Project Hospital - PC Preview

When I was asked if I wanted to review Project Hospital, I already knew exactly what it was all about, and kind of wanted to pass.  But then I looked at it and realized that, no, this isn’t the hospital simulator that I thought it was… because there were two games with a very similar premise that are coming out around the same time.  I don’t like to compare games to each other when I could instead weigh them by their own merits, but in this case, the juxtaposition is unavoidable.

Project Hospital is the more realistic between itself and Two Point Hospital.  The graphics aren’t as cartoony, and the afflictions that you diagnose and treat are real, as opposed to “The client has a lightbulb for a head”.  You can build your hospital from the ground up, laying the foundation, adding additional floors, staffing different people on different shifts, managing raises, how long of a break they get, what kinds of insurance companies you will accept patients from, and an inordinate number of other things.  You earn money from treating patients, with the amount varying depending on which insurance type they have, and while it isn’t much per patient, the more you are treating, the more upgrades, equipment, and staff you can afford.

The music is better, the interface is smoother, cleaner, and generally just seems to take itself a bit more seriously.  When you have a client, it will show their symptoms and a list of possible ailments with their probabilities listed.  You can order additional tests to uncover hidden symptoms, which help to differentiate and rule out the false outcomes.  When the diagnosis is selected, you can read to determine the treatment and assign that treatment for the patient.

This is a great game, and honestly, the only issue I have with it at all wou--

We’re sorry, this demo preview has expired.  We look forward to seeing you at launch!

Game Information

Platform:
PC
Developer(s):
Oxymoron Games
Publisher(s):
Oxymoron Games
Genre(s):
Simulation
Mode(s):
Single Player
Other Platform(s):
N/A

Source:
Provided by Publisher

Article by Marc H.

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GRIP: Combat Racing - Xbox One Review

There are a lot of things that GRIP: Combat Racing gets right. The most important of which is probably the 'fun factor' that comes with the game's high speed carnage. GRIP makes a great first impression despite some mostly average visuals. The biggest issue facing GRIP is that the experience is a somewhat shallow one that might not encourage gamers to come back to it time and again. In a nutshell: I like GRIP - I just don't love it.

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Battlerite Royale - PC Preview

For any of you MOBA or Arena fans out there wanting to test your skills, always having that confidence in going in 1v5 because you are just that good? Well look no further now you can test your skills 1v99. Easy, right? Battlerite has released a new game by taking in the popular Royale genre and integrating it into its own playstyle creating this hybrid that works out a lot better than it sounds. Players of both game types come together and prove who will rise to the top in this new Battlerite Royale preview!

As someone who has spent many hours playing Battlerite, I figured this shouldn't be nearly as difficult as maybe some new players would. Turns out, I was wrong. Even with the hours I have in Battlerite this game still has its own kind of learning curve to adapt to. Rather than having all your skills at your disposal, you instead start the match with 1 skill, and just enough money to buy 2 more, and 1 potion. It takes a lot of guess and check to find out which 2 skills are really the best to start with. Upon landing from your initial fall into the map a priority is to find "chests" that looks like spheres with runes to unlock new buffing items, gold, or abilities.

Not all of the characters from the Battlerite game are currently in Battlerite Royale they have a variety of each character in the ways of Melee, ranged, and mage types. I have yet to notice many support characters currently in the royale version, likely due to usually requiring a teammate to really make them shine. That being said, the supports that are currently in the game are there for a reason, as I learned early on…there is no bad characters in this mode, depending on the person behind the screen I have had my butt kicked by all types. But not to worry, after losing there is always a spectate mode, this is quite useful if you want to learn what exactly the others are doing in order to survive and make it further, or just hit that exit button and jump back in for round 2!

The buildup before the launch actually has its uses not only does it have a chance to let you see the competition around you, but it gives you a chance to spend that "pre game" gold and get some new skills before the hectic drop and scramble for loot. When the game is starting you fly out on a dragon, and start to soar over the map, and so it begins. This is where your play style as a person really shows. The big fighters will always jump off the dragon straight away and go for the ground as soon as possible, grab some loot and begin a blood bath. Some prefer to play it safer and avoid the early game blood bath and go for the less populated areas and grab some loot for the mid game. I would never call the 3rd type a coward, if anything these are often the type to want to win the most. They will land in the middle of no where and grab as much loot as possible and avoid that early conflict, solely aiming for that win.

It begins with the fall, but always remember when falling that you can navigate yourself and land more strategically either inside a house with loot, or if you noticed too many players landing near you perhaps navigate to the side and let me brawl it out and go in for the cleanup. The early game is very important this is when skill rains supreme, before players have a chance to gear up and get rare or epic skills it becomes a 1v1 3 skills each, lets see who comes out on top, for those who are confident, this is the best part of the game. As time passes we have a death vortex that appears, this vortex does constant damage players stuck inside of it, this is to close the map off and force the remaining players to find each other until 1 remains. The only thing to look out for are those who can be referred to as the "cleanup crew" nothing feels worse than clutching out a victory against a worthy opponent just to simply be taken out 5 seconds later before having time to heal.

There are 3 kinds of loot in this game, gear, skills, consumables and gold. All items come in rarities that greatly affect the items bonus stats. In order of strength it goes Green, Blue, Purple, Golden. The gear has effects on the players such as movement speed, life stealing, damage, all sorts of affects, the greater the rarity, the better the item is. Next is skills, as you open loot chests you can find either duplicates of your current skills, or find new or more powerful versions to help you push forward. Consumables are a huge part of this game, the need for potions or usable items really helps survive the long haul. Whether you are coming off a close win or even missing a bit of health, its always good to heal up and top off when you can find the time never knowing if you will have the chance or not.

There are more than simple potions when it comes to consumables, there are items that can make a character fly across the screen, or shoot a rocket that can stun an opponent, perhaps using a fake chest bomb to fool other players and give you an advantage after it blew up in their face!
Lastly there is gold, at first this doesn't seem very useful when you are being attacked by other players, but if you manage pull through there are merchants layed out all over the map. The gold is used to buy either items consumables or even new skills from these vendors. Having the ability to increase your move speed or get some extra damage, or even buy some potions when you have not been lucky enough to find them.

You will never leave a game feeling empty handed, each game will reward you some experience and gold to purchase cosmetic items or characters regardless of your finishing position. There are leagues that you will be placed in depending on how well you have ranked, kills per match, placement, wins. All of these affect your placement and rewards. There is also a built in reward system simply by playing, the achievements list, complete the requirements to earn "free stuff" at the low low price of your spare time!

Battlerite royale is a great take on a hybrid mix of Moba/royale had a baby and made something new. The games unique ideas, and loot system made it a ton of fun trying to figure out which characters I loved playing in this mode. The smooth gameplay and the great fresh feeling through my first or even my 10th drop made it a game worth playing.

Game Information

Platform:
PC
Developer(s):
Stunlock Studios
Publisher(s):
Stunlock Studios
Genre(s):
Battle Royale
Mode(s):
Multiplayer
Other Platform(s):
N/A

Source:
Provided by Publisher

Article by Marc L.

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Megadimension Neptunia VIIR - PC / VR Review

It would be easy to dismiss Megadimension Neptunia VIIR as a simple VR update to the original Megadimension Neptunia VII that released a couple of years ago, but credit Compile Heart for taking the time to update several aspects of the original game, even if none of them - VR included - are going to make this feel like a completely new and fresh experience.

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SNK 40th Anniversary Collection - Switch Review

Despite a handful of emulation issues that show up now and again, the SNK 40th Anniversary Collection is a fantastic compilation of titles that should have a little something for just about everyone who enjoys action titles. On top of that, it is clear that a great deal of effort went into making sure that this was more than just a collection of games, thanks in large part to some smart choices made with features and presentation.

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Landinar: Into the Void - PC Preview

Landinar: Into the Void is an excellent space adventure with deeply customizable starships, intense combat, and a fantastic feature of seamlessly moving from starship control to interior pilot control. This means gamers can enter the numerous space stations or move around various compartments within a starship and repair critical components. Though still early in its Early Access phase, Landinar is a gorgeous and often smooth experience and with its responsive development team, changing nearly every day. By taking the helm in Landinar you take control, and of more than just the pilot and a wicked starship; in Landinar how you explore the quadrant is up to you. The premise and initial preview of Landinar are both exciting and dare I say I am impatiently awaiting its eventual release.

Fair warning, Landinar: Into the Void is in Early Access and is (unfortunately) a bit clunky with technical oddities. However, I am (and have been) quite unconcerned with them as the swell folks over at Convoy Games are on top of literally everything. Post some feedback or report a bug? Prompt response, logs are often requested, then boom … an update is released after a thorough investigation and *POOF* woes be gone (note, for those not in development, "POOF" is far from instantaneous and could be anything from a few weeks to months). Still, they are incredibly dedicated to ensuring you have the smoothest experience in the open-world sandbox-style action-packed space title. There will be hiccups in the Early Access, but that is WHY there is an Early Access and they are on a mission to making sure it is the best that it will be.

Landinar: Into the Void is awesome. Pure and simple.

There are, though, a few desirable upgrades I would like to see with Landinar, and largely that involves both ramming and camera control. While walking as a character, not as your ship, the camera is fixed and there are plenty of stations that have winding corridors and foreground cover and it is easy to lose sight of your pilot. Being able to rotate the camera can save a *ton* of time that is spent on running around trying to actually *see* what is happening. Another update I would like to see is an update or addition for ramming; a lightweight craft with strong hull slamming into other ships could be devastating. Right now units just sort of bounce off of one another and while damage can occasionally be substantial, it is relatively unsatisfying. I do hope, though, that the ability to step out of the cockpit means that we may eventually be able to board other vessels in an attempt to sabotage, steal, or covertly destroy enemies. Think about it for a moment; a small stealth ship that can board others unseen where you can then kidnap (or kill) pilots, take down ship systems, or steal cargo/schematics.

What is spectacular is the wonderful meld between piloting the starship and moving around as a pilot. This brings a certain (and excellent) level of depth that I can really get behind. After you run into an asteroid (you WILL do that, it is inevitable) or are in combat with overwhelming forces, you can hop out of the cockpit and go repair your systems. While this can be immersive, it also adds a level of depth that extends beyond grabbing quests or purchasing items, as it means that your ship's interior layout. If you are going to be combat-heavy then you may want to put all of your combat-oriented systems, like generators or weapons, near the cockpit so you can quickly jump out and repair those systems if they because too damaged while you are hunting pirates (or being a pirate yourself). I do, though, wish that you could actually design the ship, not just select from premade designs then alter the interior layouts. Though the ship designs are solid, there are plenty of restrictions in said designs; I just feel that there is not enough variation … yet.

Landinar: Into the Void is a wonderful spaceship sim that is in the early stages of development and with plenty to do, it is worth of any spacefaring adventurer. With Convoy Games constantly pushing updates (at a rate that is so fast that some items mentioned in this preview may actually be addressed already; they are FAST) and at only $16 USD, Landinar is an absolute steal. Keep an eye out on their Steam store page for more updates!

Game Information

Platform:
PC
Developer(s):
Convoy Games
Publisher(s):
Convoy Games
Genre(s):
Action
Adventure
RPG
Mode(s):
Single Player
Other Platform(s):
N/A

Source:
Provided by Publisher

Article by Robert

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Gal Metal - Switch

Gal Metal does a great job of shaking up expectations - from its zany story to its unconventional take on the music rhythm genre. More often than not, the ridiculous elements that make Gal Metal work, even if at times it does not seem like they should. The overall experience is an enjoyable, unpredictable one spanning more than a dozen chapters.

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Valeguard - PC Review

Valeguard is a mashup between turn-based strategy and tower defense genres and it likes to try to keep its feet on both sides of the river, but frankly, just ends up getting both feet wet.

You are introduced to your starter village in the tutorial and are taught essentially everything that you need to know.  The game progresses in a day/night cycle that alternates between turn-based and real-time game modes.  During the day, you choose how to allocate your workers, deciding between chopping wood, mining ore, forging weapons, building structures, or growing food.  Managing these resources will be the part that makes or breaks your nighttime, so it’s important to learn what you’re doing quickly.

Then you end turn, and you get attacked (or don’t) by the undead.  Your units, comprised of both regular units that you create (by giving villagers the weapons you craft) and hero units that are vastly superior to the plebeian units.  Enemies approach from one or more sides (with it varying depending on which level/town you are playing) and proceed to beeline their way for your buildings unless they are attacked, at which point they will turn on their attackers in an effort to gain some company in death.  Click a unit, or drag select a number of them, and then right-click to attack or move to a location, in a very Defense of the Ancients flavored control style.

And that’s about it.  Sometimes a visitor comes to your village in the day, and you’re given a Choose-your-own-adventure-style choice, which will penalize or benefit you based on your selection.  A beggar coming to the village can be driven off with force, ignored, or welcomed in with open arms, and he may eat some of your food, but also work as a villager for the night to give you added productivity, or if you killed him, perhaps there will be a stronger undead unit later that night that starts off right in the middle of your unprotected structures.  Sometimes you’re attacked multiple nights in a row, while sometimes you get a pass, but for the most part, that’s pretty much all there is to this game.

The graphics are light and DOTA-y, the music is downright forgettable, and all in all, yeah, you’ll get $15 worth of entertainment out of it, so it is definitely worth the buy, but it’s not going to win any awards, do anything new and revolutionary, or stand out much at all.

This is a single-developer project, though, and it’s important to keep that in mind when you weigh this game against its brothers that have whole teams developing them.  The entirety of this review is me picking at the limitations of the title, but it isn’t an exaggeration to say that it far outweighs a great number of single-indie-dev titles that I’ve seen, and that it is more than worth acquiring and giving a shot.

Game Information

Platform:
PC
Developer(s):
Lost Tower Games
Publisher(s):
Lost Tower Games
Genre(s):
Simulation
Strategy
RPG
Mode(s):
Single Player
Other Platform(s):
N/A

Source:
Provided by Publisher

Article by Marc H.

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Punch Line - PS4 Review

With slapstick humour and plenty of fanservice, Punch Line can aptly be summed up by stating its title. Punch Line came out as an anime in 2015, and I watched it back then, and have the same thing to say about the game now: “this is ridiculous”. Not a bad ridiculous mind you, just…ridiculous.

In case you were curious, the show/game is, for the most part, a series of gags and “punch lines’ (title drop). In fact, every characters name is a pun on their personality/role in the story if you know enough Japanese to pick up on it, or bother to google it. Even more so because the title “Punch Line” sounds like “Panty Line” when said in English with a Japanese accent, which brings us to the plot!

You play as Yutan Iridatsu, who got involved in a bus jacking incident, and then became an astral spirit, while somebody else is using his body. With the help of the spirit of the cat Chiranosuke, Yutan needs to find a way back into his body by using his meagre spirit power. How does this relate to the title, you may ask? Well, if Yutan sees panties twice in a row (or for too long for the purposes of the game), then he gets too excited and a meteor crashes into the earth killing everybody. Yes, really. Thankfully, as a spirit body, Yutan isn’t tethered by the pesky laws of spacetime, and can return to certain points in the past to try and reclaim his body.

Punch Line plays in episodic segments that consist of: visual novel style plot advancement, a “scare people for points” segment, and a “trick” segment. At least for the first half of the game, the second half is almost exclusively story time. The idea behind the spooking people is that you need soul fragments in order to increase your power as a spirit, so you need to literally scare them out of people. Don’t worry though, they’ll be back to normal after a good nights sleep.

You can scare the tenets of Korai House (the boarding house where Yutan lives) by messing around with stuff with your spirit powers, which you use by pointing and clicking. Similar for the “trick” segments, you have a goal that you need to accomplish by setting up various pieces in order to create a domino effect that will end in your desired result, although the logic jumps for those can be pretty ridiculous at times, but that’s just par for the course with Punch Line.

There’s not a whole lot more I can really say about Punch Line without just giving the story away, but I will say that it was genuinely funny, and there were a lot of fully animated cutscenes too, which was really nice to see. The music was good, and some of the character songs were absolutely hilarious. The characters themselves are also all really unique and entertaining.

The quicksave function during the story segments is really useful, and almost TOO quick. Unfortunately, the game really feels like it was truly meant as low budget episodic segments. Well done low budget episodes mind you, but the feeling is still there. There are a lot of chapters, but they’re all pretty short, and the trick segments barely last any time at all, and feel more like they were added in just to keep from having to call Punch Line a “Visual Novel” instead.

This is really unfortunate because I do really enjoy the type of gameplay they were advertising in the trick segments. If you’re looking for more of that, try playing “Ghost Trick”, the only mobile game I’ve ever actually paid money for. Back to Punch Line though, the character polygons would snap to different poses a lot during dialogue, and while the characters were all really animated, it really gives you a sense of disconnect.

All in all, I came away pleased with the experience. While I did know all the plot twists from the anime, the game was still fun and short enough to pick up a chapter here and there. While Punch Line really feels more like a handheld or mobile experience, it’s still a lot of gags, fun, and good music. If you haven’t seen the anime, now you can play it, so get out there and don’t stare at the panties!

Game  Information

Platform:
Sony PlayStation 4
Developer(s):
5pb.
Publisher(s):
PQube
Genre(s):
Adventure
Visual Novel
Mode(s):
Single Player
Other Platform(s):
Sony PlayStation Vita
PC

Source:
Provided by Publisher

Article by Richard

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Valthirian Arc - PS4 Review

My first thought about this game was "Am I playing some strange version of Harry Potter?" But I was surprisingly wrong. Valthirian Arc: Hero School Story is a simulation  action-adventure story game that allows you to become the principal of a school to manage and build the land into the proper academy. Developed by a small company called Agate, this PC only title has now made its way to our home consoles the PS4 and the Switch.

The story opens up to the Kingdom of Vathiria celebrating the retirement of the schools old principal and has tasked you to take on this new endearing role. With the help of the remaining staff it's up to you to shape the future for new Heroes. But be wary of the allied nations as they could be your greatest assets or your worst enemies.

You'll begin with a handful of students that you must train to become heroes. Either through taking lessons or sending them out on quests, it's your job to upgrade them into top level students or by evolving them into a job class. There are three job classes in total that you can choose from: Warrior, Mage, or Ranger class. With each experience and level your students get they can power up certain skills and abilities to aid them in battle or that nasty final exam. If you max out their job level before the end of the school year they can be upgraded a second time to their ultimate job class form; Paladin, Scholar, Harlequin and more!

Sending your Heroes out on quests and missions is another great aspect to this game. It allows you to play through the dungeons to increase your party level and experience. It's also a great resource for gathering material that will help you in evolving your kingdom and/or battle equipment. As you choose to participate in these events each one is slightly different, but will always end in rewards (as long as you don't K.O. your party or run from the battle). There are tasks known as 'Quest' which allows you to explore the dungeons or 'Errands' that allows you to send a team party to leave the school grounds and aid this request, but it's an off screen adventure that doesn't require you to physically be with the party. They will return once their mission is finish, but you will not be able to interact with those heroes until they return.

Leveling up your academy is also a must along side strengthening your students to become heroes. You'll need to earn points through your students in order to upgrade your school. The more you expand your academy the more students will join. You gain most of your points by either finishing daily assignments that is tasked to only the principal of the school to complete at your own pace, completing missions or graduating students at the end of their term. By evolving you gain a larger reputation throughout the kingdom.

Crafting is also available to you while you are on school property. You may visit the blacksmith to enhance, create or upgrade weapons, spells or charms. By collecting the required material and currency you can power your heroes up. Note that any item you attach to a hero will automatically return to your inventory after that student has graduated.

Remember what I said about the other nations? Depending on who you help out will determine some of the endings you get in the game. Multiple ending means multiple play through possibilities.

My final thoughts on the game is that it was surprisingly fun. Its spriteful design is bright and colorful to match its flavorful school life simulation. The only negative feed back that I would have to say is that the dungeons become pretty repetitive. They would have the same look to most of them with slight variations to the environment. It was kinda... Plain? But in the end Valthirian Arc: Hero School Story  was a 8 out of 10 for being totally entertaining.

Game Information

Platform:
Sony PlayStation 4
Developer(s):
Agate Studio
Publisher(s):
PQube
Genre(s):
Simulation
RPG
Mode(s):
Single Player
Other Platform(s):
Nintendo Switch
PC

Source:
Provided by Publisher

Article by Natasha

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Jaggy's Corner - Sunday November 4

It’s November peeps and that means a number of things for me like birthday’s coming up, National Novel Writing Month (aka NaNoWriMo), and BlizzCon.

Sadly I am not in Anaheim, California to see what BlizzCon has to offer but there have been a number of big announcements that I’d like to cover.

Destiny 2

After Mike Morhaime passed the torch to the new president of Blizzard Entertainment, the first big reveal for me was the news that Destiny 2 would be free for anyone who logged into Battle.net before November 18th. It’s important to note that players will only have access to the base game for free with Curse of Osiris and Warmind already included. Forsaken, the newest DLC content will not be included in the Destiny 2 content. Still, if players wanted to give the game a shot without committing to a dollar amount, this is the way to go!

Celebrate the anniversary of Destiny 2's PC launch with a free game download.

Claim your free gift on Blizzard https://t.co/roHUYkBnm4 now through November 18th! pic.twitter.com/oY10tz8vJh

— Destiny The Game (@DestinyTheGame) November 2, 2018

That’s great for new players but fear not! Veteran players will receive an exclusive gift that supposedly includes a new emblem, shader, and two exotic emotes! That said, we don’t have further information on this fact except for the quick mention from Steve Cotton, the developer of Destiny 2: Forsaken, and the BlizzCon official news post. We do know that the content will be available in December so keep your eyes peeled for that!

And just to sweeten the deal, there is also a free trial of the Gambit mode from November 9-11th for existing players. This is a new mode introduced into Destiny 2 which blends both multiplayer and monster slaying elements in a 4 versus 4 match. Players collect currency to summon a boss, hopefully before the other team. This boss will help to take down the opponents so that your team can win. It’s a mode that also allows enemy players to jump into your map. It’s an interesting interpretation of a PVP map and I haven’t played much of it, but it is fun!

Starcraft 2

After all of the amazing additions and changes to Starcraft 2 over the years, Blizzard has an excellent handle on giving all types of players content like the arcade maps, co-op missions, immersive single player campaigns across three expansions, and high level competitive play through the World Championship Series. At BlizzCon, it was announced that there would be a new co-op commander available to purchase. The familiar Protoss leader Zeratul finally enters the ring and I’m excited.

Zeratul is outfitted with all sorts of interesting abilities that players will be able to use and those abilities will revolve around something called Prophetic Vision. With it, he will be able to located Xel’Naga artifact fragments to improve his combative ability in a co-op match. He will be able to call down units, get artifact enhancements, and use a couple of top bar abilities. Each top bar ability will have different customizable options that will suit the player’s style depending on the map for that week.

A full write up of the new co-op commander and detailed descriptions of all the abilities can be found directly on the Starcraft 2 website. Players will also be able to watch a video showcasing the new abilities. You can check that out here.

Warcraft III: Reforged

Perhaps the most exciting news of the day was the announcement of Warcraft III: Reforged. Essentially, Blizzard is bringing back Warcraft III with a ton of new updates. Let me just say that as a person who loved Warcraft II: The Tides of Darkness, I’m super excited to play the legendary game that I never had the chance to play. In fact, I can’t wait to get back to playing as the Horde once again. A player can leave Azeroth, but they can never leave their allegiance. FOR THE HORDE!

*Ahem* Back to what I was saying… The character animations have been updated, the UI has changed for the better, there are tons of player created custom games, and more! Not only have they added a ton of content to the game, but they’ve rebalanced the heroes and units to bring it up to today’s standards of the RTS genre. And one more thing, they’ve even gone as far as adding 4k capability! I mean, what’s not to love?!

Be sure to check out all the information available about Warcraft III: Reforged on the website.

Overwatch

Combined with a new animated short which introduces the relationship between the new hero and McCree, Overwatch has a new hero. Her name is Ashe and she has a western feel, much like McCree but with a different fighting style. You see, Ashe’s family paid little attention to her so she created her family. That family is the Deadlock gang who has a reputation for being tough as nails. Ashe is the leader of this gang. Together they steal various objects for monetary gain, presumably.

In terms of how Ashe plays in Overwatch, she has a number of abilities at her disposal like a semi-automatic rifle that also has the ability to do precise shots, the use of dynamites for AOE damage, a heavy knock back ability, and she can summon a sidekick comically named “B.O.B.” With all of her abilities and knowledge, Ashe will be a force to be reckoned with on the Overwatch battle field.

Another Overwatch related announcement is Blizzard teaming up with Kellogg’s to release the new “Lucio-Oh’s” cereal, and it will be available to buy in December. Not only will players receive the food contained in the box, but they also will receive loot boost codes to use in-game. As we know, players are all about that fat loot!

In tandem with the cereal, right now players can download a full album of Lucio music. But, get it quickly because it is only available until November 20th! The album is titled Synaesthesia Auditiva and the music has a distinct chillstep yet up tempo sound. I actually quite like it, in truth. Anyways, get the music here while you can!

Other Mentions

There were many other interesting things announced at BlizzCon like new content for Heroes of the Storm, HearthStone, and the dreaded Diablo III mobile game. I’m sure the game will be fine but many are not enthused. (All you have to do is watch the videos with the crowd booing its announcement. On a second side note: The fact that the crowd was more excited for a cereal that was originally a joke than a full game baffles me. Although, I guess I shouldn’t be surprised because Pandas were not technically part of the World of Warcraft lore until they made an April fool’s joke into a full expansion for the game, so what do I know?)

Anyways, yes, the mobile market has increased drastically over the last couple of years. Yes, virtually everyone has mobile devices. And while it is true that businesses want to expand their player base, taking a beloved franchise into the mobile market was a gamble that Blizzard lost, in my opinion. I would argue that the reason Blizzard lost the gamble is because they came at it from behind. Diablo III was a train wreck at launch and it basically blew itself into shrapnel when the auction house was released. And yes, I know they admitted that the auction house was a mistake, causing them to take it out of the game, the damage had already been done. Later, Blizzard tried to resurrect Diablo III with the launch of Reaper of Souls. This expansion added challenges like rifts and seasonal characters, which brought a ton of players back to the game, but other Blizzard games are infinitely more popular than Diablo III.

Now, Blizzard has done many fantastic things for gaming in terms of optimization, RTS balancing, new content, etc… But, when it comes to the Diablo franchise specifically, the mobile Diablo announcement is a huge disappointment. While I respect that Blizzard is trying to bring the franchise back to life by expanding into a newer space (to them), they shot themselves in the foot by saying that there were no plans to make Diablo: Immortal available for PC version, even in the future. (Not that that is a bad thing because mobile to PC ports haven’t always been great. I’m sure Blizzard would do it properly if it became a PC ported game but still, I’m not onboard.)

Final Thoughts

I’m extremely excited for Zeratul in Starcraft 2, despite the fact that I can’t protoss to save my life. He brings a new dynamic to the current mutation maps that I’m sure many players will test out. I’m also extremely hyped for Warcraft III: Reforged since I never had the chance to play the game during the glory days. I’m even mildly excited for the Overwatch community because Ashe looks badass. She’s a tough cookie and I like her style. And along with the Overwatch announcements, while I’m not a big fan of a cereal, I enjoy the music album.

I think with most of the announcements that I read about or saw in the opening ceremonies on Twitch, I’m pleased with where Blizzard games are going. I can’t wait to see how all of these games flourish with the new content.

Also, I’m sad that Mike Morhaime, after 20+ years with Blizzard Entertainment, has stepped down from CEO of the company and will fulfill an advisory role to Blizzard. During the opening ceremonies, he has passed the torch to his colleague and friend, J. Allen Brack - the executive producer of World of Warcraft and 12+ year veteran of Blizzard. He will valiantly aim to fill the giant shoes left by Mike Morhaime. And while I’m sure Brack will do very well in his new position, many Blizzard fans (myself included) will miss Mike’s ambition and passion.

To Mike Morhaime I say good luck to you in the future. Your continued passion for video games through the years has brought many of us together as a family. Thank you for everything.

Check out the BlizzCon coverage with the virtual ticket which can be purchased here. If not, there is plenty of coverage from community members, so be sure to follow the hashtag #BlizzCon2018 on Twitter!

What’s the most exciting announcement for you? Let us know in the comments below!

Article by Susan N.

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