Valorant is a free-to-play, competitive-multiplayer, FPS game. It was released by Riot Games, who are most reputable for their game League of Legends. However, Valorant is much different from any other games they have done in the past. It is most comparable to Overwatch or Paladins combined with CS:GO. Going into the match, each player on the team will chose a different hero/character, who all have different abilities. The match is broken up into 25 rounds, and ends when one team wins 13 of the rounds. The opposing teams also switch sides (defense or offense) half way through the match after 12 rounds. Going into the rounds, each team member is given a certain amount of currency to buy guns, shields, or abilities. They can chose to save up for later rounds, or they can spend more to buy a better weapon in the current round, and therefore potentially have an advantage. The objective is to kill the other team and to either plant or diffuse the bomb. Valorant hero selection. The shop/store between rounds. Starting from the very beginning, the first thing I noticed, and disliked, is that Valorant is not attached to any other launchers or stores, and has its own stand alone launcher. This is much less convenient and not as community-involved as is connecting through Steam or Epic, among other platforms. Also, loading into the game can also be harrowing and tedious, especially with the many updates that set you back 20 minutes any time you want to get on for the first time in a little while. However, on the plus side, the cover and character art were both very enticing to me and Valorant uses a unique graphic style. Looking more into the gameplay and mechanics, it is first important to address that the game runs smoothly. The UI is very well organized, visually appealing, and easily navigable. In terms of graphic design and visual appeal, the game is done nearly to perfection. The maps are also very immersive and stylistic, while carrying adequate realism. The characters are also interesting and unique in appearance. A screenshot of the player's screen while in combat. Although the premise of the game grabbed my interest since I enjoyed the diverse character cast/selection of Overwatch, which made for varying and exciting gameplay, and I also generally enjoy FPS, I was severely disappointed by the monotonous and unexciting gameplay of Valorant. Not only did the characters not offer anything new besides a few limited abilities, and they all only have access to the exact same arsenal of boring guns, but the gameplay was slow and overly repetitious. Each round your life is one-and-done. This means that the enemies dwindle quickly and regularly you will only take out one or two of them, if you're lucky, or you will die and be sitting most of the round watching your teammates tiptoe around (literally). The good news is that the rounds are short. However the bad news is that each round feels the same and are each very slow paced and not very eventful. Whereas with something like Overwatch, the gameplay builds up as you group-up and push the offensive, or hold the defense against a big push. Plus there is respawning. Even if you do have an encounter with an enemy in Valorant, it will likely come down to who can hit the other first, standing still (since your attacks are heavily impaired in compromise for mobility), and after a few bullets it will be over. To an extent, it falls too far into realism and there isn't a good balance. The objective of the rounds is also very rudimentary and there isn't any creativity to any aspect of the story or goal, nor any variation. Outside of the matches, the main reward system of the game is ranking and skins. Both of these have their appeals to different audiences, however I personally prefer to get a fun experience or to go through a cool story rather than earn cosmetics that anyone who pays money or plays incessantly can have. Ranks can also be ephemeral and are only judgements of skill in one particular game that has no real application or value to anything else in life, plus is often skewed by flawed matchmaking systems. Overall, there wasn't much unique or exhilarating to Valorant, and it is an extremely overhyped game. My final ranking would be a 1/5 and I would honestly never pick this game up again, even though its free, nor would I recommend it to anyone. There simply wasn't anything engaging about it. Main points:
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I'm sure everyone has played or heard of Among Us. Recently it has blown up as people are looking for ways to stay in touch with their friends and family during quarantine. In my opinion, this is one of the best games to play for family gamenights and for staying in touch with friends due to the customization, social interaction, simplicity, exhilarating gameplay, and casual demeanor. Among Us has grown so popular do to its casual genre and how easy it is to learn, yet it can delve into pretty advanced strategic gameplay as well, helping to keep more experienced players continually challenged and entertained. To begin, players each chose a different color avatar, and can also personalize with hats or skins. They then wait in the lobby for more people to join, which can be random strangers if the server is set to public, or just friends/family members you invite with a given code. Anyone can create a server and customize it to their liking, making it great for people with different preferences or levels of experience. The ideal number of players to play with is 6 with 1 assigned as imposter or 10 (the max amount) with 2 people as imposter in order to make it the most balanced. The host can then start the match after they get enough people. Once the game begins, one or two people, depending on how many people are in the server, will randomly be assigned the imposter role. The imposter's role is to blend in with the crewmates and silently kill them without being seen or given away. They have more abilities than the crewmates, such as being able to use vents to quickly travel between spaces, as well as kill or sabotage. The rest of the players will be assigned as crewmates who simply go around trying to complete tasks or hoping to catch the imposter without being killed. Each role has a different objective and opposing goals in mind. The job of the imposter is to kill all the crewmates or sabotage the ship and prevent the crewmates from fixing it in time. The crewmates on the other hand must complete their individual assortment of tasks to collectively get through the taskbar. They can also win by catching and voting out all of the imposters. An interesting twist is that players can only talk after meetings are called or dead bodies are reported. This way its harder for players to team up without the imposter knowing and they cannot discuss behind their back. The meetings add a great social element and allow for social skill to come in. Good communication can help prove your innocence and it is important to share information with others in order to collectively reach a good conclusion on who to vote. For example tasks can be used to prove innocence such as by saying which ones you have done or by having others clear you by seeing your visual tasks (such as medbay scan which proves innocence). Players can also communicate who they were with and those people could be cleared if they were together and someone died in a different location. Also, if someone saw the imposter or suspects a certain person, it could take some convincing and good argumentative skills, along with proper evidence. The imposter on the other hand must be adept at lying and deception or good at shifting the blame to other people. If a player dies, they become a ghost and can continue doing tasks and spectate the game however can no longer physically interact with others or take part in meetings. The mechanics and overall gameplay of Among Us is very intuitive. It also incorporates the perfect balance between challenge and fun, so the game does not feel too competitive, yet also takes skill and attention. The combination of tasks and trying to stay alive also make it more tricky and force players to be even more strategic about when and where they do things, and doing tasks efficiently is crucial. The graphics and characters are also very stylistic and visually appealing due to the simplicity. The murder-mystery aspect of the game keeps players on their toes, wary of being killed or being caught if they're the imposter, helping the game engage players and be very exhilarating. The customization of the settings can also give more advanced players added challenge such as by changing the vision of the crewmates to lower or by making there be more challenging tasks. Additionally they can add anonymity for voting and the game will not reveal the role of someone who was ejected or how many imposters are left. Furthermore, there are currently two other maps that require completely different gameplay. The ease of joining and finding servers also makes the game more appealing, and matches are relatively short. This way people can play something even if they dont have much time or do not want a large commitment. Since the game is compatible with mobile, it can also be easily played anywhere and doesnt require a fancy setup. There is no penalty for leaving so it isn't super pressureful either, and you can easily drop out. Although Among us is great, there are definitely some drawbacks. For one, there is virtually nothing you gain except experience and having a good time. Playing in random servers can feel pointless because there is no reward for winning and there is also no friends system for adding new people you meet. Also, there are many technical glitches and malfunctions. For example servers often show they have room but it will say "Failed to join. Server is full" when players try to join them. People often randomly disconnect or are kicked as well from a glitch. Lastly, there is no moderation system. This way people who leave often, because they do not get imposter, are not punished. The same applies to people who are toxic to others, although they can be kicked through the vote system or by the host. Overall I would rank Among us a 4.9/5 for playing with friends or family since it is easy to learn, well balanced, exciting, and involves a lot of social interaction all bottled up in a very casual, friendly experience. However drawbacks such as the glitches and lack of reward system hold it back slightly. For playing in random servers I would rank it a 3/5 simply because there is no friend system, poor moderation, and no real reward, making it feel like a waste of time. Conclusion:
Gaming has earned a bad reputation for its violence, competitive nature, and the toxicity it has invoked or been a part of with largely young, impressionable audiences, over the years. Particularly, dominant competitive games such as League of Legends, Overwatch, Apex Legends, and other ranked games that have sprung up over the years, have grasped large audiences into a suffocating clutch of unhealthy addiction and toxic competitivity. These games strive off of being able to rope players into a broken system that matchmakes them based on their skill level and how many games they win or lose. Essentially players get stuck within a rank and it can be nearly impossible to move up, which inevitably sticks them into a cycle of climbing up and falling back down. This forms a pattern of addiction because players begin to feel like their rank is a measure of their self worth, and are also set on trying to conquer the system. Matches can be extremely aggravating and losses often get blamed on teammates or unfair matchmaking. This makes every game extremely competitive and pressuring within these systems, and results in serious players taking them to extremes such as by calling out people who are not playing well, or calling opponents hackers if they keep getting killed by them. This irrational behavior is a result of the pressure of the ranked system that builds up, and the high stakes of every match. It also certainly doesn't help when players get stuck in a losing spree. In the end, these games are an absolute waste of energy because time gets lost and no memorable experiences come out of it. Players often only remember the losses and can never be content because its impossible to win every game. Overall, games like these should not be encouraged, and it would probably be for the best if they got shut down. Nothing good comes out of them, and it can be very mentally draining for players, often putting them into very unhealthy mindsets. These games are taking advantage of competitive human nature in order to profit and force players into a cycle of addiction. Main points:
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AuthorMy name is Quinn Peterson! I will be reflecting about my art work in this blog! Archives
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