(For Digmbot’s initial impressions of Titanfall 2, head over to his article here ~Lone)

Along with many of you, I was a little apprehensive about picking up the new Titanfall sequel this past fall. As of recently, the game has been on sale and had a price drop for the holidays/Game Awards. The game did boast a single player campaign mode, which was entirely lacking from the first incarnation, and I was hopeful to see what the Respawn Entertainment writers had in store for us.

I’ve never been more impressed with a game that I had so little expectation of. Having completed the campaign, I can say that it was certainly a welcome surprise to play through such an accomplished story. Aside from being well written and developed, I found myself really feeling connected to BT-7274, a titan that we ‘fell’ into responsibility of piloting. With the game telling us right at the beginning that the connection between a pilot and a titan is paramount in being successful, I really felt that theme flowing through the whole story. I cared when he was in jeopardy, and I feel like he cared about me as well. I do think that the theme of connection was dealt with really well through the campaign with something I was also not expecting: speech options. Now, I’m not talking about branching Mass Effect/Witcher conversations, but as a player you are in regular contact with your titan. These conversations are usually limited to a few lines, and the player only has a few different speech options to choose from. As a result of the abbreviated exchange, and the fact that the game does not pause for these quips, there is no loss of immersion or speed at which you are playing. That is HUGE. Had they decided to have the conversations with the BT stop the gameplay, or even forced you to walk, they would have been incredibly annoying. Luckily, they thought of that already, so sit back and get ready to enjoy an adventure with your new Vanguard-Class titan buddy.

Aside from the writing and flow of the story, the level design was also extremely well executed. Each area looked independent of the last, but still flowed together. There is always somewhere for your pilot to explore in each level, which you may want to do because there are secrets in the form of fallen pilot helmets to collect in hidden areas all over the place. I found myself a fair few times jumping out of my titan to traverse the levels and leave my titan on auto to help me clear the areas. Why in the world would I jump out of my massive, destructive suit of amazing armor to clear anything? Because it’s fun! Which brings me to another note about the gameplay: It’s SMOOTHER. Insanely better executed than titanfall 1’s wall running. In fact, it may be better than any wall running/jump pack type game I’ve played to date. Strangely, that also brings me to the first negative I have about the game. Get ready to wall run, a lot. Even as early as the first level, the game will demand that you are able to execute complex chains of wall running, or you will not be able to progress. Luckily, if you sit in an area for too long, the game will generate a ‘ghost’ for you to follow through difficult areas. That being said, being able to chain jumps and wall running is a pretty integral part of the gameplay, so it is good that they create a steep learning curve for the mechanic early. Don’t worry, the game comes up with several other fun mechanics to play with during the campaign including: cranes to create pathways, a maintenance gun, and time travel. I will say, I’ve never seen a game that included a time travel mechanic where the story-line was note entirely based on time travel as a theme, so well played on that one Titanfall 2.

But of course, we all want to hear about the multiplayer. My statement before about the game feeling smoother applies here as well. As a pilot, you feel as if you can easily traverse the maps and as a result, the pace is very fast. There’s nothing like getting murdered in the first few rounds after coming back to a game because you’re out of practice, but I was quickly able to regain my stride. Some of the new pilot weapons brought onto the scene feel really well optimized, but I don’t have enough time in yet to say how balanced they are. I really appreciate the additional titan loadouts, and look forward to learning how they counter each other. Having such specific strengths in the new titan classes has added an additional aspect of strategy to the multiplayer, much more than just waves after waves of titans being summoned where only numbers on either side is all that matters. The game-modes are a mimic of the first game, with a few interesting things added that seem to be targeted towards either titan or pilot gameplay alone.

The game is definitely an improvement on the first Titanfall, and 100% worth picking up. If you were into playing Titanfall 1, and were always wondering what a backstory on the war was, this is your game. Get ready to be ‘tossed’ into a fantastic adventure with your new mechanical friend.

A Titanic 9.5/10! Worth purchasing!

It’s that time of year again fellow card slingers, when the nights get longer, the weather gets colder, and three factions of organised criminals kick their turf war over a fictional goblin city into high gear. That’s right Hearthstone’s latest expansion ‘Mean Street of Gadgetzan’ finally has a release date and is due to hit us on the first of December, just in time for the new Ranked Play Season.

The first thing that catches the attention when looking at the card list is the introduction of ‘Tri-Class’ cards, here representing membership in one of three crime families, the 20s gangster style Grimy Goons (Hunter, Paladin or Warrior), the Eastern flavoured Jade Lotus (Druid, Rogue or Shaman), or the criminally magical Kabal (Mage, Priest or Warlock).

In terms of actual deck building,at least for me personally these seem more to be there to help thematically define the factions in this expansion rather than cross the lines between the classes, there is no giving overload to druid or ‘choose one’ style cards to rogue within the Jade Lotus faction for example outside of -maybe- getting something useful from another class via each factions ‘Discover’ minion which can reach into the whole clans card pool, but that does not seem reliable enough to build a deck around. At first I was a little let down by this (especially since there are only three card per group), but now that the whole card list has been released the unique ‘themes’ of these factions as supported by the both the Tri-Class cards and cards within each pure class itself become clear and seem to be what will really define this expansion rather than what seems at the moment to be a slightly gimmicky deck building constraint.

The ‘theme’ for the Grimy Goons is buffing cards that are in your hand rather than in play, Jade Lotus are all about the ‘Jade Golem’ mechanic which I will go into more detail on later, and the Kabal have a number of legendaries that require no duplicates in your deck (like Reno Jackson) plus ‘potion’ spells. Think of these more like restricted neutral cards to support specific class strategies rather than expanded class cards in other words.

The above might seem somewhat sacrilicious, and, as with all reviews of a card list not in actual play yet it is quite possible I will be proved wrong by the meta but below are five cards (not in any particular order) that I think exemplify the kind of decks we may be seeing after the expansion hits.

-Note- I’m not going to be talking about how these cards may potentially affect future metas when a new set of expansions gets rolled out  into Wild next year as A) That’s an article all by itself B) We don’t have all the information for yet. C) I’m ill at the moment and can’t quite kick my brain into gear to think that widely at the moment. Anyway, onwards!

It’s probably no surprise that this is the first card that really grabbed my attention during the reveals. I am a fan of Dragon Priest but despite some recent gains it has been hurting for mass removal since the loss of Lightbomb, and I am sure this new card being costed the same is not an accident. Combine this with the new Drakonid Operator, which has good stats, a discover mechanic to get a card from the opponent’s deck, and slots perfectly in at the 5 mana slot and you get the Dragons coming home to Priest after their recent forays into other classes. It’s probably also worth mention the other raft of goodies that Priest has got this expansion too. Potion of madness does the same thing as shadow madness but to minions of one strength lower but at 3 mana less. Combine this with a pint size potion that reduces all enemy minion – 3 attack for a turn to allow for a turn of very favourable trades at a bargain cost and you have the kind of combo I like where each individual component is also strong by itself. I still need to run the numbers but I am also looking forward to trying out Wrathion (who draws cards until you -don’t draw a dragon) and Kabal Talonpriest who  rounds out the theme of ‘value’ here, again with strong stats at 3 mana at 3 and giving another minion + 3 health isn’t a dragon but is just -strong- and is a reminder that in Hearthstone you can have all the flashy combos you like but one of the most consistent ways to win matches is to build around ensuring you play a better ‘value’ card than your opponent at every point along the mana curve, a hallmark of Dragon Priest in particular but perhaps on the Mean Streets there is a new contender for that crown…

I was undecided about whether to put this here or Smuggler’s run which is a spell that does the same thing but for 1 mana but ended up going with the Outfitter due to the potential for bouncing him back to hand with Brewmasters and to actually get a body on the board. Both cards are paladin and for a drop in early tempo with either of these cards (probably both if you are building a deck around this concept) every single other minion in your hand just gets -better-. Often the way of determining the value of a card is to compare cost to stats, the baseline acceptability without tradeoff is generally considered to be that either attack or health should be equal to the mana cost and the other should be one higher (3 mana for a 3 / 4 for example hence why I rated Priest cards with these stat lines -plus- a strong additional ability so highly in the previous section), but with the Outfitter,  the coin, and a deck focused on minions for example you could be looking at 5 / 5 worth of stats for 2 mana as your first play with no major downside. That’s incredible value. At the start of a new season and when a new expansion comes out so do the minion focused ‘face’ decks. While everyone else is still getting used to their new cards and strategies these singularly focused decks know exactly what they are doing and can navigate the maelstrom of uncertainty with ease (until they get to the choppy waters of high up the ranked ladder but the metaphor is getting away from us at this point). It happened with Shaman when Karazahn was coming out and I would be surprised if Paladin rush decks were not somewhat of a thorn in people’s side when the new expansion hits too. Lots of small minions offset with card draw like Coldlight oracle, the new Meanstreet Marshal and potentially space for the new Small Time Recruits (3 mana to draw 3 1 cost minions) spell to help offset the usual issues Paladin and you could just power through opponents before they get a chance to get going. What can possibly help stop a deck of undercosted minions though, well I’m glad you asked…

Perhaps a left field pick as it reactive rather than proactive, but in my opinion this card just straight up takes certain deck archetypes round the back of Fizzgrimble’s Inn and shivs them in the kidneys until Gold comes out. The Paladin decks mentioned above lose all their advantage since the in initial cost doesn’t change and therefore the devolved minions are tiny, not to mention it is a reliable way of stopping those annoying one hit combo murloc decks as it removes the key component minions from the game rather than killing them to be returned by Anyfin Can Happen later. Against other shaman decks it negates the advantage you get from overload minions, and any other deck that relies on specific minions to work (Flamewalker for mage, deathrattle minions for N’zoth) just get massively disrupted. Admittedly you still have to deal with the minions that are left and you -could- end up with some nasty but Shaman is generally fine with board clear on smaller minions. It doesn’t really help with larger creatures with standard costs that are brought in by other means though which may be somewhat pertinent as we will now see…

What is a ‘Jade Golem’? Well the first time you summon one it’s a 1 /1 creature with a nominal cost of 1 mana. So far so unimpressive, but the next time a Jade Golem is summoned it will be a 2 / 2 for 2 mana, the next time it’s a 3 /3 for 3, and so on building on subsequent played cards not unlike the C’thun mechanic. Soon, once you have gotten over a bit of an initial tempo hit to get the first one out every time you summon one you are getting great value for your mana. There are a lot of cards that summon a golem as a battlecry particularly the Tri-Class Cards but I’ve picked this spell as the secondary effect makes it the real workhorse of this kind of deck, to clone itself and shuffle 3 copies back into the decks is just bananas even before you get to the idea of doing both with Fandral Staghelm! Adding back into the deck like this more or less makes it impossible for a fatigue loss which makes certain Control Warrior decks very sad indeed and potentially sets up a similar Druid version of this kind of control deck backed up with healing spells. Jade blossom seems a good spell to get the Golem train rolling as for 3 mana it drops a golem ramps you with an empty mana crystal and there are plenty of other cards along the mana curve to keep it rolling. Unless I have missed something major it is difficult to see how this card will not be one of, if not -the- stand out player of the expansion. Speaking of stand out players we haven’t actually touched on any ‘big legendaries’ yet…

You may have been expecting Kazakus (the Kabal legendary who creates a unique and powerful potion at a specified mana level based on some discover mechanic style choices if you have no duplicates) in this slot but my gut feeling is that he is more of a supporting player to be included once you have already made the decision to make a deck that supports the ‘no duplicate’ mechanic since the unique potion, while potentially powerful does not seem powerful enough to build an entire deck around by itself due to the randomness involved. Neither do the other two class legendaries who have a similar deck building constraint, strong as they are but Krul? Krul seems a lot more like an Old God from the previous expansion, you can build a deck around making sure you have demons in hand, and then getting them all in play on turn 9 in a similar manner to N’Zoth, particularly comboing a Doomguard or two with Mal’ganis, plus with Reno and Kazakus to help you get to endgame (plus it’s not like Warlock has a hard time filling it’s hand up) this could be an interesting deck to keep an eye on. In general it’s worth noting that it seems that this time around the designers have moved away slightly from having big high costs legendaries, Hobart Grapplehammer for Warrior (who buffs all weapons in the deck and hand for 2 mana) and Wickerflame Burnbristle for paladin who has a huge amount of abilities for 3 are good examples of more ‘utility’ legendaries like Bloodmage Thalnos from the base set which is a nice direction to be going in that adds flavour to the classes rather than just raw game ending power.

I think that’s my main takeaway from this card list, there’s a lot of flavour here between the Tri-Class factions and inexplicably motorcycle riding pigmen and it seems there are a -lot- of new mechanics here to be tried out and experimented with that I am sure will be expanded on in future. Apologies if I did not touch on your favourite class here or missed an ‘obvious’ card but these were the ones that jumped out at me like a cutpurse to a humble tourist, on the Mean Streets of Gadgetzan.

Pokémon GO has proven popular with nostalgic Android and iPhone users worldwide, and Niantic has shown a strong willingness to maintain that popularity with special events, daily rewards and other updates – but for many players, one thing has held back the game’s fun. With the game’s Pokédex currently limited only to Pokémon from the original crop of 151 First-Generation species (and no Legendaries or Ditto), many Players have already exhausted all there is to catch. However, there’s evidence this is finally about to change.

Data miners from The Silph Road, looking at the most recent v0.45.0 release of Pokémon GO on Android, claim to have found references to the names of all 100 Pokémon from the franchise’s Second Generation – from Chikorita to Celebi. However, while the Pokémon may be referenced, the game currently lacks models for the additional 100 Pokémon or any data for their movesets, suggesting that a full Johto-flavoured update is still a while away.

There may be one Pokémon coming in even sooner though: Ditto. The only non-legendary from the first 151 not available in-game, Ditto has so far been held back from Pokémon GO due its single attack, Transform. After all, coding a Pokémon that can transform into other Pokémon is a tough job. However, v0.45.0 introduces new code for the move, complete with its own in-battle animation, suggesting that Niantic may be planning to introduce Ditto’s special move – and possibly Ditto itself – very soon. If so, it would mark the first new move since the game’s release.

Would the introduction of Johto-era Pokémon to Pokémon GO excite you? And what about Ditto? Sound off on the Forum!

This article first appeared on Technically Motivated

Diablo is celebrating its 20th Anniversary and Blizzard is sharing more details on the festivities.

Darkening of Tristram Event

Originally was just going to be original music tracks added; but now Blizzard is adding all 16 dungeons, all 4 bosses.
The audio is tinny, the movement is jerky so we’re trying to get back to 1997 with the style of this event.
Recreated old monsters, but new AI.
Retro UI will be there, and D3 combat but D1 looks.
Event will be triggered by a pentagram by the Old Ruins.
Lots of easter eggs.
Rewards and Loot: Portraits based on original health and mana, Butcher Pet, Transmog is a Soulstone in your Skull! Also gives you an legendary gem for your helm.
Butcher’s Cleaver and Wirt’s Leg for your transmog as well. You can finally dual wield Wirt’s Legs
Bosses: Fighting D1-style Butcher
Patch 2.4.3 will have the anniversary event but also new Items.
Every January the Darkening of Tristram will be back.

Diablo Armory

You’ll be able to save “Loadouts” – 2017 future patch. 5 loadouts per character – passives, gear, Cube powers, talents, gems.
Instant equip loadout with 1 button.
Gem unsocketing cost will be gone, including legendary gems.
This is for PC and console.

Necromancer

Reimagining the Necromancer from D2.
Went through brainstorming phase with an art team – started with ideas like “the King of the Dead,” then the fearsome hunter who wears the trophies of the dead.
Also thought of the Cryptkeeper
This lead to the Commander of the Dead – somewhat like a Rockstar with Legions of (dead) fans.
They thought this was a good way to update the Necromancer for Diablo 3.
Also got to introduce a female necromancer for the first time.
Themes of Classic, Aristocratic, Reanimation or “Bone Saint”, Blood, Bone – the production process included ideas about armor with all of these.
Classic armor set matches the D2 Necromancer, they wanted to get that right.
Necromancer gameplay basics: Pet and Ranged Magic class, darkly themed, “darkest class ever” – they are commanders of the dead!
Includes army of skeletons, dead things, mostly dead things, magic.
Magic includes blood, bone, reanimation and curses – a personal wish you case on your enemies.
Difference from the Witch Doctor: themes are different – WD is more light hearted, more about creepy crawlies, etc. Think of the exploding chicken!
Compared to the necromancer – much darker themes, more blood and bone than disease. They are deadly series, not light hearted.
Big difference in pets – pets in WD are passive, Necromancer are more Active Passive (i.e. like monk mantras.) Short term active benefit even though your pets also exist passively.
Activating the Seal commands pets to attack targets and you have a damage buff. Much easier to lead them around as well.
Resource differences – WD has mana, Necromancer has essence. Essence doesn’t regen over time, it requires action.
Necromancer has two resources! The other is corpses. Corpses power some of your skills.
Corpse explosion will be back. Up to 10 at a time per click

Bone Spear is back.
Decrepify is a way to keep monsters grouped together. This is a curse.
Pychic Blood is a life/essence steal.

Blood Rush is a teleport type skill
Blood Golem – a very gross pet. Also with an active passive type function.
Army of the Dead – 100+ skeletons RUSH onto an enemy.

“Rise of the Necromancer Pack” is 2 character slots, 2 stash tabs, cosmetics, pets, and the Necromancer!

This is coming in 2017!

The Darkening of Tristram will be in January with the Rise of the Necromancer Pack to follow.

Rockstar has announced Red Dead Redemption 2 and revealed that it will release Autumn 2017 for PS4 and Xbox One.

“Developed by the creators of Grand Theft Auto V and Red Dead Redemption, Red Dead Redemption 2 is an epic tale of life in America’s unforgiving heartland. The game’s vast and atmospheric world will also provide the foundation for a brand new online multiplayer experience.”

“With Red Dead Redemption 2, the team is working hard to push forward our vision for interactive entertainment in a truly living world,” said Sam Houser, Founder of Rockstar Games. “We hope to deliver players an epic experience that builds upon everything we’ve learned making games.”

Yes, as seen above, the game will include a brand new online multiplayer experience. It may be a while to wait, but we will be getting a new trailer this Thursday at 4pm, and we’ll bring you more info, as soon as we have it!