Category: Games

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It’s only been a little over a month since the previous new episode of The Flash, but that feels like a lifetime ago now. It’s hard not to approach the show’s return with a mix of emotions. On one hand, it’s always nice to have more choices of escapism these days. On the other, Grant Gustin just confirmed everyone’s worst fears – The Flash: Season 6 is ending several episodes early due to the coronavirus shutdown. It seems too much to hope the season will receive the strong, conclusive finish it deserves, and it doesn’t help that Episode 16 is so slow to move the Mirror Master storyline along.

To be fair, this episode does connect some dots and work to make the show’s multi-pronged, post-Crisis approach a little more coherent. The big takeaway from this episode is that all roads lead back to Eva McCulloch and her quest for revenge against her glory-hogging husband. Even the Ralph/Sue subplot is tied into the Mirror Master storyline in a more direct way. The issue is more that these connections happen in spite of the main Ragdoll plot thread rather than because of it.

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Ragdoll is a fascinating villain who never seems to fully get his due in the Arrowverse. This episode really encapsulates the problem. The Flash tends to lean too heavily on the character’s creep factor without doing much to explore the man behind the freaky mask. Gail Simone’s Secret Six run did so much to humanize the character and paint him as a sad clown warped by a lifetime of misery and familial abuse. Ragdoll’s bending antics only take the character so far. That’s why it’s so frustrating to see the series still focusing on the physical fear factor even now. We do get a bit of insight into Ragdoll’s motivations at the very end when he reveals his true reason for targeting Joe, but by that point it’s too little, too late.

On that note, it’s a bit frustrating to see so much effort devoted to taking Joe off the board given how little he appeared in Season 5 while actor Jesse L. Martin was injured. The intent here is obvious. Eva clearly wants to isolate Barry from his friends and family, one by one. But why not simply replace Joe with a Mirrorverse doppelganger rather than introduce a plot point that could theoretically keep him MIA for the rest of the season? Especially since it would be great to see how Martin would play an evil, inverted version of Joe.

This episode mainly connects when it focuses on Barry himself, which isn’t often enough considering the increasingly dire state of his powers. There’s a growing, palpable sense of tension in the fact that his speed is now a finite resource, and one that his enemies are all too happy to squander. The heart rate monitor watch is a clever, reasonably subtle way of highlighting that struggle and constantly reminding us of the danger he’s in. This episode makes especially strong use of that plot point in the climax. Once again,we see Barry push past his limits to become “fast enough,” except this time he fails. He used up so much precious speed, and for what? That failure helps set the right tone going forward, with Barry all but powerless and increasingly alone. Again, I just wish this episode spent more time exploring Barry’s point of view in all of this.

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Another plus – the Ralph/Sue subplot is a hoot, even if it doesn’t mesh terribly well with the rest of the episode. Yes, we get a better sense of how Sue fits into the bigger picture of Season 6. But tonally, this material is a weird match for the otherwise downbeat approach of Episode 16. It often feels as though the Ralph/Sue/Cisco scenes were grafted on from a different episode.

Still, I’m really enjoying the chemistry between Hartley Sawyer and Natalie Dreyfuss, as well as the show’s generally kooky take on Sue. Their relationship may be way different from the source material, but these two just create fun whenever they’re in a room together, and that’s all that really matters out of a Ralph Dibny/Sue Dearbon pairing. Is it too early to demand a spinoff?

The Witch of the Woods update is now live across all platforms for Smite, bringing about a number of bug fixes, balance changes, and an all-new god to play.

According to the developers, Baba Yaga was added to Smite due to community support, with the character being the most highly requested god in Smite history.

“Baba Yaga is certainly one of the most prominent characters in Slavic folklore,” says Svetlana Lisik, Russian Translation & Community Specialist at Hi-Rez Studios. “It’s amazing how excited about Baba Yaga’s release all the community is, and especially Russian-speaking fans. I’m glad to see that the SMITE Goddess they anticipated the most is now living up to their highest expectations!”

The slavic mage is set to have some eerie and chaotic abilities to match her malevolent and unpredictable personality. Baba Yaga can fire long-ranged damaging projectiles from her pestle, allowing her to engage in battle from afar. In close combat Baba Yaga’s self driving, chicken-legged hut can be entered and used as a shelter, all while throwing Witchfire at her enemies.

While Baba Yaga is a mage, with high ranged poke damage, most players will find her most playable in Mid Lane. Her abilities are light on crowd control, so she’ll be more effective if players focus on zoning out enemies with ranged pokes. For a full rundown on all of Baba Yaga’s abilities head over to the Hi-Rez developer blog.

Smite is available to play on PC, Xbox One, PS4, Mac, and Nintendo Switch. The Witch of the Woods update is live now, with the 7.4 bonus update content set to release on May 5.

XCOM: Chimera Squad is set to launch on April 24. In the lead up to release, developer Firaxis has been releasing a number of trailers focusing on the team members that will make up the Chimera Squad.

Initially, Firaxis released only four character trailers, previewing some of the squad members you can choose. The new trailers show off another four members: Claymore, Shelter, Patchwork, and Cherub.

Once again, these characters seem to each have a designated role and new abilities. Each of the eight characters we’ve seen so far has their own backstory and motivation for joining the Chimera Squad. It’s still unclear how much of a role these story elements will play in the game.

XCOM: Chimera Squad is scheduled to release for PC on April 24.

Telling Lies, designer Sam Barlow’s follow-up to his 2015 masterpiece Her Story, is arriving on consoles soon. The game, which released for PC and mobile in August 2019, will release for PS4, Xbox One, and Switch on April 28, publisher Annapurna has announced.

The game has players piecing together four interviews delivered through full-motion video (FMV) of to solve a mystery. It features four actors, including Logan Marshall-Green (Upgrade) and Kerry Bishe (Halt and Catch Fire), to deliver its story. It also uses a diegetic computer-screen interface that players explore in-game, so it’ll be an interesting fit for consoles.

The trailer, below, will give you some idea of what to expect.

Telling Lies earned a 7/10 in GameSpot’s review. “The production values and performances in particular make Telling Lies feel true and immediate, elevating the game’s conceit that you’re taking part in something forbidden and possibly sinister, even as you work as a digital detective,” reviewer Phil Hornshaw wrote.

Infinity Ward has provided an update on what the studio is doing to help stamp out cheaters in Call of Duty: Modern Warfare and the battle royale game, Warzone.

Beginning now, Modern Warfare and Warzone players who report potential cheaters will receive an in-game notification to let them know the offending player was banned. Additionally, Infinity Ward has released “additional dedicated security updates” to both games, while matchmaking has been updated to place suspected cheaters into matches with one another. Additionally, Infinity Ward is deploying more resources to its enforcement teams, among others, to help rid the games of cheaters.

Looking further out, the promised in-game “report-a-player” feature is coming soon, Infinity Ward said. This will be available from within the killcam and spectate modes.

Players have loudly voiced their concerns about the state of Modern Warfare and Warzone as it relates to cheating, though it’s too soon to say if these new measures will be effective.

One further issue is that Modern Warfare and Warzone feature cross-play support between console and PC. Historically, PC tends to be where most of the cheating takes place due to the nature of the platform being more open than consoles. Some players on console have elected to turn off cross-play to help with the issues, and you can easily do this from the in-game settings.

Infinity Ward has already banned more than 70,000 cheaters from Warzone, and this figure does not include any bans for the standard Modern Warfare. “We are watching. We have zero tolerance for cheaters,” Infinity Ward said.

The full Warzone security and enforcement policy document lays out everything you need to know about offenses that can get you banned, or worse.

Activision’s latest numbers show that Warzone has attracted some 50 million players, so it makes sense statistically that there would be some bad eggs. For comparison in the battle royale space, Apex Legends developer Respawn announced in March 2019 that it had banned more than 350,000 players, a number that has surely grown since then.