Nate Viramontes

Fortnite’s original map is now dead and gone. Literally, it was sucked into a black hole a day later we now have a brand-new map with a few new mechanics as well. The big question, however, is why did epic do this? What made them decide to change the map and reset?

The easy answer would be to get more people to come back and play the game. With battle royals now a dime a dozen Fortnite is still the king of the mode with no end in sight. However, you can notice that they were on a slow decline in their player base. Due to more than likely a lack of anything new.

We as gamer’s are always looking to the new thing and can often get bored easily.  Epic saw this and decided to get our attention once again. I mean I haven’t played the game in over a year and even I played a few rounds since the new map came out. The fact that I got everyone to notice it again was amazing. Were talking about a game here that saw it was headed for a decline and change it that is incredible.

I am in no means a big Fornite player or really even that into to battle royal games at all. But being able to go back and see this new map with a fresh set of eyes was awesome for me. I know a lot of players who were starting to get bored and leaving the game for greener pastures that are now back on the bus landing at new areas it it really some special I think.

Epic was trying to boost itself back up to the top with Apex Legends getting a new map as well and Modern Warfare around the Conner Epic made the smart decision to give their players something new to play.From a business standpoint, it was really a good move because it really did get everyone talking about the game again. People were losing it that the game was unplayable for even the day and a half it was down or rather in a black hole.

As of now Fortnite is still the king of the Battle Royal and let’s be honest that’s not going to go away anytime soon. With games like Modern Warfare coming up soon though it will totally make sense that Epic might lose a lot of players to the other title. For now, though Fortnite’s new map is now live and is so far pretty fun to play. See you guys on the bus!

Currently playing: Witcher 3 Wild Hunt

Hey, guys, I wanted to say thank you for the last year! It was just my anniversary of working here at Multimedia mouth and it’s has been such a great ride here’s to many more years! N8

The original Yooka-Laylee game was a super fun love letter to Banjo-Kazooie made by the people who actually made the original ones. Now A lot of people have said it wasn’t the best game out there but the world and characters were a lot of fun and silly. So, what Play Tonics Game’s did was they took those characters and made a whole new platforming game that kept not only the same feel but works so much better.

Yooka-Laylee and the impossible lair has been such a fun platform game that very quietly came out this week with little to no marketing for it. To be honest with you I just happen to see it on the coming soon page of the Xbox Market place a few months ago and I was genuinely curious to see what they were doing new with these characters. First off, the game is now mostly 2D side scroller in the actual levels of the game.

In the hub world of the game however, it’s a 2.5D environment that you can explore at your own pace solving puzzles to open up new areas and changing the levels themselves. On that note, each level has two-zone basically one that you get off the bat and others you have to make appear yourself by for instant pouring water on the book that acts as the gate into the level.

When you would put water on a level that was as first just a normal jungle level is now full of water that makes you go to whole new sections of the same level and going to whole new places as well. It is so much fun to see levels change and becoming something new in fact they generally become harder on the second run. Think Celeste B- Sides on that game’s levels but not as hard.

Now the biggest question is how is the platforming itself I can honestly it is so much fun and so very smooth. Yooka- Laylee works so much better as a 2D platformer over a Collectathon like Banjo-Kazooie. There are some points in the game where I was going so fast picking of momentum and going faster and faster that it felt like I was playing Sonic the Hedgehog.

The game to me seems to take a lot of the best Classic platformer styles and put them altogether to somehow make it work so well. The game may look cute and kind but there are some levels I couldn’t believe I got stuck on. There are some times that I found levels to be super hard not impossible just a nice steady rise in difficulty. Each level adds new mechanics that build on previous levels giving the game a great progression.

The objective is to gather all 48 of the Queen bees beetalin yes there’s a lot of bee puns in order to run the impossible lair. Now you can run Capital B, the main villain, impossible lair at any point but the more bees you have the more hits you can take. So, it is so important to gather these otherwise it’ll be impossible to beat the lair. Believe me, I have tried.

All and all this new game from Play Tonic Games is such a solid platforming game that brings a ton of classic feelings from the great Platform games of old. It feels like a love letter to them and has such a great incline in difficulty. I highly recommend giving it a go if you’re a fan of platformers. Yooka-Laylee and the impossible Lair is on sale for now for $29.99.

Currently playing: Yooka-Layee and the impossible Lair

This weekend the Call of Duty Modern Warfare Open Beta took place and let me tell you it was a hell of a good time. The mode that was the most fun and action pack to play wasn’t even team Deathmatch it was war games a 32-32 player mode where you are all trying to hold command points. Team with the most points at the end wins.

What made this mode fun to me was that it put domination in a much bigger scale than ever before adding all kind of vehicles as well to play with. This game to meet felt hard-hitting with its gunplay even shooting the guns in the game felt new and refreshed. The map that we’re able to play on was huge and there were times in these 20-minute matches I never saw certain points because I was so busy helping my team hold other objectives.

On top of that, they give you 4-man squads to spawn in on. While this all feels like a rip of Battlefield it still, however, feels like Call of Duty when you get down to gunplay. Take away all of the bullet drop and class base portion of Battlefield and that’s more of where this mode is at. Fast pace big battle that remind me of Big Team Battle from Halo and Conquest mode from Star Wars Battlefront 2

However, it still feels like this new mode brings enough to the table to keep it not only fresh but very fun to play. If you’ve been on the outs about playing another Call of Duty like I have been trust me this beta help me see what’s in store next.

They’re also a few modes that you were allowed to play depending on what time you hop on one of them for me was Gunfight which had 2 teams of 2 going up against each other on a super small map and the catch is you have to find guns you spawn with none. Whoever kills the other team first wins the round. However, I only played this match once and wasn’t super clear on how many rounds you have to win to take the match.

It is a super fun mode though that rewards quick thinking and fast reflexes. Depending on only one other person to win is very interesting as well because you have to make sure the teammate is just as well-armed otherwise it just going to be you against two other players. It to me felt like a very small Battle Royal duos match because of the fact that you have nothing at the start if you like BR modes then I’d take a look at gunfight when it comes out.

On top of all that, we did get a brand new single-player trailer for Modern Warfare as well and if really gave me an idea of the tone of the story and having  Price once again front and center makes this new game’s story seem very interesting and just from what I saw it feels very dark.  The new trailer also showed the new team you’d be working and each of these characters feel fleshed and important only time will tell how important it kind of reminded me of Noble team from Halo Reach.

I see a lot of good potential in this new installment I think with all the time I spent with the beta over the weekend it left me wanting more and to get back into the fight. With the new trailer as well, it’s left me with questions that I want answers when I play the game. The new Call of Duty is set to come out October 25th.

Currently playing: Borderlands 3 

Heading back to the borderlands after so much time has passed since the last one was not only some of the most fun, I have in forever but also such a great trip of almost nostalgia for me. I love the borderlands series they are some of the most fun I’ve ever had on my own and with my friends. Playing Borderlands 3 feels like the culmination of what made this series so great to start with. The gunplay is smoother than ever it feels great to play with every gun you get your hands on.

My favorite being Jakob’s style carbine and revolvers. This game really feels like the Devs looked at every other title and then said ok let’s make it better. Having, for example, a slide and mantle system in the game made climbing around the game so much more fun to do.

Even the games legendary drops felt much more kind I got my hands on more than a few legendary guns that I thought were so much fun to play with. The DOOM style shotgun that plays a cord of a Guitar when you fire it is still one of the coolest guns, I’ve ever had in a video game.

Then we have the four playable classes Gunner, Siren, Operative, and Beastmaster. All having a very unique style of play that completely changes the more you go up their 3 skill trees. Each of the classes themselves have so much personality in every word they speak in the game. FL4K (Flak) is without a doubt one of the coolest characters I’ve ever played. On top of that this game it just feels inclusive to all types of people having FL4K being a non-binary character they actually might be one of the first characters to ever be non-binary in a video game.

On top of all that if you’re wondering if the the game still has its brand of fart joke humor don’t worry it still very much there. Even to the point if you do 69 points of damage your character can be heard giggling. FL4Ks ability to have a different beast with him that adds all kinds of different stats to you are so awesome. All of these characters play so well and a ton of different play style just within the 4 classes. Including Moze having a giant freaking robot she rides around in as her ability.

The story itself feels like it really wraps up the games overall story from the last 3 games very well. It didn’t show all of the awesome characters from the last 3 games but I’m hoping the DLC will fix all of that up. The main villains the calypso twins are great as well, Tyreen is funny and sarcastic but you can also in some ways feel for her and understand what her original goal was until she goes nuts prior to the game.

However, the game is not perfect it plagues with all kinds of frame rate problems and the split-screen mode is almost unplayable. Which is disappointing considering Borderlands couch co-op style. This has already been addressed by gearbox and is currently being worked on by the Devs so hopefully, a fix will come out soon.

Overall, if Borderlands 3 is the end of the series it brings a much welcome return and makes me excited for the future DLC and in terms of the Story warped itself up in a nice way that if it were to be its end then our last trip to Pandora was probably the best one so far.

Currently playing: Borderlands 3

Hey guys one last thing In place of me reviewing games and giving some sort of score, I decided to from now on just talk about the pro and cons of what makes video games great hope you guys like it. N8

The new Gears of War game came out Tuesday the 10^th if you had the ultimate pass like me you were able to play it 4 days early luckily for me, I was able to beat the games story mode already. And well what can I say it’s not the best in series but not the worst either.

The new story now follows Kait looking for answers to who she really is, this actually a great story and probably has the most story ever told in a Gears title to date. Kait herself is a great character to play as and does an amazing job of running delta. The game even brings back some more old faces like Clay Carmine one of the baddest dudes around. It was so great to see him back in the game. The story does end on a cliffhanger however which means there will be another one hopefully.

The open-world sections of the game are odd and interesting to see the series go in this direction but if I’m being honest, I much Prefer the section of the game where we are in tunnels in closed-off hallways fighting all manner of monster this is still in my opinion where the game shines. Gears to me is a cover-based shooter that’s formula has always worked so well I don’t feel the need to have these long open-world sections that really mess with the pacing of the game.

The skiff is fun to drive around in but all it really does is get you from point A to point B and I never felt the need to explore really. I just wanted to progress through the game. Having jack though as a partner did really help me in so many situations that otherwise I would have died in his abilities are what give the game an RPG like element that really can change the way combat goes depending on how you’re playing the game. He has all sort abilities from stims to cloaking, all the way too barriers that stop bullets in their tracks.

However, and I’m not 100% sure if this was because I was playing in early access, I ran into some of the worst bugs I have ever seen in a game. Every hour it Felt the game wouldn’t save and I would have to turn off the game and reload sometimes having to make me redo a whole lot of the mission I was on. On top of that sometimes enemies would just not load in so the game wouldn’t know what to do and freeze up. At this time, I’m not sure if these issues have been fixed just be warned that it’s very annoying.

All together Gears 5 has some really amazing ideas that at the best of times worked incredibly well and made me enjoy being in a Gears game again. But at the worst of time due to bugs or long skiff rides made me miss playing the older title that never get old to me. I still highly recommend giving the game a go because it has one of the best stories in a Gears game to date and is still a whole lot of fun. Gears 5 is currently out on Xbox one and $59.99.

Currently playing: Borderlands 2

From the title of the article, you can figure out what we are talking about here. In light of all sorts of old games being remade and brought to our current generation. I thought It would be good to explain some of the differences between all the Remakes, Remaster and ports.

Remakes, for example, is not generally the same game you played as a kid, it is usually a complete redesign of the game for instance, ‘Resident Evil 2’ is a good example of a remake. Normally, It’s nothing like the original in terms of gameplay. The original game had fixed camera angles, while the remakes had the over the shoulder camera angle such as, ‘Resident Evil 4,5, and 6. This version added some new puzzles and even gave us new content to play with as well. A Remake completely changes how the game is played and seen.

A remaster is a game that generally gets a graphics overhaul and the gameplay will get tweaked throughout it’s time only to run more smoothly. Best examples of this are “Spyro the Reignited Trilogy and Crash Bandicoot the N.sane Trilogy. Both of these games look beautiful, and are no longer polygons but actually fleshed models that are full of detail. Remasters never change anything in particular from the general gameplay and normally never add anything new. They simply give the game a fresh new start and are generally ready to play.

Ports are the ones that normally don’t do well because nothing is ever done to these games. They are added to the marketplace in all their old glory. Marvel Ultimate Alliance is a great example. As someone who has played the game since release back on the PS2, I can tell you that the DEV team, didn’t change a thing to make the game look, or sound better. It’s the exact same game.

I have no problem with that honestly because I love the game with all my heart. You could argue that ports are nothing more than a money grab by publishers who don’t want to spend a whole lot of money on remastering a game.

If you like replaying older games, my advice would be to get Remakes and Remastered games rather than Ports because these are shown tons of love by the DEVs and are a ton of fun to play. My recommendation would be to check out Kingdom Hearts remix 1.5 and Remix 2.5 and the Uncharted Trilogy on the Ps4 aside from the stuff I talked about already both are great series of games from the last 2 generations of consoles.

Currently Playing: Skyrim

Oh boy here we go, I’ve been waiting all week to see if this was going to die down or not, and I feel it isn’t going to. I really feel the need to not only present some facts but also present my opinion on this week’s events on “violent” video games. I happen to be one of the biggest gamers around, ask anyone.

I feel like I really shouldn’t have to come to the defense of gaming at all, the facts themselves prove that gaming is a very positive hobby. In fact, multiple studies showed that gaming doesn’t cause violence in people’s behavior. A group of German researchers did a study on 15 different males who play violent video games such as, Call of Duty and Counter-Strike for 4 years while playing at least 2 hours a day and showed no evidence of desensitization due to playing violent games.

Even crazier, there are more studies including, Winy Decamp’s who happens to be an associate professor of sociology, who did a study on over 6,000 8th graders and what did he find? You’ll be shocked to know that he found no link between violent video games causing humans to act out in such a violent and aggressive manner.

The fact of the matter here is, I’ve come across people who say there should be a way to control and regulate what we as gamers see and play have some sort of rating system. Which of course again shocking we already have one called the ERSB rating that ranges from E for everyone, to T for teen, to M for mature, all of these have the age range available to see on the game itself and also explains like movie rating why it received that particular rating. I believe if parents are that concerned, then they should be doing the research themselves. There are ways to stay informed by just looking at the case itself. Even your console can have child locks on it.

There are plenty of ways to be aware of what your kids are playing. Now the other thing and oh boy here we go. I do not think the president should be blaming gaming for the real issue at hand. There is an actual issue at hand here, for example, the whole world has access to gaming consoles roughly 211 million people play video games across the world, but only one country has this major of an issue so it is not the video games themselves, it is, unfortunately, the guns. That is all I’m going to say on the subject because I believe the evidence is very clear on its own, moving on.

McCarthy, a California republican came out and said that video games “dehumanize” us individuals even though all the evidence I just showed you said the exact opposite. Gaming does not dehumanize us; in fact, I think it brings us closer together. The gaming community gives us all a place to call home outside of everyday life, it makes us all if anything more human. I feel as if I see the world differently after being a gamer for as long as I have been. It doesn’t make me violent it makes me care more for people around, because of games themselves, they teach us so much.

There are games like Outer wilds, that focuses on exploring a galaxy in space and discovering what happens to an ancient race of aliens. You don’t kill anyone you just explore and meet people and try and solve the mystery.A game like What Remains of Edith Fitch deals with death and loss of loved ones and how people handle depression at times. Games like That Dragon Cancer deal with a family whose baby is dying of cancer and how they enjoyed the last years of their child’s life and what it was like to lose their baby.

Games like Mass Effect contains violence but also teaches gamers how to build bonds with others and treat them with love and how to be loyal to one another. A game like Skyrim gives everyone this great big fantasy sandbox to play in and do whatever your heart desire, you want to be a giant cat ninja man go for it, werewolf? They got those too, Skyrim allows our imagination and sense of discovery to run free.  Minecraft is one of the most creative games around you can build and make whatever you want your limit is your own mind.

Video Games such as  Halo 3 and Call of Duty give me nothing but the most beautiful memories of my friends and I playing together all-night laughing and eating pizza and drinking soda. I don’t look at games that contain violence and death, I look at them and think of how to become the top player in the game or hear an amazing story while also being the best that there ever was.

Again, gaming doesn’t dehumanize us. Gaming to me celebrates the human spirit and shows the strength of all humans. Gaming is not to blame here, it is a tool to help battle mental disabilities such as depression or anger, possibly even ADD (ADHD).  For myself, It helps me battle my inner demons. In my life, I’ve felt alone at times, but then I had these amazing stories and incredible games to help me realize how great life can be and how fulfilling it truly is.

While gaming may always be the easiest thing to blame here, this gamer will not stand to see it be critiqued and made into a monster. While real monsters such as all the mass murders hurt, kill and destroy lives. Gaming is and always will be an incredible art form, and possibly be one of the greatest forms of media on this planet.

Currently playing: Uncharted 4