Star Wars: The Last Jedi is finally out in theatres, with critics and fans generally lauding the latest adventures of the Skywalker clan (not to mention series newcomers such as Rey, Finn, and Poe). And while this new film does answer some of the burning questions set up in The Force Awakens, there are still more mysteries to be sifted through. And one of the biggest questions we still have is: Who exactly in Snoke?
Snoke, the puppet master behind both the First Order and Kylo Ren, was first introduced in The Force Awakens, but little was actually disclosed about his origins. We had hoped more would be revealed about the enigmatic baddie in The Last Jedi, but sadly, Kylo Ren's treachery means Snoke is no more, with the film divulging no further details about his former master.
So what do we know about Snoke? Very little, it seems, with the films themselves simply presenting Snoke as the leader of the First Order who also was extremely strong in the dark side of the Force (witness the lightning power he uses to dispel Rey in The Last Jedi). Snoke is similarly a mysterious figure in other non-film Star Wars media, so all fans are left with is speculation. By far the most popular prevailing theory is that Snoke is actually the mysterious Darth Plagueis, the never-seen Sith master of Emperor Palpatine himself.
The phenomenally popular battle royale game PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds made its console debut earlier this week when it released on Xbox One, and it's already proven to be very popular on the system. Those who may be looking to jump in to PUBG but don't own an Xbox One yet will soon have a chance to pick up both at once, as Microsoft is bundling the game with its new Xbox One X for a limited-time.
Beginning December 17, those who purchase an Xbox One X in participating regions will get a copy of PUBG (which contains a download code for the game) right out of the box at no additional cost. The promotion only runs through December 31, however, so you'll have until the end of the month to score a free copy of the popular survival game with your new Xbox One X.
PUBG is available in early access on Xbox One via the Xbox Game Preview program. It costs $30 to purchase the game--the same price as the early access version on PC. However, the game doesn't perform quite as well on Xbox as it does on PC. Despite its early rough patches, PUBG already drew more than 1 million players on Xbox One in its first 48 hours.
Xbox One X launched around the world back in November. It's the most powerful console to date and costs $500. A growing number of games have been updated with 4K support and other enhancements when played on Xbox One X. Xbox One players can also purchase exclusive cosmetic item packs for PUBG, the second of which is only available from December 14-17. A new desert map called Miramar will also be added to the game in the near future.
Finding gifts for the PC gamer can be tough considering there are just so many dang peripherals out there. That's why we've done the dirty work for you and have outlined the best bang-for-the-buck keyboard, mouse, monitor and more that will serve as excellent gifts this holiday season.
Keyboard: Corsair K68 Mechanical Keyboard
A mechanical keyboard is a valuable asset to PC gamers, but they tend to come at a hefty price. Corsair offers some of the better options out on the market and for $100, the K68features everything you'd need out of a keyboard. It's water and dust resistant, so you don't need to worry about accidentally spilling drinks at your desk and destroying an expensive piece of equipment. Dedicated media keys come in clutch and the Cherry MX Red switches give you smooth, linear, and precise keystrokes.
Logitech has a great reputation when it comes to gaming mice and the G403/G703 shows why. It's a simple mouse that fits into your hand whether you use a claw grip or palm grip. Those who prefer a heavier mouse can insert the included 10 gram weight. Two side buttons are easy to hit with your thumb and the distinct tactility of the mouse buttons help with rapid clicking. The G403 uses a Pixart PWM3366 optical sensor, which is extremely precise. The wired version (G403) goes for $70, but can be found for cheaper while the wireless one (G703) will run you $100 unless it's found on sale.
For a long time, the Xbox 360 controller was the de facto controller of choice for PC gamers due to its XInput support. The Xbox One controller is even better, however, with improved joysticks. The newer variants also support Bluetooth, so you can go wireless without a dongle.
Kingston's HyperX brand found its way into PC gaming peripherals not long ago and its headsets have been highly regarded. The Cloud Alpha released this year and provides exceptional sound quality. Just as important is comfort; this headset has dense velvet-like ear pads that form nicely around your ears. The microphone is detachable so you can get it out of the way if you don't need it. HyperX's Cloud Alpha connects through a 3.5mm connection and can be used on any device that supports the audio jack. Overall, PC gamers will appreciate its sound and build quality.
There are a lot of gaming monitors on the market, but LG makes a really good one with a 21:9 aspect ratio, which will be able to give you a viewing advantage in games that support ultra wide resolutions. It also helps that it's under $200. LG's UM57 25UM57 uses a 25-inch 1080p panel that offers just five millisecond of delay. This is good enough for most gamers. It also uses an IPS display, which means it offers vibrant, realistic colors and wide viewing angles.
With the recent price drop of the Oculus Rift to $400, now is arguably the best time to get a VR headset, especially since the Rift has a more mature library that includes great games like Superhot VR, Robo Recall, Echo Arena, and more. This price also includes the Oculus Touchcontrollers, which retailed for $200 alone earlier this year. It helps that the Rift is also much easier to set up than the competing HTC Vive.
The current cryptocurrency craze has dramatically increased the prices of modern GPUs, but you can still get a good graphics card for under $200. For instance, you can find Asus' 3GB Phoenix Fan Edition GeForce GTX 1060 for $193, and it happens to be a great GPU for maxing out most games at 1080p.
Logitech's C922 webcam is great for both streaming and video calls. It has two different modes that allow you to shoot at either 1080p with 30FPS or 720p with 60FPS. The C922 also offers low-light correction, so you can use it in dim environments.
Whether you want to stream or simply want a high-quality microphone, Blue Yeti's USB microphone has you covered. It has three condenser capsules, which allow you to switch among multiple recording patterns that include cardioid, bidirectional, and omnidirectional.
Another week has passed, and in Destiny 2, that means Xur has arrived once again to hock his Exotic wares. Unlike his first post-Curse of Osiris appearance, however, this one is more meaningful, thanks to the release of the game's latest patch. Here's a walkthrough on how to find Xur this week and a look at what he's selling.
Xur has taken up residence in a new location for him, on the Tower. That means you'll first need to gain access to that social space in order to check out what he has for sale. In order to reach him, spawn into the Tower and head toward the northeastern part of the map, where Dead Orbit is stationed. Behind their area is a set of stairwells; start to head up those, and you'll encounter him toward one of the lower levels.
Unlike last week, none of the gear Xur is selling is exclusive to Curse of Osiris. He's got the usual selection of one Exotic weapon and one piece of Exotic armor for each class. More notably, he also has some new item types. This marks Xur's first weekend since the release of Destiny 2's 1.1.1.1 update. As a result, he now sells Three of Coins and Fated Engrams. These Three of Coins work a bit differently than those in Destiny 1, as they simply increase Exotic drop chances for four hours. Fated Engrams provide you with an Exotic item you don't already own, but you're limited to purchasing one per account each week. Here's the full Xur lineup this week:
Far Cry 5 looks to strike a balance between the familiar and the foreign. After the mountain ranges of Kyrat and the tropical charm of the Rook Islands, you could not have picked a more divergent locale than the state of Montana. Yet if you've never driven by a farm or don't know zen-like serenity of fly fishing, it takes little to no time for any Far Cry fan to get acquainted with Hope County.
If you've retained some muscle memory from forays in Far Cry 4 or even Far Cry Primal, you should be able to make small work of many of the initial missions in Far Cry 5. As before, it's largely about studying enemy patrol patterns, knowing how to read alert meters, and mastering stealth takedowns. But unless you're a Far Cry stealth savant, being able to switch gears and go in guns blazing is an equally useful skill.
Your adversaries--the followers and leaders of the Eden's Gate cult--will make sure that the further you go to retake the land from them, the stronger their fanatical pushback. Every bit of territorial takeover gets you closer to the showdown against Joseph Seed, "The Father", and leader, of Eden's Gate. But first, you have to take out his three siblings who control various regions of Hope County. This pathway to the final boss feels like a less ambitious version of the route to El Sueno in Ghost Recon: Wildlands. That doesn't imply Far Cry 5 will be a lesser experience, though between the abundance of helicopters and means to infiltrate bases from the skies, it's hard to avoid comparisons to Ubisoft's early 2017 hit. Both games even have a helicopter shooting puzzle.
Incidentally, our most recent hands-on session shed little new light on Eden's Gate, aside from the affirmation that their followers are some of the most rage-filled enemies in series history. Their idea of cleansing the land means poisoning the water system, even if it results in drugged out animals. It also means getting rid of Hope County's history, right down to its gravesites. It makes for a suitable introductory bonding session between you and optional Gun-For-Hire Grace Armstrong. You can win her over by helping fend off cultists attempting to destroy graves around her church. Whether you follow Grace's lead and snipe followers from the church tower or take the fight to ground level, there are a lot of weapon options in Far Cry 5, provided you can find or afford them.
So far, the most engrossing aspect of Ubisoft's vision of a cult-occupied county in Montana is the illusion that its creatures and citizens live and exist independent of your involvement, for better or worse. You can emerge from a forest to find a bear and a bull in a life-and-death struggle on a farm or you can drive by a couple of cultists on the road ready to execute a pair of non-believers. Obviously, and with a quick enough draw, you can affect the outcome of these conflicts--just be aware that cultists, bears, and bulls will reciprocate your hostility. If the heart of Far Cry is the cycle of recognizing, acting upon, and creating opportunities, what we've played of Far Cry 5 is a promising sample of this continuing trend of rich emergent gameplay.
It remains to be seen whether there'll be a meaningful take-away from Far Cry 5's provoking premise of religious fanaticism. This interpretation of rural America could be inviting enough to make up for the lack of a meaningful message. Even with all the cultists roaming Hope Valley, this could be the first Far Cry worth spending time in "just to hang," whether that means going fishing or taking a tractor for a spin. It's even gratifying to take a plane up and discover landmarks that are impossible to see at ground level. We didn't exactly spot Nazca Lines, but there were landmarks that could be interpreted as extra-terrestrial in nature. We're curious to see what those mean.
Star Wars: The Last Jediis finally out in theatres, with the majority of critics hailing the new film as one of the best Star Wars films ever made. And while the movie packs in its fair share of excitement, surprises, crowd-pleasing hero moments, and outstanding visuals, it's still a film that doesn't quite answer all of the plot threads and mysteries that it revealed. There were plenty of moments within the film that left us puzzled, scratching our heads as to what they meant (or what they could signify for future Star Wars films). What exactly, for example, was the significance of those dice? Who was Snoke, and why did those guards kick so much ass? Why did Kylo never realise the truth behind Luke's appearance? We're here to try and answer some of The Last Jedi's biggest unanswered questions with some of our own research and educated guesswork. But if you think you know the answer better than we do, tell us what we got wrong (or right) in the comments.
So what were those dice?
In The Last Jedi, Luke Skywalker takes a pair of golden dice from the Millennium Falcon, before giving them to his sister Leia near the climax of the film. As you've probably guessed, those dice belonged to Han Solo, and can originally be seen hanging from the same place in the Falcon cockpit in A New Hope (as seen in the image above). While the official story behind the significance of the dice to Han is still to be confirmed, the rumor is that those were the dice Han used in the game of chance that won him the Millennium Falcon from its previous owner, none other than Lando Calrissian. Perhaps this incident will be touched upon in the upcoming Solo standalone film?
But knowing that those dice belonged to Han sets up another big question: it they were so important, why didn't Leia herself take the dice from the Falcon after the end of The Force Awakens?
How did Leia survive in the coldness of space?
In one of The Last Jedi'smost pivotal scenes, Leia is sucked into space when the bridge of her ship is split open by some attacking TIE fighters. And while that would normally mean certain death for most other characters, somehow Leia manages to make her way back to the rest of the ship. While it's never actually specifically mentioned by any character as to how Leia was able to do this, it's pretty clear that the Princess used her latent Force abilities to somehow move herself out of the vacuum of space. As a Skywalker, Leia is obviously imbued with some Force ability, as has previously been demonstrated through her psychic connections with other key characters in the franchise (mostly her brother Luke).
Who exactly is Snoke?
Snoke, the puppet master behind both the First Order and Kylo Ren, was first introduced in The Force Awakens, but little was actually disclosed about his origins. We had hoped more would be revealed about the enigmatic baddie in The Last Jedi, but sadly, Kylo Ren's treachery means Snoke is no more, with the film divulging no further details about his former master.
So who exactly was Snoke? Very little is known about him, with the films themselves simply presenting Snoke as the leader of the First Order who also was extremely strong in the dark side of the Force (witness the lightning power he uses to dispel Rey in The Last Jedi). Snoke is similarly a mysterious figure in other non-film Star Wars media, so all fans are left with is speculation. By far the most popular prevailing theory is that Snoke is actually the mysterious Darth Plagueis, the never-seen Sith master of Emperor Palpatine himself.
Why did Luke die? Will he become a Force ghost now?
Luke Skywalker, one of the galaxy's greatest Jedi masters, seemingly meets his end in The Last Jedi, fading away on a mountainside in Ahch To after the film's climactic battle. But what actually caused him to expire?
It seems clear that the enormous effort that was required for Luke to project his image across the galaxy to appear on Crait to confront Kylo Ren took its toll, making the old Jedi go the way of Ben Kenobi and become one with the Force. It seemed to be a willing gesture, in much the same way both Kenobi and Yoda accepted their end and lose their corporeal forms. Both those characters--as well as other Force-wielding folks like Anakin/Darth Vader--subsequently appeared as Force ghosts, so there's a good chance that this won't be the last we'll see of Master Luke.
Why did Kylo never realise Luke wasn't actually there?
In previous Star Wars films, Force users always seemed to have the ability to recognise when other Force-sensitive people were amongst them. Vader sensed Kenobi's presence on the original Death Star, for example, while Luke knew his father was on the Death Star II all the way from the Endor moon. So why did Ben Skywalker/Kylo Ren--apparently one of the most powerful Force-wielders ever--not realise that he was only facing a projection of Luke Skywalker on Crait, and not the real person himself?
The answer seems based on who Kylo Ren is. As a petulant, unstable villain who can barely keep his emotions in check, it seems that Ren became blinded to his rage and passion when he finally saw his uncle--the man he'd been chasing across the galaxy--standing right in front of him. It's this rage that could have blinded him to what his Force senses were possibly telling him--that all he was looking at was an illusion.
How were the First Order tracking the Resistance fleet?
The entire middle section of The Last Jedi saw the huge First Order fleet chasing down a small number of Resistance ships. While jumping into hyperspace would normally be enough to lose pursuers in Star Wars, the Resistance ships were unwilling to do so, as the First Order had the uncanny ability to track them even through hyperspace. But how?
In the film, General Hux proudly proclaims that he had the Resistance "on a string", with that string being some new technology developed by the First Order to allow them to track the opposing fleet no matter when they travel in space. While the nature of that technology was never actually explained in The Last Jedi, it's extremely reminiscent to the opening episodes of the Battlestar Galactica reboot show, where the human fleet were somehow being tracked through their faster-than-light jumps by the evil Cyclon forces. In that Galactica episode, it turned out that one of the ships in the Galactica fleet had been bugged by the Cylons to deliver the fleet's location, and had to be destroyed in order for the humans to escape.
What was Luke hiding on Ahch To?
Luke Skywalker's self-imposed exile is on the planet of Ahch To, a mainly ocean covered globe with only the occasional inhospitable island to be seen. But why exactly did Luke choose this planet to hide on?
Ahch To was actually the location of the very first Jedi temple, the ruins of which can be seen all around the island Luke lives on. Ahch To is also where the Jedi Order's most sacred texts--the Journal of the Whills--are kept, and were stored inside the husk of a once gigantic tree. This very same tree is later burnt to the ground by ghost Yoda, after Luke initially attempts to do it to finally end the Jedi order.
Wait, did the Journal of Whills survive that fire?
Yes. We only see it for the briefest of moments, but it seemed that Rey had stored the texts on the Millennium Falcon to preserve them for future Jedi generations.
Who were those red guards protecting Snoke, and why were they so badass?
After Kylo Ren successfully assassinates Snoke, the red-clad guards standing around the edges of his throne room suddenly spring into action. And while Kylo and Rey are the two most powerful Force users in the galaxy, it still took an enormous effort for both of them to defeat their foes. What gives?
Those guards have an official name--they're the Elite Praetorian Guard, and they're a small band of eight warriors who were hand chosen to protect Supreme Leader Snoke (although they did a horrible job of it). They're the best of the best, and would be more than a match for most fighters in the galaxy. The Praetorian Guard look and function similarly to Emperor Palpatine's Royal Guard, who we last saw doing a similarly awful job of protecting their master in The Return of the Jedi.
Do you have any other burning questions of theories now that you've seen The Last Jedi? Leave us your thoughts in the comments below.
Following a beta earlier this month, Capcom will soon allow PlayStation 4 owners to sample the upcoming Monster Hunter: World once again. This time around, it's dumping the PlayStation Plus requirement of the first beta test, allowing everyone on PS4 to give the game a try.
World's second beta kicks off on December 22 at 9 AM PT / 12 PM ET / 5 PM GMT (4 AM AET on December 23). It will run for a total of four days, ending at the same times on December 26 (or December 27, for those in some time zones). Although PS Plus is not required to download it, you'll presumably still need a subscription if you hope to try out the game's online multiplayer mode, although that is unconfirmed.
Capcom did not say if there would be any new content available in this second beta. Those who participated in the first test will be able to use the same client they already downloaded, so hopefully you haven't deleted it yet. Pre-loading for newcomers will begin on December 18, giving you a few days to get it downloaded before the beta begins.
Unfortunately, there's still been no word about a beta for Xbox One players. The same is also true for PC, although that comes as less of a surprise given that version doesn't have a release date and won't launch at the same time as the console versions.
A new game based on Cartoon Network's popular animated series Adventure Time is coming to home consoles and PC next year. Titled Adventure Time: Pirates of the Enchiridion, the game is an open-world pirate adventure published by Bandai Namco.
In Pirates of the Enchiridion, players can take control of many fan-favorite Adventure Time characters, such as Finn, Jake, Marceline, and BMO and explore the various kingdoms of the Land of Ooo, which have been "cut off from each other" by a flood. Finn and Jake can navigate the world in their own boat and recruit other characters to be a part of their crew. You can see a gallery of some nice-looking screenshots from the game below.
Bandai Namco hasn't shared any details about Pirates of the Enchiridion's plot, but the game will feature an "original" story, and Finn and Jake will have to interrogate other characters for clues during the course of the game. Bandai Namco says the game will also boast "tactical combat" and a progression system for your heroes.
Adventure Time: Pirates of the Enchiridion releases on PS4, Nintendo Switch, Xbox One, and PC in Spring 2018. Beginning today, December 15, developer Outright Games is holding a competition to name Finn and Jake's ship in the game. You can find more details about the competition on Outright's Facebook page.
First-person shooters, survival-horror games, RPGs, adventure games, and real-time tactical strategy games; these are all genres that PC has used throughout its existence to solidify itself as one of gaming's most popular platforms. If you love to play on PC, this was a good year, as 2017 offered mastercraft executions of every genre mentioned above. Each yielded an ambitious spirit, pushing forward its respective genre with fresh ideas and mechanics, while also expanding upon what has come before. In no particular order, here are our picks for the best PC games of 2017.
Total War: Warhammer II is one of the most well-crafted strategy games in PC gaming history. With the second installment, developer The Creative Assembly has expanded the mechanics of the first, while still retaining its sandbox structure. At the same time, the game better utilizes its narrative, tapping into the decades of lore that the Warhammer franchise now consists of.
This sequel adds a sense of dynamism and urgency to a series where many players feel safe slowly creeping across the campaign map, knowing that even if their front line falls, their home cities are stoic and safe. In addition, the scale and enormity of its combat is unparalleled, especially in the Mortal Empires campaign, which combines everything from the first game with everything you see in Total War: Warhammer II. Battles are not long, arduous, drawn-out affairs, nor do they end too quickly for you to appreciate the size and force of what you're seeing.
The addition of the Vortex campaign and a wider variety of quests far exceed the experience of the original. The game also expands the formula with numerous spells and new marching monsters and units, and the resulting concoction is a strategy game that both Warhammer and Total War fans are guaranteed to love.
Hellblade: Senua's Sacrifice leverages the strengths of video games as a medium and delivers an experience that is unlike anything else released this year. It's a bold game that explores mental health--specifically psychosis--through the lens of a character-action game wrapped in Norse mythology. The game tackles an important and often misunderstood illness, and allows you to better understand it through visual and aural presentation.
Developer Ninja Theory has a long history of developing action games that are fast and fluid in movement while also being mechanically deep and complex, but for Hellblade, the developer scaled this back somewhat. Playing Hellblade can feel rough and sluggish, but this feeds into the mind-state of its main character, Senua. Returning from self-imposed exile, the young Pict warrior grapples with her inner-demons as she attempts to save the soul of her lover, Dillon.
The act of fighting against demonic apparitions feels like a struggle, as Senua summons every ounce of energy in her body just to keep moving forward, one step at a time. And all the while voices in her head pull her in different directions, some guiding her, while others undermine and belittle her. The result is an experience that feels raw, unsettling, as well as frustrating and disempowering. It can be difficult to play but, ultimately, it's also a unique and enlightening experience.
Resident Evil 7 marks a return to form for Capcom, which reconnected with its survival-horror roots to deliver a Resident Evil that is both modern and faithful to the series' legacy.
The game casts aside the third-person perspective for first-person, and in doing so, ratchets up the nerve-wracking tension throughout the campaign. Crucially, however, it leans on the genre pillars that it both established and popularised; bullets and healing items are in short supply, and enemies require strategy and a steady hand to take down.
From the early moments of breathlessly running around the Baker home, hoping and praying not to cross paths with Jack, the psychotic patriarch of the family, to the nail-biting cat-and-mouse game in Marguerite's bug-infested cabin, and the intense fight for survival at the end, Resident Evil 7 is edge-of-your-seat gaming at its finest.
Wolfenstein II: The New Colossus never lets you forget who you're fighting, and why. Nazi brutality is on full display, from the blown-out, irradiated remains of Manhattan to each of the characters, who all carry mental scars if not physical ones. The far-future technology of the Nazi regime is exhilarating to partake in--high-powered laser weapons are exciting to use, after all--but it's also a grotesque display of their ruthless subjugation of all corners of the world.
That said, a tongue-in-cheek tone reminiscent of Inglourious Basterds strikes the right balance with the game's incredibly heavy subject matter. The New Colossus has a completely bonkers storyline, and it's elevated by satisfying Nazi-killing action and a self-awareness of its own dark humor. It also manages to make combat exciting without becoming a power fantasy--it's straight-up difficult, and its mechanical, heavily armored enemies can seem impossible to take down at times. But regardless of whether you take a stealthy or guns-blazing approach, you'll be rewarded with a thrilling fight once you do emerge victorious.
The most memorable thing about The New Colossus, though, is its direction. Carefully choreographed cutscenes give more gravity to an already great cast of characters, and the timing of specific moments (all spoilers) makes them all the more impactful. Wolfenstein's tense gameplay elevates this further by giving you the power to truly resist--and come out of each battle ready for another fight.
Divinity: Original Sin II snuck up on a lot of people, with buzz before it's release just simmering under the surface of the gaming community. It wasn't long after the game released that this wonderful RPG was on everyone's lips. Fascinating stories of how parties and individuals alike were solving problems and conquering dungeons, secrets and tidbits and little "did you knows" were passed between wannabe adventurers like excited children in class.
The game's story is compelling and involved, but it always encourages you to make it your own with a multitude of opportunities to experiment and choose your own path. Quests can be completed without blindly following objectives, murders can be solved by eating flesh, traps can be thwarted by talking with dogs, and quest givers can be spoken to by communicating with their ghosts. It's the stuff CRPG lovers adore, dialed up to 11.
By far the biggest attraction of Divinity: Original Sin II is the incredible amount of freedom you get, but it helps that the game is built upon a foundation of expertly designed mechanics. Being able to build up your character's abilities and equip them with numerous weapons continually fuels the desire to experiment and customize your party.
Divinity: Original Sin II is a massive accomplishment. It embodies everything that fans have come to adore about CRPGs, accommodating any and all inclinations you have to craft your own adventure. If there's any game you should play on PC this year (or in the years to come) it's Divinity: Original Sin II.
GameSpot will be unveiling its picks for the best games of the year throughout all of December. Check out our Best of 2017 hub for even more.
Star Wars appeals to audiences for many reasons. There's the spaceship dogfights, laser sword duels between Jedi and Sith warriors, memorable main characters, and scenes set on strange fantasy planets. Most important, though, may be the wide range of non-human creatures that populate the galaxy far, far away.
With the release of Star Wars: The Last Jedi, there's no better time to look back on the aliens who fill the series. The Last Jedi introduces even more new aliens to the series--including more than just Porgs and crystal foxes.
From turtle nuns and scaly fry crooks to keyboard-playing elephants and three-eyed goats, these are the greatest Star Wars aliens to appear in the long-running film series so far. Check out our Star Wars: The Last Jedi review too, while you're at it.
50. Wampa
Watch The Empire Strikes Back at a tender enough age and the hulking, cave-dwelling Wampa becomes the stuff of nightmares. It's huge and furry, strings its victims up by their ankles, and saves them in a natural refrigerator while it chows down on other remains. A frightening creature, it's still at least a little sad that it had to lose an arm to learn the valuable lesson that Jedi are not to be eaten.
49. Porg
The latest mascot character to arrive in the Star Wars universe, the Porgs already seem to have won the hearts of viewers everywhere. Regardless of anything else (like, say, its existence solely as marketing material), the otter-meets-penguin design of the Porg is a masterclass in laser-focused cuteness.
48. Dexter "Dex" Jettster the Besalisk
Though his appearance lacks in imagination--basically a sci-fi/fantasy version of a stereotypical greasy spoon diner chef--this character compensates with sheer audacity of design. If you're going to make an alien species out of a mustachioed fry cook in a stained t-shirt, make it look like this. And name it Dexter Jettster while you're at it.
47. Darth Maul the Zabrak
Darth Maul is hard to separate from images of overeager early 2000s Star Wars merchandising, but take a step back, pretend to see him for the first time, and he's not actually a bad creation. Silent and menacing in red and black, Maul may look a lot like a guy trying to scare you in face paint, but he's also imposing enough to serve as a central villain for The Phantom Menace's heroes. And his race, the Zabrak, are a near-human species with vestigial horns.
46. Devaronian
While the Devaronian isn't great design per se, there's something admirable about A New Hope's costume department simply dressing someone up in a Halloween devil costume and calling it a day. Hail space Satan.
45. Moroff
Criminally underused, Rogue One's shaggy Gigoran mercenary is still great creature design. Shuffling around like a well-armed, upright polar bear, Moroff recalls the outsized design of Yeti-like characters like Chewbacca or The Empire Strikes Back's monstrous Wampa.
44. The Caretakers
It's hard to take the Caretakers seriously at a first glance--they are, after all, just turtle monsters wearing nun habits--but the decision to have The Last Jedi's weirdest new aliens performed by real people in costume lends them a believability they by all rights shouldn't possess.
43. Tusken Raiders
The Tusken Raiders, yelping and bashing Luke Skywalker about with their massive clubs, look like fever dream interpretations of First World War soldiers. Their strange language and mask-covered faces are one of the viewer's introductions to Star Wars' creature design early on in A New Hope. They serve as a good indication of the visual imagination that would go on to make the series what it is.
42. Jar Jar the Gungan
Sure, Jar Jar Binks sucks, but the design of his species, the Gungans, isn't bad. Their floppy ears and duck mouths are expressive and suitably alien even if their faux-Jamaican accents distill a veritable Curb Your Enthusiasm season's worth of second-hand embarrassment into single sentences.
41. Rancor
Just below Jabba's palace is a nightmare monster waiting to devour anyone unlucky enough to cross the slug gangster. Defeated by Luke with a well-timed gate to the brain, the Rancor is terrifying--until it wheezes its last breaths like a sick dog and it becomes impossible to feel anything but sympathy for the unfortunate hellbeast.
40. Greedo the Rodian
His puckered mouth may make Greedo the Rodian look like he's always on the verge of asking for a kiss, but the rest of him is classic space grotesquery. With an extra pair of antennae-style ears atop his bright green head, Greedo is a throwback to the pulp sci-fi Martians that pre-empted the series.
39. Unkar Plutt the Crolute
The flat-faced alien who trades Rey food for scrap technology near the beginning of The Force Awakens is one of the best new creatures to appear in the film. Ugly and miserly, he doles out tiny bits of instant rising bread and sells Rey out at the first possible opportunity.
38. Admiral Ackbar the Mon Calamari
His octopus head and enormous wet eyes give the impression that Admiral Ackbar shouldn't be spending too long on dry land. Forget the dumb "calamari" pun that gives his species its name and it's easier to appreciate the sheer gusto that must have gone into the decision to make one of the series' main alien characters a sea animal in a spacesuit.
37. Twi'lek
From Jedi Knight Aayla Secura to Jabba's right hand man Bib Fortuna, Twi'leks are fascinating creatures of many talents. Known for the thick, long tentacles jutting from their skulls, Twi'lek skin spans a wide variety of colors.
36. Max Rebo the Ortolan
Another classic from the substantially smaller budget days of the first Star Wars, Max Rebo is really just a keyboard playing blue elephant. That's an idea weird enough to justify itself right there.
35. Sarkan
The Sarkan in A New Hope is basically just a dinosaur, but his brief appearance, enjoying a pull on what looks like a vape rig while wearing a floppy hat, gives him a distinctly bohemian vibe that's definitely unique.
34. Fodesinbeed Annodue
There are a lot of bad alien designs in the prequel trilogy, but the two-headed podcast race announcers, better known as Fode and Beed, are ridiculous enough not to be counted among them. Their uncomfortably long necks and separate faces look absolutely stupid. It just so happens that it's the kind of stupid that works within the context of The Phantom Menace.
33. Gamorrean
The piggish bodyguards who patrol Jabba's palace stick out among of the series' most physically imposing monsters, especially since there doesn't seem to be much going on behind their dull little eyes.
32. Nien Nunb the Sullustan
A Rebel who serves as Lando's copilot in the Return of the Jedi's climatic fight, his leather cap, glassy eyes, and uncomfortably wet mouth make him hard to forget. Also, he has a distinctive, hilarious laugh.
31. Weeteef Cyu-Bee the Talpini
A nasty little imp with the mutton chops of an 18th century British aristocrat, Weeteef is a notable member of Saw Gerrera's band of partisans. He represents just one example of the excellent practical effects that went into portraying Rogue One's cast of aliens.
30. Chagrian
This sad-looking blue demon is maybe a bit too obviously a human in makeup, but his horns and tentacles combination is just gnarly enough to make him a memorable alien. The most notable Chagrian is Mas Amedda, who served as the Vice Chair of the Galactic Senate.
29. Varactyl
By far the worst movie for cool aliens, Revenge of the Sith at least features one scene in which poor Ewan McGregor's time in front of the green screen pays off when he's paired with a weird beast that resembles a mixture of horse and oversized iguana.
28. Ewok
Like Porgs, Ewoks are thinly-veiled merchandising opportunities masquerading as fun new characters. Put that aside temporarily, though, and they're also adorable miniature bears who walk around with hoods, spears, and no pants. Cut the Ewoks a break. Plus, they had at least two of their own (terrible) live-action movies.
27. Maz Kanata
Owner of The Force Awakens' millennia-old castle with its bustling jungle world bar, Maz Kanata ends up being an important figure when she helps Rey discover her natural affinity for the Force. It's just too bad the turtle-like orange alien is shown only as CGI, as her design is sure to look as dated as the prequel series' creatures in years to come.
26. Grummgar the Dowutin
Massive and largely silent, The Force Awakens' mercenary Grummgar, with its wrinkly bald head and two chin tusks, is a minor but well-designed villain.
25. Pao the Drabata
It's hard to pinpoint exactly what it is that makes Rogue One's Pao so entertaining, but it may have something to do with the fact that it alternates between looking like a constipated toad in some scenes and an amphibious howler monkey when it opens its mouth almost as wide as its head during an attack on enemy forces.
24. Maz's House Musicians
These reggae-loving aliens are an obvious attempt to recapture the Mos Eisley players from the original trilogy, and luckily, they succeed. With names like Sudswater Dillifay Glon and Infrablue Zedbeddy Coggins, you know these weirdos are among the avant-garde of the galaxy.
23. Utapaun
Looking like reused costumes from a lost Marilyn Manson music video shoot, the Utapaun (aka Pau'ans) are one of the best designs from the otherwise lackluster prequel trilogy. They add a bit of creepy otherworldliness to the series, which is a welcome change of pace from cuter aliens.
22. Gran
Goats are one of the most adorable animals on our boring old Earth. Give them human bodies and three eyes jutting out from a trio of flesh-stalks and a real-world favorite gets even more interesting. Grans forever.
21. Ubdurian
The Ubdurian may not look especially novel, but the infectious smiles on the twin alien's faces (which call to mind a pair of old men enjoying a game of chess in Central Park) makes them one of The Force Awakens' best new creatures.
20. Bistan the Lakaru
Some unlikely combination of whiskered cat and gun-wielding monkey, Bistan, like his ally Pao, steals the show every time he makes a cameo in one of Rogue One's scenes.
19. Tauntaun
More than just a sleeping bag in waiting, the furry Tauntauns ridden by Rebel soldiers in The Empire Strikes Back's opening scenes are a great example of the practical effects work that makes the original trilogy's aliens so memorable.
18. Exogorth
An absolutely enormous slug monster, the Exogorth is responsible for one of The Empire Strikes Back's most unexpectedly exciting scenes. Watching Han and crew narrowly escape its gullet and the stop-motion animation that shows it gnashing away at its lost prey recalls lost footage from a Harryhausen film.
17. Bossk the Trandoshan
Aside from fan favorite Boba Fett, the scaly Trandoshan hired by Darth Vader is the most intriguing bounty hunter to show up in The Empire Strikes Back. Nobody forgets an upright lizard in a sci-fi jumpsuit.
16. Sebulba the Dug
This podracing, knuckle-walking jerk from The Phantom Menace is a great bit of creature design. Wonderful to watch scoot around with its stubby little legs kicking free in the air, the Dug is only let down by some unfortunately dated computer animation.
15. Watto the Toydarian
A flying insect with the face of a rubbery anteater, Watto the Toydarian is an early villain in The Phantom Menace. He looks like he smells pretty awful, which says something positive about his visual design.
14. Vulptex
While their name may be one of the sillier to ever grace Star Wars, the crystalline Vulptex foxes are solid creature design. They look as fearsome as they do brittle, which can't be an easy look to pull off.
13. Yoda
One of the famous denizens of the Star Wars universe, Yoda is remembered as much for his wild eyes, wrinkly green face, and sparse old man hair as he is for his unique understanding of English grammar. It's too bad that he became roughly fifty percent less cool as soon as the prequel trilogy decided to show him flip-flopping around in energetic lightsaber fights.
12. Tognath
The gas mask-wearing species called Tognath are a highlight of Rogue One. Where their flesh ends and the mechanical parts covering most of their bodies begins is anyone's guess.
11. Neimoidian
These nefarious alien bureaucrats ran the Trade Federation during the Galactic Republic, playing a crucial role in the prequel trilogy's events. Luckily, the decision to create their perpetually aggrieved faces and blank red eyes with largely practical instead of computer-generated effects makes the scenes they appear in at least somewhat interesting.
10. Happabore
The Happabore only appears in a single scene from The Force Awakens, but watching the truck-sized pig/elephant hybrid slurping up water from the same trough as a desperately thirsty Finn makes it stand out.
9. Jawas
Showing up early in A New Hope, the Jawas--tiny humanoid figures with glowing eyes and surprisingly rodent-like hands poking out from their robes--are instantly intriguing. They're made even more fascinating when viewers try to imagine what they get up to when hanging around in their desert-crossing landship, which looks like a giant slab of concrete on wheels.
8. Bantha
A mix between horse and wooly mammoth, the Bantha is even stranger looking than the Tusken Raiders that ride them through the deserts of Tatooine.
7. Bith
The bulbous-headed Bith playing the music underscoring A New Hope's introduction to Han Solo are one of the most striking creatures in Mos Eisley, which is saying something given the number of bizarre aliens that surround it.
6. Talz
Talz, a four-eyed, furry creature, is only glimpsed for a moment, but even a quick glance makes the bug-like alien stick out among the rest of the cantina.
5. Jabba the Hutt
A repulsive creature that resembles an overgrown slug with stunted arms and a giant flappy mouth, the hookah-loving Jabba makes Return of the Jedi's early scenes good enough to excuse the muddled rest of the original trilogy's worst entry.
4. Space Gary
An alien twist on Carrie Fisher's beloved French bulldog Gary, Space Gary (as the creature's named for now) is a small but lovely tribute to the late actor. It doesn't hurt that regular bulldogs look close enough to aliens that adding even a slightly mutated version of one to The Last Jedi doesn't seem out of place.
3. Salacious Crumb
Jabba's constant companion, a nasty little rat-monkey, is one of the most irritatingly sinister (and therefore best) creatures to appear in the Hutt's palace. Listen to the stinker cackling away at every misfortune that befalls Jabba's guests to appreciate the true charm of this Muppet from hell.
2. Kabe the Chadra-Fan
The thirstiest little fella from A New Hope's cantina scene, watching this tiny walking bat gratefully receive his drink with the two-handed grip of a toddler is one of the first Star Wars' small highlights.
1. Chewbacca the Wookiee
The best there ever was, Chewbacca managed to turn the frightening prospect of an enormously strong and markedly intelligent sasquatch into the sort of friendly giant every kid who watches Star Wars dreams of having as a best friend. Despite communicating entirely in warbled growls, Chewbacca is still one of the most expressive cast members of the entire series.
You can see December's full Games With Gold lineup below. January's freebies have not been announced yet but that should happen relatively soon, given the upcoming holiday. We know there won't be any more games added to the backwards compatibility catalog for the remainder of the year, as Microsoft's team is taking some time off.
With Red Dead Redemption 2 slated for release next spring, Rockstar is ready to begin drumming up interest in the game among Grand Theft Auto V players. Following the discovery of some kind of RDR2-related content in GTA Online files, Rockstar has officially announced the details of a new crossover mission and weapon that launches today.
GTA Online players should receive an email in-game that provides a clue to help them pursue "rumors of a lost relic from the frontier." According to the dataminers' discovery, this will entail a scavenger hunt of sorts that takes players all across San Andreas to take pictures of various landmarks. Doing so will unlock a free new gun for use in GTA Online, which Rockstar has revealed is the Double-Action Revolver.
Once you get your hands on that, you'll be eligible to participate in a Headshot Challenge during Freemode. If you're able to complete that successfully, you'll get $250,000 in GTA Online and unlock the Double-Action Revolver for use in Red Dead Redemption 2. It's unclear at this point if it will be usable in RDR2's single-player, multiplayer, or both.
This scavenger hunt comes not long after the launch of the Doomsday Heist update, GTA Online's biggest update so far. In addition to the titular heist, it introduces a variety of new vehicles, cosmetics, and other new elements to GTA V's multiplayer mode. All of that is available now.
As for Red Dead Redemption 2, we know it's due out during Spring 2018, no sooner than April 1, 2018. Rockstar hasn't gotten any more specific than that, nor has it shared much about the game itself. We've gotten some trailers and screenshots, but beyond that, we're still waiting to learn more about its single-player--and any details at all about multiplayer.
Join us as the GameSpot staff not only reveals our #6 game of 2017, but also why you should play this game.
Far Cry 5 may have been delayed, but don't judge lest ye be judged by The Judge Moose mission.
Far Cry 5 is delayed so kick back and watch us weaponize Holland Valley in the meantime.
No comments:
Post a Comment