Are you a Hard Mode Gamer?

ATTN: True Gamers

You don’t have to be a super serious hardcore gamer, a streamer with thousands of views or be an MLG pro to be a true gamer. Instead, consider if you’re really enthusiastic about your gaming. How much do you love your games? If you are here, then gaming means something to you. Gamers who are truly passionate: we want YOU. Streamers who just put yourselves out there just for fun? Yes, we plan to notice you. And not just you streamers, we want to talk to all of you gaming enthusiasts too. That doesn’t make you less of a gamer if you don’t feel like streaming.

Be it console, PC, or even mobile, we don’t discriminate. You don’t have to be the best at every game to be a hard mode gamer. You don’t have to be the best at one game, even. Hell, despite the namesake, you really don’t even have to play games on hard mode if it isn’t your bag. There are people who are happy with playing game after game after game for the sake of variety over challenge. And, there are also people who just play one game with their comrades.

Not to mention, this site will remain free from game activist POLITICS.

If you’re reading this, it’s likely one of the fine people from this site have reached out to you, interested in getting to know more about you. We’d very much like to feature you in our weekly feature on eager gamers. Just tell us a little about what your interests are and why you chose us and send that email to hardmodegamerslol@gmail.com. We will fill you in on a couple of things from there.

Oh, and if you’ve stumbled upon this website and are interested? Thank you, please check out our stuff and possibly consider getting yourself featured too.

Posted in About Tagged with: about, gamers, hard mode gamers, hardcore, mixer, mlg, review, reviews, sports, stream, streamers, twitch, videogames, youtube

How Our Reviews Are Scored

Here at Hard Mode Gamers, we prefer to feel like we are gamers just like you. We aren’t necessarily journalists. When we do our reviews, we don’t want you to have to read a 10-page essay on the minutiae of everything contained in the game whilst using big fancy words like “minutiae” and “whilst.” We want to be direct and concise. The reviews contained here are considerably short and very easy to read. In our reviews, we provide a simple and clear expression on why we scored a game the way we did. To do so, we divided five core elements of game design to be individually scored.

These elements are:

GRAPHICS – How does the game look? Is it technically expressive? Is it very artistic? Many factors are considered, like if realism is a factor, or if the art style if unique against other games. Top scores for this category should make us stop in awe at what we are seeing.

STORY/IMMERSION – How’s the overall plot, writing, characters, and/or lore? Was the plot overbearing or was it too weak? This might seem like a slight against arcade-style games or indies, but that’s not true because when a lack of plot is accounted for, we consider if having little plot benefits the game, and if the design of the game itself does the storytelling for us. A great story is either one that keeps us engaged or doesn’t get in our way. [Update: 3/22/19] We recently added “Immersion” to the title of this category to better express what we are looking for in this section. We figure that the game should keep your interest in one way or another.

AUDIO – How’s the mixing, sound effects, and original soundtrack? Would we listen to the OST outside of playing the game? Audio is a big and important factor when playing games and many reviewers sort of gloss over this aspect of game design, but it’s just as important. Audio also factors in the quality of the voice acting, because the written story and the execution of it are different factors.

GAMEPLAY – Of course, there’s the game itself. How does it play? Can we pick it up and play or does it take a while to learn? We try to make sure our reviewers are playing the game they want to play so they can report how a game stacks up to other game in its genre. Having a good control scheme is crucial to having good gameplay. Also considered is what sort of gameplay elements are implemented in the title.

FUN – And finally, fun is the most important factor. Any of the above could suck, but they may not impact how much fun we are having. What does impact our fun are things like glitches/bugs, game length, immersion, addictiveness, and catharsis. Replayability is also a factor in this category, as we could enjoy a game thoroughly and then realize it’s not really worth a second go.

Now, each of these elements have a very simple numerical score attached to them. They are ranked on the incredibly basic scale of 0-2. It’s pretty straightforward here:

0 – Bad
1 – Good
2 – GREAT!

It becomes easy to consider when we turn the decision for each element into a nearly binary choice. We can determine if an element is either good or bad. After that, if it’s good, is it REALLY good or just regular good?

The total score of all of these elements will add up to an X out of 10 score. This way, the game practically scores itself for us. We don’t have to think about what we want to score the game because once we look into a game based on these criteria, we have our answer. This also benefits the reader because they can quickly see which parts of the game design were impacted when it comes to the final score. You can see a review and quickly determine where it’s lacking and where it shines. All in all, we find this system to be the most non-biased when it comes to reviews, because it’s so direct. And that, readers, is how we review our games.

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Tom Clancy’s Rainbow Six Siege – Review

Tom Clancy’s Rainbow Six Siege is a multiplayer Tactical FPS made by Ubisoft Montreal and published by Ubisoft, and is a new entry in the series with a focus on competitive multiplayer. You take the role of an operator in one of the many Counter Terrorism Units available in the game, playing either PVP in 5v5 matches, or co-op against enemy AI. While a deeper take on multiplayer is a new way for its series, can it hold up to the name that is the Rainbow Six franchise?

GRAPHICS:2/2

While it is a competitive multiplayer game, Rainbow Six Siege is a beautiful multiplayer shooter, with its maps inspired off common real-life situations, such as houses, cafes, and banks. The levels are really detailed and you can see that Ubisoft worked hard on each map to be unique. Varying in style and immersion, combined with the destruction mechanic, the game can get messy with debris going everywhere, smoke filling the room, and bullet trails nearing your face. It impresses me, all while keeping a stable 60 FPS in PVP, but dropping down to 30 in PVE on consoles.

STORY: 1/2

Because it’s a multiplayer focused game, Rainbow Six Siege lacks a story, which is a bit disappointing, compared to previous installments of the series. The only tidbits of story we get is from each operators’ bios, the initial cinematic, which shows Team Rainbow reinstating due to a terrorist threat, and the final mission in “Situations”, where we are sent to stop a terrorist attack at a university. I believe that this is both a good thing and a bad thing, the bad thing being is that it would have been perfect if it had a story. Maybe if the plot from the now-cancelled Rainbow Six: Patriots was accounted for, we could have had something. But nevertheless, you actually fight this terrorist group in Terrorist Hunt, Siege’s PVE game mode and it’s enough to get you invested at least.

AUDIO: 1/2

The audio in R6S is just okay, while the soundtrack contains some deep beats with bass drops as massive as the walls breached in this game. Definitely not the best soundtrack, but it does capture the serious attitude the game is trying to impose. The best of the audio stands in the gun sounds, most of the guns having distinguishable and realistic sounds, with very few repeats in some of them. The main issue is that you cannot really make out the directional sound of the footsteps sometimes, so using a headset is highly recommended in order to be truly immersed thanks to its audio.

GAMEPLAY: 2/2

For a first-person shooter, the gunplay is way more refined than other games in the genre, mostly because it has a competitive focus as well. Each gun and operator has a unique playstyle, requiring a lot of playtime to master them all. The gunplay and destruction are oddly satisfying, mostly because it shows the attention to detail Ubisoft had when it was in development. It can be played either solo through Situations (short missions with unique objectives) or in Lone Wolf Terrorist Hunt if you got the skills to beat it. Multiplayer features 3 modes; Bomb, Secure Area, and Hostage, all which can be played casually or Ranked, or via Co-Op through Terrorist Hunt in 3 difficulties. A solid experience across all modes in the end.

FUN: 2/2

Rainbow Six Siege is a hard, very deep, fast-growing competitive shooter, but it’s the kind of hard that makes you want to become better. If you aim better and play better, you will find yourself rising in skill and rank on the ladder for each season. Ubisoft is constantly updating the game, with a new competitive season every 3 or so months, with each new season being followed by a giant update drop with 2 new operators (free with the season pass) and a new map. At the moment, Siege has some issues with having 2 season passes and a lack of content. But, while the game may have microtransactions, those are only to get new DLC operators faster (instead of grinding) and weapon skins.

In conclusion, while Rainbow Six Siege may be frustrating at times, it is very fun. This is especially true when playing with friends, which I highly recommend since most random players will avoid communication and land your team swift and fun win.

SCORE: 8/10

(Disclaimer: Review was written in 2017 and had been backdated to reflect release of current DLC)

Posted in Reviews Tagged with: first person shooter, fps, fun, montreal, multiplayer, rainbow six, rainbow six siege, review, reviews, siege, strategy, tactical, ubisoft, video games