Rise To Stardom - Chapter 208

Chapter 208: MetaReviews
“Spring. Fleeting but a perfect touring season…” Stuart stated as his boss read through the report the tour manager had prepared.

“Decided it was best we avoided Winter altogether. It can be a really tortuous time for a tour and trust me, getting late to a stage because you were stuck in paralyzing ditch, is not, funny.” the tour manager shivered at an old memory as Owen, Gwen and Kyle chuckled.

“Anyway…” Stuart brushed the memory away with a wave of his hands.

“Aussie festivals might be nice and all since it’ll be summer over there but, you don’t have a private jet and booking planes back and forth, won’t be worth it I feel like.” he added with a thoughtful gaze.

“So, essentially, March to May then. That’s great.” Kyle responded with an appreciative smile and Stuart, alongside Gwen and Owen whom were seated around the office’s couch, gave a brief nod of acknowledgement.

“We’ve also had talks with various industry bigshots and they’ve been very welcoming of our tour locations and the dates.” the tour manager gestured as Owen pitched with an audible muse of anticipation;

“USA, England, Australia, Japan…”

“… and obviously our Great White North, Land of Maple Syrup.” the assistant added humorously and everyone chuckled again.

“There’ll also be a slew of festivals during that period and although, avoiding the SXSW festival this year was necessary, both it and Coachella are fair games for you to perform on their stage next year.” Gwen spoke this time and Stuart nodded in agreement.

Contemplating over their words for a few seconds, Kyle then nodded decisively;

“The fleeting season of spring it is.”

No sooner had Kyle said that though, Oliver, Miguel and Camille, all of whom had headed out together to get some refreshments for the team, walked into the office, practically beaming!

Before they could inquire though, Oliver calmly dropped the bombshell;

“Kyle. It is my greatest pleasure, to inform you, that you’ve been invited to perform at, and headline, next year’s NFL’s Super Bowl Halftime show.”

At first, Kyle, Owen, Gwen and Stuart were utterly shocked to hear the news.

But in the next second after that, they practically erupted into cheers of joy like little kids, receiving their most requested birthday presents from their parents!

* * *

“Hey, hey. You’re going to be okay! J-just, just please, hold on. I- I can redirect the exosuit’s emergenc”

In response to her son’s frantic words, a timelessly beautiful woman in her late forties, warmly smiled as she gently cut him off.

“Oh Nathan. I’m so proud of the young man you’ve become.” she caressed her son’s face with her bloodied hands.

“And your father and grandfather would be too…” she faintly added with tears brimming on her eyelids.

“I wish we had more time sweetie. So many things to say, so many questions to ask, so little time…” she quietly continued as her son’s tears dripped down and onto her own cheeks.

“I love you, Nathan.” his mother, Caitlyn North, a genius scientist, slowly closed her eyes with a contented smile as Nathan shook his head in futile denial, his lips quivering sadly and his face, contorting into an indescribable world of emotional hurt.

“Keep saving the world, one person at a time…” she whispered in finality, her bloodied, caressing hands lifelessly dropping to the floor.

And then her breathing ceased…

Terribly battered, beaten and bruised by Professor Overclock in a fierce showdown that ultimately resulted in his victory, Tech Wiz, knelt before his dead mother, unable to save her.

He had arrived a second too late to confront his mentor and also his brave mother’s former assistant, only to watch him drive a cybernetic claw through her abdomen.

And so he cried his heart out in harrowing pain as the in-game’s cinematic panned out and faded to black.

–

Chat had never seen their cool, nuke-loving Anita ever cry or get emotional over something in the past two years since she began streaming.

But for the very first time in their lives, they watched her bawl her eyes out in a sobbing mess as she experienced the rendered in-game cinematic.

For the past 24 hours, Anita had been streaming the game non-stop in an on-the-spur of the moment marathon, minutes after she had received the game earlier in the morning, yesterday.

Her loyal followers too, asides from seeing a bubblier side to their favorite streamer, had so many holy-shit and WTF moments alongside Anita as they experienced the game for the very first time together.

At the same time, her view count, from its originally measly view count of a thousand viewers yesterday morning, had broken past a hundred thousand concurrent viewers as at the moment.

Yet, the lady wasn’t even in the right state to appreciate her new viewers or celebrate her new milestone as a streamer as she kept sobbing.

[Tech Wiz], was a brilliant game that was clearly made by devs who truly cared about the gamers and wanted for them to have an amazing experience that stuck with them, long after the credits were over.

The performance and gameplay was flawless, the traversal and combat mechanics constantly felt fresh throughout the entire playthrough, the plethora of side quests and side activities to do were varied and engaging without feeling like it was simply tacked on to pad the game out.

And the soundtrack… it was bar none, spectacular.

In fact, simply recalling the banger of a song that played in the opening sequence of the game constantly gave them a lingering sense of euphoria.

But not even they could’ve expected the game to deliver on such a compelling tale on what it was like to be a selfless hero who couldn’t always save everyone no matter how hard he tried.

Hollywood superhero movies in more recent memories would even be put to shame with just how rich and well-executed the plot of the videogame was.

Soon enough Anita gathered herself and then watched as the last few cinematics of the game played.

And finally, when the credits rolled, she couldn’t help but clap in genuine appreciation, admiration and respect for every dev who worked on a game she deemed a masterpiece.

Surprisingly though, the end credits only lasted for a few measly minutes before it started nearing its end, further reminding both Anita and her viewers that SpawnPoint Studios, really was a small studio in comparison to industry giants.

But when she and chat noticed whom the composer for all of the game’s magnificent soundtrack was, they practically lost their shit till the credits finally ended and they were back in-game!

And as if that hadn’t been enough, no sooner had the player-controlled Tech Wiz spawned into frame while flexing his shoulders, Anita and her viewers were treated to an in-game achievement for completing the game’s main story;

[You’re Extraordinary!]

Once again, the streamer and her viewers, lost their shit as the shaft of light from the early morning sun, peeked through her blinds, its rays gentle and warm.

It was 7:00am on the 5th of August, 2021.

And by 9:00am prompt, both [Tech Wiz] and [A Pirate’s Odyssey] would be available for gamers to finally, finally lay their hands on.

* * *

Asides Anita, the only streamer SpawnPoint Studios had sent a copy of [Tech Wiz] to a day before its official release, they had also sent the game to various videogame media companies as per industry standards.

Soon, reviews were out and almost every critic score on a popular yet reputable gaming site called MetaReviews were in the high 80s to 90s, with some critics even giving the game a perfect score.

–

Wife Reviews – [100]

We can’t stop thinking about this game! If we’re not playing it, we want to be! The story is emotional, resonant, and surprisingly deep, one that fans of the comic book will fall in love with. The retractable grappling hook, the grav boots, the wingsuit, the jet boosters, the plethora of in-game exosuits–– they’re all brilliant for traversal! The combat is also a thing of marvel with its hidden layers of combos and creative uses of gadgets which literally, has us looking forward to every combat encounter!

Dual Play – [87]

How SpawnPoint Studios have drawn out such a compelling narrative stacked against an impressive gameplay of an open-world superhero game is an absolute benchmark and a new standard for single player AAA games in the industry. The fluidity of combat and its deceptively deep and diverse mechanics, alongside one of the best traversal techniques I’ve seen in videogames till date, makes [Tech Wiz], hands down one of, if not the best, superhero videogame in years!

Press Start – [95]

SpawnPoint Studios have not just given us the most sublime superhero blockbuster videogame till date but also one of the most compelling superhero stories in all of media till date. And then there’s the gameplay, the compelling storyline, the soundtrack (My god the soundtrack!). Literally, [Tech Wiz] is a masterpiece and a thunderous triumph of AAA single-player games that bleeds and excels at cinematic splendor from its every, digital, pore.

Let’s Play – [90]

One of the best things about this game (and wow there’s a whole lot!), is how the map guides you to explore without you as a player, ever even realizing it. There’s also no boring collectathon here or padded side activities. Rather, due to stumbling upon the plethora of extremely, well-written side quests, well-designed side activities, varying types of crimes and multiple little secrets while slowly unlocking portions of the map as you traverse from one borough to the next, gives you a complete sense of immersion in its spectacularly stylized and artistically recreated version of New York!

–

As more and favorably high critic scores continued dropping for [Tech Wiz], GameSoft Studios, just like SpawnPoint Studios had done, also gave out review copies of [A Pirate’s Odyssey] a day earlier to its release date.

And just like [Tech Wiz], they too got very high MetaReview critic scores in the 80s and 90s, albeit none ever got a perfect review score.

–

IGM – [91]

[A Pirate’s Odyssey] is the ultimate pirate game. Fantastic naval battles, engaging skirmishes on the vibrantly realistic Caribbean seas, an epic tale of adventure for the illusive Davy Jones’ treasure–– what more could you ask for?!

Game Informer ­– [87]

Despite having a few glaring flaws and issues, GameSoft Studios delivered on their promise of fulfilling every gamers fantasy of sailing the perilous high seas with a healthy balance of RPG gameplay mechanics. Naval combat is spot-on exquisite, off-sea exploration is well-executed and the story is good enough to keep you engaged till the credits roll.

WeHappyGamers – [93]

The element of being an outlaw of the sea, the drama and adventure of an epic odyssey, the combat that matches the bravado and flamboyance of your magnificent ship and the player-created and customizable pirate captain, the Swash in this game, is definitely bucklin’!

Play Sense – [82]

Very fun game. Delivers… mostly… on everything players hoped for in a Pirate RPG, although some of the typical busy-bodying of GameSoft’s grindy formula, once again plagues what could’ve otherwise being a great game.

–

Interestingly, whereas [Tech Wiz] had very few, low MetaReview scores, all of them generally being in the high 60s in fact, [A Pirate’s Odyssey], had some terribly low MetaReview scores that were practically in the low 40s and 30s.

This hinted at something quite fishy behind the scenes of the most anticipated Pirate RPG of 2021.

Unsurprisingly though, the major populace of excited gamers were not aware of this just yet, but, they would be finding out, soon enough.

The time was now 9:00am.

Gamers, would finally, be able to give their verdicts on just how good… or possibly bad, the two most anticipated games of the year were.