With the speed at which news comes out in the gaming industry we sometimes miss important or news worthy things. Some of these things we want to talk about in a way that is both easy for you guys and allows us to get all the facts together as some of these stories develop quickly. Sometimes we also just cover topics that we find interesting and want to discuss.

Ozzy plays the Satisfactory Alpha Test weekend

This weekend was the open test weekend for Satisfactory for anyone that signed up for the alpha and I (FINALLY) got it to try out and I can give a simple ‘review’ of sort about it. Since more than 50% of the game is currently locked out for the future Early Access release, I got to play with what they allowed.
I can easily say that I’m amazed at how well optimized it is. They keep posting “oh we’ll make it better, sorry” and it runs (most the time) like melted butter. Also the environment is gorgeous, felt like I wanted to explore more than make things.

As for the game play, exactly as you’d imagine. It is a first person Factorio, make a simple thing into more complex and that into something more complex and so on. Being able to drive around also lets you explore faster, automating those things will help so you don’t have to drive your cargo around your massive factories.

I found myself thinking as I would in Cities: Skylines. “I made a section of town, put a road through. It works. Now, how can I make it more efficient?” I found myself building one thing, moving on to the next more advanced things only wanting to go back to the first to make it run better. ESPECIALLY when you’re trying to build something big which needs a lot of resources, you can make it go faster if you think more efficiently. I like that, a game I’m not going to be out-sniped, out skilled, rekted, offed, etc. etc. I just want to start and go at my own pace.
And while I had no one to play with, it does have multiplayer for up to 3 other people to help you make a base or just go racing around in your trucks, buggies, and, whenever they add them, trains.

I do slightly wish they had an aircraft vehicle that you could fly but I understand, I’ll enjoy it more on the ground and eventually I get a space train…I mean come on?

BF5 Firestorm intro video “leaks”

We have the first look at the new battle royal mode where you can play solo, duo or with a squad. You salvage for weapons of different rarity and objectives to acquire better loot to aid your ability to kill others on your quest to survive the firestorm. There are vehicles you can use to improve your chances but the acquisition of these vehicles was not explained in the video. You can also revive your team mates if they go down so once they get knocked down they are not out of the round. You can watch the entire video below.

Wiggin’s thoughts on the subject:   I have to say the inclusion of vehicles into a battle royal mode such as the tank shown in the video will be an interesting inclusion to the genre. I hope that they are balanced and provide a unique experience but I unfortunately can see them causing more issues then being fun. I also am interested in how big the map is and how quickly you will be finding people as some battle royal games have larger maps such as PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds and other are a bit smaller and more focused on forcing combat early. If it’s anything like the main Battlefield V multiplayer then we expect pretty low time to kill that might make it a bit more on the realistic side of things compared to something like Apex Legends where you get shields and a health pool. I and a few friends own Battlefield V but the lack of content and the hollowed feel of current development personally doesn’t get me really excited for this new mode. I will be trying it but I’m not holding my breath. It might surprise me and others and it will be nice to play as a squad as that removes making me pick who to play with go away.