Epic Games announced a slight change in strategy today for their upcoming free to play shooter Fortnite. The game’s newly announced Battle Royale PVP mode will be free to play starting on September 26 on PC, PlayStation 4, and Xbox One. The PVE mode will remain as a paid early access until its planned free to play launch in 2018. The move will likely help populate the mode’s hundred player matches, and Epic is probably banking on the PVP mode bringing in some more paid customers for the PVE early access.
Fortnite is a sandbox survival shooter set in a zombie-like outbreak. In the “Save the World” PVE campaign, players gather supplies during the day to construct their forts with shooting platforms, mazes, and traps. At night, players must hold out against waves of zombies in their forts. The PVP Battle Royale mode is a 100 player free for all that allows players to build forts and do battle with each other to be the last player standing.
Story
The music in Knack is fine, yet forgettable. The voice acting even is passable in almost every way, but the dialogue just is not interesting enough to actually muster up much of a care to listen to the performances within. Again, it kind of is what it is. Maybe if I simply cared more, I would have spent more time listening in and humming along with the tunes or chuckling at Knack. Not one joke gave a chuckle. Not one moment made me feel emotion. Maybe a third entry will give me reason to go back and try to get some sort of immersion, but after one playthrough, I am quite fulfilled as it is.
Overall
When we last left the Guardians they had managed to end off an attack from Hala and traveled to the planet of Emnios, the location that the crew learned will reveal the secrets of the Eternity Forge. With Peter and Gamora setting foot on the planet, the two are engulfed in a bright light and the pair are once again sent back in the past to relive a memory of their past. For Peter this involves another experience with his mother as he gets a mix-tape copied for her while she buys medicine for her condition though for Gamora it is a much more revealing look at her past with Nebula.
Of course this all comes with the help of a new crew member that Gamora and Peter discover that not only happens to reveal how the crew members of the Milano have been reliving their memories but also gives us new information regarding the Eternity Forge and the power that it is capable of wielding. Those who’ve seen the most recent movie in the franchise will likely guess the identity of this character but thanks in part to her psychic powers as well as her complete lack of social skills adds a new layer of comedy to what is mostly a heavy-hitting episode.
That being said, Peter still often feels like he is the only person keeping the Guardians together, as the story takes a short break to have every character discuss their emotions with Peter in an attempt to quell the unrest in the group to give their new friend a clear mind to focus her efforts on finding the location of the biggest choice Telltale’s offered in Guardians so far. Whether this choice will really have the long lasting consequences it seems to have is yet to be seen of course but players will feel plenty of tension once this episode comes to an end, especially with the implications being what they are in both versions of this choice.
It is even worth noting that the soundtrack feels lackluster this time around thanks to the fact that numerous pieces of music are recycled throughout the episode, lacking the impact that new tunes had on previous episodes. One place where the voice actors really step up here comes with the amount of emotional variety they can deliver here thanks to the quality of the writing for this episode.
Picking up immediately after where the first episode leaves off we witness that the Admin has indescribable power at its disposal. Capable of plunging the entire world into eternal night, the Admin challenges Jesse once more to a series of trials that will prove that he has what “it” takes and with the defenses of Beacon Town destroyed, Jesse has no choice but to accept this challenge, bringing with him most of his compatriots from the Sea Temple adventure, a returning friend, and even a couple of unlikely faces that seem far less capable than the rest of the group.
As such, with a cliffhanger once again leaving Jesse and his friends’ fates unknown Telltale really has to try and tighten the reigns a bit more going forward so that this adventure feels like it has more weight and meaning to it rather than just a series of rushed events being strung together.
It is also interesting to note that there is a choice in this episode that temporarily separates the party into two groups and depending on which group Jesse follows, a different challenge will be awaiting them. This makes it so at least during this section players will have a unique feeling experience even if the story remains the same past this point.
As for the voice work, the cast continues to fit their roles quite nicely, especially in the case of Radar who plays a larger role this time around. The soundtrack for the episode is fairly standard and enjoyable though don’t expect anything too memorable.
