Gumballs Plays Games

My second Vault of Glass (Hard) run caught on video

Posted on August 27, 2015 by GumballsPlaysGames

On Tuesday I ran Vault of Glass for the first time (on hard) and later that day decided to join another group to try it again. I know it’s absurd to spend so much time in one day playing a video game (I’m a little ashamed to admit) but I had so much fun working together with a group trying to conquer the raid.

The second attempt didn’t quite go as well as the first, however I streamed the ordeal on Twitch as a guide on how to be a complete and utter noob in Vault of Glass. We made it to the end of the raid but could not conquer Atheon, and ultimately everyone had to go so we left the raid unfinished. Despite the failure, I had just as much fun playing with this second group of people. The Gorgon labyrinth section was especially fun because even as we repeatedly failed everyone was laughing, fooling around and having an all round great time. I’m glad I got to run Vault of Glass with such a great group of people, and am glad I captured it all (well minus all the conversation).

Deterioration of IGN continues with Taylor Swift article

Posted on August 27, 2015 by GumballsPlaysGames

I’ve had a habit of browsing IGN at least once a day in order to get a quick glimpse of what’s going on in the video game world for awhile now. I used to really enjoy visiting IGN, especially for their convenient video reviews. There used to be at least some value in visiting IGN. Then today I saw this:

Something above is not like the others. I, like many others, was baffled when I came across the headline “Taylor Swift and Lisa Kudrow’s Smelly Cat Duet” nestled alongside various gaming headlines. The article seems like a blurb you’d find on TMZ, or a morning news show, not a dedicated gaming website.

Of course, IGN is less about gaming than it ever used to be. Their mission statement (of sorts) describes their intended audience:

I think they’re starting to miss their mark more and more lately. Beyond IGN’s lack of meaningful content, their community is excessively toxic as of late. It’s time to give up on IGN. I’ll stick with Kotaku and Giant Bomb for my gaming news, reviews and editorials from now on. Kotaku might not be much better at times, but at least they have the ever talented Patrick Klepek.

Changing my mind about Destiny

Posted on August 25, 2015 by GumballsPlaysGames

Just two weeks ago I tried convincing myself I was done with Destiny, in the post ‘Why I’m reluctant to check out Destiny’s expansions.’ Shortly after making the post I caved and purchased the expansion pass for $34.99, determined to see what all the fuss was about.

I never really got into Destiny before this moment. I purchased it once it was released but mostly played the game solo, and never really enjoyed it. Sure the shooting was rock solid and an absolute blast, but the story missions and strikes with random groups weren’t doing it for me.

Over the last two weeks I decided to go ‘all in’ with Destiny. I started out by joining match-made strikes, which were still hit or miss. By that I mean there were times I was matched with players so terrible it made playing the game miserable. They would rush into enemies and die over and over again. They would attempt to stand directly underneath a boss and shoot up at it only to die. I’d resurrect them and they’d die again. In other strikes I would be matched up with someone AFK, or someone trying so hard not to die that they’d fail to contribute to boss fights at all. Even worse I’d be in the middle of a strike and one of the other players would drop out of the fight for no reason leaving us short handed.

With a little help from Xur

The weekend of the 14-16 Xur made caused a huge ruckus by offering the legendary weapon Gjallarhorn in exchange for 17 strange coins. This infuriated a lot of players, many of whom felt buying the rare weapon devalued the weapon and the experience of earning it “rightfully”. I was disappointed to find I only had eight strange coins in my inventory and through the weekend I only earned two more (from engrams).

This weekend, however, was a different story. I logged in one day last week to find three Legendary weapons and 13 strange coins waiting in my mailbox. I used these strange coins to purchase my first piece of exotic gear from Xur this weekend, the Eternal Warrior helmet.

This raised my light level high enough to start doing the higher level strikes. I started running The Dark Below and House of Wolves strikes which helped me get Vanguard Marks (alongside a couple lucky drops) which eventually got me to level 32. I enjoyed going the process of trying to get better gear for the first time in Destiny, however the strikes themselves didn’t impress me. All of the strikes I’ve done since purchasing the expansions have been the same strikes I’ve done before, just at a higher level. I don’t think I’ve actually seen any new content yet, which is kind of a bummer.

Completing my first raid: Vault of Glass (Hard)

I’ve been trying to do Vault of Glass ever since I was a lowly level 24, but never could get anyone to take me along on the raid. I finally got into a group on Sunday and was excited to finally head into a raid. I was level 29 and felt like I was ready for the challenge. Most of the group was in the thirties and a few had done the raid before, so I felt like it would be pretty easy. It turns out I was wrong. We struggled right from the start, taking quite awhile to erect the spire. Eventually we made it through and onto the next challenge, the confluxes. After a short briefing from our leader (watch out for the fanatics) we dived in. This section proved to be a major roadblock. We were a man short of a six man team and could not successfully defend the confluxes, failing over and over again. No matter what strategies we tried it always ended in failure, and after a couple hours our group disbanded.

Discouraged, I continued doing strikes and managed to get some better gear raising my level to 32. This morning I was browsing the Destiny forums earlier this morning and happened across a group looking for another raid member for Vault of Glass. I decided to shoot them a message and before I knew it I got an invite to their party. I didn’t realize they were doing the Hard mode of Vault of Glass. Oops. Worried that I would miss my chance to complete the raid, I didn’t tell them that I had never done VoG before in any form. We made it through the spire section with ease and I was feeling rather confident this run would go smoothly.

The conflux section went much smoother this time, though there were some hiccups when it came to the oracle section. I had never made it this far, but did my best to figure out what was going on and I tried to follow everyone else’s lead. It took four or five tries with varying strategies, but eventually we managed to pass the oracle section as well (a man short as well). We got a sixth raid member and proceeded to the Templar battle. This also proved challenging, but we were able to finish the fight on a third try, and further into the raid we went.

At this point we were a few hours into the raid and I started having thoughts about leaving the raid as I was getting tired and frustrated, but decided to press on. The group descended into the Gorgon’s Labyrinth, and this is where I finally had to admit I had no clue what I was doing. The group ran ahead and I couldn’t figure out how to get down the cliff into the labyrinth. I tried jumping several times and ended up dying four or five times. Eventually they realized I wasn’t with the group and I had to admit I had never done the raid before. It turned out they were actually really helpful, and told me I should’ve told them earlier so they could’ve explained everything. From here on out they took time to make me aware of everything that was going on which was really cool. I didn’t expect the group to take kindly to a noob joining them on a Hard mode raid.

The disappearing platforms section also gave me some trouble, but they showed me how to get across using the passageway to the right and I finally made it after four or five (or six) tries. They then walked me through the cliff walk very patiently, and on we went.

The gate section took some further explaining, but ended up being easier than I expected after our first wipe (where I was sent into one of the portals). This actually ended up being my favorite section of the raid as the strategy fell into place and we absolutely rocked Atheon in one try.

I was excited to have finally completed my first Raid in Destiny and I was especially thrilled that the group I jumped in with was so helpful and patient with me. The sense of community I had while doing this raid was one of the best experiences I’ve ever had while playing Destiny and I can’t wait to experience more of this.

After the raid the group wanted to immediately head into the Crota’s End raid, and told me I was welcome to come along (though it would probably require even more explaining), but after the three hours spent working through Vault of Glass I was a little beat. I couldn’t imagine heading into another two to three hour affair, no matter how fun it would be.

I ended up looting a ship and the Praedyth’s Revenge sniper rifle which seems pretty cool. I’d like to run Vault of Glass again, but most likely on Normal next time. I’m not sure when I’ll be ready to head into Crota’s End. I might try to tackle it next weekend, but raiding is exhausting!

Long story short

This post is pretty long-winded, so I’ll wrap it up shortly. Ultimately, my opinion of Destiny has evolved quite a bit over the past two weeks. How much you enjoy Destiny really depends on how much you interact with the community. Playing endless match-made strikes in which no player EVER talks (I’ve never experienced a single strike mission where anyone said a word, and I always join the strike team channel) is no way to experience Destiny. Using the forums and groups to look for groups may be a bit of a pain, but the time invested pays off incredibly by providing a much better Destiny experience. There’s nothing quite like the experience of running a raid with five other people from around the world. I’m addicted.

A quick look at Pure Hold’em on the Xbox One

Posted on August 24, 2015 by GumballsPlaysGames

There’s finally a poker game on the Xbox One, with last week’s release of VoFoo Studio’s Pure Hold’em. The game sells for $19.99 and was developed by the studio that brought the realistic pool game, Pure Pool.

So far the game scratches the poker itch, and offers a great way to play poker from the couch. You can buy into online tables designed for varying skill levels, and there are also online tournaments, again segregated by skill level. You can play a high / low game once a day to try to bank more chips, however the game also offers in game purchases for those too impatient to try to earn a large enough stack to play with.

I’ve enjoyed the game so far, however I’ve occasionally run into instances in which I can’t get into any games. I’ll receive an error saying I can’t connect to the server when trying to join open tables or tournaments, most often in the Jacks league. It seems that you receive this error when the game can’t find any games for you to join, because I’ve been able to join games at higher stakes tables without any issue. As the player base grows hopefully it’ll be easier to find games. Until then there’s an offline mode with AI bots that seem to play well enough.

A look at Bridge Constructor on Xbox One and how to fix the screen

Posted on August 23, 2015 by GumballsPlaysGames

This past weekend the popular Bridge Constructor series finally arrived on consoles, with the first game in the series being released for $9.99 on the Xbox One.

In the game you’re put in charge of creating bridges, which may sound easy, but there’s a catch. You have a budget for each bridge, and each construction material has a price which increases with its sturdiness. As you progress through the levels the challenges become more difficult and you really have to analyze every detail about the bridge you’re constructing. Once you think you’re done you can send cars or trucks across the bridge to see how it holds up. You complete the level by creating a bridge under budget that withstands the traffic you send across. You can earn a higher score by using less material.

Bridge Constructor translates pretty well to the Xbox One, however this is one problem. The screen is not sized correctly by default, and there’s no in game setting to adjust it.

How to fix the screen size of Bridge Constructor on the Xbox One

As you can see in the image above the outer border of the screen is cut off. This would just be a minor annoyance, however once you’re in the game it cuts off your budget which is a game breaker.

It’s hard to build a bridge without knowing how much of your budget remains. So how do you fix it? For me I was able to fix it by disabling the overscan setting on my TV’s advanced video settings. Changing the picture from ‘wide’ to ‘normal’ didn’t work for me, but if your TV has an aspect button that may end up working for you.

Once I disabled overscan the game finally fit on the screen, however the colors ended up looking a little washed out. It’s a minor annoyance, and at least the game is playable, but it’s frustrating to have to re-enable the option when I’m done playing.

As you can see, disabling the overscan feature allows the game to fit onto my screen, but you can see the colors look a little off. It’ll work for now, but hopefully they patch in a fix soon!

Must watch on Netflix: ‘Comet’

Posted on August 23, 2015 by GumballsPlaysGames

If you’re stuck trying to figure out what to watch on Netflix, drop everything right now and watch “Comet.” The film is Sam Esmail’s directorial debut and stars Justin Long and Emmy Rossum as unlikely lovers in a parallel universe very much like our own.

comet movie colors

“Comet” is a visually stunning throughout. Every scene is colored and shot so perfectly its almost hypnotic.

Every scene in the movie is so beautiful it’d be almost as enjoyable to watch the film without any sound. There are so many scenes I absolutely fell in love with, I just can’t help wanting to share them all.

“Comet” takes place over six years and tells the story of the relationship between Dell and Kimberly, starting from their unlikely meeting.

The story is told from Dell’s perspective and is told out of order, much like “(500) Days of Summer” but in a unique enough way. You’ll see turning points in the relationship before the film finishes telling you how it all started, and its absolutely wonderful. Every scene takes place during a different time in the six year story, yet it all feels perfectly placed. I couldn’t imagine watching the story unfold any other way.

The soundtrack of the film is just as stunning as the visuals, with Coeur de Pirate’s “Fondu au Noir” being a particular favorite of mine.

I can’t recommend “Comet” enough. If you liked “(500) Days of Summer” you’re sure to enjoy “Comet” just as much, if not more. It’s a wonderful film, I’m so glad I happened across it.

Madden NFL 16 first impressions: An ugly start

Posted on August 20, 2015 by GumballsPlaysGames

EA Access subscribers on Xbox One can begin playing Madden NFL 16 today, for ten hours over the next five days. I downloaded Madden 16 this morning and just jumped into it for the first time.

It certainly has a great presentation, especially in the menus, however the initial load time was exceptionally long. It took a solid two minutes, if not longer, just to get through the title screen. The tutorial (a dramatized Super Bowl game between the Steelers and the Cardinals) is presented well, however the frame rate is terrible on the Xbox One. It really distracts from what should be an exciting, dramatic Super Bowl game. It’s like watching a game in slow motion at times, while the screen pixelates and the audio cuts in and out.

Outside of the tutorial the gameplay still seems a little awkward. There seems to be a sort of slow motion effect whenever a pass is thrown. This may be because of the new catching mechanics (where you can choose between a possession catch, a catch that favors a run after the catch, and an aggressive catch) but it really makes the game feel unnatural. There are also some frame rate stutters that are severely noticeable during passes, but also crop up before tackles and many other situations.

If all the stutters get worked out, Madden 16 will certainly be the best looking football game to date. There are some new camera shots that aim to replicate what you see on TV, and the crowds certainly feel more alive (they include female fans for the first time as well!).

I haven’t tried out any of the new modes yet, but from what I’ve seen from the core gameplay I’m not impressed. Hopefully things will get patched up before the official release date (August 25), otherwise I may end up sticking to Madden 15 for a little while longer.

RollerCoaster Tycoon 3 is out on iOS!

Posted on August 19, 2015 by GumballsPlaysGames

I was browsing the app store last night and was surprised to find a fully featured port of RollerCoaster Tycoon 3 on the App Store for just $4.99. It seemed too good to be true, however after reading that there are no in-app purchases I decided to drop five bucks on a game that should provide hours upon hours of entertainment.

The game features a career mode and a sandbox mode that provides you with unlimited money and no obstacles, allowing you to construct your dream park.

Creating rollercoasters is quite easy, but the fun begins once you test out your creations.

You can hop onto your rollercoaster and ride it using a first person view which is pretty cool. After you’re satisfied with your ride you can open it to the public and start raking in the money!

The game provides a large variety of options, especially for a five dollar mobile game. You can tweak settings such as the wait time between car departures down to the speed of your chain hills. RollerCoaster Tycoon 3 on iOS provides you with plenty of stats about all of your rides which fuels an addictive, incredibly satisfying gameplay loop of micromanaging your park to promote maximum satisfaction and in turn maximum profit.

I can already tell I’ll end up sinking way too many hours into RollerCoaster Tycoon 3 on my iPad. It’s hard to beat the many hours of entertainment the game provides for just $5. What’s even better are once you pay for the game you have access to everything. There are no microtransactions and no limitations on your gameplay. If you loved the RollerCoaster Tycoon games you need to check out this portable version. Just be warned, once you pick it up you might not want to put it down!

The Legends Football League: Sport or Sexploitation

Posted on August 18, 2015 by GumballsPlaysGames

I was channel surfing this morning after work and came across an LFL (Legends Football League) game on FUSE. I decided to check it out and was surprised by what I saw. The Legends Football League, formally the Lingerie Football League, has its roots in the Lingerie Bowl halftime shows from 2004-2006. These were PPV events that aired during halftime of the NFL’s Super Bowl in which women dressed in lingerie played football. The main attraction then was of course the scantily clad women.

An image promoting the 2004 Lingerie Bowl

In 2009 the yearly event morphed into a full on women’s football league, then called the Lingerie Football League. The league featured ten teams from football cities such as Dallas, Denver, Philadelphia and New York, and the teams each played four games during the regular season.

The LFL attempted to move beyond the lingerie aspect of their sport in 2013 when it rebranded itself as the Legends Football League and dropped lingerie uniforms in exchange for a more ‘sporty’ look.

A look at the LFL uniform in 2015

The uniforms alone make it hard to take the LFL seriously. Why are the jerseys folded up to expose the chest area? Why the bikini bottoms? The answer seems pretty clear, the LFL is less about athleticism and competition and more about sex, sex and sex. Is it wrong to be sexy? Certainly not, but the sexy attire is not at all necessary if the LFL wanted to focus on women playing the sport of football.

The presentation of the game isn’t very focused on the sport either. In the few minutes that I watched there were several clips of the coach on the sidelines and I felt like I was watching reality TV. The reactions and rampages by the coaches seemed scripted and fictitious. A trailer for the 2015 season (see below) further degrades the sport, seeming more like a trailer for a reality TV show, and at one point a player tells a ref “you ain’t getting none after the game.”

The LFL’s website prominently features a quote from NBC Sports noting that “The LFL is the fastest-growing pro sports league in the nation.” Maybe this is true, yet the 2015 season featured only six teams, down from the ten team league from 2009.

I’m not trying to hate on the LFL, I just think it can do better for both the women who engage in the sport and the public perception of women’s sports in general. Let the players dress up in the same type of protective gear NFL players do. Focus on the athleticism and competitive nature of the sport, not the lack of clothing and sex appeal.

The LFL season wraps up this Sunday, August 23, with the 2015 Legends Cup featuring the Seattle Mist (5-1-1) versus the Chicago Bliss (6-0). The game will be played in Washington at 3PM. You can watch the game on Fuse, but it won’t be shown until the week after. This Saturday at 9PM Eastern Fuse will be showing the playoff game between Seattle and Los Angeles which was played on August 15th.

Rocket League is great!

Posted on August 12, 2015 by GumballsPlaysGames

Developer Psyonix’s Rocket League released on PC and PS4 on July 7th of this year and almost instantly became a smash hit. The game was made available for free to Playstation Plus members which helped get it into the hands of the masses rather quickly (it’s been downloaded over five million times). Many who played Rocket League became immediately hooked and raved about the game to all their friends.

In Rocket League, teams of between one and four RC cars face off in a soccer arena with one simple goal: knock the soccer ball into the opposing team’s goal. The gameplay is rather simple, you just drive into the ball in an effort to push it into the goal. You can also pick up boost which allows you to drive faster, useful for trying to get a jump on your opponents or when you need to chase down a wild ball. You’re also able to jump and spin in the air, which can be used to knock the ball out of the air or into the goal assuming you’re able to time it right.

Matches in Rocket League are short and sweet, just five minutes (unless you go into a sudden death overtime) which makes it a perfect pick up and play game. The problem is, once you pick it up you’re not likely to put it down. Rocket League matches are so wildly fun you’ll even have a blast losing. Matches that seem one sided can sway in favor of the losing team at any moment, and sudden death overtime is always a looming possibility. The rush of a tying goal with just seconds left on the clock never gets old.

I’ve known of Rocket League’s existence for awhile, however I had been holding out for an Xbox One version. We know Rocket League is set to expand onto other consoles, we just don’t know exactly when this will happen. Today I finally broke down and picked up Rocket League on Steam ($19.99) and it’s been a blast! I’ve only played a handful of matches but I’m already hooked. The very first game I played went into overtime with an equalizer scored with just nine seconds left on the clock. My team went onto win with a spectacular goal and I immediately saw just how exciting Rocket League could be.

I scored my first goal during the second game and I can’t wait to jump back into another game!

I’m playing Rocket League on a 2012 MacBook Pro running Windows 10 via Boot Camp. It has an Intel i5 (2.50 GHz), 8GB RAM and an Intel HD 4000 graphics card. It runs well on medium settings, with a few hiccups here and there which may just be lag (I can’t quite tell, adjusting graphic settings up or down doesn’t seem to have an impact).