Thursday, September 10, 2015
Living It Up in Mad Max's Wasteland & Five-Star Characters Hit Marvel Puzzle Quest
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Welcome back
to Coffeecola!
If you follow me on Twitter, then you’ve probably noticed that I've been putting a lot of time into Mad Max, from Avalanche Studios.
If you follow me on Twitter, then you’ve probably noticed that I've been putting a lot of time into Mad Max, from Avalanche Studios.
I took a
look at this one while I was at PAX, and the brief time I had with it left me
with a very positive impression. Since I figured everybody in the world would
be playing Hideo Kojima’s swan song, I decided to go the other direction.
Although my
review isn't quite complete, I’m in the final leg of the game and I don’t think
I have much more to go before credits roll. Not to spoil my final evaluation,
but I've been having a really great time with it. Loving it, really.
For whatever
reason, critics seem to blow past all of the game’s good points, and get way
too hung up on the negatives. Of course, everyone’s entitled to their own
opinion, but I've been honestly surprised by the number of downbeat reviews
I've read. Maybe people are bouncing off of the game because it's not a
continuation of Fury Road, or maybe some are in a rush to get it over with so
they can go recruit Quiet and start Fulton-ing some dudes… Who knows! But, whatever the case, I
think it's a fine title and one that I would easily recommend to anybody who’s a fan of the films and their
settings.
Before I get started, I want to give props to @PKollar for his post offering six tips to get the most out of Mad Max. I read his guide before I started playing, and all of the advice he gives is super-solid. Definitely give his piece a read! Now, for my experience…
After the
game begins, it's not too long before Max and his buddy Chumbucket come across
a friendly stronghold run by a guy named Jeet. This place will serve as Max’s
first home base, and it’s a wreck. There are a number of home-improvement projects
that Max can complete to help the residents of the stronghold, and
helping them gives Max a constant supply of fuel, food, water and ammo. In a
wasteland game like this, I think the benefit here is pretty easy to see.
As Phil
mentioned in his own tips, go up to the outline of a project and hold X. The
locations that contain the needed pieces are highlighted on the map, so if you only go to those locations, you’ll
finish the tasks in short order and avoid any wasted time.
Once the projects are done, all you have to do
is go inside the stronghold, and all of your resources will be automatically
refilled. This means you don't need to scavenge for anything out in the wasteland, and it
frees you up from doing busywork that you may not be into. Also, don't bother
doing the projects that ask for donations of 500, 1000, and 1500 scraps. They
don't add anything except a completion percentage, and it's just scrap (aka
money) that you could be spending on upgrading Max or his car.
After getting the stronghold completed, I drove around the first area and did one or two of each of the activities -- I took down a “Top Dog” boss, I tried the races, I tore down a few scarecrows, I cleared a couple minefields, and so on. I wanted to get a flavor for what the side activities offered, and after doing those things, I was actually overleveled for what the story required to progress.
After getting the stronghold completed, I drove around the first area and did one or two of each of the activities -- I took down a “Top Dog” boss, I tried the races, I tore down a few scarecrows, I cleared a couple minefields, and so on. I wanted to get a flavor for what the side activities offered, and after doing those things, I was actually overleveled for what the story required to progress.
I know some reviews mentioned being frustrated at
having progression gated by arbitrary requirements, but I find that quite
puzzling because I didn't spend a lot of time grinding and I definitely didn't 100% anything. I just played as I naturally would, and that was more than enough.
At this
point, I did all the campaign quests that were open, and when there weren’t
any, I did the “Wasteland” quests offered by main characters, which were some
of the most interesting content in the game. Wash, rinse, repeat, and hey hey, I'm at the end of the game with no fuss.
To
summarize: I built up the first stronghold, did a handful of activities in the
first area, and then started doing story and Wasteland quests. I never had any progress blocked, and never felt like I was grinding
through sidequests for money or EXP. There’s no need to
build up the other three strongholds (just fast-travel back to Jeet’s for a fill-up)
there’s no need to do all the races, no need to clear all the enemy camps, no need
to scavenge all of the loot areas, no need to beat the Top Dogs, and no need to be bored doing anything more than you want to, really.
Once you’ve
got the groundwork laid, skip anything that’s not fun and just enjoy being in
this amazingly-rendered Mad Max world. I can only imagine that George Miller would be pleased with the great work Avalanche has done here.
If you play Marvel Puzzle Quest then you probably already know this, but just in case you don't… Today marks the first time that a five-star character has been introduced into the game. It’s none other than Norrin Radd, everyone’s favorite Silver Surfer.
MPQ players
have long been speculating whether the developers would ever go above the previous top tier of four stars, and now we've got our answer. This change isn’t just a
simple bump up in power, though.
Below is the information sent to me by MPQ PR, and it's a good outline for what to expect. Basically, these five-star folks (yes, there are more coming!) are going to be a pretty big deal, so get your phone fingers ready and start matching some colors…
How do you
earn Silver Surfer and future 5-star characters?
You can earn
5-star characters via the brand new Legendary Packs. These packs will
contain only 4-star characters and better. The odds will consist of 90%
4-star characters and 10% 5-star characters (however, only 5% until we release
the second 5-star character).
How many
5-star characters will be coming to Marvel Puzzle Quest?
We plan for
three 5-star characters by November and even more after that.
How strong
will 5-star characters be in Marvel Puzzle Quest?
5-star
characters will be good to go out of the gate. Meaning where 3 and 4
stars may need 8 – 10 covers before it’s ready to shine, the 5-star characters
will be leading your rosters after just receiving one or two covers. Now
that will be something that every roster can use!
Will 5-star
characters be available for purchase?
5-star
characters can’t be purchased. They are set-up to be epic and rare and
developing these characters will be a long term goal. Players will need
to collect each of the covers, and they will need an actual cover to upgrade
the abilities.
All the ways you can earn Legendary Packs are the following:
They are the
progression reward at 1300 in Versus, starting on 9/10.
One is added
to the progression rewards in Story events, starting on 9/10.
One of the
4-stars in the Deadpool Daily Quest Vault is replaced with a Legendary token,
starting on 9/11.
They are the
top 100 alliance reward each season, starting in Season 19.
An additional
season progression reward awards one at 10,000 in Season 19.
In Heroic
and event packs: 42-packs become 40-packs plus a Legendary token.
And! We’re
adding a new mission type to Deadpool’s Daily Quest. Every 5 days, there
will be a very challenging face-off mission between one particular 4-star and
one opponent. Beat that mission and you’ll get a Legendary Pack. The first
mission of this type will appear on 9/15.
We’ll also
be introducing new ways to earn Legendary packs in new features we’re working
on now and aren’t quite ready to announce.
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