Fighting fascists

Call of Duty VanguardRating 355Developer Sledgehammer GamesPublisher ActivisionPlatform PC XBO XBS PS4 PS5Price Rs 4999The campaign for Vanguard throws you into the thick of a combat scenario on a moving train complete with Nazis precariously close military trucks and lots of explosions Your team is an elite group of soldiers from all over the world The first hourandahalf of the game is an adrenalin rush as you discover a secret Nazi war project It got me excited for the game however soon after that your team is captured and you are left for dead The story then goes into the war experience of each soldier on the team giving you their perspective of the war While the story is loosely tethered to history there was a lot that they could have done to make this more enjoyable Even the finale to what started as an exciting story in the end was completely lacklustreThere isnrsquot much innovation either The gameplay seems pretty similar to most of the other Call of Duty titles and even adding a weapon craftingenhancing module to the game did little I think they would have benefited to go all Indiana Jones on the game using history as a reference rather than sticking to most aspects of it It would have kept the pace of the initial section of the game Thatrsquos also where the Zombie mode comes in I quite enjoyed the zombie mode because they had a lot of fun with it Even the flimsy story attached was good enough Playing along with other players in the various game options in zombie mode was a lot of funMost of the innovation in the game is to be found in multiplayer where Vanguard truly shines Small things like objects in the map getting more destroyed as the game goes on improve the overall satisfaction of the match Champion Hill was my favourite mode out of the multiplayer lot Itrsquos a team death match that has you going against eight other teams till there is one last team standing In Champion Hill everyone starts with the same loadout weapons and gear and as you win matches you can buy and scavenge for weapons and gear So the game progressively changes and no two combat scenarios are the sameGraphically the game looks amazing especially on the current generation of consoles The playerrsquos weapons and the cut scenes are beautifully crafted You canrsquot fault the game where this is concerned I also didnrsquot face any issues during the play through no skipped frames nothing out of place which was refreshingCall of Duty Vanguard is a fun game with a solid multiplayer component and a fun zombie mode However the campaign mode is a bit of a letdown and there isnrsquot much innovation where the actual gameplay is concerned These issues prevent the game from reaching its full potential Would a fan of Call of Duty enjoy this game I am sure they would However for someone new to the franchise and uninterested in WWII history the game offers very little draw apart from the zombie mode If you are looking for a nice fastpaced FPS I would say look elsewhere especially at this price pointWarnings Reduce Hate Speech on TwitterWarning Twitter users about potential consequences of their use of hate speech can decrease their posting of hateful language for a week finds a new study by New York Universityrsquos Centre for Social Media and Politics ldquoThe research nonetheless provides a potential path forward for platforms seeking to reduce the use of hateful language by usersrdquo explains Mustafa Mikdat Yildirim the lead author of the paperMass effect may become a TV seriesAmazon is working on a deal with Electronic Arts to turn Mass Effect into a TV Series This comes 11 years after the announcement of a Mass Effect movie that never really happened Mass Effect was always known for its stellar writing So it would be interesting to see what becomes of Commander Shepard as he goes on his adventures around the galaxy So far there is no word on anything substantial which means we donrsquot know who the writers are or who will be part of the cast for the seriesApple sues makers of Pegasus spywareApple has filed a lawsuit against NSO Group and its parent company to hold it accountable for the surveillance and targeting of Apple users They join Whatsapp and Meta formally known as Facebook who also sued the NSO group last month The complaint provides new information on how the company infected victimsrsquo devices with its Pegasus spyware To prevent further abuse and harm to its users Apple is also seeking a permanent injunction to ban NSO Group from using any Apple software services or devices The exploit was originally identified by the Citizen Lab a research group at the University of Toronto