Yesterday marked the official end of the Star Wars Battlefront Beta!  It was truly an exciting game, but there are many things that I personally found wrong with it.  While it's very much your authentic Star Wars type game, there were certainly more than a few times I grew very frustrated with it.

The Good:

Let's start off with the good though as it was still fun despite my frustrations.  Graphics!  Whether you're on PS4, PC, or Xbox One, these were amazing.  From all the streams I saw, the videos posted online, to when I was playing, the graphics were just a work of art.  The textures were phenomenal and it looked almost real.  The physics as you run around in third person looked very close to real life.  Alongside the graphics were the special effects.  Picture the Star Wars movie when a blaster hits a surface and the laser bursts into many tiny dots, or the sparks that come off the surface.  That's exactly how it looked in the game.  The explosions looked as if you were playing the movie itself.

The game play itself was also very good, it had a realistic feel to it.  Whether you were on the ground, or in a vehicle, it felt like you were unable to break the laws of physics.  The vehicles, especially flying felt like they became second nature very quickly.  It was an easy thing to pick up and get right into the action.  Some vehicles handled differently than others, for example, the X-Wing by far was my favorite ship.  Where as, the A-Wing, still a good ship due to it's speed and power, was much harder to control.  You were unable to fly it upside down as efficiently as the X-Wing or a Tie Fighter.

The Dark Side: The Bad:

Now for some of the bad, the spawning.  Every time you spawn in Hoth, you were typically set to two spawn points which rotated between each other.  As the Imperials, this felt like you had to walk the longest way to get back into the battle.  On the Rebel side, you felt the pain of having the same feeling.  While it felt like you had to walk a good ways to get back into the fight, it's nice that enemies didn't spawn directly on top of or behind you.  That being said, as the "uplink" points moved, so did the spawns.  If you had a bad timed spawn, you may notice some Imperials or Rebel's may spawn right on top of you or behind you.  This wasn't a one in a million chance either, it would happen pretty often if you died at the right time.  Which let's be honest, it happens a lot, at least to me, maybe I'm unlucky, I'm not sure.

Another gripe I have is the amount of vehicles the Imperials had over the Rebels.  I know you could only get to level 5 and thus only had a slim choice of weapons, so the Rebel's didn't have any "anti-tank" essentially, so that made that match much more difficult.  Usually someone in an AT-ST would be murdering you're entire troop while Imperials in the Tie Fighter would be keeping your ships out of the sky.  This combination meant your ships were unable to support the ground troops and fire upon the AT-ST's making it a great mathematical formula for destruction.

Blasters by far as someone coming from the realistic shooting games with guns with bullets that travel much faster.  This was an issue for me that I never got fully adjusted to.  You have to make sure you shoot in front of someone if they are running to the side.  I also have my thoughts that latency may have been an issue because three head shots wouldn't kill an enemy, but one shot to my head was pretty much instant death.  Even if I had the drop of the enemy at some point, they would still manage to decimate me even if I had fired almost every shot into their chest/back before my gun was about to over heat.

Matchmaking: Not terrible, but good luck getting to play with your friends.  Their system allowed you to have a single partner.  So if you or your partner joined a game, you were notified and prompted to join.  If you're just in a voice chat party, they show that too, but there's no notification.  You have to go select a name and select join game.  Is the game full?  Yes?  Well you can sit in queue until someone leaves.  Is the other team full?  No?  OK, you can play against your friend.  I think this feature still requires a little work unless they don't want more than two friends always playing on the same team or together at all?

The last thing I wish to mention by far urged me the most.  THE CLIPPING!  Mother of pearl this was the worst.  Nothing sucks more than trying to run and duck into cover and getting stuck on a rock or piece of snow no bigger than an ant.  Especially because of the various formations of rocks used on both maps that were available in the beta, clipping was typically the death of me if I was on the ground.  Hopefully EA will be able to smooth that over a bit before launch as I see that being a big issue down the road.

Final Thoughts:

All in all, Star Wars Battlefront seems like it's going to be a fun game.  As I said originally in another post I still wouldn't buy it.  Maybe it's because I'm not a big enough Star Wars fan to want to play a game and dedicate my time that way.  Maybe it's because I think back to Rainbow Six | Siege Beta and just wish I was still playing that.  I believe it was easier to play with friends in Rainbow Six where as there's no good way to get into matches with your friends on Battlefront.

If you're all about Star Wars, graphics, vehicles, essentially Battlefield with a Star Wars skin, this game is for you!  I would recommend it to a friend who was borderline on the edge because it is a fun game, don't get me wrong.  It's just not my kind of game.  From what I discussed, there was just more bad than good.  While good should always triumph as per Star Wars, I just don't think I would be happy with my purchase and continue to be entertained as time went on.

What do you think?  Are you planning to play Star Wars Battlefront when it releases?  Did you play the beta?  What are your thoughts on the graphics and the game play?  Leave a comment below with your thoughts or opinions!

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Yesterday I managed to snag a Star Wars Battlefront beta key for some early access beta (thanks to @asd81_) and needless to say, I've never played a game like it.  I wasn't exactly sure what to expect and I'm glad I didn't, because it was incredibly fun and exciting!

There's currently a multiplayer and a story type mission, but I have only jumped into multiplayer at this time so I'll provide my first impressions on that as I only played for a few hours yesterday.

Firstly, the max rank is only 5 and you're very limited on the blasters you have.  You also have star cards which you can use for your hand, with a total of 3 cards (one being an energy card) you can roll into battle.  My typical load out after getting to level 5 was using the heavy blaster along with a grenade, jet pack, and a personal shield.  However, in the first game I played, it was similar to hard point from Call of Duty.  A pod would appear on the map, you capture it and then defend it against the opposing team.  There's no super awesome or interesting things about this, it seems like it's just a warm up that you do until about level 5 when you're ready to go to Hoth.

Once you reach level 5 you're able to unlock all the items without having to worry about points or credits for the most part.  So I reached that point with ease and went into the bigger 20v20 match.  This match was much more intense as there was ground troops, X-wings, Tie Fighters, AT-AT's, AT-ST's, and even heros!  That's right, the Imperial forces had Darth Vadar, and the Rebels had Luke Skywalker.

All over the map there are power-ups around.  My usual first choice was a ship so I could fly around, take down enemy ships, and provide some ground support as I shot fiercely into clusters of troops from the opposing team.  The power-up system is simple, you run over one, hit L1+R1 and you're off.  Well unless you get shot while trying to call in your ship which happened more times than one.  But when I did manage to get in a ship it was incredible.  The system for flying was so much fun that it's all I wanted to do the entire time.  As soon as someone managed to shoot me down, I was finding the first power-up to give me another ship to get back into the sky's.

Of course I participated in the ground troop action where our objective was to either activate (Rebel) or deactivate/keep the transmitters off (Imperial).  Now, I'm typically use to an FPS with guns that shoot bullets.  I'm talking guns that will shoot a lot of bullets which travel at an extremely high velocity.  So as I'm trying out this beta, I can't help but get frustrated when I'm shooting and the blaster continues to shoot behind someone.  This is due to the speed or velocity at which the blaster round moves.  I'm told it's something I will get use to, but it's very frustrating and difficult to adapt to on the fly with no prior experience.

Either way, I would say it was a blast (pun intended).  I managed to get plenty of kills, and learn a lot about how the spawning system works.  Typically spawning isn't too bad, until the hanger on Hoth.  Feel free to check out my Twitch stream from the other night to see certain times where it's just a massacre.  But all in all, it was a ton of fun and I was extremely impressed.  Not only was I impressed by the game play and how authentic it felt being a Star Wars game, but the graphics were just amazing even on the PS4!

Now the open beta actually starts on Thursday which isn't even a full day away at this point, so I hope you're excited, because you're going to have a lot of fun if you like Star Wars, or shooting people with blasters, or flying, or force choking Rebel scum.  Today I plan to play some of the mission/story mode to see if it's any good, and then I will be jumping right back into multiplayer to get back into the amazing aerial acrobatics you can do while flying!

Overall first impression: this game is amazing but I probably won't buy it.  Would I recommend it to someone who would play it, yes.  However, I will most likely not be purchasing the game because there's too much else to play.  I will more than likely be playing Fallout 4 while waiting for Rainbow Six | Siege.  But if you like Star Wars and were looking forward to the game, I can promise you will not be disappointed!

Please feel free to leave a comment, like, or share this post with your friends or family.  Until next time, may the force be with you!

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Today marks the day that the Rainbow Six | Siege Beta comes to an end.  While I believe at the time of writing this the servers are still up, I'm stuck at work and unable to play.  With that being the case, I figured it's probably about time to write a follow up to my thoughts on the game and the experiences I had.


For starters, aside from all the bugs, matchmaking, and disconnects/errors this was by far the most fun game I have played in awhile.  The main reason I found it fun was the team that I got to be apart of.  During my play time I met a few players who were on my level and we had a lot of fun.  We were able to enjoy the game but also get down and become very tactical when the time came.  We had set strategy's for each map which we used to dominate Terrorist Hunt on the Realistic setting.  What was really fun is that no game was ever the same.  There was always something that happened which was unexpected.  I would like to thank the AI for this.  While there is some predictability, if someone missed a shot and went down, the entire dynamic began to change.

Once we got comfortable we did what was probably the most fun, a team of all players on Recruit using shotguns at the house map.  This was probably my favorite experience because it was actually a lot harder than we thought it would be.  It's as if the AI knew we all had shotguns and would rush us much more than usual, or at least that's how it felt.  If I had to rate the game play alone excluding certain bugs I would give it a 9/10.  Why only a 9?  Because bombers that's why.  I like the challenge of the bomber, but I don't like that they can blow me up behind a solid brick wall.  The same thing happened with a grenade to.  Maybe it was the latency, I'm not sure, but it was annoying!

I believe what makes this game better or different I should say is that you have to be very cautious when moving and clearing rooms.  You have to work as a team, be able to cover not only your own ass, but your teams as well.  I enjoyed the challenge and being able to communicate with my team and work as a unit.  Moving around the maps and using certain tactics in certain areas on certain maps.  It was a lot of fun and it really felt like your squad was going into it together.

Now in terms of available guns and classes obviously it's only a beta, so I can't complain.  I wish there would have been more attackers as all I did was play Terrorist Hunt the entire time beta was live.  However, I know this will change, more will be added in time.  Hopefully additional guns are added as well, because the choices were pretty slim.  You can only use each gun for so long before you wish you had more variety.  For instance, I would have loved to have an attacker with a sub machine gun.  But I can't hold this against them as I know what the beta was for.  It was for them to test their servers and make sure everything will hold up on release day, and that all major bugs are found so they can be resolved in time for the release.

If I had to recommend this game, I obviously would.  But only if you're into working as a team and being able to communicate and play smart.  I also highly recommend a headset otherwise you'll find yourself getting shot in the ass more times than you can count.  Or possibly blown up without hearing the bomber sneaking up from behind!

I for one am extremely excited for the release of this game and hope to continue to play with some of the players I met throughout the course of the beta.  I also hope to play competitively, though at first I was unsure how I felt about that.  But after playing the beta, I can say this seems like it would be the game that I would want to go all in for.  Especially with all the maps to come with the release!

At the end of the beta I made it to level 60, unlocked all the attackers (not defenders as I only player Terrorist Hunt), and unlocked many of the attachments and camos for the weapons.  I must say the shark camo for the F2 on Twitch greatly improved the gun for me personally.  Aside from bugs and connection issues here and there, it actually wasn't too bad and it was playable and I had a good time.  If I had to pick a favorite class, Twitch obviously would be my go to right along side Fuze with the AK 12 being extremely powerful with very little recoil.  Plus Fuze having heavy armor helps him take more damage than Twitch, but of course he moves much slower and is a little larger making him an easier target.

My absolute final thought about this game is that it is just fantastic.  It's the best tactical first person shooter I have player in a long time, possibly ever but it's too early and I haven't had enough coffee to think that through completely.  Plus it's only a beta, so that opinion may change, but probably not with what I have seen so far!

I encourage you to leave a comment or connect with me and ask me anything (preferably related to Rainbow Six | Siege).  I would be happy to answer questions and provide additional information as necessary.

I plan to work through my previous twitch stream and highlight that win with all shotguns at some point, so feel free to check that out if you want to see us win with that setup.  Otherwise, find the ones of us getting brutally murdered over and over again at least 5 times trying to use all shotguns.

Until next time, have a good day!

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As some of you may know, the closed beta for Rainbow 6 | Siege started last week on the 24th!  I will be splitting this post into a couple sections.  Firstly, I will discuss how I felt about Ubisoft's deployment of their closed beta.  I will then go on to discuss my actual thoughts about the game such as game play and matchmaking in another post.

To jump right into it, Ubisoft decided to take their closed beta which was originally supposed to run for close to two weeks, was then cut down to a mere 4 days!  As the Rainbow 6 community went into an uproar over this, the worst was yet to be seen.  As the closed beta began, Ubisoft decided to deploy their beta keys in waves rather than all at once.  Now this may sound logical for a beta test, but it was anything but.  Ubisoft stated their priority system or at the very least, that those who pre-ordered the game would get their keys first, followed by those who submitted beta codes from sites such as NVIDEA or Amazon.  However, this didn't work out as well as they had planned.  I myself pre-ordered but did not receive my key at all!  I did eventually get a key but not from my pre-order, but because I must have entered about 10 different beta codes in hopes of getting a beta key.

Now the Rainbow 6 community was even more furious as this was not something that only I experienced.  You had some people who didn't pre-order that were in the closed beta playing, some who were major online streamers or gamers, and then you had a majority of pre-ordered players who received nothing.  It was a real shame and it felt like many of us were going to just be at a loss until Ubisoft got their act together.

Needless to say, I canceled my pre-order through GameStop.  I found a post from one of the Rainbow 6 Community Reps who stated if you pre-ordered on a console (PS4 in my case), it would be available for download, so I did just that.  As a side note, I thought the Rainbow 6 Community Managers/Reps did an OK job at showing up and bringing as information as they could.  Many complained that they were not, however, you have to understand that when a rep can only release so much information as that's all they have, you have to suck it up.  You cannot expect the reps to provide an answer to over one thousand players all posting at the same time.

Back to my point though, the information the rep provided!  Sure enough it worked at Friday by roughly 3 PM EST I was in!  I threw up my stream and went to work.

From not playing a Rainbow 6 game since PS2 maybe?  I decided to just jump right in on Terrorist Hunt and picked Realistic because is there a better way to learn than having an AI shoot you in the face as you try to figure out what button you use to aim.  Of course the buttons aren't that much different than any other console FPS, but it's been awhile.  Not to mention the AI on the realistic setting is actually fairly difficult sometimes, and I like a challenge.

That's it for now though!  In my next post I'll discuss my actual thoughts on the game itself.  Such as strategy, teamwork, guns, matchmaking, classes and probably more.

As my first official blog post, I would like to thank anyone for reading and joining me.  My shameless plugs will always sit at the bottom of my posts as I try to grow my viewer base.

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Of course, keep an eye on my blog for more to come.  Thanks again for reading!  Feel free to leave me a comment or ask any questions you may have.  Just please remember to be courteous!

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