Bluehole, Inc, the Korean developers behind the massively popular Playerunknown’s Battlegrounds (PUBG), has issued a statement accusing American developers Epic Games of ripping off PUBG with the latest Fortnite update. Fortnite is launching a new 100 player Battle Royale PVP mode on September 26th. Bluehole, Inc alleges that Fortnite has a similar UI, gameplay, and structure as PUBG‘s battle royale experience. The Korean company says they were pushed to act when Epic Games repeatedly referenced PUBG in their communication with both the community and the press.
Bluehole, Inc is finding itself in an awkward position as they are currently licensing Epic Games’ Unreal Engine 4 for PUBG. Bluehole, Inc is being quiet about their next step besides issuing a public complaint via press release. Taking Epic Games to court may be in the cards. Bluehole’s Vice President and Executive Producer Chang Han Kim, hinted to the possibility with his choice of words when he made it clear that Bluehole is collecting evidence about the similarities between the two games.
This wide array of customization allows for numerous elements of the game to be tweak to fit your skill level, though you will likely want to increase the steering sensitivity right off the bat as it is kept at an incredibly low level, making cars feel unresponsive on a standard controller and even after spending numerous races tweaking these settings it rarely feels like you have the best control available. For those who are playing with a racing wheel, there are a number of options specifically set aside for that control method as well.
Most of the time you spend racing in Project CARS 2 will be during the extensive career mode that is available to players with almost every tier available right off the start. If you feel like starting at the bottom racing karts around a track or feel like jumping into third tier vehicles right away then you have that option since only the two highest tiers of racing are locked until you prove your mettle as a driver in the other tiers. Other than these tiers it is worth noting that special Manufacturer based events are also locked behind relationship levels that require the player to use certain brands of vehicles in their races enough time to unlock. This gives racers a little something extra to work towards as these are the only real unlockables in the game since everything else is available right off the bat.
Outside of the aforementioned career mode, players also have the option of taking their skills online to try their best against other racers through competitive play. It is interesting to note that the developers have included a feature called “reputation” that will keep players who drive dirty from playing with those who want to play as clean as possible. Unfortunately this can be a bit of a negative as unintentional crashes can hurt the player’s reputation though this filter is optional so even those who may spend some of their time ending up in a corner after causing a pile-up can still find matches.
That being said, these weather changes also can bring forth some of the biggest issues with the game and that is the AI of other drivers. Players can adjust their speed and aggression as they wish but even when kept at the same setting they will often behave rather erratically. I’ve seen times where nearly the entire field would struggle to make one of the first turns on a track to cars randomly losing control during the best conditions possible only for them to easily manage a rain-slick road. This also plays a factor when it comes to qualifying for races in career mode. More often than not players will find that their fellow racers are capable of pulling off incredible times if you happen to skip the qualifying laps after setting a satisfying time for yourself, putting what seemed like a pole position into a middle of the pack starting point. Combine that with the fact that the penalty system, which can be turned off as well for single player but is terribly annoying online, is incredibly eager to force players to fall back to previous positions when in navigating through a cluster of cars.
That being said, there are some times that the game will suffer from a bit of slowdown when navigating through a large pack of vehicles during some of these conditions. These slowdowns tend to be fairly uncommon but appear often enough to be worth mentioning. As far as the sound effects for Project CARS 2 goes, players will be delighted that the developers have made sure to replicate the various sounds that one would expect when driving a real race car. Players also will be treated to a soothing instructional voice when navigating through menus and even the spotter, who can be turned on for every race if you so wish, is voiced in simple but fitting fashion.
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.