Photo: Epic Games The point spread at today’s Fortnite World Cup Solo finals was massive, with winner Bugha scoring 26 points more than second place finisher Psalm. But not everyone can win: Four players came away with zero points, but—at least on Twitter—they were good sports about it. All of today’s 100 Solo finals competitors are immensely skilled players, and even those who came in last went home with at least $50,000. Still, it can’t feel good to be at the bottom, even if it’s the bottom of the top. North America West player Herrions, Brazil player Clipnode, North America East player Funk, and Asia player Arius all came in at zero points today. This performance could feel crushing after coming so far, but the four players took it in stride. “Oof,” Herrions tweeted, following with “Well you live and learn.” An hour later, however, he tweeted a sad emoji. Advertisement Clipnode, who is from Argentina, tweeted his thoughts in Spanish, which translate to “Sorry I wasn’t prepared, I w...
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I’m back with another entirely late Weekend Whammy, and this week I’m mostly chatting about The Witcher show and Marvel’s Phase 4 plans. As always this series of articles is just about the games I’ve reviewed, what I’ve been playing, watching and reading and anything else I fancy chatting about. Let me know in the comments what you’ve been up to this week as well! Right, just the one review this week because contrary to popular belief I do actually have a life. That’s a bold face lie. Anyway, this week I reviewed Defector for the Oculus Rift. It had some great elements, including a bloody amazing opening level, but it didn’t quite manage to keep the momentum going. It’s important to remember that VR is still very much in its infancy and developers are working to find out how to make games for it. Nor are the big developers willing to produce a big triple-A, full price game for the format yet, perhaps because there isn’t much of an install base yet to make a profit on one. Until VR d...
The first mission of Defector is like a glorious homage to every over-the-top spy movie to have ever appeared on a screen. There’s a handler feeding you information, a bad guy to converse with and then the possibility of driving a car out of a plane before leaping out and landing in a different plane. Oh, and then gunning down a bunch of fighter jets using nothing but an assault rifle because that’s how the real world works. It’s a bombastic introduction to Defector , but then the game never does manage to reach the same highs again. It’s perhaps no wonder that it was this first level which was shown off in the demos and previews. But that doesn’t mean Defector doesn’t give it a shot and does so by mixing in a bunch of different ideas. In another of the five missions you get to pose as a masseuse, gently massaging away the suspect’s worries. There’s even an interrogation sequence involving questioning, punching and dangling the target out of a window. Hell, Defector even manages to ...
Happy belated weekend, friends! It’s time to chat about what I’ve reviewed this week, what I’ve played, what I’ve read and why I really do need to start going to be at a sensible time. Okay, maybe I’ll skip that last one. If you haven’t already read it (shame on you) then you should absolutely go check out How World of Warcraft Brings People Together, written by an amazing friend of mine. As the name of the article suggests it’s written by her and based on her own experiences of a long-running World of Warcraft guild where some members have been with them for over a decade. It’s lovely look at how gaming can bring people of all ages, creeds, nationalities and beliefs together. I handed out a pretty big score this week, giving Crash Team Racing Nitro-Fueled a 4.5. I was actually close to giving it a 5 out of 5, but there were some flaws that held me back. The multiplayer, for example, needs to some work. But really, Crash Team Racing is what good gaming should be. Or it least iw wo...
Y’know, I’m going to have to start calling these Whenever Whammys considering how often I aim for the weekend, sail right past it and wind up trying to figure out what day it is again. But on with the show, loyal minions! I mean readers! The first of two reviews this week was for F1 2019, which as you might have guessed is the newest game in long-running racing series from the folks over at Codemasters. Like any yearly franchise based on a real-life sport the F1 games have struggled to keep things interesting, but they did a good job this year by including the Formula 2 series and official online league support. The real-world Formula 1 is due to get some fairly big rule shifts in the next few years, with the aim being to combat the lack of overtaking the sport has been suffering. These changes might just prove to be a nice kick in the pants for the video games. It might even be enough to entice players who haven’t picked up an F1 game in a few years to catch up and feel the new rul...
Any game that has you taking order from a sentient banana named Pedro is guaranteed to be good. It’s like a rule of the universe or something. I’m sure of it. My Friend Pedro does indeed have a talking banana and thus is at an immediate advantage over almost every other game. To be honest if you actually need a review after being told about a sentient banana then I’m not sure this game is for you. Or games in general. Or life, for that matter. What the hell is wrong with you? Story is in short supply in My Friend Pedro. You wake up in the basement of some random mafia boss, at which point Pedro the banana appears and calmly explains that you probably don’t want to hang around any longer than needed. A bit of bloodshed later and you’ve escaped, but then said bloodshed just sort of carries on. And to be honest, I’m not entirely sure why. Thinking back on it I honestly can’t remember how I got from where I was at the start to the end. Platforms: Switch, PC Reviewed On: PC Developer: De...
Hello again my friends, enemies and people that I barely care about. The weekend has been and gone yet again, leaving in its wake a trail of unconscious bodies. Just one review this week which was of The Sinking City, a new open-world detective game from Frogware based upon the writings of H.P. Lovecraft. Frogware previous made some pretty good Sherlock Holmes games and The Sinking City uses some of the same concepts when it comes to figuring stuff out. It’s the Lovecraftian horror where Frogware kind of struggled, I think, especially the weedy combat. Still, it was an enjoyable game that a niche audience will probably love. More than anything The Sinking City got me thinking about the continued popularity of Lovecraft. Now that his work is public domain Cthulhu and his cosmic brethren keep popping up all over the place. The cynical side of me can’t help but think that the appeal is less Lovecraft’s intriguing writings and more the fact that developers get access to a massive wealt...
Hello there weekend, how are you doing this fine…er, weekend? Yes, the weekend is here yet again and that means it’s time to ramble about the games I’ve been playing, the games I’ll be reviewing and Nerf guns! Alright, so this week I reviewed Mordhau. It’s flawed yet still massively fun. I’m still consistently playing a match or two every day, and despite dealing with the toxicity of the online community I’m having a blast smashing people with my giant maul. I’m still struggling with the combat, though. I just can’t get the hang of it, so instead I’ve taken to ambushing people with my maul or just shooting them from afar with a crossbow before setting people on fire with a fire-bomb. Is it honourable? Hell no! But it gets results. And by results I usually mean several toasted team-mates. The brand new F1 game came in through the post the other day. Due to the embargo I can’t offer any opinions yet, so you’ll just have to wait for the full review, I’m afraid. What I can say is that t...