MOOD SWINGS - Quick Resume Improvements, THQ Is Making Moves, and Apex On Switch Looks Like Treacle
Fast and the Furious.
By Jay Tee
12/03/21
MOOD SWINGS?
Besides being the obvious side effect to a hormonal outburst, ‘Mood Swings’ is an editorial crafted by our editor Jay Tee, alongside contributions from the team. It’s like a series of extended tweets, ranting or raving about something terrible / great that has happened in the world of gaming. It’s a collection of random musings designed to provide a snapshot of what we’re doing, things you should be excited for, and stuff to avoid as you navigate the choppy waters of this wonderfully unpredictable hobby.
Anything, from reactions to a new game announcement, surprising breaking news, to “our cat just nibbled our thumb sticks”, can be found here. We try to be as honest as possible, sharing our gut reactions to stuff that has occurred in the last twenty four hours.
QUICK RESUME IMPROVEMENTS
It’s always refreshing to see big players in the industry choose to action tangible changes when the community voices a concern. A recent example is Jason Ronald acknowledging aspects of Quick Resume that could do with some iteration (big thanks to the Iron Lords for their insightful interview). Let me be clear: Quick Resume is wizardry at work. I’ve had Tell Me Why and Assassin’s Creed: Revelations running in the background while I switch between multiple games for streams, over the course of an entire week.
I even unplugged my Series X twice and moved it to different locations. Both games were sitting there waiting for me when I was ready to crack on. It’s brilliant, especially when time is at a premium. That being said, some tweaking would be nice. For starters, a notification system that makes it clear when a game is about to drop out of Quick Resume (either from too much being loaded via the SSD, an error etc…) would be extremely helpful. Perhaps even a dynamic Quick Resume list, which shows what is currently running at any given time.
THQ IS MAKING MOVES
The formal unveiling of the new studio behind the previously announced Gothic remake is another sign of intent from the reborn THQ, a publisher with a complicated and tumultuous history. It’s rebooted form has been indulging in smart nostalgia plays, with key remakes of favoured classics bolstering their coffers while development ramps up on fresh games and sequels.
For me, the key takeaway here is one of longevity; THQ has amassed such an impressive collection of titles at this point that they’re clearly investing in long term bets, through a mixture of familiar and new IP. When the same house owns classics like Full Spectrum Warrior and Second Sight, and is also willing to fund Biomutant, I get the sense that their current direction is one to be celebrated.
APEX ON SWITCH IS SMEARED WITH TREACLE
Apex on Switch makes a world of sense. It’s a free to play battle royale, and quite easily the best in the biz from a mechanical and update cadence standpoint. Having it drop for Nintendo’s hybrid machine is exciting. But the absence of cross progression, and the extremely inconsistent performance, have left this Apex fan feeling disappointed.
There was always going to be compromise, and it’s a miracle that those magicians over at Panic Button got it running at all on that aging hardware. But at the same time, it feels like this could have done with another few months in the oven. Further optimisation down the line is of course an ongoing possibility, especially around new Season releases, but as it stands, Apex on Switch is a pretty tough sell.
Nope. Not right now.