criticism

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Spractured Face

DapperApples 0 Comments , , , ,

Fractured Space is a 5v5 team based space capital ship battle game with vague MOBA influences.  Its also an “early access” game (ew).  Normally the game runs for 10 US Bucks, plus micro transactions, but there was a sale a few months ago where the game could be gotten for free, permanently.  So naturally I got it and proceeded to never actually install it, much less play it.  Until Today… The game’s progression follows a World of Tanks sort of model.  You get tech points when you use a ship, and you spend those points on a tech tree to… [Continue Reading]

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TF2’s Shorts are Better Written Than Overwatch’s

OrangeyBlueInk 0 Comments , , , ,

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]

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Why Killing Floor 2 Isn’t Actually a Beta

aabicus 0 Comments , ,

I’ve been avoiding writing this article on Killing Floor 2, because I’ve already made it quite clear that I’m disappointed in the game and its developers. There’s not much to be gained from just ragging on something over and over, and I’m only giving them further undeserved attention. But since I made a video on their Versus mode, I needed a tie-in article, and I figured I’d cover probably my biggest gripe with the game: Tripwire marketing it as an “open beta.” A beta is an unfinished version of a product that the developers are working on completing, and I’ll grant that… [Continue Reading]

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Now for Something Completely Different 

The Good and the Bad of Dynamic Queue

Medic 0 Comments , ,

Season 6 in League of Legends has been a complete roller coaster, with a ton of highs and lows, buffs and nerfs, lovetaps and complete reworks. The biggest change though is how you get into a game. Now, there’s two forms of queue – blind pick queue and draft mode queue. Ranked mode uses the draft mode system. Each team gets three bans, then everyone picks a champion, one at a time (kinda) and locks in, then the game starts. Blind pick is kinda as it suggests, everyone just picks the champion they want, and this is used for the… [Continue Reading]

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Overwatch: Writing on Writing

aabicus 0 Comments , ,

Jigglypuff requested that I backup my claim that the writing in Overwatch is bad. “Also you say noone in Overwatch is well written, could you provide any examples of why? Because a character being a trope or common archetype does not automatically = poorly done.” He’s right about archetypes as a concept. Committing to a baseline that’s familiar to the audience is a tried-and-true method that every writer uses, and when establishing brand new fictional worlds without pre-existing lore (such as Overwatch) they’re the best way to give the players something to initially latch onto. If they can understand part of… [Continue Reading]

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A Distinct Lack of Comics and Love

Medic 0 Comments , , , , , ,

I LOVE the TF2 comics. I really do. They, and by extension all the other non-game media we get for TF2, are all absolutely amazing, bringing a new dimension to what is otherwise just a cartoony first person shooter. Valve have said it themselves, comics and videos are a third way to actually give TF2 some sort of story, even if it is absolutely batshit crazy. But although I can understand delays in these things, sometimes there’s something… missing. Part of the reason why I’m writing this article is because Jay Dorris hasn’t finished his article. Jay Dorris is a… [Continue Reading]

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Jumping through hoops with League of Legends

Medic 0 Comments , , , , , , ,

I know I’ve done a thing recently about League of Legends, but that was mostly about the lore and backstory of the game. The footage used in the video is made from a chopped up recording of aabicus’s first non-tutorial game, playing against intro bots. Except it’s from my perspective – he was the Jinx in the game, and I was obviously the Terror of the Void. But when aabicus and I sat down to do a few more games and discuss how things worked, I realised how convoluted everything sounded. The first thing we did was look for champions… [Continue Reading]

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On Community Updates

Medic 0 Comments , , , , , , ,

Community updates have always had some sort of sparkle to them. You get a ton of great content-creators gathering and making something as a team. Right now, we have two communities working together on two very different but rather complimentary updates – the Iron Gauntlet, which features Mann VS Machine maps and robotic cosmetics, and the Mayann Project, which is more of an Indiana Jones themed update. Both look very promising and some cool themes behind them. And of course, more Mann VS Machine stuff is always good for me. Thing is though, despite the fact that community updates bring… [Continue Reading]

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Featured Now for Something Completely Different The SPUF of Legend 

Not so Rawr – Dragon: The Game Review

Medic 0 Comments , , , ,

Hiya, Phovos here, and today, I have a word of warning for you all. The other day, I got a refund on a game. Actually, to be precise, I allowed a gift to be refunded by the person who bought the game for me. I’ve never felt the need to do that before, but I felt that poor SilverWolf had been ripped off of a good €17 worth of money. He could have bought Pohatu, Master of Stone, for that amount and both he and I would have had fun. The game in question was Dragon: The Game. With a… [Continue Reading]

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Featured The SPUF of Legend 

Rawr! – Dragonflight Review

Medic 0 Comments , , , , ,

Aabicus, being the awesome person he is, got me Dragonflight for my birthday. It’s a game that’s been sitting on my wishlist for a while, and, like the other dragon game on my wishlist, has been in Early Access for a while. Being the grateful content creator that I am, I decided to review the game. Dragonflight is a game in which you fly a wyvern (a two-wings, two-legs dragon) around and destroy things. The story is your standard stop-the-bad-guy-from-being-freed nonsense, where you steal the bones of an evil dragon before the enemy does. A bit like National Treasure but… [Continue Reading]

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