So I’ve been playing a LOT of games lately on my PS4 because, well, honestly it’s an enjoyable platform. I’m still PCMR but the VR for PS4 was too good (and inexpensive) to pick up. I can’t state this enough: If you have ANY interest in VR: Get a PS4 VR system. It will not disappoint you.
I’ve been playing The Division pretty much since the day it came out, and I have to say: I’m very impressed with it so far! It’s a very enjoyable game with a lot to offer. There are some problems with it, for sure, but it’s a solid 7/10 or 8/10 game.
Let’s start with the basics. I take The Division to be a 3rd-Person Over-The-Shoulder Tactical Combat Role Playing Story-Based Shooter. That is to say: there is inventory to manage, skills to manage, weapons to customize, and character appearance to manage. These are all elements of role playing. The story elements are all there. The game play is over-the-shoulder third person (see my screenshot gallery and game play video) tactical. You need to be moving in and out of cover (dodging and pinning to walls, cars, etc) in order to survive.
Edit: It’s come to my attention that the video I uploaded skips a lot of frames. I will be correcting it tonight. Sorry!
Edit 2: The video has been replaced.
I have been playing Destiny on the Xbox One (and more recently on the PS4) for, well, pretty much since the day it came out (here and there, an hour or two a day) and I’ve decided to write a review about it and talk about some of the things it does really well and some of the things that are god-awful annoying.
Let’s start out with my major gripe about the game: the story. Or the pretty much lack thereof. Sure, there is a ‘campaign’ that you fight through (with a linear path from start to finish, but with the option to go back and play areas or do open-world patrols) but realistically, the story is pretty much non-existent. After the first mission you get a little cut-scene of The Speaker whom tells you a little bit of story you get a sense of who you are, what the Ghost is, what the deal is with humanity, and other bits. That being said, his conversation is basically (and I’m gonna quote him here) “I could tell you of the great battle centuries ago. How the Traveler was crippled. I could tell you of the power of the Darkness, it’s ancient enemy. There are many tales told throughout the city to frighten children. Lately those tales have stopped. Now, the children are frightened anyway. The Darkness is coming back. We will not survive it this time.” And then leaves you there, with no back story other than basically: go kill the bad guys working for the Darkness and save the Light. Don’t believe me? Watch it! This is only one example of the vague non-story telling in Destiny. You’ve also got vague lady of vaguery (also known as The Stranger) who tells you “I don’t even have time to explain why I don’t have time to explain” (Watch it!). This is perhaps my largest gripe about Destiny: I want more story and background. That being said, they DO provide the backstory and history a bit: in a very round-about way: The Grimoire Archives. The Grimoire Archives are found on the Bungie website and give you a lot of information about the enemies, NPCs, and other history about the game. Unfortunately, unlocking these is not as simple as Complete The Game. The only way to unlock information is to complete a bunch of different things including: finding all the hidden Ghosts, finding all the Golden Chests, killing a bunch of bad guys (kill x of type y to unlock their card, for example). It is very frustrating but at least it is present. It is also a massive time-sink for completionists like myself. Very frustrating.
Another bit of frustration for me right now is the Mark system. In order to get gear from Reputation Vendors (pretty much every reputation-based vendor except Iron Banner and Queen’s Guard). This gear is generally Legendary (purple colored, lower only than Exotic) and considered pretty good, especially for getting the Light necessary to go beyond Level 20. To get marks you can do bounties, daily strikes, the strike playlists, public events, or Crucible matches. Sounds easy enough right? Well any piece of gear can cost anywhere from 50-150 Marks to get. In any given week you can only collect 100 Marks of each type (Vanguard and Crucible). This means if you want to collect all the gear you will spend a good while waiting. I strongly disagree with the arbitrary limit on Marks per week, as I have strongly disagreed with limit on reputation in any other game (I’m looking at you WoW).
Gameplay wise, Destiny is fairly standard FPS fair with customizability for your specific classes. There are three classes to choose from: Hunter, Titan, and Warlock. Personally, Warlock is my favorite class as it is has a massive special attack that lobs Void damage across the map to explode things spectacularly. Each class has two sub-classes (currently, three total are planned) which deals a different type of damage (Void, Arc, Solar) with their abilities. You can read more about the classes here. There is a good balance therein and I haven’t really found one class that permanently dominates another. Titans are very tanky, Hunters are very squishy (BUT SO FAST), and Warlocks are kind of middle of the road (and in the Sunsinger tree can auto-resurrect whenever you have a Super Charge). Gameplay is moderately paced with fast combat and occasional lulls as you travel from one area to another. I’d have to say gameplay is certainly a strong point in this game. It’s very fun overall, even solo. Partner up with a friend or two and everything is even better. This game was clearly designed with a small group (Fireteam) in mind. Normally this is a complaint for me, as I really enjoy solo gaming, but the matchmaking is pretty decent and linking up with people in the open world is very easy to do.
The loot system is still a massive clusterfuck. You will get that ultimate exotic or legendary engram drop and it will turn into a Strange Coin or Mote of Light or something otherwise useless (or even worse, an item for a completely different class). Item drops are rare as it is, and having them turn into nothing in front of you at the asshole Cryptarch is SO FRUSTRATING that I almost threw my controller at my TV. This is not how you get people to want to play the game guys. Though, the opposite is true also: when you get an item that you weren’t expecting (such as a legendary engram becoming an exotic which is how I got Gjallarhorn on my Warlock a while ago) it feels AMAZING and laugh worthy (especially considering my situation where I got the engram off a level 6 trash mob in the Cosmodrome on a patrol).
All in all, Destiny has a lot going for it, some good and some bad. It’s a very enjoyable game but it was totally over-hyped. There are a lot of pending expansion packs to add more content to the game, but honestly, story-wise, the game is severely lacking in non-multiplayer content. Replay-ability for the solo missions is very low. Multiplayer is pretty well balanced; most of the matches I played in were won or lost by a matter of 2-3 kills or otherwise very even. When blowouts happen (and they do happen) it is VERY frustrating if you’re on the receiving end. This is expected for a game like this however.
Overall, I’d give Destiny a strong 7/10 but bordering on a 6/10. Maybe 6.5/10 is most appropriate. Fix the story system, fix the loot system some more, change the Mark system, and you’ll get a bump. Until then though, seriously, WHERE ARE MY GORRAM LEGENDARIES?!
I recently picked up a Yubikey Neo from Amazon, jumping early on the bandwagon of U2F for Google.
After a few weeks I am pleased report that it is amazingly versatile and I have been able to do many great things with it.
I have already setup U2F with Google (replacing Authenticator altogether) which is amazing. My WordPress site also integrates the Yubikey One-Time-Password scheme (which is frustrating to get working when I did it, more on that below). I have also replaced the Authenticator App on my phone with the YubiAuth App. They do the same thing, except with one major difference: Authenticator shows codes immediately; YubiAuth does not show codes until you tap the YubiKey to your phone (with NFC enabled). This means codes aren’t available to just anyone. As an added bonus, since the auths are stored on the YubiKey you don’t need to worry about losing your phone and losing access. Get a new phone, install the YubiAuth app, tap your Yubikey, boom, codes are available. It’s a big relief for me since rooting a phone to install a Titanium Backup copy of Google Authenticator is always step one when I get a new phone. Don’t need to worry about that anymore! Score!
The configuration tools aren’t quite there yet. When I first wrote this, the tools were limited in their scope until you went to the command line versions. For example, the Yubikey supports OTP, Smart Card, and U2F. It doesn’t support all three simultaneously nor natively. Using the basic GUI tools you cannot enable U2F and OTP simultaneously. That being said, using the command line tool allows you to enable mode 6 which is all three modes at the same time. It’s a little confusing, and sometimes frustrating (especially when trying to set up SmartCard or OTP and realizing being in mode 6 prevents enrolling almost all the time) but once you get the knack of it, things work very well.
The Yubikey system integrates fairly well with LastPass (as reported by Nick) and does well with Dashlane as well (in that the YubiAuth app replaced Google Authenticator for new device enrollment in my Dashlane account). I used it to sign in to my desktop briefly, but it didn’t work the way I wanted and prevents RDP as far as I can tell. The Yubikey must be present in the system for you to login, but it still requires your Windows password to be entered. I was hoping that merely putting in the Yubikey would allow me to login (or pressing the OTP generator would log me in). You CANNOT log in to the system enrolled with their login system unless the key is present. No more RDP or TeamViewer access meant it just wasn’t viable for me. Still, I could see it being used at work (though enrolling for a domain user was damn tricky since the program doesn’t sort the usernames in any semblance of an order).
My one real complaint about the Yubikey was the case they sent; namely the lack of a case. They ship the Yubikey in a small envelope made of a flexible plastic type material, which isn’t really suitable for holding the unit on a keychain (which is where it’s basically designed to go). I know they claim that it’s made of super resilient materials, but I am trusting my virtual identity to the device, and if it fails then I am in DEEP trouble (I am still keeping a backup of my Google Authenticator and also leaving back-doors into systems so that I can get back in if shit hits the fan).
That being said, I did also design a cool, simple case for the Yubikey, which is available on Thingiverse here. If you have a Makerbot, the STL file is available which will allow you to import it directly into Makerware. If you have another 3D Printer I have also included the SKP file (Sketchup) which should get you in the right direction for printing it. The model was made with help of the NetFabb Model Repair Service, a Pittsburgh Caliper, and a lot of time on my end. 🙂
So, if you’re security minded I highly recommend you pickup one of the Yubikey line and get your accounts well secured. 🙂
This is going to be a short review, since Dawn of War II and it’s accompanying add-on Chaos Rising have been available since 2009. I have only recently gotten around to playing it, and I wanted to give it a fair shake. The game received fairly mixed reviews from people I knew, but a solid 75-85 from gaming sites and magazines. Let’s get down to the nitty-gritty. In no particular order:
Plot
The introduction video to the game is mildly deceptive and completely vague – I have linked it here. Upon watching it, you get the distinct impression that the Eldar may be the primary ‘villain’ of the game. The very first mission however, deals with Orks – who don’t even feature at all in the cinematic. The game does hint at something even more sinister though. This becomes apparent shortly thereafter.
The game begins with you, the Force Commander, and Sergeant Tarkus, leading a group of Tactical (Standard) Marines, landing on a war-torn planet of Calderis. You and Tarkus are members of the Blood Ravens chapter of the Imperium of Man. Calderis is one of the core recruiting worlds for the Blood Ravens. An assault by not 1, not 2, but 3 different alien races was thought to be unheard of. Yet, here you are. Stuck in battle against some of nastiest nasties that the universe has seen.
As you continue through the campaign you will pick up a few other squad members: Cyrus, the Scoutmaster; Avitus, the Heavy Weapons Specialists; and Thaddeus, the Assault Marines. Each will provide different abilities to help you succeed in your missions. Without revealing too much of the individual missions, the plot essentially revolves around you and your Chapter attempting to retake Calderis from the Orks, who are being riled up by the Eldar, who hope to cause a massive Ork invasion in order to stop or slow down the attacking Tyranids.
Gameplay & Style
Those of you who remember the original Dawn Of War may have come here expecting a fully-fleshed out Real-Time strategy game. You will, sadly, be disappointed. Dawn Of War II and Chaos Rising are Real-Time Strategy games, for sure, but in Single Player they do not feature some cornerstones such as resource management and base building. Instead, you are thrown into direct control of squads of Space Marines. There are no reinforcements (unless you get people to specifically placed beacons throughout the maps) and if a squad loses all it’s health it becomes incapacitated until another squad can revive them. In Multiplayer you control a small base that is primarily used to build units. Your units then go forth and capture resource nodes (Power & Requisition, as in the original Dawn of War) to help you build your new units. This was all a major departure from Dawn of War and initially had me a little annoyed.
However, as the game progresses, you notice that your squads are changing. They are increasing in power, you can modify their armaments, and customize them. They are still Blood Ravens, but the gear they carry can be matched to fit your play style. Don’t like guns? Take your Assault Marines and your Force Commander, equip them with a simple bolt pistol and an upgrade Chainsword or Power Fist. Let them charge headlong into battle (this is what I do). Love guns? Take your Tactical Marines and your Devastators, equip them with Heavy Bolters, Missile Launchers, or Plasma Rifles. Watch them roast the xenos from safety. Cyrus can even receive a Shotgun or a Sniper Rifle, based on your preference. They clearly wanted a new direction for Dawn of War II and I think that they found a good compromise here.
The gameplay is pretty fast-paced in Single Player. The way your map score is resolved is based on 3 factors: Fury (% of enemies killed), Speed (how long did it take your to complete the objectives), and Resilience (how many of your squads ever got incapacitated). I very rarely received more than 1 star for Speed. I like to take my time and clean the map off, and explore every nook and crannie. To be punished for that was kind of saddening and I don’t really understand it. The Blitz mentality is very frustrating.
Graphics
This game, in 2009, was stunningly gorgeous. The graphics have held up pretty well into 2013. The Warhammer 40k universe is dark, bloody, and visceral. This carries over pretty well into the game. In melee combat chainsaws literally sever limbs and cut things in half. The environment is occasionally destructible (the Force Commander can charge in and break down trees and barriers, Assault Marines send trees and troops flying when they swoop in from the skies) and alive. When the Tyranids show up, everything begins to look very alien, but in a subtle fashion. It’s a nice visual touch that I appreciated. Just enough to let you know that Calderis is under siege.
Overall
I haven’t finished beating the game yet. I have invested about 2 weeks into playing it. I am thoroughly enjoying it though, and it was certainly worth the Steam Sale price that I bought it at. If you like a good, graphically impressive game, with a solid plot (even though there isn’t too much in the way of character development) I highly recommend it. Look me up on Steam and we’ll play some multiplayer even.
Screenshots
“Strike from the skies, brothers!”
Mike, out.
