comparison – Page 2 – The Daily SPUF

Widowmaker Vs. TFClassic Sniper: Who Would Win?

February 2, 2017March 9, 2017 aabicus 0 Comments analysis, comparison, fun, matchup, overwatch, sniper, sniping, TFC, widowmaker

So I was talking with a friend about hypothetical cross-franchise class matchups, in the vein of Scout vs Tracer, Medic vs Sona, Engineer vs Nuparu, Heavy vs Braum, and Pyro vs Toa Vakama. It’s a pretty popular concept on our blog and I realized we hadn’t covered one of the most obvious, that of TF2’s favorite Kiwi versus Overwatch‘s favorite cheesecake. But after ruminating on the idea, I had trouble even starting due to the nature of TF2 Sniper’s unlocks. Do I treat TF2 Sniper as his stock class (which means Widow wins easily) or as an amalgamation of his unlocks, which turns him into a horrifying combination… [Continue Reading]

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How to Design Enemies That Are Truly Scary

January 7, 2017January 27, 2017 aabicus 1 Comment comparison, design, enemies, horror, mechanics, On Shooters, scary

There are many, many enemies in video games designed to be scary, and I wanted to take some time to talk about ways to make enemies that fulfill this trope without resorting to “cheap” tactics like jumpscares or making them speedy OHKOs. Note that this article is mostly interested in “normal” enemies, not single boss-like monsters (like Spider from LIMBO) or full-fledged NPCs (like Pyramid Head from Silent Hill). Also I’m not an art major so my focus is on game mechanics and AI behaviors, and less on appearances. One of the scariest monsters I’ve had to fight in any game was… [Continue Reading]

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FPS Cliches Found on Only One TF2 Weapon

December 7, 2016December 19, 2016 aabicus 0 Comments accuracy, comparison, mechanics, weapons

Hey look, a TF2 article! As a longstanding and proud member of the first-person-shooter genre, TF2 nevertheless stands apart from most other games due to its versatile array of weapon designs and its avoidance of most of the common shooting mechanics that permeate shooter games. TF2 is really amazing in just how simple they keep the core combat at its foundation, avoiding things like weapon stability, accuracy modifiers, tactical reloads, and other ‘realistic’ mechanics that complicate matters. This article is designed to showcase the few cases where these mechanics appeared, usually in subtle form. The scarcity of their presence just reinforces how… [Continue Reading]

Frost doesn't mind. He's cool with everything.

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My Growing Obsession with V̶o̶l̶t̶ Frost

November 20, 2016December 19, 2016 Medic 0 Comments cold, comparison, frost, volt, warframe

In pretty much every Warframe article I’ve published, I’ve written them from the point of view of Volt, my starter character and still my favourite. I’ve mentioned my other unlocked characters a few times, most notably Trinity, the healer class I dislike. While Volt and Volt Prime make up for about 60% of my Warframe gameplay, I really should mention the other 30%. Turns out, half of that 30% belongs to Frost. Frost was the second Warframe I acquired and leveled up, and I did so very, very quickly. So fast in fact, that I don’t actually remember leveling Frost… [Continue Reading]

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Overrated

November 15, 2016December 10, 2016 SilverWolf 0 Comments analysis, comparison, criticism, non-tf2, overwatch, pleasedontkillme

Okay, seriously, it’s not a bad game. But I don’t like it and (again) that title was too damn good to pass up. Think of this as an extension to Medic’s article except written by someone far less competent. I wanted to like Overwatch, really, I did. (Lower your damn pitchforks!) I tried the beta, which for some reason would cause my router to crash and freeze every time I launched it, forcing me to play it offline. Even when it was in a playable state in the free trial after the full game came out, I tried to ignore my… [Continue Reading]

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Cops & Zombies & Zeds

November 10, 2016March 5, 2017 aabicus 0 Comments comparison, killing floor, left 4 dead, payday

(Fun fact: The description for this episode reads: ‘In this video I become the first person ever to compare Killing Floor 2 to Dungeons & Dragons’. Then the WWAUT goes live the next day and starts with: Last time around, we talked about the high level concept of what the Survivalist is: a high skill cap, jack-of-all-trades-but-master-of-none (or the bard for those of you who play those sorts of games… with “magic” and “dragons.” Guess the comparison was more mainstream than I thought!) I was talking with someone on reddit and they wanted to know how Steam’s three biggest horde-based shooter franchises differed from each… [Continue Reading]

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Day of Deceit

October 27, 2016November 17, 2016 SilverWolf 0 Comments comparison, history, maps, non-tf2

A couple of days ago I was watching a YouTube video showing upcoming shooters. Overall, nothing really caught my eye. The “new” ones I’d seen before and I hadn’t found them interesting to begin with, and the others were remasters. But one game… One game most DEFINITELY caught my attention. Days of War. Now you may be pondering why this one game had caught me hook, line and sinker while the other games hadn’t even managed a blip on my radar. There’s a very, VERY good reason for that. You see, I was a Day of Defeat: Source player for… [Continue Reading]

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Edge-Boosting: Trimping in Overwatch

September 14, 2016April 8, 2018 aabicus 1 Comment comparison, demoknight, Exploit, genji, overwatch

Seasoned demoknights know that ‘trimping’ in Team Fortress 2 is the act of charging at an angle in such a way as to send you flying through the air significantly farther than you normally would. It’s a core ability of the demoknight that sets him apart from any other class in the game, and if you’ve never heard of it, iReima has a bunch of them in the videos on his channel: I wrote an article about trimping a while back at the behest of a fuzzy pink fluffball. While I confess I’ve never really gotten the hang of the… [Continue Reading]

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TF2’s Shorts are Better Written Than Overwatch’s

May 27, 2016 OrangeyBlueInk 0 Comments analysis, comparison, criticism, overwatch, writing

Uh, hi. Aabicus and I were discussing elements of writing in both Overwatch and TF2, specifically in terms of the two Overwatch shorts focusing on Winston and on Widowmaker in comparison to Expiration Date. I suggest you watch them and take a look at how the action interacts with their respective narratives, which is what I will focus on here. These are pulled directly from a Skype discussion, so no examples are currently cited. In Expiration Date, the action is tied in with the character’s deep insecurities, their impending mortality, their desire for human connection, and their hopes for better… [Continue Reading]

Now for Something Completely Different

Pharah – Overwatch’s Soldier Wannabe

May 20, 2016 Medic 0 Comments analysis, comparison, overwatch, soldier

During the brief time that I played Overwatch, I tended to drift towards two characters: Pharah and Reinhardt. While I liked Reinhardt for his personality, giant shield and huge mace, I tended to play Pharah because I understood her. She plays very, very similarly to our beloved, overly patriotic Soldier. Like Soldier, Pharah uses a rocket launcher, jumps high into the air and has 200 health. Unlike Soldier, Fareeha Amari did actually get accepted into the military. And there’s a few differences here and there. But she’s essentially the same character, but easier. Much easier. The main ‘thing’ with playing… [Continue Reading]