Call of Grave Digging. Black Ops 3 Burying itself to deep?

It’s been a while, a long while, but I’m here, I’m quee-no… no I’m just here.. uh… So let’s talk Call of Duty!

With the up an coming release, and even more up and coming beta for Call of Duty Black Ops 3, one thing is on my mind: How deep will it be buried? Don’t get me wrong, I’m not a CoD hater…(necessarily) but I am still skeptical about the quality of Black Ops 3, mainly because of the slightly upseting, yet enjoyable fiasco of Black Ops 2, the heart-breaking atrocity of Call of Duty : Ghosts, and desperate, yet fool hearted grasp for a revival that was Call of Duty : Advanced Warfare.

Virtual Reality. A new dimensional danger.

I remember when I used to play Super Mario 64 when I was a kid. It was, to put it bluntly, a great game. Somehow, Nintendo managed to take the adventures of the infamous Italian plumber from a 2-D realm and into 3-D Realms, but without the guns and strippers…

get it…cause of 3-d Realms the guys that made Duke Nu-? never mind.

The point is, Nintendo made a successful 2d game into a successful 3-d game. This is not as easy as it sounds. Franchises like Megaman, Sonic the Hedgehog, and the ever so beloved Bubsy the Bobcat have had their hardships when being translated into the 3rd Dimension.

Some very broken games have been spawned from the transition from 2d to 3d and it’s no wonder why gamers could be so fascinated with Nintendo’s success when it came to 3D conversions of popular 2d tittles.

E3 2015- EA conference- Battlefront- EA’s games? hmm… Cool story

I have never been heavily exposed to the toxic radiation that are EA games. I played Battlefield3 for about 6 seconds, I’ve played Plants vs Zombies garden warfare for half that time, and I’ve always hated, hated sports video games.

All of my interest had pretty much been soaked up by DOOM 2015, and I wasn’t able to even care about whatever soulless ,money whoring garbage EA was going to serve up with a smile… until I saw Battlefront.

Now, I have never been a big Star Wars fan, (I’ve never even watched the movies) but I’ve had a fair deal of exposure to the franchise. I’ve played through a few games ,watched a few shows, and I have an understanding on what the Star Wars universe is… sort of.

When I saw the gameplay for Battlefront I thought one thing: this is pretty cool. I hadn’t played Battlefront before, but the game felt familiar, in a sense. The gameplay looked solid, and interesting, and it looked it would be a pleasurable experience.

And that’s really all I have to say. I wanna let the other conferences take their course, forget about them all, and just re-watch DOOM gameplay until it’s released. MKay.

E3 2015- Bethesda confrence- DOOM- Mmmmmyes

Well that’s my fix for the entire year.

I was worried about Doom, but Bethesda un-worried me. Camera movements that made it look like Doom guy was on roller skates, comically large weapons, literal limb from limb brutality, being beaten to death with your own arm. This is everything I could have wanted from DOOM’s gameplay, but that’s not all.

Naturally DOOM is going to have a multiplayer, (their has not been a Doom game without one) but they’re also including a sandbox mode that allows you to customize maps and tailor gamemodes to create an infinite amount of content.

I’m really feeling good about this game, and I think my prayers, in my earlier post might have been answered. It’s been a long time coming, but DOOM is ripping and tearing it’s way back.

Controversial game: Disappointingly successful game.

When I saw Hatred’s trailer, with a long haired emo looking man in a trench coat talking about his life being filled only with “cold bitter hatred” I waited for the punchline.

I waited until he started gunning up civilians, and then realized that what I was seeing was supposed to be the game. It was then that I knew what the developer’s of Hatred (Destructive creations) were trying to do: Stir controversy.

It”s not original, but it works for obvious reasons:

MSNBC, Fox news, CNN, Gawker, Polygon, etc. love games like Hatred.

Oversight. Something lacking from Blizzards new shooter?

If you haven’t heard Blizzard is making a new game.

Overwatch is the stylized, class-based, black sheep of Blizzards other Intellectual Properties, like World of Warcraft, Diablo, and Heathstone. Blizzard Entertainment has, as of recent, made uncut gameplay videos public that demonstrate the abilities and attributes of the many playable characters, or “heroes” that take the spotlight.

I have never really cared for Blizzard’s games, not because of spite, but because their games have never interested me (I’m, more or less an FPS type person). Overwatch is the only game Blizzard has made that has peaked my interest with its interesting concepts and the ever so glorious controversy it sparked.

Many people drew comparisons between Overwatch and Valve software’s Team Fortress 2, claiming that Overwatch to be a “rip off”. I wholeheartedly disagree. Yes their are similarities, and maybe the devs of Overwatch were inspired by TF2, but judging from the gameplay of Overwatch and comparing it with Team Fortress, it’s pretty clear, to me that Overwatch is not a clone of Valve’s beloved “Hat simulator” … or at least it’s not a blatant rip off.

 I think Overwatch’s originality is the least of people’s worries.

Hell Rasin’

Bethesda has just announced DOOM (the new one) for an E3 presentation.

Though most people either don’t care, or are upset Fallout 4 wasn’t announced, I am excited. As long as Bethesda and (what I’m assuming will be) Machinegames expand upon what they did with Wolfenstein the New Order, I am positive that DOOM 2015 will be an exemplary experience… but I still worry.

I worry because Bethesda could always pull back the cover and reveal that the new DOOM isn’t the maddeningly brutal, cadaverous wonderland we were all hoping for. Until we see gameplay, DOOM can still potentially be a “horror shooter”.

Who are the Patriots?

A theme that often rears it’s ugly head in video games is patriotism.

I notice allot of games, AAA tittles especially, take the notion of patriotism to great lengths.

Call of Duty has the player defend America (and maybe the UK) from the war mongering tyranny of _____

Battlefeild has the player defend America (and maybe the UK) from the war mongering tyranny of _____

Medal of Honor has the player defend America (and maybe the UK) from the war mongering tyranny of _____

It gets a bit old after a while. You, the player has to punch a hole through the wicked heart of “THE FEDERATION OF EVIL”  being Russia, China, some Middle Eastern country, or even some Central/South American nation(s).

Source engine Physics features

If theirs one thing I like in a game, and more so in a first person shooter, it’s physics. Players using objects in an arena, not just as a means to dodge enemies, but as a means to hamper enemy movement, and control the flow of gameplay is a beautiful thing to see.

Main (lack of) character

Game protagonists are like vehicles. You could want one that get’s you from point A to point B, or you might want a vehicle that has Air conditioning and a cup holder, or maybe is allot smaller… or bigger, or had advanced controls, or had a stick and bubblegum interface and,- yada yada yada.

The point is, people want different things from their “vehicles” and when those people don’t get what they want, or get much more, or less than they asked for, it can be over/underwhelming and overall frustrating.

Some people like well designed vocal protagonists that forward a games plot, while others don’t care about plots and intern won’t care about the main characters input, unless it served to forward the gameplay and/or the gaming experience.