Who likes the game developer company Bungie? I do, I do!
Who can’t wait for their next magnum opus that is Destiny next year? Me, me!
That’s pretty much the size of it people, the massive multiplayer online first person shooter that is Destiny looks and feels more impressive with each new trailer. Add to the fact that this game will be one of the first games to be in Sony’s and Microsoft’s net gen consoles line up and you can imagine how groundbreaking this new IP can be. Wait. There’s more. When you pre-order this game at your local big chain gaming store you receive access to the Destiny Beta in early 2014 for PS4, PS3, Xbox One, and Xbox 360 game consoles. So that doesn’t get ready for the future of gaming I don’t know what will.
This one hurts deep, so I’ll make this quick like pulling out a broken tooth: Dust 514 is a bad game. Remember all, some odd years ago I said that Dust 514 was going to be better than sliced bread and going to finally bridge PC & consoles gamers together by working in tandem with the popular sci-fi economic MMO EVE Online? Well in reality it’s nothing but a paint by the numbers battlefield-clone with some slight sci-fi thrown it. And you know what; I wouldn’t mind that so much if they didn’t break the game with the addition of one irritating feature: finite gear. See, someone at CCP decide that buy weapons, armors, items, and upgrades once would be too easy and not a pain at all. So they made sure that you have to keep buying (with in game currency called isk) the gear you like by making the gear you equip on your character be destroyed every time you died. So players will have to keep bulk stocking gear just to keep competitive and if you run out of a certain item or money you’re out of luck. Never mind having to buy better gear as you level and vehicles (such as they are) are far too expensive and drive as well as drunken bull. And sure you can acquire special ‘blueprint’ gear that will let you equip gear without the fear of losing it – buuuuuut you have to buy them with real money (or be extremely lucky to get it for free). Now I’d had my issues with Baseball Superstars 2013 but at least buying items in that game only made it easier and not bring the game to freak par to the competition. *Sigh* this game is a disappointment of the highest caliber and the only reason it doesn’t get an epic fail is that I didn’t pay money for this turd. R.I.P. Dust 514, you were a great idea, poorly executed.
Why, StarHawk, why? You were one of my top picks for ‘the’ games of the 2012; but after everything was said, done, and played I had enough content for a Mini Game Review (please note that Mini Game Reviews aren’t in themselves bad, but just smaller than my regular review – usually due to minimal content on the games themselves (and for StarHawk that’s not a good sign)). Well let’s get this over with.
Now for those who don’t know StarHawk is the spiritual successor to WarHawk a semi-large multiplayer first person shooter. So the story in this game has nothing to do with the first game (which had no story – more on that later). Players take on the role of Emmett Graves; and combination Wild West mercenary and outer space oil rigger. He drives off bandits and the like from trying to steal an omnipotent source of energy called Rift which people need to practically anything in the game. Of course it has the habit of turning people into glowing mutant freaks but I’m sure that will never be addressed in the game. Anyway, Graves’ next mission is on a planet called Dust where a town called White Sands needs protection from new form of raider call Outcasts. Organized and deadly they pose a direct threat to the town and strange enough, have a connection to Rift Energy. So it’s up to Graves to defeat the Outcasts, discover they’re secrets, and confront this own past on the planet called Dust.
StarHawk is a 3rd person shooter with an interesting concept: weapons, vehicles and even building on demand. Allow me to explain: whether in single or multiplayer – your objectives are killing enemies and gathering rift energy (by killing enemies and destroying stuff). With the rift energy players can summon building and installations that range from attacking, defense and support to even spawning weapons, vehicles and even other players. Dropping buildings on your enemies (mancaking they call it) is a very popular technique, but difficult one to master. With an arsenal at ones finger tips it’s easy for coordinated teams of players to litter the battlefield with war machines and provide interesting online matches. However…
Ranking
I’ll be honest people, the single player was the best part of the game; it wasn’t an impressive story (as about as formulaic as you can get) but the action in the game was well balanced. The multiplayer however is either pure uncontrolled chaos or a lesson in spawn camp & spanking. Chances are new players will show up while a match is already going on: if they’re on a team that’s winning then they have nothing to do nor can they build anything because the ‘build limit’ had been reached – if they’re on a team that’s losing then no matter what they do it will only end up fragged because a well-organized team can keep you bottled up for the whole match especially when players can build spawn points anywhere on the map. There are different modes of course, but like I said before the two main things you have to do to make headway is killing enemies and gathering rift energy and without the ability to do one it’s very difficult to do the other. Not that the game is broken or unbalanced (well it’s a little unbalanced) to the point unplayability, but you’ll have a lot of frustrated nights trying to master this title and I, for one, simply don’t have the time. My recommendation? Rent it or wait for Dust 514 to do this whole massive multiplayer online first/third person shooter right (hopefully).
After my near embarrassment of going to war with the developers of Skullgirls for not releasing the game to the general public before holding tournaments on the said game (a long story – and a joke people, a joke); I realized it’s time to address the rest of my ‘Games & Gear of 2012 Reloaded’ listed games. Now that spring is here and summer is sure to follow the latest high end games have not only updated websites but release dates as well – such as Starhawk. As an E3 pick of ours you all probably know all the basics already: a pseudo sequel to WarHawk, set in a future where ‘Rift Energy’ is the new euro, players uses said energy to airdrop everything from building to vehicles to wage war against the enemy, and like the first game it can played online with up to 32 players. That’s pretty much it, nothing new has been added (other than split screen – still) but after their public beta the buzz has been very good and those same players are chopping at the bit to play it again. Well no worries mates, the game will be available to all in less than a month’s time.
Dust 514 just keeps getting better and better! An expansive game that an offshoot of a very popular MMO (EVE online), works in tandem with said MMO and its players to cause numerous proxy wars on many different planets for fame, resources, and sweet ISK; but now Dust 514 will be the first free to play first person shooter on console – freaken sweet. That’s right put down your wallets people this won’t cost you one red cent; oh sure like most FTP models you can put down money to buy vanity items such as hats or a Minmatar MH82-BCR Personal Auto cannon in burgundy but in general it’s a free ride. Also worry not; the developers promise players who buy their gear with real money won’t have an advantage against players who don’t. Sadly the game is still in beta, but if you live in Iceland you can give this titanic game a try at EVE Fanfest on March the 22th through the 24th. I can’t reveal the location of the Video Game Armada bunker, but I’ll say this, it’s not in Reykjavik so we’ll miss out this time – but we’re counting the days this title goes live on PSN.
Back when the PS3 first showed up people thought the system was an overpriced, oversized, slab of future tech that was only good for playing Blu ray movies since their 1st party games were underwhelming. These days the PS3 is affordable and the games are much better; Starhawk is proof of this. A pseudo sequel to Warhawk, Starhawk is based in space, where players take the role of Emmett Graves a part time ‘Rift Energy’ prospector full time action hero. He returns to a dangerous, lawless planet to settle a score with an outlaw faction. Sounds familiar right, well here’s where things get different; as a prospector of Rift Energy he can collect it all over the planet and use it to build weapons, vehicles, and even entire bases with the help of orbiting drop ships. Graves becomes a literal one man army on his path to vengeance and an unending source of fun for the rest of us. Add to the fact that this game (like its predecessor) has a massive 32 player online mode and tons of game types that come with it, and you suddenly realize there is not enough hours in the day to enjoy this game property – and that makes you a little sad (or is that just me).
Video Game Armada 