Ranking Up in Counter Strike: Global Offensive

Solo-Queue v. 5-Man Team

The best way to rank up in CSGO is to play with four of your friends instead of just goin it alone and testing out matchmaking. Your friends will probably be better than most of the randoms you meet, you will have better communication, and since you're with friends, they will less likely throw away a possible win to troll you. 

Random people that play matchmaking are very hit or miss. Some people will have fun and play well, giving out calls and contributing. However, most will be trolls or people who dont care about you or your progress in the game. Further, if your team isn't doing well, they are very likely to give up on the game. Your friends do care about you, and are willing to play to the last round of your team is falling behind. 

Communication is key in this game, and if you don't have good comms, your team will lose regardless of individual talent, especially at the higher ranks. This is why playing with friends is do advantageous, because you can be in a third party call software such as team speak or Skype, while the other team probably isn't. 

Lastly, it is just more fun to play with friends. To watch yourself and your friends progress in a highly competitive game is exciting and a good way to "hang out" without leaving your room. I love playing with my friends, and we have even reached a point where we have entered small scale professional leagues, playing against other teams and competing. 

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New Star Wars: Battlefront Reveal Trailer

The new Star Wars Battlefront game is coming out later this year, and DICE has just released the first actual trailer that people are able to view for this game. The footage is set in the in-game engine, but is laid out in a more scripted fashion as actual gameplay is still in very early development. I am very excited for this game to come out, as I said in a previous post, but I am worried, especially with all of the new information coming out about it, that it will not fulfill the hopes and dreams of many Star Wars fans out there.

First of all, there will be no singleplayer to speak of in this game. Yup, that,s right. All those amazing times you had playing galactic conquest and conquering all that stood in your path? Nope. Gone. The singleplayer campaign that was actually decent? Not gonna happen. I mean come on DICE. Galactic Conquest was by far my most favorite thing to do in the old Battlefront, especially later in the games lifespan, as hackers plagued the online multiplayer environment. So what can you do offline? Not much. All I have heard is that there will be little side missions that some of your friends can complete against AI. The game is still early in development, so I am hoping that there will be more to do in that aspect when the final game launches.

The first DLC has also been announced. As this game is releasing with the new movie, The Force Awakens, the Battle of Jakku DLC will drop shortly after the game's release. The battle is set to take place a year after the Rebels destroy Death Star II, and are fighting the Empire across the galaxy. It is free, and people that preorder the game will be able to have access to it first.

I still have a lot of hope in the upcoming title, and hope that it lives up to the mass amounts of hype it is recieving.

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GTA V: PC Version

This last week, I purchased the newest big game for the PC, Grand Theft Auto V. It was recently remastered for the PS4 and Xbox One, and is finally coming to the PC. I have exclusively played the online version, in which you can play with your friends, and the only reason I actually bought the game. The new missions and graphics bring new feelings to the game, and make it more immersive. 

Some new features have been added to the PC version to spruce up the critically acclaimed title. One of the most noticeable is the new first person mode. Being able to see the game through your own characters eyes is something GTA players have never been able to do before, and pear are very excited about it. I think it adds a new edge to a simple police chase or the most complex of heists. Another new feature is the in-depth heist missions, which are multi-step crimes, such as robberies or jailbreaks, that you can perform with a group of buddies. I have done anywhere from a small bank heist to a large scale jail breakout. 

Another feature that I really enjoy is playing the story mode in first person. I have played the amazing campaign in third person on the PS3 before, but not in first person with this much graphical edge. I am a few missions into the story and it feels like a whole new experience again.

I still prefer to play online, though, because playing with real people is just so much more fun than just playing out scripted sequences that the programmers have laid out for me. I love playing on a server with 10 other random people across my region in the world, fighting it out in the streets or stealing money from a person that just robbed a gas station.

Under all of these new features still lies the amazing game that Rockstar developed. The incredible and atmospheric city environment is definitely the best I have ever seen. I can't wait to see what modders can do with the content to make it even more exciting and different from any other gaming experience.

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Rainbow Six: Siege

Return of a Classic

The long-awaited and delayed return of the critically acclaimed Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six video game series is finally here, and I, along with many others, am very excited to see how the game turns out.

Siege, the upcoming installment, is set to release this October 16th, and Ubisoft has already released a closed Alpha build for selected participants to play. I have watched some gameplay on YouTube and Twitch, and the game seems to capture everything about the classic FPS games that helped to launch the genre into what it is today. The mechanics that make up the hostage capture-defend gamemode seem exciting.

Us gamers can only hope that the developers, Ubisoft Montreal, put in the necessary time and effort to release a completed and quality project this fall.

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Heroes and Generals

I Can't Really Put My Finger on It, but Neither Can It

World War II has fascinated me ever since I was old enough to realize what war is. I've always been interested in 20th century history, because of the dynamic social, political, and economic clashes that occurred between many different nations. Naturally, being a gamer and a 20th century fanatic, I enjoy my fair share of World War II shooters. There are not many out there these days, so Heroes and Generals is the best choice really.

Heroes and Generals is a World War II shooter created by Reto-Moto, a developer that most people don't know of based in Copenhagen, Denmark. The game contains a lot of the generic shooter game modes, and has a unique "Generals" game mode in which you can command an assault squad. You can learn more about the game on the website linked.

So, how good is the game. 

Well, my first impressions of the game were actually quite good. The gun mechanics seem to be in order, however the hitboxes seem a little out of wack at some points. For instance, one time I had the German Kar-98K, a BOLT-ACTION rifle, mind you, and as I proceeded to fire at an enemy's chest, I received a notification telling me that I had done ONE point of damage to him. A single health point taken off from a 7.62mm round hitting a man in the chest is just unacceptable.

Anyway, there are 3 different factions in this game: the United States, the Germans, and the Russians. All of them have different weapons provided for them, however I am almost 100% sure that they are just reskins of each other, meaning they all basically do the same thing (there is no difference between the American M1 Garand and the German Gewehr G-12 and the Soviet SVT-40). So it doesn't really matter what side you choose, and for me that takes out a lot of the fun of a World War II shooter, because the diversity of the weapons created in this time period was so overwhelmingly different from previous wars.

The environment is actually quite well done. The city buildings look "twentieth-century war torn" enough for me. The forest is also very interesting, as the trees actually provide a challenge to seeing targets down range. The graphics are nothing to boast about, but I wouldn't complain about them looking too out of date.

My biggest issue with this game is the map selection. See, the developers boast that their game contains tons of different cities that players and factions can fight over, gaining ground on a much larger, European campaign map. However, the whole game only includes 5 different maps. FIVE!!! Two city maps, one airfield map, and two maps located in a rural setting. Now, you tell me how I am supposed to believe I am fighting a large, European-scale war when Paris, France looks exactly the same as some microscopic agricultural town in Germany. 

Nothing stands out to me about this game, and that is the issue I have. I can't tell what this game is supposed to be. Is it supposed to be realistic, because the fairly large map sizes suggests that. But the arcadey hitboxes and playstyle doesn't seem to fit a realistic shooter. That is the games problem. It doesn't know what it is supposed to be, so the player gets confused and doesn't feel immersed in a World War II setting, ever. It is bland, it isn't different, it is free-to-play, but if you don't purchase the in-game currency with real money, it will take you literally hours to get a weapon you want.

So, what is my verdict on this game? Well, I wouldn't recommend the game to anyone who wants a genuine WWII experience, in fact the only reason I play it is because there isn't much choice out there.

Honestly, you'd be better off playing the 14 year old Battleground Europe... (will be explained in a later post)

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Star Wars: Battlefront 3 Confirmed

Boy Am I Excited...

Last year's E3 gaming conference heralded the exciting information that DICE, the developers of the Battlefield franchise, would be creating a new Star Wars: Battlefront game for the new generation technology. The hype for the game was revitalized early this year, with new footage filmed through the "in-game engine" looking absolutely brilliant. Now I am here to weigh in on the game, as far as what I think it could, and should, be.

I'd like to start off with some back story, and with my history in the Star Wars Universe. I have loved the Star Wars movies ever since I was a kid, and got engrossed in the legend and lore of the massive scale universe. When I first played the original Battlefront game, I was just in 1st grade (2005). I was fascinated by the game, and played it for hours and hours upon more hours, all because I could be a foot soldier involved in the massive wars that took place in the world of Star Wars. I was a clone soldier fighting on the jungle planet Naboo. I could be a Wookie on the planet Kashyyyk, or even a droid. My all-time favorite role, however, had to be the Jedi. The saber-wielding specialized fighters have a special place in any Star Wars fan's heart. The first Battlefront did not include this, but Star Wars: Battlefront II was quick to add that feature. I could be Mace Windu, Anakin and Luke Skywalker, the powerful Obi-Wan Kenobi, or even the great and mystical Yoda. I bought the second Battlefront on PC last year, and have been able to relive my childhood dreams in the amazing and wonderful universe that makes up Star Wars.

This winter, the dream is coming back.

DICE has announced that the game will be coming out around the same time as the new Star Wars VII movie, which will be around the holiday season this year. I am very excited to see what the very innovative developers can do with the cutting-edge "next-gen" technology to bring on a new phase in this very hyped, albeit late (in my opinion), sequel to the Battlefront Series. DICE will be using their very powerful Frostbite 3 engine to develop the game. This engine is used to run EA's Battlefield 4, Need for Speed Rivals, and Battlefield Hardline. Early footage from the in-game engine for Battlefront features amazing immersive environments on the planets of Hoth and Endor, both very famous in Star Wars lore. I am sure that this game will have the most up-to-date graphics available, along with new-and-improved animations, particle effects, destruction, and more.

The biggest issue I have with the upcoming game is with none other than the very publisher of the title. Electronic Arts (EA), is responsible for what many would call the ruination of the Battlefield series, as well as countless other poor-quality game builds being released before the developer (DICE) has had the proper amount of time to give the audience the best game possible. Battlefield 4, released in late 2013, came out with an amazing list of bugs present, and put a lot of people off as they were expecting the best FPS game to date.

If EA screws up this game as horridly as they have others, I might have to completely quit on the company and their games. This franchise is very near and dear to my heart, and many other people are on the same boat as me. So, I am expecting EA and DICE to respect the hearts of their fans, and release the game fully complete and bug-free.

For EA's sake, they better do this right.

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Insurgency: M40A3 Sniper Rifle with a Twist

Red Dot Sniper

Over the last week, I have been messing around with the loadout system in Insurgency, a game I reviewed a while back. The intuitive "supply points" system along with the different roles you can take on can lead to some interesting combinations. For the next couple weeks or so, I will be posting about the different fun and new experiences I had with these unique loadouts.

Snipers. The word strikes fear into any enemy force, as this elite class of soldiers can strike silently and suddenly with no warning from distances that are sometimes unfathomable. The typical tool in this trade is a powerful bolt-action rifle with an even more powerful long-range scope attached to it. The age-old combo is a must-have in any modern era shooter, as the class is as iconic as it is deadly. Over the years, actors have been carved into film history for their interpretations of different sniper characters. My favorite is definitely Pvt. Jackson from Saving Private Ryan. The ability to successfully "snipe" in any shooter video game has captured the efforts of almost every gamer who plays the genre.

Using the very unique Insurgency supply point loadout system, I decided to modify this "set-in-stone" sniper loadout, to see what I could make out of the primary marksman rifle in the game, the M40A3 Rifle.

I loaded into a "push" gamemode server, and selected the sniper class. I chose the M40A3 and, instead of using the suggested 8x magnification long-range scope, I opted for the shorter-range red dot sight. Seeing that the red-dot scope was only 1 supply point and the massive 8x scope was 4 points, I also attached a suppressor onto my rifle. It was then clear to me that this loadout may become a very useful "behind-enemy-lines" class, due to the suppressor. I ran as far forward around enemy players as I could, and set up camp in a run-down house with some windows.

They never saw it coming.

Using my trusty bolt-action, I was picking off the enemy force one by one on their way to capture our objectives. They couldn't seem to locate my position, and whenever one did stumble across my little hut, I pulled out my suppressed pistol and eliminated the unsuspecting threat. I was racking up kills, and my team was having an easy time holding our points because I was taking out every other enemy that tried to advance forward. 

I was loving it. The unorthodox combination made for some fun times, and I couldn't stop playing. I must have sunk 2 hours completely dedicated to trying to make this combo as amazing as it could be. I never ever wore out the challenge.

Some words of warning if you are interested in trying this out, however. The loadout is best optimized for the push gamemode. I attempted to use it on different modes and it never worked the same, as push is the only mode that has a definite "front-line" so to speak.

I enjoyed my time operating as one of the more peculiar roles I've ever taken on, and I am sure I will find even more fun things to try, due to the very intuitive loadout system that is one of the factors in making Insurgency one of my favorite first person shooter games to date.

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