By Ronald Gordon 

Greetings and welcome back once again to another Roundup, The Critic Circle’s way of informing you of the recent news that’s happened within the Gaming Community. From a review of the new Horizon Forbidden West to news about Nintendo getting a labor complaint, we’ve got plenty of topics to cover for this week. 

First, I would like to mention a game that’s been on everyone’s mind for a long while. That’s right, Elden Ring! A new patch came out recently, patching and changing things that players have been wanting to see be different for the longest time. One of which is my favorite, that being the speed changes when wielding Colossal Swords. As an avid Elden Ring player, going on a total of 80-85 hours by now, I’ve been loving Colossal Swords ever since I beat Starscourge Radahn and obtained his Starscourge Greatswords. I can’t wait to sink more hours into this game now that the combat has been repolished, I’ll probably hit 100 hours before I can even blink! 

Jeison Liranzo, writes about how Kirby And The Forgotten Land is his second favorite Kirby game. In what is hopefully a continuing future theme, this Kirby game features fully three-dimensional movement. “Now, players can explore their surroundings, making it possible to find hidden paths and little challenges that can free some Waddle Dees.” Jeison’s thoughts on the new 3D look of Kirby seem to be ones of excitement for how new it makes Forgotten Land feel in comparison to other Kirby games. In one of the final lines of his review, Jeison mentions, “The game has become my second favorite in the Kirby franchise right below Kirby Mass Attack because of how refreshing the gameplay is compared to past Kirby games,” saying that while Forgotten Land may not have taken his top spot in all Kirby Games, it still holds a strong second place thanks to the innovation it brought. 

Senior Intern Kimari Rennis played the new Horizon Forbidden West game and enjoyed the journey of the protagonist Aloy. In fact, Kimari has nothing but good things to say about the game. Her review begins, “I am a woman with simple tastes when it comes to video games. I need a strong female lead and a fresh, jarring narrative to change my life,” showing that her tastes are sated if met with the right type of character: “Horizon Forbidden West, the long-awaited sequel to Horizon Zero Dawn by Guerilla Games, delivers both of my guilty gaming pleasures flawlessly.” Horizon Forbidden West continues the story of Aloy, protagonist of Horizon Zero Dawn and one of PlayStation’s most influential characters. Being a strong and independent female protagonist, Aloy’s story is all about her journey through the dangers of the world around her and what sort of struggles she could encounter while trying her best to aid the world in any way. “I cried in Zero Dawn and still cried in Forbidden West because there’s always something new to learn about Aloy’s responsibilities and the pain she goes through,” says Kimari, feeling nothing but raw emotion in regards to Aloy and her hardships. 

Moving on, Circle Member and Mentor Whitney Meers recently published an article on The Gamer about a new monitor built for the ideal immersive gaming experience. “BenQ’s MOBIUZ brand emphasizes beautiful and immersive gaming experiences,” writes Whitney, giving you a hint as to how MOBIUZ caters to its audience. “Rather than adapting monitor specs for compatibility with highly competitive play, which frequently requires reductions in picture quality, MOBIUZ targets players who prefer enhanced visual experiences.” The new and improved piece of technology is of course the MOBIUZ EX3415R, a 34 inch widescreen monitor said to offer a wonderful immersive experience. Although not many games support the degree of widescreen that the EX3415R offers, Whitney states “the BenQ MOBIUZ EX3415R’s extra monitor space works as a second screen with a separate input. Many people will find this advantageous as it allows them to watch TV or browse the internet while playing,” showing that even if the whole screen can’t be used for gaming, a player can still use the rest of the screen for the plethora of things they may want to run in the background. 

“As promised at the start of Rainbow Six Siege Year 7, Emerald Plains, the first new map added to the game in three years, is finally here,” Member Joshua Rivera mentions in his article on Polygon, “And it brings a bit of Hitman energy to the long-lived tactical shooter.” In a recent update, Rainbow Six Siege got its first new map in 3 years, leaving fans and players excited to explore a new part of the game. In a quick reexamining of the updates, Joshua noted the curious Emerald Planes map layout and how it looks. “It’s a luxe locale that will serve the hardcore tactical gameplay of Rainbow Six Siege just fine. (But it also isn’t hard to imagine someone like Agent 47 slinking his way through.)” He jokes, although looking at the map if you have prior experience in the Hitman franchise will give you a similar thought to Joshua’s. 

Sims 4 cheats aren’t uncommon to come by, as most cheats for games are available online, but only the good ones can be found in this article. Written by Member Alyssa Mercante, The Sims 4 skill cheats will give any Sims 4 player the best ones to use for advancing your Sims in-game skills. “Using Sims 4 skill cheats provides you with a shortcut to teaching your Sims a whole host of new abilities,” Alyssa says in her article. She notes that Sims 4 could use a couple helpful shortcuts, “which is handy as it usually takes a long time for them to master these Sims 4 skills.” Sims 4, much like other Sims games, is all about watching the lives of the loveable Sims that you can create and aiding them wherever you see fit. Sometimes watching isn’t always going to be as fun if you have to sit there and repeatedly see a Sim learn how to play a guitar as fast as a normal person would (which isn’t fast in the slightest). “If you find yourself giving up on turning your Sim into a famous thespian, the Sims 4 skill cheats are here to save the day.” says Alyssa, offering a slick way to slip past the exhaustive gameplay loop like a masked vigilante. 

In recent news, Nintendo was hit with a Labor Relations Board complaint, as detailed in an article on Axios written by Member Stephen Totilo. In a shocking turn of events, news has come out that “Nintendo of America and global hiring firm Aston Carter engaged in “concerted activities” and made “coercive actions” against a worker,” as Stephen notes, bringing information on the allegedly shady actions relating to Nintendo of America. While not a lot has been released in terms of information shared with the public, these activities add to the already uncomfortable realization that certain companies are cutting corners. Totilo notes that there’s hope. “Unionization efforts in gaming have increased over the last year, due to both simmering worker discontent in an intense field and in reaction to high-profile scandals at big game companies,” With stories like this one coming out of Nintendo of America, more employees may be persuaded to unionize in order to ensure the safety of their employees. 

Beyond The Circle

The Meta Quest, what most people will probably know as the next Oculus Virtual Reality Console, recently streamed a showcase of new games. On the Meta Quest YouTube channel, which has a total of 446K Subscribers and almost 200 Million Total views, there have been a steady supply of trailers and announcements involving the console. Recently, a video of the console’s upcoming releases and a showcase of gameplay for several of them was shown live on their channel, similar to a Nintendo Direct or PlayStation State of Play. The games featured range from Stress Level Zero’s sandbox game Boneworks, and nDreams’ new Ghostbusters VR game, among others.