Sea of Thieves is approaching its 2 year anniversary if you can believe it, and personally the addition of the Tall Tales, story and lore based voyages has been one of the best improvements and additions to the game in those two years. Now we have a teaser trailer revealing the next Tall Tale, ‘Heart of Fire’.
Looking to follow in the same cinematic style of ‘The Seabound Soul’, this is a Tall Tale set to feature many traps and a hint from RARE themselves that this Tall Tale will change each time you attempt it making it more of a challenge for players looking to collect and complete all the commendations for it.
Heart of Fire comes to Sea of Thieves on March 11th in the next game update.
The news PlayStation fans have been eagerly waiting for has finally come as the release date for Ghost of Tsushima has been confirmed for June 26th 2020 along with a new Story Trailer showing gameplay on the PS4 Pro:
With Tsushima on the brink of destruction, Jin Sakai must sacrifice everything to defeat the ruthless Mongol invaders and protect what’s left of his home and people. As he embarks on an epic adventure for the freedom of Tsushima, he is forced to set aside samurai traditions and become a new kind of warrior.
From the same studio that brought us the inFamous series, Sucker Punch Productions, this release date is a lot earlier than I believed it would come as I had expected it to be a possible launch title for the PlayStation 5 later this year. A very welcome surprise indeed!
Ghost of Tsushima will release for PlayStation 4 and PS4 Pro from June 26th, 2020.
2020 has just been spoiling me with games based on my
favourite anime shows so far that is feels like Christmas. It kicked off with
the excellent ‘Dragon Ball Z : Kakarot’ enabling me to relive the incredible
sagas I watched over the years in such a brilliant and immersive experience and
now I was excited to have a similar experience with ‘One Punch Man: A Hero
Nobody Knows’ but I was a little intrigued by how the world of Saitama could be
recreated in the game considering that the main hero is so powerful he just
wins every single fight…with one punch, the question is, did they manage it?
The biggest issue the team behind this game had is pretty
much the same issue that troubles anyone trying to make an authentic Superman
game, how do you make a game challenging when you are playing as a god with
practically no weaknesses. Well the short answer is rather simple; you do not
play as Saitama. One Punch Man: A Hero Nobody Knows does the very clever thing
of placing the player in the world of Saitama as a new fledgling Class C Hero
and puts you on the journey of reaching Class S Hero rating with the Hero
Association during the same time that Saitama is doing the same. I had a real
buzz from creating my own character and seeing him encountering the same heroes
and characters I loved from the anime show as well as fighting the same iconic
monsters and villains from the show…or I hoped I would be at least, but more on
that a bit later on.
Starting off you have only the very basic of cosmetic
options in creating your hero especially in the “costume” you start fighting
crime wearing. The strength of this game is mostly certainly born from the
ability to let the player become a part of this world and to feel like they are
an active participant in everything going on big or small and to be frank, I am
actually glad not to be playing as Saitama or Genos or any of the other heroes
which is the opposite to the way I felt about Dragon Ball Z: Kakarot, as a fan
of One Punch Man, I would rather share the world with the heroes of the show
than playing as them and a lot of my enjoyment comes from this element to the
game but also has a downside as well.
One Punch Man is known for the ridiculous over the top
battles that the heroes have with the villains and monsters that frequently pop
up to threaten the good people of the city and the fighting is definitely the
focus of this 3D fighter. The combat system is quite simple with X for normal
melee attacks and Y serving as the heavy melee and doing a combination of those
will form your normal attacks and you can block with B and even parry an attack
with the right timing of hitting B. Where the fighting gets interesting comes in
the form of the different Battle types and the Killer Moves that they bring to
the party. The Battle types are simply the “power” of the heroes you know from
the anime and show such as “Normal” which is your basic more fist fighting
style move set to Psychic allows you to use more telekinesis attacks like
Terrible Tornado and even Machine style which is based on Genos and his cyborg
attacks and so on. As you progress and raise your Hero Ranking, more Battle
types will unlock.
Each battle type can be upgraded through 5 levels, with each
level opening up an extra Killer Move slow to adding more normal attack
combination moves. Every battle you win will earn you XP that raises your own
player level and XP for your battle type. Killer Moves are powerful moves that
are triggered by using Left Trigger and pressing the corresponding face button
and each one has a cost of energy bars which gauge builds during the fight to a
maximum of 9. When you use a Killer move is can cost anything from low energy
number to requiring using more depending on how powerful the Killer Move is.
Killer Moves are learned by doing side missions with the various heroes who
inspired the battle mode so a you grow your battle type to the maximum 5th
level, you should learn enough killer Moves to fill your slots. Reaching Max
level of the Battle type will unlock the Mode Change for that type which gives
access to the Super Killer Move, a massive animated power move that if it lands
will do incredible damage. Best way to describe Mode Change is to think of how
Goku can go Super Saiyan but here it enables you to enter Change mode which for
a very short window allows you to trigger your Super Killer Move if you have
one or just do more attack damage until the Mode change energy is used up, which
is a relatively short space of time.
Mode change also allows your hero to switch to their “Mode
Change Costume and appearance” for the time that they are in that mode. More
and more cosmetic items are unlocked by completing side missions and story
missions so whilst you may start off just wearing a t-shirt and tracksuit
bottoms, after some time you will soon be dressing like a real hero and
literally in some cases as you unlock costume items by the iconic main roster
of characters themselves such as Saitama’s costume and having Genos’ cyborg
arms for the Machine A battle type. Now for me, I made and saved a different
look for each Battle type just to keep it nice and fresh but you can change
Battle type at any time outside of battle just by using the game menu. Sadly,
you can only have a single “Mode Change” look which is shared throughout every
battle type so of course I set it to Super Saiyan Blue Vegeta and had zero
regrets.
Main Story missions are given out by the Hero Association and
follow the same path of the anime show, most will simply have you share in the
action until the moment Saitama shows up to just…one punch them for the victory
but this is where I have my first disappointment with the game as not all the
iconic fights from the show are fully recreated. For example, when experiencing
the House of Evolution, the story will jump straight to the final fight against
Carnage Kabuto with only a very short fight against Mosquito Girl that skipped
her initial fight with Genos. Where in Dragon Ball Z: Kakarot they recreated
almost every detail of the show and battle, a lot of the time the sequences are
cut down to the bare minimum dialogue exchange and a short battle which robs
what made the show bringing them to life so awesome.
Side missions pretty much come down to doing fights against
randomly generated monsters with modifiers to change up the battle so you may
have to defeat an enemy or enemy team in a certain amount of time in order to
claim victory. The battle environment can also play a factor in the fight as
item drops will be flown in by drones which can be picked up by the player or
the AI enemy to give them a short boost of attack or defence power or even to
replenish some health. You can also get help or partners from either randomly
created heroes or established story heroes depending on how the random lottery
goes. A lot of this game requires grinding through a multitude of these Side
missions which can become tedious sadly especially when at points, you will
need to earn enough “community helped” points in order to open the next main
story mission. You also need to plough through a lot of these in order to
maximise each battle types and to learn more killer moves as more are unlocked
by doing side missions with the main hero of that power type.
The grind does make me put the game down for a break as it
can get a bit samey once you have put together your own combinations of attacks
and every fight just becomes rinse and repeat. The fights will get a lot
tougher and they are tiered so you know which would be too easy or too
difficult depending on where you feel your hero is but the rewards also
increase so more money and experience will be earned by completing the tougher
fights. The grind does allow you to build up your hero though and work on your
battle types to find the one that suits you best, but it would have been more
fun to have more story missions mixed in along with the Hero Association
missions as you can only earn Hero Class Ranking points from main story and
Hero Association missions which can feel like another grind task amongst all
the others.
The combat system itself can also be fiddly as well with hit
detection around killer moves and especially blocking and countering often
falling foul of being based on animation rather than input based reactions.
Learning the range of a Killer Move is vital as you can believe you are about
to extend or complete a combo with a flashy Killer Move only to see it miss
completely and end up feeling rather flat. I found the countering system very
clumsy as well and it can be frustrating to just get punched to the sky when
you know you have timed your counter perfectly.
I really do like the combat in the game however, and
building my own battle type setup is huge fun and creating combinations that do
big damage is immensely satisfying. I love interacting with Saitama and friends
in the world and I even quite like the “online mode” which is one big shared
mode with other players of the game and you can see their own hero’s in the
world but I do wish that visiting the Hero Association HQ was less crowded with
other players all running about or standing where you need to access a mission
point. There is also an online Ranked Team battle mode where you and the heroes
you have met and unlocked can go up against other players but I really found
this to be clunky at times with many disconnections and rage quitting so I
tended to focus on the Single player content and RPG elements like decorating
my in game room and I am not kidding!
Ultimately Saitama is just a hero for fun which is exactly
what this game is, fun. With refinements and updates I feel the fighting system
can be polished a little more going forward and it really never stops being fun
to take control of Saitama for the brief missions you can and just ending
everything with one punch. There is certainly more than enough to immerse
yourself in if you are a fan of the show or the anime but the game relies a lot
on your assumed fandom to make it through all the grind the game will expect
and make players do to get through the game.
This is a great way to enjoy One Punch Man universe and
whilst it doesn’t have the same depth of say Dragon Ball Z: Kakarot, there is
certainly enough here to give fans hours of enjoyment as they make their
journey towards Class S hero and it is always fun getting told off by Terrible
Tornado!
Director Matt Reeves has been busy in recent weeks letting fans peek behind the curtains at the next Batman film starring Robert Pattinson. First we got to see the Batsuit which I personally really really like and then some on-set photos revealed a possible ‘Bat-cycle’ as a stunt man in the Batsuit was preparing for a stunt.
Last night Matt Reeves chose to give us a sneak-peek at another iconic Batman element in the new Batmobile and I am again just loving the visual look for how this is shaping up:
I am genuinely excited by the running theme of the visual look Reeves has given his Batman so far from the suit to the Batmobile. I love that it looks less “Wayne Tech” made and instead definitely something I cam picture a young Bruce Wayne preparing to introduce his Batman to the world with. A custom souped up muscle car with one hell of an engine on the back and what looks like an afterburner which is so synonymous with the Batmobile. It looks practical, armoured and has a utilitarian vibe to it instead of smooth Wayne Industries forged look.
Imagine being a bad guy being chased by this thing or the Gotham PD seeing this for the first time in the dead of night?
Everything revealed and teased so far has be extremely excited for what Reeves has in store for his Batman and very intrigued to see the Bruce Wayne/Batman that Robert Pattinson brings to the big screen.
It’s time to review the Creative Pebble v2 Desktop Speakers.
Here is how Creative are describing the Pebble v2:
“We are taking Pebble, one of our favorite 2.0 desktop speakers, and making it even better! Introducing Pebble V2, a successor to the popular Pebble speaker – we are keeping its minimalistic design, and giving it USB-C connectivity for higher power output! If you are using older computers with USB Type-A ports, not to worry, a USB-C to USB-A converter is included for you. Pebble V2 also has a built-in gain switch to help amplify your audio so you can turn up your music and it will still be nothing short of astounding.’
Specifications
What’s in the box?
The box contains the speakers and a USB-C to USB-A dongle, and some paperwork.
A Closer Look
Final Thoughts
The Pebble v2 desktop speakers are small and lightweight so they don’t take up much room on your desk.
Connecting them to your computer is simply a case of plugging in the audio cable and then connecting the USB-C for power. If your computer doesn’t have a USB-C port on don’t worry, Creative have included a USB-C to USB-A converter in the box, so just use that.
Once you’ve done that all you need to do in turn the volume dial to switch on and select your desired volume. There is also a gain switch you can use to activate high gain mode, if you wish, which provides peak power up to 16W.
The speakers themselves are angled to 45 degrees so that the sound is aimed more at where your ears are rather then around your mid section like normal desktop speakers. This really adds to the experience and was a good design choice!
The sound quality on the Pebble v2 is very good and if you are looking for a reasonably priced set of desktop speakers then you should look (or rather listen) no further!
The Creative Pebble v2 Desktop Speakers are available now priced around £22.99.
We are finally here, the Series 12 finale for the 13th Doctor and it has been an interesting journey to reach this point from the New Years opening special of Spyfall Parts 1 and 2. So far this series has been big on teasing massive Doctor Who lore changing events as well as delicately playing with the little things such as the relationship of Team TARDIS to the Doctor. We have seen the return of The Master and the introduction of the “Ruth Doctor” with her very own identical TARDIS. So many things have been thrown up in the air for this final episode which quite frankly has a lot to deliver. I was both nervous and a little uncomfortable heading into ‘The Timeless Children” and now in the minutes after the credits rolled….I am not sure what to think of it.
*Spoiler Warning: There are major spoilers within this review due to there being no other way to discuss this finale episode. You have been warned*
I am genuinely sitting here typing this review just following the end credits to ‘The Timeless Children’ rolling on my TV and I have purposely avoided looking on social media to see the reactions of other fans to the series finale because, I am quite honestly, a little uncomfortable with how Chris Chibnall has wrapped up this series. One of my biggest fears and concerns for Series 12, which I have raised ever since “Fugitive of the Judoon” threw in perhaps, the biggest lore changing moment in the 57 year history of Doctor Who. Now previous show-runners in Russell T Davies and Steven Moffat have also made big changes to Doctor Who lore but with Chris Chibnall it felt scary but also a little on the side of him not earning the “right” to make the changes that he has suddenly made in only his second series going by how poor his opening attempt for the 13th Doctor was.
This second part to the series finale following on from “Ascension of the Cybermen” ultimately comes down to two characters, The Doctor and The Master and this was very much The Master’s stage to perform on. Sacha Dhawan is absolutely incredible in this episode, as he has been in each of the episodes that featured The Master. His version of the Master is by far the most unhinged and threatening than previous ones, even the Harold Saxon Master played brilliantly by John Simm pales in comparison to the absolutely villainous persona of Dhawan’s Master. Bringing this character back was a risk considering how The Master had a rather satisfying “ending” with the 12th Doctor. But he is, if you pardon the pun, just masterful here as the episode opens with him threatening to kill all the humans and Ryan unless the Doctor go with him through the Boundary back to the ruins of Gallifrey in order for him to reveal the lie he claims is the reason why he raised the planet to the ground.
Now before we get there, and believe me there is a lot to say about what is revealed to The Doctor by The Master, we do need to look at the other element to the finale, the threat of the Cybermen lead by Ashad the Lone Cyberman. In Ascension of the Cyberman we saw Yaz and Graham left stranded on board the Cyberman Warship along with a group of the last humans in the universe whilst Ryan was left on the planet where the ‘Boundary’ was found, a portal that was leading to none other place than Gallifrey. Much of this story has the group on the Cybership desperately trying to escape and find their way back to the Doctor, lead by Yaz who has the “Doctor level” crazy idea of having the group wear Cyberman Armour, pretend to be them and steal a ship and get to the planet surface. Ashad is still determined to bring the Cybermen to their greatest glory by following the guidance of the Cyberium, the AI construct that if you remember from “The Haunting of Villa Diodati’ , fought so hard to not be captured by Ashad that it took over a human, manipulated the perception filter of the entire house and then even chose the Doctor as a better vessel than Ashad. But now, this AI that contains all the knowledge of the Cybermen is more than happy to do whatever it takes to make that dream a reality which is a little jarring to me.
Ashad is such an incredible character that successfully made the Cybermen a credible threat and a true monster for the Doctor but in typical Chris Chibnall fashion, and he was the sole writer for this final episode, that is almost undone by the fact that a bigger star joined the party, The Master. The Master invites Ashad to bring his Cyberarmy through the Boundary to Gallifrey, and offers him an alliance and when Ashad reveals that his true plan is to remove the organic components of the Cybermen to remove that one weakness and achieve full mechanisation whilst also removing all organic live in the the universe by using the “Death Particle” stored in his chest. This is the moment that Ashad loses what made him a superb enemy for me as The Master, on behalf of the audience, points out that Ashad’s great plan to simply to make the Cybermen nothing more than robots is just…..stupid. Instead he offers a better plan, to team with The Master and instead of using regular organic material, that they should use the remains of the Time Lord bodies that The Master has kept, creating a new race of Cyberman and Time Lord.
Reducing Ashad to nothing more than a cog in the grand scheme of The Master’s grand plan felt to me that he was just discarded far too easily. The Whole ‘Death Particle’ was only introduced to provide a lazy way to defeat the Cybermen considering Ashad never mentioned it during ‘Ascension of the Cybermen’ episode. Even the manner in which The Master invited Ashad to Gallifrey just to steal the Cyberium from him by using his shrink weapon and turning Ashad into a toy figure to me shows just how little time Chibnall has for characters once their story purpose is over. I loved the visuals of the Cybermen Warship landing on the ruins of the Citadel of the Time Lords and watching the execution squads hunt down Ryan and co on the planet surface was classic Cyberman, not to mention the design of the ‘CyberMasters’ combining classic Time Lord Headdress with Cyberman armour. Seeing Gallifrey in ruins is heartbreaking to see but it has an immediate impact when on screen and Jodie Whittaker has done an amazing job in showing The Doctor’s emotional reaction to is all through the season and especially this episode as The Master constantly taunts her about their childhood memories growing up on Gallifrey.
There was an interesting moment which saw Graham talking to Yaz as they sat waiting for their Cybersuits to be made ready with Graham turning to Yaz and doing the “if this goes badly” speech telling her that she is the best human he knows. Now I still feel as though we could see a reduction in the size of Team TARDIS heading into the next series, ever since Series 11 my money has been on Yaz to become the true and only companion for the 13th Doctor. Ryan did very little in this episode other than find his Call of Duty love of weapons again as he happily threw a basketball size bomb destroying two squads of Cybermen and celebrating his “swish” aim. But overall, they had so little impact on this episode that if we still have Team TARDIS as it is currently going into Series 13, I really struggle to see how it can continue because other than Yaz, the rest are dead-weight in nearly every story outside of comedy bits and forgetful character moments.
This naturally brings me to the big story moment of the finale and the one that has been hyped up every since The Master made his return, the lie he discovered that made him destroy Gallifrey and the Time Lords. “Everything changes” were his final words to the Doctor and us the audience at the end of Episode 9 and it left a lot of fans and myself, feeling more than a little anxious as to what he was going to reveal. Taking the Doctor to the heart of the Time Lord Citadel, to the Matrix which is a repository of all Time Lord Knowledge and memories to trap her within a paralysis cage, The Master takes The Doctor’s conscious into the Matrix starting with the wonderful line of dialogue “are you suffering comfortably, then I shall begin”.
This really is the moment Chris Chibnall has been leading us to all of Series 12, to reveal whatever it was that would explain why The Master destroyed the Time Lords and raised Gallifrey to the ground and who the “Ruth Doctor” was. The Master begins to narrate the tale of someone who belonged to a race of people who existed on Gallifrey before the Time Lords, the first of Gallifrey’s people. This woman called Tecteun, was the first to leave the planet to explore other worlds and had discovered a monument on a strange planet that was a gateway to another dimension and universe. Beneath the monument was a child all alone, Tectuen chose to adopt this child as her own and they travelled the stars together before returning to Gallifrey after some years. Tecteun started to perform experiments to find out where the child came from but could find no answers. That was until an accident between the child and another child, which resulted in her falling off a cliff where she was discovered by Tecteun who witness something unbelievable the child….regenerated.
The great lie of the Time Lords is that their ability to regenerate was not something they evolved to do but instead it was something taken from a child from another universe and simply added to their genetic make up following years of experiments performed on the mysterious child to unlock the secret of regeneration. But Chris Chibnall takes this one stage further by tying in the Doctor with The Master revealing that the very child that was found and had the ability to regenerate was actually The Doctor and furthermore, the child had the natural ability to regenerate without limit and that when Tecteun finally discovered the genetic secret to regeneration and tested it on herself and found she also could now regenerate, she made the decision to implant this ability into her own people who would then go on to discover time travel and found the Time Lord civilisation, a decision was then made to force a limit of only 12 regenerations per Time Lord.
Having taking some time to process this revelation, I have to admit I am both relieved and disappointed at the same time. If this is true, and again, this could all simply be put down to a devious lie by The Master to try and break the Doctor should Chibnall or another future show-runner decide to U-Turn on it, then it leaves a lot of annoying questions left instead of fun ones for fans. For me the very fact that the story of the Doctor is about someone who refused to sit back and adhere to the Time Lord policy of non interference and chose to run away from Gallifrey and the Time Lords, taking a TARDIS and exploring all of time and space to battle evil and monsters wherever the Doctor was needed is now almost spoiled for me.
Chibnall in this move has turned ‘The Doctor’ into MARVEL’s Winter Soldier almost, a being that was used by a secret organisation of Time Lord authority known as ‘The Division’ and sent out to actually interfere in other civilisations who would then have all the memories of those missions and entire life spans wiped from memory and The Matrix as well to keep it a secret from Time Lord society itself. So really what is left, is a child who is not from this universe, someone who is older than Time Lord Civilisation whose genetic ability to regeneration was copied and introduced to a race of people who then continued to use the Timeless Child for secret missions, wiping entire lives away until we have The Doctor who we can only surmise was forced to regenerate back into a child who then had the lives that we now know has lead to the 13th Doctor.
But fans are now left to ask questions such as what was given to the 12th Doctor in order to have “a new regeneration cycle” when according to this truth, The Doctor has had many many life cycles and countless regenerations over centuries. This reveal explains why there is a “Ruth Doctor” and why the 13th Doctor has no memory of her but then why does the “Ruth Doctor” have her own Blue Box TARDIS? Does that mean that all these other forgotten “Doctors” had the iconic TARDIS that we know and love and has it always been in the form of a Police box even before the 1st Doctor as we recognise him, stole it from Gallifrey and the Chameleon circuit became stuck with it after arriving on Earth in the 1960s?
Now I will admit that a lot of this may not be any concern to some Doctor Who fans but if like me, the 57 year lore of this show and all the intricacies of the stories told over almost six decades and the 13 versions of The Doctor is something that you do care about, this mess of a lore change and reveal leaves far too many plot holes for me to just comfortably say to myself “oh OK, fair enough if The Doctor is good with it all then fine by me”. There could be an argument that all this has done is add more secrets to the Time Lords who already had plenty of them, but is just niggling away at my fandom heart for the show that we have so many loose ends and very little explanations given how quickly the story just moved passed it and into the closing moments.
The pace at which the story switched from the reveal above to the end sequence of events with the humans and Team TARDIS sent off in a different TARDIS to return to Earth by the Doctor whilst she made the only choice she felt she had, to take the one final bomb which could only be manually detonated, to trigger the Death Particle in the “Toy Lone Cyberman”. Her hope was to sacrifice herself in order to wipe out all organic life left on Gallifrey, which would take out the CyberMaster Race, the remaining Time Lord corpses, The Master and herself. Now of course the Doctor still could not pull the trigger to detonate the bomb when the time came, something The Master both knew and was letdown by, until that is the Guardian of the Boundary appeared, replacing the Doctor which allowed her to grab yet another TARDIS and escape whilst the bomb was detonated and seemingly wiping out all organic life and the bad guys on Gallifrey.
The ending felt so rushed and anticlimactic to me, in no small part to the mess it left the Doctor Who lore in my head. The finale went from undoing decades of show lore to a lame cheesy set up for what will probably be either the 2020 Christmas special but more likely the 2021 New Years day special when Doctor Who returns in “Revolution of the DALEKs” which will begin with the 13th Doctor in prison for life charged by the Judoon for the crime committed by “Ruth Doctor” during ‘Fugitive of the Judoon’.
Ultimately how you feel about this series finale in ‘The Timeless Children’ will come down to how much you care about Doctor Who lore and for me, this failed to live up to the hype of what Chris Chibnall has been teasing throughout Series 12. We are left with a Doctor who is no longer a Time Lord or from Gallifrey, which is now itself is now destroyed and gone, which following the brilliance of the 50th Anniversary Special and the 11th Doctor’s final moments actually feels quite sad. Having to wait until the end of the year or start of 2021 to see what happens next is a long time to sit and stew over what has happened in this finale.
It might take me that long to really decide where I stand with what Chibnall has done with Series 12 which ironically is exactly where I was this time in 2019 at the end of Series 11, worried about where Doctor Who is going under the stewardship of Chris Chibnall.
In anticipation of the April 10th launch of FINAL FANTASY VII REMAKE, SQUARE ENIX announced today that PlayStation owners across the globe can now get their hands on a playable demo for the game. Available to download now from the PlayStation Store, the demo allows players to experience first-hand the opening chapter from the game, and the events of the iconic Mako Reactor 1 bombing mission. In addition, those who download the demo before May 11, 2020 will also receive an exclusive PlayStation 4 theme when the full game launches next month.
In FINAL FANTASY VII REMAKE, players will be drawn into a world where the Shinra Electric Power Company, a shadowy corporation, controls the planet’s very life force. Cloud Strife, a former member of Shinra’s elite SOLDIER unit now turned mercenary, lends his aid to an anti-Shinra organization calling themselves Avalanche. The first game in the project is set in the city of Midgar, and is a fully standalone gaming experience designed for RPG players that crave unforgettable characters, a powerful story and the ability to choose their style of play with a battle system that merges thrilling real-time action with strategic, command-based combat.
FINAL FANTASY VII REMAKE will be available for the PlayStation 4 on April 10, 2020. The FINAL FANTASY VII REMAKE Demo is available to download now for the PlayStation 4 system at: http://sqex.link/FF7RDemo.
There is a special place in my heart for the Darksiders
series, the first game featuring War absolutely blew me away on its release for
just bringing something to my Xbox 360 experience I never knew I was lacking. I
absolutely loved Darksiders 2 that introduced us to the Horseman Death even
though the game itself suffered from a rushed development due to the collapse
of the THQ. But in the years since the series has had a bit of a revival with
successful remasters of the first two games and a third Darksiders releasing
which brought the Horseman Fury and her lethal whip to the series and whilst it
was an overall lacklustre game, the hope would be to have the 4th
and possibly final Horseman have their own game…and though introduced in
Darksiders 3 as a teaser, the next game to feature this unseen Horsemen would
not actually be a typical Darksiders game…but does it do enough to keep the hope
of a 4th chapter in the Horseman story alive?
Darksiders Genesis is an interesting departure from the three
main series games starting with the very obvious one, the change in style.
Genesis is very much in the style of isometric games like Diablo which next to
a 3rd person action adventure game with RPG and hack n slash
elements like the first three Darksiders Horsemen games…feels rather odd. The
next is that it is also a game that has fundamentally been designed from the
ground up to be a fully co-operative gaming experience where you grab a friend
and you each take the roles of either War or Strife, the new and 4th
Horseman introduced fully with Genesis.
But let’s start with the latter and begin with the pairing
of Strife with War. Genesis is a prequel story to the first game where the Four
Horsemen have, on the orders of the Charred Council, lain waste to their own
people the Nephilim. Fresh from that destruction, War and Strife are summoned
back to the council and given new orders, to go into Hell itself and
investigate what Lucifer has been planning with the Council believing it is a
threat to the ‘Balance’. Sounds relatively simple for two Horsemen who just
helped destroy their own people.
I really like Strife as a character, modelled after a cocky
gunslinger, Strife is wise cracking and arrogant and questions the reason
behind their orders and missions whilst accepting his role as a Horsemen, he is
not shy to ask why the Council has set them on this course or in doing whatever
it takes to complete the mission, even if it means running errands for others
if it will aid their goal. This is the very opposite of War who is dogmatic in
his belief in duty of protecting the Balance for the Council and believes the
Horsemen are absolute in their work. He is stoic and determined and is often
annoyed by the charismatic Strife and his seemingly jokey attitude to
completing the mission. This pairing is a fascinating and fun way to introduce
Strife and during the conversation scenes between the two throughout the story,
you can see War almost lighten up at points and persuaded by Strife to follow a
course of action rather than do what he does best, threaten and destroy an
obstacle with his big sword. This relationship is just adorable like a buddy
cop film.
Having two very different in personality Horsemen also means
two very different styles in combat. Strife is a mid to long range fighter,
using his dual pistols ‘Redemption and Mercy’ to tackle enemies but also has
melee abilities for close quarter fighting. War has his “Chaoseater” sword and
is the close-range tank damage dealer he was in the first Darksiders game. In fact,
I was surprised that even with the almost top down isometric style, War feels
like War, having his same attacks and special moves which are instantly recognisable
to fans and honestly, as someone who knows the first game very well, playing as
War even in this new setting felt familiar and at the same time refreshing as
well. Strife felt like a good twin stick shooter kind of character and was great
at keeping distance from enemies with his range attacks and not too squishy up
close and personal with his melee abilities.
Which is where the new co-op style of gameplay comes to life
as you and a friend get to control either of the Horsemen and combining their
playstyles to take down enemies, explore the map solving puzzles and fighting
the big boss characters you will come across as you progress through the world and
the many dungeons in the game. Seeing both Horsemen riding their iconic horses
as well with Strife riding Mayhem and War on Ruin is a sight to behold for any fan
of the series itching to see them all unite on screen in the same game. Once
both players are locked in combat, it really is thrilling to see them working
together and the fact that the visual keep the same comic book dark art style
to world really makes the game just pop out of your screen.
That said, the game is also fully playable as a solo
experience with the ability to just hot switch between the two Horsemen at any
time. The game offers solutions for the clearly designed to be solved by two
players type of puzzles by having a method of allowing for example, the use of
a bomb to activate one switch whilst the solo player activates the other if a
gate or path has a ‘two switches at the same time’ lock method. Dotted in
strategic places through each map are Player Monoliths, these can be used to
invite another player into your game to make it co-op even if you started off
solo and you can set the game to be invite only or to allow anyone on your
friends list with the game to just join you. The only downside I would say to
the solo experience is that it is always obvious that this is a game and a world
built upon the foundation of being played by two players, playing solo does
make the boss fights and large enemy battles an overwhelming challenge at
times, one you know would be easier and perhaps more fun with two players
instead of just one. But the gameplay manages to keep the flow going even if
you do play this solo but I would recommend playing with a friend for the full
experience.
I did find some of the RPG elements to be a bit of a hit and
miss however. Like other Darksiders games, you can collect souls and Boatmen
coins in order to purchase upgrades and new abilities from series regular
Vulgrim and newcomer Dis. There is also an attribute tree where you can use the
Creature Cores collected from dead enemies and bosses to grant buffs to your
horsemen abilities such as boosting damage, giving more health and even the
ability to someone a beast to serve as your ally in combat. The more of these
cores you collect, the more that Creature Core effect can be boosted by
increasing its level. Now I just threw this these into the tree randomly and
still managed to have the advantages of this but no doubt diehard players can
finetune their own.
I did have some niggles with the new style of play though
with the camera often feeling too high up and missing a lot of the up close
detail of the characters and the action and whilst I absolutely loved exploring
every inch of the level maps looking for every chest an collectible, I often
found that the attempt to make it 3D by having high scenery block the camera
leaving you as an shadowed outline moving on the other side which during a
fight can be very annoying. Also I found it too easy to get caught on scenery
and trying to judge precise jumping was a little off due to the camera meaning I
suffered some very clumsy and noob looking falls into pits.
But overall I really enjoyed this spin off title and whilst I do hope and expect a possible Darksiders 4 to return to the traditional game style, it was a fun way to introduce a new Horsemen with a prequel story that sheds more like on the Horsemen as a group before the events of the first game which changed everything. Definitely worth checking out if you are a fan of Darksiders, it manages to use enough of Diablo style games whilst never trying to go full into that style and retains enough of Darksiders to keep it familiar for fans.
The story can feel drawn out towards the end but I had and am having a really good time with this game now I have a co-op partner to replay the game with.
Team up with old friends and eerie new characters to help true love triumph over eldritch horror. “Guns, Love, and Tentacles: The Marriage of Wainwright & Hammerlock” comes to Borderlands 3 on March 26!
It has also been announced that for PC gamers, the EPIC Store exclusivity deal has ended and now Borderlands 3 will be coming to STREAM on March 13th 2020.
Streets of Rage 4 publisher and co-developer Dotemu (publisher Wonder Boy: The Dragon’s Trap, developer Windjammers) with co-developers Lizardcube (Wonder Boy: The Dragon’s Trap) and Guard Crush Games (Streets of Fury) today announced the iconic series’ return will support two-player online and up to four-player offline co-op when it launches this spring. A new trailer released today also revealed a first look at the final and all-new playable character joining the roster ahead of Streets of Rage 4’s upcoming release on PC, Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4, and Xbox One. The four-player co-op and new character will be playable for fans attending PAX East in Boston, February 27 through March 1st on the show floor in booth 28051.
The new character, Floyd, dishes out serious damage with his incredibly strong cybernetic arms, a cutting-edge upgrade courtesy of Streets of Rage 3’s playable cyborg, Dr. Zan. Although Floyd’s movement and health recovery are slower than most, he boasts the longest reach among the playable roster and tremendous power, ensuring any combo he puts an enemy through will be devastating.
See Floyd and the intensity of four-player co-op in action by watching the full video:
Streets of Rage 4 reunites Axel, Blaze, and Adam for the first mainline Streets of Rage game in more than 25 years. The highly anticipated sequel embodies the classic trilogy’s gritty, neon-streaked urban atmosphere inFinal Brawler Reve a fully original experience boasting a strikingly fluid hand-drawn art style. New skull-cracking playable characters, expanded combat abilities, and a pulsing soundtrack from an all-star lineup including series composers Yūzō Koshiro (Streets of Rage 1, 2, & 3, Sonic the Hedgehog) and Motohiro Kawashima (Streets of Rage 2 & 3, Shinobi II) make Streets of Rage 4 an all-out brawl of a lifetime.
With March’s pair of PS Plus games, you’ll embark on a dangerous quest to cleanse a land of its giant-sized inhabitants, and help not one but two versions of a platforming legend save the world.
Shadow of the Colossus is a breathtaking journey through ancient lands to seek out gigantic beasts. Armed with only a sword and a bow, explore the spacious lands and unearth each Colossus, presenting a unique challenge to test your wits, determination, and skill. Tales speak of an ancient realm where Colossi roam the majestic landscape. Bound to the land, these creatures hold a key to a mystical power of revival – a power you must obtain to bring a loved one back to life.
In Sonic Forces, the evil Dr. Eggman has conquered much of the world with help from a powerful and mysterious new villain named Infinite. Now, you must assist Sonic and build an army to reclaim the world as they fight against chaos and destruction. Defeat enemies with blazing speed as Modern Sonic, catapult past perilous platforms as Classic Sonic, and create your very own Custom Hero Character equipped with a variety of powerful gadgets.
Both titles will be available to download from Tuesday, 3rd March until Monday, 6th April.
Xbox fans finally have a chance to step into Kiryu and Majima’s shoes for themselves!!
Yakuza 0 is now available on Xbox One Game Pass and Windows 10! Xbox fans finally get to experience the drama, extreme action, and hilarious minigames and sub-stories of the genre-defying Yakuza series
The Xbox One Game Pass release of Yakuza 0 makes an excellent entry point for series newcomers. A prequel to the original Yakuza, Yakuza 0 follows the parallel storylines of Kazuma Kiryu and Goro Majima, two men who find themselves deeply embroiled in the violent conflicts of Japan’s criminal underworld. Set in Japan’s economic bubble period of the 1980s, players will explore the extraordinarily-detailed districts of Kamurocho, Tokyo, and Dotonbori, Osaka as Kiryu and Majima as they fight for their lives… with the occasional break to go bowling, head to Club SEGA for a game of Out Run, hit up the disco, compete in slot car racing, go fishing, manage a cabaret club, or belt out some tunes at the karaoke parlor, to name just a few of the side activities in Yakuza 0.
Xbox One owners can get Yakuza 0 right now through the Microsoft Store or Xbox Game Pass!
February is quickly coming to an end but worry now, Xbox have revealed the next line up of titles coming with ‘Games with Gold’ in March 2020.
Play together with Xbox Live Gold and Xbox Game Pass Ultimate. March’s 2020 Games with Gold lineup for Xbox One includes: Batman: The Enemy Within – The Complete Season and Shantae: Half-Genie Hero. For Xbox 360 owners (and through Xbox One backward compatibility), March begins with Castlevania: Lords of Shadow 2, followed by Sonic Generations.
To qualify for Games with Gold you must have a current and active subscription to Xbox LIVE GOLD.
Exuding supreme confidence and power, Kefla is definitely someone you don’t want to mess with unless you’ve got the strength and skill to deal some heavy attacks her way. Born from the fusion of Caulifla and Kale, Kefla is always ready for battle, never backing down from a good fight… even with the likes of Goku. Her youthful demeanor means she’s ready to challenge elders at the drop of a hat.
How will the other DRAGON BALL FighterZ characters react to the arrival of Kefla?
We’ll see when she becomes available as a playable character on February 28th on the PlayStation 4, Xbox One, PCs via STEAM , and Nintendo Switch.
Players who opted to purchase FighterZ Pass 3 will gain access to Kefla on February 26th.
