Battleborn Early Review: Unabashed Fun for all !

Battleborn being a MOBA like game with long progression system, I am calling this an "early review" as I have spent around 15 hours in it by now playing mostly the PvE mode. Such games can take a month of play to see it all and I will update this review if my thoughts change during the course of further play.

"Fun ! 

Unabashed, 

carefree, 

mindless fun ! "

:^)

That is how I feel about Battleborn after spending a good few hours in it !

......and if you, like me, like fun games then I implore you to try this game out ! It seems to have enough depth to keep you glued for quite a while, while also doling out immediate fun in dollops as soon as you begin ! While it looks pretty intimidating from the far, what about its 25 characters you can play as and multiple levels of progression and completely new modes of PvE and PvP play, once I dived in, I realised it provided instant gratification while promising fun for a long haul ! 

Honestly , I am not yet sure how long it can last with the kind of content in there, but if there is one thing I am very sure of now is that the game is hell of a lot of fun :^) ! ! !  In fact, so much that I am currently totally hooked to its PvE co-op missions and it has consumed all of my leisure time ....and weaned me away from Uncharted 4 Multiplayer, which by no means is a small feat !

Play it the way you want :

I think what sets Battleborn apart from other FPS games is the fact that you can play it the way you want. Although the introduction puts you in the shoes of a character with a gun, you can play this game as a brawler, a magicians spellfest or as a sword and sorcery fantasy title  !

How, you may ask ! 

Well, thats where the splendid cast of 25 playable characters comes in ! Each character has its own special unique play-style and you can choose any character in each game session you play, no holds barred !
The fun starts when you realise that every character is not a shooter in here and in fact, my favourite of them all is a dual-katana wielding Vampire named Rath ! How cool is that ! His move set is completely melee based, as the description suggests, and he can unleash a katana tornado attack where he just spins with his swords spread out decimating any hapless minion unfortunate enough to be caught in his vicinity !

Similarly, there are characters that can fly about, characters which can shoot missiles, characters with a sword and shield, characters with Bow n Arrow, etc. etc. You name the kind of character you want to play and I am pretty sure one of the 25 heroes will fill that part ! This is very refreshing when playing the story missions as just the choice of character can change the flow of the mission in new ways and make the same mission feel new, slow, hectic or tactical ! 

So, How do I unleash my Heroics! 

The game has a dedicated PvE and a PvP aspect to it. PvE offers 5 player co-op in about 8 missions and the PvP offers about 3 modes which range from Capture-the-Flag like mode to proper MOBA modes. Personally I have not played any PvP in this game yet and wouldn't comment on that, but have spent more than 10 hours in the PvE. Each match, whether co-op or competitve, has the common element of levelling up your character as the match progresses and gaining new abilities making your character grow within each mission. This progression is reset upon the end of a mission or match and it might feel new or weird to see your character restart from Level 1 in each mission, but trust me, that feeling goes away pretty soon and you feel the rush of you character gaining power with each kill in every match !

 That lends a very action focussed, gung-ho feel and thrill to each mission you play and with 25 different characters to play as, with each character having multiple combinations of skills you can choose according to the situation,  things stay fresh and in fact require quick tactical thinking each time you go for an upgrade in your skill tree.

This also makes sure you are not stuck with a particular choice of skills and can re-spec and try out different skill combinations each time you play. I found this system very engaging and very rewarding while upping the thrill of the missions as decisions need to be made in thick of the moment and can alter your character completely.

Its Mayhem, ma co-op Mates ! :

The PvE story missions let 5 people play together and thats where I have found myself spending most of my time. Missions have a unique flavour to them with wide open areas and a mix of hectic frenetic in-the-face gameplay intermixed with resource collection and tactical tower defense like elements.


Whether you are a lone wolf who gives no damn except to cause some mayhem or you are the worrisome one who develops sweaty brows at the sight of a mismanaged team, the game welcomes you all. In a group of five, there is enough space for that one or two guys who are there just to blow baddies up ! Just choose a tank-ing hero and go crazy in the wide levels designed to gratify your need for carnage.

Lone wolf be doing his own thing ! 

...and the team-player kinds can always be the support, the snipers or the healers backing up the carnage with tactically placed turrets, well timed super abilities and a constant supply of health and armour. The Tower-defence like mechanics really satisfy the tactician inside me and the currency used to build those traps and turrets is found all over the battlefield. So, if you like to be the sneaky guy who is hard to catch but causes trouble all over, just run around, get them shards and place traps and turrets all around the bad-guys and revel as your hard work pays off !

You will find you He-Man style cartoons time and again; Very refreshing !

The shards are also required to activate or power-up the gear that you have equipped on your character. So, do remember to collect the shards in between the action and , honeslty, the game does a good job of guiding you around shards during the missions. My strategy always seems to rest on activating all of my gear first and then focusing on spending shards on defensive placements.

This zeal of the game to let each guy have his own fun is very very appealing and very effective to create a order in the chaos that ensues in each of its missions. Just know what your role is or what your hero specializes in and go do your thing ! The team will automatically get the help they need and the characters will balance off each other to keep the guns going even long after the "missions successful" screen has flashed :^D!

Multi pronged Progression system: 

This game makes you feel rewarded, no matter what! Just look at this mission failure screen,even a failure is celebrated with fanfare here :^D

Jokes aside, the game has multi threaded progression system where you make progress one way or the other as long as you are playing, and , like I mentioned before, the game rewards you for whatever you do.
There are multiple ways you progress in this game like:

• The overall Commander Rank of your profile which leads to unlocking more characters, loadout slots, etc.
• Each Hero you play as also has its own individual rank which can be earned playing more often as that Hero. This leads to unlocking new skills within that character's skill tree and are very useful. Also leads to unlocking cosmetic items for that character.
• Challenges: in game challenges can make you earn bonuses or can lead to early unlocks of certain characters.
• In game Gear Drops: Defeating major enemies or finding loot-crate-thingies can drop Gear for your characters which can be equipped for another set of bonuses. Gear have a rarity system like any good RPG and higher quality gear can make a difference in higher difficulty missions.

During my playtime, I have seen that there is always something to look forward to and you keep feeling that urge and a constant nudge from the game to play another match, just one more before you retire for the day :^) !

Verdict:

If the initial 15 hours are anything to go by this is a very fun shooter/RPG/MOBA hybrid game which can be played for a daily dose of adrenaline rush or for an evening of tactical play sessions with friends. It has that quality of letting you enjoy the mayhem with randoms or plan a meticulous victory with your friends. Its a balance not many games have been able to strike ! Battleborn does it a confidence that comes from Gearbox's previous co-op outing with the Borderlands series.

If you are looking for a fun stress-busting action game which is unique and has tons of variety then look no further. Battleborn is here at your service ! Whatever you do, do not play it alone ! The game is made for co-op, and just like The Division before it, it is most fun in co-op.

Pros:

• Super fun, super rewarding gameplay
• Splitscreen co-op !!!
• High-octane mindless action
• Tense Tactical Action
• Play it the way you want
• Multi pronged Progression system
• More content promised by Gearbox

Cons:

• Lag can affect melee characters more than a ranged ones
• Missions are selected by voting in PvE, which can lead to repetition

Far Cry Primal Review: Does it Survive or go extinct !

My friend and a chronic game maniac Kevin Kain, aka U.F.O., goes hands on with the latest in the Far Cry series from Ubisoft. 
Time to hunt, time to Survive ! 

This is a review of the PC version of the game Far Cry Primal.

 "A game based on 10,000 BC... hmmm... Could be interesting..." 

......was my first thought when I saw its trailer for the first time, then about the time of its release, I was hearing many people say

" How can a Game without Guns and Sword be interesting ? " 

....and the answer is:

" Just be a Man " 

Survival of the Fittest !

Ubisoft hit the Gaming world with another Far Cry and many were doubtful about it but after playing it through I can definitely say now that it is amazing ! We're the Wenjas who are trying to survive among the Udams, the tribe of Man Eaters, and Izila, the Sun Worshipers. The story line is somewhat similar to all Far Cry games in the sense that you help your people rise from some form of oppression, but the odds being high this time..... 

This time its a fight against extinction ! 

​Lets Shoot it out:

Primal has the same charisma of previous Far Cry games in it but the "insanity" is missing, if you get the drift :^)...wink wink ! Put simply, Primal has no Bad-ass villain to fill in the shoes of Vaas, which can disappoint a lot, but then who wouldn't get excited to play a game in which you can tame a Saber tooth tiger, fangs and all at your service ...ala He-Man ! You will have to unlock two or three Skills to get there but it sure is worth it and once you soak in the new locale, the game lets you lose with your beasts at your side and you feel the vibe of man and beast roaming and conquering together ! Your humble beginnings are a contrast to this, though, and you start out helpless and with very basic weapons, trying to stay alive in a savage world. Also, nights are ruthless at the start of your adventure. Nights have their own rules in this game, with animals getting more aggressive and roaming in larger packs and attacking you without provocation ! Your first venture into the night will be scary, as you realise you are a feeble human, with no fangs or claws, out at the mercy of all those who have many ! 

...but the adventure and the thrill of night hunts doesn't last long as you soon realise that there is no real need to be out at the night, given its so many dangers. The game offers nothing , nothing at all for taking on the dangers of the night and one soon realises that it is just simply better to sleep it off until dawn than risk being mauled by wolves at night ! The developers missed a big opportunity here, the nights could have been a defining feature of this outing of the franchise ! The woods are lovely, dark and deep at night but there is no incentive to venture out at night and one might as well just never face the night's beauty or dangers !  ...which is a shame ...

Whats new:

Primal shares most of its gameplay mechanics with Far Cry 4 but a few mechanics are new: like an owl which you can control to tag enemies,drop Bee Bombs on them and even kill one for you, with a cool down timer of 60 seconds, of course ( ...its an owl for god's sake, what do u want it to do ! :-P). Its an evolution of the Camera of the previous games, basically, but can be used more freely now, even lethally. Another huge addition are the tamable beasts ! Bears, Tigers, black panthers, Wolfs, you see it, you can eventually tame and ride it into battle !  The different animals also form perfect partners to your playstyle with the Brute-force beasts helping you in all out assault while the panthers bringing their specialty into the silent agile stealth play style ! I am sure every gamer would have his own favourite beast depending on how he/she plays the game but be warned here ..... stealth adventures might not go as planned as the beasts mostly get spotted and spoil the fun of a pure stealth option. Which is, another shame.... -_- !

Weapons, as well the way to acquire them, are different too. Going with the setting, the weapons are mostly melee in nature with your trusty bow, the spear and a sling being the only exceptions. You have to craft your weapons and arrows and the game offers no form of currency or trading system at all.  The Weaponry includes Bows, clubs, shards, spears, slings, traps,and then we we the Bee Bomb which unleashes a Hive of bees on the enemy, the Fire Bomb, which is self explanatory, and Berserk Bomb which drives your enemies crazy and they start to attack each other , something we saw earlier in the fantastic Assassins Creed Black Flag too. All in all there is enough primal weaponry on offer here that you'll not be missing Guns or Swords in this Far Cry.

​
If one has to single out one most fascinating aspect of the game , then that would be the animations of the animals ! They are so realistic that watching animals fight it out almost feels like watching a Nat Geo Documentary. I once saw a saber tooth on a rhino's back trying to grab its neck, it was so hyper-realistic that Ijust stopped and stared at this play of nature for a while. At another point in the game I used my human power of fire to shoot a saber tooth with a fire arrow and to my suprise it started to roll on the grass  trying to put the fire out !  Such moments make you stop and marvel at the game and , fortunately, such moments are many !

Primal Lands:

The game is visually very pleasing, the God rays everywhere combined with the brownish tone in the morning and dark the blue night is just beautiful. It really does have a prehistoric look  to it with all the varied wildlife all around you and the sounds of nature, interspersed with some pumping Drums, set the mood for adventure just right !

 Ubisoft also created whole new prehistoric languages to make it feel like how its supposed to be. Whether that immerses you or irritates you is subjective, but the effort clearly sets it apart in its sincerity. Ideally, you will not miss the lack of English (or your local dubbing) anywhere.

One little blemish in the pie:

One of the greatest draw backs of the game is that there is no currency in the game, which is understandable given the time period and the setting of the game but there could have been some sort of a barter system between people or tribes. Some way to put to use all the resources that you gather on your way which find no use once you have crafted the weapons/items they are meant for. Being an open world game, it really lacks an economy system to reward your efforts outside of what the story demands. All your efforts feel wasted near the end game as all items become trash by that point. Any thing you find or collect is of no use ! Its literally immersion breaking and its as if the devs never want you to spend too much time in the game or simply forgot to cater to players who like their game !
As for another complaint out there, that the overall map of this game in the game is similar to Far Cry 4 , I would say the developers have altered it so much that its very difficult to spot or point similarities in the terrain when inside the game. SO, even if the overall map might be similar to FC4, I bet you would never notice that while playing at all !
( Fun fact: your footprint leaves a track behind i don't know whats that for, it a mystery! Are we the Yeti to be found by modern man ! lol! )

Final Thoughts:

Pros:

• A pet Saber Tooth :P
• Amazing animal animations
• Drone Owl :P
• Wilderness Unleashed
• Innovative Weapons

Cons:

• No Iconic Villian
• Similar Far Cry Setup
• No Currency or Batter System for end-game fun.

Verdict: Far Cry Primal is very promising and beautiful and filled with a whole lot of crazy stuff to do. If you want some thing different from the run of the mill shooters, Far Cry Primal is the game you are looking for, but the people bored with the Far Cry Setup might feel jaded by the similarity to previous Far Cry games.

Ratchet and Clank: The wonderland of stunning beauty and fun !

Been playing Ratchet and clank since launch cannot, for the love of god, stop playing this beautiful beautiful game ! I couldn't help but take screens here , there and everywhere I went in this pretty pretty world ! 

Here are some to satiate your curiosity, but do play the game to see how deep the Rabbit-hole goes  ! 

 

The Division goes free for all for 3 days ! ! !

Ubisoft has announced a free for all Open Beta for the upcoming Tom Clancy-isque supposedly mammoth of a game: The Division !

Alright , now thats some good news right there ! Not because I love the game already and want to play it but because , like many out there, I am unsure of what The Division holds in its slick recreation of a chaotic New York and this provides for a perfect risk free way of checking out the game.

What has many gamers divided is the RPG aspect of this game which seems like a shooter at its core. Apparently, thats not so and maybe the game is a complete opposite of what it seems and from what I have gathered from people's impressions from the closed beta, its seems like a game with shooting gameplay which is an RPG at its core. I may or may not be right and I am excited to have the opportunity to test out the game myself in this open beta. I am being optimistic here and as long as the controls are sharp, I can go with the RPG element all right.

So, make sure to mark the 16th of February on your calendars as thats when you can start downloading the Beta client which , I am sure, will be north of 20gb in size.

The beta will be Live from February 19th to 21st on PS4 and PC and February 18th to 21st on the XboxOne which gets an exclusive headstart of a day.

See Ya inside The Division mates :) !

Borderlands 2 : Tiny Tina's Assault on Dragon's Keep !

My on going playthrough of the absolutely wonderful DLC for Borderlands 2!  will keep adding more videos as I progress, which I definitely ill considering how much fun it is ! The nods to Dark Souls and Skyrim are priceless :D !

Destiny : Where is your Fantasy ?

(Lets say this is not one of my usual articles and its more like what I think about Destiny right now put into text. That said, lets dive in !)

Anyone remember this video? this is what Destiny was conceptualised as :

Where is this adventure and exploration? secret areas and secret loot?
Yes, Bungie,  the pressing question I ask of you:

Where is the 'fantasy' of Destiny?

The fresh start:

I am fan of Bungie and Halo and I have been playing Destiny since the Alpha, the first time Bungie let players get their hands on it and have loved the gameplay since the first time I moved my trigger finger in it! Its been more than a year of shooting Hive, Fallen, Vex and Cabal and I will be honest, the amazing art and the super fun gameplay loops have kept me hooked for so long. I still remember seeing Moon for the first time and declaring on forums that it was the best Sci-fi rendition of Moon ever. I didn't like Venus then, because it was just like earth, to be honest, but then I landed on mars:

 and watching a dawn on mars was enough to make me stand in awe again till a rocket from the Cabal brought me back into the "shoot>jump>headshot>Super Charged>Obliteration!" loop of Destiny fun :^) ! And boy did the Cabal know how to fall gloriously when shot in the head .........bam...pooff....phhkkhkhkhkh !

That kind of stuff reinvigorated the play sessions with smiles back on where they belonged :) !

Then came the strikes, something that's still my go-to place for fun and then, after month of not being able to form a group came the raid :O

 The Vault of Glass !

Oh, hell yeah ! The feeling of wonder restored beyond expectations, we followed our leader "HarshadB" like hobbits would follow Gandalf into the unknown! Each step taken as told..."Don't worry, jump down"....."Stop !"....."Crouch"....."Hide from the white ones"...."follow me" ! I was a wide-eyed boy again :^) , a little child filled with wonder as the rabbit hole (literally) kept getting deeper and deeper ! "Those are Oracles,this is the Relic, one portal is the past and one is the future", shouts of "I am blind!" "shoot him now !"........I was lapping it all up like a hungry boy let loose in the toy store of his dreams ! I was ecstatic and, like a perfect Hobbit, when "djsinghaero" told me there's a hidden chest beyond Atheon which only the first timers can see, a blatant lie, I immediately jumped over to my death ! :^)

I was in awe, I was in reverence of Destiny and Bungie ! It was one of the most memorable gaming time of my life , up there with Journey !

....and it lasted for a while.Once it was all done, I kept playing for the loot, the exotics, the Gjallarhorn and the fun the game was, including the PvP(however much lag it may have, it does have the needed ingredient: fun) ! But over time, as the surprises and awe faded away and I had my Hawkmoons and Gjallarhorns,  I turned my eye towards the world of Destiny.....only to find none ! 

Then it started snapping:

I mean..... where is the Fantasy of the world? When Bungie initially revealed Destiny as a concept, the world, the fantasy was huge, and even in the final game the way each place is well named , it all hints towards a very strong mythos. 

But where is all of it? Where is the reason to fight? Where is the context? Where are the people who need saving ? 

Something as simple as , Why is the "Valley of Kings" on Mars called the Valley of Kings?  Or Why are we, a group of Exo, Awoken and Humans, going together in this battle against the Hive, Vex and the Fallen? Why are the Exo and Awoken even interested in it? cos the Queen doesn't seem to be and we have no idea where the Exos came from and thats me, my Warlock is an Exo and I have no idea who he is ! I know the game went through some development hell back then, but it been an year since release and we should now be treated to a proper game ! Heck, Witcher 2 got a totally new opening cut-scene months later because the devs felt it was needed and this is supposed to be a 10 year haul of a franchise and we don't get a proper beginning or basis for the fight !

......and Who are we saving? Humans in that slum under the Traveller that we never ever visit? What are they doing there all day?

Who is that Speaker who has nothing to do at all? He has no role I can tell? I have never seen one human from the city, has anyone seen any human we need to save? I am at the tower, I take orders from a broadcasting robot, I go out into the designated areas, do what the broadcasts say and I come back into the tower. 

That's my Destiny ? My Legend ?

The story quests provided no context at all either,except for "Shoot! Its the bad guys!" and the DLCs just keep adding new Bad guys to shoot, albeit in the same old places. I have recently been getting interested in FFXIV and even Elder Scrolls Online and these games provide tons of unique story content before asking you to jump into Dungeons (Strikes in Destiny) and you can stay engaged with unique content for months before you start redoing the missions for grinding.

Dear Bungie, Where is the world of Destiny? Please spare me the Grimoire cards Bungie. I am a book lover and I have read all the books of the Witcher series but..... it did not serve me a videogame when I bought a book, nor did it serve me a book when I bought Witcher 3. There is a difference, right? 

The godforsaken Grimoire cards!

If I want to read a book on Destiny's universe I would buy and love it too, if its good, but I didn't spend $100 to read flash cards on my PC ! I spent them to live in a world full of wonders , forge my own legend in it and there is none in Destiny ! 

House of Wolves: The promised DLC to solve this exact problem !

This was supposed to be the saviour of the fantasy, the story, but it did nothing at all ! Its still the same ol', same ol'.Why is my Queen not angry at me(an awoken) for not serving her but instead serving a Speaker of the humans? And all those mentions of many Houses of Wolves, I got nothing out of it. Skolas is the new bad guy and all other new bad guys are clones of the older bad guys. "Kill them all ! " That's all I got from it because all the past events Ms. Petra keeps referring to while describing missions to me, they have never been told to me by Destiny before.....ever !

             So, how do I care if a certain Fallen Captain clone with a yellow bar on his head has fought in the Great War of AwesomeTreachery? What war, who fought.......never heard of it, never been told ! Oh, maybe my Ghost knows as usual, but he is silent this time....maybe the speaker at the tower would know....nope, he just sells some piece of cloth and arm bands !...........what are you doing Bungie?

So, it all made for no context to me.

 "Get a Scorch cannon and shoot the rest: That's House of Wolves for me !"

 and for all of us out there actually !

 Same problem with the new playable activities:

Prison of Elders: 

Why is there no context in POE at all? We aren't even trapped in a prison by someone's treachery and trying to escape, instead we are just in there playing gladiator for Variks ! Why the hell, may I ask ? The Queen never asked for Gladiatorial events, she asked for help from the Guardians to defeat the Fallen.

 Just to make a point about context, why can't I be escaping out of a prison while finding tougher enemies as I go? Why can't each round instead be about escaping an area, blowing up a wall to get to the next, finding a key from a special target to move on and ending up in cells with tougher enemies untill we reach the boss and escape the prison? It  doesn't change anything, we can still have the same objectives as now, but it changes everything. Now, there is a reason for doing it all, there is a story to it all that fits inside the universe we are fighting for,  not disjointed levels that need clearing of enemies ! Now, its an actual event happeneing in the current history of Destiny. It makes a difference, we are not playing Pong here, Bungie, are we? :-/

Trials of Osiris:

Who the hell is he, the Osiris? Why is he giving out Egyptian headsets that belong more to a costume party than Destiny? Is he a religious fanatic, cos his servant is a "Brother" Vance surrounded by Candles? Why has he organised this event? What purpose does it serve in the overarching (lack of?) story of the Destiny universe? 

Stop checking messages Dude, we are angry here !

.....and for all things spoken and said why the hell is he on The Reef that belongs to the Queen of Awoken? Mr. Vance isn't an awoken from what I can see ! Is the Queen sharing profits with Mr. Osiris from this reality TV fight show of the guardians? I know, its all for fun and everything does not need justification, but going that little extra bit is what its all about ! 

         If I know there is a rogue group of Gaurdians fighting back for mysterious reasons that need to be subdued or if Osiris, the last king of Ancients has an artifact/weapon that can turn the tide against the darkness and Guardians are being tested for being sent to him (Mercury Lighthouse?) then wouldn't this "just-another-MP-Mode" turn into an actual event happening in the Universe? How hard it is to put such context in?

C'mon, Bungie,  HoW content has the same issue that Destiny has had overall.

  Lack of context !

The game is great and the gameplay the best out there, but the gameplay cannot hold on its own forever ! 

Where is the fantasy, Destiny? 

How do I become Legend without a world ?

    I know you will just say 'The Taken King' fixes everything, just like you said House of Wolves will. House of Wolves didn't, it added more activities but it didn't fix the basic issue here, the complete lack of a believable fantasy which we can invest in ! 

                 

After being burnt by it, I am very wary of buying The Taken King and I believe my money can be better spent on a very awesome Hideo Kojima game that month and on a specific Sci-fi game called No Mans Sky after that. And if that doesn't arrive soon, I may just try Final Fantasy XIV instead.

You might say my comparisons are unfair and FFXIV asks you to pay each month to play it(and it ain't a shooter), but then I have also spent $100 on Destiny. With that money I could have bought and played FFXIV for 6 whole months with much larger content and updates and , not to mention, Elder Scrolls Online does not even charge a subscription fee and for the base price $60 I could have had an immense world of my own !

But, lets say this isn't about money, I still can't get over the fact that after putting in $100 and hoping for similar content as other games ,after 2 DLC packs, I am still left with a game which has about less than half the content of a similar format game and has no fresh events regularly which even F2P game Warframe hosts every other week!

I am not optimistic anymore, Bungie ! I think the time has come to put down the rifle and take a break...............

...the problem is...it makes me sad :( ! That's is real problem, that it makes me sad, cos I want to play Destiny, but the game is getting jaded and is revealing its empty-ness as I come any closer. Its a Shiny hollow shell, where my Legend is just a Mirage.............

Save it Bungie !