The Videogames Tab

Ach, Andromeda looks fine for the most part. Facial and character animations are what stand out though, and Bioware has never been very good at those.



The writing and some of the performances seem sub-par though. Someone made the point in a stream I was watching that the game's voice work was probably recorded during the recent voice actor strike, so I wonder if that made a difference and Bioware had to hastily hire some non-union talent?

EDIT - These DigitalFoundry videos are supremely nit-picky. In real life conditions you wouldn't see a difference between the two platforms unless you were camped beside the screen and actively willing your eyes to notice something.

__________________
"Critics are like eunuchs in a harem; they know how the Tatty 100 is done, they've seen it done every day, but they're unable to do it themselves." - Brendan Behan

Oo, the actor's strike is an interesting angle. Certainly wouldn't have helped.

I know snipping the worst out is easy, but clips like these seem to display a whole bag of wonky. It's not even the delivery, or the stilted script here, it's like they've chopped up the dialogue and slapped it back down at random intervals...



It'd be a shame if they've taken the non-story gameplay up by using Frostbite but hamstrung the bit that's supposed to be ME's strength in the storytelling through dated eyebrows and hurried voice recording ;/

__________________
Virtual Reality chatter on a movie site? Got endless amounts of it here. Reviews over here

Woot, Windjammers redemption for PC!



What the hell is it with all the frisbee games at the moment?

User reviews suggest the P2P isn't ideal, the player count is low, and the matchmaking non-existent. It's also probably less Rocket League and more Supersonic Acrobatic Rocket-Powered Battle-Cars. Two man team and all that, but there's room for improvement. Imagine they'll get more maps out eventually etc. Maybe master cross-play who knows.

But ach, £10 who cares, I'm in

(And will probably start bugging you all to buy it so I've got someone to play with soon )

Ahem...

No idea how the PC version is in terms of its online stuff, and the game's online or local co-op only so that's kinda crucial. Servers on PSN seem solid and the devs are working on bringing regular updates.

It's not Windjammers, but it is great fun. In fact, the biggest criticism I have is that the player models are a bit bland and that there's only one stadium. I'm betting both get fixed over time.

PC multiplayer seems tough for small developers. It's a lot more straightforward for them on console where they can use the might of Sony and Microsoft's infrastructures. The best they could hope for is to partner with Valve, but that won't happen unless they use the Source engine. Probably.

I saw the PS4 bit and assumed it was that other PS4-exclusive disc blatting simulator

Yeah looks like the lack of cross-play at launch may cost them. Rocket League gets talked about like a perfect storm, but a ton of it was down to being supremely prepped. Think this one is gonna stagger around a lot more, but hopefully they can keep that disc bouncing along...

EDIT: Oh sweet, they are going the RL route on free DLC maps and modes. Nice

Yeah Disc Jam is worth a tenner

I seem to have put 7 hours into it already. A lot of that was leaving it waiting to find a game of doubles tho... definitely not well populated on PC.

It's neat, and I like the hadouken-style spin control and the basic differences between the characters. It's no evolution on the 'boxy tennis' formula, and I can't really see it going interstellar, but it is very more-ish

It kinda has the problems of the classic tennis view (really hard to judge depth), and that spawns some other negative beats that don't have much positive spin to them. Getting hit in the back if you mis-orientate is kinda amusing, but it's also damn easy to do. I'm also not entirely sold on the rag dolling on every explosive near miss - it's a kinda punishing ritual. The escalating points and pace of rallies is a cool touch though.

I almost didn't mind the current lack of matchmaking. Most of the beta pros were pretty honourable, and you can learn some tactics from them. Only got whitewashed a few times

Can def see it being a fun online dueller, and a chaotic co-op doubles session with mates

Yeah, maybe it has something to do with the numbers actually playing but I've had loads of good players wipe the floor with me then immediately request a rematch.

Matchmaking's next on their list apparently. I've got a feeling they need more numbers first though, doubles is a 3min+ wait as it is...

Did make for some epic match runs if you find someone near your level though, as neither of you wants to quit then . I was losing more than I was winning, but the wins were sweet

So I see that I have a couple of new Facebook messages from my room mate (who is at work). The one I can see in the preview says: "JUST CANCEL YOUR PRE-ORDER." So immediately I think, damn, what has been unveiled about Andromeda now? He knows the high tolerance I have for wonkiness in video games, so what could possibly be so horrific?

Turns out he was just complaining about a guy trying to get rid of a pre-order in a local game trade/selling group we're both a part of.

__________________

Sorry for the random YouTube spam but I was recommended this video by YT's mighty algorithms:



This guy is the best!

From the jaunty musical intro to the Astro Wars (I heart Astro Wars) mini cabinet sitting on display in the background, this channel shouts FUN! RETRO FUN!

He's called Derek or something and he has a man cave.

In other news...

This looks interesting.

Read more reviews about Andromeda today and some consider it to be BioWare's worst RPG. Being a doofus, of course I decided to buy it a day early. On top of that, I have zero impulse control.

@CosmicRunaway Regretville Population: 2

I'm still looking forward to playing it tomorrow after work. Bioware's worst is possibly still better than some other games I've happily played. I decided to look into it more last night/early this morning, and nothing that I've seen seems that bad to me. I was mainly trying to get a better read on the voice acting to decide if I wanted to play as Scott or Sara.

I vastly preferred FemShep in the previous games (Jennifer Hale did a great job), but I'll be playing as the guy this time. I don't think I've heard that actor in anything else, but his tone of voice and some of his inflection reminds me of Nolan North, and I'm 100% okay with that.

Yeah, the male voice actor in the previous games was horrendous. The thing is, the story is a key factor and it sounds like the writing isn't cutting it in Andromeda. I've also read some positive things about the game, it's just that the important elements seem to be receiving most of the negative reviews. Obviously I'm still playing it, might as well at this point. Who knows, I might come back saying it wasn't that bad. Or dare I say, loved it. Doubt it, but it could happen. Right? Yeaaah, it's totally possible. Just in case, I'll need the name of those happy pills and your current dosage.

This is the last time I'm mentioning Andromeda, at least until after I've played it. But surely this isn't real...



Surely?

To quote an Andromeda review, "This is porn and it looks weird."

WTF lol. Is bioware trying to be new age funny. You know like that fast talking Big Bang theory crap. What happened to the class acts the main characters were? Are there any serious, dark themes in this or is it all PC, happy positive struggles.

@MonnoM That's bad, but the Salarian's line is pretty hilarious. He gets it.

I can't believe people are acting like the new Mass Effect is getting atrocious reviews. When was a 75 on Metacritic a bad sign? When is a 7.7 from IGN horrible? If a movie got a 75 on Metacritic, people would be losing their minds, it probably would have a 90+ on Rotten Tomatoes. I know games are rated different, and it's more of a chore to stick with a 40+ hour ok game than a 2 hour ok movie, but man, some people overreact way too much about the critics.

Aren't ppl reacting because its crap?