Author: Trafficblast

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In Serious Sam 4, the long-running FPS series may have finally found a workable identity. Through each entry, developer Croteam has held onto the core gameplay loop that defined Sam’s initial jaunt across Egypt. You will always back-pedal, you will always circle-strafe, and you will always fight dozens of Sam’s memorable cadre of alien enemies at once. But, at times, that loop has been obscured by some of the strange decisions Croteam has made with the series. It was never broken, but each game finds the developer trying to fix it.

Enter Serious Sam 4, yet another reinvention that seems to draw from every period of the series’ long life. As in Serious Sam 3, the graphics are realistic (though a little stiff). As in Serious Sam 2, there’s vehicular combat and humor to spare (and a surprising portion of the jokes land). And, as in First and Second Encounter, the gameplay is razor-sharp and front-and-center. It’s been nine years since the last mainline entry, and in that time we’ve witnessed the revival of circle-strafing shooters thanks to games both big (Doom) and small (Dusk). But, in this newly crowded landscape, Serious Sam 4 has a secret weapon. Croteam is simply willing to throw a ridiculous number of enemies at you at all times and it has the tech to pull it off.

In this outing, which functions as a prequel to The First Encounter, Sam and a small group of resistance fighters are attempting to push back the villainous Mental’s assault on Earth. The alien horde has already won, but the resistance hopes to score a strategic advantage by tracking down the Holy Grail, which is actually an alien artifact hidden somewhere among the art and architecture of an impressively unspoiled Italy.

As Sam embarks on this quest, he faces down a familiar horde of enemies with a familiar arsenal of weapons. If you’ve played Serious Sam before, you’ll recognize most of them. There’s the Sirian Werebull, a fleshy creature with horns that charges headlong at you, unless you can take it out with a few well-timed blasts from your double shotgun. The Beheaded Kamikaze, which boasts a pair of bombs in place of hands and a scream you can hear from a mile away, is also back, and will force you to pick it off before it gets close enough to explode. It can also be led into a larger crowd of enemies before you shoot, setting off a powder keg of blood and gibs. One of my personal favorites, the Reptiloid, often posts up on a tower, then hurls acid green homing missiles that will follow you until they find their target, or until you shoot them out of the air.

It’s an impressive roster composed of some of the most memorable and well-designed enemies in gaming. The Serious Sam model–drop a ton of enemies in an arena and dare you to come out on top–only works because each enemy is easy to recognize and, as a result, internalize and remember how to handle. Say you hear the Beheaded Kamikaze’s signature scream and switch to your assault rifle to handle the dozen the game throws at you before they get close enough to explode. Once they’re dispatched, you hear the ground rumble beneath the feet of the Sirian Werebull and pull out the rocket launcher to finish the herd off with a string of one-hit kills. But then a pair of Reptiloids appears on far off towers, so you switch to the sniper rifle to pick them, and their homing projectiles, off from a distance. All of this happens in the space of a few seconds and the game rarely does you the favor of sending each group separately. But the enemies are defined by distinctive designs, behaviors, and often audio cues, so you’re rarely caught by surprise.

As Sam manages these crowds, the chiseled hero draws on the same impressive arsenal he’s wielded since the beginning (and a few new tools, as well). The rocket launcher returns, now with an upgrade that allows you to lock on to multiple enemies. The minigun is essential for crowd control, ripping through dozens of aliens in a matter of seconds. And, my favorite, the portable cannon, is back, too, allowing Sam to launch massive cannonballs into enemies, destroying even the meanest minotaurs in a few hits. Each gun has its use, and I enjoyed the process of figuring out which gun worked best against which enemy. You can also expand your roster of tools by completing side quests–a new addition in Serious Sam 4. Sometimes these diversions grant you a weapon mod, like that rocket launcher upgrade. Other times, it might grant you a gadget, which can run the gamut from health kits to portable black holes or a bomb that slows down time for everyone but Sam. These gadgets can help turn the tide in battle, but you find them so rarely that you need to be choosy with how you use them. As a result, they don’t feel like a major addition; more like an interesting touch.

My biggest gripe with the game is that it rarely gives you space and time to marvel at a weapon’s power. As soon as you get the cannon, you’ll be launched into a fight that demands you use it against every enemy just to keep up. In this way, the game often robs you of any real feeling of power. Sure, you’re obliterating Reptiloids in one hit, which is cool. But the game overcompensates by throwing a dozen Reptiloids at you at once. Instead of providing an opportunity to appreciate the cannon’s one-shot one-kill power, Serious Sam 4 skips straight to making you feel like you’re barely scraping by, cannon notwithstanding. You’re constantly on your back foot, which can make the (otherwise excellent) combat begin to feel a little repetitive. I love the tension of Serious Sam 4’s fights, racing around hordes of enemies, attempting to pick the right weapon to buy myself a moment’s peace. But the game rarely gives that tension a release valve, and as a result, it can be exhausting to play.

In tough fights, it helps that, at least some of the time, Sam has a team he can rely on. In this entry, you’re joined by a squad of soldiers who can help take enemies down in battle. Given how frenzied late-game battles are, I was always grateful to have any help I could get. Each member of the squad fits pretty neatly into well-known archetypes: the priest who’s handy with a shotgun; the paranoid conspiracy theorist; the female soldier who can kick just as much ass as the boys; the new recruit who can’t quite hold his own in battle yet. These are reliable stock characters, and I mostly enjoyed watching the group banter. A running joke has each of the squadmates attempting to proffer the best one-liner after dispatching baddies. These moments made me laugh out loud on a few occasions and, more surprisingly, the story actually manages to land a heartfelt beat or two along the way.

Serious Sam 4’s reliance on tropes isn’t always harmless, though. There are two men from marginalized backgrounds on Sam’s squad, and both fall pretty neatly into racial stereotypes. Rodriguez, a Mexican-American soldier, peppers his speech with words like “cajones,” “culo” and “pendejo.” This trope, which sees Latinx characters dropping Spanish words into otherwise English sentences, is common in games, employed by writers to highlight a character’s Latin-ness. But, as Latinx critics have pointed out, it’s an ignorant portrayal of the way bilingual Latinx people actually speak. Similarly, a Black character in this game falls into a well-known trope that feels dated and has for years. I would have loved to have seen Croteam put even just a little bit of thought into the ways they handled the writing around these character’s racial identities.

The story is also occasionally hampered by the game’s technical issues. While Serious Sam 4 on PC ran at or around 60 fps during frantic action, frequently hitched during cutscenes. Pop-in was also a consistent problem in and out of cutscenes, with background textures often arriving midway through a shot or a few seconds after a level began. Both of these problems plagued my initial playthrough and persisted even after Croteam put out a massive day one patch on Wednesday. I also experienced a corrupted save, which caused the game to crash to desktop when I attempted to load it.

This all contributes to the feeling that this game is still a little rough around the edges. While Serious Sam 4 plays (and mostly looks) great in combat, its characters look pretty stiff. This fits Sam just fine; if you played The First Encounter back in the day, you’ll remember the moments when the camera shifted to a third-person view as Sam ran, ramrod straight, to the next level. It fits Sam’s specific variety of generic action hero cool. But for other characters? Not so much. One scene that shows a crowd of resistance soldiers cheering after the usually reticent Sam gives a rousing speech is particularly uncanny, with each character’s eyes bugging in their pale faces as they applaud woodenly. I’ve rarely been more aware that I was watching 3D models go through the motions they were rigged to perform.

Luckily, the combat is as fast and fluid as the cutscenes are slow and creaky. Thanks to Croteam’s impressive tech, Serious Sam 4 can now throw an even more ridiculous number of enemies at you at one time than ever before. Some late-game fights put Sam in the midst of the biggest fights I’ve ever experienced in a game; they’re the closest approximations I’ve seen in a first-person shooter to the actual size and scale of what a violent battle for the planet might actually look like. The only problem is the frequency with which Serious Sam 4 leans on this trick. I enjoy the combat a lot, but outside of watching the story unfold through cutscenes, it really is all that you’re doing. It’s a tense and exacting game that will often have you leaning side to side as you strafe, utterly engrossed in Sam’s bloody struggle for survival. But it’s precisely because that core is so tense that I wish Serious Sam 4 had something else to offer in between battles. With the fights forcing you into all-out war so often, most sessions I felt like I was ready to call it a day after a single mission.

Overall, Serious Sam 4 is a successful synthesis of the series’ disparate identities, with humor to spare and jaw-dropping large-scale battles. But technical issues, tired tropes and a lack of gameplay variety make it just a solid foundation rather than a new pinnacle for Croteam.

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In today’s news, the expansion cards for the Xbox Series X and Xbox Series S have been detailed. The 1TB cards, which will have the same performance as the consoles’ internal SSD, will set you back over $200.

Square Enix has revealed that a remake of Nier Replicant will be launching next year. Nier Replicant ver. 1.22474487139 will be released on April 23, 2021, and is a remake of the 2010 game, but with updated animation to bring it more in line with 2017’s Nier Automata.

Sega is reportedly making a sequel to Sonic The Hedgehog, as well as interested in greenlighting a Yakuza movie. Save State is your fix of the biggest gaming news stories, airing on youtube.com/GameSpot from Monday to Thursday each week

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Vought International is continuing its domination over Amazon’s Prime Video streaming service. The second season of the comic book adaptation The Boys is currently airing weekly on Prime, while the series has already been renewed for a third season. What’s more, The Boys even has its own aftershow. Now, the universe of the show is looking to expand even further.

According to a report from Variety, a spin-off of The Boys is in development. It’s set at a college for young supes, which is run by the ominous Vought International–the evil corporation that controls The Seven. A description of the potential spin-off from Variety calls it “an irreverent, R-rated series that explores the lives of hormonal, competitive supes as they put their physical, sexual, and moral boundaries to the test, competing for the best contracts in the best cities. Part college show, part Hunger Games–with all the heart, satire and raunch of The Boys.”

It essentially sounds like a dirty version of the antics at the Xavier school, as young supes learn to control their powers in a way only The Boys could portray.

The pilot is being written by The Boys writer and executive producer Craig Rosenberg, who would also serve as showrunner. The Boys’ executive producers Eric Kripke, Seth Rogen, Evan Goldberg, and James Weaver will also serve as executive producers, alongside Neal H. Moritz and Pavun Shetty.

There’s no telling when fans of The Boys would actually see this series, should it move beyond development. Still, this makes it clear that Amazon sees plenty of stories left to tell when it comes to The Boys.

Zack Snyder’s cut of Justice League, formerly known as the Snyder Cut, now called Justice League: The Director’s Cut, has been a point of speculation for fans for years. And now that it is heading towards an official release as a four-part mini series on HBO Max in 2021, the air of mystery around the production has only become more intense.

Earlier this week, it was reported that Snyder planned on shooting additional footage with key cast members in early October. The call sheet notably included Ray Fisher, who is currently embroiled in a public controversy with Warner Bros. over the handling of the original production, specifically the alleged abusive and unprofessional treatment of director Joss Whedon who was called in to finish the film. Along with Fisher were Henry Cavill, Gal Gadot, and Ben Affleck.

Now, however, it would seem Cavill is not intending to shoot more footage for the new cut after all. In an interview with Collider, Cavill said that he is “not shooting anything additional.” And that his part in the film is “all stuff that has already been done.”

Cavill went on to explain: “Obviously I don’t know how things are going to evolve and change and adapt depending on now a different length of movie and whatever may happen in post-production. Whatever lessons may be learned from what is it four years since Justice League came out? Four years’ worth of fan reaction. For me…I’m now just watching the party.”

Justice League: The Director’s Cut is scheduled to air on HBO Max some time in 2021.

With NBA 2K21, you just know what you’re getting into–a basketball simulation with the presentation chops, star power, and gameplay mechanics to embody the sport on a professional and cultural level. You know you’ll build a custom player to go through a story that leads into a full career and take to the streets and rec center for pick up games. You know you can play a management sim through MyGM or build a playable fantasy team through card packs in MyTeam. And you also know all too well about the scheme of VC that looms over it all, which remains one of the prominent offenders of intrusive microtransactions.

At this point, NBA 2K21 suggests that the franchise is out of surprises. It comes with a robust suite of modes, but despite minor remixing year after year, the annual releases are starting to blend together (if they haven’t already). Mechanics get minor tweaks or additions, but largely remain untouched. So, for those embedded in the 2K cycle, you know what the deal is, but because this year’s game changes things mostly on a surface level, it’s hard to be excited about yet another entry.

Don’t get me wrong, as a lifelong basketball fan who embraced the culture as a wee lad and cherishes street ball memories from back home, I’m still a bit in awe of how well the sport has translated into video game form (I said as much in my NBA 2K19 review). And that doesn’t just come from the player likenesses, character creation tools, or the broadcast-style presentation; it’s a matter of the core gameplay, too.

Dribble moves with the right stick offer nearly full control of ball handling. It can feel a bit cluttered having so many actions mapped to slightly different motions on just one stick, as errant inputs can sometimes have you pull a pump-fake instead of the crossover you intended. But if you can master a few key moves, you’ll be at an advantage for opportunities to drive to the basket or mitigate shot contesting. The same goes for making the right moves in the post-game to either get under defenders or get positioning over them. All of these have been staples of NBA 2K for quite some time.

The big new addition in terms of offense is the optional Pro Stick shooting. Prior to 2K21, shooting would either be done by holding down Square, X, or the right stick and timing your release at the height of your jump, indicated by a shot meter overhead. With Pro Stick shooting enabled, you hold the right stick down without having to worry about release timing and instead focus on accurate stick alignment according to the shot meter before your player releases the shot. While it’s much easier to just use square or X for scoring in the paint, Pro Stick is a viable new alternative for jump shots, especially in situations when lag or latency can throw off traditional-style release timing.

There aren’t really any standout changes on the defensive side of the ball. Of course, you still need to stay locked in to track your matchup’s movements, know when to press up, move laterally, contest shots, and fight over screens. But the sluggish nature of off-the-ball movement can still be a tiresome thing to struggle with when controls don’t respond the way you intended or you simply run in place, stuck on teammates, and subsequently get punished for a defensive breakdown.

Every action in NBA 2K21 is deliberate and at higher levels of play, the game requires your full attention to succeed. By virtue of this, playing through actual matches–whether it be in MyCareer avenues or through full-team control in the various other modes–can be taxing, but extremely rewarding when you come away with that W.

The most rewarding aspect of NBA 2K is in the MyCareer path, and the same holds true for this year’s game. You create a player, spec them out for a position, and build them further by specializing in certain basketball skills and stats. For example, I built my guy to be a point guard who can thread the needle when dishing assists, but one who can also easily finish with driving layups or mid-range jumpers.

Once you’ve settled on your template and stat potentials, you go through a new yet familiar story of being a young, upcoming player leading into the NBA draft. Notable actors like Michael K. Williams, Djimon Hounsou, and Jesse Williams play roles in your cinematic-style story and deliver strong performances. But while some dramatic or pivotal moments draw you in for just a beat, it doesn’t really add up to much or sensibly connect on a narrative front. There’s a cheesy romantic subplot, petty player drama, a thread about your dad who apparently passed away but shows up in flashbacks (he’s played by Jesse Williams and doesn’t look a day older than your player, so that was confusing), and a somewhat shady family friend who can become your agent. Really, it’s fancy set-dressing to usher you into the full roster of MyCareer activities.

Like past iterations, the level of depth that goes into building your player remains the strongest hook–this includes working your way into the starting lineup as an NBA player as you play through seasons, gaining endorsements, getting swagged out in new clothes and shoes, and playing in competitive pickup matches online.

Here, NBA 2K21 flexes one of its bigger changes with The Neighborhood, now centered around a Southern California beachfront. It’s a refreshing change of scenery and a much more pleasant backdrop for this hub world where pick-up 3-on-3s and half-court 2-on-2s take place, and various facilities and shops are propped up. The functional purpose remains the same, but if anything, the new layout makes it harder to get to shops and facilities since they’re placed on the streets opposite of the courts, rather than the outskirts surrounding the courts like in previous iterations.

Matching up for games in The Neighborhood remains the same–it can be a slog, waiting for players to queue up and the game to cycle through all the pre- and post-game animations. I find the The Rec’s 5-on-5 games much more satisfying with proper matchmaking (given that teams are balanced in skill and positions), and you can take this basketball ethos a step further in the organized Pro-Am league. But enjoyment from these competitive outlets relies on the players you get matched with, and also how much your player has progressed in order to keep up.

This is where virtual currency (VC) comes into play, yet again. It’s no surprise that microtransactions litter every corner of NBA 2K21–and for me, I’ve moved on from being outraged to feeling despondent. The game borders on a pay-to-win model, with progression tracks that are paced in ways to nudge you towards paying for VC rather than earning it. Improving your stats still relies on spending VC, and the costs increase exponentially the further you upgrade a certain ability. There are plenty of nice cosmetics to earn, and it’s admittedly a ton of fun dressing up your player in fresh kicks and the flyest Nike and Adidas apparel, but their steep VC costs suck the life out of the experience.

VC permeates the MyTeam mode again, too. This mode acts as a fantasy-esque build-your-own-team endeavor where you earn card packs to unlock players among a roster that spans multiple NBA eras. MyTeam can be captivating for long-time basketball fans such as myself who have Allen Iverson teamed up with Anthony Davis and can take this dream team roster into single-player or multiplayer matches. However, the loot-box nature of earning card packs–which can be obtained by slowly earning MT points through new avenues like challenges, seasonal events, and turning in useless cards, or by buying them with VC–makes the reliance on VC unsurprisingly egregious.

MyGM, which puts you in the shoes of a team’s General Manager, is a mode worth mentioning. You call the shots for everything from roster moves, trades, ticket prices, marketing, and personnel decisions in hopes of building a successful franchise. It’s a sports management simulation dream, but changes here are only skin deep. You’ll go through awkwardly written and animated dialogue scenarios to manage relationships within your organization–like how I chatted to RJ Barrett about how he used to play clarinet in order to boost his morale stats, or became the yes-man of head coach Tom Thibodeau to keep him happy. MyGM’s menus are also flooded in a way that makes it difficult to navigate and get a grip of how to spend your limited time and resources through the season. I’ve really enjoyed this mode in the past with its RPG-like sensibilities, but it’s one that needs a serious revamp.

I can run down every other mode of play or feature in NBA 2K21, but I’d really just be going through the laundry list of things we’ve seen in years past–although I do want to point to the continued inclusion of the WNBA. It’s a great feature for current fans and those who want to familiarize themselves with WNBA teams and players. Where this falls short is that the WNBA is relegated to just season play, and the inclusion of female player creation is only featured in the upcoming next-gen versions of the game.

NBA 2K21 shows that the lone basketball sim we have now has largely stagnated. It’s a full package, for sure, but one that demonstrates little-to-no motivation to meaningfully improve upon itself. That doesn’t take away from the strong foundation that makes NBA 2K a fun and rewarding time. However, when you go through the same grind and the same process with only superficial changes, you just get burnt out faster than years prior. If ball is still life, NBA 2K21 is as good a version as any to pick, although even the greatest ballers need a rest.