10 Best Open Worlds in Video Gaming

2018-02-22 by Vlad Shepard in Gaming Features | Leave a comment

The open world format has become widespread across countless game series, becoming almost a standard for a sales success. Unlike the restrictive nature of linear gaming, open worlds allow the developers to go full out in creating expansive and interesting gaming worlds. However, this also means each publisher has to strive to create something new that has never been seen in gaming. We’ve seen this trend increase with Ubisoft’s open world output, and EA follows closely behind. Not every developer succeeds at creating a great or unique world, as it is a difficult process. Across the more recent games I have picked out 10 open worlds i consider to be both some of the best and also those to feature unique and interesting content. These 10 open worlds offer countless hours of entertainment, which makes their respective games a worthwhile buy for any gamer.

Wasteland – Mad Max

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Mad Max by Avalanche studios gave us a glimpse of a violent apocalyptic world where oil and scrap essentially serve as currency. The designers’ vision created the best representation of a wasteland occupied by forces of a powerful warlord with the end result accomplishing the death of said warlord. However, Mad Max at its release seriously experienced open-world fatigue players developed through endless sandbox game releases. But apart from the game’s repetition and some gameplay flaws, Mad Max’s desert world truly stole the prize. The game’s large map provides plenty of diverse environments and unique landmarks to discover, although its melee combat could be much expanded upon. Eliminate endless outposts, scrap collection and retain the excellent car combat, and Avalanche studios has potential to further flesh out the world. Mad Max’s beautiful but deadly desert is a place worth revisiting with the good old Interceptor vehicle.

Seoul – Agents of Mayhem

Volition gave us something new with their futuristic setting in Seoul for their Agents of Mayhem release, and the city’s existence in this list is based upon its unique futuristic setting that we rarely see in video games (Mirror’s Edge is the only example I can think of). Although we would have loved to be able to use the superpowers of Saints Row 4, Volition needed to ground the series back in reality with an open city to explore. Agents of Mayhem may not have lived to its hype, but it is a solid open-world action game and its unique setting makes it one of the best gaming locations to experience.

Hong Kong – Sleeping Dogs

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Back in 2012, Square Enix published the most unique setting in video games at the time – a city far distant from the regular fare of US-based locations. Its detailed representation of Hong Kong culture allowed the game to be as immersive as possible. It is always fun to explore new cities, and Sleeping Dogs is a perfect game to delve into Hong Kong’s culture with both its story as well as its beautiful setting. Add to that the HD resolution textures given to us on the PC, PS4 and Xbox One releases, and Sleeping Dogs still holds up graphically well since its release in 2012. Although Sleeping Dogs 2 is unlikely to ever happen, other developers should explore unique cities, perhaps Singapore or Dubai as emerging settings to create genre diversity.

San Francisco Bay – Watch Dogs 2

Gamers don’t often see a representation of San Francisco in gaming, but Watch Dogs 2 did the best one yet when it delivered a sizeable map of the Bay area to explore. We further got to see famous landmarks and cruise down wide roads while completing an entertaining plot that also carries a series tone about our increasingly digital world. The original Watch Dogs also deserves a mention for its Chicago setting which goes unused, but it is definitely the sequel that gave us one of the best open world games to get immersed in. The Bay area in Watch Dogs 2 accurately represents the digital world and contains plenty of quirks to reference the darker side of Silicon Valley.

Los Santos – Grand Theft Auto 5

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No one is capable of creating the massive cities to the scale Rockstar are masters at, and GTA 5’s Los Santos and the surrounding county prove the point perfectly. Los Santos still shines in detail on current platforms, especially if you option for the PC version which looks spectacular. Rockstar went multiple steps further, and crammed in as much detail as possible to produce one of the most intricate open worlds where its easy to get lost for a full day’s worth of a gaming session. The expansive nature of the game’s world and of course the series signature gameplay still make Los Santos an entertaining trip to return to. That is unless you concurrently play GTA Online and are permanently stuck in the wacky world of Los Santos.

Australia – Forza Horizon 3

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Didn’t you ever want to blast across Australian outback in a hypercar the likes of Lamborghini Aventador or cruise by the beach in a BMW M5? Regardless of the answer, Forza Horizon 3 has the best racing playground in the entire history of arcade racers. With diverse environments, weather effects and a ginormous fleet of cars to take out for a spin, Australia shines in Horizon 3, and also happens to be another underused setting for video gaming worlds. For a racing game, Australia is an absolute paradise to navigate around, and Horizon 3’s extensive career mode will sink many hours of free time into driving around a diverse and beautiful island. Paired with 4K and HDR (if your rig can handle it), Forza Horizon 3 is up there with the best looking games in 2018.

Rook Island – Far Cry 3

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The setting of Far Cry 3 still remains memorable, and Ubisoft haven’t given us a better setting for its explosive shooter series since (perhaps the state of Montana will be a more fun playground). Rook Island is a joy to explore and still looks good in 2018. I had a hard time deciding between Far Cry 4’s Kyrat and Rook Island, but Far Cry 3 still remains the best title in the series to this date and continuously returning to it, I have yet to get bored from replaying the game. Whether you explore it at day or at night, Rook island is filled with enemies and wildlife, but thankfully the player is provided with some really effective means of personal protection. Time to stock up on some sweet firearms and make another trip to Rook Island just in time Far Cry 5 takes us into the depths of Montana.

Entire world – The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt

I use part of Velen’s map to show the detail crammed into the world

It is simply staggering how much detail CD Project Red have been able to integrate into the massive world of Witcher 3, which currently boasts the largest gaming world in gaming outside of the MMO crowd. Prior to its release, most wondered if the developer could deliver on their original promise of an expansive world, excellent story and meaningful side quests. They’ve not only done just that, but also gave us one of the most diverse and graphically beautiful worlds in gaming, especially if you happen to own a powerful gaming rig. The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt still shines after its release, and the expansion packs that followed gave us a new setting of Touissant and further made the game extremely replayable while we sit around in the wait for Cyberpunk 2077.

Andromeda Galaxy – Mass Effect: Andromeda

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The Andromeda Galaxy combined not only gave us one of the prettiest locales to look at, from the excellent space effects to detail of each of the game’s open world locations, but also transitioned the Mass Effect series into the Frostbite 3 engine, which gave designers ample of room to create an expansive RPG while retaining Mass Effect’s core gameplay and story elements. Although its execution was not ideal, and Mass Effect: Andromeda suffered from tech issues as well as from the lack of depth of its open worlds, the experience combined gave us a glimpse of a potential direction for the series to follow, as soon as EA can perfect its Frostbite 3 engine. Andromeda is not only a new galaxy for gamers to explore, but its worlds offer a certain level of appeal that is bound to differ between gamers. The Andromeda Galaxy makes it on this list because of its unique lore, but mainly due to the combined beauty of its open worlds that create a great-looking game.

Egypt – Assassin’s Creed: Origins

Only a small part of the vast AC: Origins map

Ubisoft finally gave us a setting most of the series fans were dying for – Ancient Egypt – and what a marvelous world it is. Accessible from the get-go, you can travel from the great city of Alexandria all the way to Memphis, however the game’s RPG focus effectively constraints the map based on character level. Still, unlike the ironically ghostly map of Ghost Recon: Wildlands, AC Origins boasts a detailed representation of Egypt with all its landmarks and secret, which enhances player immersion by providing a wealth of content. Yes, AC Origins inherits the enemy outposts found in Far Cry series, but they are still fun to do and the beauty of Ancient Egypt takes away from all that hassle. Luckily, Assassin’s Creed Origins features a robust photo mode to take beautiful screenshots of its breathtaking world.

10 Game Sequels Likely to Happen

2018-02-12 by Vlad Shepard in Gaming Features | Leave a comment

There are many venerable game series that gamers would love to see new entries in and I’ve come up with a 2-part series for sequels I consider many gamers to be anticipating highly to hear about in the nearby future or within a few years. This list specifically (and its second part) focuses on game franchises that have seen large economic success and some also enjoy the backing of mega game publishers to have a high potential of happening in the not too distant future. I explain why many would have a reason to anticipate these sequels as well as how developers could improve these releases to deliver exceptional quality entertainment. This list of 10 anticipated sequels is structured in no particular order and discusses each game on its capacity to happen. Among endless sequels in the gaming market, these are most desirable for many as these franchises and IPs don’t appear too often.

all screenshots are of the previous entries these games are supposed to be sequels to, all images are credited with a source link

1. Dragon Age: Inquisition 2

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Dragon Age: Inquisition wasn’t a perfect game, but it brought the series back to a great start by setting the game in an open world. Aside from some apparent flaws however, Dragon Age: Inquisition was a solid entry in EA’s fantasy RPG series and a direct sequel or another game set in the universe would further flesh out the world of Thedas. Dragon Age: Inquisition 2 makes perfect sense to happen, and all BioWare needs to do is iron out some glaring issues and improve the gameplay to have a sales success on their hands. Keeping EA’s Frostbite 3 (or perhaps Frostbite 4 is around the corner?) engine would give the sequel the same beautiful look of Inquisition, and BioWare has full potential to expand further on the open-world gameplay mechanics.

2. Max Payne 4

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Rockstar’s reinvention of the Max Payne series with the third title brought us something to look forward into the future of the franchise as Rockstar could bring us another quality release with Max Payne 4. Given Rockstar is busy with Red Dead Redemption 2, it would be a long while until gamers hear any news of another Max Payne title and its unknown whether the publisher plans to continue the series at all, but the quality of Max Payne 3 that Rockstar brought us warrants for people to look towards a sequel. Perhaps bring the series into the open-world or give players a twist on existing mechanics of Max Payne 3, and a sequel is bound to be an economic success. For now, though, there’s Red Dead Redemption 2 to look forward to, and hopefully that title eventually makes its way onto PC.

3. The Elder Scrolls 6

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It’s been almost 7 years since the release of Skyrim and Bethesda has been hard at work to bring back or continue their staple franchises with Fallout 4, 2016’s Doom and a sequel to Wolfenstein: The New Order. Along with that, Skyrim has been re-released with multiple editions that now span every available gaming platform including the Nintendo Switch. They even released it in VR – that’s how much Skyrim was a success in gaming. However, at this point gamers are dying to at least hear an official announcement of The Elder Scrolls 6, since so far we’ve only heard slight rumours of its potential existence and Elder Scrolls Online hasn’t exactly delivered on its multiplayer potential. With a 6th title in the excellent RPG series, Bethesda can top its own success at delivering another quality RPG release. Given the commercial success of The Elder Scrolls 5 and its widespread release as an RPG icon, a release of The Elder Scrolls 6 makes perfect sense in the near future.

4. Trials Fusion sequel

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Trials Fusion has not been released too far ago, and RedLynx studios even released a wacky spin-off in the style of Far Cry 3: Blood Dragon since the main game’s release (coincidentally named Trials of the Blood Dragon), but it doesn’t mean the gamers this niche title appealed to can’t dream of a potential sequel that would further explore the unique world and gameplay of the Trials series. The futuristic spin of Fusion gave us the best environment design yet and it would be nice to retain that style in the sequel, but a more grounded version similar to Evolution wouldn’t be a bad one either. RedLynx has no need to change the game mechanics of this series, but expanding the trick system of Fusion could be one of the ways to improve upon that entry.

5. GRID 3

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Following 2014’s GRID Autosport, Codemasters have intensely focused on refining their F1 racing series, with F1 2016 and ’17 coming to earn the titles as the best entries yet in Formula 1 racing. Further, Codemasters effectively rebooted their Dirt series with excellent Dirt 4 and Dirt Rally built on a brand new racing engines. In 2018 or ’19, it is a perfect time for Codemasters to refine their track-focused GRID series, with perhaps a GRID 3 in the works. To produce an excellent sequel, Codemasters could build another GRID entry from the ground up using a new engine. Following from either free-form racing fun of GRID 2 with diverse modes or the track-focused GRID Autosport, Codemasters have potential to achieve great success with their once famous racing franchise. Perhaps a new entry is just around the corner, but so far we haven’t heard any official news regarding GRID 3.

6. Dying Light 2

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The original Dying Light is perhaps the best zombie game you can currently get, and Techland continues to support the title up to this date with free content update and DLC releases. Dying Light’s unique blend of Dead Island and Mirror’s Edge gameplay created a really fun experience, and I’m just one of the many people who keep replaying Dying Light for its fun open-world action mechanics. A sequel that retains all of the original’s gameplay and presents a brand new setting is totally acceptable to see in the next few years, however Techland could also improve on all of Dying Light’s flaws and give us a world greater than the two districts of Haran available in the original. The developer should have all the funds available to produce a quality sequel, and a repeating partnership with WB Games could further assist with the development budget. Many gamers are all up for a similar sequel that would expand on all elements of the original and deliver an even better story and improved gameplay.

7. Saints Row 5

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This title is a tricky entry on this list, mostly due to the question “How do you top the insanely fun action game with wacky superpowers and entertaining missions of Saints Row 4?” To their credit, Volition gave us something new with Agents of Mayhem – a new IP that loosely blended Saints Row lore into a Saturday morning cartoon-style plot. It will be a few years till gamers hear of Volition’s next planned release, but a Saints Row 5 has potential to be in the works. It is up for debate what the next entry in the series would do, be it a grounded experience in the scope of Grand Theft Auto or another superhero-style action game, but a full new entry into the Saints Row series would be welcomed by lots of gamers around the world. In my personal view, Volition needs to take time to develop an in-house game engine before moving on to Saints Row 5 if it hopes to compete with the likes of Watch Dogs and Grand Theft Auto. With that said however, Saints Row has always been a unique franchise where sense of humour and fun gameplay prevail over the graphical detail of most major releases.

8. Rage 2

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Rage was a fairly unique shooter that introduced an open-world and RPG elements into id Software’s regular shooter fare, however the game never saw any large economic success due to some major flaws. None of those were deal breakers on their own, but the game’s overall execution did not match to the original vision of a post-apocalyptic open world in a first-person shooter with RPG elements. With Bethesda’s recent economic success and the frequent release of new titles in the publisher’s series, Bethesda should consider taking another stab at its currently shelved IP and perhaps come up with a fully open world shooter with a scope of Fallout or the Elder Scrolls series. Although Rage didn’t receive acclaim upon its release, it was still a fairly unique and enjoyable shooter experience set in a somewhat brand new setting. With both Bethesda’s and id Software’s recent successes, there’s no obstacles for Rage 2 to happen, and hopefully average sales of 2011’s Rage haven’t forced Bethesda to can the series for good. Another attempt at this unique IP has potential to produce a really solid open-world shooter so perhaps Bethesda could bring the IP back in the near future.

9. Borderlands 3

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Borderlands 3 is the most likely entrant in this list to happen, as Gearbox not too long ago teased a prototype of a potential sequel based on the Unreal Engine 4. With Borderlands 2’s release in 2012, it is a good time for Gearbox to focus their efforts on producing a brand new entry into the series. Give us even more guns, a better loot system and for god’s sake get rid of that horrible user interface, and most fans of the series would be perfectly happy to see a new release, and will in fact give Gearbox a much needed recovery from the Aliens Colonial Marines scandal that still haunts the company to this year. With that said, Gearbox appears hard at work on Borderlands 3 except they keep it very silent, but a major sequel to Borderlands 2 (not counting the Pre-Sequel entry) would be highly anticipated by many gamers who enjoyed the series. All Gearbox has to do is improve further on existing game mechanics and better yet, introduce an entirely new setting for its RPG shooter series.

10. Burnout Paradise sequel

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This one would be a highly desirable release for all kinds of racing fans, as this stunning crash spectacle has been absent from our systems since 2008’s Burnout Paradise. Criterion games have then changed direction after their average reboot to Need for Speed: Most Wanted and announced their branching out to other gaming genres. What followed since was an announcement of a new IP that immediately went silent, however Criterion has continued contributing to every new Need for Speed entry since then. With their involvement with racing games, Criterion games should consider developing a new Burnour Release that will follow up from Burnout Paradise’s formula. Criterion’s spectacular crashes have been present in every Need for Speed release since 2010, but nothing compares to intensity of Burnout Paradise and its constant fare of detailed crashes. Nothing is as satisfying as seeing your car crumble to bits after a head-on collision at 200 mph. Criterion should consider bringing gamers a new Burnout release to remind the gaming market of the unique flavour of the once popular series. Another partnership with EA and potential use of Frostbite 3 could bring the best Burnout game yet.

10 Game Series that Need to Make a Comeback

Over the years, the gaming industry has spawned countless titles that cover about every possible genre to be imagined. Many IPs made it into long-running franchises, that either thrive off improvements or drag the series along with yet another sequel. Among the large number of titles are excellent games which have become venerable franchises, followed by large crowds of gamers, however it becomes easy to overlook some ideas that have been lost along the way. Some franchises lie dormant, or worse, they disappear from the radar with seemingly no hope of getting continued. Many fan favourites have ended too soon, and there is no talk of them ever getting a sequel. Whether they had a great concept or offered excellent entertainment, many games deserve to be continued, and many franchises are still welcome to make a comeback to the current gaming market. I pick some games and franchises that I used to play, and also some that I heard were really good, to make a list of games that players desperately want to come back at some point in time. Many of these, fans would be dying to see again, which makes these ideas worth bringing back. These games have lied dormant over years for multiple reasons, sometimes it’s a company’s bankruptcy or an idea is simply shelved, but their original creations remain good to this day. Here are the 10 series that haven’t been heard of in a while, but desperately need to get a new outing.

Burnout

Burnout was an extremely fun racing series, which culminated with an excellent Burnout Paradise. The nature of gameplay involved intense speeds and spectacular crashes that set the series apart from other racing titles. Before Paradise, Burnout games have featured a linear progression with many challenges to complete and cars to unlock, and were still a blast to play. Even the PSP titles, Legends and Dominator, although lacking the complexity of other titles in the franchise, still offered a compelling Burnout experience. And Paradise was simply stellar, offering an open-world set within a dense urban city. Challenges were fun, and the added exploration elements took up many hours to complete, plus the soundtrack was quite good, except the song Paradise by Guns N’ Roses is bound to get annoying really fast. Paradise even included a vast amount of cars to race in, and the career offered a lot of content, even if it felt repetitive to complete the entirety of it. On a modern game engine, a new Burnout would look absolutely stellar, especially if it was EA’s own Frostbite 3. Unfortunately, no rumours have been heard about a possible Burnout title, and Criterion Games have been off the news radar for quite a while.

Crash Bandicoot

Crash Bandicoot has been off the radar for a very long time, and it’s a shame, because those games were really fun third-person action platformers, filled with beautiful locations and interesting characters. The controls are smooth and even the PSP releases that I used to have were filled with hours of content, not to mention that Crash Bandicoot had really neat gameplay elements. The series stood out with its style and mechanics, and gained many fans despite an abundance of excellent platformers on the market. Last year’s Ratchet & Clank proved that people still have a thing for third-person colourful platformers, and we desperately need to see another game out of this memorable series.

Command & Conquer

Besides its mediocre 4th entry, Command & Conquer is considered by many as one of the staples in the strategy genre, and many especially like the over the top Red Alert spin-off. The series lays dormant since 2010, and although for some time fans were promised C&C: Generals 2, its release would have only upset gamers. EA’s idea of a sequel to Generals was bound to be a free-to-play title with micro-transactions, so its failure to release avoided the series trouble of upsetting the fans, although the 4th instalment somewhat already did so. At present, there is no word of a possible Command & Conquer game, as the EA sits on top of this property, and no news regarding the state of the series have been released either. Maybe when EA finds the time right, we could yet see another title out of this franchise, and if adapted to an RTS, the Frostbite 3 engine would make visually impressive battlefields.

Crysis

Crysis in many respects was one of the best first-person shooters, combining stealth and gunplay to create the game with many approaches. The first Crysis is still regarded as a PC-killer and won’t run well on anything modern, mostly due to lack of optimization. It was also one of the more innovative shooters of its time and offered a visually stellar island to explore in a semi-open world. Crysis 2 brought the series to consoles, and a strictly linear progression changed the freedom of the previous game to create a more Call of Duty-like experience. With that said, Crysis 2 absolutely nailed its pacing by blending stealth and explosive set-pieces, and by offering an engaging narrative and diverse enemies, the game is fun to replay even today. Finally, Crysis 3 built a blend of its two predecessors, although in the process offered a much shorter campaign. Its semi-open locations offered freedom and additional missions, while the game’s visuals looked stellar. It’s still fun to play these games and the series should definitely spawn a sequel at some point. Crytek haven’t been doing too well financially so we would never know if the series will ever get continued.

Medal of Honor

Before Warfighter did an awful job at bringing the series into the modern shooter genre, similar to the mediocre reboot of the series in 2010, Medal of Honor used to be an engaging series set in events of World War II. The games are far from polished by modern standards and it already seems like Battlefield is set on track to reinvent these moments of world history. There no longer seems to be an appeal in another Medal of Honor game, and it’s a shame, as originals featured excellent campaigns to match the gameplay, but the unsuccessful reboots might as well have buried the franchise. Medal of Honor could use a revival and best way to do it would be to return to its World War II roots.

Splinter Cell

Splinter Cell was an excellent stealth franchise that almost got ruined by lazy spin-offs and action-focused titles. Thankfully, Splinter Cell: Blacklist came along and fixed most of the errors, not only returning the series to its roots, but also offering the most polished experience with graphical standards to match. I immensely enjoyed Splinter Cell: Blacklist, which offers multiple ways to play a mission with a varied set of tools and weapons at players’ disposal. Along with that, there is a fun multiplayer mode to be busy with after completing the game’s campaign. Chaos Theory is considered by many to be the best for its open stealth gameplay, and the first three games overall offer a great experience. Not much has been heard since Blacklist’s release in 2013, and although it hasn’t been too long, the franchise is currently shelved in Ubisoft’s future release plans and no rumours have been known so far. Considering the level of polish that Blacklist received, however, a new title in the series would be certainly welcome.

Supreme Commander

Warfare on a massive scale has never been done better than in Supreme Commander, featuring massive units and diverse factions. The first title is widely considered to be one of the best strategy games of all time, although the series has been let down by the disappointment of the second title, which somewhat improved matters in its consecutive DLC. Supreme Commander was very impressive, allowing players to control large armies with some of the most interesting units I’ve seen in RTS. Among the factions, Cybrans offer badass units capable of not only dealing large amounts of damage, but also looking incredibly cool. Walking ships? Check. A Giant Dinosaur that expels flame? Check. A Huge Spider Bot wielding a massive laser? Also check. On top of that, Supreme Commander offered a complex research tree spread across all types of units, and an entire development is dedicated to the commander bot. Oh, you just had to make sure those didn’t die or it’s over. Square Enix currently holds the publishing rights to the series, however the company is focused on other projects and currently no consideration for a sequel is expressed.

Dune

Dune is another series I used to play a lot, which went silent a rather while ago. Dune 2000 was an immensely fun strategy game, and it’s sequel, Emperor: Battle for Dune added 3D graphics and more diversity into the franchise. The series features interesting lore based off the Dune series by Frank Herbert, although it never really managed to convey a decent plot. Each of the 3 factions largely played the same apart from special units, even looking exactly the same and only Emperor completely changed visuals for each. The improvements in that title were a great way for the franchise to keep moving forward, but with Emperor: Battle for Dune, the series came to an end. Westwood Studios, who developed the game, no longer exists, and the concept seems likely to be buried. Although many of its mechanics would no longer be considered viable on the field of modern RTS, Dune is a unique series that could use another well-polished title.

Half-Life

Oh, Half-Life. The internet has spawned a never-ending speculation about development of Half-Life 3, and Valve remains completely silent, continuously working on improving Steam as a distribution platform. Valve haven’t released anything for a while, although many fans desperately want to see a third entry in the Half-Life series. But so far, we’ve just been teased by possible talks of a sequel. The franchise captured gamers’ attention for featuring innovative gameplay and is still considered by many as a staple of the shooter genre. Half-Life 2 was especially groundbreaking at the time of its release, and managed to offer many hours of content to pair with an interesting world. Valve always release high quality games, and we’ve been waiting a long time for this to happen, so the series needs to make a comeback. Come on Valve, where are you keeping Half-Life 3?

Dead Space

Dead Space used to be a neat horror series with some survival elements, until EA decided to release an action game for its third title instead. Although the original Dead Space was in fact a better horror game, I prefer Dead Space 2 with its level of polish and an intense journey through the depths of the Titan station. The game blends survival moments with fast-paced action-sequences, such as when you’re falling towards the station from the sun relay, and creates a tense experience while offering a lot of entertainment. Dead Space 3, however, fell under the greed of EA, which at the time, considered it best to release an action game, to the appeal of this series. To offend fans further, Dead Space 3 also featured micro-transactions for its crafting system, something unheard of before in a single-player game, and inclusion of Co-op didn’t improve the matters. Dead Space 3 was a step away from the unique appeal of the series, which also sent Visceral Games tasked with different project. Possibly one day we’ll see another Dead Space game, it will likely make no sense to do a sequel, but its universe just waits to be explored.

My Favourite Units in RTS Games

2017-02-06 by Vlad Shepard in Gaming Features | Leave a comment

Strategy games are only as fun as their unit selections make them and it’s crucial to give players a varied tool set. The evolution of RTS over the years has created countless ridiculous tanks, weird machines and devastating weapons. Every game offers many unique units to distinguish itself from others, and some are bound to become favourites. I’ve decided to put together a list of units I’ve had the most fun using in strategy games and they are my personal pick to be on this list. The only criteria for it is that they come from the strategy games I’ve played, and I do not restrict the entries to one unit per game either. Unfortunately, these units have to be available in multiplayer of their games as well or otherwise the list would be too huge, so I can’t include the awesome Sajuuk ship from Homeworld 2 or the Hyperion Battlecruiser from StarCraft 2. The rest on this list are powerful weapons of destruction that are my favourite picks among the RTS Units. Comment which ones you like.

The Hand of Ruk – Grey Goo

Each of Grey Goo’s factions have unique super units capable of devastating large armies, however nothing is capable of such versatility as Beta faction’s Hand of Ruk. This unit is a low-flying platform with a massive ranged cannon that destroys everything in its path, and can even function as a mobile factory. The versatility comes from 6 unit placements, where smaller tanks can hop to provide additional firepower, and naturally, types of units slotted affect the platform’s operation. Fill it up with regular tanks, and the Hand of Ruk gains close-range capabilities, artillery will provide additional ranged support, and so on. It is also the only one of epic units to have anti-air defences, which often comes in handy. The Hand of Ruk works best with diverse unit setups, but regardless, this epic unit packs in large amounts of firepower. Oh how much I like watching a giant cannon obliterate everything in the area it hits.

Higaaran Battlecruiser – Homeworld 2

I grew up watching sci-fi space movies, and my favourite moments always included massive space battles. There’s something epic about watching an armada emerge from hyperspace, laser beams and torpedoes firing to obliterate everything in their path. Playing Homeworld Remastered reminded me a lot about the sci-fi movies I used to watch, and nothing demonstrates power like a Higaaran Battlecruiser. I’d build about 6 of those and install hyperspace modules, and then the enemy can very much surrender right then. These massive ships can only be built in Shipyards, making them late game units, but the trade-off is completely worth it. With their two powerful ion cannons, Higaaran Battlecruisers severely weaken any enemy that is in their line of fire, reducing even the largest units to complete rubble. In numbers, these can completely obliterate an enemy within minutes, and even swarms of bombers take a while to bring one of them down, making the Battlecruiser my favourite ship within Homeworld. The only field they lack in is epic space music as I send 6 of them into hyperspace.

Savager Dreadnought – Ashes of the Singularity

All dreadnoughts in Ashes of the Singularity are epic in their own way, but nothing comes close to the hulking mass of Substrate’s Savager Dreadnought. Its sleek lines still manage to create a very aggressive look, and it can almost look like a living organism. Just look at it. However, its main feature is the ginormous beam cannon that sits right at the front. The beam annihilates everything in its path, ranging from small unit armies to other dreadnoughts, and its slow fire rate does little to hurt the sheer amount of power it gets. You’d want to have it protected by a smaller army when engaging against massive groups, but the Savager’s weapon plows through units. And although PHC’s anti-heavy dreadnought looks just as badass, Substrate’s Savager takes a spot as my favourite because of its better offensive capabilities.

Dark Archon – StarCraft: Brood War

If you thought this list would just be about epic war machines, you’re quite mistaken, and I have a sneaky surprise slotted right here. The Dark Archon in StarCraft: Brood War is formed through merging two dark templars and cannot physically attack on its own. Wait, what? Instead, its psychic abilities make the unit really powerful. Feedback instantly kills enemy units, Maelstrom temporarily disables any biological units in the area, but the real show stealer is the Mind Control ability. In essence, with the Dark Archon you can easily play as all three races if successfully capturing an enemy worker, and each will have their own supply limit. The effect is not temporary either and allows to fully control any enemy unit for the length of its life. So while a Dark Archon presents little threat on its own, its abilities can create a lot of chaos.

Protoss Mothership – StarCraft 2

The Protoss Mothership is one of the most sophisticated units in StarCraft 2, and often has the potential to break the game. It is a massive resource requirement, but when it comes to the battlefield, all bets are off. It doesn’t cause mass damage on its own even though its still powerful, but its main selling point is its abilities. The Mothership is one of my favourites simply because if you see one, you know you’re screwed. Its likely because there is always a massive army coming right behind it, hidden from sight under the Mothership’s cloaking ability. I’d always bring many Void Rays or Carriers with this ship, and watch the enemy get completely obliterated. In contrast, if things aren’t going too well, you could always recall your army to the nearest base.

Terran Battlecruiser – StarCraft 2

If you want warfare done effectively, you a) build your warships to walk on ground Supreme Commander style or b) make a big space ship that can freely enter the atmosphere without falling to forces of gravity. The terrans in StarCraft 2 have done the latter, creating a cruiser that can be effective both in air and space. This unit takes a lot of resources and time to make, rendering it useless for timed attacks, however if you have the time to advance this far, as I’ve seen in many 3v3 games in Heart of the Swarm, there are few units capable of stopping mass battlecruiser. These ships also have thick armour, making each perfect against numerous infantry, and its Yamato Cannon deals high damage to large units. Battlecruisers are my favourite to use since StarCraft: Brood War and their effectiveness helps in any battlefield.

Zerg Ultralisk – StarCraft 2

This picture pretty much says everything about Zerg’s Ultralisk. Its a massive bio mass that can still somehow walk, or should I rather say, charge into the battlefield. The massive armour shell allows it to withstand a lot of damage, especially if fully upgraded. On the offensive, just look at those claws, although I wish these units played just as epic as they look in the game’s cinematic cutscenes. Still, mass Ultralisk tends to work pretty well in multiplayer, and I’d often get completely screwed if I chose to go with a ground army. I normally wouldn’t use them myself because I suck at multiplayer, but when I do, Ultralisks create a lot of fun moments as their scythes cut through defending units.

Monkey Lord Experimental Bot – Supreme Commander

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Futuristic spider bots are always cool, just ask anyone, but nothing delivers a message better than a massive hulk towering way above the ground armies. Meet the Monkey Lord – a giant spider tank used by the Cybran faction and if I saw one of those in real life, I’d probably die from terror on the spot. Forget the Megalith spider bot – it’s tiny in comparison to this ginormous tank. The Monkey Lord moves slowly around the battlefield on its massive six legs, but its presence is instantly noticeable once that huge laser beam comes online. I simply enjoyed watching it evaporate anything in its path. Even if building the tank takes an enormous factory and lots of resources, the Monkey Lord is completely worth it and makes it one of my favourites because of its massive size and sweet design. Giant spider bots are just really fun.

Devastator Tank – Dune 2000

Among the cubic units of Dune 2000, the Devastator Tank is the most powerful, especially built in mass numbers. Apart from the main cannons with a lot of damage, the tank can be set to self-destruct, damaging anything in its path. Its great for tanks with low health, but not so much when you click the function by accident, or an Ordos Deviator puts control of it in enemy hands. I really cringed the few times I accidentally blew up one of my Devastators, only to watch six other tanks evaporate along with it. Stupid accidents aside, it is one of the most entertaining units to watch, even though they are slow and the noise from its cannons is bound to drive you crazy.

NIAB Tank – Emperor: Battle for Dune

The NIAB Tank is a really weird entity, both in its looks and the abilities it possesses. As one of the sub-factions in Emperor: Battle for Dune, the Niab are mysterious species and also really powerful. While it takes a massive temple to produce these units, the NIAB tank possess teleportation, making them extremely useful for hit-and-run attacks, and of course, collecting crates around the map. The tank disappointingly has low durability, but is capable of causing a lot of damage through lightning beams which face in all directions. To add to it, the tank just looks super weird with a living organism sitting inside the green frame. Among the many intriguing units of sub-factions in Emperor: Battle for Dune, the NIAB tank has yet to be topped.

Air Defence Platform – Emperor: Battle for Dune

Emperor: Battle for Dune introduced flying units to the series, and one of the best is the Air Defence Platform in possession of the house Harkonnen. It’s a slow unit, but the platform is capable of attacking both ground and air units, which makes it really effective when placed in a smart spot. I always liked messing around with the enemy by taking out all the carry-alls for Harvesters, and it dramatically impacts the opponent’s economy. The only downside is that the platform is quite weak and doesn’t take long to get destroyed. But hey, if the enemy lacks anti-air defences, you could win the entire game just by building these.

Avatar Warmech – Command & Conquer 3: Tiberium Wars

Now what list of epic RTS units would be complete without at least one giant war mech, and Nod’s Avatar Warmech in C&C 3 gets the spot. This large mech takes on smaller armies, capable of not only obliterating small units by the numbers with its laser cannon, but also crushing infantry and light tanks beneath its feet. As standard, it only comes with a single Obelisk laser cannon, however can be further upgraded to include a variety of weapons, which makes it very usable. Interestingly, the process happens by using its free arm to destroy another Nod unit, after which the Avatar gains a new weapon or ability. Moreover, it looks seriously cool and inflicts a lot of damage, which makes it one of the best units to use in the game.

The Surprising Value of Origin Access

2016-12-25 by Vlad Shepard in Gaming Features | Leave a comment

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I paid $90 for Battlefield 1. I don’t do this very often, hardly ever, as paying full price for new releases is not always the best idea, but some friends and I decided to get it. Past that, I kept seeing promotions for EA’s Origin Access, which offers a $5 subscription to access a variety of previously released titles. Upon checking the catalogue, the excellent value of this subscription became very apparent. The games in front of me included all EA games available on Origin, minus the releases in 2016. Not only that, but some titles are available with Deluxe or Premium Editions, such as Battlefield 4. I then subscribed to the service and came to enjoy the benefits of running my games off a subscription. All of the available games are not just simply streamed from the internet, they can easily be downloaded and accessed in their full form.

The Origin Access subscription costs only $5 a month, and allows for unlimited access to many of EA’s games. The catalogue offers many triple A titles: Star Wars: Battlefront; Need for Speed: Deluxe Edition; Mass Effect 2 & 3 Deluxe Editions, Battlefield 4 and Hardline Premium Editions, and many other games from the Origin back catalogue. Any non-EA titles offered on the Origin store are missing, but that is acceptable considering the already sizeable offer. Furthermore, as long as you keep paying $5/month, all the “Vault” games can be downloaded and accessed anytime, and to sweeten the deal, they can be played with no time restrictions. New titles are mixed in with old, and the majority of EA’s franchises are all accounted for. The present Origin game vault is missing Medal of Honour and Command & Conquer, but those won’t be asked for by many. Still, the library is consistently growing, and just recently witnessed the addition of Star Wars: Battlefront, so more titles from EA’s back catalogue may follow in the future.

Considering that many of the available games are sold for $20 or more, Origin Access really demonstrates improvement on EA’s side. Its just a $5/month subscription, but offers so much more for acquiring it. EA comes to be the first to offer this type of service on PC gaming distribution platforms, and successfully demonstrates the value of a subscription. It can be thought of just like Xbox Live to average out for $60/year and it provides a great service for gamers on a strict budget. Origin Access allows to enjoy many quality releases at the price of an indie game, and offers a considerably more valuable option.

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Despite the many issues that Origin had as a distribution platform over the years since its introduction, EA has taken long steps to fix most of its outstanding issues and managed to throw together a great proposition of a subscription service. Origin Access is priced considerably lower than the majority of the games that come with it, and all of them can be played through in full at no restriction. EA makes far progress into fixing its distribution service, and already works considerably better than uPlay. Origin Access just sweetens the deal further, and based on the amount of fun I’ve had with only 1 of the many games available on the platform, I would recommend getting this subscription for anyone. Its already demonstrated its value to me, and I barely even touched the surface with only Star Wars: Battlefront and Need for Speed downloaded so far.