Dying Light: The Following - Review and Best Easter Eggs

"I have love in me the likes of which you can scarcely imagine and rage the likes of which you would not believe.  If I cannot satisfy the one, I will indulge in the other."

                ~ Mary Shelley's Frankenstein the Movie

Every zombie inspired game needs to pay ode to Mary Shelley's Frankenstein because she made the legend of re-animated corpses socially acceptable and profitable.  I like to do is be different from the other video game bloggers out there.  In order to do that, I like to provide different content from what else is on the market. Dying Light The Following is one of the recent AAA titles that was release on February 9, 2016 that I had a chance to play.

Review
Overall, Dying Light: The Following is about Kyle Crane following a lead from a member of the Children of the Sun Cult known as the Faceless.  The lead is rumor about domesticate zombies and cult of villagers with an immunity to the zombie virus. With a low reserve on antizin at the base, Kyle goes to the nearby Harran countryside to see if the cult's cure is on the level the dying man said it was.

While searching for the cult, Kyle eventually runs into some needy villagers that want you to do missions for them in order to gain their trust.  Bandits have been raping, killing, and using the low wit villagers for entertainment during the outbreak, so the villagers trust levels are low for outsiders. Trust is big for the locals, and the more they trust you, the more they will help you or reveal information about the Faceless, Mother, and Children of the Sun.

Overall, the goal of Dying Light: The Following is to raise your trust level with the Children of the Sun.  As you gain the villagers and the Faceless trust, you gain new equipment such as a semi-automatic weapons, a dune buggy and a crossbow to assist you in your quest to restore peace and infrastructure to the countryside.  Once you have gained enough trust with the group, you will meet the leader of the cult known as Mother.

Mother will inform you that there was no real cure to the zombie outbreak/military experiment in Harran.  Mother will reveal to you that she was one of the original zombies that has evolved and can use mind control or telepathy on other zombies.  Mother used the pagan Children of the Sun religious beliefs of the villagers to rally them around her cause. In the end, she ask Crane to play God and destroy the world that exist or rebel against her. Either way, Crane must choose between taking away hope in a cure, a future or new beginning for all. Really powerful stuff.

Easter Eggs

While playing I notice a few Easters Eggs that I found quite interesting and I'm sure you will enjoy as well. I think developers tried to show in this expansion that even dwellers of the countryside enjoy and appreciate good movies from time to time.

1. Onur

He references one of the greatest lines in cinema history: The Room 2003

"I did not hit him, it's not true! It's total bullshit! I did not hit him! I did not. Oh hi, Crane"

The Room 2003: 

Johnny to Mark -  "It's not true! I did not hit her! It's bullshit! I did not. Oh, hi,Mark!

2. Harry Potter's Bedroom

Harry Potter's Bedroom can be found under the stairs.  Broom, wizard's hat and glasses included.

3. Lost TV series reference

"Not Lost: Just Exploring"

4. The remains of Indiana Jones

Explore the cave and you will discover the skeleton and whip of the archaeologist Indiana Jones.

5. A Van for Stuffed Turtle: Food & Stuff references the TV show Parks and Recreation

6. The Aftermath of a gang shootout references the No Country for Old Men

7. 15 Rocks can be placed on murals that light up at night.

Once you collect all the stones and bring them back to the room, you will be treated to a cut scene of a two chickens on a stick talking talking crazy to each other in a foreign language.  Eventually you are dropped off in a field and given 5 fission cores as a gift for the aliens night with you lol. 

Here is the link to finding the locations for finding the stones:

Fallout 4: Three DLC Add Ons Confirmed, Prices, Release Dates, Chance to be a Beta Tester!

Since Fallout 4 launched, it stands as Bethesda most successful title ever and that couldn’t have happened without you. It’s been truly inspiring, the stories, images and experiences that you’ve created. And now it’s time to share with you some of what they’ve created – the first series of add-ons: Automatron, Wasteland Workshop and Far Harbor.

Fallout 4: Automatron
Price: $9.99 USD | £7.99 GBP | $16.95 AUD
Release: March 2016

Premise:  The mysterious Mechanist has unleashed a horde of evil robots into the Commonwealth, including the devious Robobrain. Hunt them down and harvest their parts to build and mod your own custom robot companions. Choose from hundreds of mods; mixing limbs, armor, abilities, and weapons like the all-new lightning chain gun. Even customize their paint schemes and choose their voices!

Fallout: Wasteland Workshop
Price: $4.99 USD | £3.99 GBP | $7.95 AUD
Release: April 2016

With the Wasteland Workshop, design and set cages to capture live creatures – from raiders to Deathclaws! Tame them or have them face off in battle, even against your fellow settlers. The Wasteland Workshop also includes a suite of new design options for your settlements like nixie tube lighting, letter kits, taxidermy and more!

Fallout: Far Harbor
Price: $24.99 USD | £19.99 GBP | $39.95 AUD
Release: May 2016

A new case from Valentine’s Detective Agency leads you on a search for a young woman and a secret colony of synths. Travel off the coast of Maine to the mysterious island of Far Harbor, where higher levels of radiation have created a more feral world. Navigate through the growing conflict between the synths, the Children of Atom, and the local townspeople. Will you work towards bringing peace to Far Harbor, and at what cost? Far Harbor features the largest landmass for an add-on that we’ve ever created, filled with new faction quests, settlements, lethal creatures and dungeons. Become more powerful with new, higher-level armor and weapons. The choices are all yours.

And more important, that this is only the beginning.  Bethesda has plans for far more. More than $60 worth of new Fallout adventures and features throughout 2016.

Given the expanded DLC plan, the price of the season pass will increase from the current $29.99 to $49.99 USD (£24.99 to £39.99 GBP; $49.95 to $79.95 AUD) on March 1, 2016. However, if you already purchased the season pass for $29.99, nothing changes - you still get everything at no additional cost— the full $60 offering of add-on content for the original price of $29.99. In addition, if you didn’t buy the season pass yet, there is still time: anyone who buys the Season Pass for $29.99 before March 1st will get all $60 worth of content. This is our way of saying thanks to all our loyal fans who have believed in us and supported us over the years.

Want a chance to play these add-ons early? Bethesda will be running closed betas for each of the add-ons for consoles and PC. And you can sign up right now on Bethesda.net. In order to apply, you’ll need to create a registered Bethesda.net account. Bethesda will be selecting applicants in the upcoming weeks. Players accepted into the beta will receive a code to redeem the content. The beta is the full version (complete with achievements) and those participating will not have to purchase the add-on.

Beyond add-ons, we’ll continue to offer free updates to the game, including new features like the recent weapon debris for PC, and increased draw distances for consoles, as well as more optimizations to gameplay and quests. And something that we’re really excited about, a complete overhaul of Survival Mode that changes how you play the whole game: food, sleep, diseases, danger and more.

Also, Bethesda is hard at work on the Creation Kit, which will allow you to create and play mods absolutely free. They're currently testing both Survival Mode and the Creation Kit now, and more details will be forthcoming.

I can’t wait to play more Fallout! Love you all and thanks again for your continued support!!

Street Fighter 5: Tips and Tricks To Get Ahead of the Competition

"Ryu, you'll never find the answer you are seeking if you just proceed blindly.  Take some time, stop and think on your path.  Ponder where you've been and ultimately, where your fist will lead you."
     ~Gouken

"I understand that Master.  I'm going to work harder, and I'm going to get stronger!
     ~Ryu

For those of you that want to come and try your hand at being a Master of Martial arts in Street Fighter V, then here is a few tips and tricks to get you ahead of the competition.

Birdie for the Win
If you're like me and you spam those projectile moves or hit knee kicks until you chip away at an invincible opponent, then you will appreciate these tricks and tips.  In order to get the maximum return on your investment of learning character moves list then play as Birdie.  He has a lot of health and hard hitting moves that are simple to learn.  Half circle backwards or forward will do a lot of damage.

V-Gauge and Reversals
In Street Fighter 5, Capcom have introduced a new bar that sits on top of your EX Meter. The V-Gauge builds up as you lose health, so characters with low health (such as Nash) are able to build their V-Gauge up quicker than a more robust character like Birdie. This can be used for a lot of stuff, but one of the most useful utilization of the V-Gauge is a V-Reversal. This move can be executed by pushing forward and all three punches (or kicks, depending on the character) at once. It can be used in a pinch to escape from deadly combos, provided you're already blocking.

Don't Jump!
For some players. it can be tempting to jump forward into an opponent and open a combo. However, this can leave you incredibly vulnerable and open to a 'punish,' a combo specifically designed to take you down when your opponent sees an opening in your defenses. Most characters have a specific anti-air move that can shut you down immediately. It's a tough habit to break but once you gain full control over movement you'll be playing much better.



V-Trigger
Another use for the V-Gauge are V-Triggers, a mode that powers your character up and can grant new abilities that can change the tide of battle. This is not a comeback mechanic like the revenge meter in Street Fighter 4, which was used for instant, high damage Ultra combos. Instead, the V-Trigger activates more special abilities for your character; play around with different characters to find your favorite V-Triggers and understand the trump cards that your opponent can throw at you. My personal favorite is Ryu's Denjin Renki, which enables you to charge your Hadoken, and at full strength can break through shields and build up your Critical Arts meter to gain access to your super move more quickly.

                                     

Train in between matches
You can enable Training mode in between matches to ensure you always remain concentrated and ready to fight at any time. Spend that time breaking down your character: what normal attacks connect into each other? What could be a good 'poke' to keep distance? Keep these things in mind while in training mode, as when you fight against an enemy, every single piece of information is useful to you.

Things like knowing to do a light punch with a long range could take your opponent out of a combo, and give you an opportunity to fight back. Keep exploring your character in Training mode; the benefits will surely help you in the long term.



It's all about that space, no trouble
It's not a good idea to rush into your opponent, mashing every button as you move. Keep an eye on what they do when the round starts, try to predict what they might be about to do, or what they're trying to make you react to. The space in between the characters is the key to planning out strategies. Many characters have a projectile move that can be used to keep this buffer between you and your opponent, and you should only rush in when you can combo and keep the pressure on your opponent up. When they start to fight back it's called a 'trade' - when this happens it's usually best to put up that barrier of space around you again and recuperate from the assault.

Walking Dead Season 6 opener: Who Made It?

"Faith without works is dead"

- James 2:26

Wow!  This was by far the best action packed and story driven episode of the walking dead ever!  It really challenged my mind and integrated the events of the comic book well which was previously ignored for must of the tv series.  I know some of you are dying to know who died on this episode of the walking dead, so I will get to the point. 

The show opened with our first introduction to the Negan army holding Darly, Sasha and Abraham up.  Words were said and the situation looked like it was going to go from bad to worse.  Seems like Negan's group has control issues and don't like to be asked questions on who they are and what they do.  The gang's leader stated he had a history of killing first for fear factor and asking questions later, but he held back because felt the trio were "honest folks".

Darly was taken away from the trio to reveal what supplies they were hiding. Abraham and Sasha tried to ask their captures questions but all they got was hostility.  Soon the situation lead to Sasha's and Abraham's execution for questioning the Negan gang reasoning, but Darly saved the day by blowing up the bikers with a missile. Sasha, Darly, and Abraham survived.

The next scene was too graphic to show it all.  Basically, Sam had a panic attack in the middle of the horde and got his whole family killed.  This lead to a domino effect of death.  

On the talking dead, director Greg Nicotero said "Jessie sealed her family fate when she didn't train Sam to cope with the zombie reality that exist now."

Once Sam and Jessie got eaten alive, Jon snapped and attempted to take a shot at Rick.  Instead of hitting Rick, the shot hit Carl which caused him to lose his eye. Out of rage Michonne killed Jon, and she single handedly cleared a path to safety for a shell shock Rick and the injured Carl. 

A lot was happening at once, so it's hard to explain it all in sequence because continuity was not a strong of this episode.  After the wolf leader kidnapped he spent a good part convincing us he is crazy add, lol. He was challenged by Denise beliefs and courage while being afraid of his radical beliefs. In the end, he changed and sacrificed himself to save Denise. 

Glenn and Enid set out to save Maggie without weapons and gear.  Eventually they found a church with a strange message written on the: "faith without works is dead".  

On the talking dead director Nicotero said it foreshadowed that if they survivors wanted to save Alexandria, then they have to stop running away and defend it! This unleashed a domino effect butt whipping.  Enid found a gun and ammo hidden in a bible and with that alone they sat off to save Maggie.

Well Glenn got in over his head again. Too many zombies swarmed Maggie's hiding spot, and the zombies nearly rock her and Enid off.  Glenn sacrifices himself to be a distraction. We think we see the final moments of Glenn, but Sasha, Darly and Abraham show up and unleashed a cloud of semi-automatic fire on the horde to save Glenn.  Glenn must have a luck perk bc he seems to survive the most dire scenarios.

Following the injury of Carl, death of Jessie. Sam, and Jon, Rick goes postal and attacks the zombie horde alone.  Inspired by Rick's effort, the citizens take the streets to retake Alexandria from the zombie horde.  It was twenty minutes fighting!  Every able body fought the horde including the priest and Eugene.  No one lost their life in the battle.  In the end, Carl was alive but lost his eye the city of Alexandria was zombie free again.

A lot of questions were left unanswered and new threats like Negan presented the group with challenges that will be revealed in time or if you read the comic book you know a lot of death, chaos, war  is ahead.

 

The Walking Dead Michonne Video Game Secrets

"People with nothing to hide don't usually feel the need to say so"

                                                                      ~ Michonne

Valentine's Day will be the awaited premiere of season 6 for the Walking Dead TV series on AMC, but there is another interesting project i'm sure fans can be excited about. The Walking Dead: Michonne - A Telltale Miniseries stars the iconic, blade-wielding character from Robert Kirkman's best-selling comic books, portrayed in-game by award-winning actress Samira Wiley (Orange is the New Black) instead of Danai Gurira.

Development for The Walking Dead: Michonne was delayed several times because of a decision to take Michonne's character from being integrated into the storyline of previous Walking Dead game to a stand alone miniseries game for Michonne.  Haunted by her past, and coping with unimaginable loss and regret, the story explores Michonne's absence between issues #126 and #139 of the comic book. Over the three episodes of the miniseries, players will discover what took Michonne away from Rick, Ezekiel, and the rest of her trusted group... and what brought her back.

Press Release: The Walking Dead: Michonne - A Telltale Miniseries will premiere its first of three episodes, 'In Too Deep,' this February 23rd on PC/Mac from the Telltale Online Store, Steam, and other digital distribution services, the PlayStation®Network for PlayStation 4 and PlayStation 3, the Xbox Games Store for Xbox One® and Xbox 360® video game and entertainment system from Microsoft, followed by a release on compatible iOS devices via the App Store, and Android-based devices via Google Play and the Amazon App Store starting February 25th. The second episode in the miniseries, 'Give No Shelter,' will follow in the month of March, and conclude with the third episode, 'What We Deserve,' in April. All three episodes in the miniseries will be available for purchase at the cost of $14.99 USD or equivalent when the first episode debuts, including access to the second and third episodes as they become available.

Also, because of the development of The Walking Dead: Michonne, Season 3 of The Walking Dead video game will be pushed back.  TellTale games are really anticipating great success with this project, so they are awaiting feedback from consumers of The Walking Dead: Michonne to make future decisions on the development of The Walking Dead.

For more information on The Walking Dead, Robert Kirkman, and all of his titles, visit www.Skybound.com and www.TheWalkingDead.com.

Naruto Shippuden Ultimate Ninja Storm 4 Review Plus a Free Year Subscription To XBOX Live Giveaway

"Sasuke...do you remember? The entire village hated me.  One bad move, and I could have ended up just like you, and ended up all alone.  But I felt better, knowing there was someone out there exactly like me. I was happy to be your friend".
                                                                           - Naruto

Naruto Shippuden Ultimate Ninja Storm 4 is the game that concludes over a decade of entertainment from my favorite anime/manga.  MAJOR SPOILERS AHEAD.

Well, it's not a spoiler if you're a fan of Naruto because most likely you read the manga which concluded the series a few months ago.  Unfortunately, the TV series is doing what it does best which is continue two consecutive seasons of spoilers to drag the series out and get more profits.

If you stuck to the manga, then you won't be disappointed nor surprised at what you will see when you play Naruto Shippuden Ultimate Ninja Storm 4.  You get to the story of an immature outcast boy develop into a respected leader of his community by overcoming obstacles and gained the trust of various citizens in the ninja world.

Story
Due to their beliefs/Nindo (way of the ninja), Sasuke and Naruto quarrel throughout Naruto and Naruto Shippuden.  Sasuke was a realist that saw the world for what it is, and Naruto was an idealist that saw the world as it could be.  Unconvinced either view was correct, Sasuke eventually left to Team 7 up with exiled ninjas like Orochimaru and Madara in order to gain more power and make his goal come true.

In the end, Sasuke's beliefs were driven by fear, hatred and abandonment issues.  With all his family dead because of his older brother Itachi's "God Complex/sacrifice the few for greater good", Sasuke embraced solitude and replaced fear with power, love with hate, bonds with solitude. In the end, what turned Sasuke around was Naruto's outreach effort.

Naruto tried hard to connect and stay involved with Sasuke, and eventually Sasuke allied with Team 7 again on the battlefield of the Third Great Ninja War.  If you're a fan of anime, then you will appreciate this joking reference: 'with all the main characters that died on The Third Great Ninja War of Naruto Shippuden, I thought I was in an episode of Akame ga Kill, lol'. Due to war and a culture of deliberate indifference, Team 7 were the last survivors until the sage of six paths revived some.

The real message I wanted to drive home was Sasuke's realization that no one can stop the inevitable cycle of war and hate.   It would have been easy for Naruto to attack Sasuke with the same hatred he gave. Instead Naruto told Sasuke, he was a member of his team, his family and his friend.  No matter how much Sasuke hated Naruto, Naruto accepted Sasuke as one.  In the end, Sasuke decided to work with Naruto to help the world instead of destroying it.  The series concluded with Naruto and Sasuke being cleared on their crimes, and we saw a glimpse of their offspring.

Gameplay
Naruto Shippuden Ultimate Ninja Storm is filled with very touching and tough love moments the only way anime knows how by kicking butt for 22 chapters.  I mean the graphics and improvements on the fighting system alone are worth a play through if you just a true video gamer.  I particularly played the game to see how the anime series concluded, since I don't like straining my eyes reading scans of the manga from uploaders.

Naruto Shippuden Ultimate Ninja Storm 4 is a solid game loaded with bonuses and surprises that will keep you interested even if you're not a fan of the anime.  It's a great fighting game that is different and gives you an experience with interactive environments, team beat-downs, and well-timed cinematic combinations that require accurate user controls to execute to perfection.  I won't rate the game because it's not needed.  JUST PLAY IT and ENJOY!

Below is a link to a site that will give you some gaming kits and free stuff.  Thank you all for you're support.  Love you all!!!

Xbox 360 Game Kit Giveaway

Top 10 New Release Video Games For February 2016

10. Street Fighter V - February 16, 2016  for PS4 and PC

Loaded with 4 new playable characters, tweeks to parry and power-ups attacks, as well as more interactive environments, and an expanded online system which is very important to me and other hardcore gamers.  I remember one of my biggest disappointments with Street Fighter IV was the lack of competition, to be honest no one was online, lol.  The online people online were trollers looking to level up off rookies.  I hope they fix that.  I don't like being in a pool with veteran players that looking to score points off me, b/c i got the game 2 months later.

9. Firewatch - February 9, 2016 for PC, PS4, MAC, Linux

It's an Indie first person game that is an adventure exploration game.  It tells the story of a park ranger going through a divorce and some odd things happen that you have to figure out as a big mystery that needs to be solved.  The main character seems a bit pathetic and has a co-worker constantly using suggestive sexual language to get him to loosen up.  There is a lot of mature content in this game, so it's not for the younger gamers. 

8. XCOM 2 - February 5, 2016 for PC

To steal a line from Drake, "by the time you read this, it's already too later".  It's out and its a good game.  There are a lot of improves to the game this time around. The game is highly detailed customization, loot rewards from fallen enemies, and a challenge that I enjoyed playing. 

7. Fire Emblem Fates: Birthright/Conquest, February 19, 2016 for 3DS

Two separate games that you can get bundled together but overall they are very similar.  First time in a Fire Emblem game where your customize avatar is the main character.  The whole storyline is based on you. There is a whole new area that will allow you to walk around and build a relationships with fellow characters. 

6. Plants vs Zombies Garden Warfare 2 - February 23, 2016 for PC, Xbox One, and PS4

The multiplayer of the original was an unexpected hit.  This time around there are six new plant and zombie classes, a zombie version of zombie Ops called graveyard ops, 24 player mode and you can play solo.  You don't only have to play online.  It's a good family friendly game that all can enjoy. 

5. Naruto Shippuden Ultimate Ninja Storm 4 - February 9, 2016 for PC, Xbox One and PS4

This game is a major spoiler alert for fans waiting on the TV series to stop showing fillers. Basically this video concludes the final chapter of Naruto Shippuden, and it will give you a sneak peak of the new generation of Leaf Ninjas with Naruto as the 7 Hokage.  Yes 7th b/c Kakashi is the 6th Hokage. Haha spoiled it for you. The wall run ability is back, with the ability to break weapons and armor, elemental damages is in full effect with the ability to burn people and environments with fire is amazing.  The full cast from Naruto to Naruto Shippuden is there, so it's a fun time to have and enjoy.

4. Unravel - February 9, 2016 for PC, Xbox One and PS4

A physics based mixed with platform featuring a character that is made of yard.  The fact the character is made of yard ties into the gameplay.  You use yourself as a rope, ball, way to swing yourself around and solve puzzles.  It looks like a thinking game, and that means a challenge.  It had a huge positive reception at E3 so people are excited for this one.

3. Pillars of Eternity: The White March Part 2 - February 16, 2016 for PC 

It's an expansion from Pillars of Eternity.  I love RPGS so it's aligned right with what I expect and want to see.  It has higher level caps, new quest, new abilities,new companions including a new barbarian companion, and a storytime mode that allows you to cruise through the story without actually playing the game. 

2. Dying Light: The Following and Enhanced Edition - February 9, 2016 for PC, Xbox One and PS4

It's an expansion of the original that gives you an entire new open world the same size as the original world.  In this expansion, there are new weapons, enemies, vehicles you can drive and steal gas, you can customize the vehicle as well.  Also, there will be an enhanced edition that will include the original game, all the DLC content and expansion world. 

1. Far Cry Primal - February 23, 2016 for PS4 and Xbox One

The reason Far Cry Primal made the number spot is due to the fact that it is a game changer.  Name a survival horror action adventure that is sat in 10,000 BC!  Oh yeah it's on the level of innovations that have never been done before but done to perfection.  Featuring a storyline that is in another language with a lot of body language that you can appreciate mixed with a primitive combat system that consist of spears, bows and arrows, stones, and throwing objects there will be a challenge for gamers that are comfortable pulling out a gun and rampaging on the level.  There is a lot going on from tribal warfare to base building to taming pets/fighting companions.  Developers really tried hard here, and I expect the game to be the Game of the Year

Is Beyonce's New Video "Formation" too Politically Charge? - See for Yourself

With an expected stellar appearance at Super Bowl 50 from the world's best living performer, Beyonce, she has taken an opportunity use her celebrity to address America's social injusitice and hate made towards her family.

Beyonce's new video Formation alludes to the city of New Orlean's history—from visuals that conjure the free Creole women to Hurricane Katrina and her daughter.  The video opens with the clip features shots of Queen B lying on top of a sinking New Orleans police cruiser as well as a graffiti’d wall that says, “Stop shooting us.”

There’s also a scene of a black child in a hoodie dancing in front of a line of police officers in riot gear. At one point a man holds up a newspaper called “The Truth” with an image of Martin Luther King Jr. on the front page captioned, “More than a dreamer.” Blue Ivy Carter, Beyonce’s daughter, also appears in the video.

The video is viewable for now. so click on it below.  You know the tidal and Youtube war will have the video gone in a minute.  I never understand why you have to pay for what used to be free?  To me the social media is free advertising by fans that help drive demand for consumers to make purchase.

XCOM 2 - All You Need to Know Before Making Your Purchase

Are you a human or a number on a spreadsheet?

Taking place 20 years after humanity shockingly lost the war we played in 2012’s excellent XCOM: Enemy Unknown, you lead the rebel squad in a fight to overthrow a decades-long alien occupation of the Earth. In XCOM 2, you march a four to six-person squad into battle against -superior alien forces.

What I love the most about the XCOM series is its unpredictability and dare of attachment to your customized soldiers. While playing I consider myself a tough as nails Commander that makes the best decision possible given the intel i have on my enemy. But XCOM will make you shed a tear while watching your squad of rebels get wiped out from the roll of the dice turn-based combat engine. Sometimes their is no upgrade that can counter your bad luck, or a poor decision that results in your squadie getting left in the open exposed to an alien's overpowered attack.

Turn-Based System
If you're results-oriented or a big fan of percentages, then you will love XCOM 2. Before you attack, you are given a display of your success rate percentage or your chance to kill and damage you enemy. Deciding whether to take cover near by half or full shielded areas reduce or increase your defense from enemy attacks.

Diversity Matters
Nothing like being enslaved and facing the end of the world to make you band together for the common cause of freedom, lol. In XCOM 2, developers wanted to focus on ensure diversity inclusion was a top priority.   Developers stated that gender, race and nationality do not play a factor in your attributes, so each character was designed with random attributes to benefit the squad.

In a interview, Firaxis Senior Producer Garth DeAngelis said, "The company philosophy is to build game experiences that stand the test of time—it just follows that most of our games have this natural representation of diversity. Since the world is a part of our game experiences, for both Civ and XCOM, it speaks to a global audience more naturally. But all in all, we’re a gameplay and experience-driven studio, and we simply want to create engaging and fun experiences for all types of people."

Intelligent AI

This time around, enemies are geared to compensate for the concealment advantage. The Advent Shieldbearer is a prime example of this: if an enemy survives and isn’t disabled, it’ll activate a power that gives it and every ally around him an energy barrier that’ll absorb some significant damage. You have to be careful about who you shoot first, because it makes a big difference who’s alive when they start fighting back.

When you take out two of the three aliens in a group, the last one may be smart enough to retreat and group up with another nearby group. The AI displaying a will to survive, gives you one more thing to leverage when engaging enemies: leave no survivors, or the next fight might be harder.

What is new?
XCOM’s five soldier classes received an upgrade with new and diverse ability sets. The Specialist’s remote hacking and healing abilities introduces risk-reward opportunities, especially against robotic enemies. Augmenting those abilities with weapon upgrades such as combining a Sharpshooter’s Killzone skill with a high-capacity ammo mod lets him take up a six reaction shots in one turn.

One great change is the way you have to manage the engineering staff by assigning them to specific rooms. They can accelerate build times or accelerate progress on things like soldier healing times or increasing power output. You can see their names and faces once in awhile, making them feel like people rather than a number on a spreadsheet, even if they don’t have unique stats. Unfortunately the science staff doesn’t get the same treatment – they have names, but after you recruit them you’ll never see those names again.

The character creator very limited with a small number of faces available with no sliders to adjust them, the only body type is peak physical condition, and accessories like hats and glasses are sparse. Oddly, modders will fix this problem.  

For base-building you don’t have to stress out about adjacency for resource bonuses.  Instead, the variety here comes from the layout of power nodes in the layout of your captured alien vessel, where the special power-granting tiles might be accessible or near the end.  Reading the map and adapting is important. Starting from a random location, your mobile base has to stay ahead of the aliens by darting around the map making contact with resistance cells in various regions, collecting supplies, and launching raids against the aliens.

Overall

With a focus on variety and replayability, XCOM 2 tried to fix all the complaints gamers had with XCOM.  The game isn't perfect with a few cosmetic glitches and bugs, but it can be fixed in a patch.  If you are a good decision maker under pressure and love a challenge, then XCOM 2 is worth the investment. Overall, with new tactical combat, unpredictable maps and randomized objectives and loot, the game is solid and has a lot of potential to keep those interested in a turn-based, strategy game hooked for hundreds of hours.

Can The Division Overcome the Disappointment of Destiny?

For those of you who played Destiny 1.0 you are a sucker for hype, lol. Bungie owned up to their mistake and tried to fix their lack delivery of quality gameplay in Destiny 2.0: The Taken King expansion. When you look at what Destiny had to offer, the true question is what went wrong and what can The Division do right to avoid the same mistake?

Destiny's greatest mistake was its ambition. Destiny was a combination of first-person shooter, RPG, open-world, co-op, competitive and MMO-lite genres into a single package, but the sum of its parts didn't rise up to the challenge of over-hyped gameplay it advertised.

Looks like Ubisoft has paid attention to detail and noted the complaints raised against Destiny and integrated solutions to resolve what it’s advertising for The Division. Let's compare and contrast Destiny with The Division.

Destiny’s game world is a series of playable interconnected fauxpen-world hubs with required inefficient two-step travel to reach: to orbit, then to the next location, even if it’s on the same planet. This means that Destiny players are tolerating multiple loading screens just to get to where they want to play.

By comparison The Division has an enormous open world that allows players to seamlessly switch between solo play, cooperative antics and competitive multiplayer, without two-step travel and without loading screens.

There are specific safe spaces where you can run into random players or your buddies and co-op to tame the dystopia of a post-pandemic New York City. It’s resembles the Tower from Destiny, except there’s no situations of dragging everyone back to orbit before going into a properly playable space.

The Division has a selection of emotes, just like Destiny, which range from options such as star-jump, to wave and surrender emotes. Also, players can use proximity VOIP, so you use your microphone to communicate with anyone in close proximity to your playable character. It creates a practical impact in terms of inviting other players to join you, or warning them about hostile territory ahead, it’s also a tactical tool that means you can hear chatty and potentially hostile players in the Dark Zone, and get the drop on them.

The Dark Zone is rumored to be the best-integrated player-versus-player-versus-environment (PvPvE) space, to date. Halo 5’s PvPvE Warzone mode recently had a crack at the mode-straddling space, but fell short mostly thanks to the pay-to-win feel of the REQ system, particularly as it relates to the RNG approach to scoring meaningful vehicle drops.

The Division combines the PvE looting of Destiny’s formula, with the PvP idea of Crucible, except that you don’t have to engage other players, if you don’t want to. In fact, like playing a Raid in Destiny, it’s smarter to team up and work with up to three other players to take down the AI-controlled enemies in the space. Then again, given that these supporting players may turn on you at any point in the Dark Zone, you’ll never be sure of who you can and trust, or for how long they can be trusted if you choose to work with them.

Unlike Destiny and your average RPG, The Division doesn’t force players to pick and stick to a predefined class, with all of the pros and cons that this implies. While players in The Division can specialize in terms of three roles that can be broken down into damage-dealer, damage-taker or healer, players are also free to mix and match abilities (and the gear that complements a particular play style) on the fly.

The Division’s game world isn’t your usual post-apocalyptic space, either, with the developer pledging that players will feel that they’ve made an impact on winning back New York City at the end of the campaign. Players will actually be able to see tangible evidence of their impact on the game world, even if it’s only limited to the base of operation and particular NPC/wildlife encounters, instead of the Destiny-like approach to a game world where absolutely everything resets. Completing a mission from the trio of story threads in The Division lets players unlock a specific station in one of three wings in their base of operation that leads to the unlocking of a new ability in the associated medical, tech or security tree.

There’s a greater relationship between narrative and abilities, it also means that the solo player will be able to visit their base of operation and see the fruits of their labor in civilizing New York City. At the end of the original Destiny campaign, regardless of class, you were given the same weapon and felt as though you’d achieved a whole lot of nothing in terms of the grander narrative.

In conclusion, The Division will deliver what it PROMISED!