Yearly Archives: 2018
Montana Itself Is the Real Star of Far Cry 5
Some of my most memorable moments in my time spent exploring the first of three regions in Far Cry 5 didn’t involve explosions, trigger-happy cultists, or psychotic religious figures. While those moments certainly took place, and with the kind of insanity we’ve come to expect from the series, it was the much more serene and spontaneous times that have stayed with me since Ubisoft Montreal invited us up to play a roughly 15-hour chunk of what the team’s been cooking up for the last several years.
About an hour into my playthrough, I discovered a cool feature where if you pull out the binoculars, and then quick toggle the HUD off, you could walk around viewing the world through what is effectively a camera lens. From that moment on I spent a lot of my time exploring the rugged mountains, valleys, rivers, and open plains as a budding documentarian. And in all honesty, I was surprised how engaging this quiet act of observation could be in a game where I’m also allowed shoot explosive tipped arrows at helicopters while parachuting from a World War 2-era fighter plane I had stalled and ditched seconds earlier.
Take a Closer Look at Discovery’s S1 Surprise Ending
Full spoilers follow for Star Trek: Discovery's Season 1 finale.
Whoa, that Discovery cliffhanger! After wrapping up most of the big plot threads of its first season in the finale "Will You Take My Hand?" (read our review here), Discovery headed straight into a big hook that was, of course, inevitable. CBS wants to make sure that we all come back next year -- and that we hold onto our CBS All Access (or Netflix) subscriptions, depending on where we live -- and so a cliffhanger was pretty much in the cards. But did we really think we'd get this reveal so early on?
No Hearthstone on Switch, Confirms Blizzard
Hearthstone has been a rousing success for Blizzard, with the game rolling out on mobile platforms back in 2015. The company raised hopes for a Nintendo Switch version in 2016 with an ambiguous tweet, but never confirmed whether we would see the digital card game make its way to the console. Despite Switch being the perfect home for Heathstone, thanks to its touchscreen, upcoming paid online service, and portability, we finally have a clear answer - and it's a great big "no".
This Tough Boss-Rush RPG Levels You Down Before Fighting a Boss
Even though playing Sinner: Sacrifice for Redemption can sometimes feel as awkward as its lengthy title is to say, the upcoming boss-rush action-RPG has potential thanks to an unforgiving “level down” system, which has you constantly juggling different strengths and weaknesses with each new battle. Pretty much everything you need to know about the look, tone, and themes of Sinner: Sacrifice for Redemption is right there in the title too. It’s dark. It has religious undertones. Sacrifices will be made, and you will be redeemed for them. But despite a cool core idea, the execution of its early stages feels flat.
Sinner starts out in a gray, dreary hub world lined with rune-encrusted stones. With its almost cartoonishly-proportioned hero decked out in plate armor and a stub-horned helmet, the first impression I got in my hands-on demo was Demon’s Souls for Kids — a gloomy, Gothic take on medieval Europe with slightly more rounded edges. But no matter how cute its stylized little knight might be, Sinner is certainly not playing around.
Baz Luhrmann Reacts to Moulin Rouge Olympics Performance
Canadian figure skating duo Tessa Virtue and Scott Moir made the most of this year's decision to allow lyrics in figure skating music, hitting the ice to Moulin Rouge's El Tango de Roxanne. The routine paid homage to Baz Luhrmann's musical, with a flurry of fancy moves that impressed the film's director so much he shared a snippet of their performance on Twitter.
"Moulin Rouge on ice! It’s moving to see so many champions skating their way to
to the music from
," he tweeted.
London Spitfire Win Overwatch Stage 1 Playoffs
The Stage 1 playoffs of the Overwatch League are over and London Spitfire emerged victorious, beating the top-seeded New York Excelsior with a 3-2 reverse sweep on Saturday. London ended the first half down 0-2, but turned things around in the second half for their 3-2 comeback.
The first game of the day saw London and New York face off, with Excelsior winning 3-2. Spitfire went on to play the Houston Outlaws, winning 3-1, and found themselves facing New York again. After losses on Junkertown and Oasis, London entered Hoizon Lunar Colony in need of a miracle.
"Losing the first two maps, we thought, 'Hey, we couldn't let it end like this,'" Spitfire tank Hong 'Gesture' Jae-Hee told ESPN. "We rallied back and won a game. After that, we were like, 'Hey, it's 2-1. Might as well.'"
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Gravel Wants to Revive Arcade Off-Road Racing
Gravel is an interesting experiment for Italian developer Milestone, an experienced racing outfit whose games usually tend to trend towards the more serious end of the spectrum. The studio is primarily known for its two-wheeled work but Milestone is also responsible for a fistful of official WRC games released between 2010 and 2013, plus 2016’s Sébastien Loeb Rally Evo. Gravel is a significant departure from all of that.
Gravel is an arcade-style, multi-discipline racer; a pick-up-and-play racing game that sheds official motorsport licensing in favour of wrapping proceedings up in an over-the-top, televised racing show that takes its contestants all over the world.
As such, Gravel’s single-player mode straddles a bunch of different styles of racing, from checkpoint-based cross country blasts to tight, multi-lap, stadium-style events stuffed into cramped arenas. Races largely take place on fantasy tracks in a variety of real-world locations, from open-cut mines in the Australian outback to isolated Polynesian beaches, but a handful of licensed tracks have also been included, like Portugal’s Montalegre rallycross circuit.
Discovery Producers Explain Season 1 Ending
Full spoilers follow for the Star Trek: Discovery Season 1 finale, "Will You Take My Hand?", as well as everything that has led up to this point.
Gretchen J. Berg and Aaron Harberts can breathe a sigh of relief, having finally brought the first season of their Star Trek revival to the air (well, the stream) after being under quite a bit of scrutiny from not just fans of the revered franchise but also industry pundits wondering if Trek was still viable in the age of Peak TV. Fortunately for us, Berg and Harberts have proven that not only is Star Trek still achievable on the small screen, but it can thrive and evolve and take the series to entirely new places creatively.
A Personal Story About Gaming as Pain Relief
My name is Nathanael, and this is a story about why I play games, what they mean to me, and how they help me to cope with chronic pain. It will be a look back on my life so far, my experience as a gamer, and the games that have helped me.
In writing this piece I hope that other people in pain can find some commonalities in what I have to say, and together we can keep looking for new worlds to live in, escape to or in which we can simply spend a few hours away from our worries.
(Oh, and just be clear at the outset - in what follows I by no means want to imply that I’ve had the worst or the hardest life. I’ve had amazing opportunities, worked with incredible people, and had a support network that got me where I am today.)