Infinite Crisis Review

Another PAX East Review! 



This time it's Infinite Crisis which is the game that we played the most over the three days at PAX. I'm gonna break this game down simply into the good and the bad. 


First I’ll start by explaining what a Multiplayer Online Battle Arena (MOBA) is for anyone who has never played one before. It is a 5v5 tower defense game in which the goal is to kill the enemy base. The typical setup is 3 lanes with 3 towers in each lane leading to the enemy base. By killing your opponents, as well as killing creatures or objectives around the map, you gain gold. This gold is then spent on items to gear up your character as the game progresses. The real fun of a MOBA is the ability to outplay another person in your lane. It is unlike shooters in that dying is a huge deal. This makes each and every kill much more satisfying.



The Good - The first thing of note is that this game was really fun! It may not be League of Legends quality but that certainly does not discredit the title. Having all of the playable characters be superheroes adds a very fun quality to the game. Dropping jets on the entire team as green lantern and sprinting around as the flash was a much different type of combat experience compared to other MOBAs. The roles seemed to all make sense, of course following suit with league, and the layout of the map was nice and easy. My favorite innovation that they made was the changes to the tower system. The towers in this game hurt. Even late game they tear people apart. The answer to this is to drop an EMP on them to disable them for a time. This adds quite an interesting dynamic, giving you the ability to tower dive safely for a short amount of time. This could make for a much more aggressive game.


 The Bad - Before I start to pick at some of the problems with this game, the first thing to mention is that the game is still in its beta stage. However, with the way a lot of games launch, I'm not convinced a whole lot will change. My first problem is with the graphics of the game. To me it really does seem a little low on quality. This also flows into the way which combat is played out. It feels a little less fluid than League and just seems a whole lot less polished. Hopefully this will change before the game launches though. My only other worry is that the game will rely too heavily on the DC theme and as opposed to focusing on the mechanics of the game. As a side note, there is also no ladder play as of yet which means no competitive aspect to the game as of yet. At the end of the day, it is most likely going to be a fantastic MOBA when it is finished. I have already downloaded the beta on my computer at home and I'm sure I’ll be playing quite a few games of it. 

Infinite Crisis Trailer 

- Ambushsniper

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Email: 33rdbrigadeclan@gmail.com

Shout Outs!

Every once in a while we over here at 33rd will post a shout-out blog dedicated to anyone who we think is a cool blog, website, organization, store, etc etc. For this first one, I am just going to list some people I know and want to promote as they have made some sort of impact on me. As time goes on we should hopefully have more people to promote ahead of time as to bring some new faces to light. Without further ado, here are our monthly shout-outs to some of our friends.

UGR Gaming: 
A video game entertainment company that features the latest in gaming news, reviews, and previews
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Jerky XP: 
Easy to chew, high quality beef Jerky
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Good, Better, Dressed:
A predominately female fashion blog run by an inspired college student trying to make it into the fashion world.
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The Snake Pit:
A local Boston sports radio show held at Framingham State University on Wednesdays at 2pm EST
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The Press Box: 
A local Boston sports radio show held at Stonehill College on Fridays at 4pm EST
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The Poison Girls Club:
A pop punk/alternative band from Boston, MA and Salem, NH

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Soundcloud
 
PSN Circuit:
A Call of Duty competitive video game league created by gamers for gamers.
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That's all we got for today! Go give each of these people a visit an see what they have to offer!

Want to be featured in our shout-out blog or know someone who should be? Let us know in the comments section or in one of the below ways!

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33rd Official Website
Email: 33rdbrigadeclan@gmail.com

-JB

War Of The Vikings Review

     Continuing from the PAX East themed post from the other day, another game I got to try out was War of the Vikings, Paradox Interactive's spiritual successor to War of the Roses. War of the Vikings, similar to its predecessor, is a third-person multiplayer close quarter combat game set in Saxon controlled England during  the Viking Age.

     Having played the alpha of this game, I was excited to try out the improved product at PAX. The demo was set up in a 4v4 fashion for a ten minute round of team deathmatch. There are several classes to choose from including an archer class and a warrior class, which carries an ax and a shield. Being rather new to the War series, Ichose the shielded class in hopes of dying less than anticipated. I was successful early on as I started the game with a three kill-streak, but then I died.....a lot. Ambushsniper, being on the other team, was quite the headhunter as an archer and took me out a few times. I finished the match 8-11 (somehow best on my team) and our team lost by about ten kills. 

     Overall, this game is very fun. It plays similar to War of the Roses or Chivalry and is quite the challenge. A cool feature integrated into the War series is that the direction you move your mouse in while attacking is the actual direction you attack in. You can also charge an attack in any direction for more power. The movement is very smooth and Fatshark has put in a lot of time and effort developing this game since the alpha came out.

     I currently give this a 4 out of 5 and can only assume it will get better as the bugs get fixed with its launch tomorrow. I definitely recommend this game to anyone looking to get into PC gaming or to get away from the FPS world they live in.

War of the Vikings Trailer 

 

War of the Vikings Gameplay

 

For more information see the official website:

War of the Vikings

-JB

Sniper Elite 3

     During my time at PAX East this past weekend, I got to check out most of the exhibits, with the exceptions of Borderlands, Evolve, and Wolfenstein due to the fact that their lines were constantly three to five hours long. However, I did get a sneak peak at a lot of cool new games coming out, one of which was Sniper Elite 3, which will be coming out for PS4, Xbox One, and PC this summer.

     Continuing with their theme of World War 2, this third installment in the Rebellion sniper series takes place in the exotic, yet deadly, terrain of North Africa during the Second World War. You play as American OSS agent Karl Fairburne deep behind Nazi lines, providing crucial sharpshooter skills as the Allies battle Germany's fearsome Tiger tanks across the Western Desert. But it's not just the famed Afrika Korps that Karl has to worry about. He soon uncovers German plans to build a "wunderwaffe" - wonder weapon - with the power to crush any Allied forces in its path, and turn the tide of the whole war.

     I got a chance to go hands-on with the Sniper Elite 3 demo Friday at PAX East and, being a newcomer to the 505 Games series, I was rather impressed. I joined mid-demo, so I when I began I was entering a village attempting to take out the stationed guards in the area. The controls are rather standard when coming to shooters, in this case a third-person shooter, but they do come with some kinks in them. When attempting to look around I had a hard time keeping the movement and look joysticks in sync. The look joystick (R3) appears to be either too sensitive or not sensitive enough, as trying to look around and aim was quite hard and resulted in the camera moving rather large lengths across the screen. Movement in itself was fairly easy and smooth and I did not have any issues with that. Keeping stealthy is also moderately difficult as you can only stay in one spot for so long before you attract attention, especially if you fire a shot.

     One other issue I had with the game was the kill shot cams. Whenever you one-shot an unsuspecting guard, the game takes over and shows a seven second, or so, clip of Karl firing his gun and the bullet entering and killing the guard wherever you shot him. This is a cool feature and I enjoy it...just not on every single one-shot kill. During my time paying I had to watch this scene at least ten times out of the twenty-five or so enemies I encountered (MP40 is a lovely weapon) and it got old very fast. I would much rather it be a random event or a less occurring event, as it took away from the gameplay and became repetitive quickly. However, it is still a neat feature and something fun to watch the first few times it happens. 

     Overall, the game play was about average and had a few kinks to it. However, it is still fun nonetheless, even with the constant kill cams, and could be a blast online. I give this game a 3.5 out of 5 in its current state, but assume these bugs will be fixed before its July 1st 2014 launch. Definitely something to look into if you are itching for a third-person shooter and a tactically based game.

Sniper Elite 3 Trailer

 

Sniper Elite 3 Gameplay 

 

Developer: Rebellion

Release: 2014
Genre: Shooter
Platform: PS4/Xbox One/PS3/X360/PC
Publisher: 505 Games
Website: http://www.sniperelite3.com

-JB

33rd Brigade Weekly Update April 6th 2014

Have you guys checked out our most recent update video?

Here it is if you have yet to see it!

-JB

My Introduction

Hello Everyone,


     I will soon be writing blogs for the 33rd Brigade clan, but I first want to introduce

myself before I begin doing so. I am 35 years old, I am married, and I have no children.

But more than that, I am a girl gamer. My first experience with gaming, was when my best

guy friend received an Atari for his 7th birthday. After playing it for the first time, I

was hooked. I would be at his house for hours any chance I got to play asteroid, frogger,

and any other games he may have had. My grandma used to take my uncle and myself to the

mall and, instead of wanting candy like a normal 7 year old, I would want to go to the

arcade and play as many games as I could. My uncle would always end up beet red because he

could never beat me at Mortal Kombat. Safe to say, gaming and I were in love at first

sight.


     However, being a girl gamer is rough to say the least. It is sad that I sometimes

have to mute my mic to play a game, due to the fact that I am welcomed with belittling

comments, vulgarity and rudeness. When you look at blogs about girl gamers there are always

comments from guys claiming, "She must be fat, a troll, socially inept, or must just play

for attention." I am attractive, funny and intelligent, no where near those descriptions. I

could go to a bar and get way more attention than in game. Lastly, I would never spend 20

hours a week doing something I dislike.


     About 3 years ago I met a gentleman with the gamer tag Roasted-Scar. He sent me a

scathing message, yet somehow we ended up friends. That was one of the best things to

happen to me in my time as a gamer. I have now met the most respectful and amazing people

ever. I was always anti clan for the longest time, but have now been reformed thanks to the

33rd Brigade Clan. They are all about respecting any and every person, and they are one of

the best groups around.


     This is my first blog and I am going to continue to go more in depth about my

experiences as a girl gamer (among other things), as I continue to write for 33rd. Until

then, thank you for reading and have a wonderful day.

Yours,
GambitPro09

...And We're Back!

Well that was quite the long break, wasn't it? No worries though, we are back and will be better than ever as always! We plan on doing a lot of renovation with this blog in terms of physical appearance, the topics being discussed on this blog, and the blog writers themselves. It will be somewhat of a lengthy process, but blogs will be posted along the way so please hang in there with us! If anyone out there is interested in being a writer for 33rd or has any suggestions please email us at 33rdbrigadeclan@gmail.com or find us over at www.33rdbrigadeclan.com. Thank you all and please spread the word! -JBarry465