Game Review: Overwatch

By Grease Coakes

Blizzard entertainment has been around for a long time from the days of Warcraft to World of Warcraft and also Starcraft. Not a company to be lazy and bet everything on their cash cow, recently they came out with Overwatch: a first person shooter based on the game Team Fortress 2.

In TF2 you select a player such as a solider or a Heavy to take out the other team. To push forward a payload or capture a point. One team defends while the other attacks. Overwatch is very much the same game however it offers over twenty different roles to play. And unlike TF2 there are also women characters, not just men, to shoot and kill the other team with. Each team red and blue has six characters per side. You’ll see graphics to the side saying that’s there’s no tanks or too many snipers.

The characters are split into four groups to pick what role you wish to play. Attack does heavy damage but can only take a few hits. Defense is excellent at holding a point and slowing down the enemy advancing. Tank is there to take the hits for you so squishy characters don’t die. Healing/support is how is sounds to offer healing to tanks and extra attack. With the exception of the mech D Va, all characters when they hit zero hit points die. D Va gets ejected from her Mecha tank and gets a second chance to keep fighting with a pistol and low hit points.

In addition to brighter graphics and better voices each character has an ultimate that continues charging through death. So if you’re playing as Mcree a wild west gunslinger and die when your ultimate is at 99%. When you revive your ultimate will problary be 100% Over time when you block damage, heal, do damage and kill other player characters your ultimate builds up. An ultimate is something you want to fire off to change the course of battle. Mcree’s ultimate is him saying “It’s High Noon” in a western drawl and everyone he sees he shoots down dead. Mei’s ultimate a Chinese woman in an arctic snow suit is a blizzard which freezes enemy players. She shoots ice shards at long range. Her ice walls keep enemy players away and blocks damage. She’s a good defensive player if you want to play enemies off your point.

The sounds are much better with various voices that sound like professional actors with voices saying things such as “Love D Va!” Or Lucio a music loving healer will yell out “This is my Jam!” Another voice that will stick in your head is Reaper doing his ultimate when he says DIE DIE DIE!
The graphics are cartoonish but also bright and colorful. Even though the game is the same every time you play, each game tends to be different as you play at different locations. There’s also lots of variety in the twenty plus characters.

What the designers changed recently is that in quick play you can no longer have more than one of a certain character. Which means if I grab a D Va character as a tank someone else who wanted to be a tank could be roadhog or pick a Tracer to be offense instead. I guess Blizzard wanted to stop two of the same character so the other team wouldn’t over specialize and beat the other team. So when you master Solider 76,you can always master that defensive player Junk Rat with shoots bombs that bounce around and blow enemy players to dust. Or why not Pharah who flies and shoots rockets?

As you play you gain experience per match which levels you up. It’s not like a RPG though. You don’t get more hit points and new spells. Instead you get a loot box every level. The loot boxes give out skins for the various characters, voice lines, sprays and coins to buy what you want for your favorite characters. For example I bought an earthen skin  which is a deep green for Mei so she looks more masculine and not so girly. So your level of 50 might look impressive on screen. However that won’t stop a level 3 character shooting you down as Hanzo. Hanzo is a defensive player who is a sniper who shoots down foes with his bow and arrow. Level doesn’t mean anything as you play.

For the price of 40$ Overwatch can be yours as an excellent first person shooter. Blizzard has taken the idea of Team Fortress 2 and brought it to the next level of playability with great voice effects, the option of spray painting on walls and more. If you’re new to shooting games there is a tutorial so you’re not thrown into the game and you’re clueless as other players shoot you down. Also an option to fight AI enemies as well as a practice area.

If you’re thinking like Mcree that it’s high noon and you want to shoot some outlaws, Overwatch might be the game for you.

Grease Coakes

Game Review: "Wolfenstein: The New World Order"

By Nydia Tungsten & Brandi Tungsten


   Basically it starts out as a WWII First person shooter, but that changes FAST!

   With this one, the Germans are winning the war through advanced technology that they developed seemingly out of nowhere. Then you are injured and spend time in a hospital….well a LOT of time. When you come to, it is in the 1960’s and the Nazis have won the war.

    From here, the writers delve into the alternate reality of a world dominated by the Nazis. In my opinion, they did too good of a job. I have German family and heard stories of the war. I asked why he was telling me this and his answer struck a note in me even then, “If the future doesn’t remember the past we are doomed to repeat it.”  The writers captured the possibility of this Nazi future extremely well, to the point where I had to stop playing it and walk away for awhile.

    I am not saying this game is ALL doom and gloom. I have found an Easter egg in the base in Berlin that pays homage to the very first 8-bit Wolfenstien game. If you find it, I think you will get a kick out of it whether you had originally played it or not.

   But, the story line itself is a dark one throughout the game. I would not recommend this game for anyone under the age of 16 due to the language, violence and the few sex scenes (it doesn’t really show much, but…paranoid parents, be warned).  But, just for the story line and I know there will be some that say “Nyd’s it’s just a game. How bad could it be?” When you see a Nazi woman hold out a baby from her, dangling it by its heel with the look of pure revulsion on her face, or an audio diary of a young girl searching for ways to kill the “Nazi baby” growing inside her….yeah….it gets a bit disturbing.

   Will I recommend others play this? I would have to say, “Yes.” Because, it IS a well written story and it DOES depict what life here could have been like had the Nazi’s been a little bit smarter. If you play this game, be warned…you may learn something and find yourself engrossed in the story and have it elicit extreme feelings within you too.

   Again let me know if you get it and what you think about it. I would love to know. Until then, good gaming to you!

Images from Steam

Nydia Tungsten

Game Review: Left 4 Dead 2

By Nydia Tungsten
Edited by: Brandi Tungsten

As the opening credits play, you see the first four survivors run through some of the levels you have to take them through, ending up with them climbing the stairs to get to the rescue chopper….that isn’t there for them.
So they have to fight their way to the Evac center, which of course is empty. Along the way, you will find there are stashes of ammo and weapons to help you keep armed for your journey, but they move from play to play, so it keeps you on your toes.

As you watch the video, you will see there are a lot of weapons to choose from, anything from a cricket bat all the way up to a grenade launcher and everything in between.

This is not a typical “Zombie apocalypse” game, this one has several “special” Zombies that can REALLY hurt as Bix and I have found out.

“Spitter” hawks a toxic loogey at you and burns you with its acid.

“Jockey”, this little back humper, jumps on the back of your hide and proceeds to ride your staggering form away from help.

“Charger”, okay this guy has one HUGE arm…( I will refrain from the obvious MJ jokes), he plows through you and picks you up and slams you into whatever is behind you then starts slamming you into the ground.

“Tank”, name saying it all, this bugger is HUGE and can rip up chunks of concrete to throw at you or just toss you around like a rag doll.

“Hunter”, now THIS little sneaky bugger likes to keep out of sight until he can pounce like 400lb fanboy at a comic con meeting sailor moon for the first time, but can be killed easily if you see him in time or your group is close by, but he hits hard so be warned.

“Boomer”, this big boy looks like he weighs as much as a Buick. His real threat is he will puke on you and/or your companions, which will drive every other Zombie into a frenzy and attack whatever it lands on, which is how bile bombs can come in handy.

“Witch”, don’t be fooled by her slight build and pale skin. This little girl is worse than a certain Vixen PMS’ing. You will hear her before you see her. She will be crying softly, but if you get too close or shoot her, you will “startle” her and have to deal with her. But be careful, she can take you down with just one hit.
The best way to deal with her is at a distance. Don’t just shoot her, thinking she will go down easy. You better have a full clip and use it all on her because if she gets too close, it’s all over.

Left 4 Dead 2 features a new cast of human Survivors, which include:


Coach (voiced by Chad Coleman), a portly high-school football coach with a bad knee (although it does not affect gameplay)

 Nick (voiced by Hugh Dillon), a rude and cynical gambler and con artist

 Rochelle (voiced by Rochelle Aytes), a low-level production assistant reporting on the evacuation for a local television station

 Ellis (voiced by Eric Ladin), a friendly (and rather talkative) mechanic who often talks about his friend Keith and their many misadventures.

In addition to the four playable characters, Left 4 Dead 2 also features a supporting character in the form of Virgil (voiced by Randall Newsome), a Cajun boat captain, who appears (voice only) in the game's final three campaigns.

I looked this one up on the Wikki ( Google is my friend ) and found something surprising; this game was originally banned in at least two countries, Australia Germany for its violent and graphic “deaths” of the undead, but hey…here in the U.S., that’s the average movie night at home.

There are many ways to play this game as well, alone, with a friend or in teams on the internet where you take turns being the survivors or the infected. I have tried the team play……let’s just say it didn’t go well, and I think I embarrassed my gaming partner, Dchan, at that time. He, on the other hand….was doing pretty well.

In this video, you will see Bixyl and I duking it out with some real hard core baddies, but we come out on top, and you will notice my character is not the normal one. This game is so popular there have been skins made for it and I am using “Krystal”, There are also a LOT of other skins you can get and use with a little looking. I like playing with Bix because I know when we die, I will be PUNished by Bixyl’s “puns” and humor.

I give this game a “Thumbs Up” and recommend it to those who enjoy FPS’s and don’t mind a little carnage.

Here is the play through we did, hope you enjoy it: http://www.twitch.tv/nydia_tungsten/b/505544524

If you get the game, let us know and tell us what YOU think. And, as always, if you want to see me review a game, drop us a line and I will get on it. But in the meantime, “Good Hunting to you!”

Editor's Note: Forget the stereotype of slow, lumbering, undead. Between occasional lone walking corpses, You'll have to shoot your way through wave after wave of freakin' zombie banzai charges. This game is intense.

Nydia Tungsten

Game Review: Borderlands & Borderlands 2

By Nydia Tungsten

I have been playing the Borderlands series now for almost since the game was first available. For those who don't know of it, let me sum it up.

Borderlands

The story takes place on the planet of Pandora, and you play the part of one of four "vault hunters" who are looking for the legendary Vault of Pandora.

Brick, who prefers to punch things to death.

Mordecai, whom has his trusty bird "Bloodwing." Both are more into long-range combat and Bloodwing can help get more loot.

Lilith is the "Siren" of the group. Her special ability is the "Phase Walk," during which she turns invisible. As it develops during the game, she can gain abilities from healing herself to electrocuting anyone nearby as she phase walks through enemy ranks.

Last is Roland the soldier. He has the ability to throw turrets down to heal and resupply ammo.

As you can see, each vault hunter has their own unique abilities. I prefer the "Siren" myself as she fits my style, either sniper or up close and personal. You perform many missions that lead you to finding the vault. Every step of the way there, you pick up more and more abilities in your talent tree.

The graphics aren't exactly lifelike, and I think this was due to parental fears of their little dimpled darling who might actually get traumatized by a video game, which I consider to be on par to that they see on their favorite TV show ... but that is a rant for another time. The graphics are well done for the style they intended.

Along the way, you will meet many characters. A certain one you will meet throughout the game is the endearing, yet annoying, but always lovable "Clap-Trap unit.' Another is "Angel," the AI who only you can see, whom I have as one of my favorites. As you play, you will find yourself being "helped" along by her.

Borderlands 2

With the second game in the series, you have four to six characters you can choose from, depending on the download packs you can get. If you get the "Game of the Year" addition, you get access to all of them. Again, I like the Siren character, but this one has different powers than the one in the first game. As you play, you meet each of the playable characters from the first game, but they are NPCs, along with Angel, and of course Clap-Trap.

Your arrival isn't as peaceful as in the first game, as you are immediately under fire as bots from Handsome Jack try to kill you. Handsome Jack is the main antagonist throughout this adventure, and becomes the man you love to hate. He is the CEO of Hyperion Corporation, and has some very memorable lines in this story as he taunts and rants at you throughout the game as he throws harder and harder minions to stop you.

As in the first game, you are looking for a vault and you are "helped" along by not only Angel and Clap-Trap, but with the main characters from the first game as well.

If I am being a little vague with my descriptions, it is because I don't believe in spoilers. The video links are the playthrough to the first "boss" fights under level ten. In Borderlands, I am playing as the Siren, and in Borderlands 2 I am playing as the Mechromancer.

In both games, you are immersed into the story with plenty of humor mixed in. The stories and backgrounds are very well thought out and lighthearted as well at times. And so with this series of games, I give them my humble thumbs up.

BL 1 play through link:
http://www.twitch.tv/nydia_tungsten/b/504224984

BL 2 play through link:
http://www.twitch.tv/nydia_tungsten/b/504569563

Why write about games that are several years old? It's because the creators are at it again.

They have a third game in the works, and it may be released late this year or early 2015. Want a sneak peek? I have one for you, and it even has a surprise twist that if you played Borderlands 2 all the way through, it will jump out and slap you in the face!

http://www.gametrailers.com/videos/9ahana/tales-from-the-borderlands-vgx-2013--world-premiere-trailer

I hope you enjoyed this review as much as I did.

If you have a suggestion for a game you would like to see reviewed, let us know and as always -

Good gaming to you!

Pre-edited by Brandi Streusel Tungsten

Image credit: HCL.HR Gaming Portal, softtonic.com

Nydia Tungsten