Call of Duty Modern Warfare Battle Pass | Impressions

Battle passes have seemingly become a staple of live service games these days. A common creation goal for game developers, and publishers to implement for business sake. On average they'll cost you, at base level, around ten dollars. That, and commitment to grinding for each reward tier in order to be able to get the most out of what you paid for. Most battle passes are centered around experience point earnings, and will utilize the game's XP system in order to make your ascent up the tier ladder either cumbersome or quickly progressed. In the case of Fortnite's battle pass the XP earned is fast tracked via events that allow the players to capitalize on significant bonus XP for completing certain missions or feats. In Modern Warfare's battle pass though you creep along at a snail's pace on a per kill basis in multiplayer or Spec-Ops until you unlock a tier with an XP boost that can be used to amplify your experience points earnings for 30 minutes to an hour. Even with the boost though the grind in MW, per tier, can take several matches to complete, and in a battle pass that is filled with filler rewards such as XP tokens and lesser items it makes the grind to 100 all the more tedious, and demanding of your time. Once you buy into MW's battle pass for 1,100 COD tokens ($9.99), and the season begins you will have 60 days to complete the 100 tier pass, and unlock everything there is to unlock. While the grind is doable if you clear at least 2 tiers per day it is the artificial lengthening of the pass, and the filler materials that take up potential item unlocks that makes the whole thing less than desirable.

My First Fortnite Battle Pass Grind ... Impressions

When it comes to Fortnite I mostly avoided the first chapter, and all of it's seasons. I might have logged on a couple of times to try it out, but my early impressions weren't good. I played mostly solo during chapter one, and the matchmaking was nothing like it is now. It felt like I had no chance at all, and that I was up against the sweatiest of pro players. I couldn't make it to the top 10 no matter how hard I tried. In chapter two the matchmaking seemed to take a turn for the better though, and I actually got two first place victory royales in solo with no building. Before I decided to actually pay up for the battle pass in chapter two I had progressed through half of the battle pass unlocks. Seeing as the matchmaking was more skill based, and I was actually doing well in-game I was willing to give it a chance. Admittedly at first chapter two was fun, and for once I was really into it. I spent a good amount of time fine tuning my approach, and settings to a serious extent. I also learned about the different game modes, and nearly 100% completed the battle pass missions. Currently I'm missing only the special variations for the legendary battle pass skin, and the secret skin that you unlock for completing the series of event missions. I have stopped for the moment, and kind of feel a disconnect after having witnessed a shift in the skill based matchmaking, as well as Epic Games' choice to turn my report option red signifying they are basically ignoring my player reports.

My Brief Impressions Of The "Street Fighter 30th Anniversary Collection"

For what it is offline Capcom's re-release of the various Street Fighter series entries is very much worth the asking price. If you value a proper offline experience over an online one. For $40 you get 12 full games that can all be enjoyed alone or in the company of local friends. Ports of games that can be tweaked to a decent widescreen HDTV presentation, and adjusted with different visual filters for added effect. The games from Street Fighter (original) to the Alphas, and on to the 3rd Strikes all play out as you'd expect them to. As you'd remember. Offline the games are a proper trip down memory lane with the addition of historical timeline info entries, newly introduced art galleries, and various other features that give you more for your money. Oddly enough though things aren't all perfect with this particular collection. While most of the problems are player induced in the online portion of the game the netcode Capcom chose to go with for their four online titles is truly a step down from their previous online releases of "Darkstalkers Resurrection", and "Street Fighter 3rd Strike" for the PS3. I'm fairly certain they did not pay for high end netcode this time around, and more than likely cut corners for cost efficiency. Not only is the netcode bad this time, but the matchmaking also suffers from a lack of much needed options like that of region selection, and ping/connection identifiers. This lack of needed features only serves to further hurt what could have been a good online competitive scene.

Destiny 2 ~ First Impressions

Though I'm only part of the way into Destiny 2's story campaign I'm finding a detachment from the situation, and the characters presented in the extended lore. Instead of building upon the dire circumstances plaguing Earth, and it's citizens Bungie pushes things forward at breakneck speed not building enough upon side characters' relationships, but instead going way overboard with the guardian's role in the predicament. While everyone else from Earth's last safe haven struggle somewhat to get their sh*t together, and put up a fight your guardian, and ghost have a miraculous vision that leads them to a chunk of the Traveler which in turn restores their gifted powers. Ultimately making them the last hope for humanity. Between the immersion breaking missions, and the cutscenes that follow in which your guardian and ghost gain the starring role you'll find little emphasis on the emotional joint elements that should have been in place in such a tale. Everything in the story seems halfhearted, and forced to a point that it's more like an expansion to the first game than a true sequel. Your roles as the guardian hero (from what I've seen) include missions that require going from area to area to rebuild social gathering sites, and fixing safeguards as well as taking on outings that require you to fight supposedly formidable foes. The usual enemy suspects return seeming so out of place, and equally as forced as everything else that their existence is of little consequence to the proposed pivotal points of the new Destiny equation.

Battleborn (Trial) ~ Impressions

After playing the trial it became clear to me that Gearbox's aim in regards to "Battleborn" was to hook a new audience for lobby population sake, and to revive the game's popularity through a lucrative/beneficial free-to-play system. While the term "Trial" doesn't accurately describe this free-to-play version of Battleborn it does hint at the fact that you will not be getting the complete experience unless you fork over some cash for season pass content. In fact you'll only gain access to a third of what the full game contained should you choose to download the trial. New to the trial version of Battleborn is currency based micro-transactions that come in the guise of two forms of coin credits. One type of credit (blue) being easier to obtain through the game's new quests offerings, and the other (gold) not so easy to obtain. Both credits can be earned in-game, or bought through the PSN store via DLC. Earned, or bought credits can buy and unlock the usual content regardless of how you obtained them. This includes characters, cosmetics, and gear that will boost performance stats in one of the three main multiplayer matchmaking modes.

 Speaking of said modes you will not gain access to the story or the operations modes which are, in my opinion what makes the experience worthwhile due to the objective based co-op content contained within each. Instead you'll gain access solely to the game's competitive multiplayer modes including a Versus mode which houses a rotation of game types and maps as well as an Incursion mode which is a more direct multiplayer mode of play. There's also an AI bot battle in which 5 online gamers will face off against 5 AI bots. All game/mode types are a 5v5 team based battle with different goals governing each. Along with the multiplayer comes the promised unlimited leveling, and loot system that will have you grinding for hours upon end to unlock everything in the game while climbing the ranks of the global leaderboard. If you are looking to train on your own there is also a training mode just for that.

INJUSTICE 2 ~ Day One Impressions

This following impressions article is going to take in account only part of the "INJUSTICE 2" experience as I've yet to spend enough time with all of the features to give any definitive rating, or assessment. I will however go over my thoughts on the new mechanics, the application of the base mechanics, the functionality of the controller in-game as well as my thoughts about the online. I'll even, on a spoiler free level, go over my thoughts of the story ...

SFV ~ The Problem That is Ed

Let us talk about the glaring pink elephant in the room. The pink elephant that is Ed from Street Fighter V. After hearing online that Ed wasn't going to adhere to Capcom's standards for motion inputs I was intrigued. I thought maybe Ed was going to be an interesting game changer. A character who might influence future fighting game character designs for the better. That is until I found out simply pressing combinations of face buttons without directional motions would deliver instant specials, supers, and ultras. The problem with that is this. There are modded controllers for both the PS4, and PC with single button mapping functions. There are also controller adapters with single button mapping capabilities built in. Devices which can have such special attacks mapped to a single button press. As a result cheesing, and exploiting the already highly exploitable Ed is much easier done. It's as if he was built for this very purpose.

Toukiden 2 ~ Impressions Thus Far

Hi guys, and gals! Uncle Brad is dealing with some possible technical issues regarding 'Toukiden 2', and those issues seem to be demo related ... but I could be wrong. While I'm waiting to hear back from KT's PR about the matter I thought I'd go ahead, and let you know what I know thus far into my playthrough. In the immortal words of Mario, "Here we go!" ...

Toukiden 2, from what I can tell, builds completely on what the foundations of the original game, and follow up expanded version set in stone. The main differences this time being the story's setup, the location our hero winds up in, a new demon hand mechanic, and a new take on the Mitama system. As before you'll start the game by creating a male, or female slayer. A customization process which is one of the most detailed Koei Tecmo has created yet, especially in the Toukiden series. You can basically fine tune all of the physical features including that of the face, torso, chest, legs, and even some cosmetic options that add a bit of flair to your initially basic character. Along with that you'll be able to name your character as you see fit with spaces included as an option. No more needing to use an underscore or dash to express your naming creativity. When you are through you'll be swept away via cutscene into the heat of battle alongside Kuyo, and his troop. This all takes place in Yokohama in the midst of an ongoing war against invading Oni. Much like before. Apparently the events herein take place after that of Kiwami in the northern region of Japan though. Upon completing the basic tutorial within this section of gameplay, and fighting against a towering Oni Brutebeast you'll be sucked through a spatial Oni Gate ten years into the future, and far to the west of where you were at to begin with.

Clicker Heroes (Impressions)

Clicker Heroes is what you'd call an "idle RPG", or a clicker RPG. It's a part of a new sub-genre in the world of role-playing games. Mainly those of the touch screen type. In fact most of you would recognize this type of experience as something you'd usually see only on a mobile device. As an RPG though it doesn't really seem to have an end point, and as far as I can tell the only purpose is hands-on, and hands-off micro-management. All of which takes in account the heroes versus monsters trope. You'll basically be upgrading hero stats as you level up various unlockable heroes through lucrative battles with monsters and monster bosses. A system which contributes to the growing DPS (Damage Per Second), and "Click Damage" that comes from the game's tedious button mashing mechanic. As you level up the named heroes you've unlocked you'll also unlock perks which add to the damage given. Both by percentage, and damage type. There are also activated abilities to unlock with accompanying cooldowns that limit their usage. As far as the free-to-play aspect goes it looks as if the developer wants to capitalize on a special ruby currency which can unlock gilded heroes, in-game money/cooldown boosts, and ascension material that allows you to upgrade your experience further. If that's something you are alright with you might enjoy this seemingly never-ending time waster ...

Ark: Survival Evolved (PS4 Impresions)

Before I say anything I need to say this ... 'Ark: Survival Evolved' is still very much a work in progress. It will not be finished until Spring 2017, and even after that I imagine the developer will continue supporting the game with patches, and updates. To date, the game has received many such updates including new crafting items, new environments/servers, and new beasts of burden (or prehistoric creatures). As far as the state of the game goes I've played both the Xbox One launch release of the game, and this newer PS4 port of the same release. In both instances I was met with initial confusion, a lack of control functionality comprehension, and a lack of mechanics comprehension. I did, however understand it was a first-person survival game at heart, and that it had "Minecraftian" elements embedded in the game's UI (User Interface), but with no tutorial or reference guide I was unable to grasp what it is I needed to do in order to not die or even to bring up the menus. I also realized in my aggravation that the game harbored RPG, and online competitive features that worked together in a server only presentation. Since it had been so long from the time of my former Xbox One playthrough though I met up with the same frustrating factors, and unfortunately that frustration ran off about 18 viewers from my Twitch stream. Nobody likes seeing some virtual caveman named "BeezleBob" wandering aimlessly around in a dark island jungle for 30 minutes straight with nothing to visibly see. Nor do they like hearing me rant and rave about a lack of explanation as I failed continuously to see the controller diagram available right in front of my eyes within the "OPTIONS" menu. Seriously Brad? ...

Battleborn (PS4) - Day One Impressions

As a Gearbox Software, and Borderlands fan I took a gamble on getting this MOBA hybrid upon launch. I knew little about it, but enough to have a basic idea of what it offered. I knew it had a separate story mode (unlike OverWatch), and PvP content. I knew there was co-op play, and for that reason alone I purchased the game in hopes that it could be a new gaming experience which me, and my Destiny friends could turn to. Upon getting into the game though I found both good, and bad things about it.

Destiny - House of Wolves (PS4)

It has been a while since I even bothered to touch Destiny, or dedicate any amount of serious time to it. To me it had lost it's appeal long ago when my fireteam members sought other friends to game with, especially when they had left me in the dark during the Crota raid expansion. To be fair though it was also partially my fault as I slowly, but surely drifted away from the game, because of the stress it caused as well as the late nights spending 5 hours trying to defeat a raid boss. Looking back through my articles I realize that the game made my yearly "Top 10" list shortly after launch, but in seeing that I know that's when the friendly co-op was going strong, and when the social aspect of the game was at it's funnest. What you have to realize is that Destiny made my yearly 'Top 10' list, because it was the perfect social experience, at the time. It got friends together, and helped people form online relationships with people they'd never known before. I actually met some Awesome friends through it. For that reason I'll always have a soft spot for the game's social features ...

Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare - "Impressions"

If you have been following my rants about the latest CoD release you'll know that I've had some mixed opinions this week. These opinions which favor, and insult the game for it's features continue to evolve as I type. Unlike most of the CoD games I've played in the past this was by far the most frustrating of them all due to it's complexity, and failed functionality. Taking a different playthrough path than what I usually do in a CoD game I opted to go with the game's Campaign from the start. I found for the most part that the Campaign was brilliant in delivery, but that it contained a few design flaws that sometimes would hinder my progress. Things like the lack of distinct objective direction, and the poorly crafted enemy/ally ID system really made the playthrough aggravating at times. Other than those issues the campaign was certainly the best the CoD series has ever seen, in my personal opinion. On the flip side, when it came down to multiplayer delivery though things got a bit messy, and half-assed.