Content starved fans of the hit western adventure game Read Dead Redemption 2 are no strangers to waiting months on end for game updates. As recently as June 2020 online players rallied together adorning clown outfits and make up to mock RockStar developers for the lack of attention to the community. No one can be sure if that was the catalyst for what came after but Rockstar rolled out a massive update for the new Naturalist role to sated the masses. While it has been a breath of fresh “content”, taking into account Rockstars update timeline so far it could be months before the community see’s anything new. That is unless Rockstar is working on something, maybe a pandemic outbreak just in time for Halloween?
Mosey around the fantastic and breathtaking open world that is RDR2 long enough and you simply run out of things to do. So you usually find yourself in some quaint town somewhere hog tying the locals, photographing wildlife or causing trouble for law enforcement.This exact behavior led me to stumble on what could be Read Dead’s biggest update yet.
Screenshot on the Xbox One X
Fans of the original RDR can recall the nostalgic maps setting close to the Mexican border,the successor map being much larger actually encompasses the entire original area featuring some of the old favorites. Tumbleweed and Armadillo being two of the most prominent markers for the area. In the tiny desolate town of Armadillo players can probably recall the bleak absence of NPC’s or really anything in the area. Striving to complete a distance daily challenge I stopped in the town notating its usual Tim Burton cheer but what caught my eye was most of the towns people appeared gravely ill (sicker than usual for Armadillos residents). Some coughing as they seemed to struggle breathing, just getting up and walking around seemed painful, it’s important to mention that not all of the town exhibited these changes in behavior and appearance. You can see the dark depressions on the characters face and the absence of any color when compared to a regular NPC. The theory is that Armadillo is ground zero for a future update that will resemble the popular Undead Nightmare add for the first RDR. Not convinced, did I mention that as you follow these poor souls around they respond with unique dialogue like, “ I wouldn’t get too close to me if I were you” the foreshadowing if essentially overflowing.
You can argue that the whole area of Armadillo is surrounded in legend and cursed by a prominent character from the first title, the “Strange Man”. What you can’t argue with is residents lying on benches wearing face masks, the detailed in-game weather effects are well known but to this date I’ve never come across an NPC using a banana in rain or snow. Again it could simply be a symptom of an upcoming dust storm but plague seems logical if not more exciting. What is most interesting is the graves around Armadillo seem to now be littered with diseased and deformed bodies. One of the take away pieces of evidence is featured below, deformed corpses that seem actually give an option to pick up and de spawn after being shot in the head.Before taking the screenshot I did get a little trigger happy and decided to shoot most of the corpses in the head this confirmed they are not just deco.
Will this be another un dead outbreak, a pandemic that sweeps through the map crippling players stats, are these the ramblings of a conspiracy gamer who hasn’t seen the light of day in few days, that’s rhetorical don’t answer go ahead and leave your thoughts theories and comments below.
2019 has been many things, the year after 2018 it was also the year many gaming fans felt the stinging let down from some of the years most anticipated titles. With exponentially improving game standards, new console releases and a growing market: gamer’s have come to expect consistent improvements in everything from post game release content, anesthetics to story depth and of course value. Below we discuss some of this years titles that had droves of people wishing they save their receipts. A unifying factor for all these titles is the pattern of rewarded customers with underwhelming game play
Read Dead Redemption 2s’ Multiplayer
Xbox One screenshot
Now if you raised an eyebrow and spat at your screen when you noticed Rockstar’s baby make its way to the list please cease all raging, this is based on the multiplayer only. Sequel to one of the most impressive open world games of all time Red Dead Redemption, the world held its breath as the release of one of the most awaited titles of the decade became available.
A campaign so immersive it makes you go out and buy a pair of cowboy boots is surreal, RDR2 delivers in full in regards to the solo experience. That does little to satisfy a hungry multiplayer community awaiting the sequel since 2010. RDR2 multiplayer remained in beta for months after release and the logical theory that followed was, big things were coming to the Red Dead online community. Reality often disappoints, a multiplayer release with a scant amount of content (missions, items, gear, mounts weapons etc), free roam became the go to for anyone willing to level/gain gold by briefing other players or skinning three star animals in quick re spawns. Most of the bare bones repetitive activities mentioned and things like hunting, map roaming, train conducting and brief NPC missions became a monotonous trudge. Small and large showdown series along with territory captures comprised the bulk of the online multiplayer at first with rotating modes like most wanted and make it count to add map/ play diversity. New multiplayer modes continue to rotate as available play options but it would seem Rockstar is still searching for that special, cowboy shooter online market. Competitive multiplayer soon proved to be a hollow shell of what was promised, instead of a new trailblazing multiplayer community with all the polished bells like GTA5’s online mode, players may wait years for RDR2’s multiplayer to develop. Rockstar experienced minor trouble keeping players engaged in the following release months. Several loot events, game rewards, new modes and economy fixes have helped to support fan and community interest but evades the long-term fix. Adding more to do in both the multiplayer competitive and free roam modes will allow players the chance to do more than mosey around Valentine.
Credit where credit is due the devs have focused considerable effort in the beta phase and post release fine tuning the play experience, debugging and focusing on a more immersive approach compared to GTA5. Although RDR2 has had a rough reception following its premiere release it is certainly in the hands of very talented people; updates like the bounty hunter, trader and huntsman roles are on the way and part of a larger plan releases 09/10/2019.
Jump Force
Xbox One screenshot
Jump Force is one of the dream universal mash ups that had the gaming and anime community heaving with anticipation. I mean who couldn’t help but let out a high-pitched squeal when the Jump Force trailer premiered and highlighting Goku taking on Naruto, the intro fight being the very beginning of endless match up possibilities. Anime has become a huge market in the U.S especially shows based on the Shonen manga, tons of fans were rightfully excited to see a game attempting to bring anime characters out of their respective universes and into close digital contact.
Once in the death grip of eager anime and gaming fans, new and veteran gamer’s would soon learn some of their most iconic characters (Goku, Freeza, Yugi etc.) underwent a animation process that did not justice to the original artwork. Hit characters like Ashta, Ichigo and Midoriya received a nice polish and looked impressive but majority of the characters that drove sales (Goku, Freeza, Yuske etc) looked like McDonald’s toy plastic. What felt unfinished and empty however wasn’t the animation but the game setting. While your character waits for their next fight you spend most of your time in an in between area, apart from wandering around players can use this down time to change items, appearance and accept a set number of missions. It feels the dev’s goal was to create an area similar to the Time Patrols pocket dimension from Dragon Ball Xenoverse. Jump Force misses the mark and leaves you with a watered down world that feels somehow incomplete. At first the fighting system is so simple you almost wish your fighting team roster could be extended to five, after a few hours it is clear there is no need for a combo master to beat both the AI and online players. A simple fight style is a good plan to help players jump into the thick of fighting quickly, until you fight the third opponent who keeps their distance and spams a ranged attack prolifically. Or my favorite the match up against a speedy berserker that rushes you with a furry of bland combinations so relentless you might not even get the chance to counter. Playing in pvp it is obvious that powerful lengthy combos are now replaced by the relentless button mashing of your younger sibling. Watching Saiyans kamayamaya a Hidden Leaf Ninja is a surreal experience, Jump Force boasts not just dream anime match ups but a campaign that attempts to explain the melding of all the universes. The end product is a confusing mess that is again similar to the multiverse time crisis campaign in Xenoverse but a lot less fleshed out in terms of writing and enjoyment of play.
Hope is on the horizon, Jump Force is far from an abandoned project and has a rumored total of 9 DLC characters coming in 2019. Even though the story is a heap, the clever brains that had the idea to watch Lofi Gum Gum punch Goku; are giving slew of additional characters to keep us coming back. I highly recommend giving Jump Force a chance, no where else can you see Dark Magician take a full force Detroit Smash from Midoriya.
Fall out 76
Almost too easy to mention Bethesda’s hyped Fallout 76 release flop but it will done for the good of anyone duped into spending $60 on a rushed title. Fall Out 76 was a game that many people were looking forward to since the exciting E3 trailer featuring an old-time raspy cover of John Denver’s “Take Me Home”. Fallout 76 is an online based prequel that promises to introduce a impressive open world that allowed you (one of the first emerging vault survivors) to carve out their own wasteland adventures on a live server.
Mere hours into playing the Fallout 76 release the monotony of killing either a ghoul, dark claw, Mr. Gutsy or bandit had eroded conviction of even the most determined gamer. Referencing Bethesda’s previous success with Fallout 4, players are accustom to a lengthy fluid story, engaging NPC’s, ample side missions and a world built on Fallout’s wasteland apocalyptic lore. Release of 76 meet a host of criticisms such as; lack of NPC’s , repetitive mundane missions and a not so friendly online community all made the play experience overwhelmingly unpleasant. Finding a group to play with in co-op proved difficult since most random players interest lay in either loot jacking or griefing at the expenditure of your ammunition. Of course there is always the online feral player shooting at you senselessly until you respond. Player’s seeking player vs. player action had mixed feelings towards the in game rules , pvp mode could only be initiated by attacking another player and the attack being reciprocated. This solves problems seen in similar online survival games with pvp griefing, sacrificing the entire stealth element of Fallout. A pvp fight in 76 is more like taking off your white glove, slapping another player and seeing if they accept your challenge to duel. Putting all complaints aside, being able to actually play the game can make or break a release. Fallout 76 is certainty no stranger to deal breaker game glitches and bugs. Issues affecting the use of Power Armor, fast traveling, building and general play. As the dust settles many loyal Bethesda fans have failed to make their way back to 76 since the release of the new battle royal mode Nuclear Winter.
It could be argued that Bethesda’s recent tale spiral with 76 might of been avoided by cater to either the Fallout fan base or the hardcore survival game fan basis, maybe even both. Cries from unsatisfied customers are not met with complete inaction, the new Morgantown Nuclear Winter map is out next week, included in Patch 13 which will drop next Tuesday September 10.
Anthem
Anthem is the story of a game developer that sorely needed a win . It is no secret that Bioware has recently been plague with employment issues ranging from losing some of their most veteran designers due to stress, depression and staff fatigue to workplace burnout. Anthem has some good ideas and does dabble into a hybrid role play looter shooter that could be great but in its current state of affairs needs major attention
An Anthem story play through can be summarized into a few short words, “what was that all about”. Within moments of the game opening narration players are assaulted with vital information ; Cyphers, Free Lancers, Cataclysms, Striders, Heart of Rage and the list goes on. Optional game dialogue gives the player the feel of controlling the outcome or direction of the story but in reality does little to affect the story line. Lack of variation in character travel is limited to running and flying, there are no vehicles or any exoskeleton upgrades that allow for say environment exploration like deep water diving, or subterranean exploring. The only vehicle in the world is a massive strider that minus a few cinematic scenes is never actually seen in action. With the familiar fallen advanced civilization theme in place, Anthem’s weapons and equipment need a touch of variation. Players are given the traditional, rifle, pistol, shotgun, grenade launcher options, a refreshing change might of been some type of ordnance integration into the Javelin tech since how it is a Freelancers livelihood. Not knocking the unique experience of soaring through the sky like Iron Man, this feature is actually insanely overpowered when used against a dumb AI. There is actually no enemy with the same combat maneuverability (excluding some pushover rouge Freelancers), restricting practical fights to ground based confrontations. A number of the enemies are almost a running joke, with the bulk of threats being Skarrs (Anthem’s version of a Halo grunt). Players can easily overcome almost any situation in the game by using fly and run tactics. With a lack of any puzzle or problem solving elements in the game the only critical thinking you will face is navigating the mini map.
Anthem is a visual masterpiece and is a load of fun to play when drifting away from the story line and having a buddy who is equally willing to lend artillery fire and lose themselves in a looter shooter.
Who knows maybe in the coming months these titles will finish strong or even surpass our now dismal expectations with some great updates or DLC. Did you think one of these titles was the greatest thing since sliced bread? How about any games you felt had a poor release, don’t forget leave your suggestions and comments below.
Game developers have created some of the most enthralling, relatable and heart gripping characters we’ve had the pleasure of playing. It’s no reaching statement to say coded fictional masterpieces such as; Master Chief, John Marston, Laura Croft, Samus, Donkey Kong, Kratos, Solid Snake, Link, Mario etc., shaped gaming culture as we know it. Some of the biggest developers in the industry are expanding on ways to improve the player/character experience, using exceptional living and breathing talent to create unique content.
In 2013 Naughty Dog borrowed from the likeness of actress Ellen Page when designing their widely praised protagonist “Ellie”. If the name wasn’t enough of a dead give away Ellen also commented on the obvious resemblance, the developer later altered Ellie to be more like her voice actress Ashley Johnson. Naughty Dog was trying to create a fictional character that is identifiable as someone you know.
Rockstar has recently pushed past simply emulating Hollywood talent and decided to invest serious effort into finding the perfect fit for their lead gaming roles. One example is the massive success of RDR2’s single player campaign. This can be traced to a single pivotal piece of content, Arthur Morgan. Portrayed by Roger Clark his stunning performance as Arthur Morgan earned him a best Performance Award at the Video Game Awards. Arthur Morgan is a tough and gritty cowboy, the last of a dying breed in a “civilized world”. Roger may not be a household name but he is no noob in the video gaming business. Among voice acting, extensive theater work experien. My only regret is that up until his role as Arthur Morgan, Roger’s face was regrettably forgettable. Luckily some of the biggest developers are pushing Rockstar’s experiment further and bringing some heavy hitters to our upcoming titles.
Ubisoft is among those giants joining the mad grab for big screen stars. The anticipated Ghost Recon Breakpoint will be making use of the impressive Jon Bernthal. If you haven’t had the chance to see the trailer, your in for a treat and can see the official one here. Not only does the game lighting, environment and mechanics look impressive, we get a clear look at Recon’s antagonist played by Jon or Colonel Cole D Walker. In this latest installment of Tom Clancy, Walker will lead an ex military group of rogue ghosts into taking control of Skell Technologies a drone facility located on the island of Aurora. Players will get the chance to play as four different ghosts from Nomad’s team tasked with stopping Walker’s take over. It would’ve been amazing to play as Jon Bernthal aka the led laying Punisher! For now the next best thing is playing for his cinematic scenes, foiling cynical plans and laying down high caliber fire in Jon’s direction.
If soldiering and Western RPG’s fall out of your gaming preference don’t worry, the trend for drafting big names into future projects is reaching developers of all shapes and sizes. While on the subject of “big names”, Keanu Reeves is arguably the current biggest action star in western cinema, he’s pushing his well chiseled mug to a console near you. CD Projekt (gave us Witcher III) is developing and producing Cyber Punk 2077. A FPS with an RPG play style, described as a mesh of Borderlands meets Skyrim meets Fallout. Keanu will be playing Rockerboy, Johnny Silverhand. Johnny is one of the most memorable cybernetic, guitar slaying names in the cyber punk lore. My biggest question is why has this not happened sooner, maybe it’s just that no one asked nice enough. Keanu is a machismo action juggernaut, with the release of John Wick 3 and rumored talks of a Marvel superhero movie, it’s unlikely Keanu will stop at projects like Cyber Punk 2077.
The only critique an eager fan might have is that the mentioned titles take the role of actor, character, player interaction half seriously. Omitting or simply overlooking the options to play as the digitized celebrity. After all everyone dreams of being able to run and gun like Keanu while avenging their dead dog. Respawn Entertainment is well known for multiplayer marvels like Apex and Titanfall 2: now they are giving us a chance to jump into the driver’s seat of a Jedi portrayed by one of our favorite Gallaghers.
Driver’s seat is bad phrasing, fallen Jedi Padwan mastering the force is actually a more accurate description. Star Wars: Jedi the Fallen Order had a phenomenal premier this year at E3’s 2019 release, the story will revolve around fallen Jedi Cal Kestis voice acted by Shameless star Cameron Monaghan. Cal has been in hiding since the massacre of Order 66. An incident brings to light his affinity with the force, the display of power quickly exposes Cal to Imperial sympathizers. With his powers recognized , Cal begins a run for his life to escape the deadly Imperial Inquisitor known as Second Sister. Keeping my own bias to a minimum, I’m very excited for this release and you should be to. This is a project that has been in the pipeline for some time and was originally released by Respawn’s Vince Zampella at the 2018 E3 release. After the struggles EA experienced with Battlefront I & II sales, fans are expecting a standalone single player Star Wars game that delivers. Monaghan has already proven he has the chops to cut it with some of televisions best in series like Gotham, giving us a Joker performance that sends nauseated chills down your spine. It is only natural to expect great things as he trades in his comic books for a role set in a galaxy far far away.
Terrific content is nothing new to the gaming community, if anything the continual improvements in technology create a polarized gaming view point, either it is a good game or bad game. As companies continue to seek new avenues for attracting new gaming followers, we can expect to see some of our favorite move faces making their way into your console.
Read Dead Redemption’s Online Multiplayer is expanding in the best of ways, developers have kept one ear to the ground in terms of consumer and fan feedback. Purchasale wagons, boats, homesteads, businesses, weapons and mounts are just some of the tantalizing updates developer Rockstar has announced for future updates. While RDR2’s 23 million plus fans await the arrival of such content installments, online communities such as Reddit and Youtube are ablaze with ideas and suggestions on some of the critical things they feel need to be added.
Crafting Gear
Generating income and purchasable content may be some of the core issues that online players outline in posts concerning limitations with the beta currently. Craftable gear is an option that would help to resolve both of these immediate issues by capitalizing on the immersive world fans and player have come to enjoy. The story mode does have a crafting system in place that allows player to skin legendary animal’s and turn them into a tracker for creating unique garments. This is one of the more interesting and involved ways a player can customize their character adding an option that allows the outfits to be sold due to their rarity would create additional avenues for income.
Simply using legendary animals that spawn at a lower rate is something that would require less design work compared to creating a complete new system devoted to crafting clothing. Just as animals in game have a pelt ranking system from one star to three, legendary animal could be given a similar system that in turn create different types of clothing for each animal. At this time players are restricted to creating items such as tonics, cures, medicines, recipes etc. that are unable to be resold for a profit.
Meat Wagons
With the current limited set up for generating high dollar income in Read Dead Redemption 2’s multiplayer many players have found a niche in Rockstars well polished hunting system. The general process involves a player equipping the right weapons and ammo for a variety of animals that can be hunted/harvested and sold to the local butcher shops for a nice profit. Seasoned players develop a “keep everything system” and harvest any animal they find and re sell all the gathered parts without keeping any. Even this system has its limits, players are only able to carry one animal carcass at a time on horseback and if they dont mind a 15 minute real time walk one additional animal over their shoulder. This limits most players to hunting near the outskirts of towns to keep the method quick and efficient.
A quick fix to this dilemma would be a designated meat wagon designed to haul and store an additional number of small to large animal carcasses. Design variations could exist for players to assign a specific horse to a stabled meat wagon or allow these wagons to be hauled by current player horses. Furthering this improvement and expanding on content players could be allowed to purchase one directly from butcher shops to own and on the rare occasion stumble across one spawned in the open world.
Metal Helmet & Accessories
Any player that has braved a showdown series or gun rush series (any online PVP situation honestly) has felt the bitter sting left from the abuse of RDR2’s auto aim system. Players are able to almost instantly set their crosshairs to an enemy players head with little to no aim thanks to the current auto aim system. A minor adjustment is needed before the crosshairs are locked on to an enemy players head, by squeezing the left trigger the crosshairs will automatically be drawn to the nearest player within a limited range, the player then has to apply slight pressure to the right thumb stick to adjust the auto aim for a perfect headshot. This can be countered by turning off the feature, online players that play with traditional shooter aiming can feel they are at an unfair advantage in terms of friendly competition.
Taking a lesson from real life improvements in military gear shortly after the games set time period, one way to fix this would be adding a metal helmet that buffs against headshot damage. It should be mentioned there is a metal bucket accessory that has all the aesthetics of wooden teeth but it does nothing in terms of damage resistance. For design variance developers could strive for badges, metal playing cards, gun belts and such that can be added around the base of the players equipped hat to activate the damage buff. This of course means if a player is without a hat they are without the additional protection.
Job Opportunity
RDR2 encompasses breathtaking countryside and endless roaming opportunity but for high level players there is definitely room for wanting more content. Rockstar is not short on plans for there flagship title but the most immediate fix for a bored cowpoke is to develop some type of job opportunity for players. While hunting, fishing, bandit riding, stranger missions and train conducting are entertaining, they limit the fantastic world that is available to just a few repetitive farming and nostalgia tasks. The array of jobs that players could perform is wide with; cattle driving, transporting goods, player shooting competitions, high end good requests (meats, feathers, herbs) just to name a few
Developers could even consider a deputy system that allows players of high honor to employ as deputies, tracking down bounty contracts and assigned against NPC’s and players. This could be similar to the hit system that was introduced into GTA V that allowed players to assign hits on other players for a cash and experience reward.
If players can count on one thing from Rockstar it is the constant fluid change they invest in perfecting their products. As updates are released and the impending full multiplayer release approaches we can only hope to see some of the fantastic ideas fans have come up with make their way into the game.
NERD CHUM 