As South Africa enters its 21-day lockdown in order to combat the spread of the coronavirus, it has left many civilians in the isolation of their homes. Many see this as a great opportunity to spend quality time with some family and loved ones, while others cherish diving into forms of entertainment to occupy their time and pass the weeks (when not working remotely, in that case). To cushion some of the tedium, Nexus has decided to create a daily feature in which we recommend games of varying lengths and content that could pass the time. Our sixth recommendation in Lockdown Gaming is a double whammy... So let me get down to why you shouldn't play BioWare's Anthem and Bethesda's Fallout 76. For today's lockdown gaming piece, I'll be doing something a bit different. After all, on this auspicious occasion of April Fools day, I thought it'd be fitting to revisit two games that made complete fools of themselves upon release. A year later, how do Anthem and Fallout 76 hold up? The short answer is "still not well", and it's best you should avoid ever playing these games until the studios actually give a damn about them. However, the long answer is ahead, so strap in and prepare for reasons why you shouldn't touch Anthem and Fallout 76 in this lockdown time. Anthem BioWare's Anthem released in February 2019, and was previously touted as the "Bob Dylan of gaming" going by its development title, "Project Dylan" (pity it turned out to be the Vanilla Ice of gaming instead). Upon release, fans were warmly greeted to constant server crashes, excruciatingly long loading screens, more bugs than Starship Troopers, uninspired gameplay, atrocious "characters", and a story so dull it made Mass Effect: Andromeda look Shakespearean. You get it, the problems were insurmountable at launch. However, in giving it the benefit of the doubt, it's been a year and Anthem has had plenty of time to make a turnaround. So what did BioWare do in the interim to fix and tweak Anthem? Nothing. Absolutely nothing. They left it out in the sun to rot and die. To be fair, they finally added the very long-awaited Cataclym events (which sounded cool on paper) but it actually just turned out to be the base game with an Instagram filter slapped over it to emulate a storm. Now, this wouldn't be a problem if the base game were any good, but unfortunately we don't live in a perfect world - and I'm pretty sure Anthem would be shunned in a perfect world too. The moment-to-moment gameplay loop of Anthem is, for lack of a better word, repetitive. So repetitive, in fact, that it makes its sub-genre counterparts like Destiny and The Division look like they've perfected the art of the fun gameplay loop (spoiler alert, they haven't either, but at least they're trying and doing well for themselves). Anthem's gameplay is okay in the moment as you destroy completely mindless AI bugs with your mech-suit javelins that are about as functional as Tony Stark's iron suit that he built in the terrorist cave, but they get the job done. It's only when you've been doing the same remedial task since the first hour of the game for the last 30 hours (if you lasted that long) do you quickly realize just how boring it all feels to play. Don't get me wrong, flying is great and I love the feeling of being Iron Man, but when you have to stop to shoot something, I always hoped that my javelin would just aim the gun through the screen at me instead. Anthem is a prime example of an apple (BioWare) falling so far from the tree, it rolled down the hill, fell through a crack in the ground, and dropped into the melting core of the Earth. These developers were once the kings of storytelling, from the excellent Mass Effect trilogy to Star Wars: KOTOR, they paved a legacy for themselves that was swiftly undone with the release of Anthem. Admittedly, I'm not the biggest BioWare fan, but I do appreciate their games and admire their impact on the gaming industry. Which is why Anthem was such a painful shot in the foot for them. I hope they don't limp their way into Dragon Age 4 now. If there's some great praise I can throw Anthem's way, it's the amazing soundtrack by Sarah Schachner. She really went out of her way to make something unique, and single-handedly made the best thing about Anthem. I highly urge you give the OST a listen. You won't be disappointed. Fallout 76 So unlike Anthem, this one hurts a lot more because I'm a big fan of Bethesda's games and the Fallout series. Even though I believe they didn't actually make the best Fallout game (Obsidian Entertainment did with Fallout: New Vegas... and then again with The Outer Worlds), both Fallout 3 and Fallout 4 were flawed but incredibly entertaining and scratched my itch for post-apocalyptic RPG goodness. Then Fallout 76 came along and suddenly, the fire nation attacked- ...I mean, the series took a nosedive. When Fallout 76 came out, I was trying to be generous by giving it a 6/10. I still do love its focus on the monsters of the lore and Appalachia is a fantastic open world, but if those were the only praises keeping it afloat, then I'd like to drop it down to a 3/10 now. Fallout 76 unintentionally cracked Pandora's box open for everything wrong with Bethesda that fans and critics have shied away from criticizing all these years. It was a buggy, glitchy disaster that highlighted how horribly outdated the Creation Engine is (and they seriously want to build The Elder Scrolls VI on this?!). Some games simply do not need multiplayer. Yeah, The Elder Scrolls - as a high fantasy game - feels better suited for an MMO experience, but nobody has ever seen (or really asked for, for that matter) Fallout as a multiplayer experience. The joy of the Fallout games were all about building your own adventure, enjoying rich stories and characters, and looting, shooting, and crafting at your own pace. So adding multiplayer to the equation, now do you see the problem? It completely contradicts everything that makes Fallout, well, Fallout. Beyond the technical and legacy problems, Fallout 76 still contained a myriad of issues. At launch, there were no NPCs and you got all your quests from computer terminals (trust me, that's as boring as it sounds. Doing tax is more fun). At best, these quests were nothing more than fetch quests or "go here, kill that" objectives that would pad out the side quests of any RPG. The only difference is, this is the MAIN QUEST of Fallout 76! I seriously doubt adding NPCs to the game is gonna greatly improve it, but at least we won't be trying to sympathize with an audio recording. The multiplayer aspect also clashes with the structure of these quests, and in a multiplayer world where nobody wants to do multiplayer, doesn't it just make it a single-player game? Why wasn't Fallout 76 a single-player game to begin with? It could've actually been good! I don't want to think or talk about this game anymore... Just listen to John Denver's "Take Me Home, Country Roads" and forget about it. So in conclusion, don't play Anthem or Fallout 76 during this lockdown. Ignore the price drops and deals, and as much as it pains me, don't buy it at all because it sends the wrong message to both BioWare and Bethesda - that these kinds of broken, buggy, and uninspired messes are okay for them to get away with. Maybe one day both of these titles will get the No Man's Sky treatment (assuming BioWare and Bethesda are as passionate as Hello Games) and we'll see them rise to glory (or above average, really). We know Anthem is planning a complete rework, so we'll see how that goes. In the meantime, just play Destiny, The Elder Scrolls Online, Final Fantasy XIV, The Division, Borderlands, Monster Hunter: World... they're all better and worth your time if you're looking for something similar. Other Lockdown Gaming Features: Lockdown Gaming Day 1: Skyrim Special Edition Lockdown Gaming Day 2: Persona 5 Lockdown Gaming Day 3: Fallout 4 Lockdown Gaming Day 4: NieR: Automata Lockdown Gaming Day 5: Bloodborne Remember to visit the South African Coronavirus Website for more information on safety and prevention tips. Stay safe! Emergency Hotline: 0800 029 999 WhatsApp Support Line: 0600-123456

I guess I have to give it to PlatinumGames, they really know how to escalate hype and excitement well in advance of a joke's punchline. For those out of the loop, PlatinumGames first teased a mysterious "Platinum 4" incoming announcement, which got the community speculating and anticipating the big news. So far, the developer has stuck to that promise and has revealed three announcements, those being The Wonderful 101 remastered; their first self-published game, Project G.G.; and finally, the announcement of PlatinumGames Tokyo event. However, the fourth announcement has been kept secret all this time... until now. And we wish it were still a secret. READ MORE: Rainbow Six Siege: Operation Void Edge Impressions For the final "Platinum 4" announcement - which many fans expected to either be Drakengard, Bayonetta 3, or Babylon's Fall - PlatinumGames instead revealed this to be an April Fools joke. Yes, that's right. The developer made this announcement a couple of months in advance to set up an April Fools joke. What is this joke, you might ask? A collaboration with Hamster Corp. for a new arcade machine for Sol Cresta. That's it. You've waited so long, and at last, it's here! What better day than 4/1 for the hotly-anticipated fourth #Platinum4 announcement? You'd be a fool to miss our latest trailer, now at https://t.co/GLRQg6RNI8! #AprilFools #AprilFoolsDay #Gotcha #Pranked #lol @HAMSTER_Corp pic.twitter.com/qaGyA9q258— PlatinumGames Inc. (@platinumgames) April 1, 2020 Meanwhile. the community has responded with resounding disappointment. You can almost feel the crowds of fans not laughing. To give credit where credit is due, though, PlatinumGames built up and winded the tension on a big announcement for a couple of months that turned out to be the punchline of a joke. I must commend their commitment to sticking to it all this time.

Rainbow Six Siege has grown exponentially over the years. It really has been a rollercoaster of emotions, but the journey has been filled with many amazing memories. From the day one backers who got to use Jäger and Bandit with ACOGS to the creation of the meme cannon - the BOSG ACOG. Ubisoft has listened to its community, making necessary changes over the years. However, Ubisoft announced that they will change the way they roll out content. Let’s see how well the initial changes have affected the game. The two new operators mark the start of Year 5 Season 1, and they both bring a rather unique and welcomed change to Rainbow Six Siege. Ubisoft going back to the drawing board and rebooting how they tackle content has already been well-received. In other exciting news, we have finally been given our first look at the reboot for our mighty Lord and saviour - Tachanka. There are also a lot more under-the-hood changes being made, as well as some welcomed quality-of-life improvements too. This is probably one of the biggest updates Rainbow Six Siege has seen since Year 3, and we couldn't be any happier to see Ubisoft paying such careful attention to its community. Iana Our first attacker for Year 5 goes by the name of Iana and she is the epitome of an intel operator. Her gadget is called the Gemini Replicator and it allows her to remotely control a holographic copy of herself. Her loadout options are Nomad’s ARX200 or Ash’s G36C assault rifles, paired with the MK1 9MM handgun. These may be recycled weapons, but this is the first time we have seen a grip on the ARX200. The gun now has virtually no recoil and be devastating in the hands of skilled players, despite the small magazine size. That being said, you will want to put a vertical grip on the G36C if you’re planning on doing any rush tactics with Iana. Iana has a lot at her disposal. Coming in with two good guns, frag grenades, and an intel-gathering gadget that allows players to spot defenders without having to risk much. That already checks the recipe for a good operator, but to what degree? Well, she has definitely made a difference in casual games, allowing me to help Ash mains to rush in with less of a chance at dying. Her guns have a decent amount of damage giving players more than enough reason to pick her, but that comes with the fact that you would remove some utility from your team as is. It’s going to be interesting to see how she is handled in competitive plays, but she definitely benefits the ranked and casual playlist. Her Gemini Replicator has been especially useful when the diffuser has been planted, but be wary of pesky roamers throughout the match as Iana is left vulnerable while on her gadget. The basic way to use her gadget is finding a nice safe space to hide, deploying the Gemini Replicator, and then going in for the kill once you have spotted defenders. I used her as an IQ replacement. While not as useful as IQ’s gadget, Iana is able to locate Frost mats, Kapkan traps, and even Lesion mines to those who are careful to scan their environment. You definitely can’t see anything through walls like IQ, but being able to safely drone out these situations without taking damage can change the impact of the round indefinitely. Oryx Oryx has been the main focus of Operation Void Edge since we have gotten the chance to see his gadget in action at the Six Invitational. Instead of having a conventional gadget, he makes use of superhuman strength and can smash through any breakable surface he runs through. You can break through barricades with his ability at no cost to his health. Anything thicker will diminish his health by 10% at a time and can put him in then put him in a down-but-not-out state. He comes equipped with a SPAS-12 shotgun, the MP5 without an ACOG, and between the BALIFF-410 or the USP40 handguns. The shotgun is pretty fun for close range, but I preferred the MP5 and BALIFF throughout my time playing with them. Oryx’s ability makes him a very aggressive defender. You’re meant to flank the enemy, making your own rotations and navigating the map in ways attackers would never see coming. There is a delay between crashing through and being able to fire your gun, so pick wisely when making flanks. His ability to climb up broken hatches allows Oryx to pester attackers that are trying to push the objective on multiple floors. Outside of breaking through walls, Oryx can use his Remah Dash ability as a way to get a temporary speed boost. You can use this to safely move from cover to cover or to spawn rush attackers. Oryx puts the fun back into Siege, for those times when it’s okay to be the troll from time to time. He will definitely be a staple casual operator, while some more talented players will turn him into a stratergy-based ranked operator. Oregon Map Rework The new Oregon rework confused me at first. It was already one of the better maps in the game and I thought the rework would never work out for the better. Laundry has now turned into a better place for defenders as a whole, with the hatch removed and larger spaces to hold angles in. The rest of the map seems to have gotten this treat to, making almost every bombsite a better place to defend and giving players more options to work with. However, I felt a bit flustered as an attacker. It definitely felt different. A lot of the ways I normally use to push the objective has been changed, making it a little more difficult to push safely. Overall, it feels a bit defender bias, but that may change as new strategies are formed. Overall Improvements There have been other improvements outside of the compelling operators being added to the game. Operation Void Edge brings with it some quality of life changes. Perhaps the best changes were made to Recruit. Recruit now comes with his own loadouts - Sledge’s AR and SMG, Dokkabie’s DMR, Capitao’s LMG, and the Super Shorty. The best part is that Recruit can carry frag grenades and stuns at the same time while attacking. Frost mains should have also noticed the new optics she has been given. Those who haven’t may have a reason to go back to her. It may not increase her pick rate, but it will definitely make her gun more useful. The way surfaces have undergone an upgrade of sorts. Barricades no longer have debris hanging off of them, and explosives can do damage through walls in accordance with your distance from the explosion. That has been rather bugged in some cases, but Ubisoft will definitely find a fix in the coming updates. Year 5 is definitely off to a good start and the next season brings with it the very first South African operator to Rainbow Six Siege. The Tachanka rework should be coming out around that stage too, giving us plenty of things to be excited about. It will take time before we get to see the fruits of this change in content, but I am definitely excited in the direction the company has taken with the game. Rainbow Six Siege is now available for PC, Xbox One, and PlayStation 4.

Cooler Master are hopping on the age-old trend of pairing RGB fans with a versatile PC case. Like many other companies, Cooler Master releases this in the hopes of adding to your build rather than removing from it. READ MORE: Final Fantasy VII Remake Physical Copies Delayed in South Africa The mATX ARGB Tower boasts two 120mm ARGB fans and the company's iconic Fine Mesh front panels placed between two honeycomb vents on either side. The case comes in at R1,100 and features tempered glass. The price makes it a decent offering for those wanting to get into building their first PC, but still want the RGB aesthetic. Cooler Master says the MB311L ARGB is set to launch in South Africa soon, so those who are on the market for a new PC should probably consider this if it falls within what you need from your case. The case definitely looks good to the eye, but functionality will determine whether or not it's worth spending money on.