I don't trust a single thing any Microsoft dev says. And I trust Halo devs even less. They've shown no true vision for a single project for years. They're so disjointed and scattered. They completely lack a cohesive vision for their IP.
It is phenomenal at what it is trying to do. Few games absolutely nail their atmosphere, let alone marry it to the proper gameplay mechanics and general loop. Arc Raiders makes it look easy.
These feel like the evolution of the animated pet backblings from years back. I'm willing to bet they will be annoying as hell in-match and most people will turn them off because they will inevitably give away your location or block your line of site/bullets at extremely inopportune times, making them a simple cash grab and battlepass filler and literally nothing more.
Kids will love them, they'll sell a ton, but the hardcore players will loathe them and Epic will give up on the concept in a few seasons.
No one gonna point out how poorly animated these hand-keyed animations are?? Looked rough as hell, though I love the concept of these sort of casual sports games.
This is the stupidest argument. Everything you do competes with everything else. It all competes with the limited, finite, unknown amount of time we have in life. Period.
What you choose to do at any moment has won against everything else you could have done. Period.
So very literally: yes. They compete. There is no argument.
I've played a bunch of this on PC and it is VERY good if you like the genre or just like ARPGs. (I will die on the hill that Survivors-likes are just arcade versions of "full" ARPGs, like Diablo on crack.)
I still can't believe how badly Sony failed to take advantage of their franchises this generation. They have so many great multiplayer modes across franchises and not a single one was able to become a game worth releasing. An abject failure of development and leadership across the board.
Never in a million years would I only want the campaign of a shooter known for its multiplayer.
And no, I'm not a Halo hater. My first Xbox was the translucent green Halo edition and I played every Halo game up until Infinite because I don't own a Series X, but I did try the multiplayer on PC.
I just don't like being asked to pay, again, for less of the content I enjoy.
Anyone else think a business adjustment such as tweaking GP as a service to more closely resemble PS+, where first party titles don't appear for months, would have been smarter than what they did?
They basically spent billions only to turn around and immediately undercut their ability to output content that can help them recoup that investment. It's like they shot themselves in the foot twice.
Now, they remain on the hook for software that excites consumers, but have fewer titles to offer AND they added a bunch of sunk costs to their bottom line.
Meanwhile, Sony is improving margins and selling gangbusters on their software and are able to continue to invest in their subscription platform.
Xbox should have simply pushed 1st party releases back from day one release on GP to entice the biggest fans to spend money. Maybe give them a 10% discount on all purchases or something as a benefit to subscribers. That would help soften the blow of having to buy more, but the hardcore would pay and margins would have improved. I feel pissing off hardcore GP subs and potentially sacrificing subs after what is essentially a price hike would act more like what streaming services suffer through: a few lost subs, but most just continue on.
They could have always then just kept tweaking GP in ways that enticed more purchases and retained their software teams - again, the personnel responsible for creating product in which to buy in the first place.
What's sad is, I don't think this is a hindsight 20/20 situation. I feel like it was the clear path forward. Unfortunately, Microsoft, like most software companies, is extremely poorly run and continues to simply fail upward.
@Mikeg1965 It was weird, but GTA had appeared on Nintendo consoles before, it was just that they were all Gameboy/handheld versions of the titles iirc.
I've always kicked myself that I never finished Scarface. I got it on Wii but then shortly after getting it, I got a PS3 and pretty much abandoned my Wii and ended up selling it without ever finishing Scarface (among many other non-classic Wii titles). Big whiff on my part!
@ItsAlwaysSunnyyy Scarface and Deathrow are my dream re-releases.
The Wii edition of Scarface used motion controls to let you hack people to pieces with the chainsaw. It was friggin AWESOME. Makes me want to track down a Wii and a copy of the game. It was that much fun to me.
I was in the market for one after my buddy told me how much he liked his, but I slapped a new Bluetooth controller onto the iPad mini we already had in the house and saved myself a bunch of money. Wasn't willing to go all in for a streaming-only device when I don't use it all that frequently as a function.
It's a 3v3 MOBA. I don't understand why companies shy away from descriptors that succinctly describe what players should expect.
Battleborn did the same thing by inviting comparison to Overwatch, which it did not resemble in gameplay nearly as much as people claimed, and it muddied the entire discussion about what it actually was, which certainly helped kill the game by not attracting the players it should have (MOBA fans).
While playing Control (a personal favorite of this generation), I literally couldn't stop thinking about how fun it would be to play with others. It subtly captured the feeling of having legitimate super powers in a game world that reacted to you in fun, dynamic ways (combat-wise). I wanted to experience that with buddies! I wanted an X-Men Danger Room-like setup or something.
I was stoked when this was announced, but why they made it a boring FPS with rote L4D-like gameplay without really doing anything to innovate or excite is beyond me. The general "weirdness" was never going to carry the game and that's literally all it had to set itself apart. The whole release and "vision" of it makes no sense.
This one stings for me. I have been so excited to see this come together. I love the art, love the genre, the gameplay looked good to me... I just don't purchase EA games. I was waiting for 1.0
@Oram77 If ND started to develop a live service version of their multiplayer game and did not have the foresight to comprehend and properly scope for the work needed post-launch, then ND is arguably more stupid than Bungie.
@Juanalf The fact no one at ND, Bungie, or Sony could figure out how to make Factions both viable and profitable after so many years of development is mind boggling to me.
The fact they (apparently) left the decision up to BUNGIE of all clusterf***s is just numbingly stupid.
The idea of playing this with Smash Bros-like controls actually puts this on my radar. I loathe traditional fighting games, but being able to pick it up and have some wild fun definitely appeals.
I've said this is their endgame for years. They will create "halo" devices like the Surface line, but an Xbox, and then let other OEMs also create Xboxes to bring the videogame division in line with their PC one. Doesn't surprise me at all.
I hope someone calculates how many GP subscribers leave the service and end up getting COD games on Playstation or Nintendo. Maybe they make more money per player that way and part of their strategy is to drive sales onto the platforms they stand to make more money per player on.
Honestly, what they need to do to make it a forever game is have a small team start working on a total engine conversion into something built for what they are doing. Their chosen engine is already unsupported. They're one of, like, 2 devs in the world who even use it. The skill set(s) needed to work on it and keep it running will disappear or they will be required to train developers on an obsolete engine, the skills developing for which will not help that dev in the future, which is a hard sell to potential talent.
If they overhauled the backend from the ground up and rebuilt the game, I actually think they could pull it off. But without taking that admittedly drastic step, I think the game will eventually break under the pressure they put upon it.
EDIT: I should have read the comments. Seems I'm not the only person who recognizes the need for a new engine! Lol
@clvr But it's not even consistent anymore. Activision sometimes lets stuff carry over, sometimes doesn't. They don't have a design philosophy or stance anymore, they cater to the whims of the loudest detractors (for better or worse) and it creates a worse situation for their consumers. How they even have any anymore is beyond me.
I love that instead of doing a pro-consuner move by simply developing a switch to let players turn off the unsightly content but still openly selling it (or simply making better skins lol), they managed to do a completely anti-consumer move by effectively negating player purchases from the last few years.
Say what you will about other games with these sort of skins, but at least Fortnite doesn't really just wipe away the ability to use content you paid for (outside of a few very rare circumstances I've heard of).
Activision has the ability to make CoD soooo much better than it is, especially with this sort of content and as a general platform, but it's like they're allergic to good ideas. Why would anyone hand then money for a skin that may end up being literally worthless in a year? It's so so dumb.
My understanding is that Marathon doesn't have much of a meta progression system. Without it, I don't think it will take hold with casual players the way they'll need it to to survive in the market.
I also think they couldn't have been more unlucky with their timing. They went YEARS without making a peep and then ended up re-revealing it right when Arc Raiders also came out of the shadows and basically ate Marathon's lunch.
Now with the delay, Arc Raiders will have bee in the market for at least a few months, making it even harder for Marathon to peel players away from other titles.
If Sony wanted their live service push to work, they should have embraced Early Access releases on PS5 so their titles could be literally field tested before they spent hundreds of millions of dollars on games that never saw the light of day or outright flopped entirely. They wanted to develop a huge hit but didn't give these GaaS games a chance to grow into games fans would want to play.
That small tweak to releasing them could have possibly salvaged Factions, Concord, Twisted Metal and more. Instead, we the consumer are left wondering wtf Sony is even spending our money on.
@Jrs1 Oh. Konami develops or publishes every game mentioned that has had awful or zero support for the system? Didn't realize that. Wow. They've really grown.
This looks really cool and I'm not even a fan of anime as an art style. But this looks fun and diverse enough to give it a shot.
Maybe the characters will be what you pay for and then their abilities change what you mechanics you can take advantage of? Or everyone can do everything but characters have bonuses for certain mechanics, encouraging you spend money to get access to their bonuses?
Am I the only player who literally never bothers to memorize the names of multiplayer maps? The only COD map(s) I know by name are Nuketown and Shipment (if that is the tiny one on a boat) and only because they tend to make such a fit about that those when they are included.
I just played this a few weeks ago and it hit all the right notes for me. Really liked it, but it certainly had some areas it could improve. Excited to see how they move the formula forward.
You lost me at "ho-hum Tiny Tina spinoff." That game played better and was more exciting than anything since 2.
I firmly believe that, at this point, these games should play more like squad shooters. They're built around co-op anyhow. Make it so that even as a solo player I can recruit allies to join me in battle (at least one, for goodness sake) that then affords the gameplay experience as-intended for all players. Give the player basic squad controls (think Mass Effect or Ghost Recon and you'll get the idea) and when combined with a protagonist with personality, you could create loads of great banter and story opportunities along the way. Maybe the ally you bring on certain story missions changes how later missions play out or something. Stuff like that would boost replayability and make playthroughs truly unique and feel less grindy.
They have so many opportunities to evolve the core gameplay that they're just not taking that, after 15+ odd years of this, I really don't think they have the balls to do anything truly exciting with the franchise. It will forever be stuck in 7-8s until they rethink what the player experience truly is. Grapple hooks and more platforming ain't it.
I've always argued that rogue-lites (and rogue-likes) are very much modern extensions of the classic arcade formula where you replay "the same" experiences using your knowledge to further your progress. It's just that -lites have added a meta progression system to ease that burden and provide variety.
This is a perfect example of that. It looks like a great modern take on side scrolling beat 'em ups, a genre whose fans have been eating well lately. Between this and the Marvel space one, I myself am very pleased and will be set for a good while.
@silversteel91 Yeah? Lead to worse player numbers and longer wait times? Know what else leads to that? Players not being able to play against who they want.
If "play with anyone" players - the majority if that's the default setting - are used as filler for the players who make bespoke selections, I don't think it would actually do all that much. I'd think it would be better to have more players with some slightly lower wait times than to have people leave the game entirely.
I've never understood why, in games that enable cross-play (as all multiplayer titles should), there are not individual toggles per platform. Why the heck is it always basically all or nothing with a lot of this stuff? Give the players choices!
If you build the ability to play WITH a platform, simply give players the toggle to turn that specific platform on/off. It's an extremely straightforward usability matter.
You may want PC and all consoles. Good for you. You should be given that choice. If I want PS5 and Xbox, cool. If someone else wants Switch and Xbox or Switch and PC, fine. I don't need to understand why. But they should be given those choices. Simple as.
@LikelySatan Same. I read them as inspiration/insight, but not the end all be all word.
I'm far more into smaller releases that don't get reviews these days, anyhow. But sometimes, stuff like this B4 nonsense just breaks through and hammers home how bad it really is.
I've never played a Sonic Racing game. Is there rubber banding? If so, how pronounced is it? I have literally never gelled with a Mario Kart game because of how horrendous the rubber banding is. It ruins any racing game that has it for me.
@Nalim Honestly, I realize day one (or pre-release) reviews are "the norm" because they drive clicks, but the state of releases nowadays makes them remarkably disingenuous far too frequently to be acceptable.
We as the consumers of both the review as content and the games as products need to demand better. There is NO WAY a game in the state B4 is in should be sitting at an 84 on Metacritic. It just shouldn't. In no world is it in an acceptable state for a AAA release. And yet we sit around being essentially lied to by big review sites, which only really serves them because they get to spin the backlash and the TRUTH into more articles such as this exact one we're commenting on.
It doesn't matter to the review sites if they're accurate. They just need the content to exist to extract value. But all it is is a disservice to us, the main audience. Why we put up with it is beyond me.
I haven't bought more than 3 games at release in the last 5 years or so and it's ***** like this that is exactly why. There is, almost across the board, no game that releases today that is at its best on day one. Not a single title. Nearly every single title will not only get cheaper over time, but will be patched, optimized, and usually expanded upon to boot. We have gotten to a point where we are LITERALLY paying for products in beta (or earlier if you're into early access titles), such as this right here. And it happens at every scale of title, every publisher, nearly every developer. And we just keep putting up with it. It makes ZERO sense.
There is, and I mean this, no reason to buy a game on day one of release. Not a single reason. You pay more for the worst version of the title, basically without fail. Why people race to get screwed over is beyond me.
Seems a tad bit odd to say Cosmic Ghost Rider is simply another character when that character happens to be Frank Castle, aka The Punisher, who is a VERY well known character.
I bounced off Hollow Knight so hard. I thought I'd enjoy it since it was so well regarded and I enjoy Souls-likes. But I REALLY don't like Metroidvanias and it just didn't click with me.
Happy people finally get to enjoy the sequel, though. Hope it lives up to the hype.
I am hyped for this, but the PCGamer review has me worried. It touches on legitimate gameplay system issues I think could prove EXTREMELY aggravating if you run into a bad spot. (The inventory system coupled with the save system, which is apparently overly generous, can trap you in situations mid-conflict where you don't have ammo/items to get out of being re-killed over and over.)
The original Perfect Dark is my most played N64 game of all time and still a top 3 most played multiplayer game for me. I played that game's bot mode for AGES.
The fact Microsoft was reviving the IP was the biggest, most exciting thing they had ever done imo. No other IP they own - even after buying Activision Blizzard - was as exciting to me. The fact they were reviving it in the wake of Cyberpunk and (at least seemingly) evoking some Cyberpunk/Deus Ex sort of reactivity in the game world... chef's kiss.
Now that they killed it, I literally have no interest in a single IP their collective company owns besides Diablo. And Diablo 4 has strained my relationship with that IP. So I'm barely even interested in that anymore.
They are, hands down, the worst company to own an IP you love. Because they will either ruin it, shelve it, or simply never do anything with it at all. I really, honestly, don't know which is worse. Because they all suck for fans.
@4fold Counterpoint: They're fun as hell and, for a lot of ARPG fans, they're like crack. It's the entire Diablo power curve from nothing-to-god in minutes instead of dozens of hours.
They are pure, distilled arcade-like fun. That's what matters.
Comments 1,710
Re: Call of Duty Continues to Handle PS5 Trophies in the Worst Way Possible
Sony straight up shouldn't allow this.
Re: Halo Infinite Is in Fact Finite, Dev Focusing on Campaign Evolved for PS5
I don't trust a single thing any Microsoft dev says. And I trust Halo devs even less. They've shown no true vision for a single project for years. They're so disjointed and scattered. They completely lack a cohesive vision for their IP.
Re: Poll: What Review Score Would You Give ARC Raiders?
It is phenomenal at what it is trying to do. Few games absolutely nail their atmosphere, let alone marry it to the proper gameplay mechanics and general loop. Arc Raiders makes it look easy.
Re: Poll: Is PS Portal the Biggest Surprise Hit of the PS5 Generation?
Love the idea. That's why I just strapped a Bluetooth controller around my ipad mini and saved myself a ton of money and got more functionality.
Re: Fortnite Introduces Sidekicks, Pet Pals That Join You Throughout the Game on PS5, PS4
These feel like the evolution of the animated pet backblings from years back. I'm willing to bet they will be annoying as hell in-match and most people will turn them off because they will inevitably give away your location or block your line of site/bullets at extremely inopportune times, making them a simple cash grab and battlepass filler and literally nothing more.
Kids will love them, they'll sell a ton, but the hardcore players will loathe them and Epic will give up on the concept in a few seasons.
Re: 'Every Possession Is a Highlight Reel': NBA The Run Brings Pick-Up-and-Play Basketball to PS5
No one gonna point out how poorly animated these hand-keyed animations are?? Looked rough as hell, though I love the concept of these sort of casual sports games.
Re: Talking Point: Is PS5 Really in Competition with TikTok?
This is the stupidest argument. Everything you do competes with everything else. It all competes with the limited, finite, unknown amount of time we have in life. Period.
What you choose to do at any moment has won against everything else you could have done. Period.
So very literally: yes. They compete. There is no argument.
Re: Mini Review: Halls of Torment (PS5) - Proof That Vampire Survivors Wasn't a Fluke
I've played a bunch of this on PC and it is VERY good if you like the genre or just like ARPGs. (I will die on the hill that Survivors-likes are just arcade versions of "full" ARPGs, like Diablo on crack.)
Re: Random: Fans Can't Believe Halo Is Coming to PS5 Before Killzone
I still can't believe how badly Sony failed to take advantage of their franchises this generation. They have so many great multiplayer modes across franchises and not a single one was able to become a game worth releasing. An abject failure of development and leadership across the board.
Re: Halo Confirmed for PS5, Remake of First Game Out in 2026
@Toot1st Yeah, thanks. I'm new to the series, as you can tell... SMH
Re: Halo Confirmed for PS5, Remake of First Game Out in 2026
Never in a million years would I only want the campaign of a shooter known for its multiplayer.
And no, I'm not a Halo hater. My first Xbox was the translucent green Halo edition and I played every Halo game up until Infinite because I don't own a Series X, but I did try the multiplayer on PC.
I just don't like being asked to pay, again, for less of the content I enjoy.
Re: This Is Why Xbox Is Bringing All of Its Games to PS5 Now
Anyone else think a business adjustment such as tweaking GP as a service to more closely resemble PS+, where first party titles don't appear for months, would have been smarter than what they did?
They basically spent billions only to turn around and immediately undercut their ability to output content that can help them recoup that investment. It's like they shot themselves in the foot twice.
Now, they remain on the hook for software that excites consumers, but have fewer titles to offer AND they added a bunch of sunk costs to their bottom line.
Meanwhile, Sony is improving margins and selling gangbusters on their software and are able to continue to invest in their subscription platform.
Xbox should have simply pushed 1st party releases back from day one release on GP to entice the biggest fans to spend money. Maybe give them a 10% discount on all purchases or something as a benefit to subscribers. That would help soften the blow of having to buy more, but the hardcore would pay and margins would have improved. I feel pissing off hardcore GP subs and potentially sacrificing subs after what is essentially a price hike would act more like what streaming services suffer through: a few lost subs, but most just continue on.
They could have always then just kept tweaking GP in ways that enticed more purchases and retained their software teams - again, the personnel responsible for creating product in which to buy in the first place.
What's sad is, I don't think this is a hindsight 20/20 situation. I feel like it was the clear path forward. Unfortunately, Microsoft, like most software companies, is extremely poorly run and continues to simply fail upward.
Re: For a Fleeting Moment, It Felt Like PS2 Gangster Game Scarface Could Be Getting a Re-Release
@Mikeg1965 It was weird, but GTA had appeared on Nintendo consoles before, it was just that they were all Gameboy/handheld versions of the titles iirc.
I've always kicked myself that I never finished Scarface. I got it on Wii but then shortly after getting it, I got a PS3 and pretty much abandoned my Wii and ended up selling it without ever finishing Scarface (among many other non-classic Wii titles). Big whiff on my part!
Re: For a Fleeting Moment, It Felt Like PS2 Gangster Game Scarface Could Be Getting a Re-Release
@ItsAlwaysSunnyyy Scarface and Deathrow are my dream re-releases.
The Wii edition of Scarface used motion controls to let you hack people to pieces with the chainsaw. It was friggin AWESOME. Makes me want to track down a Wii and a copy of the game. It was that much fun to me.
Re: PS Portal Still a Huge Success as Sony Reportedly Preps PS6 Handheld
I was in the market for one after my buddy told me how much he liked his, but I slapped a new Bluetooth controller onto the iPad mini we already had in the house and saved myself a bunch of money. Wasn't willing to go all in for a streaming-only device when I don't use it all that frequently as a function.
Excited for the 6's rumored handheld, though!
Re: Heavy Rain Dev Announces Competitive Multiplayer Game Spellcasters Chronicles
It's a 3v3 MOBA. I don't understand why companies shy away from descriptors that succinctly describe what players should expect.
Battleborn did the same thing by inviting comparison to Overwatch, which it did not resemble in gameplay nearly as much as people claimed, and it muddied the entire discussion about what it actually was, which certainly helped kill the game by not attracting the players it should have (MOBA fans).
Re: Control Dev Remedy Issues 'Profit Warning' Over Live Service Spin-Off FBC: Firebreak
While playing Control (a personal favorite of this generation), I literally couldn't stop thinking about how fun it would be to play with others. It subtly captured the feeling of having legitimate super powers in a game world that reacted to you in fun, dynamic ways (combat-wise). I wanted to experience that with buddies! I wanted an X-Men Danger Room-like setup or something.
I was stoked when this was announced, but why they made it a boring FPS with rote L4D-like gameplay without really doing anything to innovate or excite is beyond me. The general "weirdness" was never going to carry the game and that's literally all it had to set itself apart. The whole release and "vision" of it makes no sense.
Just a huge fumble all around.
Re: Troubled Hyper Light Drifter Dev Cuts Losses with New Game, Confirms Layoffs
@kyleforrester87 Well, I don't buy those, either 😂
Re: Troubled Hyper Light Drifter Dev Cuts Losses with New Game, Confirms Layoffs
This one stings for me. I have been so excited to see this come together. I love the art, love the genre, the gameplay looked good to me... I just don't purchase EA games. I was waiting for 1.0
Re: Sony's Acquisition of Bungie Continues to Be Questioned as Destiny 2 Falls Off a Cliff
@Oram77 If ND started to develop a live service version of their multiplayer game and did not have the foresight to comprehend and properly scope for the work needed post-launch, then ND is arguably more stupid than Bungie.
Re: Sony's Acquisition of Bungie Continues to Be Questioned as Destiny 2 Falls Off a Cliff
@Juanalf The fact no one at ND, Bungie, or Sony could figure out how to make Factions both viable and profitable after so many years of development is mind boggling to me.
The fact they (apparently) left the decision up to BUNGIE of all clusterf***s is just numbingly stupid.
Re: Preview: Marvel Tokon's Biggest Battle Isn't in the Arena
The idea of playing this with Smash Bros-like controls actually puts this on my radar. I loathe traditional fighting games, but being able to pick it up and have some wild fun definitely appeals.
Re: PS6 May Go Uncontested as Rumours of Next-Gen Xbox Cancellation Spiral
I've said this is their endgame for years. They will create "halo" devices like the Surface line, but an Xbox, and then let other OEMs also create Xboxes to bring the videogame division in line with their PC one. Doesn't surprise me at all.
Re: Xbox Squandered Over $300 Million Putting Call of Duty in Game Pass
I hope someone calculates how many GP subscribers leave the service and end up getting COD games on Playstation or Nintendo. Maybe they make more money per player that way and part of their strategy is to drive sales onto the platforms they stand to make more money per player on.
Re: This Exciting PS5 Single Player Game Is Not Resident Evil, But It Sure Looks Like It
How tf does John Wick literally show up? He even does his reload animations and "Yeah" delivery. Everyone will sue this company lol.
Re: Don't Expect a Helldivers 3: Arrowhead Hopes Helldivers 2 Is a 'Forever Game'
Honestly, what they need to do to make it a forever game is have a small team start working on a total engine conversion into something built for what they are doing. Their chosen engine is already unsupported. They're one of, like, 2 devs in the world who even use it. The skill set(s) needed to work on it and keep it running will disappear or they will be required to train developers on an obsolete engine, the skills developing for which will not help that dev in the future, which is a hard sell to potential talent.
If they overhauled the backend from the ground up and rebuilt the game, I actually think they could pull it off. But without taking that admittedly drastic step, I think the game will eventually break under the pressure they put upon it.
EDIT: I should have read the comments. Seems I'm not the only person who recognizes the need for a new engine! Lol
Re: Black Ops 7 Has Turned Down 'Big, Big Brands' for Crossovers After Fan Backlash
@clvr But it's not even consistent anymore. Activision sometimes lets stuff carry over, sometimes doesn't. They don't have a design philosophy or stance anymore, they cater to the whims of the loudest detractors (for better or worse) and it creates a worse situation for their consumers. How they even have any anymore is beyond me.
Re: Black Ops 7 Has Turned Down 'Big, Big Brands' for Crossovers After Fan Backlash
I love that instead of doing a pro-consuner move by simply developing a switch to let players turn off the unsightly content but still openly selling it (or simply making better skins lol), they managed to do a completely anti-consumer move by effectively negating player purchases from the last few years.
Say what you will about other games with these sort of skins, but at least Fortnite doesn't really just wipe away the ability to use content you paid for (outside of a few very rare circumstances I've heard of).
Activision has the ability to make CoD soooo much better than it is, especially with this sort of content and as a general platform, but it's like they're allergic to good ideas. Why would anyone hand then money for a skin that may end up being literally worthless in a year? It's so so dumb.
Re: Bungie's Much Criticised Shooter Marathon Will Skip PS5's New State of Play
My understanding is that Marathon doesn't have much of a meta progression system. Without it, I don't think it will take hold with casual players the way they'll need it to to survive in the market.
I also think they couldn't have been more unlucky with their timing. They went YEARS without making a peep and then ended up re-revealing it right when Arc Raiders also came out of the shadows and basically ate Marathon's lunch.
Now with the delay, Arc Raiders will have bee in the market for at least a few months, making it even harder for Marathon to peel players away from other titles.
If Sony wanted their live service push to work, they should have embraced Early Access releases on PS5 so their titles could be literally field tested before they spent hundreds of millions of dollars on games that never saw the light of day or outright flopped entirely. They wanted to develop a huge hit but didn't give these GaaS games a chance to grow into games fans would want to play.
That small tweak to releasing them could have possibly salvaged Factions, Concord, Twisted Metal and more. Instead, we the consumer are left wondering wtf Sony is even spending our money on.
Re: PS5 Pro Users Starting to Feel a Little Shortchanged After Poor or Absent Support
@Jrs1 Oh. Konami develops or publishes every game mentioned that has had awful or zero support for the system? Didn't realize that. Wow. They've really grown.
Re: PS5 Pro Users Starting to Feel a Little Shortchanged After Poor or Absent Support
It often pays better to purchase based on realities than promises and dreams.
Re: This Unreal GTA-Inspired Anime Open World Lifts Influences from Spider-Man, Power Slap, and More
This looks really cool and I'm not even a fan of anime as an art style. But this looks fun and diverse enough to give it a shot.
Maybe the characters will be what you pay for and then their abilities change what you mechanics you can take advantage of? Or everyone can do everything but characters have bonuses for certain mechanics, encouraging you spend money to get access to their bonuses?
Will be interesting to see develop.
Re: Call of Duty: Black Ops 7 Multiplayer Goes All-Out with 18 Maps at Launch
@captainsandman COD has characters? I think you mean "nameless chump [X]" where X is whatever C-tier actor they chose to model them off of.
Re: Call of Duty: Black Ops 7 Multiplayer Goes All-Out with 18 Maps at Launch
Am I the only player who literally never bothers to memorize the names of multiplayer maps? The only COD map(s) I know by name are Nuketown and Shipment (if that is the tiny one on a boat) and only because they tend to make such a fit about that those when they are included.
Otherwise... map names mean nothing to me.
Re: Borderlands 4 (PS5) - A Chaotic Return That Shoots Straight, Even if Its Performance Stutters
@Logonogo Oh thank goodness. I assumed since I didn't hear about that in reviews that they abandoned that from Tiny Tina's. Thanks for the correction!
Re: SEGA's Jet Set Radio Reboot Has Its Work Cut Out, as Bomb Rush Cyberfunk Dev Teases Its Next Game
I just played this a few weeks ago and it hit all the right notes for me. Really liked it, but it certainly had some areas it could improve. Excited to see how they move the formula forward.
Re: Borderlands 4 (PS5) - A Chaotic Return That Shoots Straight, Even if Its Performance Stutters
You lost me at "ho-hum Tiny Tina spinoff." That game played better and was more exciting than anything since 2.
I firmly believe that, at this point, these games should play more like squad shooters. They're built around co-op anyhow. Make it so that even as a solo player I can recruit allies to join me in battle (at least one, for goodness sake) that then affords the gameplay experience as-intended for all players. Give the player basic squad controls (think Mass Effect or Ghost Recon and you'll get the idea) and when combined with a protagonist with personality, you could create loads of great banter and story opportunities along the way. Maybe the ally you bring on certain story missions changes how later missions play out or something. Stuff like that would boost replayability and make playthroughs truly unique and feel less grindy.
They have so many opportunities to evolve the core gameplay that they're just not taking that, after 15+ odd years of this, I really don't think they have the balls to do anything truly exciting with the franchise. It will forever be stuck in 7-8s until they rethink what the player experience truly is. Grapple hooks and more platforming ain't it.
Re: Stylish Beat-'Em-Up Absolum Is Looking Fantastic in Gameplay Overview Trailer
I've always argued that rogue-lites (and rogue-likes) are very much modern extensions of the classic arcade formula where you replay "the same" experiences using your knowledge to further your progress. It's just that -lites have added a meta progression system to ease that burden and provide variety.
This is a perfect example of that. It looks like a great modern take on side scrolling beat 'em ups, a genre whose fans have been eating well lately. Between this and the Marvel space one, I myself am very pleased and will be set for a good while.
Re: Battlefield 6's Lack of Console-Only Crossplay Suddenly a Sticking Point for PS5 Players
@silversteel91 Yeah? Lead to worse player numbers and longer wait times? Know what else leads to that? Players not being able to play against who they want.
If "play with anyone" players - the majority if that's the default setting - are used as filler for the players who make bespoke selections, I don't think it would actually do all that much. I'd think it would be better to have more players with some slightly lower wait times than to have people leave the game entirely.
Re: Battlefield 6's Lack of Console-Only Crossplay Suddenly a Sticking Point for PS5 Players
I've never understood why, in games that enable cross-play (as all multiplayer titles should), there are not individual toggles per platform. Why the heck is it always basically all or nothing with a lot of this stuff? Give the players choices!
If you build the ability to play WITH a platform, simply give players the toggle to turn that specific platform on/off. It's an extremely straightforward usability matter.
You may want PC and all consoles. Good for you. You should be given that choice. If I want PS5 and Xbox, cool. If someone else wants Switch and Xbox or Switch and PC, fine. I don't need to understand why. But they should be given those choices. Simple as.
Re: 'Quit Game and Restart': PS5 Pro Has the Worst Version of Borderlands 4
@LikelySatan Same. I read them as inspiration/insight, but not the end all be all word.
I'm far more into smaller releases that don't get reviews these days, anyhow. But sometimes, stuff like this B4 nonsense just breaks through and hammers home how bad it really is.
Re: Sonic Racing: CrossWorlds (PS5) - PS5's Best Kart Racer Is Robust, Chaotic Fun
I've never played a Sonic Racing game. Is there rubber banding? If so, how pronounced is it? I have literally never gelled with a Mario Kart game because of how horrendous the rubber banding is. It ruins any racing game that has it for me.
Re: 'Quit Game and Restart': PS5 Pro Has the Worst Version of Borderlands 4
@Nalim Honestly, I realize day one (or pre-release) reviews are "the norm" because they drive clicks, but the state of releases nowadays makes them remarkably disingenuous far too frequently to be acceptable.
We as the consumers of both the review as content and the games as products need to demand better. There is NO WAY a game in the state B4 is in should be sitting at an 84 on Metacritic. It just shouldn't. In no world is it in an acceptable state for a AAA release. And yet we sit around being essentially lied to by big review sites, which only really serves them because they get to spin the backlash and the TRUTH into more articles such as this exact one we're commenting on.
It doesn't matter to the review sites if they're accurate. They just need the content to exist to extract value. But all it is is a disservice to us, the main audience. Why we put up with it is beyond me.
I haven't bought more than 3 games at release in the last 5 years or so and it's ***** like this that is exactly why. There is, almost across the board, no game that releases today that is at its best on day one. Not a single title. Nearly every single title will not only get cheaper over time, but will be patched, optimized, and usually expanded upon to boot. We have gotten to a point where we are LITERALLY paying for products in beta (or earlier if you're into early access titles), such as this right here. And it happens at every scale of title, every publisher, nearly every developer. And we just keep putting up with it. It makes ZERO sense.
There is, and I mean this, no reason to buy a game on day one of release. Not a single reason. You pay more for the worst version of the title, basically without fail. Why people race to get screwed over is beyond me.
Re: Marvel Cosmic Invasion Reveals Another Pair of Playable Characters in Latest Gameplay Trailer
Seems a tad bit odd to say Cosmic Ghost Rider is simply another character when that character happens to be Frank Castle, aka The Punisher, who is a VERY well known character.
Re: Hades 2 Will Do You a Favour and Duck the Hectic September Schedule on PS5
How is this news? We've known Hades 2 was coming to Switch platforms first for months now.
Re: Poll: Are You Playing Hollow Knight: Silksong?
I bounced off Hollow Knight so hard. I thought I'd enjoy it since it was so well regarded and I enjoy Souls-likes. But I REALLY don't like Metroidvanias and it just didn't click with me.
Happy people finally get to enjoy the sequel, though. Hope it lives up to the hype.
Re: Cronos: The New Dawn (PS5) - Captivating, Twisted, and Wickedly Entertaining
I am hyped for this, but the PCGamer review has me worried. It touches on legitimate gameplay system issues I think could prove EXTREMELY aggravating if you run into a bad spot. (The inventory system coupled with the save system, which is apparently overly generous, can trap you in situations mid-conflict where you don't have ammo/items to get out of being re-killed over and over.)
I'll wait for a few patches.
Re: Xbox's Perfect Dark Was Very Nearly Rescued by a Third-Party Publisher
The original Perfect Dark is my most played N64 game of all time and still a top 3 most played multiplayer game for me. I played that game's bot mode for AGES.
The fact Microsoft was reviving the IP was the biggest, most exciting thing they had ever done imo. No other IP they own - even after buying Activision Blizzard - was as exciting to me. The fact they were reviving it in the wake of Cyberpunk and (at least seemingly) evoking some Cyberpunk/Deus Ex sort of reactivity in the game world... chef's kiss.
Now that they killed it, I literally have no interest in a single IP their collective company owns besides Diablo. And Diablo 4 has strained my relationship with that IP. So I'm barely even interested in that anymore.
They are, hands down, the worst company to own an IP you love. Because they will either ruin it, shelve it, or simply never do anything with it at all. I really, honestly, don't know which is worse. Because they all suck for fans.
Re: Popular Vampire Survivors Alternative Halls of Torment Is Auto-Attacking PS5 Soon
@4fold Counterpoint: They're fun as hell and, for a lot of ARPG fans, they're like crack. It's the entire Diablo power curve from nothing-to-god in minutes instead of dozens of hours.
They are pure, distilled arcade-like fun. That's what matters.
Re: Popular Vampire Survivors Alternative Halls of Torment Is Auto-Attacking PS5 Soon
This game is dope as hell. It was feature-rich months back. I can't wait to go back to it.