers reveal themselves the more you play. Take Scorch, for example. His flame shield dissolves incoming projectiles, providing extra protection while he tries to back away from close-quarter engagements. But the flame shield has other uses: at one point, an enemy pilot came flying at me on a grappling hook. By igniting my fiery barrier, I melted him just as he came close to my cockpit.
Learning the intricacies of each Titan is paramount not just for offense, but defense, too. Each mech has a distinct aesthetic, so as you round a corner and see a Ronin approaching you, you know to put distance between your Titan and the shotgun-toting enemy. There are elements of fighting games or MOBAs here--each Titan has a tell, and you only have a few brief moments to counter it to your advantage.
The new Titans lend a very different pace to multiplayer matches. While the first Titanfall was always turned up to 11, so to speak, with smaller maps and cookie-cutter Titans focused on dealing damage, Titanfall 2 understands the value of breathing room. It doesn't burn you out with an onslaught of firefights--its maps are focused on exterior environments, and are often on the larger side, giving you time to plan out your attack with the intricate Titan loadouts. The plan may go awry, but it lends more weight to each enemy encounter. There's a sense of build-up as you approach a capture point, knowing full well which Titans occupy the area, and thinking through each step in your head.
Each multiplayer mode is tailored to facilitate Titanfall 2's interwoven combat systems, but also to twist the formula in creative ways. Bounty Hunt is my favorite--you gain currency by killing the enemy team and AI grunts that litter the map, and at the end of each wave, you're given the option to deposit your loot in one of several banks. But here's the wrinkle: you have to leave your Titan in order to do so. What's more, clever players will camp near banks to pick off unsuspecting Pilots as they approach their goal. It's a frantic game of cat and mouse that increases in tension as the banks open and each team knows exactly what the other is doing, or trying to do.
Thứ Tư, 19 tháng 10, 2016
Dishonored Dev's The Crossing, Put on Hold in 2009, Gets a New Trademark Filing
This doesn't mean an announcement is coming soon, if ever.
Before Arkane Studios made Dishonored, the team worked on a first-person shooter called The Crossing. The game would have merged single- and multiplayer into what it called "cross-play," but it was not meant to be. Arkane put the game on hold in May 2009 due to an "unexpected financial challenge," the studio told Joystiq at the time.
Bethesda parent company ZeniMax purchased Arkane in 2010. Now, it looks like Bethesda may have plans for The Crossing, or at least it wants to keep hold of the name for potential future use.
ZeniMax filed a trademark application with the United States Patent & Trademark Office on October 11, records show. The trademark application covers video games, but the document doesn't contain any details about the status of the game or Bethesda's plans for it.
A Bethesda representative told GameSpot this afternoon, "We don't comment on trademark filings."
The existence of a trademark application doesn't necessarily mean much. There are many examples of trademark applications for things that never happen, like Call of Duty: Future Warfare and Call of Duty: Space Warfare. It might be that Bethesda filed the trademark application to allow it to hold onto the name, should it want to revive development on The Crossing someday.
Arkane CEO Raphael Colantonio said in the past (via double klondike) that layoffs at Electronic Arts--a partner for Valve, The Crossing's publisher--might have contributed to the need to put the game on hold. Check out the video above to see a teaser for The Crossing.Arkane's next game is Dishonored 2, which comes out in November. After that, the studio's Austin, Texas branch will ship the new Prey in 2017. Arkane is headquartered in Lyon, France.
Thứ Ba, 4 tháng 10, 2016
HITMAN: EPISODE 5 REVIEW
The trouble with reviewing each individual Hitman level—and I'm definitely not saying this entire endeavour has been a waste of time—is that so much of what makes Hitman good happens in its systems. The levels are important, particularly in regards to the guard placement, disguise flow and creative opportunities. But all, so far, have been variations on the same theme. That it works is because, at its core, Hitman's stealth and AI manipulation systems are satisfying.
Episode 5's new level departs from the template set over the past four episodes. And yet, this is still a competently constructed space in which to cleanly and creatively kill some people. It's good, because, like past episodes, it's attached to a good game.
What makes this new mission, Freedom Fighters, different, is that 47 is operating in hostile territory. Previous episodes, much like Blood Money before them, feature an area of public space to explore, giving the player chance to watch, learn and plan. Here, 47 is infiltrating a Colorado farm occupied by a patchwork militia of hackers, explosive experts and assassins. If you're spotted, you're in trouble. In that sense, Episode 5 features a style of challenge reminiscent of Hitman 2: Silent Assassin.
The shift places a bigger emphasis on sneaking, at least up to the point of securing your disguise. Still, while Colorado eventually morphs into a more familiar style, the change in atmosphere keeps things feeling fresh. We've infiltrated a lot of mansions in Hitman up to now. It's nice to try something a bit different.
Episode 5 features a style of challenge reminiscent of Hitman 2: Silent Assassin.
This episode also brings stronger ties to the overarching story that, up until now, has been told almost exclusively in the cutscenes that play after each mission. It's still just a small part of the level, but, ultimately, that's all it can be. Because of Hitman's release model, each mission must stand alone to preserve its replayability over the life of an episode.
The farm is broken up into distinct sections, some with specific restrictions on who is allowed inside. A basic grunt can't enter the patch of land used for creating and testing explosives, and the main house is off limits to all but the elite guards. Freedom Fighters features four targets, each doing their own thing in a separate part of the compound. The structure creates lots of small-scale stealth challenges, reinforcing the hostile theme.
Normally, I prefer the more open, public levels. But Hitman needed to mix up its formula, and Colorado does the job. In terms of murder methods, it's a little less interesting than previous episodes – only a few Opportunities exist spread over all four targets. But there's plenty to try, and the layout of the farm, and the nature of its restrictions, opens up the possibility for a satisfying series of contracts, escalations and elusive targets.
Colorado isn't the most visually appealing or intricate level in Hitman. But it provides some much needed variety—a change of scenery and challenge that rounds out the Hitman experience. It feels as if IO has spent most of this season demonstrating that it can still get Hitman right. It's nice to see they're now confident enough to move away from the template they've created.
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