Month: April 2016

The Division Delivers But Only in Fits and Starts

Tom Clancy’s The Division, a game about American sleeper agents taking back New York after a brutal viral outbreak, released at the beginning of March after one of the most prolonged hype cycles in recent memory. I’ve played a decent amount of the Division, completed the story and found every single collectible (all 290 something of them). I’ve fought tons of bullet sponge enemies and spent minutes scratch my head over whether some gear is better than others thanks to the somewhat impenetrable item stats.

The Division is getting a significant patch next week that is adding an end-game activity called Incursions and bringing in sweeping changes to loot, crafting and a whole bunch of other stuff. This impression covers everything pre-patch and some of my feedback might be addressed come release, but this is what I thought of The Division during the first month of its life. Continue reading The Division Delivers But Only in Fits and Starts

Destiny’s April Update and Why Sterling Treasure Boxes Are No Big Deal

After months of waiting, Bungie is dropping a sizable content update for Destiny next week in the form of the April Update which features a new Strike and updated Taken versions of the Winter’s Run Strike and the Prison of Elders. It also brings in new armor, gear, some customization for said armor and gear in the form of “Chroma” and a Light level increase to 335 (from 320).

To earn some of that gear, you’ll need to get one of the new Sterling Treasure boxes. You can acquire three of these by playing the new Level 41 Prison of Elders, one round of the weekly Crucible playlist and logging in on the weekly reset. Aside from the three boxes you can earn just by playing, you can also buy Sterling Treasures from Eververse, the microstransaction store at the Tower. This last source of the new hotness is giving the Destiny community a bit of pause. Continue reading Destiny’s April Update and Why Sterling Treasure Boxes Are No Big Deal

Sunset Overdrive Scratches That Saints Row Itch

Sunset Overdrive definitely wasn’t on my radar when I bought an Xbox One. I vaguely remember seeing ads for the game when it first came out, but forgot about it almost immediately.

That all changed a few weeks ago when I heard rumblings that Sunset Overdrive was actually a pretty great game. Around that same time, Amazon put it on sale for $15, and you can guess the rest. A few days later I had it in my hot little hands.

If you’re a long-time reader of this site, you may remember how much Saints Row 3 surprised and delighted me when I finally got around to playing it. Sunset Overdrive gave me that feeling all over again. It’s in the same absurdist action-comedy wheelhouse, and it feels fresher than the fourth Saints Row game.

Continue reading Sunset Overdrive Scratches That Saints Row Itch