作者彙整: Javy Gwaltney
A Mobster’s Delight
Publisher: Paradox Interactive
Developer: Romero Games
Release: 2020
Rating: Rating Pending
Platform: PlayStation 4, Xbox One, Switch, PC, Mac
One of the most pleasant surprises of E3 was Romero Games’ strategy/RPG hybrid Empire Of Sin. The isometric game casts you as one of 14 gangsters (some historical figures like Al Capone, others fictional characters) trying to rule over Chicago during Prohibition. Whoever controls the most territory and cash at the end of 13 years emerges the victor.
While the E3 demo put on a strong show, which you can read about here, I wasn’t convinced that all of the elements would mix well together or that the final version might be too complicated, given this is a game that juggles tactical combat, resource management, and even RPG-lite traits for your characters. However, I got nearly 45 minutes of hands-on time with a demo and came away impressed with Empire Of Sin to the point it’s my personal game of the show.
The game starts you off in Chicago’s Little Italy neighborhood. You fight your way up by taking over rackets (casinos, bars, distilleries), often by force, raiding the building with your gangster and whatever mob of henchmen you’ve recruited.
Battles play out like a crunchy version of XCOM and Jagged Alliance with turns where units can move into cover and blast at at foes, using action points to shoot, reload, and move. Enemies slam into surfaces and walls in ridiculous, bloody fashion when they’re killed by gunfire. If an enemy is fatally wounded but still breathing, you can even have your character brutally execute them to terrorize whatever faction they belong to. It’s all gory tactics and a blast to play through.
Outside of combat, the most interesting element is the emergent storytelling that rises out of the character’s traits, which occur based one your choices. Have one of your characters execute foes too often and they can gain the cruel trait, becoming a serial killer who offs one of your other gang members. If you have two gang members that fight alongside one another, they could fall in love or develop unrequited affection that has an impact on combat. For example, if one character sees her lover perish in action, she might (free of the player’s control) fly into a murderous rage and empty a clip into the killer.
The compelling character traits and fun combat are married by the micromanagement strategy, which has you upgrading your various establishments to extend your rule over Chicago. You can bribe the police to keep raids away, make your bars fancier to attract richer clientele, and hire security to fend off other gang members. You can also call a sit down with other bosses you’re having trouble with to try and end things peacefully (or by force). You can even poison your own liquor and sell it to allied factions to weaken them for your own gain. Even in this small slice of the game, there was a ridiculous number of options I got to play around with that made this fantasy of being a 1920s gangster feel meticulous and enthralling.
Empire Of Sin is due out Spring 2020 and I can’t wait to play my hand at becoming Chicago’s new kingpin.
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Ion Fury Review – More Than A Blast From The Past
Publisher: 3D Realms
Developer: Voidpoint
Release:
Rating: Not rated
Reviewed on: PC
Also on:
PlayStation 4, Xbox One, Switch
PlayStation 4, Xbox One, Switch
Ion Fury is loud. From its introductory level, packed with hooded transhumanist cultists for you to mow down with your handy revolver, all the way to the epic showdown that marks its end, this is a first-person shooter with no patience for realism or a slow pacing. Ion Fury (formerly called Ion Maiden and inspired by Duke Nukem 3D and Shadow Warrior) is a glorious pixelated playground for you to run around with high-powered weaponry, reducing armies of monsters and henchmen to goo, as you search for countless secrets tucked away at its fringes. It’s a hell of a time.
The premise is refreshingly simple. The story leans hard into ‘80s sci-fi (RoboCop in particular), casting you as police officer Shelly “Bombshell” Harrison as she takes on an evil scientist who is turning the citizens of Washington D.C. into cyborg monsters. This showdown plays out across seven chapters, and I enjoyed every single moment of my ten-hour playthrough. The combat is fun and interesting thanks to weapons that sound powerful and challenging foes. During the campaign, you’ll fight decapitated heads roaming around on mechanical spider legs, mechas, cadavers fitted with jetpacks and missile launchers, and a host of other disgusting creations.
One of Iron Fury’s most notable accomplishments is the velocity of its action. Movement is fast enough that it doesn’t embody the now awkwardly stilted maneuverability of its inspirations, but it’s never too fast for the player to control. The action is so balanced even though it’s fast most of the time I felt like a death-dealing force moving at the speed of light as I danced around foes and peppered them with lead. Your arsenal is highly creative and powerful, with each weapon being useful in a number of situations. Even your starter pistol, usually a last-ditch effort in other shooters, is both handy and satisfying in combat thanks to its ability to let you paint multiple targets and then unleash a volley of murderous headshots in one swift motion. This maneuver is particularly useful for taking down airborne foes. The chaingun, on the other hand, is great at stunning and putting down enemies that can charge through your other weapons, while your homing bowling bombs can zip around corners to kill targets. Learning the strategies to use with each foe, and then combining those strategies to emerge victorious from overwhelming encounters is much of Ion Fury’s charm. I never ran up against an encounter that was unfair and instead was constantly engaged by how the enemy makeup of each battle would force me to change my tactics to progress.
The true star of Ion Fury, as it is with the shooters that inspire it, is the level design. The campaign is technically a point A to point B affair all the way through, with loading screens, simple puzzles, and boss fights that punctuate each chapter. However, the levels are massive and creatively distinct. You fight in mansions, malls, downtown districts, metro systems, underground complexes, and even duke it out on a moving train. These levels also contain a ridiculous amount of secrets.
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Nearly every environmental fixture you come across in Ion Fury, whether it’s a light switch or a refrigerator, can be interacted with. Sometimes that light switch might just turn on the light. Other times, an innocuous switch might open up a floor panel hiding some grenades and health packs to help with the battle waiting just down the corridor. Even without the secrets waiting to be discovered, interacting with environmental objects can reveal tactics to help you throughout the rest of the game. Cracking open a soda machine will garner you some health-restoring energy drinks, which is helpful since those things are all over the place. I had so much fun running down secrets that even after I had technically beaten a level and killed all the enemies, I’d spend more time roaming around in search of hidden stashes of weapons and ammo or goofy Easter eggs. All of these secrets and charms go a long way toward making the already-enjoyable action of gunning down foes more exciting. I always felt like I was exploring a world that had been meticulously crafted as opposed to churned out on an assembly line or procedurally generated.
Ion Fury’s limited storytelling and humorous attempts are ultimately charming and refreshing, managing to pay homage to the attitude-first persona of Duke Nukem 3D without bringing the icky sexism attached to it. Like Duke, Shelly’s got a number of quips she loves to throw out that go from blatant pop culture references (like lines drawn from Tim Burton’s Batman) to nonsensical (“Clean up on aisle Your Ass”) with the delivery of those lines doing a lot of the heavy lifting to make her a fun, if not particularly deep, character.
Ion Fury is everything that I’ve wanted from a modernized take on the arcadey shooters of the 90s. The pitch-perfect movement, the enemy variety, creative weaponry, and fantastic level design all add up to a superb shooter campaign. In a sea of retro shooters looking to channel the glory of the genre’s early days, Ion Fury emerges as the title that pushes those thrills into the present in an engaging way, deftly capturing their timelessness.
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An earlier version of this review stated that you couldn’t manually reload weapons. This was because of a glitch in the reviewer’s copy of the game involving the reload key.
Score: 9
Summary: This retro shooter lives beyond its nostalgic ambitions to become a fantastic, timeless FPS experience.
Concept: Take back a futuristic city from an evil scientist in this ridiculously entertaining retro shooter
Graphics: The 2D pixel art for characters and weapons is clear and eye-catching, as are the cityscapes and underground lairs you infiltrate
Sound: The weapons roar and the MIDI rock-and-roll background music rules
Playability: This twitch-based shooter might take some getting used to if you haven’t played one since the ‘90s (or ever), but the learning curve is fair and mostly gentle
Entertainment: More than just a throwback to frenzied ‘90s shooters, Ion Fury is a fantastic game filled with creative weaponry, oodles of humor, and memorable levels.
Replay: High
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What To Expect From Wolfenstein: Youngblood On Switch
Wolfenstein: Youngblood is now officially out on PS4, Xbox One, Switch, and PC. All in all, Youngblood is a pretty great time (our review is here). We played the PC version of the game for review, but I also got my dirty, Nazi-clobberin’ mitts on the Switch version to see how it compares. If you’ve been considering playing Youngblood on Switch and are curious about the possible benefits and drawbacks of this version in particular, you’ve come to the right place.
I’ve spent three hours with the Switch version and have dabbled in pretty much every activity and the biggest spaces in both single-player and multiplayer, so while I can’t speak to the whole experience, I can provide a general sense what to expect if you decide to go with the Switch version.
It’s As Fun As The Other Versions
As was the case with Panic Button’s port of Wolfenstein II: The New Colossus, Youngblood’s gameplay is just as satisfying on the Switch as it is on the other versions. Sure, the framerate is capped at 30, but as someone who played through the game at 60 FPS on a PC, the action doesn’t feel too altered. It’s still just as fun to mow down Nazis, and I noticed no slowdown whatsoever on Switch, even when embroiled in massive battles with impressive particle effects firing off in every direction. You don’t have to worry about this version struggling in terms of performance.
The Visual Quality Isn’t As Good
That performance comes at a cost, and it’s in the visuals. To call Youngblood ugly would be unfair; the environments are still impressive, as are the gunfights. However, the brightness of the game has been turned up by default to hide the fact that the textures on both character models and environment are not anywhere near as sharp as the other versions of the game. You’re going to see a lot of muddy texturing, in both docked and portable mode, if you look too closely at foes or even objects in the environment. However, considering Youngblood is constantly pushing you forward to fight and explore, I don’t think that cost dramatically impacts what the game does well.
It Controls Well
Youngblood plays well in both handheld and docked mode thanks to a straightforward control scheme and good responsiveness. Aiming appears to be a tad slower, but you can remedy this by adjusting the sensitivity (or playing with a Pro Controller).
No Local Multiplayer
Bethesda and MachineGames has been adamant from the start that Youngblood has no split-screen co-op, and instead is purely online (though the Buddy Pass lets you temporarily gift the game to a friend, alleviating the need to buy two copies). Switch users might have suspected that the console’s portable design might have encouraged MachineGames or Panic Button to install an ad hoc wireless mode. That is not the case. You still need an online connection, a subscription to Nintendo Switch Online, and a (free) Bethesda account to play co-op with another human being.
Online Multiplayer Works Fine
I hopped into a couple of games with strangers just to make sure the online sessions were functional and stable. They were. There weren’t any connection hitches, and the game performed just as well as it does in single-player.
You Can’t Transfer Progress Across Platforms
Despite having my Bethesda account hooked to both the Switch and PC version of the game, I had to start a new game on the Switch version, as there was no way to transfer my progress from the PC version. Personally speaking, it’s hardly a dealbreaker, but if you’re going to buy copies across platforms, you should be aware. Also, there appears to be no crossplay for the Switch version; my list of friends in the game is confined exclusively to those on Switch and no other platform associated with my Bethesda account.
The Switch Version Is A Solid Way To Play YoungBlood
Ultimately, there’s no getting around the fact that the Switch version of Youngblood involves some sacrifices. But they don’t significantly detract from the experience, and everything else that makes the other versions fun to play is still here. The progression system, the combat, the world itself remain enticing. As someone who likes to play his Switch on the go a lot, I find the visual trade-off more than worth the cost. In fact, this version will be the one I sink the most hours into.
For more on Wolfenstein: Youngblood, check out our tips to help you get started on taking Paris back from the Nazis.
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Wolfenstein: Youngblood Review – Making The Best Of Change
Publisher: Bethesda Softworks
Developer: Machine Games
Release:
Reviewed on: PC
Also on:
PlayStation 4, Xbox One, Switch
PlayStation 4, Xbox One, Switch
MachineGames’ mainline Wolfenstein titles have both taken risks, either endearing or repulsing gamers with a focus on challenging, resource-fraught gameplay as well as a narrative that glues together aching emotional trauma with slapstick pulp. Youngblood is a side-story that opts for something different than what’s come before by embracing spongier combat, skill trees, cosmetics, and even live-service aspects like daily challenges. These smart changes make Youngblood an immensely enjoyable co-op first-person shooter about bashing in Nazi skulls.
When we last left protagonist B.J. and the crew in Wolfenstein II: The New Colossus, they were leading a full-on revolution to take back America from its Nazi overlords. Now, nearly 20 years have passed. America is Nazi-free, Europe is not, and B.J. is missing. His teenage daughters Jess and Soph are searching for him in Paris, carrying out operations for the local resistance to beat back the fascist stranglehold over the city. At the start, you choose either Jess or Soph, with an A.I. partner taking over the role of the other if you don’t have a co-op partner. Who you choose is ultimately cosmetic, since each sister has access to the same skill tree, weapons, and stats-boosting emotes players can deploy to get out of tricky situations.
Youngblood plays like a conventional shooter on the surface, with you mowing down waves of Nazi foes as they rush, flank, and otherwise try to annihilate you. In this entry, enemies have health and armor bars you have to knock down, but once you start leveling up (and you level up fast), you become every Nazi’s worst nightmare. For every level, you gain an attack power boost as well as points to purchase nodes on your skill tree. These nodes range from maximum health boosters to powerful abilities like being able to tackle a foe with such force you reduce them to a human slushee. You can also collect coins to buy upgrades for your weapons that include scopes, damage-increasing barrel modifications, stocks, and ammo extenders. I loved going off the beaten path in search of coins just to outfit my weapons with more doodads and even cosmetics.
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All of these options give you and your partner a lot of leeway when it comes to deciding how to tackle your problems. You can customize both your skills to let you play as stealthy ninjas capable of slitting throats for a bit before the violence goes loud, for example. You can also modify your abilities to turn you into a shotgun-wielding tank of doom while your partner stands in the back with their rifle, mopping up the enemies you miss. The variety in choice makes combat satisfying on a tactical level, and every weapon in your arsenal is fun, from your starting pistol to a laser rifle capable of disintegrating enemies. The variety of tools at your disposal makes every combat encounter feel fresh and interesting all the way to the end. In the mid-game and onward, my partner and I were regularly massacring wave after wave of foes due to our ridiculous power – but that isn’t to say that combat isn’t ever challenging.
Higher-tier enemies like Panzerhunds and massive robots roam the streets of Paris. To take down these baddies (not to mention bosses), you have to work together, often with one player acting as bait to lure the enemy around while the other focuses fire on the foe. Every enemy has one of two different armor types, meaning certain weapons work better against them, so it’s also helpful to be able to communicate and prioritize over microphone chat who’s doing what. Throughout the 10-hour story campaign, I had several dramatic clutch moments where a partner used an emote that restored a bit of my health and gave me a chance to escape, or blew up an entire squadron of Nazis surging on my position with a well-placed grenade. The co-op and coordination don’t detract from Wolfenstein’s combat; they enhance the best moments to great effect.
For those who are averse to playing with other people, the A.I. option bounces between competent and surprisingly vicious. I once stood back and watched my computer partner hunt down an entire apartment filled with foes with swift ease. However, there was never any point where I felt my entertainment was tarnished by the performance of the A.I., especially given how tough later encounters can be.
Youngblood’s world is a series of open spaces like Dishonored (which is fitting given that Arkane Studios co-developed the game), with you and your squadmate unlocking districts around Paris filled with apartments, stores, guard outposts, and secret areas. You often have to think vertically to progress and reach your objectives, like hopping into a second-story apartment window to bypass a barricaded alleyway. While Neu Paris doesn’t quite rise to the level of Dunwall or Karnaca, it’s still a beautiful and disturbing place that’s worth exploring for secret areas.
My only gripe with the world is that sometimes the plentiful optional missions are clumsily designed for it. For example, several missions require you to fetch an item in one district, fast travel to another to use that item to get yet another item, and then fast travel back to your home base to complete the mission and get your reward of XP. This sort of thing doesn’t happen frequently, but feels like a chore when it does.
Youngblood excels as an entertaining shooter with the right kind of RPG elements and choices. However, when compared to the stellar and shocking storytelling of previous Wolfensteins, this entry comes up short. It has a few interesting breadcrumbs about what happened in the aftermath of Wolfenstein II, including the fates of a couple characters, but this outing is mainly focused on the exploits of its dynamic duo. As far as protagonists go, Jess and Soph are likeable goofballs – a detour from their sad-sack papa – but they don’t have any real character development. As someone who adores the saga MachineGames has constructed, I didn’t mind the lack of an engaging story that much because Youngblood is such a generously entertaining romp.
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Score: 8.5
Summary: Youngblood takes some new risks for the series that pay off handsomely.
Concept: Take back Nazi-controlled Paris with a friend and a lot of guns
Graphics: The environmental designs are the series’ most colorful and eye-catching yet, from city districts to subterranean military bases. However, character animations are still noticeably stiff
Sound: The soundtrack bounces back and forth between synthwave and heavy metal, providing a nice beat to battles large and small
Playability: Like previous Wolfenstein titles, Youngblood’s systems and controls are easy to grasp
Entertainment: This side chapter provides a steady dollop of Nazi-massacring fun, especially if you have a pal along for the ride
Replay: Moderately High
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Alien: Isolation And Total War Developer Appears To Be Working On A Hero-Based Shooter
It’s been over four years since Alien: Isolation slithered out of the shadows to deliver a gripping, if flawed, experience of terror. Those who have been hoping for a proper sequel from developer Creative Assembly might want to give up the ghost considering the only true gaming follow-up Isolation has gotten is a Five Nights At Freddy’s-like mobile title from FoxtNext called Alien: Blackout. The fact that Creative Assembly appears to be moving on to a hero-based shooter (while FoxNext crafts a new shooter based on the Alien IP with another studio) is also likely another nail in the coffin.
The developer has an official job posting on its site looking for a “Lead Hero Designer” on a new IP. The posting says that the position is for a “ground-breaking” first-person shooter that will feature heroes. We don’t know anything else about the game, but it’s hardly surprising that Creative Assembly is looking to do a hero-based shooter given the popularity of genre siblings Apex Legends and Overwatch.
For more on Creative Assembly, be sure to check out our review of the developer’s latest game, Total War: Three Kingdoms.
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Fans Have Translated The Japanese Exclusive Final Fantasy VII Prequel
In 2004, Square Enix released a prequel to Final Fantasy VII called Before Crisis. If you haven’t heard of it, there’s a reason why: The mobile title was a Japanese exclusive and has never made its way to North America. However, that hasn’t stopped people from doing their best to translate the game into English and make it playable.
A group of fans have spent the last three years porting Before Crisis into the popular developer tool RPG Maker, complete with an English translation. Its legality is dubious, so we’re not going to link to the game, but this fan-ported version of Before Crisis is available (for now) and can be played in RPG Maker 2003.
You can watch the original trailer for the game right here:
Click here to watch embedded media
For more on Final Fantasy, check out our preview of the upcoming Final Fantasy VII Remake here.
Your First Look At Gunfight
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My Friend Pedro Review – Stumbling Over Corpses
Publisher: Devolver Digital
Developer: DeadToast Entertainment
Release:
Rating: Teen
Reviewed on: Switch
Also on:
PC
PC
My Friend Pedro is a game about finding a particular moment. Usually, you’re upside down and falling in slow motion, watching as the bullets from your pistol ricochet off the broad side of a frying pan and zoom toward a foe’s skull. In these instances, Pedro’s systems come together in bloody harmony, letting you conduct a goofy and violent symphony of bullets, dodges, and even the occasional punt of a decapitated head. However, the sheer amount of effort it takes to reach these moments of glory often makes the enterprise more trouble than it’s worth.
My Friend Pedro plays out as a 2.5D side-scroller. Your unnamed mask-wearing protagonist and his floating banana pal Pedro go from one end of the screen to the other, blasting bad guys for reasons that don’t make any sense. Fortunately, the vague story isn’t the focus; using tools for wreaking havoc is what My Friend Pedro is all about. Sometimes platforming sequences require you to use parkour jumps to get where you’re going, but they’re standard fare. Puzzles where you have to manipulate switches with bullets also exist, but the spotlight is on downing enemies in stylish ways with pistols, shotguns, uzis, and whatever else you can get your hands on.
While all of this sounds enticing, the shooting is dicey. The radial aiming system makes it difficult to target foes, even in slow motion. This gets even more complicated when you gain the ability to produce two aiming reticles; one of them auto-locks onto the nearest enemy, creating busy scenes that distract from the cool factor. Even something as simple as shooting a man below you and another one above you at the same time becomes a chore because of how many tasks you have to pull off in a short time. Slowly putting cursors over both foes and making sure you’re dodging their bullets before you fire sounds like a cool action mechanic, but often feels like busywork that drains these moments of their spectacle.
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A goofy sense of humor pervades the violent onslaught, with a score system that applauds you in specific ways tailored to how you destroy foes. Whether you drop barrels on enemies, set them on fire, blow them up with a grenade, or take them out with a bullet after a sweet kickflip, you can expect the system to account for it with descriptors such as “Air-splat kill!” And the displays of violence that come together when you triumph over the complicated controls are fittingly spectacular. I once dropped down into a room, kicked a gasoline can, and shot it mid-flight to take out a group of foes with a fiery blast. Then I finished off the last guy with a spinning kick that sent him down into a black abyss below.
Just when I had a solid grasp on the controls and could pull off stellar moments of action, the final stretch morphed into a series of annoying insta-death puzzles and dull boss battles. I had a fair amount of fun blasting fools in My Friend Pedro, but I wish my experience was more about losing myself in the frenzy of its action and less about navigating a tiresome control scheme.
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Score: 6
Summary: A frustrating control scheme confounds this bullet ballet’s most spectacular moments.
Concept: Blast your way through hordes of foes using slow-mo, ricocheting bullets, and skateboards
Graphics: Some platforming levels serve as bright departures from otherwise drab environments and muddy textures
Sound: The blasts of gunshots and the woom of lurching into slow motion more than make up for the forgettable score
Playability: A frustrating control scheme makes it unfairly difficult to pull off the coolest moves in this bullet ballet
Entertainment: My Friend Pedro is a fun little bloody romp that gets tripped up too many times by its frustrating controls
Replay: Moderately Low
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Mordhau Review – A Well-Struck Blow
Publisher: Triternion
Developer: Triternion
Release:
Rating: Not rated
Reviewed on: PC
Over the past few years, medieval-themed melee games have been gaining popularity. The multiplayer-focused Mordhau struts onto a field crowded by titles like For Honor, Chivalry: Medieval Warfare, Warhammer: Vermintide 2, and Kingdom Come: Deliverance. With its intriguing combination of realistic combat and kooky physics-based chaos, Mordhau stands out among its peers and in the entire contemporary multiplayer landscape.
In Mordhau, combat is a grisly, amusing affair. Blades cleave limbs, clubs smash heads to pulp, arrows tear through eye sockets, catapult stones send bodies ragdolling through the air – you can even get on a horse and impale a foe by charging at them with a lance. You have to work to be the inflicting party for a lot of these moments, but every kill you deal feels like a small, bloody miracle. Once, I sent a foe’s head flying off his body with a mighty swing, and I celebrated with a fist-pump and cheer. Some nice goofy opportunities are sprinkled among the gore for good measure, like scoring a kill by bonking someone in the head with a pathetically tiny blacksmith hammer before playing your lute to mock their corpse. You can also trap someone on a ladder by building a small wooden fort around it and then setting them ablaze with a firebomb. The humor of these interactions helps give Mordhau its own sense of identity; among grim deaths, entertainment and chuckles prevail. Even when you’re on the losing side of a match, the doldrums of defeat are whisked away by fantastic events happening around you that make you feel like you’re in the middle of a massive and lively battle as opposed to a small skirmish.
The multiplayer suite is composed of three modes: battle royale, horde, and frontline. Battle royale is absolutely what it sounds like, with 64 players roaming a map in search of weapons to kill one another until only one warrior is left standing. Horde has a group of players defending a fort and trying to survive against waves of enemy soldiers that grow increasingly powerful. With the player able to buy weapons and better armor between rounds, horde is essentially a medieval take on Call of Duty’s zombies mode. While both of these modes are fun enough, they’re ancillary, with frontline being where Mordhau shines.
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Frontline pits two teams of 32 against each other as they vie for control points on a map. At the start of each round, you select a “class” but really, you’re just selecting weapon loadouts. A brigand, for example, carries a huge axe and two throwing axes, while a knight has a giant broadsword capable of cleaving foes in half. Weapon selection is vital to your success on the battlefield.
Once you have your weapon in hand you quickly learn that the key to victory lies beyond slashing frantically and hoping for the best. Every weapon has different strengths and weaknesses that you have to learn by heart. A polearm, for example, has a long reach but its vertical slash isn’t worth much, and the window of vulnerability after unleashing an attack is a long one. This means that if you aren’t precise and miss your foe entirely, you’ve just opened yourself up to a fatal blow, especially if you’re not wearing much armor. Alongside the weapons’ strengths and weaknesses, you also have moves like feints and kicks to trick your enemies into attacking early or breaking their guard. It’s an intimidating system to learn, but one that can lead to dazzling displays once someone has mastered it. One of my favorite movements in Mordhau was watching in awe as another player took on three rushing enemy players on their own at the same time with a halberd, skillfully blocking, dodging, and slaying all of them within seconds. Of course, getting to that level can be a grind.
My first hour of Mordhau, even after its lengthy tutorial, was mostly filled with failure. I’d try going toe-to-toe with foes only to make a foolish mistake and pay with my life. However, after committing myself to one weapon instead of jumping from class to class in search of a magical fit, I improved rapidly. Learning how to time blows and parries, knowing when to dodge to the left of an attack and slash to deliver a decapitation, was quite satisfying. The transition from lowly fodder who can’t swing a sword to decent axeman racking up kills is exciting, and every increment of improvement is rewarded with spectacular displays of violence.
For all my enthusiasm for Mordhau’s combat, I wish the progression system was more interesting. You earn gold and equipment points as you go from rank to rank, earning XP from playing matches. With those two currencies, you buy various cosmetics as well as weapons and armor types in order to build a custom class for frontline. However, the cosmetics aren’t that impressive, with lots of leather pads and various dull suits of armors and making a custom class shouldn’t be an enticement but something the player is given off the bat so that they’re free to experiment without arbitrary restrictions. None of this is a significant deterrent considering Mordhau’s fun moment-to-moment action, but the lack of compelling rewards doesn’t provide much incentive to return after combat loses its luster.
Mordhau is not for those who want a multiplayer experience that’s easy to drop into and utterly destroy foes. However, the joy of mastering its challenging system as well as memorable moments of violent ballet make these engrossing battles unique.
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Score: 8.5
Summary: Mordhau balances brutal realism and goofy battlefield antics to great effect.
Concept: Prove your worth on the medieval battlefield by mastering a brutal and intricate combat system
Graphics: From its diverse environments to impressive character models, Mordhau looks fantastic
Sound: The music is forgettable, but the clanging of swords and the squishy sounds of dismemberment make battles feel alive
Playability: Learning the ropes of combat takes time. This is not a game for those unwilling to confront failure in order to progress
Entertainment: If you can push past the steep learning curve, Mordhau’s brand of chaos is addictive and hilarious
Replay: High
分類: IT 資訊科技(信息技术), Reviews, 熱門新聞 標籤: android, App, apple, Apple Watch, ASUS, Aws, digital game, Facebook, Galaxy, game, game footage, Game Reviews, Games, Google, Huawei, iMac, IPad, iPhone, macbook, Mobile, news, online game, Phone, PlayStation, reviews, Samsung, smart phone, Technology, Video, video game, Xbox 360, Xbox 360 Game, youtube game footage, 多人电子游戏, 手机游戏, 电子游戏, 电子游戏机, 电竞计算机, 超級任天堂, 遊戲, 電競 在〈Mordhau Review – A Well-Struck Blow〉中留言功能已關閉
Wolfenstein: Youngblood Has Cosmetic Microtransactions
Clarification Update: Wolfenstein’s official social page has released statement clarifying that microtransactions are in fact cosmetic only:
You can not purchase weapon or ability upgrades with real money in Wolfenstein: Youngblood. As you play, you will collect in-game currency called Silver to upgrade your equipment. Silver cannot be purchased with Gold Bars.
Original Story (June 13 at 1:20 PM Central): We recently had the chance to go hands-on with MachineGames’ upcoming Wolfenstein title, Youngblood. During our session, we learned that the game would have microtransactions, with the player able to buy cosmetics as well as weapon upgrades and attachments with real world money if they choose.
MachineGames was explicit in saying that you could get these items with in-game currency and that spending real world money would just speed up the process to acquiring them. The closest comparison one may draw is to Ubisoft’s progress enhancers microtransactions in Assassin’s Creed Odyssey and Far Cry 5.
You can read our full impressions of our time with Youngblood here.
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