Author: Trafficblast

Ahead of the official launch of Hyper Scape on August 11, Ubisoft has released the patch notes for the update that’s going live alongside the launch. Notably, the patch makes numerous balance changes to certain weapons and Hacks, and makes a nice adjustment to health regeneration. You can see the full patch notes below.

“Although we find having a slightly faster [time to kill] can be a good thing, we agree it should come more from balancing the Weapons rather than nerfing the Hacks,” Ubisoft writes in the patch notes. “Overall, the v0.5 nerf on Hacks was too severe. Like many of you told us, we also firmly believe the unique pacing and gameplay provided by the Hacks is essential to Hyper Scape, and we do not intend to drift away from that.”

To that end, the Protocol V sniper rifle will once again be a one-shot kill and the Ball, Slam, Teleport, Reveal, Invisibility, Mine, Invincibility (previously called Armor), and Shockwave Hacks all getting lower cooldown times. Shockwave and Mine are also getting noticeable buffs to the damage they dish out. This all should encourage players to close the distance on opponents as quickly as possible and more readily rely on Hacks while in the midst of a fight, not just guns. And to make sure these close-range engagements are a little easier to manage, the time until health regen kicks in has been shortened from 10 seconds to 5.

The patch also pushes live all of Hyper Scape’s Season 1 content, including a battle pass and challenges. A new semi-automatic rifle called the Dragonfly and Hack called Magnet are being added as well. Season 1 will see the start of story content in Hyper Scape too, you’ll be able to discover memory shard collectibles during matches–picking them up unlocks lore about the Hyper Scape universe.

Hyper Scape Season 1 Update Patch Notes

Weapons

• Dragonfly
  • Damage Across Fusion: 18/18/18/18/21
  • Clip size Across Fusion: 12/14/16/18/20
• Harpy
  • Damage Across Fusion: 7/7/7/7/8
  • Rate of Fire: 740 RPM (previously 800)
  • Clip size Across Fusion: 30/33/36/39/45
• Hexfire
  • Damage Across Fusion: 4/4/4/4/5
  • Clip size Across Fusion: 150/180/210/240/270
• Ripper
  • Damage Across Fusion: 11/11/11/11/14 (previously 12/12/12/12/15)
  • Clip size Across Fusion: 24/26/28/30/36
• Riot 1
  • Damage Across Fusion: 26/28/31/34/38 (previously 29/31/33/35/39)
  • Clip size Across Fusion: 6/6/6/6/6
• D-Tap
  • Damage Across Fusion: 5/5/5/5/6
  • Clip size Across Fusion: 15/17/18/20/23
• Protocol V
  • Damage Across Fusion: 50/55/62/70/80 (previously 50/54/58/62/67)
  • Clip size Across Fusion: 3/3/3/3/3
• Mammoth
  • Damage per Pellet Across Fusion: 5/5/5/5/7 (previously 6/6/6/6/7)
  • Clip size Across Fusion: 5/6/7/8/9
• Skybreaker
  • Damage Across Fusion: 40/44/50/56/64 (previously 50/54/58/62/67)
  • Clip size Across Fusion: 1/1/1/1/1
  • Min Range for Full Damage & Full Explosion AoE: 20m
• Komodo
  • Damage Across Fusion: 29/29/29/29/34
  • Clip size Across Fusion: 5/6/7/8/9 (previously 4/5/6/7/8)
  • Min Range for Full Damage: 15m
• Salvo
  • Damage Across Fusion: 23/23/23/23/28 (previously 20/20/20/20/24)
  • Clip size Across Fusion: 6/7/8/9/10 (previously 5/6/7/8/9)

Hacks

• Magnet
  • Cooldown Across Fusion: 14/13/12/11/9s
  • Max Active Magnets: 1
• Ball
  • Cooldown Across Fusion: 12/11/10/9/7s (previously 14/13/12/11/9s)
  • Hit Points: 65
• Slam
  • Cooldown Across Fusion: 12/11/10/9/7s (previously 14/13/12/11/9s)
  • Damage Across Fusion: 20/20/20/20/30
• Teleport
  • Cooldown Across Fusion: 12/11/10/9/7s (previously 14/13/12/11/9s)
• Reveal
  • Cooldown Across Fusion: 12/11/10/9/7s (previously 14/13/12/11/9s)
• Wall
  • Cooldown Across Fusion: 12/11/10/9/7s
  • Hit Points: 250
  • Effect Duration: 9s
  • Max Active Walls: 2
• Invisibilty
  • Cooldown Across Fusion: 14/13/12/11/9s (previously 16/15/14/13/11s)
  • Effect Duration: 5s
  • Key fix: A bug where Invisible players made no footstep noise has been fixed.
• Mine
  • Cooldown Across Fusion: 14/13/12/11/9s (previously 16/15/14/13/11s)
  • Damage Across Fusion: 30/30/30/30/45
  • Detection Radius: 15m (previously 12m)
  • Mine Chase Duration: 8s
  • Max Active Mines: 1
• Invulnerable
  • Cooldown Across Fusion: 14/13/12/11/9s (previously 16/15/14/13/11s)
  • Effect Duration: 5s
• Heal
  • Cooldown Across Fusion: 14/13/12/11/9s
  • Effect Duration: 9s
  • Max Active Heals: 1
• Shockwave
  • Cooldown Across Fusion: 12/11/10/9/7s (previously 14/13/12/11/9s)
  • Damage Across Fusion: 20/20/20/20/30 (previously 10/10/10/10/15)
  • Key fix: The bug where Shockwave would fail to trigger a jump when aiming down at your feet has been fixed.

Twitch Crowncast

• Lethal Melee Event
  • New Game Event triggered via Viewers’ Vote on Crowncast extension only.
  • Effect: Melee deals massive damage (enough to instantly eliminate an opponent).
  • Event Duration: 50s
• Kudos
  • New option available to Viewers in the Crowncast extension
  • Twitch Viewers can now use Bits to send Kudos & show their support to their streamer during the match. Kudos are in-game emotes and do not affect gameplay.

Progression, Battle Pass, & Shops

• Battle Pass & Challenges
  • New 100 Tiers Battle Pass added, with both Free and Premium tracks.
  • Challenges are now always displayed in the World Map
  • Assists are now tracked only when helping an Ally/Squad player eliminate an Enemy player, as designed.
• Shops
  • Season One items have been added to the Daily Shop.
  • A new Weekly Shop has been added and will propose Item Bundles.
• Memories
  • Memory Shards Collectibles have been added to the game
  • They will progressively appear during the Season and will provide Lore about the Hyper Scape universe as well as Battle points once discovered.
  • You can read the Lore found with Memories in the Hall of Champions located to your left when you enter the Hyper Scape HUB.

Game Modes & Systems

• Anti-Cheat & Anti-Toxicity
  • Player Reporting Tool: This first version of the tool allows players to report other players they are in a Squad with. To access the Report option, select the name of the Squad player the Social Menu.
  • Scramble Player Name: A new feature for Streamers and anyone who would like to anonymize themselves in other players’ games.
  • Minor Protection: An option for parents to limit the amount their child can be exposed to other players in game. Enabling Minor Protection enables the following features
    • Scramble Player Name – ON
    • Voice Chat Channel – PARTY ONLY
    • Text Chat Channel – PARTY ONLY
    • Chat Filter – ON
• Player Health
  • Health Regen Trigger Delay: 5s (previously 10s, but overall time to full HP unchanged)
  • Improved & more progressive Critical Health feedback.
• Loot Fusion
  • Full Fusion items can now directly spawn from Chests & Crates only, to make the Fusion more progressive during the match; items dropped by players are unchanged, this affect only the Loot spawned at the beginning of the match.
  • Standard Chest (2x items, 10% Fusion chance).
  • Game Event Crates (2x items, 100% Fusion chance).
  • Item pickup radius & comfort has been increased.

Other Systems

• Added 5 Controller Preset Configurations (No Click, Shoulder Jump, Deploy Master, Hack Master, Button Ping).
• Added Credits.
• Added Contender’s Code.
• Added Ubisoft Club.

Call of Duty: Modern Warfare and the battle royale game Warzone are set to receive a pair of new updates in the future. Senior communications manager Ashton Williams announced on Twitter that the first update will fix bugs, make some weapon tuning changes, and clear out an exploit.

The second one will address a “graphical corruption issue” related to weapons. It will also fix a problem that caused the “Play Again” option to break.

There is no ETA on when these patches will arrive, however. We’ll report back with the full patch notes when they are published.

In addition to the ongoing updates for Modern Warfare and Warzone, Activision is preparing to announce this year’s new game, which is believed to be Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War. Recent teasers have suggested that Activision will further pull back the curtain on the new game this Friday, August 14. However, the official reveal of the new game is expected to come later.

2020’s new Call of Duty game is developed by Black Ops creator Treyarch and longtime Call of Duty support studio Raven Software.

Fast & Furious: Crossroads released August 7, but reviews have not been forthcoming–it seems that very few media got code for the game, and those that did certainly didn’t have them in time for launch. GameSpot has not reviewed the title, but the sites that have covered the game, unfortunately, have few good things to say about it.

Crossroads seemed, in the lead-up to launch, like a possible winner. The game was developed by Slighty Mad Studios (Project Cars 3) alongside Tigon Studios, the Vin Diesel-owned studio behind The Wheelman. It features Diesel as series mainstay Dominic Toretto, along with Michelle Rodriguez and Tyrese Gibson, reprising their roles. The Fast & Furious saga has struggled to produce a good game, but this one seemed to have a chance.

The game, which was originally due to release in May alongside F9: The Fast Saga before its delay, is out now, and the few reviews have not been kind. Common complaints cite poor mission design, awful handling, and lousy visuals, although the plot has earned some mild praise for feeling, more or less, like a typical Fast & Furious story. There’s at least one flat-out positive review so far, too–we’ve included it below.

The reviews are, at least, more positive than the ones Fast & Furious: Showdown received. But it seems that the best Fast & Furious game ever remains Forza Horizon 2 Presents Fast & Furious, which has long since been de-listed and wasn’t exactly heavy on Fast & Furious flavor.

• Game: Fast & Furious: Crossroads
• Platforms: PC, Xbox One, PS4
• Developer: Slightly Mad Studios
• Release date: August 7
• Price: $60 / £50 / $90 AUD

The Gamer – 8/10

“I can understand why some people might bounce off Crossroads. Its story is campy, its driving unrealistic, and its physics and graphics a bit on the wonky side. This is the furthest thing from a polished AAA experience, and it’s very clear that Bandai Namco isn’t marketing it much because of that. But here’s the thing – I value creativity, fun, and focus over polish, to an extent. To me, Crossroads is bursting with those things. Yeah, it’s janky and a bit dumb, but what other game this year is going to let you chase a space shuttle through New Orleans?” – Bella Blondeau [Full Review]

Game Informer – 5/10

“Many of us lived through the era of video games that was overflowing with bad movie-to-game adaptations, and Crossroads is a pointed reminder of those days, showing just how far games have come since then. It’s a mess of a game that hones in on why the Fast movies are great, but will make you want to put the controller down to watch one of those movies instead.” – Andrew Reiner [Full Review]

The Xbox Hub – 2/5

“The controls in Fast & Furious Crossroads are dreadful, with as much feel as a dead trout and as much effect on the way your race goes as rubbing your lucky rabbit’s foot. One mission sees Cam trying to win a race on a narrow course in Rio, and without a word of a lie it took me about 15 attempts to get around the course without crashing on every corner. Handbrake turns don’t work, slowing down doesn’t work – you may as well close your eyes and mutter a little prayer every time you come up to a corner, and I feel like you wouldn’t do any worse than if you tried to race properly. The secret to beating this level? Wall grinding – just letting the track take you where you need to go. Although the barriers do seem to be weirdly magnetic, as once you hit them it is hard to drive off them.” – Paul Renshaw [Full Review]

Push Square – 3/10

“How Fast & Furious Crossroads wound up as a full-price release will forever remain a mystery. It is lacking in every department possible, from shallow and repetitive gameplay through to abysmal visuals that belong on the previous generation of consoles. Not even the most committed Fast & Furious fans should subject themselves to this monstrosity. That is unless you want to have a good laugh alongside Vin Diesel.” – Liam Croft [Full Review]

Metro – 2/10

“Fast & Furious Crossroads is an unwanted reminder of the bad old days of movie tie-ins, when cheaply made games would be thrown out as quickly as possible (or not in this case) in order to make money on name recognition, before word got around that the game was no good. It had seemed that such days were long behind us, but this is just as bad as all the other Fast & Furious games, if not worse given how it wastes the behind the scenes talent.” [Full Review]

Eurogamer – Avoid

“Perhaps the biggest frustration, coming to Crossroads as a Fast & Furious fan, is those glimpses of what could have been, and seeing an enjoyable enough slice of series lore being under-served so severely by the game behind it. In a saner, less cruel world Crossroads might have been put to rest when it became clear it just wasn’t going to work – as it is, it’s just been left to limp out in this sorry, sorry state. What a disappointment.” – Martin Robinson [Full Review]

Raphael Colantonio, who founded studio Arkane and worked on classics like Arx Fatalis, Dishonored, and Prey, went indie after leaving the studio in 2017. His new studio, WolfEye Studios, will debut their first game Weird West next year. Now, in an interview with PC Gamer, Colantonio has explained why he left the studio he created, and the benefits of going independent.

Colantonio says that the risk of development is offset, at least partially, by the studio’s independence, saying that “what’s at stake is a little lower” than it was with Arkane’s bigger offerings. “We can take more risks, and we are less worried about the market than we would be if we were doing a AAA game,” he says. “Because the numbers to recoup a AAA game, you’re talking about numbers that are so high that, then you’re not making a game anymore, you’re making a product.”

This is a large part of why he left Arkane. “My dream when I started Arkane in ’99 was to make Underworld for the rest of my life,” he says, referring to Ultima Underworld, a series that hugely influenced his work. Following Prey, he felt a creative anxiety over what he was working on, and says he was “so tired in general”.

“It was extremely, extremely liberating to leave a company that, in spite of all the passion and love I had for it, at the same time it had been an 18 year chunk of my life,” he admits. “There was no way I wanted to come back to AAA, making another thing where you focus 90 percent of your efforts on having the feet not sliding on the floor.”

Back in 2016, ex-Naughty Dog director Amy Hennig discussed the impact of working in AAA, in relation to her work on the Uncharted series, particularly Uncharted 3. “I mean, my health really declined, and I had to take care of myself, because it was, like, bad,” she said. “And there were people who, y’know, collapsed, or had to go and check themselves in somewhere when one of these games were done. Or they got divorced. That’s not okay, any of that. None of this is worth that.”

For more on Weird West and Raphael Colantonio, check out our video interview with him above.