Insomniac Wolverine

 I'm the best at what I do, but what I do best isn't very nice

There's something to be said about cultivating a reputation for quality. It's pretty much all that Sony have troubled themselves with for the last few console generations, and when you take a look at the returns it has granted them you can absolutely understand their reasoning. Countless units moved, top of console race for over half a decade now, fans beating themselves silly trying to get their hands on the new console; Sony is in a great place. And it all comes back to the way that they've secured exclusives so fine you could slice a leaf along a river bed with them. And it hasn't been this garish monopolisation move of running around and buying pretty looking games for their store, (like the bores over at Epic seem to think it's about) Sony have invested in studios, cultivated talent and homebrewed a generation's worth of classic games from loyalist studios. In doing so they've turned household name studios into absolute legends of the Industry. (Shame they refuse to do so for any indie studio out there, but I guess Sony it a bit 'elitist' in that regard.)

Now Insomniac games were by no means nobodies before the great Playstation renaissance, they has some absolute Classic Playstation franchises under their belt for years beforehand. Ratchet and Clank, Spyro, Resistance, those are the sorts of games that inspire armies of adoration from their darling fans. But even then they were just a teeny bit 'cult' in their following. Don't get me wrong, all of those series' have met with huge successes and spawned sprawling legacies to back up those success', but they weren't hitting the mainstream quite as hard as those flagships that everyone thinks of first when they think 'gaming'. Which was completely fine, of course, because back then that spot was only really reserved for the stupidly successful like Mario, Call of Duty and later Minecraft. But one Insomniac Games has always been is loyalist, and that has served them incredibly well these last few years.

Having not owned a PlayStation since the PS2, my last interaction with Insomniac's work wasn't really all that transformative for my opinion on them, considering it was 'Sunset Overdrive'. (One of only three games that Insomniac have allowed to be released on Xbox) Now I know that Sunset Overdrive has its fans out there, and I'll be the first to say that the game is beautiful and stands up even today for that regard alone, but my-oh-my I couldn't stand listening to that game for a second longer. The creator's tired to imbue the spirit of the game with the irreverent carefree unconventional chaos of inspirations like Tank Girl and... 'The Young Ones'? (I love that show) But it just never felt natural for me, more like a synthetic wannabe. I mean, how can you base the heart of your art piece around 'Counter culture' influences when your game is being paraded around by Xbox bigwigs and is flying from ever banner and advertising slot that Microsoft can afford. It spoke to a spiritual imbalance that really affected my time trying to get into the game. Still, the actual game itself was quality.

Around the time of Overdrive something was really siding into place over at Insomniac, that game alone had earned them a bigger spotlight then I remember them every really having, (which I think was simply because Microsoft was chuffed to have their talents) but they would never release another AAA game without a comparable or greater level of fanfare. Their next big console game would be the PS4's Rachet and Clank, a game which Sony rode as a system seller, followed in the next year by Marvel's Spiderman, which was a huge system seller! As they currently stand, Insomniac have reached that level of fame that I was talking about, where their games are now synonymous with the concept of  'gaming' for their sheer quality and cultural proliferation alone. (Although the millions in Sony-funded marketing did it's part to signal boost, I'll bet.)

Now, in the wake of what looks like a concerted effort to start a video game universe in order to compliment their cinematic one, Marvel and Sony seem to have definitively looked to Insomniac to be their trailblazer. (Not exclusively to Insomniac, mind. But it's pretty clear that the first-pick opportunities are arriving on their doorstep) Just think about how much of a responsibility that is, one of the world's largest and most successful entertainment franchises are putting their efforts on your door; it just goes to show you the absolute transformation which Insomniac has undergone from an already great studio into a truly legendary one. They are now the arbiters of Sony's oh-so-important Spiderman brand, and as was revealed during the last Sony event, they've just taken Wolverine under their wing too. (So comic's breakout star alongside X-men's breakout star. They sure know how to bag the best characters, huh?)

And even with that practically empty reveal trailer, which doesn't even do so much as tell us whether we'll be seeing classic short wolverine or Hugh-Jackman-inspired tall wolverine, there's not a single person out there worried about Insomniac's ability to nail this. (They've earned that trust over the years.) Wolverine has only ever seen one other game totally dedicated to him, and that was the movie tie in to that awful 'Origins' movie. At the very least that last game managed to bring the gore one would hope for from a Wolverine project. (or at least, I would hope for) Insomniac have been tight-lipped so far on the 'gore' front, although they have claimed this is going to be a mature rated game, and one that will be something closer to full length than their 'Spiderman Miles Morales' title. (So maybe gore-strewn hope abounds?)

What I hope for in this entry would be for Insomniac to do something similar to what they did with Spiderman, in that it was a story they didn't tell from the beginning. Although Wolverine's character origins aren't nearly as plundered poor as Spiderman's origins, I just think that telling the start of a heroes journey in general is overdone and devoid of opportunities for originality and pushing new storylines that take our favourite characters and put them in different lights. (Besides, which origin would they even tell? Would we go James Howlett and Alpha Flight? Does anyone other than me still remember that origin story?) That doesn't mean I'm demanding that Insomniac sit down and adapt Old Logan to their game, but that I'd prefer a Wolverine story closer to that side of the character than towards his boringly inconsistent origins. Let the lone wolf shine on his own being the unstrained murder machine that others try to stop him from being, do that and I have real optimism for what this new title can achieve.

So another notch is added to the Insomniac broach of excellence, as that once-little company swells to take on bigger and bigger challenges. They grow any more ambitious than this and we'll have to start worrying about the inevitable fall-off when greed takes over the desire to create quality. (It happens to everyone in time.) But until then we will all just marvel (hah) at a team forever redefining what it is to make a triple A game, and in some instance proving to be the great hope for lovers of single player experiences. All I wish now is that I could get genuinely excited about one day playing the game, but given the fact that the next generation consoles are about as mythical as planet Nibiru down in this sorry swamp of a county, I can't really get my hopes up. (Oh well, as least I can be excited to watch some cool second hand gameplay once the thing releases...)

Oh hey, Konami. Forgot about you

 More like- 'Weird Football'

There's much to criticise about the gaming world and those who make a living providing for it, because as with any industry in the world today, those who try to exploit it typically do so in the most outlandish and obvious ways that it's simply insane how often they get away with their fumbling's. These people are some of the most shameless, and least scrupulous, individuals in suits; and yet they can feed their audience the flesh of roadkill and still turn up to see thousands of waiting plates. It astounds me. And it's when these companies and executives reach this position, as I call it 'the too-big-to-fail stage', and they recognise that they're there; that's when all the penny pinching starts getting kicked into overdrive. Thus has been the case with a company who has been so under the radar lately that it's honestly a surprise to see them again; yet I should have know that when Konami returned to the spotlight, it would be in a stunt both baffling and embarrassing to themselves and all who support them. (Expect the worst and you'll never be disappointed)

But first let me take a moment to bring all of you up to date with the Football scene- yes this is another Sports game story, so be it. Back in the days when Football games actually produced decent entries, there were two competitors for best Football title down here in England, Fifa was favoured because it generally had a monopoly on scoring club licences and thus you could play as actual teams, but PES (Pro Evolution Soccer) was known as the technically superior game. (I can't tell you ways which it was technological superior, but that was the way the fan divide was split) As the years went by and Fifa slowly had it's soul devoured by EA, people began recategorizing PES as the series which still had it's soul, against the competitor who long since sold out to recurrent monetisation and selling gambling to kids. In a move most unlike Konami, they had the moral high ground.

Now I haven't actually kept up to date with PES games of late, I'm not a Football fan, so maybe recent years have seen the dial slowly turning in the opposite direction as Konami's true nature struggled to get out. All I know is that when something as drastic happens as the series changing it's name and core model, that's something worth paying attention to. Previous PES was another football game which operated much like Fifa did, only with a lot more tools to make custom teams and the like so that player's could covertly create the real teams that the company weren't licensed to include. Now that series has been scrapped in favour of eFootball, which isn't just a horribly awful title, it's also a free-to-play football platform wherein you can pay to buy new game modes. What?

I feel like Konami are positioning themselves to be alternate universe Fifa right now, doing things so wild that EA higher ups are slapping themselves for not doing first. ("How could we not think to charge them for game modes?") Now in their defence, and trust me you won't be hearing that often in this little chat, the Free-to-play model does earn a lot of slack for this eFootball game. It's not a £70, premium edition, repeat-of-last-year rip-off game that than tries to wring literal blood from your stone-cold heart. The game is free and thus monetisation is a given. That being said, we still got to have some standards as consumers, don't we? I mean, EA and Konami and their like treat us like mindless drones, but we're not that. Are we? So in proving that some slim shadow of pride still resides in my soul I'm going to go out and say it; giving out a demo, calling it a full game, and then charging people to unlock the rest it piece by piece is a bit much, Konami. Might want to turn your 'money-hungry megalomaniac' dial down a notch.

Hardly a week before launch, Konami have made a concerted effort to let everyone know exactly what they're about and where this free-to-play title of their is going through a pre-order pack with microtransactions. Yeah that's right, you can pre-order a free-to-play game in order to scoop up some of that sweet virtual currency day one and a few free pulls on the one arm bandit; or as they put it, "8 chance deals when you pre-order." Typical methodology for selling games like these is to get the thing out under an air of anonymity, wait for the reviews to drop, and then introduce all the crippling microtransactions. In this light I have to give Konami credit once again; they're being impressively upfront about everything they're doing. Doesn't make it any less concerning, but there it is.

And what are these 'Chance deals'? They're players that you can buy up and sign onto your team in a mode that I can only imagine is specifically worded not to use the word 'ultimate' or 'team' as desperately as possible, because it's an obvious rip-job. I'm glad that Konami at least have their priorities straight with this new Football experiment that they're trying, securing the ultimate team clone before, you know, finishing the thing. Oh didn't I mention? When the game launched players will only be able to play local matches with Barcelona, Juventus, Bayern and Manchester United. That's all. Now I know this is a free game, again, but that is the single most pathetic feature set I think I've ever heard of from a sports game. "But don't worry" Konami begs "Because at a later date you'll be able to buy individual game modes as DLC." Considering they're selling those 8 character pulls for 33$, (That's 5.50 a player, because the extra two pulls come free) I don't even want to imagine how much fans are going to have to cough up before this demo-of-a-game begins to resemble a somewhat complete package.

I'm being a pessimist, sure, but this whole thing just boggles the mind. Truly. Are Konami now so bust with their- nothing else going on, that they can't even put an entire football game together in order to monetise it to hell and back? Surely only the morbidly curious and truly desperate are going to end up going to a game more featureless than an Atari Football title. And I hate to speak favourably about an EA game (you know that) but does anyone really think the price of making this game any where near as optional complete as the latest Fifa is will cost any less than $70? Because if you do than you are truly leagues more full of faith than I. All I can see is a desperate attempt to buy a game that fits the China market of free-to-play dominance in the vague hope their gamers are undemanding enough to become Konami's next whales.

Or, heck, maybe this is a desperate cry for help as Konami are truly trying to get themselves out of the gaming market. They've been at this long enough, and ever since just before Kojima was fired it seems like everything has been spiralling down and out of control. Everything they pursue has turned to dust in front of their eyes and it's got to take a huge emotional (and financial) strain to watch an army of beloved fans turn their backs, and wallets, against you. I'd call throwing a pathetic featureless demo at you fans in the blind hope that they imprint on it a pretty succinct farewell note. And if that is the case then I respect the belated retirement letter, it's been a while coming, and I just need to know who gets the IPs in the will 'cause I can think of one guy who might have a good idea or two for a few of them. (RIP Konami, you crazy nutcases)

Pillars of Eternity II: Deadfire Review

We're all going on; Huana Holiday!

When it first launched, Pillars of Eternity was a true triumph of the Kickstarter sphere, showcasing a game (admittedly one that was being proposed by an accomplished studio) which not only sought to appeal to a genre that many thought was perma-dead, but which would go on to pretty much revive that genre for the public and give it a second coming. I'm not saying that we wouldn't have any CRPGs if it weren't for Obsidian; but I bet we wouldn't be swimming in them like we are now. Thus is should come as no surprise that the creative teams over at Obsidian would decide to pounce on the trend they themselves started and get right onto a sequel for their new fantasy darling. Thus spawned the sequel, Deadfire, and the question of how it fares up against the beloved original. With lessons learned and cobwebs shaken, were Obsidian successfully able to throw together a game that reinforced the newly reborn CRPG market, or did they spell-out, in game form, way this type of game became antiquated in the first place, and how this resurgence is doomed to be short lived? 

Pillars of Eternity II : Deadfire, firstly, is a game specifically made with the intention to solve every single qualm that I personally had with the first game. The near oppressively prototypical fantasy setting? Gone in favour of a rich and sweeping archipelago full of unique culture that does a fantastic job in fleshing out one of the few original races that this fantasy setting has going for it. The repetitive exploration segments which would have you jumping from map to map searching desperately for something to do? Replaced with a system much more akin to Baldur's Gate 2, where you travel specifically to locations that have a purpose. Having to haul butt back several weeks of travel-worth in order to sleep at Caed Nua- um, well let's just say that no need to travel back there anymore. Whatsmore, this game came with bounties I didn't even know I wanted; like a piracy simulator!

The first POE game was no bad-looker by any stretch of the imagination. It was very rich with it's colours and lively with it's environments, and it really did manage to show the way that Infinity Engine RPGs might have looked had they been born in the HD age. Yet despite my praise, Pillars of Eternity II puts that original to shame. POE 2 is gorgeous in it's every bone,  to the degree that I have no doubt that the design team were driven by a desire to envision what a modern AAA CRPG would look and sound like. From the second after your finished with the introduction, you're treated to this glorious cinematic intro sequence that showcases every ounce of creativity and talent on the artistic team. 3D models are far more detailed than they have any right to be, magical effects are eye-poppingly flashy, light is dynamic and beautiful, animations are numerous and pitch-perfect. There is simply no other CRPG on the market right now, that is also fully released, to match this pedigree of presentation. (Baldur's Gate III is still early access) Obsidian left no doubt who were the heralds of this genre's return.

And alongside that step up in presentation effort, the writing team also did a spectacular job bringing this world to life in their contextual descriptions. I, as an amateur writer, practically wept when the game first introduced The Usher, with a masterfully crafted passage so visceral and evocative that I could hear the chimes of the beyond in the back of my mind. And it is a level of quality that persists throughout the entire game, describing places so fully that you might grab at them, it all just feels so real! It's a side of the game that becomes especially important during the narrative as concepts and events slip into the metaphysical quite often. Being able to phase into a world unshackled by visuals and bought life through powerful words and descriptions really pays off for the story in some of it's most introspective moments. And it's all held together with a great sound job from the good background music to the occasional well-placed audio descriptor-aide. 

Speaking of improvements, a very big change I wasn't expecting was the fundamentals of combat and how Pillars of Eternity handles Spellslots. For those who are woefully unexperienced with this dilemma, CRPGs who adapt (or are simply inspired by) tabletobs are forever struggling with managing the concept of 'Spellslots', a mechanic which limits the amount of spells that can be used every 8 hours. It makes sense as a balancing concept for a tabletop, where you'll probably be fighting about 2 to 3 groups of enemies every four-hour session, but export that wholesale to the video game space and things can get a little tedious. It isn't so hard to fall into a pattern where, as with POE 1, you have to retreat from a dungeon to go back home because your endurance pool has been drained from ambient battling so that your character is a single hit from permadeath. (I wrote a lot about how annoying I found this system in a the last review)

POE 2 fixes this system by pretty much rewriting it entirely. Instead of having a certain number of spells you can cast every 8 hours, you have a number of spells that you can cast every fight, which gets regenerated the second you end that fight. This makes dungeon crawling a lot more appealing and means you can be a lot more gungho with abilities during fights. At first I did fear that a side-effect of this system would be simplification to the point of combat trivialisation (and it some ways that is accurate, I miss the feeling of battling attrition in prolonged bouts) but overall I found the pace of the game really picked up and was consequently more accessible. And you know what else I love? The new health system. Rather than juggling so mysterious endurance system of hitpoints that drains under it's own unknowable rules, instead you have a 'three strikes and your out' system. Each time a character is knocked unconscious, (or, annoyingly, sets off the game's obnoxious traps) you gain a wound. After getting three wounds, the next time you go unconscious you will be perma-dead. (Wounds are reset upon resting, which is still a mechanic.)

Classes have shifted drastically too, and this is a change that I admit I do not like so much. Previously I complimented the way that classes could and would play drastically different to one another, with certain classes having entirely unique resource pool mechanics to manage. Well now Obsidian have changed it so that every class has a resource pool, and after playing a fair bit I feel like every single class which has been given this system has come off feeling worse for it. Explaining why will lead me to get a little bit technical, so try and bare with me as I go into excruciating detail about something that only a tiny amount of people actually care about.

Every class with a new resource system hasn't received a resource accumulating gameplay mechanic in order to back it up, (Like Monk's 'Wounds', Chanter's 'Verses', and Cipher's 'Soul Siphon') meaning that these classes all start a fight with a limited pool of resource. The problem is that this starting pool only scales very slightly as you level and seems to have built mostly to be supplemented through buffs that aren't exactly spelled concisely out to new players, (you probably won't know how to improve your resource count unless you look it up) and yet with that small pool of resource you'll be adding new abilities and feats onto your repertoire as you level up, skills you'll acquire then become increasingly spread thin as that list grows. And when your pool is used up? What do you do then? Well, you can use an 'empower' point, which can be done once a battle and can be recovered from resting, or, what you'll be doing more often, the character just becomes an ability-less hitting machine for the rest of that encounter. Some classes, like the Paladin, are given such little base resource that they've essentially been neutered compared to how they were in the first game, where they were Valkyries of the battlefield. Honestly, I can't reconcile why this change had to happen, they could have just stuck with the limited casts like wizards have.

On the topics of Wizards, a change of theirs that I really like had been the way that this game handles spells books, yet again challenging a held pet peeve of mine from the first title. Instead of having a thousand spells dropped on you every time you unlock a new level of spell, you get given the choice to unlock each spell that you use, just like other classes. This is supplemented by the new roles of grimoires; rather than act as your 'spell prep book', this time grimoires hold two spells from all levels that the wielder can cast without having learned the spell themselves, making it actually sensible now to carry around and switch up Grimoires for particularly demanding fights. All in all, combat has been made a lot more modern and accessible in Pillars of Eternity 2, and I feel like it's been Obsidian's most successful aspect of the Deadfire experience.

Heralding this bold new direction for the combat and rebalancing is a level reset, a concpet I've recently come to be annoyed by, but I understand why. Baldur's Gate showed me how much more tactile it was when your level carried with you into the new titles, but instead Obsidian go the easy route and put you right back to Level 1 with a little bit of explanation effort thrown in there. (Although there's not quite as much explanation put into why the returning characters, of which there are a few, get reset as well). I personally would have preferred it if this game had grown from the last and the challenge had grown greater, (I wanted to be a big fish in a bigger pond) but I suppose with so many fundamental switches to the very fabric of combat, that was never going to be a feasible choice.

 

Navigation has changed significantly, with minimal screentime being spent in the game exploring on foot, and that being replaced by menu travelling across a map shrouded in a fog of war. Whilst this may seem like a downgrade and a I've seen a lot of fans who grumble about this, Pillars of Eternity 2 does set it's world across a giant sprawling archipelago of uncharted islands and reefs, making the traditional method of 'in game' navigation just a little moot. (can you imagine how many dead screens you'd have to go for in order to explore one island with a single dungeon? Nah, this new way makes more sense) The change affects cities too, which break themselves up into the key most district you need to explore which is even more narrow than the districts of the cities in POE 1, but in trade-up they're typically a lot more packed with content and reasons to revisit. It really is a case of what do you prefer more, a sprawling journey that can cover an continent's worth of adventure, or a more direct personal adventure where you're there for practically every step.

With this new focus on spoken narratives and map-represented exploration comes a heavier leaning on 'Journal adventures', something which the team experimented with in POE's DLC. Essentially these are moments where the next step of your journey is written out before you in words with pictures and you're given choices of how to proceed. Typically these are the moments when skill checks come mostly into play, mimicking those moments in tabletop play that the DM takes over heavily for the next few actions. Again, personally I did like this as it allowed for a wider range of experiences in the adventure of exploring new islands, (beyond just killing the inhabitants) and gave purpose to a lot of your more esoteric skills choices outside of straight combat. This is also how the game handles ship to ship combat, if you were wondering how that played out in this Piracy-adjacent setting.

Which neatly brings us onto the world of Deadfire, one of my favourite parts of this game. The Deadfire Archipelago is hope to the ancestral Huana, who clearly have some inspiration for Mayan culture (and/or Aztec. My ancient history always get shaky with those two.) Their capital of Neketaka is one of the most visually arresting and memorable cities I've seen in any of these CRPGs that I've ever played, dripping with unique visuals and cultural history, as it represents a bustling glorious Aztec-like (I use them interchangeably) city of a huge pyramid-like design plan slayed up the side of a mountain. It completely clears up the lingering sour taste left over from the inescapably drab and cookie-cutter home of the Dyrwood in Pillars of Eternity 1 and finally shows off some of the those wonders that filled those game's 'extra history' annals.

Colonialism is a big theme of the Deadfire, and not the pond-deep prosaic version of it as it exists within Mass Effect Andromeda, but a very real sense of colonialism born from nuance and an actual understanding of the subject. The various bounties of the Deadfire and constantly being wrestled over between the two warring trading companies and the organised pirates who rule the waves, creating a nexus of conflict and pulling convictions that can be a little overwhelming if aren't willing to devote some attention to understanding things around you. Differentiating between the locals, the Royal Deadfire company, the Valian Republics and the Principe is quite the task unless you buy into the incredibly pragmatic lore which fuels this conflict. Although things aren't as simple as outright fighting, the attack on the land is keenly realised in many ways true to living history. I've rarely seen a complex matter handled so well in a videogame, and it's a testament to the writing team for going that extra effort to pour some real verisimilitude into this world. Usually I would be put off by so much lore, as when you drown a game with too much one can start to lose the forest for the trees, but when this amount of care and effort went into its creation, the least the player can do to try and engage with it.

Growing alongside this richer and deeper world space are the various Gods of the Pillars of Eternity world, who are now given faces to put to those abstract virtues that kept me having to scan the lore guide  in the first game to remember which deity was which. Given the natural progression of the narrative, you have a much more hands-on relationship with all the gods this time around, and it allows for their characterisations to really come to life as you see, meet, hear and truly learn these gods in a way that the first POE didn't even come near to. With the incredible description-journal sections utilised to their prime for these dialogues, you really feel the enormity of these forces of nature, whilst picking up on their pronounced oddities and quirks which has them feel like breathing entities. Berath's stiff-jawed stoicism, Rymrgand's near-lust for fatalism, Woedica's imperious authoritarianism; all come together cleanly and digestibly for the audience with their appearances over this game. However, some gods certainly got a lot more screentime than others to the point where I almost forgot the ignored existed. (Hylea hardly even shows up in most of the communions.)

Bringing the gods to the forefront was inevitable given when POE left the narrative at the end of the first game, and even more so with the direction it would take in this game. Following the wake of a deathless god, Deadfire take you on another 'chase' narrative across the land, only this time with a much better job establishing the player's personal stakes in the situation. And yet... a lot of the intrigue from the first game isn't really attempted with this new narrative, and it's replaced with several annoying moments where the person with all the answers just withholds them from you for no good reason. They're amiable, willing to help, open, but they just lead you on this chase for ostensibly no other purpose than to take you sightseeing around the Deadfire. (It's a beautiful land, granted, but I don't need a tour guide) And the resolution of the narrative is definitely different, leaning into something closer to Deus Ex finales, but (incredibly strangely given the subject matters bought up) there's no real sense of stakes or conflict for the finale moments. Essentially, the climax of this game is a conversation, which I love the idea of, but this back-and-forth plays off less like a true debate to decide the world (like Adam Jensen versus Hugh Darrow) and more just a fire-side chat where your opinion is readily accepted without challenge. I appreciate the different direction for a finale, but it could have benefitted from a little more peril, in my view. (Also, the final boss sucked) As it so happened, I honestly got bored with the main path in the second half of my playthrough and had to drag myself into caring about this game again. (And even then, I lost the drive to pursue the Megabosses, so I didn't fight them.)

Once again this disappointment was totally made up for me in the several DLC's bought out for this game, of which I played them all. Each tale focused on a different god from the pantheon, from Galawain, Wael and Rymrgand, and each do an incredible job in making their focused deity seem endlessly intriguing and worthy of further exploration. Each are straightforward DnD-style stories with a dungeon delve to solve a problem which ultimately ends in a death battle, and each culminate in much more satisfying ends than the main narrative. (Actually, 'Seeker, Slayer, Survivor' was more fun in it's body, the end was almost laughably easy) Although nothing matched quite the eclipsing scale that 'The White Marches' had against the original Pillars of Eternity, they each proved to be memorable romps with simply fantastic final bosses. (The Forgotten Sanctum's final boss is widely considered to be the true final boss of the this game)

Which leaves us with the companions of this title, and I have to be honest; I think the guys from 1 had a stronger effect on me. Which isn't to say that I didn't like Deadfire's cast much more, of course I did, but I didn't love anyone nearly as strongly as I deeply despised Durance from Pillars 1. (Seriously, I've never felt that level of hated towards a fictional character before, Obsidian did a majestic job there) But even then I do think the new cast were by and large very fun additions who were all great to get to know. Xoti and Maia were particular favourites of mine, just for having fun personalities that I loved to see play off the rest of cast. Personality is something that really comes to forefront with Deadfire's companions, to the point where you're given a chart to link which emotions are likely to appeal to which character's if you want to min-max your relationship like that. Which also counts towards the way that companions interact with each other, fuelling that believable team coexistence that I'm always asking for in my companion based games.

What's more, it was a very bold choice to stick two characters, Pallegina and Maia, at distinct odds from one another, as they hail from competing trading companies vying for the Deadfire. It's a traditional, but effective method for making the player in tune with the wants of major factions without devolving into making these character's walking embodiments of their respective companies. As with all the companions, this pays off with character resolutions that do exactly what I want from my companions, takes them to a place they wouldn't have been if not for the intervention of the protagonist. Obsidian know well the formula to making worthwhile companion stories, all I would want from now would be a bit of pacing revision, because as it was I ended up completing each companion quest tens of hours before the finale, thus they all just sort of stopped evolving midway through the narrative. (You can stretch it out a bit more than that, I won't complain.)

Summary

As a sequel, Pillars of Eternity steps things up decidedly in the presentation factor, whilst changing so many fundamentals that I think you'd be hard pressed to label this game a replacement for it's predecessor. Much of the trials that Obsidian have strived for in the CRPG world, they have effortlessly surpassed and each entry really sets a gold standard for the best that this genre can be in an all round fashion. That being said, I don't think the main story of this game reached a satisfying conclusion in any of it's vanilla resolutions, which contrasts to the first game that meandered for a lot of it's narrative only to really blow everyone out of the water with that ending. Deciding the final grade is difficult for me, and I'm sure there are many with their own ideas and preferences out there who will fight me bitterly on many of my points, but when we're dealing with games both of this soaring quality, it's inevitable to be splitting hairs.

Ultimately I feel like my time with Pillars of Eternity 1 was more concise and I enjoyed myself more consistently the whole way through, but Pillars of Eternity 2 really did know how to get my blood pumping to those thrilling heights of Baldur's Gate 2 and Throne of Bhaal at times. Deadfire did drag in the second half, but Pillars felt aimless for the breadth of it's story. Both had fun combat, but 2's felt more accessible. It's give and take the whole way through and I think it's hard to reconcile one as truly superior to the other. But when we come to games that I personally feel a desire to playthrough again, POE 2 does win out for me above POE 1, and I think the improvements to gameplay, and spectacle, go towards that desire. Thus I land on giving Pillars of Eternity 2 a B+ Grade, with an automatic recommend stuck on there for good measure. That extra mark comes from my enthusiasm to the game, as well as the brilliant world building effort that Obsidian managed which made me more excited for Avowed than any measly teaser trailer could. Both still stand as specular RPGs that demand to be played, and the fact that POE 2 has a free Critical Role character voice pack is just the cherry on the cake. CRPGs keep achieving excellence and I'm loving watching the craft slowly polish itself to a glean. So now I have but one question; Pillars of Eternity 3, when?

Knights of the Old Republic Remake

 The Force can do terrible things to a mind

So I ain't above admitting I got a little teary-eyed when I saw this, and maybe I was partaking in a bit of silent screaming too, (The showcase was at night over here) but can you blame me when this was the bounty of the night? Again, after a year of meh showcases I had no interest in another and skipped Sony's offerings, only to end up missing what is pretty solidly the best overall showcase event of the year. Ain't that just the biggest kick to the nads? And best of all, pretty much everyone came away with their "wow" moment. The single game which drowned out all the others and stuck with them in their dreams. It just so happened that the game which achieved all of this for me, was the game which the show kicked off with. Show all the cool new sequels and side projects you want, Insomniac, because Aspyr media won me over the second they showed off my main man, the one and only, Darth Revan. It's Star Wars time, baby; and we're going back to the heyday.

You have to understand how big this reveal was for me. Knights of the Old Republic is my third favourite game of all time, a literal masterpiece that I worship as such, the only news that could have struck me harder would have been another Bioshock game or a Metal Gear Solid 3 remake. Even with the endless rumours, which I suppose are now confirmed leaks in hindsight, detailing the existence of this project; a large part of me didn't believe. Or maybe I just didn't want to believe, because part of me loved the old games as they were and sees any attempt to 'remake' them as an attempt to fix what isn't broken. Maybe that pessimism will return again some day, and mar my feelings towards this remake, but it hasn't happened yet and I'm just giddy. Giddy, and shocked, and excited, and indignant. All these shades of anticipation grip me at once and it's doing a number on me, let me tell you! I don't even know how I'm finding the calm to sit down and write this. How are my fingers finding the right keys without shaking? (With trouble. I'll say that much)

And whatsmore this is a remake, not a remaster. Originally there was speculation on this front, considering Aspyr were responsible for a remastering of Kotor 2, it would make sense for them to turn their talents on the original; but I suppose with a prize this vibrant to hand, the prize of the greatest Star Wars game ever made, the team couldn't contain themselves with anything less than the whole hog. (I don't rightly blame them.) This is going to be a proper game, worthy of standing tall in the modern age of gaming. A tall undertaking, and one that just sends shivers up my spine to so much as consider. And yet, I hope that Aspyr are acutely aware of the precedent they've set themselves to follow by going this route. PlayStation has been home to some of the greatest remakes of all time, such as the gorgeous Demon Souls, and the genre bending Final Fantasy VII. Does Aspyr have what it takes to adapt and evolve content as well as those other titles could? I suppose this will be their proving.

If only we were respected enough to have a trailer, like a proper trailer, but instead we have to deal with a teaser somehow even more insubstantial than FF7R's original reveal. (At least in that footage we got to see a classic scene from the original remade) In fact, if we break down the actual marketing material itself, then what we got is literally no better than the model showcase videos that Unreal Cinema put out on Youtube for their upcoming serialisation of the game. (I assume that's still happening and hasn't been hit with a cease and desist. That would suck if it was.) In fact, if I really want to be nitpicky, I might point out that the trailer missed a genuine opportunity to sing to the fans even in it's stark presentation. What we got was a hooded figure who lights a red Lightsaber and then brings it to their face to reveal the iconic Revan mask. Fine. But how much more visually heartstopping would it have been to have the Red saber alight, there be a pause for the monologue, and then a purple saber alights in his oft hand. Fans would go wild for there was only ever one Sith who was depicted with both, and we wouldn't have had to end on that rather awkward 'guarding' animation to reveal his face. (What? I'm a mega fan of these games, I can get petty!)

What we know now can be counted on one hand; the game isn't ready to be shown off and we're not even allowed to be told basic details. Right now everyone is making it out like we're several years away from the actual birth of this Star Wars game, and I'm happy for that because 2022 is getting ridiculously crowded as it is. What we have been told is that Aspyr are reshaping themselves with a lot of new faces in order to make this work, apparently including developers of the original Knights of the Old Republic. I wonder if that means they're angling to get the same voice work done too, because I cannot imagine seeing Bastila, or heck, Carth with a different voice. (Imagine if Carth didn't sound like a whiney arse for the entire game? Nah, that'd be sacrilege.) Interestingly, the producer of the game has specifically stated that the story and characters are staying the same (although I'm willing to bet money on that really being 'mostly') so we might see some gameplay evolutions this time around.

As we are probably early enough to still make predictions and/or demands; I would like to take this time to say the following: For the love of god leave Revan alone. I understand the allure of a character as larger-than-life, yet mysterious, as Darth Revan. The Jedi who broke the backs of the Mandalorians and rose to become one of the greatest of his day, only to disappear and come back as one of the most terrible Sith Lords in history. Those burning questions of "What corrupted him out there?" "What did he see?" have stayed with us for nigh twenty years now. (Even though after meeting his master in Kotor 2, it seems decently clear that, if she were that creepy back when they still knew each other, his breaking bad might be a natural reaction to living with her in his life for several years) That mystery is what makes Darth Revan. And his iconic hold over the story, as this figure that haunts the background of events, is perfectly balanced to making the game's strongest moments land as powerfully as they did. So don't ruin that with 'flashback missions' or prolonged explorations of Revan's lost years. (Although I wouldn't complain if they touched on that in some post-launch DLC. I'm talking about the narrative balance of the core product right now.)

As for the things that I would want; for one I want a completely different play style. I adore the turn based combat and would want nothing else for Kotor, but I need this new game to differentiate itself to the same extent that FF7R did, so real time action is a must. I'd love for the storylines nearer the end to be buffed up so that we can get a better sense of the state of the world in the face of the big twist, specifically how perceptions and opinions shift. (Just a beefier third act in general would be nice) I'd never say no to a few more worlds being added into the great chase, but something tells me that's extremely unlikely. There absolutely needs to be more clothing options, specifically the ability to get that mask which we weren't allowed to do throughout the first game without mods. And I'd simply love it if companions were rewritten around the Ebon Hawk to interact with each other more so that the crew feels more like a family, similar to how Mass Effect Andromeda treated it's team. (One of the few things that game did better than it's predecessors)

But my wants and needs are ultimately insubstantial in the wake of the great Lucasfilm beast that lords over this project, because regardless of this game being several years out, there are so many hands in the kitchen for this game I wouldn't be surprised if it's every feature has been laid out in full for months already. Speaking of parties that are involved, why in god's name did Sony have to stick their heads where it doesn't belong? That just means yet again the Sony boys have swooped in and nailed exclusivity of another game that played best on PC in it's original form, why must you guys torture me so? (Oh and GIVE ME PERSONA 5 ROYAL!) It's been a good run for Xbox, they managed to buy up some studios and tease a year of exclusives from studios who are either unproven or have a shakey history; (Bethesda) but Sony have crushed it with this event. Banger after banger, crowned with the holy grail of remakes, all exclusive to the PS5? Pfft, it's over man. Now all these guys need to do is actually find a way to make and sell their consoles and the new generation will be theirs! (Imagine that) Still, if I must, and despite the fact that Disney had the funds to pay for this entire development cycle if they so wished to, (tight-fisted creeps) I will offer 'thanks', through gritted teeth, to Sony for making next gen Revan a reality. (Hope you liked my appreciation, that's all you're getting of it.)

The tale of X-Men: Destiny

 It's not a tale the Jedi would tell you

I was a fiend for licenced games back in my youth, a fact I've shared here once or twice, which grants me a history with some of the niche games out there that time forgot. Maybe not the ultra deep cuts hidden and nursed under a rock in Tuvalu, but the sorts of games that had their day and then were deeply buried from the spotlight, most of the times in rank embarrassment. Thus when I watched the reveal event for Marvel's Midnight Suns and heard the claim, lip service though it may be, that this would be the very first time in the Marvel universe that players would get to make and be their very own OC hero, my canine ears perked up. My gut reaction was 'X-Men: Legends', in which you are introduced to the famous team of mutants through the eyes of a new initiate, but then I remembered that Magma was actually from the comics, she was just often overlooked. (God, X Men Legends was great...) So I struck out there, but I couldn't shake the 'X Men' hook from the back of my mind. No matter how hard I tossed and turned it around I couldn't make it fit. Until it came to me, the misbegotten entry, 'X Men Destiny'.

You see, there was a Marvel labelled game that gave players the time and chance to create and be their very own superpowered hero, it's just not a game that is legal to be sold anymore because of a court ruling which concluded that the software used to make the game was illegitimate. You see, this was a game made by Silicon Knights, the guys behind the ambitious flop known as 'Too Human'. (To this day I kick myself for never getting the chance to play that museum exhibit of-a-game) Now as I understand this, and I may be missing some of the finer points, Too Human was meant to be Activision and Silicon Knight's opus, having been worked on to some degree for 10 years and being announced on the original Playstation. It was meant to the first in a trilogy, and when it flopped that was a huge investment embarrassment for all parties involved, but in it's wake would follow a series of unfortunate events that would shake Silicon Knights and, pertinently, X Men Destiny.

A couple of years before the game would see the light of day, Silicon and Epic made a deal that all their future games for that generation would be developed using Unreal Engine 3. Fair enough. However, it would seem that Silicon hit some significant development woes in attempting to bring their vision to life, because they ended up suing Epic for breach of contract, citing the many shortcomings of UE3 in key areas that they needed. Epic, never ones to miss a chance for some litigation, shot back with a countersuit claiming that Silicon were well aware that the Engine was still in development when they signed the contract and, whatsmore, made an agreement not to modify the engine on their end. Now it's here where things get a little fuzzy, as I'm not sure if Silicon had modified their UE3 or created their own engine with Unreal code, but whatever happened sparked a legal battle that lasted long enough for Silicon Knights to develop a whole other game; X Men Legends.

But why bring this up? Because the ending of the tale is so wild. You see, Silicon Knights lost the case and thus were forced to round up all unsold copies of games baring their Engine, which at this point were 'Too Human' and 'X Men Destiny', and destroy them. Yeah, we're talking full 'E.T The Game' treatment, only this was a court ordered punishment. As such, physical copies of either games are exceedingly rare, but guess what someone got gifted for their birthday round about the time all this went down? That's right, I have a piece of gaming history tucked away in my collection, and whilst the actual software itself has become less rare since Microsoft rereleased Too Human a couple of years back, for the time being I think that 'X Men Legends' is still a rare item, let alone boxed, so I may have a real gem gathering dust somewhere in storage.

And is the game worth this heritage value? Err... From the get go the game offers you three archetype people and three choices of ability, Shadow Matter, Destiny Control and Energy Projection. In my imperfect recollection I seem to recall that you could match any of the three protagonists with any power, but they were obvious 'correct' combinations that were made clear in move tutorial videos and themed costumes. Ideally the three different power routes would integrate an innate path of replayability into this game's DNA, and to the developers credits the various powers did stand out from one another in the roles they forced the player to adopt. Unfortunately, the actual game part of the gameplay just didn't really standout enough to make this worthwhile.

What I remember is being swarmed with mostly same-ish enemies that were never really too taxing or interesting to fight for their ultimate similarities. Sure, I was learning all these cool abilities, but I had little reason to really dive into them all that much. Which I'm sure is fine for some people, certain folks like to take these sorts of games at their own pace, but I prefer having the heat under my collar some of the time. Certain set piece fights, however, do stand out to be even now for sheer spectacle, like the Magneto battle. Perhaps what the game needed was more of a 'villain of the week' structure to it, similar to 'X Men Legends', so we'd have more opportunities to fight actual named super villians that have different powers and abilities to them. Then again, that would require the studio to be invested in the game just a couple shades more than 'not at all', which, owning to the franchises looming purchase by Disney, was not the case.

Ultimately I didn't dislike my time with X Men Destiny, I just found it mediocre and a waste of potential. One of the big marketing stings would rave about the choice, not only of powers, but which side of the X-Men/Brotherhood conflict you landed on. In practise, this just changed the AI companion who would show up for a few fleeting scenes; the core path of the game didn't change. The story of Destiny is fraught with situations like that; where the path seems laid out but pointedly ignored, as though this game were never truly 'finished'. Even now, with the history around the game making it much more important than the software's quality deserves, my memory of the game is more holes than substance. I remember Gambit shows up, I thought Juggernaut's suit had too many unnecessary details and I don't think Professor X appeared once. I might be wrong about that last one- but I think old baldy had already died or something in that game's timeline, if I remember correctly.

If you're looking for a little bit of gaming history that is inexplicably hard to find, than morbid curiosity might just land you on X Men Destiny. If you're looking for a quality X Men game that really lets you settle in with Marvel's Mutant family, than it's X Men Legends to which I send you. Seriously though, Legends is the precursor to Marvel Ultimate Alliance and it earns every ounce of that legacy by being a truly solid experience with a fantastic roster to get familiar with and master. Destiny, on the otherhand, gives you one hero with alright powers who you'll forget the name of by the third act. Maybe if 'Destiny' was a little more prescient, Silicon Knights wouldn't have stirred the hornet's next and they'd still be around to throw my critique back in my face with the perfect sequel that felt like it was bubbling somewhere on the pitch of this game. Alas, that is a reality for another sector of the multiverse, we just get a mediocre game with a fascinating story.

The Simpsons: Hit and Run

I am so Smart. S.M. R. T. I mean- S. M. A. R. T

It might make me grimace and scrunch of my toes nowadays, but back when I was a stupid kid who just liked to see the same faces everyday on the moving picture box, there was nothing I loved more than a licensed game. We could be talking Spiderman 2 or Iron Man 2, as long as there was a recognisable person attached to the box I was all about it everyday of the week. Which is part of the reason why my back catalogue is full to the brim with the sorts of games that, in hindsight, belong in an on-fire bargain bin being wheeled off of a canyon. I mean come on; the Captain America tie in game? What was I, and they, thinking? Later years and countless burns would eventually hammer it home that 'tie in' almost always meant 'half assed', but even with that knowledge today there are some old school tie in games that I refuse to look back on with anything other than love. One of the least controversial of that number being the beloved 2003 hit game, 'The Simpson's Hit and Run'.

Who couldn't bring themselves to loving a game based on the Simpsons? Back in the early 2000's that family were pretty much the mainstays of every TV screen, even all the way across the pond and down in the cesspit which is my local community. Simpsons was as close as we got to a 'Marvel' back then, in that it was a property which every could relate under because we'd all been watching it, maybe not so much to keep up to date but enough to bond over the humorous hijinks of our favourite lemon family. I think we were just aged out of the demographic where actually quoting the Simpsons was still cool (thank god. I don't need traumatic childhood memories of me running around saying 'Ay Caramba' at people) but I, at least, was definitely far gone enough down the fandom rabbit hole that when I was presented with a box of video games, this was one which stood out like a sore thumb. A Simpsons video game? Something that would allow me to, even in that most fleeting of ways, enter the world of Springfield? Count me in.

In premise, 'The Simpsons: Hit and Run' is approachable, simple and straightforward; all it does is throw all your recognisable Simpsons lead characters into various different parts of Springfield and gives them various challenges that they can only do by driving their cars really fast and smashing things. That's about the extent of the gameplay loop and back in 2003 we didn't really ask for anything else because games could be just that basic and as long as it was handled decently we wouldn't really complain. (And even if it was handled poorly, we wouldn't know who to complain to.) Still I think that what makes this game stick out even now is simply the fact it remains on of the only games to give people their near unbridled access to the town of Springfield, where dreams are made. You get to drive up Evergreen Terrace, swing past Apu's store, and even do donuts on the Elementary School's lawn. Sure, all of Springfield is sort of warped around what looks feels like a linear race track (with shortcuts) from one part of the neighbourhood to the other, but all the important landmarks were there so who are we to say the town shouldn't be laid out like that? Seemed to work fine at the time.

Of course, any reviewer at the time, or since, has that one buzz-phrase to throw around when looking at a game like this, the one practically all free-form driving games got before Dark Souls launched and that became the comparison king of the day. "It's The Simpsons meets GTA". But is there any truth to that comparison? Well, you do drive around and smash things, and the police can get called out to pull you over (which they tend to do rather violently, and they'll throw you a fine if they catch you); but that's about the end of the similarities. There's no hard-core crime element to the story, you never actually kill anyone and as for the eponymous 'car stealing', you can feasibly do it but every single car in the world is so embarrassingly inferior to every one of yours that there's pretty much no point to doing so. But apart from that, sure, Simpsons GTA all day. (It was clearly inspired by GTA, isn't that enough?)

The story of the game is technically an original one, but with the amount of actual substance to it, I find it difficult to call it a 'narrative'. Robot wasps descend upon Springfield alongside the unveiling of a brand new energy drink 'Buzz Cola' which is eating up the airwaves and becoming widespread fast. The mystery of who is behind all of this is pretty clear from the get-go to anyone with a passing familiarity with the series, but that investigation aspect is really just the dressing, a vehicle for the onslaught of references to the series. Nearly every single mission is a direct reference to an episode or something that happened in an episode, the cars you can unlock through the coins you get from smashing things are all featured from the show, and there's even alternate costumes you can (and sometimes are forced to) buy from similar origins. In this way, Hit and Run was just a celebration of Simpsons culture and fandom, pointing lovingly to series highs whilst handing out little anthropomorphic blue berries and saying ' 'Member when Marge was a cop? 'Member?'.

My favourite part of the whole experience when I was a kid was the exploration, as I slightly hinted, because as with many other adventure titles of the time, this game was a collectathon and I just couldn't get enough of that noise. Climbing up Bart's famous Treehouse, (it's always bigger in the show) jumping atop Apu's secret rooftop garden, trying to navigate ceiling propeller fans in the nuclear plant; all of this was nectar to a Simpsons fan like me. And the fact that every chapter not only put you in charge of a new character with their own set of outfits and vehicles, (from Homer, Bart, Lisa, Marge and Apu) but also moved you to a new parts of town so that there always more to see and collect the whole way through the campaign, was just everything to little me. Even cooler than that, the final area is a homage to the non-canonical part of Simpsons 'Treehouse of Horror', which means a Springfield filled with zombies! If only more big open world games realised the potential of adding zombie modes onto their games. (Red Dead Redemption 2 and GTA V)

Simpsons Hit and Run would go down as a classic, even amidst the deluge of Simpsons games that hit us in the early 2000's, with it remaining the gem of it's age and console. In fact, the reason I started thinking of it again recently was because of a Youtube video the other month of a coder who just sat down and remade the framework of the game in a week, stitching the entire game world into one map as he did so. (A fascinating watch if you're interested in the building blocks that would go into such a project) Yet with all that love, and considering the game is about 18 years old now, one might wonder why the game never got a sequel. Well, one was actually in the works for a time, before it was killed by, who else could it be, EA. Radical Entertainment would pretty much dissolve shortly after the release of Prototype 2, with mass lay-offs, and the studio would be drafted into working on Destiny under Activision. Whatever's left of them now, they aren't going to be making Hit and Run 2 anytime soon.

So a sad ending to our little celebration blog, but that doesn't mean we can't glow in the brilliance of our nostalgia. Unfortunately, nostalgic memories is about as far as we can legally go with it, because no one has the rights to the game and thus no modern gaming storefront sells the thing. (Although the PC files are said to be floating around the internet somewhere, for anyone who might find that information interesting for whatever, totally legal, reason.) But whilst this was easily the most beloved, Hit and Run is not the only Simpsons game floating around out there from this golden age of PS2. In fact, there's a whole bunch of them, and I played a lot of them, so stay tuned for the next few weeks as we take some time out to go on a trip down a rollercoaster of memories. And yes, I played the bad ones and the really bad ones too. Lacking any way of playing the game again to see how it holds up today, I'm forced to give Hit and Run my utmost recommendation for those that haven't played it. Perhaps not to modern day Simpsons fans, as they'll find little they recognise here, but to anyone with a heart for the basic games of yesteryear. Just bear in mind it can get a little frustrating near the end. (Those finale timers are no joke.)

Assassin's Creed Unity is Dumb

This is getting out of hand! Now there are four of them.

Many out there, born and bled Assassin's fans all, would point to merely one source when you quote 'the downfall of Assassin's Creed'. The place from where it all seemed to fall apart and everything we once thought was perfect would be spat back in our face as a poor attempt of a facsimile on better times, that only worked to cheapen the previous series' highpoints and colour the fall from grace that would follow. That game was Assassin's Creed Unity, and it is dumb. Personally, I think the rot started setting in much sooner than that. Afterall, Assassin's Creed Revelations was seen by many as a pointless addition to a finished story when it was announced, and when it launched that was pretty much confirmed; the only real resolution it achieved for the narrative was giving Ezio a happy ending. Then there was Assassin's Creed III, a game so divisive that most people can't even put their fingers on the improvement required to make it the masterpiece the game felt a hair's breadth shy from. But Unity was a mess, and from that point the real scrutiny started on the Assassin's Creed model, both inside and out of Ubisoft, which could very well go to explaining how we are where we are today.

When we come to Assassin's Creed, you have to first understand the atmosphere around Unity. People were losing their minds over yet another instance of an Assassin's Creed game going the extra mile and changing things up beyond just a location switch. (>gasp< someone cover modern Ubisoft's ears, the might blow a brain vessel!) Previous Assassin's Creeds had always made an effort to put something extra in the trailer to get fans interested in the vast contrast from how the last game played to how this one might, Assassin's Creed 2 had the dual hidden blades, IV had the boats, et cetera. But perception around these additions shifted from "This will revolutionise the entire formula, egads!" to "We're getting a hook on the Hidden blade and a half-hearted tower defence mode? What are you on 'Revelations'?" But what are little gimmicks and slight additions to the time-honored Assassin tool set when compared against something seismic: like a multiplayer mode?

God, you cannot imagine the fervour following the revealed Multiplayer mode, and it was dropped with a cinematic trailer too, meaning that people had literally no idea how the thing would shape up and their little imaginations could run away from them and do the marketing on the studio's behalf. Could we customise our Assassin? Would we be free roaming with friends? How will missions change to handle this balance? Could Co-op content be played with one person? Questions flew by the community and were met with nothing but coy silence on the team's part, but it was all just seeped with an air of excitement, as everyone just assumed whatever we got would be the best that it could be. (Ah, more innocent times) It should have been telling from then how we'd hear nothing substantial on this mode until launch, and how from this point discourse would be solely on the main story.

You have to remember that at this time I was the sort of rube who swallowed up all of the marketing material with gusto, which means I have acute memories of watching the interviews with various members of staff gushing about the game, or the actors who wanted so badly to live up to fan expectations. (my heart actually weeps for them. Everytime I think about this game I feel so bad remembering their excitement.) From this time I remember hearing about the storyline, Arno Dorian would search for this father's killer and be adopted into the family of a young girl to become her step-brother. Afterwhich they would grow up and become lovers. (Wait, what?) I remember that plotpoint being my very first tinge of "Well that doesn't sound right at all". How can you fall in love with someone you've grown up around as a literal sibling? It sounded stupid. But I just figured the team would figure out how to make it all natural and romantic. They're big, paid, developers afterall, they have to know what they're doing! (Spoilers: They largely didn't)

So bugs. Whenever we talk about Assassin's Creed Unity the conversation always ends up with the bugginess, because this was a game clearly in need of a few more months, heck a whole extra year, in the oven. The updated engine wouldn't render consistently and correctly, the mutliplayer mode felt like a take-on with pathetic customisation and no female Assassin option because, (it's too hard to code female walk cycles on top of male ones) crashes galore, lighting issues, there was just a general sheen of unpolish slathered over the entire product. But for me all of that is merely the icing on top of the cake, because I was used to buggy games and in fact I was lucky enough to avoid all of Assassin's Creed Unity's worst. What really stank to me was the raw game underneath because, unfortunately, it sucked.

The gameplay was supposed to be a step-up, a bold leap forward from anything we'd experienced before, but instead I just felt like almost everything had been dumbed down or had lost it's soul. Climbing for example, one of the key tenants of Assassin's Creed, had these new automated animations introduced into the formula to make things more 'fluid' and 'attach to walls from any angle'; but it ended up just limiting the simple mastery in learning the rigid, but reliable toolset from AC 2 onwards. As a result, we'd never quite get the platforming challenge sections again which coloured a lot of Assassin's Creed 2's content between assassinations. (It was some of the only ways in which this series changed itself up) Then there was the combat which introduced 'combat levels' in order to make things more challenging. All this ultimately served, however, was being an introduction point for premium currency and microtransactions in order to buy new gear; a rot which has been with the series ever since. (So thanks for that, Unity) And then there are the Black Box missions, an attempt by Ubisoft to recreate the freedom of Hitman levels with targets that have multiple approach angles and free-from level structure. The only problem being that Arno, as with every Assassin's Creed protagonist, is an immortal murder machine so taking away any mission constraints just meant that players could work up and kill the target, then leave, with practically no resistance. (Glad they bought back that failure of a mission structure philosophy for Valhalla.)

Finally, there was the storyline, which I was most excited about and which disappointed me the most. The narrative attempts to tell a story about an unlikely truce between the Assassin's and the Templars which falls apart in no time flat, set in a backdrop of the French Revolution. The stories sound like they might saddle up close together, but in practice they are almost entirely separate with the connections between the two being coincidental at best, robbing this series of the historical romping aspect that makes it so engaging! Worst of all for me, however, was Elise. Arno's Step-sister turned lover who just happened to join the Templars when he became an Assassin. What a brilliant opportunity for the game to lean on from the Assassin's Creed III story of exploring both sides of the conflict. We'll get the chance to totally explore what draws two kindred spirits in opposite directions so that it'll break our hearts when their differing parts ultimately collide. Except no. Elise is just a Templar because her Dad was and Arno is an Assassin because his Dad was; there's no scenes of genuine philosophical conflict or warring opinions. In fact, Elise and Arno barely interact at all beyond a few catty remarks and ill-suited bouts of romanticism. By the end I cared little about either of them, and having learnt nothing about Arno's later life I don't feel that burning curiosity which I had with Edward Kenway or Ezio Auditore. I found no depth in any of the characters, such to the extent where I cannot remember anyone but the lead two because they were on the box.

So Assassin's Creed Unity was dumb, through and through, and it was so at the utmost detriment of the game that could have been underneath it all. I, along with so many others, had this perfect dream of what Unity could have been, and the disappointment we came to feel when it floundered on that goal would colour the relationship between old school fans and Assassin's Creed from then on. Even as some fundamental aspects improved and the series itself shifted and morphed into the pseudo-RPG monster it is today, the worst elements started in this game just festered into what would become the series' worst missteps. I'm not going to call Unity the route of Assassin's Creed's downfall, because I think that award goes solely to the heads in the Ubisoft office, but Unity was the manifested omen that told everyone exactly what these games were seeking to be for the foreseeable future. So chalk this series up to another good thing going that Napoleon ruined, the dick.

Hey, Pokemon Go. Listen to your fans.

 POKEMON-GO-TO-THE-STOPS

You'd have to scour some of the most remote corners of the globe in order to spy a rock under which exists a people who have not heard of Pokemon Go, and even then that rock would still be brimming with with AR Pokemon. For five years this app has ruled as the jewel of developer Niantic's eyes, turning them into household names and creating an endlessly attractive money sink that even the most lazy Gamefreak executive couldn't dream of. They still have to waste time making new games in order to make money, not Niantic, these guys just have to turn up the spawn rate of some event Pokemon and they'll have generated six figure revenues from half a day's work. Recycle the odd event, change up Team Rocket grunt rewards, you've got a forever game on your hands. Despite how big Pokémon already was before the release of Go, it's hard not to see the success of this mobile little brother as a microcosm of the sheer global dominance of this brand, as well as an ultimate destination for the original mission briefing of the franchise. Short of genetic experimentation and cloning, this is the closet we're ever going to get to bringing Pokemon into everyone's living room.

And so with that sort of success you'd imagine a certain quality of the untouchable to be upon the game and it's creators; an immutability where sheer supremacy raises the product and it's harbingers to a higher plane of being, above the squabbles and gnawing of even their player base. Because where would they go if they were upset anyway? To one of Pokémon Go's Competitors? The beauty of the product is that it's the unique brand which sells the concept, with it's history feeding the diehards, so no matter how many better alternatives pop up, none will ever quite replace the Go. At least, that's what I think the Niantic higher-ups thought of themselves over this half decade, for why else would they try to undercut their own success with another identical game based on an easily less marketable property?

But I think in that hubris, and they very much were drowning in hubris, Niantic have built themselves up as magnanimous heroes beyond reproach, when they are very much still within our spitting distance, a fact deftly shown through their recent controversy. This whole thing actually started with an attempt to do good around the world, or at least capitalise on a world wide epidemic to score some 'good company' points. (Hey, if the end result suits everyone, I ain't got a problem with it.) Niantic threw together a gift patch, in that distances for Pokestops and gyms, real life locations you have to visit practically everyday within the app in order to access any of it's proper features, would be temporarily inflated, thus allowing them to be accessed from further away. Of course this meant that people could stay inside for lockdown and not have to burn rubber across their neighbourhood for their daily ration of Pokeballs.

In fact, it was during this time that I really started to get into Pokemon Go, something I'd never actually tried with any conviction before. And I really did manage to get a lot done, slipping into the addiction with the ease of an ex rehab patient. I got to partake in a few events, go crazy on some of the wild hunting days, bagged myself a shiny Charizard (A must-have for every Pokemon game), dragged myself to completing some of those obnoxiously tedious quest chains, and even scored a couple legendries! One of them was just Mewtwo, more a pity gift for going through one of their endless Team Rocket questlines, but the other was an honest to goodness raid reward! (Only after I caught it on my final throw attempt did I look up catch rates online and realise how stupidly lucky I was.) And you know what? I wasn't the only person who decided that, now the walking requirement wasn't quite as stringent, this would be a good time to get into Pokemon Go. The game saw a drastic influx of newblood and, though I doubt Niantic needed it, a revitalised lifespan.

So this is all just a feel-good story with no possible drawback, right? Wrong. For what I can only assume is a deep seated feeling that they are the authority on people's health, the second that guidlines started to lift a little on how much people were allowed to be in public, Niantic were making moves to turn back the clock to the old way of things, when being a tech company they should know; it's often impossible to turn back. During the time when distances were increased, the Pokemon Go App became more accessible than it ever was before, with players being able to scour their neighbourhood without coalescing within spitting distance of one another. And the dial wasn't turned up so much that you didn't have to leave your home, (Unless you live in a city surrounded by local landmarks, I guess) so the balance was fine. People had come accustomed to the way things were now.

Niantic, just like the Pokemon Company before them, seemed to have an issue with working to the benefit of the consumer. They put out their change-back policy just a few months back, stubborn to bring things back to the way they were without even stopping to consider if they might have been just that bit better. People were still going outside, afterall, they were still exercising, (which is the point of this entire venture) they just perhaps weren't socialising as much. Still they laid down the law, convinced of their moral superiority, and it sparked an actual consumer revolt in response! This sort of thing is becoming less and less uncommon in the gaming world as buyers become more attuned with the power that they have, but I always smile whenever it happens. Because the way I see it, these sorts of events are never born out of a place of malice (unless we're talking about Sports games; those tend to be fuelled by a desire to salt-the-earth. With good reason) but a hope to reach a best of both worlds for everyone. (What's good for the consumer is good for the developer's check-balance, afterall.)

I remember a similar clash between what the company thought was right and what would be best for Pokemon players when the conversation came to special mythical events. In the past these event Pokemon would only ever be handed out in-person at stores or Pokemon movie premiers, a practise that was becoming more and more dated at the world grew more digital. It was only, again, when the pandemic hit that something had to give, otherwise no one would end up getting these stupid mythicals and The Pokemon Company would risk sparking up a godawful grey Pokémon trading market. (If that sounds ridiculous to you, then rest assured that even with the new measures the company took, there were still listings up on Ebay for Pokemon trades.) Ultimately Pokemon caved to pressure and offered online sign-ups to be emailed new codes, but it took pushback in order for these guys to catch up to the rest of the world, and it really shouldn't have.

I understand and respect the Pokemon Go mission statement and what it is they try to achieve. I grimace a little when I see how much money they made off the back of this 'mission', but I still feel that at the heart of all lies genuine altruism. However, when the throes of what you want to do starts to collide with what you should do, maybe it helps to have the screaming voice of the masses changing your internal goals that little bit. Niantic ended up relenting and allowing the further distance Pokestops to remain, and though they do so begrudgingly, this should be as a win. A coming together of developer and fan in a beautiful storm of cooperation. (Or maybe just an example crowd-bullying to get Niantic to dance to their tune; I guess it really is a 'perspective' thing here, huh.)