kickinthehead

In this interview Dan Paladin mentions that they tried four player campaign and that it didn't work because it eliminated the challenge of getting through the level and during testing people preferred the 2-player.

Challenge levels in the arena can have four players at once though.

They just announced that the registration is up for the closed beta happening in either February or March!

http://devblog.thebehemoth.com/2013/01/16/battleblock-theater-beta/

These were by FAR my favorite missions in the game. They had a lot of variety in them and for me felt more like what I remember ACII or Brotherhood feeling like in terms of sneaking and assassinating. I'm so glad that I didn't realize these missions existed until I had finished the game because they were a delightful treat. Would've loved if there could've been more of this in the rest of the game.

And yes, fucking wolves. After half a dozen tries I just pulled out my gun.

I had similar issues with the stealth that people are mentioning. I liked the sneaking in AC2 and Brotherhood, but I think in AC3 they really wanted to show off how many NPCs they could render on the screen at once. Unfortunately this meant that infiltration was more difficult or just flat out impossible given how many eyes can be on you. There were only a handful of missions where I felt like it was possible for me to sneak around and methodically take guys out like in AC2 or Brotherhood. When I saw the trailers I had hoped there'd be moments in the game where you'd be taking out redcoats one at a time from the trees and stuff, but most of the time the trees were just to get around.

Also there's a curious lack of explanation of mechanics in the game. I'm not talking about hand holding, just the mere mention that things exist. I didn't send out my assassin's on missions for the longest time, and also I was bashing my head against the combat because I was only tapping B to counter which meant that usually Connor would shove a guy out of the way. I realized later it was better to hold B and then counter to do an instant kill. Also I didn't realize that chain-kills still existed until I just tried it out. Anyone who didn't play Brotherhood or Revelations probably don't know you can even do that.

Speaking of instant kills, the super long combos Connor does before killing a guy are cool but over time get tiresome. I mean, he'll smack, kick and stab a guy maybe six times before the killing blow. Meanwhile, the other guys are closing in and after all the stabbing, my original target is totally okay.

I think the overall problem was many missions had very specific ways they wanted you to go about them. Especially chase sequences that required some on the run assassinating (which is cool in concept) because there was very little room for failure and when you add some open world jank/randomness then it turned it into a massive game of trial and error.

The lack of situational awareness in this game just made me want to play Mark of the Ninja again. Or Arkham City, stealth in that game is so spot on.

The story about the Ethiopian kids is super interesting! Actually, the article linked from the dvice article gives context for what they mean by "they hacked Android."

http://www.technologyreview.com/news/506466/given-tablets-but-no-teachers-ethiopian-children-teach-themselves/

Don't forget Ben saying "I have a bad feeling about this" definitely a Star Wars reference.

Finished my first playthrough last night which involved cutting a lot of dudes, though freaking guards out by stringing up their buddies is pretty great. I started my no-kill run as soon as I finished. Though I'm considering at some point deleting my save and forcing myself to do my alternate playthroughs without special suits or upgrades.

I LOVE this game. I get the same feeling of success and failure that I get when playing Arkham Asylum/City. I never mind redoing a section and I always know what I did wrong.

Good write up! I would also add that if you're going to look at games in the Expo hall to play indie games! Usually the wait isn't very long and it's fun to be able to talk to the creators. Also to not forget that at PAX Prime there's an additional sort of mini-Expo hall on level 6 which a lot of people don't realize is there.

Also follow the PAX Twitter accounts so that you know what's going on! @official_pax, @paxparties@pax_tourney@handheldlounges and most important of all @pax_lines which tweets how many spots are available at the biggest events so that you don't waste your time going when it's full.

Pixel Blocked is a really good puzzle game. Wish I could have it on my phone.

When Lee asks Clem if she liked the salt lick and she replies "I don't know..." I laughed out loud. That's EXACTLY what a kid would say in that situation.