Call of Duty: Ghostsadds a new multiplayer mode called “Heavy Duty” in its latest update
Many of the problems with Activision’s latest Call of Duty iteration are not something that can be fixed with patches and updates.
Yet, that’s the road that the developers are taking with the release of the latest update for Call of Duty: Ghosts. The latest update for the title is headlined by the addition of a free new multiplayer mode dubbed “Heavy Duty”, along with the obligatory patches and fixes to the multiplayer suite.
“Heavy Duty” mode aims to address a common complaint made by Call of Duty players: It’s too easy to get killed. The general consensus amongst gamers is that the person who shoots first normally comes out on top in all gunfights. In the new mode, all players will spawn with beefed-up health bars so they can take more punishment before going down, hopefully making gunfights more about strategy rather than the reflex tests that they are. Developers Infinity Ward are looking to collect feedback on the mode, so this is a chance for the players to make their voices heard.
The update is now live on Xbox One, Xbox 360, PS4, PS3 and PC. The poor Wii U once again gets the short end of the stick, as there is no word yet on when the Nintendo faithful will get the update on their console of choice. For Call of Duty veterans who want to get into the nitty gritty details of all the changes being dropped in this latest patch, the entire changelist is available on the forum.
Shehryar's unhealthy obsession with video games has been a feature of his life for as long as he can remember. On the few occasions he is seen outdoors, you can find him playing football and cheering madly for Chelsea FC.
The Panama Canal is an amazing feat of engineering that has been described as a man made modern wonder. This is not surprising when you consider the fact that it is one of the biggest and most difficult engineering projects to ever be undertaken. It has been operational for one hundred years and has many very interesting features. It connects the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean via the Caribbean Sea and is vital to internationalmaritime trade.
A whole generation of ships have been built for the specific purpose of navigating the canal. These ships are built to the largest possible size that can travel via the canal. Ships that are built for this purpose are said to be built to the ‘Panamax Spec’
There are sets of locks that are responsible for controlling tho flow of traffic and water in the canal. The locks at each end of the canal have been designed to lift ships so that they can access the Gatun Lake. The Gatun Lake is 85ft above sea level, it is an artificial lake that was created for the purpose of reducing the amount of excavation work that was required during construction.
^New locks are currently under construction and it is estimated that they will be completed in 2015.
LG’s first wearables will debut alongside LG G3 at MWC 2014
LG will unveil two wearable devices along with the quad-HD screen toting LG G3 at this year’s Mobile World Congress in Barcelona.
LG’s first wearable offerings will be a smartwatch called G Arch and a fitness tracker called G Health. The G Arch will offer similar functionality as other smartwatches that are out in the market, like Samsung’s Galaxy Gear and Sony’s Smartwatch 2. It will sync with a mobile device and allow users to check notifications, messages and call logs directly from the watch.
The G Health will be a fitness tracker that is more akin to Nike’s FuelBand series. LG demoed a similar tracker at CES earlier this year, but the device was not launched. It has been indicated that LG will debut the G Health along with the G Arch at next year’s Mobile World Congress in Barcelona.
Along with a slew of wearable devices, LG is also looking to launch the successor to the LG G2. Hardware details of the LG G3 have leaked online, and the device is said to feature a quad-HD (2K) resolution screen, 16MP camera along with an octa-core processor that will be manufactured in-house at LG. The LG G3 is said to be available in the second half of 2014.
Samsung already manufactures SoCs for use in its mobiles, and it looks like LG will get in on the act starting next year. The processors are allegedly code-named Odin, and LG is said to be working on a quad-core version along with an octa-core version. LG signed a licencing deal with ARM for the 64-bit Cortex-A50 processors, so it is likely that LG will use this core in its processors.
Rumor: Two ‘Assassin’s Creed’ games to release in 2014?
A recent interview hints that Ubisoft might be planning on releasing two Assassin’s Creed titles across next-gen and current-gen platforms next year.
When Ubisoft announced that Assassin’s Creed is now an annual franchise, many gamers felt dubious about the proposition: could the landmark series turn lukewarm and bland with yearly iterations re-hashing the same material in different ways? Would it be overdone like the ill-fatedCall of Duty: Ghosts?
On the heels of Assassin’s Creed: Revelations and Assassin’s Creed III–both of which have been regarded with disdain by the gaming sphere–gamers were worried that the franchise was going downhill.
The stellar critical reception (and sales figures) of Assassin’s Creed IV has allayed those fears. With Black Flag, Ubisoft has weathered the trepidation quite well and proved that the studio is still very much on its game.
But can the studio (and gamers, for that matter) handle putting out two Assassin’s Creed games in the same year?
In a recent interview with Examiner, Ubisoft Sofia producer Momchil Gindyanov shared that “multiple releases are a possibility” for 2014:
“Definitely [multiple releases a year] is a possibility. That being said, I don’t believe AC Liberation and AC IV are in competition as both games provide different experiences and I’m sure our fans enjoy both.”
Based on Ubisoft’s announcement of a yearly Assassin’s Creed release, we can surmise that there may be as many as two games for 2014: one being a brand new game for next-gen consoles and the other the HD re-released of Assassin’s Creed III: Liberation.
Further Speculation arises whether Ubisoft will continue this trend past 2014–most likely not, considering the overkill factor involved with developing two concurrent games…however we may see the series splinter off with further adventures on the PS Vita.
One of the biggest concerns that gamers face with the possible “two Assassin’s Creed games a year” scenario (aside from cost) is not being able to really digest the story and gameplay to prepare for a new game. That was one of the points that Examiner brought up, along with the concern that a new release so soon might affect sales figures.
It’s quite important to give gamers enough time to thoroughly enjoy the game itself. Millions of players are enjoying Edward Kenway’s exploits across the 18th Century Caribbean, and quite a few of them haven’t really thought about a new Assassin’s Creed game. Release too many games too soon and you risk over-saturating the market as well as diluting your core constituency, and that’s never a good thing.
Keep in mind that this is based on conjecture and rumor, and although Gindyanov’s statements are indicative of certain possibilities, it’s important to remember that nothing has been confirmed at this point. It’ll be interesting to see how this story pans out, and if any other Ubisoft employees make further statements.
Although Ubisoft already has an idea on how the series will end, there’s a multitude of unexplored paths for the franchise that spans across the wake of time itself.
The Assassin’s Creed franchise takes to the high seas. Come aboard and read our review.
Developer: Ubisoft Montreal Publisher: Ubisoft Release Date: Nov. 15, 2013 Platform: Xbox 360, PS3, Wii U, PS4, Xbox One, PC Genre: Action Adventure MSRP: $59.99
Avast ye scalliwags, set sail and raise the Black Flag!
Assassin’s Creed IV is one of the Playstation 4′s launch titles that adequately reflect the console’s raw power and refined finesse, and remains one of the premiere must-have games for the next-gen era. Every single moment–whether its cannon-fights across the high seas or cut-scenes–is captured in crystal clear fidelity, showcasing a new age of console gaming.
The game itself is so filled with content that gamers can lose themselves in the 18th Century Caribbean for quite some, only to find they’re not even half-way done with the main quest. There is a huge variety of side missions and alternate objectives that compliment the main quest, and the modern day sequences balance out the plundering glory of Kenway’s crew quite well.
Assassin’s Creed IV: Black Flag propels the definitive franchise into the next generation of console gaming while also sending a fresh new wave of vitality through the series. The title’s historical back-drop is a compelling and unique period, providing a seamless blend of open-world exploration with the political-driven war between the Assassins and the Templars that has spanned centuries.
Black Flag introduces iconic faces and pirates of the era including Blackbeard (on Kenway’s right) who ally with our privateer to make a steadfast and deadly alliance.
Welcome to the golden age of piracy
Black Flag‘s story arc marries compelling tale-spinning with the series’ distinct blend of historical influence. The game chronicles Edward Kenway’s rise to fame within the heyday of the Golden Age of Piracy, and captures distinct landmark areas across the West Indies during this period in stunning detail–from Havana to Nassau and everywhere in between.
The plot is quite dynamic and layered; within we find Kenway impersonating a high-ranking Templar assassin, and learns of a mysterious artifact known as the Observatory. The shadowy overtones fit right in with Ubisoft’s cryptic underlying storylines involving the Precursors, and there are plenty of sociopolitical themes thrown into the mix as well.
This image perfectly captures the spread of piracy across the West Indies, featuring a lively firefight between the renegade pirates and the Spanish armada.
Ubisoft captures an era of history in stunning detail, maintaining the realism of the warring nations while fully encapsulating the anarchical spread of piracy across the West Indies. The studio fleshes out the Eighteenth Century with actual pirates like James Kidd and Blackbeard, who join up with Kenway to make an alliance of sorts.
Armed with a crew and his ship, the Jackdaw, the ambitious, silver-tongued privateer-turned-pirate-captain sets out to find the truth behind the mysterious Observatory and to do what he does best: spread chaos.
The UI is streamlined and simplified, providing a clear and concise HUD without any clutter.
The basics: UI, crafting and quests
Black Flag‘s game mechanics aren’t too varied from the traditional open-world elements we’ve come to expect from the franchise. The basics are still the same with a blend between open-world exploration, action-packed combat and stealthy strategy. You’ll also find that Edward is just as spry and agile as Ezio and Connor in climbing structures and performing sneaky assassinations.
The general UI has been more streamlined and refined to make things less complicated, with simplified interfaces for weapon selections, menus, and the in-game map.
Everything is explained in a clear and concise manner, and hitting Options brings up the main menu. Here you can craft things like pistol holsters, armor upgrades, and other miscellaneous helpful additions. You can also view upgrades for your ship and even check your progress tracker.
The main menu serves as the central hub, featuring crafting, upgrades, resources and the expansive Animus datatbase. The map, however, is accessed through the DualShock 4′s interactive touchpad.
Crafting is pretty straightforward in AC4. There are different tiers for any given set of upgrades, all of which require pelts from various wildlife across the West Indies. The stronger upgrades require exotic and rare pelts, adding an extra freeform objective to the mix.
There’s a huge offering of side quests and missions to complete whilst juggling the main quest objectives, which means there won’t really ever be a dull moment. That’s the best part about Black Flag; there’s so much to do and everything is engaging–even jumping across tree limbs to snag shanties or hunting fauna for crafting recipes can be fun.
Combat is a big part of Black Flag, and is more dynamic than ever. Players have a range of weapons to use in battle, all of which are upgradable and provide strategic advantages.
Conflict abroad: combat, weapons and AI
Combat is much more fluid as well, and now gamers can confidently jump into a whole group of Spanish soldiers without death being certain. This is mainly due to the extremely response counter system. When an enemy is about to strike, a prompt pops up, and if you press Circle in time Edward will block the attack and counter it.
Each face button has different counter moves — for example X will disarm an enemy and Square, the most useful, incapacitates them. Edward can counter multiple times, and this mechanic is very useful for any combat scenario and affords for some nice tactical strategy as well.
Edward makes use of his deadly muskets while making a stylized entrance on the battlefield.
Two main types of utilities help Edward out in those tight combat situations; weapons are scrolled with up and down on the D-Pad, making up swords, hidden blades and unarmed. The tools menu is scrolled with left and right, and includes ranged-based weapons like your muskets, blowgun and smoke bombs.
For a price, Edward can purchase different weapons from merchants. Sword sets vary with three different stats — Speed, Combo and Damage — all of which are balanced on a sword-to-sword basis. Pistols are similarly balanced, with Damage, Stun and Range as their modifiers.
Use the many stalking zones like bushes, walls, and even elevation on tree branches to stay hidden from your foes…and strike when the time is right.
Stealth is emphasized throughout many missions, and as always you’ll need to be patient — and skilled — with some parts. Thanks to the refined mechanics, though, gamers aren’t stressed so much. There are plenty of new areas to hide in, too; Edward can use everything from bushes, haystack piles, corners and trees to stay stealthy.
If you do happen to be spotted, the best thing about Black Flag is that the alert timers and radii have been altered to make things much more lenient for players. When one enemy sees you, he’ll come and attack–but the good news is that you won’t get spammed with baddies for one mess up.
This affords for a lot of flexibility and allows players to refine their skills without the cost of frustration.
Named after a native bird from Kenway’s homeland, the Jackdaw serves as the crew’s vessel and can be used for battle and exploration across the West Indies.
The Jackdaw: Ship-to-ship combat and exploration
The most notable addition to Assassin’s Creed IV is enhanced ship-to-ship combat and the exploration opportunities the Jackdaw offers. Gameplay is split between two different terrains: on the sea and on-land. Players can sail from across the seas to different landmasses, and dock at a nearby port–or just jump right into the water and swim to land.
A pirate’s life is all about plunder. With the Jackdaw’s arsenal of cannon, chain shots, and swivel guns you can wreak as much havoc as you see fit across the open waters by attacking enemy ships. Open-water conflict is interesting, fun, dynamic and challenging all at once, and affords for a unique experience that goes lengths in defining the game’s identity.
Taking on Spanish brigs with an assault of cannon fire is thrilling, and remains one of the best parts of Black Flag’s combat scenarios. The Jackdaw can be upgraded with a host of modifiers including new cannon, chain shots, or even swivel enhancements.
Using a spyglass with L1 or R1, you can scout the seas and search for your next bounty. Ships are designated into different levels, with schooners and merchant ships being easy prey and brigs, hunters and man-o-war ships putting up a good fight.
The targeting systems for each ship cannon and weapon vary, and using all of them in conjunction not only makes for an effective fight but can be the difference between life and death. To switch from the Jackdaw’s weapons, you’ll simply use the left analog stick to look at whichever type you want to use; to use the cannon, you’ll need to look to the right so that they are highlighted. Chain-shots are located at the front, and are great for those first-strike shots.
Enemy ships each have their own strengths and weaknesses, but in tandem with one another they can pack a wallop. It’s best to pick off the small fries before you take on a dreaded Man-o-War or a Hunter class vessel.
If you’re feeling brave, throw caution to the wind and engage a dreaded Man-o-War. In ship combat, the higher level the ship the more resources can be plundered, but it’s important you don’t bite off more that you can chew. Above is a ship-to-ship guide that details each of the vessel types featured in Black Flag.
Ship combat is an excellent opportunity to gain cargo and resources that are needed to upgrade your ship, like wood and metal. After you take down a ship, you have two options: board it or just blast it to smithereens. Boarding the ship is the best option and gleans the most resources, but you’ll have to kill off a certain number of the crew.
Kenway and his crew of sea dogs board an enemy ship, ready to pillage and plunder their resources.
Maintaining your ship with frequent upgrades and keeping your crew maxed is the best way to ensure a good haul. Every time you take down a vessel you’ll be able to repair the Jackdaw, and you’ll also get other resources and cargo that can be sold to local Harbourmasters for Reales (the in-game currency).
Sailing a ship isn’t all about treasure and glory, though. The seas can be very dangerous, especially in storm season. Players will face fierce cross-winds and water spouts that only want to capsize your vessel, and these dangers can be amplified by angry Spanish armada ships waiting to intercept.
Storms can be deadly for any ship, and hazards like water spouts, cross-winds and unpredictable swells can capsize even the toughest of vessels. It’s best to avoid taking on ships during these tough environmental effects.
It’s best to learn the ropes of the Jackdaw quicker than later, as you’ll spend a lot of time on its deck. Practice different maneuvers and learn your strengths and weaknesses early on, along with effective measures against multiple enemy ships–sometimes you’ll get bombarded.
The Jackdaw is a flexible ship and it’s capable of impressive things in the right hands, and a few upgrades wouldn’t hurt either. The ship controls well and overall is a joy to command, but sometimes you’ll get stuck in compromising situations–say between two irksome-placed islands–and hit a few reefs due to the wind-changes. The environmental effects across the sea are nothing short of amazing, and emulate realism to an astounding degree to provide an immersive experience.
Take to the high seas to search for plunder or explore uncharted islands for treasure–in Black Flag you get to make the calls.
Black Flag offers a lot of flexibility and gives players the opportunity to do what they want when they want. Apart from the amazing environment effects like the raging sea storms and day-to-night transitions, the sheer amount of freedom is staggering. Sail from city to city or just explore remote islands in search of plunder, harpoon sharks, or even dive deep within the ocean for treasure–it’s all up to you.
Exploration can sometimes get you into some compromising situations though, as crossing enemy territory–those tell-tale “restricted” zones–can bring high-leveled Man-o-Wars right on top of you.
In these zones you’ll come across enemy-controlled forts, which can be taken over by your crew after its been successfully barraged with cannon fire. Once the fortress is damaged enough, you can jump on land and take out the officer to gain sovereignty of the area, and subsequently unlock that portion of the main global map in the process.
Multiplayer has been overhauled, featuring the same basic set-up with additional content and a host of new characters.
Multiplayer
Ubisoft has overhauled multiplayer for Black Flag in a big new way. Players can take part in a number of different matches, and spend their U-Play points earned through the game’s campaign on outfits or upgrades. There are thirteen different classes to choose from, all of which have their own distinct fighting styles and proficiencies.
The interface has been re-designed as an Animus-style MMO game, with an intro and training session straight from Abstergo. Combat is hectic but also keeps in line with the basic controls and game mechanics featured in the campaign mode like climbing buildings and hiding in bushes.
The multiplayer levels are pretty impressive, and the mechanics are seamless so that anyone can pick up a controller and play.
A compass shows nearby enemies, and you’ll be able to exercise your stealthy assassination skills or go all-out with some musket shots in team-based deathmatches or objective-based gametypes.
Multiplayer also has its own Game Lab that allows players to create their very own customized game mode, and there are also global events that gamers can take part in with others. As an example, this week’s event involves the mysterious ghost ship The Flying Dutchman, and begins in the next four days or so.
Edward Kenway’s adventures detail his rise to a legendary pirate, shedding light on his mysterious motivations revolving around the Observatory.
Yo-ho-ho it’s a pirate’s life for me!
Assassin’s Creed IV: Black Flag is undoubtedly one of the most impressive installments of the series and remains one of the must-have titles for next-gen consoles. Ubisoft’s newest chapter offers a huge offering of content that’s replayable and vast, offering hours upon hours of play time.
Black Flag not only reveals an interesting portion of the canon mythos, touching upon an iconic aspect of the mysterious Precursors, but also delivers a deep inter-personal storyline that delves into the Templar-Assassin war. The modern day sequences further illuminate Abstergo’s shadowy history, revealing tidbits and hints from the series that haven’t been seen before.
The game’s visuals are exemplified with the immersive and incredible open-world environments, from weather effects and sprawling eighteenth century Havana to the wildlife and even the swells of the ocean. Every scene and moment in the game encapsulates the historic Golden Age of Piracy, and Ubisoft has perfectly captured the era and brought it to life in a dazzling spectacle that pushes the boundaries for the Assassin’s Creed franchise.
Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas is coming to Android and iOS this December.
It’s easy to get caught up in Rockstar’s recent release of Grand Theft Auto V, but before this recent blockbuster there were several other hack-em and car-jacking hits. Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas was among one of the best-selling titles for the PS2, and ten years after its initial release fans will be able to enjoy the same game (again?) on their mobile devices.
Rockstar states that the game has been ‘upgraded’ for its mobile release. Remastered graphics and other game engine details aside, the best part about the release is that the release fully supports physical gamepads. That, alone, should be sufficient to convince people to fork out a few bucks for the mobile version.
Sorry BlackBerry users, there were no announcements from Rockstar on whether or not San Andreas will make it on to this particular mobile platform.
