Page 68 – Green Man Gaming Blog

Why RTS Fans Will Love Ashes Of The Singularity

Stardock’s large-scale RTS Ashes of the Singularity is one of the few great Real-Time-Strategy games that has come out in recent years. You may be playing Starcraft 2 or enjoying the new Dawn of War III, but if you want something a bit different, and certainly more large-scale, then read on as to why you may be interested in Ashes of the Singularity.

It’s a return to an RTS mainstay

Ashes has been been praised as being a return to one of the main pillars of RTS design, back when RTS ruled the roost of PC gaming (before the MOBA). This particular pillar was large-scale, planet-encompassing battles with hundreds of units fighting each other all at once. Instead of one unit, you would have a group, and instead of an army, you would have many. Planetary Annihilation may have been the most popular one, and Ashes makes no attempt to hide how much it was influenced by it. For those who liked this form of strategy, this game is essential.

It’s point control system brings players out of their base

If you’ve played one of Relic’s RTSs such as Dawn of War or Company of Heroes, you’ll be familiar with the ‘control point’ mechanic. Nodes spread throughout the map must be captured and held to provide you with resources. Ashes borrows this, meaning that sitting in your base and building up a humongous army is counter-productive. You’ll be forming battle lines across the map, making sure your points are safe and under your control. Beware though, because the nodes need to be connected to your base. If one point in the line is captured by the enemy, all the resources it connects to are lost. Games can be won or lost by player’s behind-enemy-lines adventures.

AI that can actually rival a human player

Allow me to get a little technical. Most RTSs and games are built to be played on single core processors, which limits things like AI in RTS games, and that is seemingly where the constant wave of attacking behaviour seems to come from in most RTS games. However, Ashes makes full use of quad-core processors, making the Artificial Intelligence extremely…intelligent. It will

make its own control groups, come at you at different angles, cut off your supply lines. In fact the AI in the game is so scary, it’ll force you to play online just to play against an opponent that’ll make mistakes.

Scenarios Are A Different Take

There are several different game modes that are quite unique to Ashes, built in from the get-go. You have King of the Hill, where you must defend against waves of increasingly hard enemies. If you are tired of going on the offensive in normal games, then try your hand at defence! There’s also Overlord, a game mode that pits you and 2 AIs against an unfairly hard AI, where the bigger team will have unit restrictions. This sets up an asymmetrical struggle in a delightfully satisfying way, particularly if you’re a fan of horde armies.

Lasers, Lasers Everywhere

If you like watching big armies clashing, then nothing is more enjoyable than Ashes’ myriad lasers, missiles and rockets flying back and forth. The particle effects in the game are an incredible spectacle, and whether you’re fielding hordes of tiny tanks or huge dreadnoughts and artillery pieces, you can expect a firework display.

Have you played Ashes of the Singularity? Are you an RTS player, who is now seriously considering picking it up?

Five Reason To Just Play Little Nightmares

I thought hard about what to say on Little Nightmares, the game that kept me up all night. I asked people around the office what should I write about this game, that I just want people to play. We don’t sell it here on Green Man Gaming, so my recommendation isn’t contrived, it’s coming from someone who loves puzzle games and will rarely step foot in to a horror.

I don’t want to write about how it’s likened to Limbo or Inside, because I don’t think it is. I think it’s unique and one of a kind; it’s one of the best games I’ve ever played because it makes me care, I’m scared, but gripped. So instead I’ve listed five reasons to play Little Nightmares, if you needed a reason at all.

It’s a horror puzzle-platformer

Although the narrative does have similarities to other games, playing as a small child in a tense and brutal setting, the gameplay, art design and the persistent dread feels new. The puzzles are intriguing and progressively hard, you have to use tactics as well as skills, it’s not an easy game and it can be punishing.

The controls are simplistic and the movement is effortless

The fluidity of Six’s movement makes the whole game flow with ease and the reactions of having to dart away or grab a ledge come naturally. There’s not a lot to learn in the way of controls, but knowing how to approach certain situations is a test of patience and perseverance.

The main character Six is your driving force

I’ve not finished the game, but the deaths I’ve experienced so far are brutal and include being squeezed until Six’s bones crunch and burnt alive, listening to Six’s high pitched wails as it happens. She becomes the reason you want to have patience and strive to get through difficult chapters without dying. The screams are hard to listen to and the death is excruciating to watch.

Yes, the art design is beautiful

Deep, shadowy and unrelenting. Even when you finish a challenge successfully, you’ll be plunged back in to the gloom ready to face a harder one.

The bogeyman

Every nightmare needs a bogeyman and the monsters in Little Nightmares do not disappoint when it comes to the slimy slugs that slither out of buckets, the lumbering long-armed or the melting, sludgy strong and powerful monsters that lurk in the The Maw.

Little Nightmares is a fantastic, disturbing and unforgettable game that feels completely unique. Play it now!

Galactic Civilizations III – Top 10 Galactic Civilizations

Galactic Civilizations III lets you span your empire across the entire galaxy. It’s the current king of 4X space games, building on the foundations of the superlative Galactic Civilizations series to bring you true galactic strategic depth!

But WHAT are the best Galactic Civilizations in history, or at least in fictional history? Well HERE WE GO

Terran Alliance – Galactic Civilizations III

It’s you! The Precursor shield has fallen and it’s time to take the Terran Alliance on the Terran Crusade, starting from a single planet and eventually (hopefully) spanning the entire galaxy, the Terran Alliance represents the hopes and dreams for a better future for not only the humans that make up the alliance, but for all races. Galactic Civilizations III takes you on a crusade to end the oppression of the brutal Drengin Empire and spread your wings across the known universe!

The Kilrathi – Wing Commander Series

They’re space faring cats, what more do you need to know about them? OK they’re space faring WAR LOVING cats, love them yet? The main antagonists of the first three Wing Commander games, you eventually see them off with a hearty bomb to the planet-face. We’d also recommend trusting them, as they’ll never turn against you. Never, OK? Honest! Look you might regret it, maybe a bit. But it’s alright, they’re awesome fighty space cats!

The Goa’uld – Stargate

Aliens that mysteriously turned from grey-alien-type-things into snakes that steal your body in between the film and the tv series, they’re brilliant at pretending to be Egyptians across the entire galaxy. Less good at pretending to be other ancient civilisations, but they’ve got the Egyptian bit down pat. They’re also quite good at dispersing the human race throughout the galaxy and using them for slave labour, but that’s not really something to be proud of. We thought about including the Ori here, but frankly they’re just big floaty god-like things, not cool snake folk. The Goa’uld get the Green Man Gaming Fake Egyptians in Space Award.

Silicoids – Master of Orion Series

They might not be a truly Galactic Civilization at the start of the game, but by the end, if you play your cards right, you’ll have a galaxy-spanning rock civilization! OK they can be a little grumpy, making diplomacy a little hard, but at their centre is a creamy rock heart that’s just waiting to be loved. Able to live on any planet because they’re rocks, they’ll soon be taking over the universe in your name.

Also worth including here because if you choose to be them, you get the beautiful sight of a scientist and a spy made of stone. Excellent.

The Federation – Star Trek

They’ll say they’re not a Galactic Civilization, merely just a loose coalition of aligned worlds, but really who are they fooling? They’re clearly an empire, just an empire with better PR. They turn up on your doorstep, all smiles and Prime Directives, and before you know it you’re just another member planet with a tiny seat at the Federation Council. Look at what happened to Bajor! Well, alright, we can’t because DS9 ended. But look at what COULD’VE happened to Bajor!

That said, their space ships are beautiful. That’s all that really matters.

The Galactic Empire – Star Wars

An actual empire that uses the name! The Galactic Empire is a friendly place despite the name, and they’d just love to welcome your planet to their fold, and if they send a few thousand Stormtroopers in to deal with any Force sensitive users you might have about the place, then so be it. Defeated by the dastardly Rebel Alliance, we’re at least seeing a resurgence thanks to the First Order.

If nothing else, The Galactic Empire really cornered the market on British accents and FASHION.

Mammalian Normal #6 – Stellaris

Whilst species in Stellaris are randomised, our Community Manager Olly is currently having a terrible time dealing with a race he describes as ‘Militant Sloth Dictators’. The first race he encountered who weren’t already long dead, they proceeded to blow apart his trade deals, snub him at every turn, and basically tell the universe that they hated him. Now if you’ve met Olly, that’s quite a hard thing to do! But they managed it anyway. The lesson here, never trust a Sloth Person, even if they use the Mammalian Normal #6 portrait.

The Alliance – Firefly

Not much is known about The Alliance from the Firefly universe, except they’re massive space gits who keep an iron grip on the planetary system where Firefly is set. They tend to like messing with your brain too, if River Tam is anything to go by. Don’t annoy them or steal whatever they consider as their property, as they’ll send agents with blue hands after you, or maybe a softly spoken Operative, and almost nothing will stop them from coming for you. If you get the chance, why not ask them about the Reavers? They love to be asked about them.

We’ll just stand waaaaay over here while you do.

The Covenant Empire – Halo Series

You want some alien religious zealots? Then the Covenant are here for you. They sort of believe that the Halo rings are a bit holy as they were created by their holy Forerunners, and woe betide you if you step on them. Eager to add any new races to their empire (apart from humans), they’ll just demand a few little things, like y’know, that you worship their gods and pledge eternal allegiance to them. Such little things to ask! If you do sign up, you just get a *little* bit enslaved and your entire culture gets a *little* bit destroyed. A small price to pay for…er…something!

The Culture – The Culture Series

So nice they almost make the Federation look like warmongers, The Culture appear in a series of books written by Iain M. Banks. They’re a very permissive society run by super-intelligent AIs called Minds, this permissiveness being a point of conflict with some of the more rigid societies they come up against. But don’t take their permissiveness as weakness, as many wars have been fought with The Culture and they’ve come out on top every time. They even have a secret group called Special Circumstances who neutralise threats before they become threats, so whilst the average Culture citizen may have a lovely time and be blissfully aware of the darker undercurrents to Culture society, there are fangs and teeth just beneath the surface.

Oh and be prepared to run if you ever, ever come across anyone with the last name of Zakalwe.

Have we missed your favourite? Let us know on social media, or in the comments below!

The 10 Best VR Games For Any Gamer

I always think of VR as being intense horror games, but they’re growing and now there’s something for every player…

For the zombie lovers – Arizona Sunshine

Arizona Sunshine is wonderfully bright, which makes the whole zombie outbreak thing a little less terrifying. The game’s main character monologue and the hazy, mumbles from the straggling zombies, make this game a lot of fun. It’s not full on horror, but has the feeling of evil dead meets the walking dead meets the hills have eyes. The range of weaponry allows for a manic experience, that is terribly addictive and for those that want the authentic zombie and VR experience, this game is a touch humorous and brilliantly adventurous.

For players who think they’re stealthy – Budget Cuts

A creepy game about infiltrating buildings to overthrow killer robots. The game is incredibly entertaining and a great one to play with friends. It has menacing undertones and a quiet brutality at its core, but Budget Cuts is fundamentally about killing robots before they kill you, which requires stealth and quick thinking.

For families – Rooms: The Unsolvable Puzzle

A rather sweet and desperate tale of a girl who needs to solve puzzles in order to escape a magical mansion. This VR game is great for families and those that want to hop on and off a harmless and charming, mystical experience. The puzzles are intriguing and varied and the soundtrack is a wonderful listen as you go about trying to escape each room.

For the horror pros – Resident Evil 7

If you’re after a more intense type of zombie game, that features more of the walking nightmares, but amplified with more of the guts, gore and scare element, then Resident Evil 7 is a great place to start.

The game is a first person experience anyway, but in VR, the gameplay and story doesn’t let up and the scares will beat down on you like the sharp edges of Jack’s axe. Resident Evil 7 isn’t as generous with its weaponry either and sometimes you’ll find yourself in the dark, alone, waiting.

For the film fans – Alien Isolation

The relentless harping of the radar is chiming through the dark, pipe lined corridors, and it can only be Alien Isolation.

This game is very true to the films, complete with dramatic build up, knowing glances and the slow and imminent descent into the jaw(s) of the aliens. It’s a cinematic VR experience that will plunge you into terrifying depths.

For the dedicated DCers – Batman Arkham VR

Batman is a VR all-rounder; it’s got fantastic characters, interesting tech, a tricky villain and a pretty good premise. The VR compliments the vast array of fun gadgets at hand and creates an immersive experience into the DC comic universe and grimy Gotham Streets.

For the space explorers – Elite: Dangerous

Explore more than 400 billion star systems in an MMO space epic. For those who love space or who are delving into their first space exploration game, Elite: Dangerous is mesmerising and beautiful and allows for fantastic VR interactions and encounters with other players in the vast expanse of space.

For horror lovers who aren’t quite there yet – Rush of Blood

If you want a scary, but tamer than Resident Evil 7 experience, then Rush of Blood is the best place to start. Set in a fairground, you’ll set off on a horror ride, killing clowns and zombies as you progress to each level. With targets to achieve, this is a great intro game to VR, with enough scares to keep you on your toes, holding back enough for you to get to grips with the controls.

It’s also the add on to horror adventure game, Until Dawn and although this isn’t on VR, it helped ease me into horrors with it’s sappy ‘cabin in the woods story’ and wonderful gaming mechanics.

For the tea and biscuiters – Euro Truck simulator

A nice run of the mill kind of game, where you can sit back and relax and not have to worry about running into any rampaging zombie attacks, vicious clowns or tricky puzzles. Shut out the world and drive a truck, peacefully.

For Warhammers – Vermintide – Hero Trials

Warhammer fans delight at the VR version of the Skaven infested Vermintide. Now in VR, Vermintide – Hero Trials is the fast paced and magical fantasy game, which will see you wielding swords, lobbing potions and firing arrows at the army of Skaven, the large rat folk, who have taken over the land.

Playing a VR game at the moment? Got a game to recommend that’s not on the list? Drop us a comment!

Expeditions: Viking – A Norse RPG Checklist

Are you looking for a current Viking inspired RPG to scratch that Norse itch that has been irritating you? Then Expeditions: Viking is your answer! So what does the sequel to Expeditions: Conquistador have to offer?

STORY

Players jump into the goatskin boots of a brand new chieftain of a village and viking clan. It is up to you to make a name for yourself and your clan by raising your villages renown and prosperity they only way a viking knows how, with brute strength and tactics. Unfortunately there is nothing to gain from the Norse homelands so the only thing to do is explore the seas to the West and explore and raid Britannia for treasure and land that is ripe for the taking. Your huscarls will follow you loyally into battle but it will be up to you to build the ships and amass an army in order to make a name for your clan.

CHARACTER CUSTOMISATION

Players will be able to create their own chieftain from the ground up! As well as customising the overall look of the viking clan boss players are also able to customise the characters stats, skills and abilities. This in turn will allow players to customise their chieftain to their own play style.

TRADING

Even though Vikings are renowned for raiding and taking what isn’t theirs, players can also gain wealth by trading items as well. So players can either find wealth by just simply raiding every village they see or trading items.

WAR AND POLITICS

Players can side with various factions throughout the world of Expeditions: Viking. Alliances can be made with Norsemen, Picts, or Angles.

REPUTATION

Choices come with consequences. Players will need to be mindful of their actions and the story they weave. People will either fear you or trust you.

SYSTEM REQUIREMENTS

MINIMUM:
OS: Windows 7
Processor: Intel Core2 Quad Q9400 2.66 GHz
Memory: 4 GB RAM
Graphics: NVIDIA GeForce GTS 450
DirectX: Version 10
Storage: 12 GB available space
Sound Card: DirectX Compatible Sound Card
RECOMMENDED:
OS: Windows 10
Processor: Intel Core i7 3.4GHz
Memory: 8 GB RAM
Graphics: Nvidia GTX 660
DirectX: Version 11
Storage: 12 GB available space
Sound Card: DirectX Compatible Sound Card

You can get your copy of Expeditions: Vikings from the Green Man Gaming store right now!

Elder Scrolls Online: Beginner Tips

The Elder Scrolls Online is getting a huge expansion soon, with it taking a step into Vvardenfell in The Elder Scrolls Online: Morrowind.

Having played quite a lot of it over the last few weeks, I thought it’d be good to put together a little beginner’s guide for the game, tackling some things that I had questions about and stuff I found useful!

Character Creation

Race and Faction

The world of The Elder Scrolls Online isn’t like most other MMO worlds. It does have factions, three of them in fact, but outside of PvP it doesn’t matter too much. While it will determine your starting zone, with changes made to the game after launch, you can still party up with your friends, and you can teleport to their location to quest with them!

Race does affect more than you’d think though, but primarily (and this is an important point to remember with The Elder Scrolls Online), I’d recommend just going with whatever race you want to be!

Don’t worry about stats too much, though some races take to certain skills easier than others. For example, Redguards gain skill in single handed weapons faster than two-handed. It’s not massively important to keep this in mind if you just want to play the game and have fun, but if you want to maximise your time spent gaining skills it’s something to think about.

Races do have their own skills, so that’s something to check before creating your character, as you might want to make sure that your skills match up with what type of character you want to be!

Class and Specialisations

In The Elder Scrolls Online, unlike other Elder Scrolls games, you do choose a class. This gives you a rough archetype of what your character will be, with a further three specialisations that your character can focus in.

The four classes basically fall into MMO roles but with some variation, for example a Dragon Knight can be a tank or a melee DPS, a Templar can be melee DPS, a healer, or a tank. The way that you decide what role you really want to take on is through the specialisations. So the class decides what archetypes you can be, whilst your specialisation decides what you are.

Skills

Skills are the core of The Elder Scrolls Online and affect everything from crafting to lockpicking to stealth to combat to armour. You gain expertise in these skills much like you would in any other Elder Scrolls game, by using them. There can be modifiers that speed this up as mentioned before, such as racial benefits.

The benefit of the skills system is that you can be whatever you like, want to be a tank who uses staffs? Try it! Want to be a Nightblade who uses a two handed greathammer? Give it a go! The flexibility of the skills system means that, as long as you’re not trying to maximise stats and damage, you can be whatever you like and combine things however you like. If you’re playing to have fun, then mix it up! Try things out!

Coldharbour

So you’ve made your character, picked a truly epic name and headed out into the tutorial in Coldharbour.

STOP.

Press V. Trust me on this.

V toggles first person and third person view. Now I know what you’re thinking, this is an Elder Scrolls game and you play Elder Scrolls games in first person.

The Elder Scrolls Online seems vastly easier if you play in third person mode. Like most MMOs, a lot of the combat revolves around placement. Where you’re stood, where enemies are, what attacks are coming your way. You’re going to want to shift your feet and see where you are in relation to things, and third person is the best way to do that.

Other important keys!

I = Inventory

C = Character Sheet (useful for levelling up)

K = Skills (useful for skilling up, and slotting things in your action bar)

M = Map

Q = Quick Bar (set it up in your inventory and drop some potions in there, hold Q to switch between your items)

J = Quest Log / Journal

Z = Sheath/Unsheath weapon (Not useful really but c’mon, it’s nice to put your weapons away)

T = Switch between active quests that you’re tracking

I’d also recommend activating both the FPS and Latency metres in the in-game options, they’ll put a little section in the corner of your screen that’ll let you know about performance, meaning you can tweak your settings if your FPS is too low, or go shout at a flatmate for hogging all the bandwidth if your latency is rising.

Now off you go and follow the tutorial, and we’ll see you on the other side! Remember to follow the instructions though, they will be handy!

Into the World

Now you’re in the world and you’ve got a LOT of info coming at you at once.

Here’s my advice:

Follow the Questlines

They lead you from place to place in an ordered way, and if you want to explore the world it’ll lead you through the zones in a way that introduces you to places and themes, and even gets you some tasty achievements if you complete all the quests or achieve certain conditions.

Ignore Professions for a Bit

You can worry about this after you’ve got to your first big town. If you know what you want to be, I wanted to be a blacksmith, you can still pick stuff up and that won’t harm anything, but if you’re unsure just leave it for a bit. You can always catch up later, and you’ve got limited inventory space, both on yourself and in your bank!

Read Books

There’s books all over the world in The Elder Scrolls Online. Now you might think ‘Alex, I don’t have time to read all these books, what are you thinking?’ and that’s fine! Maybe you don’t, but at least use them in-game. Some offer skill ups, and you won’t know until your character uses them.

Ignore Housing for a Bit

You’ll see player housing info when you get to your first big town, just ignore it for a while. It’ll cost more than you have, and the quest and achievements you have to fulfill before you get a house or room will probably take a while, so just get on with adventuring first!

Look for Wayshrines

These serve two purposes and are handily marked on maps. You’ll respawn there if you die and you don’t have a filled Soul Gem on you, so it’s important if you’re questing or adventuring that you have a local Wayshrine to respawn at. The other thing they do is let you teleport around the world, for a nominal cost. So if you want to fast travel, you’ll need to have a Wayshrine activated near where you want to go! Once you do, just open the map, click it, and pay the cost and off you go!

Join a Guild

No not a guild with other real people, although I’d recommend doing that too (as long as they’re nice people), but join a guild like the Fighters Guild or the Mages Guild. Not only do these offer quests and rewards unique to them, but they have skills you might need and can unlock. Persuade/Intimidate are two of these and can help in certain quests to get NPCs to do what you want them to do.

Do Your Certifications

When you get to your first big town, you can do crafting certifications which then unlock daily quests you can do for each profession. This is a good point to pick up a profession, because not only do these daily quests give you resources, skills, and a bit of money, but the certification quests also give you a an introduction to crafting which is essential! Ignore your professions NO LONGER!

Mounts

You’ll see lots of players sweeping past you on mounts, and you’ll be filled with envy. Well don’t worry, it’s not too hard to get a mount, but you will need to save up a bit. What can help pass the time is visiting stable masters daily to skill up in regards to riding, increasing how much you can carry, how fast you go etc. You can only do this once a day and it does cost a little bit of cash, but it’s well worth it!

Bank Bank Bank

Your bank is finite, but essential. You’re going to be picking up a LOT of stuff, and the bank is a great place to store it. You can also store ingredients and materials for your crafting there and they’ll automatically be used when crafting. But be warned, it’s going to run out of space, so make sure to sell stuff regularly!

Names and Health Bars

Options do exist, though turned off by default, for player/NPC names to be shown and health bars to be visible at all times. So don’t worry if you can’t distinguish between friend and foe with ease, you can fiddle with the settings to your heart’s content!

Run at Big Lights in the Sky

You might see circles of lightning in the sky. Dark Anchors, or Dolmens, are co-operative events that occur around the map where the force of Molag Bal try to anchor on the world to pull it into Coldharbour. Run at them! It’ll be a little co-op event where you battle some daedra, fight them off, break the anchor, and get some rewards. Nice!

Have Fun

This is most essential, I can’t tell you how to play, and if anyone tries tell them to go away. You be you, and have fun!

If we missed anything or you have any tips, let us know on our Community!

Stable Orbit – Tips For Building The Perfect Space Station

So you have just grabbed Stable Orbit, and you may be wondering what is the best way to create the Perfect Space station? We here at Green Man Gaming want to give you a helping hand to achieving this epic feat, so here are some handy tips to get you well on your way to creating the best space station.

When you start a new game, you begin the game with a Core Module. It provides basic power and enough storage space for your first space explorer. The first thing we advise you do you is to add some more room onto your station. To do this you need to add a Truss. You can build as many of these as you like, but remember to keep an eye on how money much you’re spending because if you run out of cash then it is game over.

Now that your Truss have been built we suggest getting some power! To collect power you need to build a Solar Array. Here is a great chance to test out the Fast Forward button in the bottom righthand corner to speed up the building process a bit. Remember – the solar panels will only work while your station is in view of the sun so we strongly suggest adding some batteries in when you have the funds available.

Next step in our Space Station building is building a radiator. Radiators will allow you to vent some of the heat that’s building up in your station as the sun can be pretty powerful in space. If you ignore the heat levels, your space station will catch fire and take damage.

Next we suggest building a shuttle dock, your lonely space explorer needs some supplies and this is the best way to get supplies from earth and even some new work colleagues to keep him/her company. Supplies are mandatory until your space station becomes fully self sufficient so build some quarters for additional supplies and crew. You will also be required to manage waste as well as things will soon pile up. Make sure you keep your waste level low, as crew member will start abandoning the space station should they feel that the conditions are unlivable.

Here is where the real fun begins. It’s time to build a laboratory and take on some research contracts in order to start generating revenue for your space station. Some of the contracts will offer you some easy money in order to keep going while others will be a bit more challenging but will net you some big bucks! Keep an eye on the available contracts though as they will expire, also some contracts will require you to install specific upgrades to your laboratories or reach a high science level before you can take them on.

Before we leave you to your own devices, here is a couple to bare in mind as you play:

Severe damage or loss of power will cause Habitat modules to become unusable, marooning the crew that was stationed there and reducing their productivity
Severe damage to storage modules will result in temporary loss of the resources stored there; if the module is destroyed, those resources will be lost permanently
Severe damage to structural modules will disable their connectors, blocking expansion from those modules until they are sufficiently repaired
Severe damage or loss of power to Shuttle Docks will cause the corresponding supply shuttles to become grounded or be unable to dock
Remember to keep an eye on your waste levels as Crew will abandon your space station if they are too high.

Want more information on Stable Orbit? Check out our hub here. You can also grab Stable orbit from Green Man Gaming here.

Mass Effect Andromeda – 10 Reasons to Go to Andromeda

Mass Effect Andromeda takes you on an adventure to a mysterious place far away from human eyes. No, not Aberdeen, the Andromeda galaxy!

But why would you want to go to Andromeda? I mean, it’s a long way away and as Mass Effect Andromeda shows us, the inhabitants aren’t always the most friendly.

But there’s plenty of reasons to go, so here’s our 10 Reasons to Go to Andromeda!

1. The Reapers Aren’t There

You might have heard of these robot chaps. they were quite the annoyances in the original Mass Effect Trilogy. Andromeda, rumour has it, is free of these mechanical monstrosities. So maybe it’s time to visit for a bit of robot peace?

2. A Fresh Start

Everyone craves a fresh start. Go on, examine yourself, you know you’d love to just drop it all, run off, assume a new identity and begin again. Well in the Andromeda galaxy you can! Choose a new name, choose a new history, choose whatever you like, no-one can prove anything!

3. You Want a Long Sleep

We’re all tired right? Work’s long, we never get enough sleep, and the world is….stressful right now. 600 years asleep would be PERFECT right about now. Imagine how rested you’ll feel after six centuries of cryosleep. Ah bliss.

Just hope we don’t have bad dreams.

4. TIME TRAVEL

Well OK, it’s more like ‘time passing’. But look at it like this, if you’re asleep for 600 years, it’s like you’ve time travelled 600 years into the future! Who KNOWS what cool things might have happened by then. Think how many more Marvel films there’ll be you can catch up on!

5. Air Miles

You might think you get a lot of air miles right now, flying back and forward between human locations. But if you could really get out there, take a trip to somewhere a bit further, think about how many air miles you could rack up! You could go on a free trip to Hawaii with all those saved up!

6. Andromedan Politics is Simpler Than Human Politics

No matter what’s out there, how many races are warring with each other, how many apocalyptic events are being put into motion, it’s still going to be simpler than what’s happening on Earth right now. The quagmire of our political reality is getting to be TOO MUCH, maybe Andromedan politics will be easier to understand and have opinions on.

7. You Might Meet Kevin Sorbo There

He’s probably still plopping about on the Andromeda Ascendant, pretending that his name is Dylan Hunt. It’s alright Kev, we know it’s you! Even if nothing else, it’d be nice to see a friendly face all the way out there, even if there’s a chance he’ll be DIS-APPOIN-TED by meeting you.

8.You Can Go Visit Sunny Algol

The real Algol is in our own galaxy, but in Phantasy Star, the Algol system where all the action takes place (and which acts as a plug for the universe’s evil) is located deep in the Andromeda galaxy. OK maybe Palma doesn’t exist anymore so you’re left with rapidly-wastelanding Motavia and absolutely-freezing Dezoris, and Rygol only comes around once every few hundred years. But think of the tan you can get on Motavia! Just mind the giant worms.

9.Floating Rocks

Did you know there’s floating rocks there? It’s true! The rocks, they float! That’s not something you can get at home, head out to ANDROMEDA for all your rock floating, floating rocks, and rocks that float needs.

10. It’s Really Far Away from Everyone Moaning About Animations

Ah, blesséd relief.

Mass Effect Andromeda is available right now, why not go for a trip to another galaxy today!

Dawn of War III – Multiplayer Tips I Wish I’d Known

Dawn of War III has released and we’ve been playing lots of the multiplayer; ‘too much’ some have said! Well if playing all evening and night on the day of release is too much, then maybe it is! But we don’t regret it, and we’re offering some top tips from our own minds and experiences. Depending on your expertise in various genres, you may find certain parts more difficult than others.

Basic Tips

If you’re playing in a team, combined armies are stronger than armies on their own. Coordinate and attack together to take down the key objectives
If you have units waiting around, use them. Poking the enemy’s requisition points and shield generator may yield some destructive results
Jump pack units create a huge knockback when they land, turning deadly melee warriors (banshees) into vulnerable sacks of meat lying on the ground. Combine with your own melee units for deadly effect
Remember the active abilities on your Elite units. They’re mapped to QWER, so if you’ve played a MOBA then controlling their abilities should be second nature.

Race-Specific Tips

The Ork Waaagh towers are needed to progress through the Orky tiers of tech – they also provide a steady supply of scrap to upgrade units, and play heavy metal so your units fight harder
All eldar infantry, vehicles and heroes are made of paper. Treat them with care.
Upgrade your tactical marines. When you get to tech level 2, your tactical marines will unlock their flamers and plasma guns. These make them great at taking down buildings and light infantry, and the plasma gun increases their damage and range significantly.
Webway gates give Eldar units a movement speed buff in a large area. One of the Eldar’s key strengths is in being able to respond quicker than their foes around the map. Build a network of them and later they will be able to teleport units between structures. Always remember: a slow Eldar is a dead Eldar
Because Eldar buildings can teleport units to each other, it’s even more important for the Eldar to have a forward base or two set up so you can respond to threats.
Eldar have several units that can apply Stasis to their enemies. Can’t defeat those scary Orks? Try freezing them and running away like the coward you are.
The Eldar’s ultimate ability – the fearsome purple dervish that is the Eldritch Storm – lasts for a good ten seconds-plus, and can be steered around the map like a big, slow unit. Make sure you keep it focused on as many enemies as possible for its whole life.

Advanced Tips

If your Mass Recall ability is off cool-down, have a charge at the enemy’s’ flank and see what you can do. Just remember to disengage when you want to recall.
Think carefully if you want to take the Super Unit. It’ll be a great asset late game, but for the majority of the game you will never see it.
If you’ve played any other Relic game such as Company of Heroes, you’ll be familiar with the push and pull nature of the battlefields. Keeping units grouped and out on the field is important to map control. And since map control is needed for gaining resources, this should be top priority.
Fog Of War is scary. We know. But, in there somewhere is someone just like you, scared of you too. Try to get over that feeling, and think about what the fearless AI does constantly: go through your lines and harrasses your Requisition and Power points.
Don’t use your super-ability lightly! The Eldar’s Eldritch Storm, Space Marines’ Orbital Strike and Orks’ Rokk bombardment pack a serious area-of-effect punch, but – SURPRISE SURPRISE – they cost elite points to use. So think carefully whether you want to launch that strike, or save up to summon your next hero to the battlefield.
Remember that your two core buildings – the Power Core and the Turret – both have activated abilities to help defend from attacks. The Turret’s Shock Wave stuns all enemy units around it for a few seconds, while the Power Core can make itself invulnerable for 20 seconds – potentially enough time to wipe out the enemy force on your doorstep. Keeping these in mind can help you stop those pesky sneak attacks before they start!

There you have it. If you have any tips you’d like to share, or any questions about the game, head down to the comment section.

11 Signs You Play Too Much League Of Legends

We’ve compiled a series of signs that you or someone you know plays way too much League of Legends. If you display at least half of these signs, we recommend you spend some more time interacting with nature and your loved ones, rather than Baron Nashor and strangers on the internet.

1) You reprimand people for their ‘awful APM’ whilst writing emails

Bro what is your CS even.

2) You sycophantically gravitate towards literally anyone from South Korea

Nice to meet you dude anyway wanna duo sometime?

3) Everyone who is better than you at anything is a Smurf

I’m just unlucky in drafting.

4) You call anyone wearing gold or silver jewellery a filthy casual.

I’m Silver 3, but really I’m Platinum 5 if I played more.

5) You get incredibly flustered and indignant when you see things made of bronze

No bust of Aristotle, you uninstall!

6) You check bushes regularly for big, blade-wielding cats

FFS our jungler does nothing

7) You’ve written more lore and fanfiction than Riot

…Lee Sin sighed, “I only ever wanted to land my Q…on your heart.”

8) You have opened several petitions to get a ‘pool party’ skin for your waifu

Pls Rito do you even listen to your community.

9) You miss the bus, so you go AFK from work

GG Arriva.

10) Your children could tell you anything, apart from that they’re in Bronze 5.

You get back upstairs and finish your promos!

11) You go out with your friends and complain about the team comp.

No supp, surrender at 20.

Broken Age – A Nostalgic Point And Click Adventure

Broken Age is the beautiful tale of time and young minds encapsulated in a sinister, mature world that has been dressed in deceit. Released in two parts, Tim Schafer and the team at Double Fine Productions began their venture on the point and click adventure game in 2012 and aimed to raise 400k worth of funds on the popular crowd-funding platform, Kickstarter. After just 8 hours the target was met and Double Fine went on to make over £3million.

There was a demand for Broken Age, because the generation that experienced Tim Schafer’s point and click games, including Monkey Island, Day of the Tentacle, Full Throttle and Grim Fandango were hungry for more. Although the Kickstarter campaign caused controversy surrounding the use of the funds raised and the fact that supporters were not given a full game on the estimated release date, but instead Broken Age was released in two parts, it didn’t stop the game producing the same nostalgic magic that we hoped it would.

Tim Schafer’s opening statement on the Kickstarter page describes point and clicks as a lost art and it does chew me up that expectations for this genre were prevalent throughout the production and it’s a bitter sweet moment, that it was all we hoped for, if just late. We couldn’t falter Tim Schafer on the transparency in the creation of Broken Age as he had the process documented start to finish, from the rough sketches of the two main characters sitting back to back, to the office celebrating the successful Kickstarter campaign.

Being an avid lover of point and click adventure games and following the process of the game vehemently through production, the nature of the game surprised me and I’m positive that Schafer has always been sure that his audience was waiting for a game as expectedly childish, washed in the murky veil of being an adult. Here’s what I loved about Broken Age…

Characters

You play as two characters Vella and Shay. Vella is a young woman living a place called the Badlands, which has been infested by Mogs, giant beasts that eat young girls at a sacrifice called the Maiden’s Feast. The other character Shay, is a young boy who is living alone in a spaceship, operated by a mother computer, his surroundings are false and intensely childish for a teenage boy. The way the characters react to the environment is wonderfully entertaining, yet their perverse interactions make controlling them at times jarring.

Setting

The art design is undeniably beautiful, reflecting their young spirited personalities through Vella’s pastel shaded scenes in the sky and Shay’s carefree exploit of roaming free on a spaceship.

Story

The story is surprisingly sinister and the underlying plot, character intentions and villains you meet along the way, contrast with the lush, bright art design that glazes over the entire gameplay.

Point and click

The objects and puzzles are inventive and at the core of what this adventure game was set out to be. The interactions and dialogue are mesmerising and chaotic, with satisfying cut scenes.

Broken Age had me at points feeling frustrated over the difficult puzzles, taken a back by the beautiful scenery and heart-broken over the complex undertones of the story and emotions of the characters. If you love adventures, story and puzzles, Broken Age will also offer so much more than that.

What is your favourite point and click game? Let us know in the comment section below. Broken age is also on sale over at Green man gaming.

Dragon Quest Heroes II – Favourite RPGs!

Dragon Quest Heroes II is out TODAY and it’s a hack ‘n’ slash game with RPG elements thrown into the mix.

I’m a big RPG fan, in that I’m a big human who is a fan of RPGs, and I also like RPGs a lot. So, inspired by Dragon Quest Heroes II, here’s my favourite RPGs for your visual digestion!

Fallout 2

Fallout 2‘s tone is definitely lighter than the original’s, but it’s partially that which makes me love it. That and the game is just…more. More in every sense, you get almost no time limit this time around, you get proper companions with control over them (that said, Vic will still shoot you in the back a million times), and you get such a bigger world to play in. Basically the game would be one of my favourites anyway, and then you get to New Reno. New Reno is everything, it’s a wretched hive of scum and villainy with gambling, prostitution, mob families, drug dealers, and a boxing ring. Want to join a mob family and rise to the top, much like scum in a pond? You can! Want to become a porn star? Make sure your endurance and agility stats are high enough first! Want to punch out The Masticator? You can, but if he bites off your ear you’d better reload (the game even tells you this)!

Fallout 2 is definitely lighter in tone than the other games, but it makes up for that by cramming the world with life, with fun, and with a million things to do.

The Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind

Imagine a fantasy world where you can do almost anything. Now imagine that world is filled with elves with red eyes who hate you even though you might be their promised messiah, giant mushrooms, giant insects, and a god hiding in a volcano. Welcome to Morrowind! Still held up as the paragon of the Elder Scrolls series, Morrowind isn’t perfect by a long stretch, the combat is wonky, character models aren’t the prettiest, and even though everyone has lots to say, they tend to say the same things. That said, its sense of place is unparalleled. You really get to know Vvardenfell, you learn every inch of its beautiful terrain and its cities. To me, in a big way, Vvardenfell will always feel like home. I’ve spent many happy hours just wandering the streets of Ald’ruhn, popping into the Scar for a browse and to check in with my Redoran brethren.

If you want a home away from home, I’d recommend sunny Vvardenfell. Stay a while, outlander!

Planescape: Torment

Taking place largely on a toroidal city on top of an infinite spire, Planescape: Torment is just as weird as you might think from that brief description. The idea behind the Planescape universe is that there’s a multiverse, and you can easily, and accidentally, hop into different dimensions or planes. This means that the world is a glorious melange of different species, different ideas, different universes. As the Nameless One, an amnesiac who can’t die, you’re on a mission to find out who you are and why you’re immortal. On your way you’ll encounter amazing creatures who join you, from floating snark-skull Morte, to a robot box voiced by Dan Castellaneta from the Simpsons. You’ll find signs of previous versions of yourself and your impact on the world, and slowly you’ll put together the mystery of the Nameless One.

It’s just had a remastered version released, so if you can, check that out!

Rings of Power

Before Naughty Dog made cinematic masterpieces for the PlayStation, before the days of jumping on things, before all that, there was Rings of Power. A little known RPG for the Megadrive, it was an open world isometric party-based RPG and it’s a thing of beauty. Just look at that world map, LOOK AT IT! You can walk on every inch of that world, and zoom into each square for a closer look. Playing as Buc, a young sorcerer, you’re tasked with reuniting the eponymous rings of power to reform the Rod of Creation and banish the evil Void from taking over the world. You assemble a small team from each of six magical specialisations, and then off you go into this wide open world to accomplish this task in whatever order you like. If there’s a flaw with Rings of Power, it’s that the random encounters can be a little too random, meaning you can encounter a party made up of the toughest enemies in the game within a few seconds of starting the game, forcing a reload. That said, its breadth and scope is amazing, and it’s one of the few truly expansive RPGs to put in an appearance on the Megadrive.

It’s hard to check out today, but if you’re near a retro games shop, I’d definitely recommend picking it up.

Torment: Tides of Numenera

Made by the people who created Planescape: Torment, Torment: Tides of Numenera is the most recent game on this list. Successfully funded by Kickstarter, it takes place far in the future on Earth, in the tabletop Numenera setting. The world of Torment: Tides of Numenera is so far in the future that technology has become like magic, but civilisation exists on the bones and crumbs of previous civilisations. This means that there’s loads of items in the game which have uses, but you’re never sure if you’re using them for the intended purpose. Something may act like a grenade, but maybe it was designed as a hair straightener in a prior era.

The real joy of this game, much like Planescape: Torment, is the writing. It’s absolutely fantastic, every conversation has at least one moment where you need to take a moment to look at what’s been said and digest it properly.

Dragon Age: Origins

The best start to a series, ever. Dragon Age: Origins is all about the…origins, unsurprisingly. It lets you choose between different races and each one has a truly fascinating backstory and intro into the world. The city elf couldn’t be more different to the human intro, and each one gives you a solid foundation on which to start your own roleplaying, and also sets you up with an idea of how the world works. From there the game just gets better, throwing you full on into the intrigue and machinations of the world of Thedas and the Ferelden court. Taking on the role of a Gray Warden, you’re tasked with stopping the Blight from taking over the world, but to do that you’ve got lots of battles to fight. Not just against evil, but against your political enemies, against racism, and against bigotry. For example, if you’re an Elven Mage, expect to see the world turned against you!

Dragon Age: Origins is a superlative RPG, and a great start to a wonderful series (I’d maybe include Dragon Age: Inquisition here, but I’m only half way through it!).

Wasteland 2

Another game by InXile! Wasteland 2 was also funded by Kickstarter, and it’s a sequel to a game that came out in 1988! It feels very similar in some ways to the older Fallouts, but it’s mostly much more serious. Set in post-apocalyptic Arizona, you’re part of the Desert Rangers and you’re trying to bring stability to the region. Obviously there’s a lot that goes wrong, but the game really lets you explore your impact on the region and the ways you can influence people’s lives. An early quest makes you decide between two settlements in peril, and whichever you save, the other will be destroyed. It’s a tough call, and it has huge ramifications.

The part of the game which stunned me though was the point where I’d finished it, and the game was winding up. In fact the game was just at the halfway mark and a whole new world map opened up for me. Amazing!

So, those are my favourite RPGs, hopefully I’ll be adding Dragon Quest Heroes II to the list as well! What are yours? Let us know on social media, or in the comments below!

Dawn Of War 3 Beta Impressions

Some of us here at Green Man Gaming are huge Warhammer fans, and as such we have played lots (and lots) of the Dawn of War III beta over the weekend. I’ve asked Milo and Alex E what their impressions were, and what they thought of the Beta.

So, guys, what was your overall impression of the Dawn of War III beta?

Milo: It’s fun. It feels like it was designed for hardcore RTS players in some ways and for non-RTSers at the same time, which can make it feel a bit confused. It will surely need lots of work for balancing.

Alex E: From someone who’s played both Dawn of Wars but not played MOBAs, I was concerned I would be thrown by the MOBA/RTS mechanic mix here, but I actually like the progression of target objectives (shield gen->tower->power core). It adds another layer of strategic choice: do you engage & counter enemy units for board control, do you reinforce your resource point territory for the supply advantage – or do you try to distract the enemy while wearing down and knocking out their shield gens as early as you can?

Milo: Yeah the MOBA stuff actually works really well. The shield gen/tower/nexus setup is good for the pacing for the game and inhibits cheese or rushing tactics. The pre-selection of heroes and passive/active doctrines means you can set up to play your own way, though it could railroad you into playing one way and then the game may dictate a change in tactics. Lots of units have active abilities that are mapped to QWER. To be honest, that’s about as far as the MOBA stuff goes. It’s a scary word and all the nerdrage is a bit misplaced.

Sounds likes an interesting mix. What was your favourite unit that you got to use?

Milo: Epic hero units are the coolest. Watching my Eldar Wraithlord hack down an Imperial Knight while the skirmish happened below them was REALLY VERY COOL.

Alex E: Elite units are very cool, and the more you learn their quirks, strongest abilities and respective kryptonites, I’m sure the more effective they’ll feel. However, to the new player, they feel squishier than I expected. MOBA noobs who find themselves dying instantly to heroes who appear to take no damage at all will find elite combat in DoW familiar. That said, their abilities tend to be fun, satisfying and beautifully animated, and when you clinch a fight with a well-timed elite deployment, it’s extremely satisfying. I’m really looking forward to them releasing loads more elite units to unlock and deploy, to customise your army to whatever bit of 40k lore is your favourite.

Speaking of 40K lore, what do you think of the different races? Do they feel unique?

Milo: The Space Marines are Strong, versatile, easy to play. Build army, point at enemy, win.

The Eldar are complex and challenging. Very mobile and very squishy. Mostly everything you’d expect them to be – potentially really strong but some real practice required as their effectiveness will come down to their positioning, smart attacks, harassment and mobility around the battlefield.

The Orks are great fun, some really cool mechanics that are unique to them – particularly cool is the ability to build units mid-battle from destroyed buildings/vehicles on the battlefield. Waaaagh mechanics are in. Again, probably more micromanagement needed to get to their potential.

Alex E: The sound is bloody excellent; some of the units’ repeated phrases can get a little grating (as ever) but overall the sound atmosphere is awesome. Activating a Waaagh tower’s heavy metal serenade to get your Boyz all fighty just feels energetic and spot-on orky.’

And the mechanics, does it feel like Dawn of War 1 like people say?

Milo: Yep, back to the epic all-out war of Dawn of War 1. The mechanics are similar with Requisition and Power points to capture and hold, as well as “elite points” which generate a resource to deploy your selected elite units. Also, base-building is back but it’s really a base-building lite. There’s only a handful of buildings and no meaningful tech-tree decisions to make.

Alex E: The game has a lot of similarities to Company of Heroes 2 and other Relic RTSs, but one feature that’s pointedly different is unit withdrawal: in CoH, you can hit R on any unit or group of units, and it will automatically sprint back to base for healing. This quickly becomes really important. In DoW3, you can only do this for all your units at once, which makes it much more difficult to control several combat groups in different areas of the map, and encourages you to blob your units into a single force most of the time. Again, less of a problem if you’re in 3v3 and laning.

Finally, how do we find the game’s balancing and pacing? Are the battles epic enough?

Milo: Battles in the mid-late game become huge, while the early game skirmishes remain very interesting. It makes for some interesting pacing as the early game is very tactical, losing an early unit or resource point could really hurt you, while in the late game the battles can be almost overwhelming to manage, though with more experience playing the game this would surely become a little easier to micro.

Alex E: I think the balance of the gameplay is very much geared towards the game’s main 3v3 multiplayer mode; playing 3v3 with strangers can get chaotic quite quickly, but teaming up with two mates (who you have on comms) would let each player keep their focus on a smaller area of the map, freeing up more brainspace for tactics, unit micro and using units’ various cool abilities (whose teeny little buttons often get forgotten in the apocalyptic firefights that fill every late- and endgame).

Thanks guys. See you on Thursday for release!

There you have it; did you play on the Beta? What did you think? Let us know in the comments, and tell us which race you’ll be playing first when the game comes out!

What on Earth is…Psycho-Pass: Mandatory Happiness?

If you haven’t watched Psycho-Pass yet, even if you’re not an anime fan, you should fix that right now. I’ll wait.

Right now you’re up to speed, WASN’T THAT AMAZING?

For those who refuse to be enlightened by the light of Psycho-Pass, it’s an anime that’s set in a sort-of-dystopian future where your life, and career, is mapped out for you by taking a test when you’re young. Powerful computers monitor everyone and determine the likelihood of the populace committing crimes using a scan of the brain, this is known as the titular Psycho-Pass. The series follows Akane Tsunemori, a new police inspector as she integrates into Public Safety Bureau’s Criminal Investigation Division. She works alongside Enforcers, people who have a high Crime Coefficient, making them ‘latent criminals’, meaning they’re perfect to take on other criminals using special guns which only activate when pointed at people with similarly high Crime Coefficients.

Of course it doesn’t work perfectly and that’s where the intrigue and drama of the series kicks in. Basically, watch it. WATCH IT.

Anyway now you know what the series is, what about Psycho-Pass: Mandatory Happiness? Well here’s a trailer!

This visual novel doesn’t follow the anime and introduces some new characters as well, meaning if you’re up to date with the anime then this will be all new to you! It does feature returning and familiar faces too, as well as all the twisty, mind bending, philosophical stuff that Psycho-Pass fans know and love.

Why are we writing about it now? Well it’s been out on console for a while now, but it’s now come to PC! So if you love anime, dystopian fiction, scifi, visual novels, or just want a cracking good story set in a fascinating world, then check out Psycho-Pass: Mandatory Happiness!

Just watch your Crime Coefficient, you don’t want the Enforcers coming for you!

Sniper Ghost Warrior 3 – Best Open World Shooters

Sniper Ghost Warrior 3 is coming out on the 25th of April! It promises a wide open world for you to approach objectives in the manner you choose, as a ghost, stealthing your way in everywhere, as a sniper, taking your battle long distance, or as a warrior, getting up close and personal!

It got me thinking though, what are my favourite open world shooters? So…list…time….GO!

Far Cry 3

Jason Brodie is a douchebag who experiences some weird stuff on an island, and also has bit of…family misfortune go down while on holiday there. Far Cry 3 has some of the best outposts in video games, and a beautiful world to support your roaring rampage mission of revenge over the entire island. It allows you to scope out your targets, plan your attack, and gives you enough tools to deal with a situation when it inevitably goes wrong. Combine that with a storyline that I just *love* (I’m probably the only person who can say that) and Far Cry 3 rates as one of my favourite open world shooters.

Crysis

OK, look, just ignore the bit where aliens turn up, and focus on the first half. You’re a soldier in a super-suit, smashing Koreans up with your super powers (and guns), and tossing chickens about like there’s no tomorrow. It was really one of the first games that let you approach things your own way, because you could stealth your way into situations but also you could jump into the middle of a battalion, smash everything up, then leap out again. The first part of Crysis is a brilliant game, it’s just a shame that the tonal shift wasn’t for me!

Borderlands 2

If you like enemies that explode like a pinata made of guns, then you’ll love Borderlands 2. One of the best co-op experiences to be had, Borderlands 2 lets you loose in a bigger world than the first one, and lets you do it with more vehicles, more enemies, more guns, more…more! Also you don’t have fall damage, something ESSENTIAL for hilarity in open worlds with your mates. Everything from the art style to the writing makes it clear you are here for FUN.

Also Tiny Tina is the best character in video games thanks for reading.

Fallout 4

Despite Fallout 3 being first person and open world, it wasn’t that much of a shooter, as the combat mechanics were still largely decided by your weapon skills. Fallout 4 is still obviously an rpg, but it can be played much more shooter-ish than previous instalments. Fallout 4 gives you true freedom, you can shoot anyone in the game, or nearly anyone. Don’t like how someone’s talking to you? Blam. Don’t like their hat? Blam. Want their clothes? Blam. Bored? BLAM BLAM BLAM BLAM BLAM.

Rage

Forget megatextures, even though they’re pretty they didn’t make the impact on the gaming scheme that Id and Carmack thought they would. The joy in Rage comes from the quality of the guns and that the shooting is just top notch, each gun being a masterclass in BANG. The open world helps too, providing a beautiful backdrop to your post-apocalyptic adventures. It feels like a more serious Borderlands at times, but that’s no bad thing!

S.T.A.L.K.E.R.

Right, first thing first. I’m not typing that out again, so I’m just going to call it STALKER.

STALKER is all about the systems and the atmosphere. The game is set in post-Chernobyl Ukraine, in the area around the reactor where things have been going…strange…for a while. While later games in the series fix some of the issues that the first might have, nothing beats the original for just pure atmosphere. The systems too are something to marvel at, I remember my first time playing this game, getting out my binoculars and just watching two sets of opposing factions fight it out on a distant hill. It really sells that you’re not the centre of the universe, that it exists without you.

Red Faction: Guerilla

It’s a shooter and the shooting has some good guns, good variety of guns, and nice explosions. But what really sets Red Faction: Guerilla apart is that you can blow up each and every building on the map. And you do. For profit, and fun. It did something that no game had done previously and no game has really attempted since, and that’s make everything completely destructible. You can take your hammer to buildings, or lay demolition charges, or even use alien weaponry that dissolves things. Any of it works, and it’s all MAXIMUM DESTRUCTION.

The Signal from Tölva

The newest game on this list, this game transports you to the mysterious planet of Tölva where you’re on the hunt for the eponymous signal. You’re in a robot body, and this game takes some of its systems from STALKER, with you taking control of a faction and helping them take over the map in a systems-led faction war. It also has something of the Proteus about it, especially when the sun is rising, your robot feet are planted deep in the fecund earth, alien birds take wing above you, and the soundtrack oozes up around you. It’s a peaceful world, Tölva is, but also a world you can SHOOT AT with LASER GUNS.

Oblivion

‘Fallout with bows’, Oblivion sets you loose across the Imperial Province of Cyrodil and lets you set your own path through the entire world. Whilst some people might gravitate towards swords or magic, they’re an unrefined lot, and really it’s the bow that is the choice of the refined gamer. Sight your enemies from miles away, aim, and let the arrows fly. It’s maybe not a ‘shooter’, but you can try to play it like one. And your enemies won’t know what hit them!

(Hint, it’s an arrow).

So those are some of my favourite open world shooters, maybe Sniper Ghost Warrior 3 will be joining that list when it’s released! Remember, you can get it here at a great price, and if you have any favourite open world shooters we’ve missed, let us know on social media or in the comments below!

Everything You Need To Know About Dragon Quest Heroes II

Dragon Quest Heroes II is coming out next week so we thought it would be a great idea to round up all the information we can on the internet about the game. So here is everything you need to know about Dragon Quest Heroes II.

STORY

After scouring the far corners of the internet we can confirm that not much has been released about the game’s story. We can confirm however that the Seven Realms have been threatened by an unknown and mysterious force. It is up to players to jump into the shoes of Lazarel or Teresa to team up with characters from the Dragon Quest series in order to stop this force from devouring the land.

THE ENVIRONMENTS

Dragon Quest Heroes II is full of expansive and diverse environments that are all interconnected. With a variety of microclimates such as icy tundras and lush forests, there is a whole land for players to explore without limits. Monsters and enemies will also roam freely across the land so players should be cautious whilst out and about, this in turn makes the world come alive making for a great place to explore and make your own stories.

COMBAT

Dragon Quest Heroes II features 2 main protagonists, Lazarel and Teresa. These characters are also joined by 14 other Dragon Quest characters. Fans of the series may recognise most of these character from previous games in the Dragon Quest franchise. The players main party will consist of four characters, players are able to control any one of these characters whilst in battle and can swap between them on the fly.

What’s more Lazarel and Teresa are able to change vocations. This means you are able to fight as a warrior, Priest, Thief, Martial Artist, Mage, Gladiator or Sage the choice is completely up to the player. In Dragon Quest Heroes II players are able to fully customise their play style as there is a huge amount of gear and spell combinations to use, meaning players are able to tailor their party to their play style.

ONLINE

Up to four players can partner up online and embark on the epic Dragon Quest Heroes II saga!

Whilst online players will be able to find Dimensional Dungeons, these are unique online co-op exclusive dungeons which a filled with high-level enemies and rare items. So if you are looking to quest with your friends during or after the main story quest then there is plenty here for you to do.

If this has whetted your appetite for Dragon Quest Heroes II you can grab the game from the Green Man Gaming store!

Valve Announces DOTA 2 Matchmaking Changes

Valve have announced that they will be making some changes to DOTA 2’s MMR, for those of you who aren’t up to scratch with MOBA terminology, or just think acronym MMR is a vaccine then here is a quick crash course on what MMR is.

MMR or Matchmaking Rating is a value that is set in MOBAs that determines the skill level of each player. This value is particularly used in Matchmaking and winning matches will increase players MMR. Basically it’s a good way of matching players who are relatively on the same skill level meaning that you should get an even match up every time you jump into matchmaking online.

So what’s changing? The biggest change announced is that players will now have to register a unique phone number in order to jump into ranked matches. This change has been added by Valve in order to reduce the number of players who have been using multiple accounts in ranked matches. Valve stated that multiple accounts have “a negative matchmaking experience at all skill brackets.”. Ideally, this change will make a noticeable difference in players making multiple accounts in order to climb the ranks and achieve DOTA 2 world domination, as well as making players focus more on their primary DOTA 2 accounts. The aim of this will be to try an eliminate ‘smurf’ accounts, new accounts created by experienced DOTA 2 players who bring that experience against new players, often destroying their opposition.

This is a mandatory change that will take effect on the 4th of May, so if you are not best pleased with the change we suggest cramming in as many ranked matches now before the change takes effect.

The inclusion of registering a new phone number for matchmaking is not a new idea for Valve. They implemented the same change to CS:GO’s Prime matchmaking, which has had a positive effect so far, as matchmaking’s quality in CS GO is at an all time high. It’s worth noting however that CS:GO still offers regular ranked play without phone registration. A option that will simply not be available in DOTA 2 after the 4th of May 2017.

It is also worth noting that players are able to remove a phone number from their DOTA 2 account, doing so however will render that phone number completely inactive for 3 months meaning you will not be able to use it on any other DOTA 2 account for that period. Valve stated that this is to prevent users from removing their phone number and then immediately adding it to another account. On top of this Valve have also confirmed that they will not be allowing phone numbers from online services to be registered, meaning numbers from services such as Google Voice will more than likely not be valid.

You can check out the blog post from Valve here. It is not all doom and gloom however as there have been other changes added, such as ranked solo queue, party changes and new and improved handling of undesirable behaviors in matchmaking.

Dawn Of War III – 5 signs You’re An Eldar Player

It’s the last day of the Dawn of War III beta, and we’ve been trying to help you pick your race before the game comes out proper next week. We’ve given you 5 signs you may be a Space Marine player, as well as another 5 to see if you’re an ork player, but now its time to see if you are haughty and superior! That’s right, an Eldar!

You’re kind of crafty

And you know that all these are other races are just an inconvenience

You’re not really out for war but you shouldn’t be irritated

You feel like you can really connect with this giant fiery deamon, who is just as misunderstood as you

And frankly your squad just has more style than the other races of the universe

So that wraps up all of the Dawn of War III races. If you still don’t think you’re any of them, then I struggle to believe it due to the brilliance of our articles, but on the off-chance, we’ll be waiting with you patiently for any future races coming in the future. All you minor 40K races fans unite! Tau fans, there’s the door.

The Inspiration Behind For Honor

Dawn Of War III – 5 signs You’re An Ork Player

We’ve been helping you decide which Dawn of War III race you should play, because the open beta is currently running this weekend! Yesterday, we gave you the 5 signs that you could be a Space Marine player, today we see if perhaps you’re a little more green and WAAAGH-y.

You truly believe that any problem can be solved with enough Dakka

You thrive in a society of constant infighting

You’re so much better in melee. Like, loads better

If you could, you’d totally be a pirate right now

As long as you’re fighting, you’re having a great time

So, are you feeling any more rowdy and green-skined? If so, fantastic. If not, then you’ll have to wait until tomorrow to see if the final race, the Eldar, are for you.