Armada’s E3 picks: The Division (3/8/2016)

 

Hey people, so here’s the question: Do you like the concept of Destiny? You know where you play a unknown person of great importance, where their main goal is to combat enemies and also protect what’s left of a broken world using a wide variety weapons? However do you also think that the whole aliens and magic powers kind of ruin it for you? Well my friends give The Division a try! Set in a world where a nasty bio terrorist attack has all but destroyed the United States; you play as an agent of ‘The Division’ whose goal is to find who launched the attack. From there it’s up to: do you work alone or with other agents, do you help citizens in trouble every chance you get or stay on task with the mission, will you brave the contaminated areas and recover lost tech and weapons or will you rob other agents and go rouge. The Division has no oversight and unlimited freedom – how you complete your missions will be up to you.

 

 

 

Games & Gear of 2015: Tom Clancy’s – The Division (2015)

 

So people we’ve played games where the end of the world has happen due to war, famine, and disease – usually 100s of years in the future. However in Tom Clancy’s – The Division, its apocalypse is a little more resent. In fact players take on the role an agent of the Division who, somehow, must not only restore order to a world devastated by a bio-terrorist attack, but find out who unleashed the attack in the first place. Fortunately you’re not alone as you can use the help of other player agents to help achieve your goal. However they can easily hinder your process as well, agents can both be loyal to the cause – or revel in the chaos. No matter your personal direction you can well equip yourself with the latest gadgets and arms to fight your war. Whether it’s from a fallen enemy or something you craft yourself. Heck you can even play the game on your smart device and prove support to your allies in a pinch! Tom Clancy’s – The Division is similar to Destiny but also many ways different; if it can live up to half of its promises I promise you that you’ll never want to leave The Division’s world for anything.

 

 

 

 

 

Games & Gear of 2015: Rainbow Six – Siege (2015)

 

Before his death in 2013, one of the next Tom Clancy game heading towards the next gen consoles was called Rainbow 6: Patriots. However the game was scraped for unknown reasons (which is too bad because I liked its premise). Oh well… They soon replaced it with Rainbow Six – Siege; an tactical multiplayer FPS (possibly without a story mode – or something like Titanfall/Evolve). Players are assigned to either terrorists or the Six in squad v. squad game modes. Not quite your death match detail (there might be but I’ve never seen it yet in Siege) these modes focus on objectives like hostage recuse and defend this ‘thing’ from the enemy (not its technical name). Once in a squad you can choose one from 20 different ‘Operators’; each one armed with special skills and gear. Pick well because once it’s game time and you die, your dead for that round. Add to the fact of destructible environments, scouting cameras, and portable defense/offensive stage tech (barricades, scout cameras, C4,) and no round will ever be the same. Rainbow Six – Siege may lack the premise of Patriots but certainly makes up for it in a very tight and versatile multiplayer. A clear pick up title later this year.

 

 

 

Armada’s E3 picks: The Crew (11/11/2014)

 

Again, I’ve talked about WAAAAAAAAAAAAY too much already about this game so I’ll just say that this game just keeps getting awesomer over time because now The Crew won some awards at E3, great! But the release date got pushed back, boo! Oh well it’s the thing this year and we still get to play it this year so it evens out.

 

 

 

 

 

Armada’s E3 picks: Far Cry 4 (11/18/2014)

 

Now Far Cry is another series I’ve tried to get into back in its early start, but it never really resonated with me too much wasting time wandering around with no pay off and fixing crap weapons (or taking forever buying new one with conflict diamonds). Now Far Cry 4 has some of those familiar trapping of the previous titles, but they have some improvement that bumps it up to an E3 pick. One of which is a different location; now I know Kyrat isn’t a real place but it’s the most interesting looking setting (outside of Blood Dragon) in a Fry Cry game to me. I don’t mind going of the beaten path so long as its not always the same flat nothing, which was Far Cry’s biggest problem. Just by looking at the trailers so far you can see that Kyrat is more than just a collection of  stages, but a living place where NPCs call home – so it’s more than a little convincing is what I’m trying to say.  Also you can get online help which is a plus for some of the tougher missions in the game and was sorely needed for the previous titles. Weaponize animals, which you saw one in the trailer, is another interesting technique that can be a advantage or a threat depending on the situation. But who am I kidding Pagan Min was the big draw for me to this title, now he isn’t the philosopher that Vaas was but he does have a certain psychopathic draw that makes me want to know more before I put him six feet under. Far Cry 4 surprising is not delayed (yet) and should be out this November.

 

 

Armada’s E3 picks: Tom Clancy – The Division (TBA)

 

Ah Tom Clancy, God rest your soul. I’m going to miss how, even though you write about the same thing over & over again (political intrigue), it still very entertaining to watch, read, and play. Even though you’re gone, the brand with your name seems like keeping up with your style with the Division.  This title is worst outcome for America namely a Bio Terrorist attack that kills most of its people. Those who survive are either pirates, thugs, and extremists or victims of the former. The only hope for the country now is you and the Division; the Division is a secret organization (naturally) that specially trained their members to survive the end of the world and save what’s left of humanity – even from itself. Players will be busy as a Division operative, they will need to protect innocent, fight insurgences, and suss out who unleashed the man-made virus in the first place. Now we have two things going for us: the ability to customize your character to fight any kind of war you want to fight (heavy, stealthy, tech, etc) & the game is 100% co-op, meaning your friends or other players can join in when things get tough.  The Division is only one of two Tom Clancy branded (or rather influenced) games that showed on E3 this year. The other game I’ll highlight later, but it safe to say that the man would be proud of both because of how well they represented his vision.

 

 

 

Let’s Watch – Ubisoft’s E3 Press Conference 2014

 

Today Ubisoft comes to town and like the others they do a job enough job that I pass’em (Backlash had to leave during the end); however Aisha Tyler  does come on strong, like in previous years, as hostess. Although I have great respect for her being a gamer and one of the lead voice actors on Archer; she tries too hard to be entertaining at these things and ends up creating horrible catch phrases. If she would take things naturally, it would be a much better experience overall – but enough about that, heeeerre’s the let’s watch!

 

 

 

Beta to the MAX – The Might Quest for Epic Loot

 

Welcome people to the new segment I call ‘Beta to the MAX’! (You get it? Because Betamax was a thing, it’s a play on words, comedy…. Never mind…). Its purpose is to highlight some awesome games that are currently available for open beta, which is usually the final shakedown before the game goes live. Hey remember I picked ‘The Might Quest for Epic Loot’ as one of my favorite highlight of E3 (I forget which year); well guess which game just so happens to have an open beta right now? No, WildStar was two weeks ago but that’s a good guess (And will be out tomorrow – yay!). Now what good am I if I don’t play what I preach, so I gave Might a whirl and I’m happy to say I’m a believer in the game. You get to choose from a warrior, archer, or mage (you can also pick the hard rocking runaway class but you have to pay for that) and set to invade a kingdom in a sky. Why? One – to steal all their Epic Loot (don’t worry everyone steals from each other in the sky apparently) and two, once you have the lootz you need to protect it with your very own sky castle. The duality of this premise makes the game great. While you got to be well-equipped, trained, and leveled to invade castles and survive; but you have to properly protect you property with traps, minions, and even bosses you’ve defeated in other castles. Combinations and configurations are nearly endless for both you and your castle, oh and did I forget to mention that this game is PVP as well. Yep other players can invade your castle and you can do the same. So what are you waiting for, an invitation? Get questing for epic loot toady!

 

 

 

 

 

That’s Gamertainment – Clueless Gamer: Conan Reviews “Watch Dogs”

 

So the good news it that Conan O’Brien is doing another well done Clueless Gamer segment where this time he  reviews the just released  Watch Dogs title from ubisoft. The bad news is that they decided to push back the release date on the Wii U version til the end of the year for some bizarre reason; as such this is as close to Watch Dogs as I’m going to get til December (seriously Ubisoft what the fudge). Fortunately Conan makes lemonade out of lemons in this skit, proving that a clueless gamer is truly unbiased because it’s all the same confusing crap to him.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Games & Gear of 2014 – The Crew (11/11/2014)

 

Well people this is one I’ve talked about WAAAAAAAAAAAAY too much already so I’ll just say that the Crew is one part Burnout Paradise, another part Fast & Furious, two more parts open world city and customizable vehicles, and the rest parts awesome! It’s been a long time since a racing title (outside of Mario Kart) got me chomping at the bit this bad so you know its going to be a real winner. Then again I’ve been wrong before, and a lot can happen between now and November, still I have high hopes for this title for the simple fact that it might be to big and inventive to fail.