The Week In Evil DLC


Downloadable content. Everyone hates it — but everyone buys it. Yes, even you in the comments, smart guy. Here’s a look at the latest package of extensions and pre-order bonuses designed to crowbar the last dollar out of your wallet. Can you still respect yourself if you buy it?

Prototype 2: Horse Vehicle Armour And ‘Butt Kicker’

Available: Day-one DLC. (April 24)

Price: Free with pre-order

What You Get: Get the game from Best Buy and you get “Sgt James Heller’s Hardened Steel Vehicle Armour”, which boosts the durability of military vehicles that Heller (the protagonist character) uses. At GameStop, you get the “Bio-Bomb Butt Kicker”, which is more or less a custom animation in which enemy soldiers present their asses for said punting.

Why It’s Evil: Though free DLC, it’s an unholy proposal from evil Activision to get US gamers to patronise one evil retailer over another.

Evil Score: 3/5. The real evil here is that this is all Best Buy and GameStop got for kissing Activision’s ring. However, what’s being offered is so stupid I can’t imagine Activision selling or distributing this later.

Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning — The Legend of Dead Kel

Available: March 20

Price: $US10 or 800 Microsoft Points

What You Get: Pirates and new digs. Heroes get “Gravehal Keep”, which is an estate for the player with quest-givers and perks built in. This is all located in Gallows End, a new region that is claimed to grow the explorable world of Amalur by 15 per cent. Amalur is already bloody huge. Also, pirates.

Why It’s Evil: First, they’re giving us pirates, everyone’s favourite kind of NPC, as if to say “Oh, look, pirates! We gave you pirates, don’t pay attention to the fact we built this DLC pre-release,” which a studio is never ever never allowed to do ever, period. Pirates? I expect Amalur‘s next premium extension to be bacon. Also, do we really need 15 per cent more explorable area in a game offering, what, a zillion hours of playable content?

Evil Score: 2/5. If 15 per cent of a zillion is… 0.15 zillion? you’re still getting a lot of playing time out of this DLC, regardless of when it was made.

Comments


17 responses to “The Week In Evil DLC”

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *