Editorial: We Happy Hellblade

We Happy Hellblade

          Last week we talked about how Bethesda seems to be content with the fact that they’ve begun a descent into the shadiness that the more infamous Triple-A game publishers are known for. This week it’s time to talk about a different game beginning a descent into the shadiness that the more infamous Triple-A game publishers are known for.

          Variety is the spice of life.

          Anyways, here’s a tale of two indie games and how one went horribly wrong.

          You’d think that recent release Hellblade: Senua’s Sacrifice and the upcoming game We Happy Few would have little in common, and you’d be right. The former is an action-adventure game set in a Norse inspired world, and the latter is a post-apocalyptic survival game with a darkly humourous edge to it. But when you step back and compare the two, the contrast becomes even larger.

          First off, let’s look at the facts. Hellblade is an indie game released by Ninja Theory, best known for their work on Devil May Cry and the Disney Infinity sequels, released earlier this month to critical acclaim. Costing only $32.99 currently on Steam, Ninja Theory has described this game as an “indie-triple A” game, stating that they wanted this game to be able to stand up against stuff released by the major publishers despite being made by a smaller team.

          On the other hand, there’s We Happy Few. Developed by relatively new indie studio Compulsion Games, We Happy Few has enjoyed a lot of early hype and love from gamers, especially after Microsoft aired a notably dark trailer for the game at their E3 2016 conference. Despite this, the game has met with a considerably rocky road on the way to its recently announced launch date of April 2018. To avoid receiving the No Man’s Sky treatment from gamers, Compulsion decided to release the game on Steam Early Access last year to ensure gamers knew exactly what the game consisted of and what the developers had in their vision. While some were satisfied with the early product, others were quick to point out the flaws in the survival system, such as how the food and sleep meters decreased too quickly. Even still, the final product remained hotly anticipated by many.

          And this is where the path divulged between the two games, as this month We Happy Few shed its indie shell and was purchased in full by Gearbox Software. A triple-A developer that has earned itself plentiful amounts of scorn from gamers, Gearbox is most famous for both their wildly successful Borderlands franchise as well as the lengthy controversy after Aliens: Colonial Marines released and much of the pre-release material was debunked as little more than lies coming from the mouth of studio head and certified insane person Randy Pitchford.

          For better or for worse, Gearbox is a triple-A company, making We Happy Few officially become a triple-A video game. And with that, changes are a-coming. First and foremost, the price. When the game first released on Early Access, it cost $30, close to what Hellblade costs currently (and don’t worry, we’ll get back to Hellblade in a second). Once Gearbox got its hands on it, they announced that they had bumped up the price doubly to $60. Pre-order culture has also been added to the game, including exclusive weapons for those who pre-order the game, as well as a free exclusive theme for PS4 owners, and, of course, a Collector’s Edition that costs you $150.

          The Collector’s Edition also doesn’t include a copy of the game. That’s sold separately, because these publishers hate you and everything you stand for.

          And of course, a Season Pass has been added into the game, meaning that We Happy Few is actively avoiding my beloved Splatoon Standard and will require you to pay up front for every little bit of content that is released post-launch. Ugh. I could go on about how awful Season Passes are with how they carve up the game and require you to pay up front for content you don’t even know if you’ll want, but I’ve gone over it extensively before and I’m sure I’ll revisit it another day when it’s more on-topic.

          My biggest point here is how sad it is that We Happy Few, a game that was crowdfunded into existence via Kickstarter, has fallen into the tunnel of gamer despair with how much extra useless garbage Gearbox has slapped onto it. It’s also worth noting that the second the buyout announcement went up these new “features” were also sent live, making me feel that stuff like expensive prices, pre-order bonuses and Season Passes are less because they improve the experience you have with the game (spoiler alert: they don’t) but rather a cheap and easy way to snag some extra cash from customers.

          And so we return to Hellblade, a game specifically developed to demonstrate that you don’t need publishers so greedy that Scrooge McDuck would shake his head at them to create a triple-A masterpiece. The game is currently enjoying a flurry of good press from both critics and consumers thanks to how it delivers an indie game for $30 indistinguishable from the big name stuff sold for double the price. Which would you rather buy? A game that costs extra and will require you to pay extra for eventual content up front that you don’t even know if you’ll want or not, or a polished and finished $30 adventure?

          Think about it.

Song of the Week

Ai no Uta - Pikmin

Princess Principal Episode 8 Review

The Black Lizard Planet

(This review contains spoilers!)

          The big question since the first few episodes of Princess Principal was about Ange and Princess’s shared history. Were they twins separated at birth? Childhood friends? What was going on there?

          This episode finally answered those burning questions, and while most of the answers were the expected ones, they were delivered in a supremely satisfying way that created easily the best episode in a series filled to the brim with excellent episodes.

          The spy plot this week was only given a few minutes of screentime and only really existed to give the overarching plot a gentle push forward, as the girls got more of an idea as to what the Duke of Normandy is up to. The real meat of the episode was given up to the much more deserving plot: Ange and Princess’s backstory.

          While the backstory is fairly simple and something we’ve seen many times before, it does employ a very clever trick to make it all the more investing. At its core it’s just “The Prince and the Pauper”, but considering the fact we already know these characters creates a new and fascinating angle on it: since they both look identical as kids, there’s no way of telling which one is Ange and which one is Princess.

          The whole story is spent guessing whether Ange is the pauper character like we’ve been led to believe or if she was originally the true princess. Things are further complicated when the princess and pauper switch lives for a day and the people in the poverty district call the disguised princess Ange.

          The ultimate explanation is that the day the two switched places is also the day the riots broke out leading to the creation of the wall that separates the two districts in the world, trapping the former princess (our Ange/Charlotte) in the pauper life and the former pauper (our Princess/Ange) in the princess life. Trust me, they explain it way better in the actual episode.

          The switch and resulting chaos is everything I’d hoped the backstory of the two would be, even if the actual background was a little bit predictable. The fact they left it unclear at first which character was in which role is brilliant directing and left me hooked from the first moment. And like every great mystery, this answer leaves behind a question of its own: what happened to the original princess in between being blocked off from her home and adopting the Ange name for the spy work?

          Princess Principal continues to defy the odds and make better and better episodes every week. While this episode had a lot riding on it considering the build-up to Ange’s past, the way it was delivered was a directing and writing spectacle as is to be expected from this anime.

FINAL SCORE

10/10

Legendary

Re:Creators Episode 19 Review

The most anime anime to ever anime

(This review contains spoilers!)

          Re:Creators feels like the Steven Universe of anime right now. Most of the time it’s just fluff and filler that’s just a complete chore to get through, but every once in a while you get an episode like this that just completely blows you away with how creative it is at mashing multiple anime genres into one delightful piece of entertainment.

          This episode pulled no punches when it came to the epic battle, as Selesia’s romantic interest from her series entered the fray fighting for Altair. I’ve long felt that Selesia’s character has been kind of a waste, especially considered she’s featured front and center on most of the promotional material, but this episode was a very satisfying cap off to her small arc.

          Having her becoming more of a hindrance to the other creations by trying to stop them from fighting her friend (I don’t remember his name) is a great way to use the character to amplify the darker tone of the episode, as well as a lead up to her grand finale at the end. Despite Selesia’s character being sent to the sidelines in favour of characters like Meteora and Alice since the first few episodes, her send-off here hit pretty hard.

          I’m also pretty amazed the writers had the balls to kill her off like that, but again she’s been more of a supporting character than a main like the advertising would make you think.

          Alice also kicked the bucket this week after trying to one-on-one Altair. I’ll get back to Alice in a second, but Altair was my one big problem with this week’s episode. She’s becoming less of a cool villain with a backstory that ties to Sota and more of a Broken McBusted type of villain that can just deus-ex machina her way out of any problem. Magic bullets? She can deflect them. Ultimate fire attack? She puts up an unbreakable shield. Literally getting stabbed through the chest? Nope, she can revert the laws of physics!

          While a seemingly unstoppable foe is a great way to utilize all the special abilities of the cast, there’s a fine line that draws the point where a character goes from overpowered to full-on broken, and Altair crossed it with this episode. My big worry is that since it’s inevitable that Sota’s mysterious addition to the story will be integral to stopping her in the end, she’ll ultimately be destroyed by a complete and out of nowhere plot twist, and that’s just no fun.

          But anyways back to Alice, she’s definitely had the most complex arc of anyone this entire show, as we got to see her grow from justice obsessed warrior to a compassionate knight fighting for good. While the way the writers decided to finish her off was a bit cheap, her end was another great way to say goodbye to her character.

          All in all, this episode is the reason why I never dropped Re:Creators even while it got slumped with delays and filler. The action was brilliantly directed, the animation and music were both fantastic, and it was filled with fantastic character moments. I do think as a villain Altiar crossed the line and became a little too overpowered this week with her basically breaking the rules of physics to kill Alice, but other than that this episode really got me excited to see what the last three episodes have got in store.

FINAL SCORE

9/10

Amazing

Uncharted: The Lost Legacy Review

Girl power

(This review contains minor spoilers!)

          Let’s be honest, did any of us actually believe Naughty Dog when they said Uncharted 4 would be their last game in the franchise?

          While they’re still sticking to their guns that the character of Nathan Drake is retired for good (yeah right), the series is forging on without him in its first ever standalone title: Uncharted: The Lost Legacy.

          And fans of the quadrilogy will be happy to know that despite Lost Legacy’s shorter length and lower MSRP, this is an Uncharted game through and through, one so good that it even manages to top some of the franchise’s lower points and rank alongside 2 and 4 as the best in the series.

          This one-off adventure stars Chloe Frazer of Uncharted 2 fame as she returns to her home country of India in search of the mysterious Tusk of Ganesh. Early on she enlists some help, which arrives in the form of Uncharted 4 villain Nadine Ross. Together the duo quests through jungles and temples in search of the treasure, avoiding traps and insurgents led by the sinister Asav along the way.

          The story is nowhere near as investing or enticing as Uncharted 4, but it works extremely well for the game’s “one-off serial” feel. It never tries to be more than a simple adventure of getting the treasure before the bad guy does, and it’s incredibly fun to follow along. Even better, Chloe and Nadine’s chemistry is just plain fantastic. The two bounce quips off each other completely naturally, and you wind up loving both of them at the end of this game significantly more than in the games they debuted in. Even when a surprise guest star enters the picture in the last third (and no, it isn’t Nate), he feels more or less like a third wheel in the ladies’ story.

          Lost Legacy employs a lot of the same structuring conventions as the past four games, including puzzles, cover shoot-outs and of course big epic set-pieces. The puzzles are some of the franchise’s best, as it seems Naughty Dog has learned from some of the mistakes they made in Uncharted 4. At no point in Lost Legacy do you have to look up and down from your journal to the puzzle as you try to work out the solution. While most of them are fairly simple, there are quite a few brilliantly designed ones slipped in, including an excellent one involving statues and swords.

          Another interesting thing the game tries is that a lot of it is spent in an open-world environment. Naughty Dog must’ve known how much everyone enjoyed Uncharted 4’s Madagascar level, because a good chunk of the game is spent in a car with Chloe and Nadine finding shrines tucked away in the Indian wilderness. And you know what? It works. This entire section of the game feels like Madagascar on steroids, and it’s a ton of fun to ignore the objective and go hunting for hidden areas and finding tons of Uncharted’s ubiquitous hidden treasures.

          Speaking of that, it does bring to light the one major problem I had with Lost Legacy, and it’s something that bugged me throughout the entire game; a lot of the time it seems that the game would rather be “Uncharted’s Greatest Hits” instead of a brand-new experience. Don’t get me wrong, there’s a lot of great new stuff in the game, like the puzzles and the story, but a lot of the set-pieces feel extremely “been there done that” for those who’ve played past games. Even the grand finale sequence bears shocking similarities to an infamous scene from a previous Uncharted title. While I wasn’t expecting a budget title to really break series conventions, at times I was starting to get frustrated when I’d come across what should be an epic scene and find myself thinking “oh, they did something like that in one of the other four games…” Thankfully, this is more annoying than anything, as even the scenes with the most déjà vu attached are a blast to play through, especially the later levels.

          Uncharted: The Lost Legacy has proved many things, such as the fact that the series can and should go on even without Nathan Drake, and that even a title with a shorter length and a smaller price can and should be able to rival the best stuff triple-A publishers release these days. Chloe and Nadine’s story is delightful despite its simplicity, and the puzzles might just be the best in the series. Still, I think that the game should’ve played it a little less safe, as a lot of times I felt like I was replaying a lot of the big scenes that made previous installments more memorable. I also think that if you were one of the people turned away by Uncharted 4’s more cinematic nature that this spin-off might not be in your wheelhouse. But if you’re a fan of the series proper, a gamer on a budget, or just someone looking for an adventure to go on, Lost Legacy is another fantastic addition to the must-have games on PS4.

FINAL SCORE

9/10

Amazing

Star Wars Wednesday: Who the heck is Doctor Aphra?

Who the heck is Doctor Aphra?

          There have been thousands of characters created for the Star Wars universe ever since it began in 2017, ranging from such beloved names as Luke Skywalker, Yoda, Darth Vader, and Ice Cream Maker Guy.

          But because of this, sometimes a great character will fall through the cracks and be overlooked by most of the audience. So I’ve decided to start a new mini-series called “Who the heck is…?” where I pick a lesser known character from the movies, books, comics or wherever and explain what makes them great.

          For the first character I’ve decided to go with a more recent introduction to the comics, but still a very notable one. Doctor Chelli Aphra has been a powerhouse character ever since Marvel got the rights back for Star Wars appearing across multiple series and in crossovers, and is currently starring in her own standalone series. But despite this, she isn’t exactly a household name. So who is she?

          Aphra made her first appearance in Marvel’s first Darth Vader comic, issue #3 to be exact. She sort of acts as a reverse-Indiana Jones when we first meet her, stealing old weapons from museums (at one point she even lampoons Indy’s classic “It belongs in a museum!” line) before being offered a job by Darth Vader himself. Over the course of the rest of the series she jumps in and out of the Sith Lord’s life, as well as occasionally meeting up with the main trio and interacting with them.

          So what makes her a character worthy of being given her own series after Darth Vader wrapped up? Well, first and foremost her personality is fantastic. She works at a fantastic counter to Vader throughout the story, being chirpy and optimistic to Vader’s cold and calculating behaviour. It’s also really fun in the early chapters to see her trying flattery to try and not end up on the bad side of his lightsaber.

          But personally what I enjoy about her the most is her ability to introduce us to the more adventurous side to the Star Wars galaxy. While I haven’t gotten too far into her solo series yet, the opening arc of her discovering the secrets of Yavin IV was fascinating to read and hinted at a much larger mystical side to the Star Wars galaxy, sort of like how Doctor Strange added magic to the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Recently Doctor Aphra crossed over with the mainline Star Wars comic for a crossover called The Screaming Citadel, and while I haven’t read it myself, I’ve heard good things.

          Aphra is a fun character that has enjoyed a considerable amount of the spotlight thanks to her breakout role in Darth Vader, and from what I’ve read and heard about her solo series it seems she’s still in good hands. If you’re interested in exploring her further the entire Darth Vader series is available in various collections (and as I’ve said before it’s well worth a read) and her solo series is available at your local comic shop. If you’ve been looking for a way to get into Star Wars comics, following Aphra’s story is a good way to start. 

Editorial: Bethesda turns to the Dark Side

Bethesda turns to the Dark Side

          One of the first things you learn upon getting into playing games is that there’s a “rogues gallery” of sorts made up of publishers that are known to consistently employ shady and thrifty business practices to try and leech extra money out of your wallet. EA, Ubisoft, Warner Brothers, Konami, Activision, all of them notorious for their own sinister reasons. Even big names like Sony and Microsoft have dipped their toes into the swamp of scumbags, primarily with the respective announcements of the PS3 and Xbox One.

          And with the advent of this year’s E3 plus a year full of clumsy and consumer unfriendly tactics, another publisher has decided to join the club, that being Bethesda.

          It’s sad to see them fall, too. Bethesda has made a name for themselves in the last decade by creating huge games that give you more than enough bang for your buck, extremely stellar reinventions of classic franchises, and heavy support for fan creations like mods and the like.

          So what happened?

          Things seemed fine until the launch of last year’s Doom. That game launched with the review embargo breaking on the same day as release, which is usually a sign of a publisher not having faith in their product. Not allowing any reviews to be released before the game is released to consumers allows these publishers to earn themselves some free money, without having to worry about potential consumers being turned off by a potentially negative consensus. An infamous example of this is when the universally over-hyped No Man’s Sky launched with no reviews from professional outlets to its name, resulting in a months-long battle as fans desperately tried to get their money back for a game they felt was far from what was promised in pre-released material.

          So Doom launched with no reviews to its name, but when the embargo eventually broke the game was praised nearly unanimously for its graphics, music, breaking of genre stereotypes and the way it felt like a true successor to the 1993 original. The higher-ups at Bethesda took note and announced that, as of October of last year, no reviews will be allowed prior to public launch for any of their games. If a game is being published by Bethesda, the review embargo breaks at midnight on launch day, exactly when the game goes live on most digital storefronts.

          I’ve gone over why this is a problem before, but for those new to class I feel it’s worth a look again. This is contributing to the game industry similarly to what I spoke about last week concerning Middle Earth: Shadow of War and loot boxes: what I’m now going to be calling the continued “casino-ization” of the industry. Publishers love it when gamers throw money at them blindly, without being concerned about randomly generated content as seen in loot boxes or when you buy a product early without first looking at reviews, especially if it’s a pre-order long before a game hits store shelves.

          Buying Bethesda games has now become a gamble not unlike playing the slots at your local casino. Without the profession critics there to assist you with your purchase on Day 1, your best hope is to see what random people are saying on sites like Metacritic and hope and pray you can glean some reasonable criticism from the constant and unhelpful 10/10s and 0/10s from people who probably haven’t even played the thing.

          Courtesy to Bethesda, they did say that if reviews are really important to you before making a purchase no one is stopping you from waiting, but ultimately this rings hollow as Bethesda is an active participant in pre-order culture. As I found in my “Rush Job” editorial, both Dishonored 2 and Prey utilized the review policy, and both of those games had bonuses included if you pre-ordered, ultimately meaning Bethesda basically said “you don’t need to buy our games on Day 1…but look at all this cool stuff you get if you do!”

While Bethesda hasn’t suffered a game being received poorly overall by critics ever since the review policy went into effect (although I’d argue Prey deserved it), it’s only a matter of time before they release a bomb. It’s just inevitability. One day they’ll put out an overall disappointing game, and it’ll be No Man’s Sky all over again.

          And of course from that point things went from bad to worse.

          This year at Bethesda’s entirely unnecessary E3 conference they announced their “Creation Club”, a way for users to create paid-for mods to be used in Skyrim and Fallout 4. After abandoning the project a few years ago because of the backlash it caused from both supporters and oppressors to the idea, apparently Bethesda is strapped for cash as it’s now giving you the option to give them even more money for user-created content.

          What, did you really think that money’s going back to the mod creators? No, no, of course not. While they’ll surely get some of the revenue, most of the money earned from Creation Club will inevitably make its way into the pockets of the higher-ups.

          I think the biggest issue with Bethesda is that they’ve gotten too comfortable for their own good. The monumental success of their recent Fallout games and Skyrim have definitely earned them a place in gaming history, they’re making the same mistake that Sony did when they first announced the PS3 at a ludicrous price and Microsoft did when they attached all those awful extras nobody wanted when they announced the Xbox One: they think gamers will follow them blindly because they’re Bethesda.

          But companies need to remember that even the juggernauts of the industry were dealt huge blows to the chest after they got a bit too prideful for their own good. While the PS3 eventually found success after the price thankfully dropped, it got off to such a slow start that both the Nintendo Wii and the Xbox 360 were still running circles around it when the console generation came to an end. Conversely, the success of the 360 went to Microsoft’s head, and the Xbox One nearly died right out of the gates thanks to the proposed inclusion of always-online play and the barring of used games. Thanks to this, Sony was able to take the lead once again with the uber-successful PS4, and to this day Microsoft is still trying to bounce back through things like cross-play with PC and 4K visuals.

          The highest seat in the pyramid is always the comfiest, but that usually means that the one sitting in there will often be too distracted with the fact they have the seat that they can’t be smart enough to stop someone from stealing it. This is what happened to Sony in 2006 when they were riding the success of the PlayStation 2, and Microsoft in 2013 as the Xbox 360’s strong life was coming to a close. Bethesda knows they’ve become a name gamers can trust thanks to the games they put out, but that doesn’t mean they’re past becoming the next EA or Ubisoft. The consumer-hostile review policy and ways they’ve been trying to get more money from their customers feel like something you’d see from gaming’s most dastardly duo, but no, it’s coming from what was once a respected name in the business.

          Honestly, I think a big-name failure is just what Bethesda needs to get back on track. That’s what forced Sony and Microsoft to adjust the consoles as needed, and both of them are doing pretty well for themselves right now. Eventually Bethesda will release a bad game with no reviews on Day 1, people will buy it, and the backlash just might be enough to set things right again.

Song of the Week

Violence (Alternate) - Doom

Princess Principal Episode 7 Review

From darkness comes light

(This review contains spoilers!)

          After last week’s ultra-brutal and serious episode, it seems only fitting that Princess Principal would return with easily the most light hearted episode we’ve seen from them to date. This episode, much like the rest of the series, was a complete joy to watch from start to finish, but the unique setting allowed for it to have a much more comfortable feel as opposed to the more spy-oriented episodes.

          A mission to track down a serial killer leads the girls to posing as workers at a laundry mill full of colourful characters. While they attempt to track the villain by finding his coat, they quickly become fast friends with the rest of the girls, and things quickly turn into a fun “save the orphanage” style story with Chise as the leader.

          Even for such a usually cheerful and fun series like this, this episode was very light. Barely any spy stuff was present until the very end when the murderer is revealed, and more of the time is spent building the relationship between the spy team and the laundry girls. I especially enjoyed Ange’s hilarious cover personality and really wish we got to see a bit more of it.

          Seeing the extents the team went through for the sake of the mill was also very nice, and really contributed to the “feel-good” nature of the episode. By this point I like all five members of the main cast to an extent (including Beatrice, who I wrote off as a flow-breaking character a few weeks back), and this episode definitely did a great job at making them seem even more likable.

          My one gripe with the episode is that ultimately it isn’t the most groundbreaking or memorable. Yes, it was cute and fun while I watched it, but I’m not sure I’ll remember it as significantly as, say, Episode 5’s train chase. While it’s not a bad episode by any means (far from it), I would’ve liked a bigger reason to see it again should I ever rewatch the series.

          Despite this episode being essentially a raindrop in Princess Principal’s lake, it’s a very sweet episode that’s well worth seeing. The characters are all delightful and the setting is very heartwarming, bringing to mind classic orphanage stories for kids. It’s just an all-around fantastic episode.

FINAL SCORE

9/10

Amazing

Re:Creators Episode 18 Review

Zzz…

(This review contains spoilers!)

          The fact that this show is reaching its end really snuck up on me. We only have four episodes remaining in our adventure with the Creations, but it really feels like the show is more or less stumbling its way to the end instead of preparing for a grand finale.

          This week was the episode of people turning to the good side, as Alice, Blitz, Magane and Yuya’s rival all look to be joining the good side for one reason or another. While it’s nice to see different sides of these characters, I’ll admit I’m kind of disappointed we’re seeing Magane flipping. She was a personality powerhouse in the first half of the series, dominating entire episodes with her devious charm. I really wish we’d have gotten more of a reason for her to befriend Sota instead of one conversation and she’s apparently good.

          Imagine if in Kill la Kill Nui decided to fight alongside Ryuko at the very end. I don’t know about you, but I’d feel pretty ripped off we lost such an excellent villain.

          Yuya was the surprise star of the episode, as his final showdown with his rival took up much of the episode. Again, I really think we should’ve spent more time setting up the rival character. He just kind of showed up so he could have this one fight with Yuya, and we know absolutely nothing about his character. He’s a boss fight for the sake of being a boss fight.

          Despite this, he’s the recipient of one of the funniest lines in the entire series. While I won’t spoil it, the setup and delivery is pitch-perfect, and had me laughing out loud.

          Honestly, my biggest problem with this episode was that I haven’t been given enough reason to care. Magane turning good just disappointed me, Yuya’s rival has no personality and only seems to exist to set up a joke, albeit a great one, and I know Altair isn’t going down until at least the penultimate episode. If we’re in for several episodes of these characters throwing themselves at each other with no development, I think we’re in for a bad time.

FINAL SCORE

4/10

Mediocre

Editorial: When to hold ‘em, when to fold ‘em, and when to loot box ‘em

When to hold ‘em, when to fold ‘em, and when to loot box ‘em

          Paying money for a little bit of extra stuff has been in gaming for years now, and the most popular example recently has been the idea of the loot box. If you’ve never encountered one (consider yourself lucky), they basically work as a way to earn yourself some cosmetics, in-game cash, and various other stuff.

          The trick is that it’s completely random what you’ll get. Like opening packs for collectible card games back in the day, you might get doubles of stuff you’ve seen dozens of times before, or you might win the lottery and find a box jam packed with rare gear. It’s entirely up to the computer. Overwatch is one of the more notable games to have used this system to dole out cosmetic items, previously in the past employing some shady tactics to coax players into handing over money to pay more. In the first Summer Games event one year ago, all the exclusive skins couldn’t be purchased with in-game cash, instead only being available through loot boxes. Thankfully, the outcry among fans was so massive that this policy was reversed when the next event arrived a few months later.

          But that hasn’t stopped other developers from sticking these glorified slot machines everywhere. Enter Middle-earth: Shadow of War, the upcoming sequel to the critical and commercial darling 2014’s Shadow of Mordor. This sequel has been in quite the hot spot recently after Warner Bros. announced they were turning Lord of the Rings’ famous spider Shelob into a stereotypical looking hot video game sorceress, but that’s a story for another day. To paraphrase Gandalf, while the game was already in the frying pan from this controversy, they were quickly launched into the fire when publisher Warner Bros. announced that loot boxes would become an integral part of the Shadow of War experience.

          The previous game sold itself almost entirely on the special “Nemesis system”, a way for orcs and uruks you’ve previously defeated to return later on with new battle scars and a chip on their shoulder. Shadow of War enhances on this much-lauded system by flipping it on its head in a way: you can now take the orcs you find through the nemesis system and switch them over to your side, creating an orc army at your fingertips.

          Of course, Warner Brothers looked at all those orcs you’re going to have to upgrade and thought “Now there’s a way we can milk these gamers dry!”

          Because no money will ever be enough money for these publishers, Shadow of War will be including a “market” where players can fork over real-world cash to buy stuff like EXP boosts and loot boxes that include special weapons and even entirely new orcs for your army.

          This is a problem on so many levels. When it comes to the loot box insanity most games have justification for them. Overwatch has exclusively cosmetic items in their boxes, abstaining from any way the players can use their bank account to improve at the game. Free-to-play games like Hearthstone usually get the okay for extra microtransactions because, well, you paid no money for them up front. The developers have to make back the cost of development somehow.

          But Shadow of War is neither of those. This is a triple-A game that’ll almost certainly cost upwards of $70 at launch with extra ways to spend money later on. Looking at what the microtransactions are in this game, you’re basically paying for cheat codes that used to be free. The game is also an entirely singleplayer experience, so there’s no extra advantage you’d get by paying money except to make the campaign easier for you.

          There’s always the argument of “don’t like it, don’t buy it”, but this really concerns me about what other developers will use this tactic in their exclusively singleplayer games. I’ve no doubt that the Terrible Trio of EA, Ubisoft and Bethesda are chomping at the bit to insert microtransactions into their next game, and who’s to say that Sony or Microsoft won’t start forcing them into their second-party games as well.

          Let me just leave you with this. Earlier this year Horizon: Zero Dawn proved to everybody that a tremendous singleplayer game can launch with no Day 1 DLC or microtransactions and still be a critical and commercial success. I think it’s about time everyone else followed Guerilla Games’ example instead of Warner Bros.

Song of the Week

          Asgore - Undertale

Princess Principal Episode 6 Review

Father/daughter bonding time

(This review contains spoilers!)

          I’ve noticed recently that Princess Principal puts a pretty heavy emphasis on how the girls relate to their fathers. We’ve already seen extensively how Beatrice and Chise deal with them, and this week it was time to introduce Dorothy’s father.

          This episode is hinged entirely on Dorothy, with Beatrice acting in a supporting role and Ange, Chise and Princess in brief cameos to either provide comic relief or slightly further the overarching plot, which, as far as I’m concerned, is all they really needed to do. This was Dorothy’s story, and while it didn’t compare to some of the better episodes we’ve seen, it was still a very heartfelt and surprisingly dark episode.

          This episode had much more of a “spy noir” feel to it, with few big action setpieces, muted colours as opposed to the usual steampunk-inspired art style and more time spent exploring Dorothy’s father as a character. Overall it felt less like the usual steampunk setting and more like a Victorian Sherlock Holmes episode. While this isn’t really something I’d like to see more of, for this one time it worked significantly well for the story they were telling.

          Dorothy’s relationship with her drunk abusive father gave them a fun rapport, albeit one I wish we’d gotten more of. Neither of them really grow as characters throughout the episode aside from a very brief moment towards the end. Dorothy begins and ends the episode with arguably the same feelings towards him, and while it looks like Dad is about to change his ways towards the end, he never really makes it clear towards Dorothy that he’s going to try to be a better person, leaving their relationship stagnant. While I really enjoyed the way the dad’s character was build and subsequently sent off in the episode, I feel that there was a bit of wasted potential in not demonstrating to Dorothy he’d improved.

          Despite that, the ending to this episode is just plain mind-blowing. Them dropping the ball with the spelled-out reveal of Chise’s father last week was more than made up for by how this episode ends, and I dare not spoil it. It’s not a big plot revelation or a game changing twist or anything like that. It’s just a fantastic character moment that hits you hard right in the chest and is the perfect way to cap off a suitably dark episode.

          This episode sticks out from the rest of Princess Principal due to the sharp change in tone and lack of main characters like Ange, and while it doesn’t quite match up to the best episodes we’ve seen from this series thus far, the darker nature of this episode led to a lot of great character moments, including possibly one of the most satisfying endings to an episode this show’s seen yet.

FINAL SCORE

8/10

Great

Re:Creators Episode 17 Review

It’s finally back!

(This review contains spoilers!)

          To say Re:Creators has been in a tight spot throughout summer is like saying grass is green at this point. Between the fact the plot unceremoniously ground to a halt after reaching the halfway point, the goofy yet not super memorable recap episode, and two weeks on break, while the show is still far from bad, it’s hit quite the bumpy road on the way to the end.

          The good news is that while this grand return still isn’t the show at its best, it’s a decent action sequence with a fantastic conclusion, as well as some great promises for what’s to come.

          The majority of the episode is given up to a big fight between the heroes and villains, as the plan to trap Altair in a magical cage is successful. It’s a decent battle, but not one of the more notable ones. A lot of the characters just kind of throw themselves at each other and then the camera cuts away. The first interaction between Yuya and his in-universe rival is nice to see, but ultimately I think this big fight lacked a lot of the “wow” factor it should’ve had what with all the build-up we went through to get here. Maybe this is the fault of the breaks they’ve been taking killing the momentum? Who knows, but I can safely say I’ve seen better from this anime.

          Much better is the last few minutes after the fight has ended and Blitz, a character who’s gone basically the whole show thus far without any development, finally decides to do something and confronts his creator about why his daughter had to die. Their conversation about how the world she creates isn’t for his benefit but for the audiences is fantastically written, and definitely ranks up as one of the show’s best. It also ends in a big twist, as what appears to be Blitz’s daughter arriving. The question is though, is she the real deal or a cosplayer they dressed up to try to get him on their side? Only time will tell, but if this is the beginning of a character arc for Blitz, it kicks off in the best way possible.

          I think a lot of this episode’s shortcomings are thanks to the extended wait we had to get here. When you build up an episode as much as they have and then make the viewing audience wait extra for it, if you don’t deliver on something worth the wait, people are bound to be disappointed. While the fight sequence was choreographed well enough, it lacked a significant amount of “oomph” that we’ve seen from this show before, leading to it feeling less cool than I’m sure the showrunners wanted. I think without the ending with Blitz this episode probably wouldn’t have been as good as it is.

FINAL SCORE

6/10

Okay

Miitopia Review

Saving face

(This review contains minor spoilers!)

          Miitopia is a concept I’m frankly stunned Nintendo hasn’t capitalized on sooner. The Miis have been around for over a decade now, but not until this year have we seen a full-blown game starring them that isn’t a weird Sims style watch-and-wait game like Tomodachi Life was. And while Miitopia has a lot of fun with the wacky concept of an RPG world populated entirely by a cast of your choosing, the fun soon wears thin as the game starts to feel like it’s running in a circle and the laughs are fewer and further between.

          This game bears plenty of similarities to the previous Mii game for the 3DS, that being 2014’s Tomodachi Life. The same quirky and at times even sarcastic sense of humour present in that game is back in action here, only this time in a pseudo-fantasy setting. Throughout your adventure the Miis in your party will trade quips and jokes with each other, and it can be plenty of fun to see Overwatch’s D.Va fighting side by side with Grunkle Stan of Gravity Falls fame.

          In fact, the entire concept of the game’s entire cast being completely up to your imagination is Miitopia’s greatest asset. Everything from simple villagers to major NPCs to your party members and even the main villain are all up to whoever you’d like to pick. Want Jafar from Aladdin to be the sinister genie character? Go ahead. Is it been your lifelong dream to go adventuring with Little Witch Academia’s Sucy? You can do that. Have you ever wanted to populate an entire village with the same Mii of Captain Olimar? Miitopia delivers. Having complete freedom to mix and match Miis with various silly roles never stops being fun, and is really something I wish we got to do more throughout the game. Basically the entire main cast for each world you visit is chosen right when you arrive, leaving plenty of time spent with the characters you choose, but also less fun characters to create.

          The game is easily the simplest RPG you’ll ever play. You can choose from a variety of classes for yourself and your party members, with some classic genre staples (Warrior, Mage, Cleric and the like) as well as some fun ones unique to this game (Chef, Cat and Flower are all enjoyably goofy). You have the opportunity to see exactly what all the classes do throughout your adventure, so you can easily pick your favourites to use as you arrive in the final hours of the game.

          Just like Tomodachi, this game requires very little interaction on your part. The other three Miis in your party operate completely on autopilot, using whichever attacks or spells they think will be viable in the scenario you’re in. You only control your Mii, who is cast as the noble hero of the story. While this is a handicap that I assume the game’s target audience of kids will enjoy, for an adult like me I found myself really wanting a way to make the game more hands-on. Oftentimes my assigned healer would just heal himself or melee attack enemies instead of actually do his job, leaving a weakened party member wide open.

          Not that any of the battles are difficult in the slightest, thanks to yet another training wheel Miitopia sticks you with. Magic sprinkles are at your disposal early on in the game, allowing you to use a large but limited supply of them to heal, restore mana, temporarily increase damage at the cost of not being able to use spells or select a target, and even revive one fallen party member per level. While it’s completely possible to ignore the sprinkles entirely and play the game yourself, the occasionally boneheaded moves your AI party members make will oftentimes lead to you pulling them out just to get yourself out of a tight spot in a crucial boss battle.

          This sadly leads to a lot of the game feeling like it’s on autopilot. The B button will become your best friend in this adventure, as it can be used to fast-forward everything in the game, including the long stretches of time spent watching your party running in a straight line as they await a random enemy encounter or event. The only downside is that this means you’ll likely be holding the button down the entire game, as there’s no way for the game to constantly move at that speed and I often found myself tired of the same boring enemy encounters being recycled ad-nauseum.

          Miitopia also finds itself in the unfortunate predicament in that it doesn’t know when to end. Even after defeating the big bad the game just keeps going, except now it’s become less of a goofy yet still driven RPG adventure and more of a fetch quest for random NPCs. By this point the novelty of the Mii cast has started to wear off and you can quickly see that the constant repetition in battles with monsters you’ve seen plenty of variations on in the past is becoming a little big agonizing. Continuing to hold down the B button through one boring fight after another with no variation just to fight a boring boss and get a reward at the end and then MAYBE get a clue as to where the next actual bit of fun plot will be kills the fun of Miitopia right where it stands, and I really wish the game had ended sooner because of it.

          Ultimately, Miitopia is good at being an entertaining game, as well as a great place to get kids started on the RPG genre. The user-created cast is a complete delight, as is the great sense of humour throughout the adventure. But the lack of a higher difficulty level for older players as well as the fact that the game goes on long enough to run itself right into the ground makes me feel that this is a game I can’t recommend buying at full price. If you’re really interested in the game, the free demo on the 3DS eShop is a great way to check out the opening act and see if the game is for you, because trust me, it’s all the same from then on out.

FINAL SCORE

6/10

Okay