Square Enix has apologized for the matchmaking errors plaguing its foam-shooting romp, Foamstars, since launch back in February. The team is working on a fix for that and other “high-priority issues,” but gives no timeline when we can expect the patch out.
The apology came from a recent blog post from producer Kosuke Okatani where it was detailed what we can expect from an upcoming May 2 patch. This new patch looks to penalize those who go AFK or disconnect intentionally from matches by restricting matchmaking for a set amount of time, a new map, some bug fixes, and addressing the memory leak issue that PlayStation 4 players face.
Hopefully, this matchmaking issue is resolved sooner rather than later now that the producer has acknowledged the community’s concern. Tacked on, Okatani also mentioned other “high-priority issues” will be addressed, but didn’t elaborate on what these issues may be.
“On behalf of the FOAMSTARS team, I’d like to apologize for the matchmaking errors many of you may have experienced during your gameplay. We are working to address this and other high-priority issues.”
What do you think? Are you enjoying Foamstars? Let us know below!
Instead of March 14 bringing celebration for Star Wars: Battlefront Classic Collection’s launch, fans of the 20-year-old titles are left extremely frustrated over the disastrous state of the game’s release.
Per PSLS, the online multiplayer component of the game has major connectivity issues ranging from server crashes and players being booted off the servers. For just the PC port alone, the Battlefront Classic Collection launched with only 3 servers to accommodate thousands of players and up to 64 players per match. Speaking of said port, Steam reviews are now at Overwhelmingly Negative. No wonder why refunds have been demanded, as only 19% out of over 4000 reviews are positive.
Unfortunately, there are much more glitches/performance issues the Battlefront Classic Collection face that are not exclusive to the online multiplayer mode.
Offline Performance Issues And Missing Content
Among the various glitches and performance issues reported in the offline modes, graphical errors and camera/control issues are included. Outside these issues and many more, players have also noticed some questionable alterations in the offline modes in both bundled Battlefront titles. Curiously, the option to invert the Y-axis remains absent as of now.
At least for the PC port of Star Wars: Battlefront (2004) in the Classic Collection, the iconic and nostalgic beeping sounds in the loading screens appears to have been altered. They are in a lower (if not slowed down) pitch compared to the original release of Star Wars: Battlefront. Instagram user allstarwarsfans has a perfect comparison video:
For Star Wars: Battlefront II (2005) in the Classic Collection, players are puzzled that when playing the storyline campaign involving the Clone Army’s 501st Legion (AKA Vader’s Fist), each level is missing outro cutscenes narrated by an off-screen Clone Trooper voiced by Temuera Morrison. Nonetheless, each level’s intro cutscene still plays. At the moment, it is unknown if a glitch is responsible for the missing outro cutscenes.
Yet another example of altered content is about the in-game fonts. On one hand, the Star Wars: Battlefront Classic Collection using the original PlayStation 2 and Xbox’s UI is heartwarming. On the other hand, It’s a head-scratching change to see a different font used for the in-game menus. Will Aspyr ever address this change and possibly restore the original in-game fonts?
Installation Requirements
Additionally, something not covered in our guide on what to know about the Star Wars: Battlefront Classic Collection is in regards to the installation requirements. In contrast to both classic Battlefront titles requiring a mere 12.39GB combined, the Star Wars: Battlefront Classic Collection requires a whopping 62.87GB of install space, if not more (depending on platform). A possible reason for the unusually large install space is the use of AI Upscaling to update the textures, lighting, etc. This installation requirement is yet another reason for criticism against Aspyr’s handling of the Battlefront Classic Collection.
Did you pick up the Star Wars: Battlefront Classic Collection, or will you hold off on your purchase until a later time? Let us know below!
Borderlands 3 has probably been the most anticipated looter-shooter game in recent years. The hype around it has grown exponentially ever since the big reveal at Gearbox’s PAX East 2019, mainly thanks to Gearbox releasing bits and bites of information every so often to keep the fan-base fed and healthy.
Surely enough, we have gotten games in this genre that have been enjoyable and have attracted loads of players to their folds, Destiny 2 being a fine example. However, nothing has ever gotten quite as close to the people’s hearts as the Borderlands franchise ever has. You can never quite go wrong with it. There is no middle ground when it comes to the random comedy action-paced atmosphere that envelops it: you either hate it or love it. This is a statement that has always been true – tried and proven – for the franchise, and Borderlands 3 is no exception to the formula. Knowing what to expect precisely out of the game, I dived in looking forward to the endless gun grind, accompanied by high expectations for the ever so controversial comedy aspect and a very steep set bar.
It’s worth noting, however, that my playthrough was done on the PC, though this review applies to all systems.
BAZILLIONS OF GUNS
When I say Borderlands, the first thing that comes to my mind is the impossibly vast arsenal of deadly – and sometimes borderline stupid – weapons that the game can potentially provide us with. Emphasis on “potentially”, however, because just like every prior Borderlands installment, finding the right guns can be a dire task all on its own. Offering the delicious looter-shooter formula that people are so madly in love with, the variety of weapons is a blessing, and a frustrating curse. It’s the thrill of the hunt. That one never-ending treasure hunt that we all always feel drawn to. Except you are never truly satisfied with the results, because you know the game can offer you more, and you want more. That’s because, usually, whenever you happen to find a good gun, one you truly click with, taking a step back to settle for the mediocre just doesn’t work.
As we all know weapons in Borderlands 3 come in different tiers: Common as Whites, Uncommon as Greens, Rare as Blues, Very Rare as Purples and last but not least, Legendary as Oranges.
They also added Anointed Weapons, which replaces the Elemental weapons of old. They aren’t an entirely new tier, but rather a way to add more spice to already existing guns. It grants them unique perks that impact your character abilities significantly.
FALLING BELOW THE SET BAR
After the sideways step that the Borderlands franchise took with Borderlands: The Pre-Sequel back in 2014, we definitely avoided another bullet with Borderlands 3.
If we were to draw a line, and at the opposite ends of this line we had Borderlands: The Pre-Sequel and Borderlands 2, Borderlands 3 would be leaning somewhere closer to Borderlands 2. Still not as close to it as hoped. Of course, Borderlands 3 has a more or less satisfying story. It grants character continuity so that many of the fan favorites could come back for more action in the Borderlands universe. And yet, it still falls short in fulfilling the delivery aspect.
Story-wise, we once again fill the shoes of a Vault Hunter of our choice between the four given characters: Amara, the Siren; Zane, the Operative; Moze, the Gunner; FL4K, the Beastmaster. On our way to opening the Vaults, we meet the villains that will be accompanying us throughout the journey: Tyreen Calypso and her twin brother Troy. While getting to know the spotlight villains, we’re showered with most-of-the-time cheap humor that fails to hit the mark – falling into what could be defined as a frequently more cringe-worthy and underwhelming experience. The jokes are flat, with no dimension to them whatsoever, and the voice actors trying to deliver them sound like they are forcing themselves into it. Even during what would be a serious conversation, the characters always seem on edge, waiting for the right moment to hit the player with poorly thought gags.
This roller-coaster accompanies the player the whole time. I won’t lie, but sometimes it got challenging for me to keep listening to the conversations that were being had in the background. Probably also because the characters aren’t as engaging anymore. Returning ones almost seem like they lost their spark and aren’t as appealing as they were in Borderlands 2. New ones just don’t live up to the expectations I had carried on from the earlier installment in the franchise. Tiny Tina – now only Tina – is an excellent example of that flame slowly going out.
The Calypso brothers are riddled by a similar problematic. They stand somewhere in-between dull and exciting. There are a mixture of some great ideas behind their personalities, yet none of those ideas truly shine, leaving them perceived as somewhat incomplete and void. It’s hard to like them, but then again, maybe they weren’t made to be liked to begin with. They are a parody of the streaming community. The embodiment of the most controversial figures we can find out there and a silly representation of the power they could have over the masses.
Or maybe it’s merely because we haven’t had the chance to connect to them for as long as we could with Handsome Jack, a villain that people hated, loved, and loved to hate.
The Calypso brothers fail to deliver their story-line to the player, and, almost as if it were a domino effect, everything else collapses with them.
THE PLAYABLE FOUR MUSKETEERS
Like I’ve pointed out before, our playable characters this time around are four: Amara, Zane, Moze, FL4K. Each of them with very different abilities and deadly professions to specialize in. Each has three skill trees to choose from. All the characters but Zane can have only one active action skill at a time. Zane can have two, sacrificing, however, the usage of grenades altogether: a fair trade considering the amount of gunpower to be gained out of that.
Borderlands 3, much like every installment before it, gives a lot of freedom when it goes to personalizing each character and messing around with many potential builds. All it takes is some in-game cash, and every skill tree is as good as new. In that sense, no character feels restricted to be playable solely in co-op or single-player, and they are all viable in each situation.
From playing a couple of hours in the co-op campaign, I can safely say that the majority of people out there right now are rolling with FL4K, the Beastmaster. However, FL4K is also the most picked character for single-player. Probably because of how amazingly useful their pet is during fights, and how much survivability it grants FL4K players. Not to mention that one of their skills allows you to turn invisible and lose aggro on enemies instantly. All in all, FL4K can dish out a crazy amount of DPS on every occasion.
Solo players will also love Zane. A solid choice for those who don’t fancy the idea of venturing in the co-op campaign that much, but that might be interested in trying that somewhere down the road. Like I previously mentioned, Zane is the only character able to use two action skills at the same time, out of the three available. Zane can deal a massive amount of DPS, especially during late game, when his skill trees are more thoroughly explored and developed. His action skills are respectively, a clone, a sentinel drone, and a shield. Having mained Zane during my first playthrough, I can safely recommend him as a fun and entertaining choice, not to mention the excellent voice acting behind him.
Amara, on the other hand, is more of a co-op character. She is a straight-up melee brawler, and she definitely shouldn’t be left in the back, shooting from the rear. She’s got some great skills. For example, there’s one that grants Amara Second Wind every two minutes – which is great because, while the chance of dying when trying to punch enemies in their faces is still there, at least she’s not totally doomed. This, however, doesn’t mean she’s totally useless when playing alone. She can also stack up quite a lot of health and is armed with a decent amount of survivability skills herself.
Last but not least, we have Moze. Her lack of defensive skills makes her a tad risky while playing solo, but risky doesn’t mean impossible. She’s all offensive, all the time, and can dish out some crazy amounts of mech damage. Shooting and sprinting? Moze has that covered. We can have a blast playing any of the characters in any way we want. And that’s honestly all that matters in this case.
GAMEPLAY MEETS MAYHEM
The idea behind Borderlands 3’s gameplay is the same formula that has accompanied the franchise ever since its baby steps. The main difference comes from the ability, throughout the story, to set foot on different planets other than Pandora alone. This allows for a much-needed change of scenery every now and then. The enemies, however, don’t exactly vary much between one location and another. Every planet is divided into more areas that can be fully explored and completed to their 100% for the most passionate players out there. In fact, every zone has some collectibles – listed as “challenges” – that can be found.
We’ve got Dead Claptraps to collect, aiming towards the end goal of allowing Claptrap to have a friend (Are we sure we want to do that?). We have Typhon’s logs to find and listen to, to unravel the adventures of the very first Vault Hunter. Upon finding the 3 Typhon logs that every zone has, Tannis will kindly let us know the location of the treasure that was hidden by the man himself. In short, more loot. We can also sometimes find challenges from Zero and Hammerlock, both requiring you to kill someone or something. These can usually be considered mini-boss fights, although they are nowhere as challenging as actual boss fights.
Even then, boss fights themselves aren’t exactly challenging, or hard. Surely, they are more “complex” than they were in Borderlands 2 or previous installments in general, and that can be seen right away with Mouthpiece. Sometimes the bosses get locked behind some sort of mechanics. Even so, these mechanics don’t really require the player to actively do something other than merely waiting for the annoying Immunity phase to be over.
Another significant addition to Borderlands 3 gameplay was the possibility for players to choose between two modes: Cooperation and Competition. Competition lets you savor the standard Borderlands co-op experience of joining a friend and basically wreaking havoc on anything and everything in their world. Meanwhile, your friend probably lagged somewhere behind and died continuously. Cooperation, on the other hand, allows you to keep enjoying the game alongside this very same friend, who might be severely underleveled compared to yourself. The game scales enemies and drops to your own level on your side and maintains them at your friend’s level on theirs.
New game modes such as Mayhem mode were also added to the game. Mayhem is a high-risk-high-reward formula mode that makes the game incredibly more challenging but way more rewarding in return. There are respectively 3 Mayhem modes, and they can be unlocked once having fully completed the main story. Then and just then Tannis will walk you through the necessary steps to get into the Mayhem.
SO HAPPY TOGETHER, INDEED
All in all, Borderlands 3 delivers to the fan-base exactly what we were expecting.
Hours of absolutely random shooter-looter action, packed with not-as-great comedy. Nevertheless, it’s a great game, and I personally have been loving every minute spent in it. No matter how underwhelming the narrative aspect might feel at times, the good old looting formula that made Borderlands so great in the first place outweighs all the bad. The voice actors themselves are great and did a fantastic job with the characters, leaving the jokes and puns aside. The music is amazing and really gets your blood pumping throughout the game and during boss fights. The combat is engaging and fast-paced as always, even if perhaps it felt slower than Borderlands 2 at times. The bazillion guns promised are there, and they are greater than ever, allowing for so many different play styles and builds. The release was smooth, and there haven’t been any major game-breaking bugs to report.
Last but not less important, Borderlands 3 is a game that is made for replayability, and it shows. It never lets you grow tired or bored with the mechanics or the grinding-looting routine. To every long-time fan of the franchise, this is going to be like jumping back in the past, but with all the improvements that make it an outstanding and enjoyable game.
Strange Brigade is a third person shooter with a leaning towards cooperative play. It is set during the 1930’s and has a vibe that is reminiscent of the movies of that era. Bombastic personality and all. The game pits you against several different kinds of mythological enemies as you try to discover all the secrets. While the game is fun to play on your own, it really shines when you play co-op with your friends. Strange Brigade is a fun time and is a breath of fresh air from all the other third person shooters that are out now.
Strange Brigade is pretty easy to get into but takes a bit to master. Hitting your mark takes a little practice to get down since there is little aim assist for you to use. Otherwise this game is fairly typical of the genre.
The graphics are good enough. Strange Brigade is not going to blow you away by any means but it looks good enough that you won’t really notice either way. Characters are interesting enough to show off their personalities, of which they come with a lot of. Enemies are distinct and interesting as well, adding to the charm of the game and giving you a clue as to what you might be dealing with.
Sound design is very well done. Gunshots sound great and have a lot of impact. The voiceovers are wonderfully done and have a ton of personality. Enemies all have unique sound design as well, giving you another cue on what you’re dealing with.
☠ Difficulty:☠ ☐ Easy /☑ Average / ☑ Hard / ☐ Unfair
As far as games go, this is your typical third-person shooting affair. Although, as I mentioned before, aiming takes some getting used to. Unlike other games of this genre, there isn’t a lot of aiming assist in this game so you have to learn how to be precise. It does make it all the more satisfying to pull off head shots though. The amount of enemies can get a little overwhelming as there can be a lot on the screen at once. Crowd control and using your environment will help out there.
§ Bugs § ☑ Nothing encountered / ☐ Few Bugs / ☐ You can use them for speedrun / ☐ Lots of bugs / ☐ Bugs destroy the game
I didn’t have any issues in my play through. It’s a pretty solid game.
☯ Story ☯ ☐ There is none/ ☐ Bad / ☑ Alright / ☐ Good / ☐ Fantastic
As a 1930’s pulp story, Strange Brigade has you exploring a lot of old ruins and trying to save the world from impending doom. The story is light but the game makes up for it with a lot of personality.
There is a small learning curve to the game and it does get pretty challenging, you can easily get surrounded by enemies. Several different kinds of enemies can come at you at once and it’s up to you to figure how to deal with them. You can also use an ability that is unique to each character and is charged up as you defeat enemies. These abilities typically cause damage in the area around your character and are great for crowd control.
Using the environment is key to survival though. There are traps that can be set off on the enemy and you can use different areas on the map to give you the advantage (think high ground, etc). Having your friends play with you is also very beneficial. Expect a lot of puzzles and secrets in the environment as well.
There are three game modes, Campaign Mode, Horde Mode (has you fighting waves of increasingly stronger enemies), and Scored Attack (has you dealing with enemies quickly to stack up a score multiplier). All of which can be played either single-player or multi-player
۞ Game Length ۞ ☑ 6 to 12 hours
Strange Brigade has a fairly typical length for this kind of genre. You can play the entire game by yourself but playing with friends could convince you to replay for quite some time. The amount of secrets within in the game also gives you a good reason to go back and find what you missed. Rebellion has been adding new content on a regular basis too and that’s a good incentive to come back.
$ Price / Quality $ ☑ Full price/ ☐ Wait for Sale/ ☐ Don’t buy / ☐ Refund it if you can
Definitely worth the full price. Have a friend get a copy too.
::The Rundown::
Strange Brigade is a fun addition to the third person shooter genre. It has a style that really makes it stand out with lots of content and secrets to explore. While it can be played on your own, it really shines with the co-op feature. The shooting mechanics take a bit to get used to but that is mostly because it doesn’t assist your aim as much as other games do. Otherwise expect lots of charm and personality, something that is a very nice change from other similar games.
Arcades were a big thing back in the day. They were full of flashy arcade game cabinets that were made to eat as many quarters as you could give them (trust me, you never had enough). In particular, some games included plastic guns that you aimed at the screen and shot at enemies. Developer Ivanovich Games brings the feel of those arcade games to PSVR with Operation Warcade.
Starting September 4th, you can pick up a physical copy and experience the feeling of those shooting arcade games in PSVR. Arcade cabinet and all. You’ll be dual wielding two different weapons at once shooting enemies and blowing up the all sorts of things. There are several different types of weapons as well, including bows, uzis, grenades, and a gravity gun.
Some features of the game include:
· Immersion Mode – After shooting various immersion points through each map, players are warped into the environment, putting the player directly behind the steering wheel of a jeep, in the cockpit of a military jet and other intense situations;
· Retro VR Feel – With over 10 hours of gameplay, Operation Warcade brings the rush of nostalgic arcade-style play to gamers in an all-new experience built from the ground up specifically for VR platforms;
· Hardcore Mode – Once players have mastered the art of taking dudes out repeatedly, they can go gung-ho in hardcore mode, where each environment is condensed into a single level with a limited number of retries;
· Online Leaderboards – Players can compare their kills to others through an online leaderboard to see who’s the biggest bad ass of them all.
Operation Warcade will be $29.99 and is compatible with the Move Controllers as well as the PSVR Aim Controller.
Will you be picking this up? Or have you already played the digital version?
You would be excused if you don't remember a game that was supposed to come out 3 years ago and then vanished shortly after being announced. Originally known as Hunt: Horrors of the Gilded Age , this game was announced in 2014 as a free to play, four player, co-op action shooter that was was supposed to enter beta shortly after it’s announcement. But that never happened.
The team behind the game, Crytek, was made up of 35 members of Vigil games, which if you don’t know was the team behind the first two Darksiders. Of course, Vigil Games and Crytek had some financial issues and when they moved studios, Hunt was sent to some dark corner of development nonexistence and forgotten about by everyone.
Well apparently not by everyone. Crytek didn’t forget. Hunt: Horrors of the Gilded Age returned with a short teaser recently and the new name; Hunt: Showdown And possibly as a revamped game. While the original game was supposed to be a four player co op shooter set in the 1800’s, signs (trailer included) are now pointing to it being a two player co op possibly set in a different time. The main concept still seems to be in place though. The hunter becomes the hunted as you fight off hordes of monsters.
Unfortunately, there isn’t much else about it and hopefully we’ll find out some more info at E3. The website only shows the teaser trailer and not much else. It seems like it could be interesting though.
Do you think a free to play, co op shooter, set in the 1800’s sounds like a good idea? For some reason I keep thinking of an online version of Bloodborne.
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