Friday, April 29, 2016

News & Views
4/23/16-4/29/16

I’ve been busy traveling this week, so I’ll keep this short. Each week News & Views compiles great gaming writing from all over the web into one convenient place. Check out the links below for stories about the long and storied development of Overwatch, whether or not there should be a difficulty setting in Dark Souls, and how Counter Strike is turning teens into serious gamblers.

And of course please check out the brand new episode of The Impact Factor podcast that was posted today! You can subscribe to the podcast on iTunes, or if you prefer other methods, check out our SoundCloud. We’re on YouTube too!

Spotlight
Game no ryuugi, Shmuplations

Worth Reading
Erika Joy, The Daily Dot

Nick Capozzoli, Giantbom

Danny O’Dwyer, Gamespot

Cameron Kunzelman, This Cage Is Worms

Maddy Myers, Metroidpolitan

Alan Lopez, Polygon

Cecilia D’Anastasio, Motherboard

Joshua Brustein and Eben Novy-Williams, Bloomberg
The Impact Factor Ep. 52: Cowboys, Airships, Tentacles
Podcast
Welcome to the 52nd episode of The Impact Factor! The Impact Factor is what happens when two scientists, and two best friends, get together to talk about video games. Hosts Alex Samocha [biomedical scientist] and Charles Fliss [social scientist] sit down every week to discuss the week in gaming! Listen in for the news, views, and games that made the biggest impact!

Please send your suggestions and feedback to: impactfactorpodcast@gmail.com

In this episode Alex and Fliss talk about Nintendo, the NX, Persona 5, From Software, Amazon Prime, Oxenfree, Call of Duty, Darkest Dungeon, Hearthstone, Dark Souls III and much more!


YouTube page

For articles and reviews from Alex, check out: www.theimpactfactor.blogspot.com
For a blog about Japan, pop culture & more from Fliss, check out:
www.flissofthenorthstar.blogspot.com

Follow Alex @alexsamocha on Twitter. twitch.tv/megalodonphd
Follow Fliss 
@thecfliss on Twitter. twitch.tv/flissofthenorthstar

Intro song:
You Kill My Brother by Go! Go! Go! Micro Invasion, East Jakarta Chiptunes Compilations. Freemusic Archive. (Attribution Noncommercial Share-Alike License)
freemusicarchive.org/music/Indonesi…s_Compilation/
Transitions:
News & Views and Perspectives transitions from victorcenusa, Freesound.org (Creative Commons 0 License)
freesound.org/people/victorcenusa/sounds/148785/
freesound.org/people/victorcenusa/sounds/148784/
Experimental Methods transition from Sentuniman, Freesound.org (Attribution Noncommercial License)
freesound.org/people/Setuniman/sounds/143994/

Tuesday, April 26, 2016

TIF Reviews: Whispers of the Old Gods! (Hearthstone)
Video Article

Hello everyone! It's been a long time, but I'm finally back with another video article. In keeping with tradition, this week I reviewed the latest Hearthstone expansion: Whispers of the Old Gods. 134 cards is a lot to review in one video, so I picked the 15 cards that have me the most excited. I contextualize all my card thoughts for how much of an impact they might make in the new Standard format. Everything is changing and I am so excited!

So please check out the video and let me know what you think. Are you excited for Whispers of the Old Gods? What cards got you the most excited? We are entering a new era for Hearthstone and I hope you will all follow along with my journey.

Monday, April 25, 2016

TIF Plays: Week of 4/18-4/22
Gameplay

Welcome to the The Impact Factor's last week of gameplay! Check out below to links of all my gameplay. Be sure to catch me live on Twitch (MegalodonPhD). I stream every Tuesday at 5:30pm PST and Thursday at 6:30pm PST. Plus some special Friday streams, too! You can do me a favor by subscribing to The Impact Factor's YouTube channel, but hey, don't let me tell you what to do! 

To keep up to date with everything The Impact Factor, and me, follow me on Twitter: @alexsamocha

See you all next week!






Friday, April 22, 2016

News & Views
4/16/16-4/22/16

Another week, another News & Views. As always I keep an eye out for the best gaming writing, stories and opinions! This week was a doozy. Check out the links below for stories about an interactive Twilight Zone movie coming from Bioshock’s creator, why defending crunch isn’t leadership, and how the mundane can be exceptional in Indigo Prophecy.

And of course please check out the brand new episode of The Impact Factor podcast that was posted today! You can subscribe to the podcast on iTunes, or if you prefer other methods, check out our SoundCloud. We’re on YouTube too!

Spotlight
Jason Schreier, Kotaku
Worth Reading
David Chandler, Kill Screen

Tim W., Gamasutra

Ian Williams, Giantbomb

Amilia St. John, Medium

Patrick Klepek, Kotaku

With Comments
Chris Kohler, Wired
Ken Levine is an amazing artistic talent and I have no doubts his next gaming project will be incredible. This Twilight Zone news took me by surprise. Levine is attempting some synthetic media experience that incorporates interactivity with film? I’m on board. Let’s just hope this project doesn’t get lost in the twilight zone along the way.

Gareth Damian Martin, Kill Screen
Shadow of the Colossus is a game that has shaped me more profoundly than any other title I have played. It’s beautiful, it’s rich, it’s fantastic. Martin writes about returning to the hollow but stunning open world of this 2005 PS2 classic and the memories that came flooding back when he did. I play SoTC once every two or three years, and each time it’s a warm trip of remembrance. That game is incredible.

Anthony Panecasio, Gamasutra
The Souls games have always elegantly incorporated tutorial sections into the experience. Dark Souls 3 in particular does a fantastic job at teaching the basic mechanics, exploration, finding the path of least resistance, fighting human-like bosses, fighting monstrous bosses, checkpoints, and so much more all wrapped into one wordless but effortlessly descriptive package. Panecasio does a great job at laying out why exactly the tutorial is so great in his piece on Gamasutra.
The Impact Factor Ep. 51: PlayStation Tank
Podcast
Welcome to the 51st episode of The Impact Factor! The Impact Factor is what happens when two scientists, and two best friends, get together to talk about video games. Hosts Alex Samocha [biomedical scientist] and Charles Fliss [social scientist] sit down every week to discuss the week in gaming! Listen in for the news, views, and games that made the biggest impact!

Please send your suggestions and feedback to: impactfactorpodcast@gmail.com

In this episode Alex and Fliss talk about about PS4 NEO, GameTrust, Dark Souls 3, Hearthstone, Pyre, Xbox 360 ending production, labor conditions in gaming, the DOOM Beta, Enter the Gungeon and much more!

“Game developers must avoid the ‘wage-slave’ attitude" by Alex St. John, VentureBeat
“Recruiting, Training and Retaining GIANTS” presentation by Alex. St. John
“Game Industry Veteran Writes Horrifying Article In Defense Of Poor Working Conditions” by Jason Schreier, Kotaku
“An In-Line Response to ‘Wage-Slaves’” by Rami Ismail


YouTube page

For articles and reviews from Alex, check out: www.theimpactfactor.blogspot.com
For a blog about Japan, pop culture & more from Fliss, check out:
www.flissofthenorthstar.blogspot.com

Follow Alex @alexsamocha on Twitter. twitch.tv/megalodonphd
Follow Fliss 
@thecfliss on Twitter. twitch.tv/flissofthenorthstar

Intro song:
You Kill My Brother by Go! Go! Go! Micro Invasion, East Jakarta Chiptunes Compilations. Freemusic Archive. (Attribution Noncommercial Share-Alike License)
freemusicarchive.org/music/Indonesi…s_Compilation/
Transitions:
News & Views and Perspectives transitions from victorcenusa, Freesound.org (Creative Commons 0 License)
freesound.org/people/victorcenusa/sounds/148785/
freesound.org/people/victorcenusa/sounds/148784/
Experimental Methods transition from Sentuniman, Freesound.org (Attribution Noncommercial License)
freesound.org/people/Setuniman/sounds/143994/

Tuesday, April 19, 2016

Gungeonological Expedition
Review
Enter the Gungeon, Dodge Roll Games (PS4)

Abstract: Enter the Gungeon is a punishingly difficult and thoroughly rewarding dungeon crawling shooter roguelike from Dodge Roll games. A wonderful setting and charming aesthetic compliment a stellar gameplay experience that is as expertly crafted as it comes. Nuanced balance of player skill with randomness, risk-reward scenarios, and managing finite resources work together to make each run in Enter the Gungeon a thrilling experience. Issues centering around enemy health scaling detracted from my enjoyment, but thankfully no issue is too severe. Enter the Gungeon is a game to get lost in, and a worthy one at that. Enter the Gungeon is fantastic.

Enter the Gungeon from Dodge Roll games asks the big questions. What lengths would you go to in order to rectify your past mistakes? Do you have the fortitude to make it through a grueling dungeon? Why are your anthropomorphic bullet enemies so dang cute? Ok, so maybe Enter the Gungeon isn’t some profound exploration into morality and the human psyche. What it is, though, in a finely tuned and expertly crafted game about guns, dodging, dungeon crawling and secrets. It is also pretty phenomenal.

I was pulled into Enter the Gungeon’s world almost instantly. A brief cutscene at the beginning of the game invites players into the game’s fantastical world. Long ago, a giant bullet fell from the sky: a cavernous, alien structure filled with shifting floors and hidden secrets. A gun worshiping cult built up around the monument. Legends tell of a gun that can be found at the heart of the labyrinthine “gungeon” that has the ability to kill the past. A party of four intrepid misfits seek to conquer the gungeon and make their way to its core—the alleged resting place of the legendary gun. Hoping to undo past transgressions,  the four playable characters (a thieving pilot, a stern marine, a orange jumpsuit-wearing convict and a crossbow-wielding hunter) each has their own motivations to make it through the brutal and deadly descent.

Serious premise aside, however, Enter the Gungeon is a game that revels in absolute absurdity. That cult devoted to protecting the secrets of the gungeon? Most are anthropomorphic bullets. Adorable, bizarre, anthropomorphic bullets. One boss you can come across is a bipedal raven with ripped abs and a gattling gun. Another is a giant cannonball with a face. All have pun-based names. The gungeon itself acts as the center for all things guns, almost like a black hole. During your exploration you’ll find modern weapons like an M1911 or .44 Magnum, sci-fi weapons like the laser rifle, and then crazy weapons like a barrel gun that shoots fish, or a mailbox that kills with letters and packages. You’ll even find guns that reference other media dimensions, like the hilariously bad Klobbe from Goldeneye. All guns and enemies work together to create an endearing lightness, a playfulness, to Enter the Gungeon. It’s fun getting absorbed into its goofy world. It is colorful, it’s cheerful, and it’s great.
 
Welcome to the gungeon.
Enter the Gungeon, like a lot of the titles I review here, is a game with a lot of descriptors. Being as specific as I can here: Enter the Gungeon is a 2D dungeon crawling twin stick shooter bullet-hell roguelike. Naturally, the game’s genre-synthetic nature draws a lot of quick comparisons. It’s like Zelda, with guns. It’s like Nuclear Throne or The Binding of Isaac. But Enter the Gungeon is very much its own game. As a roguelike, play sessions in Enter the Gungeon are broken up into ‘runs.’ Each time you boot up the game you need to enter the procedurally generated gungeon and begin your exploration from the start. The gungeon is divided into five main floors, with two optional floors and one secret sixth floor. Starting from the spawn location, you’re tasked with exploring the floor room by room. If a room has enemies in it, you need to kill them before moving on. Combat uses mechanics from both twin stick shooters (you move with the left stick, aim with the right) and bullet hells (you need to skillfully dodge lots of enemy projectiles). On each floor is a boss that needs to be defeated before moving down to the next floor. Contained within each floor are a bevy of goodies: from friendly NPCs, to shops, to hidden rooms, to gun or item containing treasure chests. You die and you’re sent back to the Breach, a hub area in which you can select a different character or interact with NPCs you’ve rescued from the gungeon in previous runs. And then you start another run.

The gungeon calls to you. Just one more run.
Describing a playthough of Enter the Gungeon is difficult because there is a lot that goes into it. Enter the Gungeon is a complex game. Each character, though mostly similar, starts with a few unique bonuses. The Marine, for example, comes equipped with an item that improves accuracy as well as a one-time use item that summons ammo for your equipped gun. The Hunter starts with a powerful crossbow and a dog companion that can sniff out hidden items. Each time you play you’ll need to balance a few resources. Health, of course, is limited and can only be restored with items randomly found in the gungeon. Keys are used to unlock doors and treasure chests, but again, are only found sparingly. A third resource is the ‘blank,’ a consumable item that pushes nearby enemies away and destroys all projectiles on the screen. It’s a hugely important part of playing Enter the Gungeon. As you progress you’ll have even more to manage. Guns found throughout the gungeon have limited amounts of ammunition. Once used, it’s gone. Active use items can be found as well, some one-time use and others with a cooldown timer. And finally you have your currency, bullet casings, that can be used to buy items on the shop that’s guaranteed to be on each floor. But what do you buy? Keys? Health? Blanks? A cool looking item? Nearly everything in Enter the Gungeon comes with some risk to its reward, and the balance is smart. 

Speaking of smart, Enter the Gungeon is incredibly well-designed. Moment to moment gameplay is effortlessly enthralling. Enter the Gungeon is punishingly difficult. You’re going to die. A lot. But the player is given the tools to succeed. To mitigate the often nauseating amount of enemy projectiles on the screen, the player has several options. Movement is 1:1 with the controller, ensuring that for better or worse, it is the player’s fault when they mess up their dodge. The player also has an invincible dodge roll, essential for the tight spots you so often find yourself in. And then you have the blank, a.k.a. the get out of jail free card. Tackling each enemy-filled room is a chaotic whirlwind, a dance of dodges and bullets. Enter the Gungeon is great at getting the player into a zen-like state in which you’re not thinking or trying, you’re just doing. Firing your guns feels great, with perfect sound effects and screen shake to let the player know just how powerful your arsenal really is. Bosses evoke dread, followed by elation when you down your terrifying foe. Exploration is addictive and always rewarded. Even the tiniest quality of life design choices shine through. For example, when in combat your minimap disappears from the screen so not to obscure your vision, and fades back in once all enemies are defeated. You can instantly start a new run with the press of a button, even from the game’s boot up sequence. Each of the 200+ guns and dozens of enemies has an interesting description in the game’s encyclopedia, the Ammonomicon, which adds to the game’s universe. From big to small, from important to minor, Enter the Gungeon is a brilliantly designed experience.
 
Shoot, loot, and manage your limited resources as you make your
way deeper into the gungeon.
Not every design choice worked for me, unfortunately. Runs in Enter the Gungeon are just a bit too long. From start to finish a successful run is about 45 minutes to an hour long. When you die at the end of a long run it feels pretty awful. Quicker time to completion would reduce some of the sourness that results from ‘wasting’ 50 minutes because of a stupid mistake. One way to solve this problem, and another core issue of mine, is enemy health. As you progress deeper into the gungeon all enemies gain more health. A basic bulletkin enemy that took 4 shots to kill on the first floor can take ten to kill on the fourth. They are no harder to defeat because their attack patterns remain the same—they’re simply more tedious. The health issue can be mitigated by finding powerful weapons throughout the gungeon, but that itself poses more problems. It seems obvious that Enter the Gungeon wants you to stop using your basic weapons by floor 3 or so. “Good” runs can feel totally dependent on finding some of the game’s best weapons. Stuck on the fourth floor with only your basic pistol and a few trash weapons because you got unlucky with drops? You’re probably better off restarting. This is an issue I’ve had with other item build-based roguelike games. Player skill is still the most important part of a successful run, sure, but the game can feel unfairly punishing when you don’t get a good enough item setup. When a game is brutally tough and feels unfair, it’s generally a bad combination. Thankfully, for the most part, these issues did not impact my enjoyment too significantly (and could be fixed with a patch!).
 
These enemies aren't hard to kill, but man oh man can they take some
time to kill. It can be a headache on the later floors.
For a game about killing your past, Enter the Gungeon sure has left me with so many cherished memories. Like the time I took out the first three bosses flawless when using the Beehive weapon. Or the time my fightsabre weapon reflected the Treadnaught boss’s missile project back at him for the kill. Or the edge of my seat tension I felt trying to preserve my one piece of armor in order to access the Abbey of the True Gun hidden level. The list goes on and on. The emergent stories that come out of playing Enter the Gungeon are endless and fantastic. They also add to your growing sense of progress the more you play. Freeing trapped NPCs in the gungeon fills up the Breach-making it go from hollow and empty to a place bristling with vibrancy and life. Even though I’ve ‘beaten’ the game, I can’t stop thinking about going back for more. There are still so many secrets to uncover, special challenges to topple. Heck, I still need to finish building the bullet to kill the past! I have played for over 40 hours and I see no signs of stopping. Enter the Gungeon has me trapped in its shifting corridors and I don’t want to leave.
 
I don't want to forget my amazing runs. Thankfully, I don't think I will be able to.
Finally, Enter the Gungeon is a sight to behold. The pixel art graphics are stellar. Character and enemy animations alike are hilariously rich and detailed. Objects can be destroyed all throughout the environment, leaving ashes and papers and bullets and bodies strewn throughout the map. And that theme song! It’s great!

Usually my review is the end of a journey. I’ve played the game start to finish and coalesced my thoughts here. But that isn’t that case for Enter the Gungeon. I feel like I have only just begun my journey. I’ve finished the first chapter, but there is an entire opus waiting for me to dive into. Enter the Gungeon is an impressive package, a phenomenal game, and an experience I’m not likely to forget. The game’s four gungeoneers may want to kill their past, but all I want is for Enter the Gungeon to be a part of my future. Leave me down in the gungeon. I’m happy there.

Enter the Gungeon
4/5

Monday, April 18, 2016

TIF Plays: Week of 4/11-4/15
Gameplay

Welcome to the The Impact Factor's last week of gameplay! Check out below to links of all my gameplay. Be sure to catch me live on Twitch (MegalodonPhD). I stream every Tuesday at 5:30pm PST and Thursday at 6:30pm PST. Plus some special Friday streams, too! You can do me a favor by subscribing to The Impact Factor's YouTube channel, but hey, don't let me tell you what to do! 

To keep up to date with everything The Impact Factor, and me, follow me on Twitter: @alexsamocha

See you all next week!


Friday, April 15, 2016

News & Views
4/9/16-4/15/16

News & Views collects the week’s best gaming writing. Check out below for stories about the environmental storytelling of corpses, when is the right time to show off your eSport strategy, how Final Fantasy XV has a good message about toxic masculinity, and how Spelunky makes perfect maps. Apologies for not having comments this week- today is a whirlwind!

And of course please check out the brand new episode of The Impact Factor podcast that was posted today! You can subscribe to the podcast on iTunes, or if you prefer other methods, check out our SoundCloud. We’re on YouTube too!

Spotlight
Clive Thompson, The New York Times Magazine

Worth Reading
Natalie Rachel, FemHype

Ben Kuchera, Polygon

Harry Mackin, Paste

Patrick Klepek, Kotaku

Richard Procter, Polygon

David Graham, Redbull

Owen S. Good, Polygon

Bruno Dias, Giantbomb

Katherine Cross, Gamasutra

Patrick Klepek, Kotaku
The Impact Factor Ep. 50: The Crumb Percent
Podcast
Welcome to the 50th episode of The Impact Factor! The Impact Factor is what happens when two scientists, and two best friends, get together to talk about video games. Hosts Alex Samocha [biomedical scientist] and Charles Fliss [social scientist] sit down every week to discuss the week in gaming! Listen in for the news, views, and games that made the biggest impact!

Please send your suggestions and feedback to: impactfactorpodcast@gmail.com

In this episode Alex and Fliss talk about Blizzard Entertainment, Codemasters, suing Rockstar North, Severed, Stardew Valley, Japan, Miitomo, Kingdom Hearts Unchained, Enter the Gungeon and much more!


YouTube page

For articles and reviews from Alex, check out: www.theimpactfactor.blogspot.com
For a blog about Japan, pop culture & more from Fliss, check out:
www.flissofthenorthstar.blogspot.com

Follow Alex @alexsamocha on Twitter. twitch.tv/megalodonphd
Follow Fliss 
@thecfliss on Twitter. twitch.tv/flissofthenorthstar

Intro song:
You Kill My Brother by Go! Go! Go! Micro Invasion, East Jakarta Chiptunes Compilations. Freemusic Archive. (Attribution Noncommercial Share-Alike License)
freemusicarchive.org/music/Indonesi…s_Compilation/
Transitions:
News & Views and Perspectives transitions from victorcenusa, Freesound.org (Creative Commons 0 License)
freesound.org/people/victorcenusa/sounds/148785/
freesound.org/people/victorcenusa/sounds/148784/
Experimental Methods transition from Sentuniman, Freesound.org (Attribution Noncommercial License)
freesound.org/people/Setuniman/sounds/143994/

Tuesday, April 12, 2016

Clash For Gold
Review
Clash Royale, Supercell (iOS)

Abstract: Clash Royale is a PVP deck-based real time strategy tower defense game from Supercell, developers of the infamous Clash of Clans. This strange genre fusion works perfectly. It is a game that I never knew I wanted. Smart design permeates the entire experience: from gameplay, to player progress, to card utility, to match length. Unfortunately, Clash Royale still bears its microtransaction-heavy lineage prominently as overlong chest timers, painfully slow rate of currency acquisition, and pay-to-win card leveling at the highest levels of play mar an otherwise exceptional experience. All things considered, however, Clash Royale is an impressive package that has more than proved its worth.

Clash Royale is a game I never thought I would play. In fact, at first glance, Clash Royale seemed like another smartphone title I would openly disparage here on the blog or on the podcast. The game comes from the notorious mobile developer Supercell, who made it big with Clash of Clans. Ostensibly ‘free,’ Clash of Clans is a mundane, resource management tower defense game that quickly dulled. The game also felt exploitative with how badly real money purchases shaped the play experience. So when Clash Royale went live on the App Store, I was less than thrilled. The game started getting high praise from critics and sites I respect, however, and once I learned it was a card-based mobile title I knew I had to try it out. Which brings me to today. I like Clash Royale. I’m still playing Clash Royale weeks after downloading it. I think Clash Royale is well designed. It’s weird, I know.

Describing Clash Royale is a mouthful, especially for a game that plays as simply as it does. Clash Royale is a player versus player deck-based real time strategy tower defense game. Phew. Each player has three towers, two minor and one King. Each player builds a deck of eight cards. Cards can be divided into a couple groups. You have troop cards, which place units onto the field that move to attack your opponent’s towers or troops.  You have building cards, which place defensive structures on your side of the field. And finally you have spells, which generally do some kind of area of effect damage. The objective of each match is to destroy your opponent’s towers while defending your own. The player with the fewest towers at the end of the match loses.

Clash Royale in a nutshell.
Within this simple conceit, however, is some pretty remarkable complexity. Don’t let the naysayers fool you: Clash Royale is a tactical game. Every card in your deck costs a certain amount of elixir. A meter at the bottom of your screen represents elixir and it slowly regenerates throughout the match. Playing cards costs meter, limiting the number of cards you can play at any given moment. Further, each card has to be placed on the grid-like field of play. Some troops move fast, others slow. Each defense structure has a certain area it can attack or distract enemy troops within. Spells deal set amount of damage in a small area. Like all great card games, Clash Royale is all about gaining a strategic & resource advantage over your opponents, like playing a card that costs less elixir than your opponent’s to counter it (thereby giving you an elixir advantage). Card placement is crucial. Play a weak card without support too close to your opponent’s side of the field and it can die instantly, allowing your opponent to punish your mistake. Play too many cards too quickly and you can run out of elixir, meaning that you won’t have the ability to counter your opponent’s next move. As I’ve progressed up the ranked ladder, I’ve seen a bevy of strategies emerge. My misplays are heavily punished and my smart plays win me games. It’s a satisfying feeling done best in card games, and it is done extremely well in Clash Royale.
Elixir, placement, attacking, defending.
A lot goes into a game of Clash Royale.
New cards are obtained via chests. It's devious but compelling nonetheless. The player receives a free chest every four hours. Destroying 10 of your opponents’ towers grants you one Crown Chest each day. The bulk of your chests comes from winning, however. Each win grants one chest of a random rarity. Silver is the worst, followed by Gold, then Giant, then Magical, and finally Super Magical. The player has four chest slots, meaning you can only ever hold 4 "card packs" at a time. Each chest has an unlock timer. When you tap to open a chest you’re presented with two options: wait the full time it takes to open on its own (3, 8, 12, 12, and 24 hours respectively) or bypass through use of the premium currency, gems. Here’s where we get to one of my major issues with Clash Royale. Clash Royale is a game that simply doesn’t want you to play it without spending money. Waiting for chests to open, to give you those new cards and gold (which I’ll talk about in a second) is excruciating. Once you get your four chest slots full there is essentially no reward to keep playing, aside for gaining more ranked trophies to move you up higher on the ladder. As one might expect, gems are dolled out painfully slowly. The way chests are handled has completely shaped the way I play this game, especially in comparison to other F2P mobile card games (i.e. Hearthstone). Once my chest slots are full, I stop playing. I don’t want to stop playing, but I do because playing while full feels like a waste of my time. Bummer.
Yeah, no thanks. Winning when your chest
slots are full gives essentially no reward.
All of that said, I enjoy the way Clash Royale handles its card collection. First and foremost, each of the 48 total cards offer something new to how you play the game. Barbarians are a go to defensive card that can wreak havoc on offense, but gets countered easily by the fireball spell. I love the hard-hitting Pekka card and the swift flying Baby Dragon. For the most part, card balance in the game is great. All cards (except for maybe one, looking at you Freeze spell) have counters. All strategies have counters too. Further, the way you use the cards you obtain is great. Once you get a new card you unlock it for use in any of your decks. That card starts at Level 1. Cards can be leveled up to more powerful versions of themselves by acquiring duplicates, and then consuming those duplicates for the price of gold. It’s a crucial part of making a more powerful deck. The card leveling system is an elegant solution to the classic card game problem: when you feel like the cards you get out of a pack are useless. Every card is useful in Clash Royale. Commons are easier to level up due to rarity, while Epics can take quite some time. Having cards at the right level for your rank comes pretty naturally, though you will encounter players that have spent real money whose troops are a higher level than your own. At most levels of play, card level deficits can be countered by strategy.

Every aspect of Clash Royale highlights player progress. As I just mentioned, seeing your collection grow and your cards level up is a huge incentivizer to keep playing. One way to speed up progress is by joining a clan. It enables friendly battles and card donation. Like one card in particular? Ask your clanmates to donate and you can level it up in no time. Your own donations are incentivized with gold, too. As you level up cards or donate you also add to your King Level. The higher it gets, the more health your towers have and the more damage they do to enemy troops. King Level is a smart solution to balancing the needs of early game, mid game, and high level play. At low levels, the health + attack of towers compared to enemy troops favors the tower, thereby giving the player more leeway to make mistakes. At high levels, the advantage goes to the troops, meaning players are more punished for their mistakes. It’s been so fun seeing how my play has evolved throughout my time with the game, and how far I’ve come.
Arena 6 isn't bad for a free player I guess?
Clash Royale is a game designed from the ground up to be a great mobile, and competitive, experience. The match making is nearly instantaneous. I have never waited more than 10 seconds to find an opponent. Every single match I’ve had has been lag free, even when playing people from Korea or Russia. A game of Clash Royale takes at longest four minutes. The standard game length is three minutes with a one minute overtime if the players are tied. You are in and out fast, making Clash Royale great while waiting for the bus, in the bathroom, or otherwise. Results are saved after every match and you even have access, for a limited time, to watch a replay of your past games (great for learning from your mistakes). So much of Clash Royale’s design is so clever. It’s remarkable. It’s quality worth killing for.
I can't help but squeeze the quick game or
two in whenever I get the chance.
I could spend another thousand words going through the specifics of what I like about Clash Royale’s gameplay. The risk-reward of troop placement, how to best counters certain strategies, how to negotiate when to push towers and when to play defensively. Suffice to say, there is a lot to like. And if you’re still confused about the ins-and-outs you can check up a great write up over here.

I do want to spend a couple dozen pointing out some of the game’s flaws, though. As I said before, Clash Royale’s attempts at converting F2P players into paying can feel downright dirty. Aside from what I’ve already written about, having enough gold to actually level up cards is a rarity. There’s too much of a focus on disengaging the player. A substantial portion of the game’s community is toxic. Currently clan chat is not moderated (I was momentarily in a clan in which several people joked about committing suicide) and your opponent’s can spam taunts without any recourse (a squelch option would be much appreciated). Though not an issue for me yet, Supercell also needs to address how the highest level of play is completely pay-to-win. You cannot make it to the highest ranks without dropping thousands of dollars on the game, period.
Here are all the cards I would level up, if
I had enough gold. I never have enough gold.
As it stands now, I still play Clash Royale every day. And I’m still enjoying the heck out of it. Clash Royale is such a smart fusion of what Supercell has done in the past while incorporating recent trends of the mobile gaming market. Most impressively, however, Clash Royale is a superbly designed video game. Trust me, I’m as, if not more, surprised than you are. We live in exciting times.

Clash Royale
4/5

Monday, April 11, 2016

TIF Plays: Week of 4/4-4/8
Gameplay

Welcome to the The Impact Factor's last week of gameplay! Check out below to links of all my gameplay. Be sure to catch me live on Twitch (MegalodonPhD). I stream every Tuesday at 5:30pm PST and Thursday at 6:30pm PST. Plus some special Friday streams, too! You can do me a favor by subscribing to The Impact Factor's YouTube channel, but hey, don't let me tell you what to do! 

To keep up to date with everything The Impact Factor, and me, follow me on Twitter: @alexsamocha

See you all next week!



Friday, April 8, 2016

News & Views
4/2/16-4/8/16

Phew, I’m lucky to even be writing this post this week. Enter the Gungeon is finally out and I’m totally obsessed. What game are you really into right now? I would love to know.

News & Views is your weekly infusion of great gaming content! I scour the web each week to find the articles, opinions, videos & more that are worth consuming. Check out the links below for stories about a blind gamer who excels at a highly competitive fighting game, how one pair of game developers are nearly halfway to simulating existence, and the rise of young eSports pros for a smartphone game.

And of course please check out the brand new episode of The Impact Factor podcast that was posted today! You can subscribe to the podcast on iTunes, or if you prefer other methods, check out our SoundCloud. We’re on YouTube too!

Spotlight
Justin McElroy, Polygon

Worth Reading
Wes Fenlon, PC Gamer

Wesley Yin-Poole, Eurogamer

Brandon Sheffield, Gamasutra

Luke Winkie, The Daily Dot

Thomas Grip, GDC 2016 via GDCVault.com

With Comments
Heather Alexandra, Giantbomb
Heather Alexandra writes a fantastic piece about violence in games. The Division’s subject matter continues to be divisive among professional game critics. She writes that the game displays a recurring power fantasy of legitimized violence. The Division not only allows you to wantonly kill other survivors, it actively encourages you to do so. I might just have to play this game at some point. The discussion surrounding it is just too fascinating not to.

David ‘dacidbro’ Broweleit, The Pop Tart Diary
I always love reading about success stories. More than that, I love reading about how people have used games to over come obstacles, stave off criticism, and escape dark times. Dacidbro’s story is a nice one and I’m glad he’s found his calling. His story reinforces the idea that games can be more than just a diversion or escape. Games can fundamentally change the core of your identity.

Caty McCarthy, Kill Screen
Reading about games I have never heard of continues to be great. Caty McCarthy spotlights the old Japanese title Idolm@ster and its depiction of depression. McCarthy applauds the game for not focusing on overcoming depression or finding a cure as so many other titles (across all media) do. Instead Idolm@ster shows the past, present, and future of depression and accepting it as just a part of life. The game is able to transport the player to a world, a depression, that almost none of us will experience: being a pop idol. Really cool story.