Return of an Old King
It seems as though Seattle cannot decide what weather it wants recently. Be it random bouts of snow, rain or sunshine, we’re still going to have to push forward, and get ourselves ready for the inevitability of our finals and our (hopefully promising) results. In the meantime, a good way to bleed some of that stress away is to play some video games. That is unless you play Anthem, which has been causing full system level crashes across consoles. If you don’t want to brick your console, you could dive into Apex Legends, which has hit a monumental 50 million players worldwide, or the recently released Devil May Cry 5, which has many people proclaiming the triumphant return of old gaming giant Capcom. In more serious news, Valve has made a stand against the controversial game Rape Day, refusing to publish it on their platform. Without further introductions, we’re going to dive more in-depth into what’s happening this week.
The Good
Capcom brings back many a nostalgia trip for people across the world. When we were younger, firing up titles like Street Fighter, Mega Man, or Ace Attorney, there was the Capcom logo in our faces, promising a fun experience. However, from the early 2010s onwards, the company hasn’t experienced success that it enjoyed in its early years. While they certainly had successful titles in their mainstay titles like Resident Evil or Street Fighter, there weren’t many games that captured both audiences and critics alike. However, Capcom has experienced a windfall in the past year, with several massive successes. Resident Evil 7 was a triumphant return to form for the Resident Evil series. While the 6th iteration of the franchise took the series into an action-packed blockbuster that departed from its original horror genre, RE7 brought the series back to its terrifying roots. Following that success, Capcom released Monster Hunter: World on consoles early 2018. The game received critical acclaim, with good reason. The game made massive advances into the difficulty of actually hunting monsters while allowing the core gameplay to be accessible for all players. The game has since become Capcom’s best-selling game in history. Capcom did not stop there. The remake of Resident Evil 2 drew praise from audiences and critics alike. The remake brought with it modern controls and polish while keeping the originality and terror when it originally released in 1998.
It’s hard to avoid news about Apex Legends, considering the sheer amount of people who are playing it nowadays. An electrifying battle-royale released by developers Respawn of Titanfall fame, the game is an addicting first-person shooter, and it’s no surprise that Respawn has joyfully announced that Apex Legends has hit 50 million players worldwide. Despite technical glitches that have marred an otherwise incredible launch, Apex has attracted fans across the world. It’s interesting to think about, as before the game launched, there was noticeable fatigue with the Battle Royale genre. What makes Apex different from the other Battle Royales out there? The characters? The inherent polish, that so many games seem to lack these days? My opinion is that it’s just a very polished, and very much a work of love from the developers. From the little things like having a dedicated “jumpmaster”, to the incredibly detailed ping system, all of that combines to make Apex one of the best games currently on the market.
The Bad
When you thought Anthem couldn’t receive any more bad press, guess again. The newest title from Bioware has come under fire once again. The game itself caught a lot of flack for it’s repetitive and shallow gameplay experience. There was a bug that had the first weapon received in the game do more damage than hard-earned legendaries, In a cruel twist of fate, a bug occurred that allowed players to gain loot at higher drop rates. This actually drew some players back into Anthem, yet Bioware was quick to hotfix that out. The issue has only brought yet more fuel to what is already an inferno for Bioware and EA. It’s a real shame. Now, a catastrophic bug has been discovered that has been causing full system level crashes on PS4’s with other crashes on PC and XBOX. While no consoles were apparently ‘bricked’, it is another devastating blow to a game that looks to already be on its last legs less than a few weeks after launch. Granted, Bioware has been consistently updating the game, trying to retain what players they have left. That is commendable, but only time will tell if Anthem does survive.
The situation of the controversial title Rape Day is an uncomfortable one, but it is one that is important to cover. The premise of the game is sickening, allowing players control of a serial-killer rapist during an apocalypse. News outlets jumped on this game from the get-go as it sparked outrage amongst the gaming community. Steam has now stepped in, pulling the game from its digital shelves as it cited “unknown costs to Valve and it’s publishers”. One hopes that they also decided not to publish the game because of its promotion of heinous behaviors. Now, the original steam page for the game is gone, and the site is nowhere to be found. It’s a horrible situation, and this has sparked discussions that Steam needs to have higher standards when it comes to allowing games published on their platform. Whatever the decision is, the world consensus is that this game should never, ever see the light of day.
Who’s Next?
For those players who have been burned by Anthem, another looter-shooter that was covered earlier is coming very soon. Tom Clancy’s The Division 2 comes to the general public on March 15, 2019. Early impressions of the game are very promising, with many critics praising the changes and iterations made on the sequel to the original. Set in a post-epidemic Washington DC, players take control of sleeper agents set as a last resort for America as they look to take Washington back from rogue elements that have assumed control. The original had a rocky start, but with hard work from developers, it has become a very enjoyable looter-shooter. Reception from the open beta has been very positive, so it seems like The Division 2 might be the next big game out there.
In the frame of futuristic looter-shooters, Destiny 2 has recently come out with another content drop. Named Season of the Drifter, the expansion adds two new game modes and another boost in the light level cap, allowing players to once again chase maximum power. Like The Division and what seems like many other games out there recently, Destiny 2 went through a rocky start. From a lack of endgame, static rolls, and several other strange choices undertaken at the beginning of D2, the audience consistently pushed Bungie studios to make changes and deliver a better product, which culminated in Forsaken, a massive DLC that brought many a player old and new back to the world of Destiny. Time will tell if they can keep it up with this expansion though. Destiny 2 is available on all consoles, including PC.
That’s about it for the week. While there were no releases, there was certainly a lot of interesting events that occurred in the gaming industry. For now, stay safe, good luck on finals and make sure to relax with a game or two every now and again.
The editor may be reached at
[email protected]
