Star Wars Battlefront II will introduce a lot of changes to last year's divisive title. While one of the biggest new elements will be a single-player campaign (read our impressions here), multiplayer has also seen a significant retooling. In this gallery, we take a look at each of the classes for both of the game's factions. Following that, we look at all the weapons revealed so far.
Note that all of this content comes from a pre-alpha build of the game, so its potentially subject to major revision before the final release.
Paragon, Epic Games' PS4 and PC MOBA, is getting a new Hero next week, and this one's a ranged character. Called Wraith, he'll be patched into the game on June 27.
According to Epic, Wraith's specialty is reconnaissance. In the game's lore, Wraith graduated from the Echelon special operations program, where he was taught by another Hero, Kallari. But while Kallari is an assassin, Wraith's abilities focus more on surveilling the battlefield and opposing Heroes. You can see his trailer below.
Two of his abilities are designed to help him reveal the map and see enemies. The first, called "Knock, Knock," is a scope that sees through level geometry. If you kill an enemy Hero or minion, it'll refill the mana cost and reduce the cooldown. The second is "Who's There?" which is a sonar ward that reveals enemy locations.
Wraith also has the "Back it Up" ability, which lets him mark an enemy Hero and transport them back to where they were a few seconds before. Finally, "Surprise, Surprise" lets Wraith "send himself and nearby allies into the Shadow Plane and grant a movement speed boost," according to Epic's blog post.
Wraith is free to all players. His release is in keeping with Epic's promise to add a new Hero every three weeks. The most recent Heroes to be added are Wukong and Phase; Phase came to the game alongside a big update last month.
Dynasty Warriors 9 will add new combat mechanics to familiar hack-and-slash gameplay inside the series' first open world. Koei Tecmo unveiled details on the game today, along with more screenshots and the new trailer above.
The trailer shows the expansive world, filled with mountains and palaces, along with big open plains where players will single-handedly battle hordes of enemies--the hallmark of the series. This time, Dynasty Warriors 9 will add a new combo system to the action; starting with a Trigger Attack, players will follow up with Flow Attacks and finally a Finish Attack that "eradicates any foes caught in its path." Koei Tecmo says the combos will create a thrilling experience that separates the game from its predecessors.
Dynasty Warriors 9 will also have an Interactive Action system, where players interact with the open world around them. You can climb buildings and mountains, use grappling hooks on walls, and make use of objects like oil barrels in battle. Check out some new screenshots showing off the gameplay below.
Release details are still slim for Dynasty Warriors 9. We know a PlayStation 4 version is coming, but Koei Tecmo has yet to say what other systems we can expect the game on. It says we can expect more details on gameplay and a release date sometime in the coming months, so follow our full coverage here on GameSpot for the latest updates.
The Ghostbusters II tabletop game has arrived. Originally launched on Kickstarter in the spring of 2016, the sequel to the 2015 game puts players in the role of one of the Ghostbusters, who have the task of cleaning up the city from ghouls and ghosts. The game supports one to four people and each mission can take an hour--or more--to complete.
This new game is jam-packed with miniatures, so we're diving right in to show off what's in the Deluxe Kickstarter version of Ghostbusters II.
The game was designed by Mataio Wilson (Ghostbusters) and Vincent Pritchard. It features creative talent from IDW's Ghostbusters comic series, artist Dan Schoening and writer Erik Burnham.
There is a lot in the box. The fifth page of the instruction booklet details everything inside, which includes over 40 miniatures. Because we were a part of the Kickstarter, we also received another box with 12 more miniatures, as well as game scenarios, cards, and tile maps.
The game features 12 scenario cards (four more additional cards are included in the Deluxe Kickstarter version). These cards tell you the story, villains, and objective for each game.
The scenario cards also tell you the map layout. Maps consist of multiple tiles, each of which is a 4x4 grid the miniatures move around on.
There is also a card element to the game, which features equipment for your character, events that take place during gameplay, and goo pile cards, which can trigger events or give you key items or equipment.
Each character comes with a card that has a detailed bio and information about the character's particular set of skills.
Like the playable characters, the villains in the game also have their own character cards.
Here is everything inside the box. The tray on the bottom-right corner was separately included as part of the Kickstarter. Continue to check out some detailed photos of the miniatures.
Statue of Liberty head
These are the playable Ghostbusters for the game. There are two versions of each: Proton Pack and Slime Blower.
Vigo the Carpathian
Ecto-1a
Ghosts you'll face while playing the game
Kickstarter-exclusive ghosts
Kickstarter-exclusive ghosts
Kickstarter-exclusive ghosts
Kickstarter-exclusive ghosts
Kickstarter-exclusive playable Ghostbusters
And of course, Vigo the Carpathian wouldn't be complete without the painting of him, recreated by artist Dan Schoening.
Star Trek: Bridge Crew aims to let you live out a fantasy of captaining the USS Enterprise, and today that dream just got a bit closer to reality. Ubisoft has announced that the game now has experimental support for the IBM Watson question-answering system. In essence, this means that you're able to order around your crewmates with your voice.
In a press release, Ubisoft announced that the game will support Watson's speech-to-text and Conversation functionality. This support will be in an "experimental beta period" for a currently unspecified amount of time. It's also unclear if this will work on all platforms or just on PC.
Bridge Crew already has full-body avatars and real-time lip-syncing. According to Ubisoft, Watson works with these features to make playing with AI crewmates better and more natural. As the press release explains, "IBM Watson services can be used to operate crews consisting of only AI characters or a mix of AI characters and human teammates without breaking immersion."
Now, the press release states, the game "let[s] players use their voice and natural-language commands to interact with their virtual Starfleet crew members for the ultimate authentic voyage into the final frontier." You can see a trailer for the new functionality above.
After several delays, Bridge Crew released last month on PlayStation VR, Oculus Rift, and HTC Vive. In our 6/10 review, GameSpot critic Justin Clark wrote, "When the game is at its best, the spirit of cooperation between various asymmetrical elements is encouraging--even special. In every other regard, however, Bridge Crew is forgettable the second you pull out of VR."
Disclosure: GameSpot's parent company, CBS, owns the rights to Star Trek.
With June comes E3 and tons of new game announcements, but those games won't be coming out for a while. Thankfully, there's still plenty to play in the coming weeks, from Tekken 7 to Crash Bandicoot N. Sane Trilogy. Below, you can see the biggest June releases as well as a list of some of the most notable games coming out this month. You can also see some recent major releases in the video above.
Tekken 7 is the latest installment in the popular fighting game series. The game sees the Mishima Clan's 20-year blood feud come to its climactic conclusion (complete with military-grade weaponry and big explosions).
Arms is a quirky fighting game from Nintendo. Equip your own combination of extendable arms and start punching--you'll need fast hands or some serious button combo skills to reach the top.
Crash Bandicoot is back with the N. Sane Trilogy, remastered and ready for PS4. They're the same classic games you remember with upgraded graphics and a few small tweaks.
Right on schedule, Valve has launched the annual Summer sale on Steam. It brings discounts on a huge variety of PC games and introduces a new sticker book.
As with the most recent big Steam sales, this doesn't consist of deals that are rotated out on a regular basis. If you're interested in something, you can go ahead and pick it up now without having to worry about a better deal popping up at some other point during the sale.
As per usual, there are far too many games to list here. As the sale has only just come online, you might have trouble seeing the discounted prices right away--assuming you're able to actually get Steam to load, as it's struggling under the inevitable traffic load that accompanies the start of a big sale. Among the many highlights are:
Running alongside the sale is a series of "quests" that allow you to fill in a sticker book each day. Quests task you with doing relatively mundane things on Steam, such as checking out your store preferences, viewing your friend activity page, and going through your Discovery queue. New quests will be introduced each day throughout the sale, but you don't necessarily need to log in every day in order to complete them all. The reward is purely cosmetic and allows you to craft a badge. Summer sale trading cards are not a part of this and are obtained by crafting badges, buying games, or a few other methods. You can check out an FAQ about how this all works here.
The Steam Summer sale runs from now until July 5. HTC is piggybacking off the promotion by launching a sale of its own, offering the Vive for $750 with a bonus $50 Steam gift card, which can be used immediately upon purchase.
Public transportation has never been my favorite part of city-building simulations. I've always treated it as something of a necessary evil--a hassle best dealt with by quickly laying down extra roads, bus lines, or whatever other available gimmick so that I could keep constructing the new subdivisions and industries necessary to keep my citizens healthy and happy.
Mass Transit--the latest addition to the growing Cities: Skylines family from developer Colossal Order--doesn't quite change my mind on all of this, as I'm also a real-world mayor who focuses on the big picture. However, it comes awfully close thanks to an effective collection of people-moving options, ranging from ferries to monorails to blimps. What's included here smooths out some kinks in the original game's transit systems, allowing you to build more efficiently running cities--albeit at the cost of some added micromanagement that moves the game well out of the virtual mayor's office.
Mass Transit is centered on two areas, largely addressed in the three new scenarios and three new maps that present fresh challenges when it comes to efficiently moving your citizens from Point A to Point B. The most obvious facet of the expansion is what it adds to city character. You're free to embrace the quirks of each city's particular geography. You can practice something of a "sea and sky" philosophy for coastal and mountainous locales, for instance, using monorails and ferries to link neighborhoods and give your cities something of a Vancouver or Seattle vibe.
Since Skylines is pretty familiar to its fanbase at this point, being able to mix things up like this and put a fresh face on everything adds more to gameplay than you might imagine. The new Ferry Empire scenario offers a fairly light challenge when it comes to moving folks around your watery city, but it's set it on a unique, beautiful landscape. Authentically, you have to work within the constraints of this terrain and embrace a municipal vision that's far from the relative cookie-cutter metropolises seen elsewhere in Skylines.
The other focus is city efficiency. Mass Transit provides tools that make for better-running cities. Perhaps the best example of this comes in the form of the new hub buildings. These structures form central locations for public transportation. They allow you to concentrate your efforts and properly plan out transit systems--a big improvement from the more seat-of-the-pants concept of the original game, where you're pressured to jury-rig and make it up on the fly. Here, hubs afford more opportunities to sketch out transit and approach development from a top-down perspective. You have more control as a result and become able to address transit as part of core city infrastructure, just like with electrical lines, water pipes, and sewers in the past.
One problem is the size of new additions, though. Retrofitting cities with hubs and other transit buildings can be a major chore, since they're generally pretty big. The "Fix the Traffic" scenario sums up how challenging this can be, as you can't seem to help leveling about half the city to get the snarled traffic situation smoothed out. Even laying down facilities that are a little easier to work with--train tracks, for instance--is both tough to design and to fit in without doing even more demolishing.
Structuring transit routes can be finicky, too. Simply establishing ferry pathways and routes can be frustrating and requires more trial-and-error than should be necessary for something seemingly so straightforward. So, it's best to start with a clean slate with this expansion, something also advisable to best enjoy the suite of new game options (new road guidelines, for example) released as a free Skylines update alongside this expansion.
All of this combines to make Mass Transit more about micromanagement. That isn't necessarily a bad thing, especially if you're a control freak who wants to take a hands-on approach to everything in your city. But it does move Skylines further away from a simulation of what it's like to be the real mayor of a real city. With all of the extras added in the various expansion packs, the game now feels a little more like a municipal engineer or municipal planner simulation than anything that properly depicts what it's like to be the mayor overseeing everything.
Even with that caveat, Mass Transit adds more character and depth to what's already the premier city-building simulation. It may be a bit disappointing that some of the original game's big-picture philosophy and mayoral authenticity has been sacrificed in the process, but it can be argued that these changes have also done an impressive job of filling out the public-transportation element of city design.
King's Knight may not carry the name recognition of Final Fantasy or Dragon Quest, but the game nevertheless has an important place in Square Enix's history. The unusual scrolling shooter/RPG hybrid was actually the first title Squaresoft released as an independent company, arriving for the NES and MSX in Japan in 1986 (with a US release following in 1989). It also has a reputation for not being very good, a fact Square Enix would knowingly poke fun at in Final Fantasy XV. In that title, King's Knight isn't a forgotten curio but a worldwide success, and Noctis and his friends are often heard referencing the game and seen playing it on their phones in their downtime.
Wrath of the Dark Dragon, Square Enix's new real-world King's Knight game for mobile, is heavily inspired by the original, though it isn't a remake. According to producer Daisuke Motohashi, Wrath of the Dark Dragon is an original adventure that builds upon the first King's Knight. The game takes places approximately 50 years after the previous title and features revamped visuals and a number of new characters, including the four heroes from the original. Along with the new story quests, the game places a heavier emphasis on RPG elements, with different gear to equip across five different job classes. It also includes a multiplayer mode that allows up to four players to tackle stages together.
One of the unique gameplay hooks in the first King's Knight was its "formation" mechanic; toward the end of the game, players could control all four characters simultaneously in a diamond formation. Wrath of the Dark Dragon retains this element and expands it to play a more crucial role. This time around, players will unlock different kinds of formations after completing quests in the game's multiplayer mode; when each player fits into these formations, you'll perform summons and unleash special attacks.
King's Knight: Wrath of the Dark Dragon is coming to iOS and Android devices later this year. Like other mobile releases, the game will be free to download and includes optional microtransactions such as new characters and equipment. Wrath of the Dark Dragon is one of two games from the Final Fantasy XV universe releasing this year; the other, Monster of the Deep, is a VR fishing game set to launch in September.
Nintendo has made sure that the Switch dock is seen as a fundamental part of the console--in most pictures, the Switch is seen paired with its TV dock. However, as third-party peripheral manufacturer Nyko has shown, the dock does not need to be nearly as bulky as the official Nintendo one.
Nyko has announced an ultra-portable, stripped-down dock for the Switch, and, if the pictures are to be believed, it can fit in your pocket. It's a lot smaller than the official dock, but according to a report from Ars Technica, it still holds the console securely.
In addition, since you place the console on top of this dock, instead of inside it, you won't have to worry that it'll scratch your Switch's screen. Earlier this year, some users were reporting that the official dock was scratching their Switch. Nyko's dock solves this problem.
It has one downside compared to the bigger dock. It requires a bit more concentration to use; you won't be able to slide the console directly and easily into it like you can with the official version. However, it'll feature everything else that you'd need in a dock, including at least two USB ports. It'll also ship with both USB-C and HDMI cables.
The Portable Docking Kit, as it's called by Nyko, launches in September. Currently, the company estimates the price at $45, although it told Ars Technica that it might drop to $40. An extra Nintendo dock costs $90.
Known for their background in fighting games like DiveKick and Killer Instinct Season 2 & 3, as well as the numerous PC and console ports they've worked on for other studios, Iron Galaxy is a bit of a jack-of-all-trades studio. And now, they're striking out into the character-action sub-genre with Extinction, an action-adventure game that's a bit of twist on the David and Goliath trope--except in this case, David is well-armed and is able to jump and glide across rooftops with ease. During E3, we had the opportunity to check out a pre-alpha build of the game with a walkthrough from the developers at Iron Galaxy.
Taking on the role of Avil, a sentinel trained in the ancient ways of combat, you're tasked with protecting one of the remaining kingdoms from the Ravenii--giant, hulking orcs that aim to topple over the last of the human settlements. Using your magical sword and whip, along with some high-flying parkour skills picked up from your sentinel training, You will have to take down countless Ravenii minions before moving up to the big targets themselves. By scaling the various buildings, you can then climb onto the large creatures themselves, he'll have to target their weak points open themselves up for the killing blow. But as he takes out more Ravenii, more seem to find their way to him, and he'll have to refine his skills as a sentinel to overcome the odds.
Just to get this out of the way, yes, there are many similarities with Extinction and the insanely popular Attack on Titan anime series--which in itself has seen numerous video game adaptations. While the giant-vs-human dynamic with emphasis on melee combat is by far the biggest parallel, the similarities pretty much end there. Extinction focuses much more on solo play, as Avil is largely on his own for much of his encounters. In the story mode, players will go through the campaign, learning more about the world and how Avil and the ancient order of Sentinels fit into it. It's an interesting premise, and I'm curious to see how much it will differentiate itself from AoT.
You will have to use you skills and gear to maneuver around the large, open environment while single-handedly saving citizens from minions and raging Ravenii looking for their next meal. While traversing, Avil will climb and leap across the rooftops around the kingdom in order to catch up to or evade the Ravenii. The giants come in many forms, and they'll charge through buildings and other obstacles--in fully-destructible detail--to take you down. In order to take out the giants, you'll have to charge up Avil's focus by whittling away at the giant's limbs and pieces of armor. By immobilizing the Ravenii, either going for their legs or arms, you will be able to climb your way up to the top of the giant and charge up an attack to deliver the killing blow, severing the giant's head. But you'll have to be quick, as your window of opportunity closes due to the giants' regenerative abilities, giving them their limbs back in moments.
While the objectives mostly boil down to killing a certain number of giants and minions, Extinction opens up more as you progress through the story and various settings. Eventually, the giants will come in more elite variants, such as the gold armor giants who can summon flying minions to distract you as you try to hack off armor pieces in order to get to the meat. Though combat with the giants looks fun, I was disappointed with how bland swordplay with minions looks. Given Iron Galaxy's experience on combat games, I do hope they'll be able to spice it up more. With that said, I really dug the focus on mobility and verticality. Avil has a whip that can grapple onto points scattered through the environment, which makes him come off more of a high-flying acrobat than a knight, but the game works these two play-styles together surprisingly well.
Extinction is looking to be quite the departure for Iron Galaxy. With a full story campaign and additional modes, like the titular Extinction mode--which is their take on horde mode--along with other other diversions in the campaign, I'm very much intrigued by what they've got in store. Though the build we got to see in person was very much in its early phase, I do think Extinction might have something going for it come release around Q1 2018. I look forward to trying out Iron Galaxy's new IP and seeing how far they can push it.
Skull and Bones was announced last week at E3 2017, and our first look at it focused only on its competitive multiplayer. We were able to go hands-on with a five vs. five mode, but it was unclear whether the game would be primarily multiplayer, or if it would also feature a single-player or story mode. Recently, Ubisoft confirmed that, in fact, Skull and Bones will have a narrative campaign.
A Ubisoft representative confirmed the news to PC Gamer but wouldn't give any specifics. "[Skull and Bones] will offer a narrative campaign which will be integrated into the game and will not be something aside of the multiplayer experience," they said. "In this campaign, players will encounter iconic characters and memorable rival pirates. More details will be shared at a later date."
The rep also said that the competitive mode shown off at the convention was just "the tip of the iceberg" for the game.
This is in line with what Ubisoft hinted at during its E3 press conference, when it said that the game would be playable either alone or in a group. Ubisoft has also said that the game will be open world, which makes me hopeful that its non-competitive mode turns out to be deep, robust, and more like Assassin's Creed IV: Black Flag than the E3 demo made it seem.
Skull and Bones launches sometime next year for PS4, Xbox One, and PC. You can check out a full multiplayer match here and watch our impressions of the game at the top of the article.
The Jurassic World sequel will be released in exactly one year, and its title has been announced. The movie is called Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom, and the first poster has been released. Check it out below:
The film stars Bryce Dallas Howard and Chris Pratt once more, and they will be joined by James Cromwell, Toby Jones, and Rafe Spall. Jeff Goldbum, who starred in the original Jurassic Park, will also reprise his role as Dr. Ian Malcolm. One of Goldbum's key lines from the original movie is referenced in the new tagline: "Life finds a way."
Fallen Kingdom is directed by J.A. Bayona, who previously made the horror movie The Orphanage and the recent drama A Monster Calls. Jurassic World director Colin Trevorrow chose to helm Star Wars: Episode IX instead of this sequel, but he remains on board as a writer and producer.
Earlier this week, Trevorrow spoke about working with Bayona. "It is by far my favorite creative collaboration that I've ever been involved in," he said. "Bayona is a completely different kind of filmmaker and thinker than I am, yet we do have a lot of things in common. I was able to craft something specifically for another filmmaker that I admire. I built a Spanish horror thriller with dinosaurs in it that I probably wouldn't have built for myself."
Jurassic World currently stands as the fourth highest grossing movie of all time, bringing in $1.6 billion at the global box office. It was the first new entry in the series since 2001's Jurassic Park III. The franchise is based on Michael Crichton's 1990 novel.
There should be lots of Splatoon 2 bundles around soon.
Hit the ice in NHL 18 on Xbox One and PlayStation 4.
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