Tales From PAX West 2019: Day Zero

Aww yes you’ve found me. I decided to start blogging again and what better time than to share my current PAX West trip with you? Last year I failed miserably to jot down the experiences we (Zac/Patrick/Myself) had and it really bummed me out. This time around I wanted to share with you what it’s like for me to attend these events. So grab a beverage and something to snack on if you need it and enjoy our Tales From Pax West 2019: Day Zero

It all began on a cool summer evening in August when a young man nam— You should be warned that I’ve had maybe two hours of sleep in the last forty or so hours and some of this is going to be silly. But getting back into things takes a bit of silly to make it work. I’ll be proofing this later after I’ve had the opportunity to finally rest and will most likely erase everything I just wrote down (joke was on me). I read this and thought it should be shared because an overtired me can sometimes be funny.

Why exactly haven’t I slept you ask? Well, our tale begins late Wednesday night and early Thursday morning. Our flight was scheduled to take off around 0630 and we still had to drive two hours to get to the airport. After a difficult goodbye to my children, both of whom didn’t want me to leave, I went home to finish packing and downloading movies onto my tablet. By the time I was finished it was 11PM and I would only get three hours of sleep before needing to meet my Uncle at his place. The problem is that when I’m overtired, which I already was after being awake for 15 hours at that point, I know that I’ll sleep through my alarms. Not to mention I was stressed out knowing that I was going to be on a plane soon and, boy, do I hate flying.

I was hoping I’d get some decent rest during our travels, but that was an empty reach in my mind due to my irrational fear of flying. It’s not natural to shove humans into a metal tube and then shuttle them across the planet thousands of feet in the air. Regardless of my fear I endured the turbulence ridden flight until we landed safely. I was pleasantly surprised to find out during the flight that Delta still serves snacks at no additional charge and even allowed us to watch free movies that recently came out. I opted for Pet Semetery, but wound up shutting it off near the end of the flight.

After we landed and secured a means to travel, we made our way to the AirBnb. The lady wouldn’t let us check in early unless we were willing to pay ten dollars an hour for every hour that we were early. It would’ve been sixty bucks. Um bullshit lady… She did, however, let us check our bags in so we didn’t have to carry them around all day. This place is weird, though. It looks like an apartment in a crappy movie where the good guy throws someone around to get answers about, “who’s selling the stuff?” It’s barely even furnished and yet we had to drop another twenty bucks for the lady to pop open the fold-out couch. She’s one of those people. Nickel and dime your ass outside of AirBnb so she can make some extra coin. It costs 3 dollars to even use the restroom… I’m kidding but it’s not too far-fetched to think she wouldn’t do something crazy like that.

So, we left to explore Seattle for a bit after grabbing breakfast at Ihop. We walked all the way to the Farmer’s Market, or was it Public Market? I was so hot and sweaty I began developing some… um… chaffing issues that hurt every time I moved. I was starting to get miserable, so we sat down at a pub and hung out until we could go check in. It wasn’t a bad way at all to spend the time with the fellas. We eventually dined on fish & chips and ice cream on our way out.

Once we did finally get checked in to our room I passed out almost immediately, or so I’m told. I didn’t realize that I did at the time but I was out like a light. I only slept for about an hour though because we needed to catch an Uber to the Indie Showcase event that Microsoft was hosting. We anticipated it was going to be slammed like it was last year, but we were pleasantly surprised that it wasn’t anywhere near as bad. We managed to eat some pizza before hopping in line to play Gears of War 5 Horde. It was a long wait but we had a lot of fun. I’ve always been a fan of Gears and horde mode is a blast. There are some notable changes that stood out, like the ability to use and upgrade perks, which I don’t remember being in Gears of War 4. Also, each character can only be used by one person at a time and the engineer class doesn’t exist anymore because everyone is capable of doing engineer stuff.

Later on Zac played Deep Blue, a neat Indie game reminiscent of Abzu. After that, we wandered around snagging a ton of free mints, a free game from the Xbox Ambassador booth, and some beverages while waiting for the raffle at the end of the night. We sincerely wanted to win some of the cool things they were giving away like Xbox controllers, skateboards, and even an Xbox One X. We didn’t win though because that would’ve been just way too cool. We then traveled back to our room and wound down for the evening. Day zero was the most eventful I’ve had in my previous four experiences with PAX. Some of it was miserable for me for personal reasons (re-read above) but, for the most part, it was a great day once the chaffing, flying, and heat issues were dealt with. We got to check out some cool new Indie games at the Microsoft event and we even got some cool swag that I’ll share with you folks who watch my stream at a later date. See you tomorrow in our Pax West Day 1 blog and if you’re not following me on Twitch you’re dead to me… I mean, you should rectify that…
K bye

Zac’s Notes

-Deep blue was cool~ Exact quote
-Tankard and Tun had a cool octopus logo
-Why are you asking me questions this late?
-Get out of the bathroom, I’ll answer that later.
Ericco Notes

-zzzzzz *snores* ~ Sleeping Rico

Quantum Break Review

This review was written almost a year ago and has never been posted anywhere. You are the first to read it and I hope you enjoy.

Have you ever tried to prevent something from happening and in doing so you wind up being the one who caused it? This concept is the core of Remedy Entertainment’s newest story, Quantum Break. Remedy, known for drastic innovation and complex storytelling, mixes elements from their previous titles into Quantum Break's intriguing new plot. Building from Alan Wake's episodic style of storytelling, Quantum Break includes a live action show to compliment the interactive portions of the plot. Unfortunately, bland gameplay and passive storytelling prevent Quantum Break from being a truly fantastic experience.

Whether it’s Max Payne’s gritty, noire tale of vengeance or Alan Wake's haunting search for his missing wife, storytelling epitomizes a Remedy game and Quantum Break exceeds expectations. Jack Joyce returns home to assist his best friend, Paul Serene, in a project that was essentially shut down by Jack’s estranged brother, William Joyce. Unfortunately, not everything goes as planned and Jack finds himself in a race to prevent the end of time. Taking control of Quantum Break's primary villain at the end of each act in order to make a decision that impacts the show is refreshing; however, these moments are short lived.

 The television series compliments the interactive portion of the story by revealing the struggles and motives from an antagonistic point of view. Finding certain items during an act will prompt their appearance in the show as a way of rewarding the player for exploring. This thirty minute passive experience between gameplay slows the pace and will most likely be skipped by those who prefer the immersive experience. The show, albeit fun to watch for those with an open mind, lacks in both acting and production quality. It can be impactful, though, as it persuades gamers to feel compassion and sympathy for those who oppose them. When the story is pieced together completely it oozes the dark, intoxicating charm that comes with a Remedy game, but the passive experience may leave you fatigued between acts.

 The interactive portion of Quantum Break's story, unlike the show, bursts at the seams with it's fantastic acting. Shawn Ashmore (Jack Joyce), Dominic Monaghan(William Joyce), and Aidan Gillen(Paul Serene)brilliantly display their talent. Remedy captures the actor’s facial features perfectly in Quantum Break's beautifully rendered graphics. The environments are vastly detailed as well, however, there isn’t much room to explore in this linear tale.

     Players easily stumble upon collectibles that fill in the gap for Quantum Break’s current events. If players choose to bypass collectables because they don’t want to read another boring email they may miss out on many Alan Wake Easter Eggs that are sprinkled throughout or other beautiful gems like Time Knife, a hilariously and terribly written screenplay from the hyperbolic delusions of a lonely, underpaid employee who has a crush on his boss.

Gameplay in Quantum Break introduces gamers to time powers. Jack’s accident early on blessed, or cursed, him with a wide set of powers he uses to plow through droves of enemies. Jack can highlight items of interest and enemies on the map, suspend the AI in a time field that absorbs anything shot into it, or dash around the battlefield. Other features allow Jack to rewind or stop time in certain areas in order to solve a mini puzzle that allows access to the next area.            

With the additions of an explosive time blast and a controlled sprint that ends in a melee takedown, every fight has the potential to be new and exciting. Unfortunately, the mediocre arsenal of weapons fails to enhance a firefight and spamming time powers will grow old. Especially if you're on the hunt for collectables and spamming the enhanced vision every three seconds.

     Another bland and unoriginal area of Quantum Break is its enemies, an uninventive crew of cannon fodder with very few variations. The standard soldier is the primary combatant with the occasional position rushing shotgunner and snipers to back them up. Tank enemies have a home here as well, however, taking them down is far too simple with an upgraded Time Blast. 

     The only enemies providing a challenge are the ones that occur during time stutters. A stutter brings the world to a halt; however, Jack is still able to move around. Few sequences throughout Quantum Break’s playthrough provide unique platforming areas that require the player to have quick reactions to a stutter. Soldiers equipped with technology that allows them to continue moving put up a fight during these sequences. Their similar use of time dodge and their ability to move in a stutter are the only things that separate them from regular soldiers.

Remedy teases us with a taste of enemies that should have been in the game, Shifters. Many of the side collectibles mention shifters as terrifying enemies that can only be seen during a stutter. Jack gets an up close and personal experience with this later in the story, however, never once does the player get to go head to head with them. It's a shame to waste such an interesting prospect in favor of the bland enemies that litter this linear experience.

     The final boss fight adds insult to injury. This fight spikes in difficulty by flooding the player with countless enemies while being attacked by the boss's instakill abilities. Once the pattern can be figured out it becomes a series of rinse and repeat actions and no real fight against the big man himself.

Quantum Break looks fantastic and it tells a unique story that is amplified by above par acting outside of the TV show. It introduces unique ways to play games through long bits of passive media. Unfortunately, it falls short where games should really shine, game play. With uninspired weapon options, enemies, and boss fights, Quantum Break has plenty to improve upon if Remedy ever hopes to make a sequel.

+Fantastic story and acting

+Beautiful graphics

+Unique time powers

-Uninspired enemies and weapons

-Passive experience slows pace

-Final boss fight

Why Mass Effect Andromeda is Trash

Yes, there will be spoilers. Duh

About a month ago I saw a tweet from Bioware stating that they put out their final patch for Mass Effect Andromeda and felt an overwhelming…nothingness. Not long after that a good friend of mine, Zac, had stated that, even though he heard how bad of a game it was, he wanted to try playing Andromeda. This sent me into an outrage so fierce that if you shoved a copy of Mass Effect Andromeda up my ass I’d probably crap out a better game. Honestly, had I written Mass Effect Andromeda myself I could’ve done better than Bioware did. Now I know there are some people out there who actually enjoyed this monstrosity of a game and that’s fine, we’re all entitled to our opinions. So please keep in mind that everything I write about Mass Effect Andromeda is my own personal opinion…that may just happen to be shared by many.

It’s not a secret that I am a huge fan of the Mass Effect franchise. I fell in love from the get go with the story, characters, gameplay, and overall atmosphere. You play as Commander Sheppard who, with all the dialogue options and choices you can make throughout the trilogy, truly becomes a reflection of you as a person. Every character has depth and personality making for an enriching experience each and every time you play through it. The dialogue and story are well written and, although it’s not perfect, you truly feel a sense of urgency and danger. The original Mass Effect trilogy paid so much attention to detail outlining an entire universe to explore and providing in depth histories to cultures of dozens of different species in the galaxy. It was so great to learn about the Rachni Wars, The Genophage, and the First Contact War. These things added so much depth to the story and gave me a real reason to protect the galaxy. Add them together and you have a recipe that defines a Mass Effect game and they are the very reasons why Andromeda fell short of success.

I will say, before I begin my hatefest, that Mass Effect Andromeda improved on combat in such a magnificent way that going through the hundred plus hour play through was at least bearable. Movement around a battlefield is fast and efficient and the mixing and matching of different abilities that can be changed on the fly allows me to experiment as much as I want. Almost every fight I jumped into felt unique based on whom I was fighting and the tools I was using.

It’s unfortunate that the story played out the way it did. Large groups of alien species hopping onto arks to embark on a six hundred year journey to the Andromeda galaxy so that they can start fresh and meet new species. This concept does seem cool but it fails to suck me in. Thousands of Humans, Turians, Asari, Salarians, and Krogan sign up to leave their lives and their loved ones behind on a high-risk journey that may ultimately lead to nothing. I don’t buy it. If you find every single memory sequence you get a cut scene detailing that this expedition was expedited as a safeguard to keep people alive from the Reaper invasion that took place during the events in Mass Effect 3. That is such a heavy decision though and they didn’t seem to think twice about it. Oh welp Sheppard said it’s happening so it has to be true. Sure we can believe since we played as Sheppard, but I’d think these weirdos would be a bit more cautious. It doesn’t help that people don’t seem to care to have left their former lives behind.

Hello people, you just woke up from a six hundred year journey and during your long hibernation in cryo sleep your mom and dad died as did your brothers and sisters and anyone you cared about. The Milky Way galaxy advanced six hundred years into the future as well. What’s to say that technology wasn’t so advanced by the time they reached Andromeda that survivors of the reaper invasion not only managed to fully recover but they also developed a mass relay that could shoot scout teams into the Andromeda galaxy so that they could build a relay on the other end? I selfishly wanted to see how things recovered in the Milky Way, but I understand they wanted to detach from that story. So that’s fine, but still, Andromeda? It’s pretty obvious that the Milky Way wasn’t even fully explored. Why not go into hibernation in unexplored space just in case you needed to run back in the event that the reapers were defeated and then stumble upon new advanced life that way? I don’t know, just a thought.

That’s my own personal issues with the set up of the story and not something I think that takes away from Andromeda. The whole story of finding a place to settle so that food can be harvested and that the new Citadel, dubbed Nexus, could begin to thrive. But during their journey there this dark matter, called the Scourge, that came in and messed everything up and you, the Pathfinder (instead of Spectre), must find a way to defeat The Kett, a new species (out of two) hell bent on trying to wipe you out. Seriously, only two new alien races? While the Milky Way was packed with life this place is a ghost town. You’re stuck with all the same old races here with nothing new to learn about them. We could’ve stayed in the Milky Way for that! The Kett are the primary enemies but there are also some annoying Milky Way rebels that fled the Nexus when things didn’t go as planned. Rather than sticking together, the visitors from the Milky Way remain fractured. I mean who the hell screened these people to go on this mission? These people traveled six hundred years so that xenophobic behavior, rebellious outbreaks, and violence against each other can just resume. Same shit, different galaxy.

The Angara is the other new alien race you meet and they’re friendly. So friendly, in fact, that they immediately trust you. Despite having made the mistake of trusting the Kett and then getting betrayed by them. You don’t have to do anything to be able to walk freely into their city after your initial contact. Sure some Angaran hassle you because of what happened with the Kett, but most of them are so excited and happy to know you! I call bullshit. It would’ve been much more interesting to actually earn the trust of the Angaran people. The lack of tension between the Angaran and the Milky Way visitors is almost nonexistent making their friendship feel faked. You literally just met a new alien race and you’re acting like old drinking buddies? Get real Andromeda.   

The story itself is a giant web of plot holes and things that just don’t seem natural to me. For example, why did Ryder’s dad just go off and die? One, he wasn’t built up enough as a character to really be a martyr. Two, they couldn’t take turns breathing the oxygen? Also, Ryder is clearly unfit to be the Pathfinder, so if one of them had to die, why not kid Ryder? Sheppard had to earn his title; Ryder did nothing to be promoted to the most important person on this mission. Hell Cora was skipped over due to nepotism and it just doesn’t make sense. Also, why weren’t there safety precautions put into place to protect the Arks from running into space shit? I mean our handy dandy AI, SAM, that assists us all through the game couldn’t be bothered to watch over the damn ship? Also, all that crap you settled in Mass Effect 3 means fuck all! Genophage has been cured…except for the Krogan who came with us. This last one isn’t much of a plot hole, but it can be annoying watching a Krogan dude complaining about something that was cured six hundred years ago.

To add insult to injury, the horrendous dialogue makes for such an unbearable experience. Everything that comes out of Pee Bee’s mouth is trash and everything else that is said by anyone feels fake, forced, and just outright dumb. “Oh he’s pissed off…probably because I shot him in the face.” Yeah that’s an actual line of dialogue at the very beginning of the game. Does anyone need to see female Ryder’s attempt to hit on what’s her face in the cockpit? Horrendous. Dialogue is meant to drive the story forward and Andromeda treats it like it’s half priced drink night at your local improve club. Not all of the dialogue falls flat, but most of it does and it’s enough to truly take away immersion and the ability to even care about what’s happening.

The planets in Andromeda are extremely large with tons of opportunity to explore. However, they’re filled with a lot of nonsensical and boring side quests that quickly grow repetitive and boring. It’s quite a shame because the graphics on some of these planets are truly amazing to look at. But going outside of the primary and loyalty missions left me with an extremely forgettable experience.

Space exploration has been gutted. I don’t think they ever truly nailed space exploration in the original trilogy, but they made leaps and bounds to at least try. Here in Andromeda it’s been completely stripped down. You can explore every system rather quickly and may walk away with some crafting supplies or credits, nothing more. But there really isn’t any reason to explore. You can’t land on random planets and do miscellaneous quests you didn’t even know existed. I mean we’re in a new effing galaxy and we can’t even explore these random planets? Such a wasted opportunity here.

So let’s add this all together. We have a story that is littered with plot holes. We have dialogue that is so horrible that it makes getting to know the other characters in the game a chore. Hell they’re forgettable too. I didn’t care about any of them. I can’t even remember most of their names. The side missions are complete dog shit, I spent the whole game hunting down supplies so that the crew could have a movie night near the end of the game…and the mission only consisted of me traveling to a place and buying something. Then wait seven hours for the next part of the mission to become available. The actual movie itself was so corny and cringe worthy that I almost gagged and vomited at the same time. Gavomitted. The planets are large and mostly empty and the remaining galaxy is devoid of any true exploration. Finally you only get to meet two new alien species, one that is trying to annihilate you and the other that is moderately interesting to learn about, if you care to do the side quests needed in order to learn about them.

So there you have it, that is why I hate Mass Effect Andromeda. Feel free to disagree with me and tell me what you liked about it or feel free to give me more reasons why you disliked it. As always check me out on Twitch at twitch.tv/halotitan and please message me with any blog ideas you have for the future. Happy gaming.

Unravel Review

-->

Unravel is another game that I wrote a review for last year. Please check it out and let me know what you think. 

Unravel, unveiled at E3 2015 by a nervous Martin Sahlin from Coldwood Interactive, oozes with emotion throughout its twelve-stage journey. With colorful landscapes, exciting antagonists, and a heartwarming soundtrack, Unravel defines how a modern puzzle-platformer should look and feel. Unfortunately, the puzzles don’t provide much of a challenge, hindering what is an overall excellent experience.

     Yarny, Unravel’s cute anthropomorphic hero made out of yarn, takes a trip down memory lane in order to restore an unfinished photo album. Yarny relives certain memories in order to reclaim lost relics that belong to the photo album cover. These memories range from heartwarming and touching to dark and melancholic. The story feels complete, but lacks any real depth making it hard for the player to care about anything other than Yarny.

Unravel's visuals are stunning to look at. The beautiful view of a

snowy field, a dilapidated hazardous waste ground, and sunny beaches all make for fun and unique levels. The musical score tied to each level adds emphasis, drama, and sometimes urgency, but overall it's emotionally soothing.

Yarny is attached to a string of yarn to keep himself together, which halts the progress if puzzles aren't properly solved with enough remaining slack to reach a checkpoint. Every checkpoint consists of a random ball of red yarn that replenishes Yarny’s supply and they’re frequent enough to make the play-through uncomplicated. Yarny uses string from his own body to swing across gaps, lasso items he can move, and build tight ropes to walk across.

     The use of Yarn as a tool is refreshing and new, however, the puzzles are never overly complex. Occam’s Razor can be applied to every puzzle. Instead of looking for the complicated answer, it’s usually the easiest one that is correct. 

     The unique enemies throughout the game are the highlight of Unravel and serve as nice palate cleansers between puzzles. Yarny flees when an enemy chases him and this pacifist approach makes for some intense escapes. Running from a flock of birds, cockroaches, crabs, and woodchucks really gets the blood flowing.

Unravel’s immersive environment is pleasant to look at while the fantastic soundtrack emphasizes every moment. These set the tone of each level beautifully and traversing through as Yarny will make you feel right at home. The story, albeit lacking in depth, feels heartwarming and fun. Unfortunately, the only thing holding Unravel back is the lack of complicated puzzles that truly test a gamer's will.

+Stunning Visuals

+Heartwarming soundtrack

+Exciting chase sequences

-Lack of depth in story

-Puzzles are too easy

Halotitan on Twitch

It feels pretty good to be back in the world of blogging. Rather than sitting in front of this blank virtual page and unhinging the door that holds all of my crazy story ideas, I’m releasing all of my emotions. It’s such a freeing feeling being able to write in the moment, even though all the dirty crap I just said about my ex wife won’t make the final cut. I jest of course. I didn’t write anything bad about her and I quite honestly don’t feel ready to write about my particular issues with her. I did that during our divorce and it became a massive spectacle that wound up being taken down because it was “slander.” I digress. But it still feels so gratifying to just spill my guts without worrying about how bad my writing is and if anyone will like it. You either do or you don’t which officially makes it not my problem.

So instead of spilling my guts on my personal life issues, I’ll instead be talking about my part time gig as an affiliated broadcaster on Twitch. Part time gig you ask? Yes, I’m attempting to make it a full time job but that takes a lot of hard work. Before I get into all of that though, I feel like we need to reacquaint ourselves since it’s been so long since I’ve blogged on the regular. So I’ll get this started. Hello, my name is Cody and I’m an alco…er…I’m a writer, affiliated broadcaster, and completely unemployed. People know me by many different names though, Halotitan, Halo, Titan, and That Guy with the Large Penis. You can fill in your part in the comments below.

So now some of you may be reading this and thinking, “hey this is The Guy with the Large Penis! I’ve seen him on Twitch.” Yes I know, calm down, I’m super famous. During my rise to stardom I’ve become affiliated on Twitch, which means I have more ways of earning money. I also recently celebrated my one-year streamiversary and surpassed one thousand followers. Ok…I’m certainly not famous and haven’t had a path to stardom, if any gaming broadcaster can even claim that. I do think it’s important, however, to really celebrate the small achievements. I’ve set goals for myself and I’ve finally managed to accomplish a few of them while I still pursue the others.

My first goal is my most important and one that never ends. It’s to never give up. No matter what struggles I’ve had over the past year I’ve managed, with the help of some close friends, to overcome them and keep my head up. It was very difficult to start streaming to an audience of zero people and to keep talking to no one like the homeless man touching himself on the bus, but I did it and over time an audience has grown and continues to grow.

My second goal really isn’t as much of a goal as it is a commitment to stay true to myself. I refuse to stream any game that would net me some easy followers in order to inflate my numbers. I will only stream games that I actually want to play no matter how popular they are to watch. I do bend that rule every now and then in the sense that I won’t stream a brand new game right away because the large, famous streamers tend to get a lot of attention streaming them off the bat which means a small fry like me gets buried beneath a mound of shit. I can say that I’ve never streamed a game that I didn’t want to play though.

My third goal was to earn one hundred followers before turning on my donation button. Some people in my circle thought that was an odd choice, but to me it was very important. I didn’t want to be this small time turd asking for money from random strangers on the Internet because I was providing them with some mediocre entertainment. Those big broadcasters you see raking in money faster than a Vegas stripper busted their butts to earn that and they deserve it. I did see people smaller than me asking for money using donation perks like doing a shot for a five-dollar donation or swallowing a can of cheese wiz for ten. It’s pathetic and I wanted people to see that I’ve put in the effort rather than pander for cheap entertainment. Now I know most people didn’t stream as long as I did for their first hundred followers but after 7 months of streaming I hit my mark.

My fourth goal was to hit one thousand followers before the end of 2017. I knew this one might be a stretch because I only had ten months to reach it. But thanks to a growing audience and the new Twitch app that throws out fistfuls of follows like condoms in a sex education class, I hit that goal in a little over six months. During that time a new goal popped up, becoming a part of the newly announced affiliate program. This goal was actually pretty easy to obtain because I already met all of the requirements needed. I was invited the day after the program launched and I’m very proud of this title.

Those are my accomplished goals but I still have more in the works. Hitting two thousand followers, having one hundred concurrent viewers, earning a thousand dollars on stream in order to fund a new PC and green screen, and to improve the quality of my broadcast. All of this will take a lot of time and effort and by reaching all of these benchmarks I’ll be able to reach my ultimate goals, becoming a partnered broadcaster and streaming for a living while I become a very famous writer on the side.

So no matter what you’re doing in your life and no matter what your passions are I urge you to work for it. Anything in life worth having is worth working hard for. Celebrate the small goals along the way because they are the stepping-stones to your true success. I know I say this to you as a small time broadcaster, but I’m so much farther along on this journey than I was when I started and it will only get better. I love streaming on Twitch. I love watching Twitch. It’s a wonderful place to hang out with your friends and your favorite broadcasters who provide entertainment like we’ve never seen before in the past.

If you’d like me to talk more in depth about anything Twitch related, shoot me a message and let me know. That also goes for any other topics you’d like to read about. If not you’ll be stuck with whatever my brain decides to dump when I sit down to write. Also be sure to go check out my sexy broadcast over at twitch.tv/halotitan and let me know you found your way there from here!

Plants vs Zombies: Garden Warfare 2 Review

I originally wrote this review about a year ago and had it posted up on our now obsolete website. I'm re-posting it here for your viewing pleasures. There is also a video version of the review if reading isn't your thing. Enjoy!

Plants VS Zombies Garden Warfare burst onto the shooter scene in 2014 showcasing its wonderful characters, colorful gameplay, and fantastic third person mechanics all while maintaining the charm of its tower defense origins. Despite its greatness, Garden Warfare lacked in variety of game modes, providing a somewhat limited experience. Plants Vs Zombies Garden Warfare 2 remedies that issue with a bountiful, yet time consuming journey, with new, yet familiar content, and six new characters. 

Garden Warfare 2 adds new content right away by replacing the traditional menu from its predecessor with an interactive hub world, The Backyard. Searching for chests, hidden rooms, and collectables makes for hours of fun without ever having to go online. The Backyard’s colorful surrounding neighborhoods, albeit fun to explore, lacks in size and gets old with no way to enter buildings.  

Each faction has a central base separated by an unclaimed battleground, making up the largest portion of The Backyard. Each base allows players to set up a portal to multiplayer, take off to battle waves of enemies in Garden or Graveyard Ops, view stats, purchase cards from the vending machine, jump into split screen, and customize characters.  

Garden Warfare 2 caters to players who prefer to play alone with solo quests. The newly added Solo Ops allows a player to jump into a Garden or Graveyard Ops with three AI controlled teammates that can be switched to and from at will. While Solo Ops remains just as fun as regular Garden or Graveyard Ops, the short single player quests lack substance and variation preventing an immersive story. Whether you’re tasked with defending a certain location or running across the map to kill a certain amount of bad guys, solo quests are repetitive and boring. The final few missions do spice it up with some challenging bosses, but it’s just too late to impact the entire experience. 

Progressing through single player unlocks two additional modes, Infinity and the Flag of Power. Infinity takes place in an alternate universe where you use a mech to fight off endless waves of gnomes trying to destabilize time. Raising the Flag of Power initiates a war in The Backyard with endless waves of enemies fighting to dethrone you. These new modes grow tiresome after realizing that they are nothing more than watered down versions of Garden and Graveyard Ops, the definitive tower defense game type carried over from the first Garden Warfare.  

Challenges have a new home in Garden Warfare 2 through a frequently updated quest board. Unlike Garden Warfare, where every challenge was tied to individual characters and were used to level up, Garden Warfare 2 rewards coins and stars upon completion. Stars can be used to unlock chests, clear rubble to make room for decorations, and gain access to Infinity. Coins are used to unlock card packs at the vending machine. There are literally thousands of cosmetic items to unlock as well as consumables and character variants. Unfortunately, too few cards come with each pack meaning countless hours of play will be needed in order to achieve everything. This hinders the sense of accomplishment and takes away from the overall experience. 

Online multiplayer features fantastic modes such as Gnome Bomb, Team Vanquish, Vanquish Confirmed, and Turf Takeover all returning from Garden Warfare. Turf Takeover tasks one team to defend its territory from the relentless onslaught of the enemy. Gnome Bomb acts as the assault game type where each team must grab the bomb and deliver it to the opposing team’s safe haven. Team Vanquish and Vanquish confirmed return as Garden Warfare 2’s deathmatch game type. All of these game types are exact replicas from Garden Warfare, only with new maps to play on. 

In addition to familiar modes, Garden Warfare 2 suffers from extreme balancing issues. Rose initially overpowered everyone else with her long-range homing shots that dealt loads of damage. She has been nerfed since, which paved a path for both Super Brainz and Imp to be dominate characters on the map. Although it doesn’t break the game completely, players may grow frustrated each time they die as a result of being bested by imbalance issues. 

The heart and soul of Garden Warfare lies in the variety of unique characters and their abilities. All eight characters from the original game make an uneventful return with no new abilities. The Engineer is the exception and veterans will notice he now has a turret ability rather than his remote controlled bot. The six new characters in Garden Warfare 2 steal the show this time around, and for good reason. Kernel Corn, Rose, and Citron charge the field as the new members of the plants while Imp, Super Brainz, and Captain Deadbeard stand firm with the Zombies. Each new character brings something new to the battlefield ranging from Super Brainz Turbo Twister, Captain Deadbeard's Canon, and the Imp’s Z-Mech to Rose’s goatify, Kernal Corn’s air strike, and Citron’s EMP. Each character provides a refreshing breath of air to a multiplayer experience dominated by characters from the past by initiating new ways to tackle each game played.     

With the total number of characters growing to fourteen, the number of different variations climbs beyond one hundred. This, along with the countless customizable options, makes playing alongside an identical character near impossible. The new leveling system adds to that uniqueness since each individual character variation can be ranked up fifty times while being promoted for every tenth level obtained, much like prestige in Call of Duty. This makes the level cap well over five thousand. 

Plants Vs Zombies Garden Warfare 2 provides an excellent experience that surpasses that of its predecessor. With over a hundred different characters, countless activities, and endless customization, Garden Warfare 2 sets a new standard for this franchise. Unfortunately, with the absence of a real story, balancing issues, and time consuming unlockables, there is still plenty of room for improvement. 

+ New characters 

+ Loads of customization 

+ Beautiful Graphics 

+ Backyard Battleground 

• Online balancing issues 
• Lack of substantial single player 
• Time consuming unlockables