By Chris Pereira on Feb 21, 2018 04:27 pm
A new update has arrived for Overwatch. Blizzard has kicked off this year's edition of the Lunar New Year event, which this time around is dubbed Year of the Dog. It revamps the game's Capture the Flag mode and introduces other new features. But as is to be expected from any new update, there are a variety of new Overwatch skins and cosmetics now available in a limited-time loot box. In terms of skins, there are six Legendary ones in total: those for Hanzo, Genji, Mercy, Pharah, McCree, and Widowmaker. Additionally, there are more than 50 new items in all to get your hands on; there are new sprays, victory poses, and other cosmetics now available. The event also sees the return of the skins from last year's Lunar New Year. You can check out all of the new skins, as well as many of the new cosmetics, in the gallery above. We've also got galleries of all the recently added Blizzard World update skins, as well as the huge number of Overwatch League skins introduced earlier this year. With new skins now available, this update marks the addition of a welcome feature for those with a growing collection to show off. From the Assemble Your Team screen before a match, you can now easily change your skin. This is only accessible during the pre-match phase, no doubt to avoid having players spending time contemplating their choice when they could be helping the team, but it should still make it easier to rotate through your collection. Also new in this patch is the aforementioned CTF revamp. This sees the introduction of a new Sudden Death mode--meaning no more ties--where flags are located closer to one another. Also, throughout the match, flags are now picked up instantly, though it will be dropped when using certain abilities, like Winston's leap. Blizzard says this should all result in a more "action-packed" experience overall.
By GameSpot Staff on Feb 21, 2018 05:35 am
Monster Hunting Tips To Be Mindful Of
Monster Hunter World is the most accessible game in the series. However, it still leaves some mechanics and systems unexplained. To help you get a knack for some of Monster Hunter World's intricacies, we've compiled 16 essential tips that we wish we knew before starting the game. Monster Hunter World is out now for Xbox One and PlayStation 4, with a PC release to come later in the year. That's notable, as recent entries were limited to 3DS. The additional horsepower has allowed for a game with much larger, more beautiful environments to play in. You can read more about what to expect in our Monster Hunter World review. For more impressions of the game, check out our feature detailing 11 ways for Capcom to make the game even better than it already is. If you're eager to see some of Monster Hunter World's high-rank armor sets, then check out our galleries showcasing armor on male characters, female characters, and Palicoes. Those playing on PS4 will be able to get their hands on some exclusive gear based on Horizon Zero Dawn. We also know that new Mega Man-themed items are on the way, as well as character skins themed around Street Fighter V--and if past Monster Hunter games are any indication, this won't be the last crossover content that Capcom releases.
Decorate Your House With Creatures
You might've noticed a net in your inventory that's not terribly effective against the world's bigger denizens. However, that net can be used to capture smaller insects, birds, and lizards. These captures earn you a few research points with each creature that you catch, but more importantly, the little beasts are added to your room as potential living decorations. Even after upgrading your room, the number of pets you can display is limited, but you're free to swap them out at any time. This counts for fish as well: While you can grab fish one by one with your rod, you can grab a few at once by using your net. Be warned, though, that the net scares off every other fish in the surrounding water.
Your Palico Can Get New Gadgets
While you're probably aware that you can swap out your Palico's weapon and armor at the Smithy, you might not know that you can acquire other gadgets for your companion. The starting Vigorwasp gear is incredibly helpful--especially early in the game, since it gives you free and immediate heals. But you can find other pieces of gear that give your Palico a whole host of different benefits. To find the new equipment, you need to go out to an area on an expedition and look for Grimilkynes; the researcher in each area will help point you in the right direction. Each area has a Grimilkyne who offers a quest, with new Palico equipment as the reward. One of our favorites is the Plunderblade, which you earn from the Grimalkyne in Rotten Vale. This handy item steals additional monster parts from your prey, which gives you yet another chance to earn some of the game's rarer items (and thus craft better loot).
Always Manage Bounties In Between Missions
Don't let all that time spent picking flowers and murdering small animals go to waste. Head to the Resource Center in Astera's tradeyard between every mission to turn in completed bounties and pick up new ones. They're usually fairly easy to complete--tasks range from gathering honey, to completing hunts in specific areas--and they reward valuable armor spheres for upgrading your equipment.
Turn In Delivery Requests At The Resource Center
The Resource Center is also where you go to turn in completed delivery quests. These are the missions that require you to collect a certain amount of specific materials, usually obtained from speaking with characters in Astera who have an exclamation mark icon. Even if you have all the materials, you can't turn in the quest until you speak with the woman at the Resource Center and select the correct option in the menu. Do so whenever possible, because the rewards are often valuable, and can include new fast travel campsites.
How Investigations Work
Investigations are one of the more confusing elements that are introduced early on in Monster Hunter World, largely because their name is something of a misnomer. You're not actually "investigating" anything; these are really just side quests to hunt or capture specific monsters. That's it. The hard part is managing them. At the Resource Center in Astera's tradeyard, you can "register" a maximum of 50 investigations at any one time. Each investigation can only be attempted or completed a limited number of times, but it's easy to get more investigations through combat, or by sniffing out monster tracks, marks, and other leavings out in the world. You'll also want to periodically comb through and delete lower-level investigations that you're not interested in, so that you don't butt up against the cap. Investigations are the best option for farming specific monsters, if you want their loot to make new armor or weapons.
How Weapon Upgrade Trees Work
Even early on, when your weapon upgrade trees span barely more than a few branches, they can seem hopelessly confusing. The important part to understand is that each weapon archetype has multiple possible starting materials. The basic charge blade, for example, begins on the ore tree (the Proto Commission Axe) or the bone tree (the Bone Strongarm). Each has its own unique upgrade path, and they don't intersect. For example, if you want to make a charge blade that deals lightning damage, you need to start with the Proto Commission Axe and work your way up; meanwhile, the Bone Strongarm can lead to a water-infused charge blade. It gets way more complicated, but the most important thing to know is that you can craft new base versions of these weapons--ore, bone, or otherwise--at the smithy anytime. You can also walk back most upgrades to get your materials back (though not the zenny).
How Multiplayer Works
Playing Monster Hunter World with your friends is one of the game's main selling points, but actually hooking up for multiplayer can be a headache. The main thing to know: You need to be in the same "session" as your friends to join each other on quests. When you load up the game, you can matchmake into a session with strangers, or create your own; either way, you can then invite friends. Or you can form a "squad" (like a clan or guild) with your friends, and load into your squad's session every time you start the game. Anyone in your session can join a quest once you "post" it at a quest board or with your handler. If you want only friends to be able to join, set a password. This comes with some limitations. You can't invite your friends early on in "assigned" (story) missions; you have to view all the associated cutscenes and get to the actual monster fight first. After that, you can fire off SOS flares (to attract random players), or have friends in your session join from the quest board. If you're having more trouble connecting with people, make sure that you're in the same session by checking the player list from the options menu (make sure that everyone is the appropriate hunter rank for the quest you're attempting). Be careful: Monsters become significantly more difficult in multiplayer, and their health scales automatically for four players. Playing with only two players can actually be harder than hunting solo, so it's smart to fire off an SOS flare from the menu, once you actually start the mission to invite more players in.
Save Manually
Monster Hunter World auto-saves your progress when you do something important, like completing a quest. But it's smart to save your game manually whenever you're joining a new online session or powering down for the night. Let's say you complete a quest and then spend several minutes putzing around in Astera, upgrading weapons, registering bounties, and managing inventory. Then a friend invites you to their online session. Great--you accept their invitation, ignoring the warning about losing unsaved progress. Congrats! Unless you saved manually, you just lost 15 minutes of your life, and you'll have to do all that micromanagement again.
How To Actually Use the Insect Glaive
A lot of us first-time Monster Hunters were drawn to the Insect Glaive as our initial weapon of choice, because it's flashy and looks cool. But more than a few of us didn't discover how to use it to its full potential, until we had already slain the first few monsters. The Insect Glaive comes with a Kinsect--a giant beetle that you're supposed to aim and shoot at monsters, in order to extract one of three different buffs for yourself. Once you're happy with what it's got, you'll need to recall it in order to receive the limited-time benefits. If you're diligent, you can have all three buffs going at once, which will greatly assist in your ability to slay your foes. Send the Kinsect to a monster's feet, and you can get a white speed buff. Hit its body, and you'll get get an orange buff that boosts defence. Finally, hit its head and you'll get a red buff, which boosts your attack power--and more importantly, expands your attack strings and combo options with even more slicing and dicing! Don't even consider attacking something until you have a red buff, at the very least. Seriously--some of us can't even believe we slogged through so many monsters without knowing this. The other important thing to remember with the Insect Glaive is that you should make liberal use of the vault-jump (R2 + X on PS4, or Right Trigger + A on Xbox One). You'll have access to two different aerial attacks (which are fantastic once you have a red buff active), as well as a midair dash to cover more ground or keep your combo going. It's even possible to stay in the air indefinitely, if the conditions are right. Naturally, this ability also makes it incredibly easy to mount monsters in order to knock them down. The Insect Glaive is all about being incredibly mobile, doing great air damage, and keeping your buffs up to unleash a dizzying flurry of strikes. It's fun as hell--when you know how to use it.
You Can Swing Around On Wedge Beetles
Mounting monsters is both fun and incredibly useful, but you don't always have always a good ledge to leap from. Enter the Wedge Beetle, those glowing bugs that you may have noticed scattered around the world (which also make a very distinctive noise to notify you that they're nearby). By aiming at a Wedge Beetle with the left trigger, you can hit the Circle button (on PS4) or B button (on Xbox One) to latch onto it, allowing you to swing indefinitely before launching yourself in a direction. This is useful not just for mounting monsters, but also for navigating the world, as you can sometimes save yourself the trouble of scaling a wall--just fly on up by latching onto a Wedge Beetle.
Item And Equipment Loadouts Save Tons Of Time
One of the most time-saving (and tedium-reducing) things you can do in Monster Hunter World is save your item and equipment loadouts. This can be done from the Manage Items and Manage Equipment screens of your item box, and each loadout can be assigned a name to help you keep track of what it is. By doing this, you can establish equipment sets that work effectively when hunting specific types of monsters. This means no more scrolling through all of your items to double-check, say, whether you have something that provides more defense and resistances. Item loadouts serve a similar purpose: They not only ensure that you have everything you want to bring on a hunt, they also allow you to easily dump everything that you picked up on a previous hunt. While Monster Hunter World introduces the ability to visit your item box while you're in the field, this ensures that you never find yourself ready to capture a monster after a long fight, only to realize that you didn't bring any traps.
The Map Is A Powerful Tool
A glimpse at the map can be overwhelming, but it's incredibly helpful if you know how to use it. If you're on the trail of a monster, you can select it in the bottom-left of the map, to have your scout flies help guide you toward it. Beyond that, you can set custom waypoints anywhere on the map,and your scout flies will guide you to your destination. And the map shows quite a lot--quests and bounties that involve hunting a particular small monster or collecting honey are much easier when your scout flies can take you to the correct location.
Talk To The Chief Ecologist Often
Among the people you'll want to routinely talk to in town is the Chief Ecologist, in the Ecological Research area of Astera. Located just to your left of where you spawn (up the stairs, behind where you manage bounties and investigations), having a quick chat allows you to capitalize on any tracks and other monster evidence that you collect in the field. Picking up that stuff is incredibly helpful long-term, but speaking to the researcher is a necessary part of the process, as doing so lets you increase your Research level with that particular monster. This, in turn, allows you to check out your Hunter's Notes from the Start menu at any item, which gives you important information about monster weak points, resistances, and item drops. Higher Research levels also provide a scout fly bonus, letting you more quickly pick up a monster's trail.
The Wishlist Makes It Easy To Track Materials
Crafting everything you want requires a lot of materials--and trying to remember exactly what you need can become a hassle. Rather than waste your time running to the crafting screen to see if you finally have all the necessary parts after each hunt, setting up a wishlist ensures that you get notifications telling you both when you've picked up a material for something on your list, and when you have all the parts to start crafting.
Capturing Monsters Is The Way To Go
Capturing monsters may seem a little intimidating, particularly if you're a newcomer; it's easier and safer to just keep smacking a monster on the head with a sword than to risk death by trying to ensnare it. But the process is actually quite easy (check out our guide to capturing monsters in Monster Hunter World), and more importantly, tends to yield more rewards than killing a monster. Capturing is obviously an essential element of some quests, but even when you can get away with killing a monster, you're better off bringing some traps and tranq bombs (or tranq ammo) and capturing everything that you can.
Flash Pods Are Invaluable Against Flying Monsters
Flying monsters can be obnoxious, particularly if you're a melee weapon user. They soar into the air, often out of even the most comically large weapon's reach, and they launch deadly attacks from the sky. Launching rocks with your slinger won't do much, but the slinger can be equipped with something that is more effective: Flash Pods. These are occasionally given to you for free at the beginning of a quest, or you can craft them and bring them yourself. Either way, simply scroll through your item bar and equip the Flash Pod, and you suddenly have a great counter to flying monsters. You only get three shots, but firing one in the vicinity of a monster's face with the slinger (done by holding the left trigger and firing with the right) will stun the monster and cause it to drop out of the sky, thereby saving you from an incoming attack (and opening up an opportunity to deal some damage).
By Matt Espineli on Feb 21, 2018 05:20 am
There's a multitude armor sets to craft and equip in Monster Hunter World. Much of the gear you get is unattainable until you've sunk a significant number of hours into the game honing your skills, taking down challenging enemies, and amassing the necessary resources for crafting. Every armor set you acquire comes in two types: alpha and beta. Alpha sets come with preset skills that enhance its wearer with a series of statistical benefits, while Beta sets allow its wearer to customize what skills each piece has. In addition, each set has an entirely different look depending on the gender you choose. We've already taken a look at how high-end armor looks on male characters, as well as all the high-end Palico armor. Click ahead to check out how each high-end armor set looks like on female characters. Monster Hunter: World is out now for Xbox One and PlayStation 4, with a PC release to come later in the year. That's notable, as recent entries were limited to 3DS. The additional horsepower has allowed for a game with much larger, more beautiful environments to play in. It also does a better job of introducing newcomers to the flow of playing a Monster Hunter game. You can read more about what to expect in our Monster Hunter World review. And for more impressions of the game, check out our feature detailing 11 ways to make the game even better than it already is. Those playing on PS4 will be able to get their hands on some exclusive gear based on Horizon Zero Dawn. We also know that new Mega Man-themed items are on the way, as well as character skins themed around Street Fighter V--and if past games are any indication, this won't be the last crossover content that Capcom releases.
By GameSpot Staff on Feb 21, 2018 03:39 am
What We Wish We Knew
When you first pop into the free, competitive multiplayer Battle Royale version of Fortnite--without first buying its cooperative counterpart--you'll find a lot that doesn't get explained. Fortnite: Battle Royale has no tutorial, so it's up to players to discover its nuances, mostly through trial and error, spectating other players, and dying. The Battle Royale mode also features a whole bunch of guns, materials, structures, and items to learn about and understand, as well as how they interact with each other and the game's systems. Fortnite is full of little tricks and idiosyncrasies that aren't immediately obvious, especially with its emphasis on gathering resources and building structures as part of its combat. Once you know them, however, they'll make you a much more effective player. Here are the 12 things we wish we knew about Fortnite: Battle Royale before we started playing. If you're new to Fornite: Battle Royale, check out our beginner's tips guide, but if you're more advanced, be sure to read our advanced tips guide. You can also check out our video guide on how to build more effectively. Fortnite: Battle Royale is available as a free download for PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and PC. The mode supports up to 100 players attempting to be the last person or team standing as they hunt other players and avoid being killed themselves. For more on the differences between Fortnite: Battle Royale and PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds, check out our in-depth feature discussing the two games and what sets them apart from one another. You can also check out details on Fortnite's recent Crossbow update.
Aiming Matters When Gathering Resources
Whenever you start hammering away at a wall, tree, or pile of rocks to gather resources, you'll notice that a weird blue icon appears on the thing you're smacking. That little marker turns gathering resources into something more active than just holding a button down for a few seconds. You want to move your crosshair over each new blue icon with every swing of your pickaxe. This earns you the most resources you can get with each hit, and increases your harvesting efficiency--which means you'll grab more building materials and leave yourself less vulnerable.
The Shotgun Is Highly Effective
It shouldn't always be your main weapon, but it's a pretty good idea for you to have a shotgun on-hand whenever possible--even a weak one. Fortnite's shotguns have decent range and a big spread (at least for the time being), which means they're great catch-all guns for dropping already-injured targets. Time and again, we've seen players use shotguns as the clean-up hitter of their arsenal; they might fire a rocket in the vicinity of an enemy to knock out their shield, or hit them with a rifle as they close the gap, but the shotgun is often the weapon that closes the deal. Don't be afraid to use it at close- to mid-range. And aim high, because headshots can be very painful.
Crouch And Shoot
A lot of the guns in Fortnite aren't quite as accurate as in some other shooters, and that can make for tough fights, especially when you engage players at long-range. It's possible to increase your guns' accuracy in a lot of cases, though. Whenever possible to do so safely, keep still and crouch--it'll increase your accuracy, helping you take down other players more quickly. That doesn't mean you should stop dodging and stand still in the open during a heated battle... but if you spot someone on the move and are thinking about opening fire on them, you'll have an advantage if you get low and keep still.
Build To Save Yourself From Falling
Fall damage is a big deal in Fortnite. High locations are good places to set up and watch for other players, and when you get good at building, going vertical and taking the high ground is a very effective strategy. Falling off those places can be deadly, though, since shields don't absorb fall damage. Always remember that you can save yourself by using the build menu to quickly drop structures beneath you as you fall; so long as you're close enough to the wall of a tower or a cliff, you can instantly build a floor or ramp beneath you that can stop your descent and save you from certain doom. Use this trick to quickly make your escape from fortifications when someone starts shooting at you with rockets, or when you need to descend a cliff in a hurry. It's a lot easier than trying to find items to heal yourself.
Shield Potions Are Essential
Finding good guns is one thing... but really, the best way to make it through any given fight is to find shield potions. Fortnite doesn't effectively explain how its health system works, but the handiest thing to know is that blue shield potions make you more resilient to incoming fire, and they make a world of difference in any given firefight. As you loot in Fortnite, always drink shield potions right away to fire up a shield immediately, and stockpile the potions that you can't use immediately. They're worth carrying around; your character can drink a small shield potion in about two seconds, which is just fast enough to get you back on your feet as you duck around a corner or build a few quick walls to escape from an enemy.
You Have An Inventory Screen
It's not immediately apparent if you haven't played Fortnite's Save the World mode, but you have more than just the small inventory rundown at the bottom of your screen. You can access a much bigger, more detailed inventory menu--find it by pressing Up on the directional pad if you're playing with a controller, or "I" on a keyboard--and it shows everything you're carrying, including how much ammo of each type you have. The inventory menu gives you rundowns of your guns' statistics, including effective range and damage per second, which can help you decide what to hold onto and what to toss. That's the other handy thing about the inventory menu: It offers you the option to drop weapons onto the ground. Use that to hand off guns, items, or ammo to your teammates, or just to organize your inventory so that you always play with guns and items of specific types in the same slots. The repetition of knowing where you keep heals or certain guns can make it a lot easier for you to switch in a hurry.
Use Bushes And Trees For Concealment
Fortnite's cartoonish art style means that player silhouettes are pretty obvious at a distance--especially when you add in the dust trails left by sprinting across open ground. But you can find a few good places to hide, especially if you're smart about it. While many bushes are solid, you can slip inside some of them, which mostly conceals your character and make you tough to spot at a distance. The same is true of many pine trees, which you can generally duck beneath; these offer decent concealment, especially from above. Stealth can take you a long way if you're patient and don't move too much when sneaking up on people. By the same token, don't ignore those light green bushes around you. Smart players treat them like they might always be concealing someone, especially in the endgame of a match. Putting a shot or two into a bush will quickly reveal if anyone is hiding in it: Watch for the blue flash of their shield taking damage.
Throw Up Some Walls To Protect Downed Teammates
Once you hear it, it seems like a no-brainer, but this is one of those things that's easy to forget if you're used to playing other Battle Royale games. In Fortnite, you want to try to think about how you can solve problems by building--and creating a few quick fortifications can buy you precious extra seconds while you heal a teammate who has been knocked down by gunfire. Just remember to use wood if you're currently under fire; it'll build the fastest, and it can take the most punishment from other players immediately after being deployed. If you're in a rough battle situation, though, you might need multiple layers (or you might just need to leave your friend hanging while you take out the attackers).
Open Doors (Usually) Mean A Place Has Been Looted
Savvy players know that doors can tell you a lot. An open door on a building might mean someone's inside; more often, it means that someone has at least been through that building and taken all the good stuff already. By the same token, closing doors behind you is a good way to throw off other players, or to catch the unwary in ambshes. In our experience, not only are the outer doors of untouched buildings always closed in Fortnite, but so are the inner ones. If you step into a structure that you think is full of loot and start seeing open doors between rooms, it should put you on guard--it might mean someone is lying in wait ahead. Open doors are also a good indicator of buildings that you can skip altogether, to avoid wasting time searching places that have little to offer.
Traps Are A Thing
Traps are a holdover from the cooperative campaign version of Fortnite, and they pop up in Battle Royale to change some situations significantly. You'll find them occasionally in loot drops or certain locations (like mines), and you can deploy them on structures. They don't have a ton of uses, since so much of the Battle Royale experience consists of quickly hurrying from one building to the next, looting as fast as you can--but they do come up every now and then. Traps are great for leaving behind in a seemingly unlooted building in order to ruin the day of someone following you, or to place on your towers to dissuade anyone sneaking up below you. When heading into buildings, it's good practice to stand beside the front door and look inside to check for an ambush; when you do that, take a glance upward too, to ensure you're not about to stumble into somebody else's devilish plan.
The Boogie Bomb Is The Best
If you find the elusive grenade known as the Boogie Bomb, grab it. This thing is the goofiest weapon you can add to your arsenal in Fortnite right now, and it's hilarious as well as useful. When it explodes, everyone caught in its radius is forced to start dancing for five seconds, leaving them completely vulnerable to you cruising up and taking them out. It's especially handy for when you find a couple of other players already battling it out--with one bomb and a quick trigger finger, you can humiliate your opponents, eliminate them, and steal all their stuff.
Getting Good At Building Is How You Win
Grappling with all of Fortnite's systems can be tough--especially if you're using a controller. Between switching guns and building structures, the game has a lot of buttons to keep track of, and a lot of items to switch through with the shoulder buttons. But no matter what platform they're using, the best Fortnite players are expert builders. They've trained themselves through repetition to quickly construct walls, towers, bridges, and ramps in order to save their lives in the heat of battle, or give themselves a ridiculous advantage using height and cover. Though Fortnite has a lot in common with other Battle Royale games like PUBG, building is what sets it apart. If you come to this game expecting to play it like PUBG, you're going to get shut down over and over again by players who've learned to love carpentry. Get good at farming resources quickly and erecting structures even faster, if you want to be competitive!
By GameSpot Staff on Feb 21, 2018 03:35 am
Pro Tips
Players who are keen on winning have a lot of things to keep in mind if they want to succeed in Fortnite: Battle Royale. The game marries the last-player-standing multiplayer competition of the battle royale genre with resource-gathering and building mechanics, and knowing the ins and outs of both are the only way to win. Not only do you need to outsmart and outgun other players-- you need to effectively use your building capabilities to traverse the map, fortify your positions, and beat out the competition. Players who've been around the block in Fortnite's single-player campaign have no doubt picked up a lot of tactics, strategies, and pieces of information that can help elevate them to multiplayer success. For everyone else, it can be tough to pick up on all of Fortnite's idiosyncrasies and hidden bits of information--especially since the free Battle Royale mode doesn't include a tutorial. Use these 10 tips to get an edge over the other 99 players in your Fortnite: Battle Royale match. If you're new to Fornite: Battle Royale, make sure to read our beginner's tips guide, as well as our guide covering all the things we wish we knew before playing the game. You can also check out our video guide on how to build more effectively. Fortnite: Battle Royale is available as a free download for PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and PC. The mode supports up to 100 players competing to be the last person (or team) standing as they hunt other players and avoid being killed themselves. For the differences between Fortnite: Battle Royale and PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds, check out our in-depth feature discussing the two games and what sets them apart from one another. You can also check out more details on Fortnite's recently released Crossbow update.
Use Headphones
It really is tough to overestimate how crucial sound is in Fortnite. You'll use it to catch people sneaking up on you, zero in on enemies who are shooting at you, and track players for ambushes. You're at a disadvantage listening to the game over your computer speakers, TV speakers, or even a sound system, when compared to players who are armed with a quality pair of surround sound headphones. Sound is possibly the best tool in your arsenal in Fortnite, so make sure you're able to use it as effectively as possible.
Speed Is Key Early On
As you get the hang of the map, you'll want to move as fast as you can to find good weapons early. That starts with your jump from the game's flying party bus at the beginning of each match: If you're confident in your fighting abilities, pick a spot with lots of buildings, and dive straight for it. Avoid falling over hills and other high-elevation areas, as these will cause your glider to auto-deploy sooner than if you dive toward lower-elevation spots like water or canyons. The idea is to fall to earth as fast as you can, so that you can beat other players to the guns--and take them down. While it's good for new players to close doors behind them to protect themselves, once you're used to the flow of the game, you don't have to worry about hiding yourself nearly as much. Get into a building, find what's useful, and move on as fast as you can--the ol' "loot and scoot" approach. Acquiring high-quality guns early will set you up for success against players who have weaker gear than you, so get used to moving on to new locations quickly, and looting as much as you can as fast as you can. Just be cautious about it, so that you don't bumble into an ambush.
Don't Pick Up Everything
Among the best habits you can make as you advance your Fortnite career is to be discerning about what you pick up and what you leave behind. It's tempting to snatch up everything you come across--because you never know when you might want to switch between a pistol, a rifle, and a shotgun, right? In practice, though, you'll probably use one or two guns for most of a match, unless you've got the rarer and more useful ones like sniper rifles, miniguns, and rocket launchers. Having a handful of white or green pistols that you don't intend to use will just slow you down when it comes time to switch out for better loot. Instead, make quick decisions about what you need and what you don't, and act accordingly. Stopping to manage your inventory can leave you vulnerable, so grab only what you really need, and learn to ignore the less useful loot. Also: While you have to manually pick up weapons and items, ammo gets picked up automatically... so if you're looking at a pile of loot and all you want are the bullets, save time by just running over it to avoid accidentally picking up the wrong stuff.
Double Up Your Guns For Added Damage
While you're being discerning about what guns you pick up, remember that two of the same weapon can actually be pretty useful--particularly when it comes to the pump shotgun and the bolt-action sniper rifle. By having two of these guns in adjacent inventory slots, you can avoid the wait between shotgun pumps or sniper reloads, and instead just switch to your second version of the gun to fire a second shot immediately. The quick switch can be tough to get used to, but with the power that this move affords you, it's worth training yourself to switch rather than wait to reload. It's a great way to maximize your lethality against other players.
Chop Down Trees For More Wood
Where you get your materials matters. Especially early on, you want to grab as much wood as you can manage, as it's highly useful in battles and for protection. You can bash down buildings and break up boxes for wood with your pickaxe--but as it happens, these dispense less wood than trees. Pick the right tree, and you can gather up 40-plus units of wood from a single node, quickly filling up your materials and giving you plenty to use in a pinch. Pine trees whose green portions reach close to the ground tend to be the best, but it's worth experimenting as you play, to learn where on the map you can get the most materials fastest. The same is true with other materials. Brick walls yield some brick, but piles of rocks out in the wilderness are even better. You can also get a decent haul of metal from destroying vehicles, but be wary: Sometimes, smashing up a car will set off its alarm, which can draw other players to your location.
Wood Trumps Metal (In Certain Cases)
Materials in Fortnite have a few little quirks. Generally, wood is the weakest material, while brick is a little stronger, and metal is the strongest. In practice, this means that wood structures can take the least amount of damage before they break altogether, brick structures have more health than wood, and metal structures have the most health. Heavier materials come with drawbacks, though. Brick structures take longer to build (and reach full health) than wood structures do, and metal takes the longest. Wood really shines when it comes to quickly dropping walls in the middle of a firefight. The thing is, a freshly spawned, incomplete wood wall starts with more health than a freshly spawned, incomplete brick or metal wall (100 health points for the wood, 70 for the brick or metal). That means a wood wall can save you from more shots when you're building in the heat of battle than the other two materials. The easiest way to think about it is this: A fresh wood wall will collapse after two close-range shotgun blasts when you first drop it; a brick or metal wall will collapse after only one shotgun blast. Use wood for firefights, and save your brick and metal for stronger fortifications closer to the end of a match.
Take (Or Build) The High Ground
High ground will win you fights in Fortnite, and that doesn't just mean high hills or cliffs--although these offer better vantage points in general. In firefights, practice quickly building upward as you fight enemies. You can drop walls and then ramps to protect yourself as you climb, and shooting down on other players nets you more headshots and damage, while offering you better protection. Quickly making a ramp surrounded by walls means that you can jump up and take potshots at enemies below while also making yourself extremely tough to hit. When you can, build up for the advantage... and if the other player is trying to get above you, try to get higher or force them to change locations, to take their advantage away. Just make sure to quickly pop wood walls in front of your ramps, lest the other player blast them out from under you. Hitting the bottom of a ramp will collapse it, and the damage you take from falling could cost you the fight (and the match).
Watch For (And Mark) Supply Drops
Every so often, the flying bus will drop a supply crate. The crates' drop positions are marked by blue smoke grenades on the ground, and they float down on balloons once they're dropped. These crates contain some of the best loot in the game, including the minigun and rocket launcher, so they're definitely worth your attention--but they're likely to attract other players, too. Supply drops are great places for an ambush, and one way to pin down where the drop will be is to "mark" it. Like just about everything in Fortnite, supply drops are destructible, and you can damage their balloons from afar with your gun. Doing so causes the crate's health bar to pop up, which stays on your screen even if structures or other things obstruct your line of sight to the crate itself. Marking crates means that you can more easily get to them when they hit the ground, but be ready to fight anyone else with the same idea.
Use The Storm To Your Advantage
The ever-advancing storm--the circle that constantly contracts to make the play area smaller and smaller--is a danger that you constantly need to avoid in Fortnite. It also affords some benefits, however. While the storm damages you when you're in it, for much of any given match, that damage is not immediately deadly. You can sometimes use this tactically; the edge of the storm is a great place to catch desperate players as they scramble to get to safety. Conversely, you might be able to duck through the tough-to-see-through edge early in the match to lose anyone in the eye of the storm who's battling you (although that's a tough gamble, and not for everyone). Especially in a match's endgame, the storm can be a tool as much as it is a danger. It lets you ensure that you won't be attacked from behind when you keep close to its edge. If you're more centrally located and can take up a good position, the shrinking circle can help you as it forces players to either take storm damage, or move toward you and open themselves up to attack. It's important to always stay aware of the circle--but as the match draws toward its end, keep thinking about where you can set yourself up to use the storm as a weapon against your enemies.
Complete Daily Challenges To Earn V-Bucks
V-Bucks are Fortnite's premium currency, which can be used to purchase cosmetic items to make your character wear cooler clothes or deploy more fun emotes. The best way to get an effective amount of V-Bucks is to buy them with real money. If you're willing to put in the time, it's also possible to earn a few just by playing the game--but it'll take you a while. Playing Fortnite earns you experience points based on your performance in a match, and each time you earn enough, you level up, which earns you one "Battle Star." After grabbing 10 Battle Stars, you advance to a new "tier," and at certain tiers, you unlock new emotes and other items. It's possible to earn tiers faster by completing Daily Challenges, which are listed on the Lobby screen when you log into Fortnite. Challenges require you to complete special actions, like killing a set number of players with a specific gun. Challenges give you a bunch of experience points and five Battle Stars for completing them, which can help you earn tiers a lot quicker. If you're playing for free, you can earn 100 V-Bucks roughly every 14 tiers (which isn't very much). Your return on investment is slightly better if you pony up the money to purchase the V-Bucks for a "Battle Pass," which will run you 950 V-Bucks--or a little less than $10 ($9.99 buys you 1,000 V-Bucks). The Battle Pass puts you on a different, much more rewarding tier track, allowing you to earn a lot more cosmetic gear as you level up. The Battle Pass track also includes V-Bucks, dishing out 100 V-Bucks once about every seven tiers, but it also comes with experience point boosts that can get you there quicker.
By GameSpot Staff on Feb 21, 2018 03:34 am
Tips To Build Your Chances Of Survival
Though you might be familiar with other games in the battle royale genre--games that tend to stick one player (or a small team) on a map where they fight against others to be the last one standing--Fortnite: Battle Royale is a little different. The game takes the basic premise of the genre and adds its own twist that changes everything: You can instantly construct stuff like walls and stairs, allowing you to build fortifications to protect yourself and create your own tactical advantages. Fortnite drops you onto an island with 99 other players, and the last player (or team) left alive wins. Though it's similar to games like PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds, plenty of small differences make Fortnite into a very distinct experience. Knowing what to carry, when to shoot, and what to build are essential if you're going to be the last person alive on the island. You won't find a tutorial in Fortnite Battle Royale, so when you drop onto its island, all you have are your wits and whatever you can find along the way. Here's everything you need to know to get a strong start--and maybe survive long enough to find yourself a minigun. And if you're already a Fornite: Battle Royale veteran, check out our advanced tips guide, as well as our guide covering all the things that we wish we knew before playing the game. You can also watch our video guide on how to build more effectively. Fortnite: Battle Royale is available as a free download for PlayStation 4, Xbox One. The mode supports up to 100 players competing to be the last person (or team) standing as they hunt other players and avoid being killed themselves. For the differences between Fortnite: Battle Royale and PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds, check out our in-depth feature discussing the two games and what sets them apart from one another. You can also check out more details on Fortnite's recently released Crossbow update.
Pick Your Landing Zone And Avoid Other Players
Fortnite: Battle Royale starts with 100 players dropping out of a vehicle (in this case, a flying bus) onto an island below that's littered with weapons. Check your map at the outset and watch the flight path carefully--where you land is your first big decision in Fortnite, and it can help you get off to a fighting start. Your first order of business is weapons, and if you're new to the game, you'll also want to try to avoid other players. Weapons are mostly found inside buildings, so pick a drop location with a few structures, but try to avoid major settlements or towns along the flight path early on. Those places have great gear, but also attract a ton of players; you'll want to avoid a fight straight off until you've gotten a little more comfortable with the game. Usually, it's best to hold off jumping for a few seconds to pick your spot and stay away from the largest pack, which usually jumps as soon as the doors open. You can also set waypoints on your map screen, making it easier to locate any structures or settlements you've got in mind for looting. You'll start your jump by skydiving, but at any time, you can follow the onscreen prompt to deploy your glider. Flipping to your glider early will make you fall slower, allowing you to cover much more distance. Use this to get away from other likely drop points that other players might be headed to, but don't take too long--the faster you hit the ground and gear up, the better. Be sure to keep an eye out for other players dropping nearby as you head down, to avoid getting ambushed or falling into a fight. Your goal is to survive, so as you're learning the ropes, it's best to let other players take each other out, rather than go looking for a battle.
The Storm Is Your Greatest Enemy
Like PUBG, Fortnite matches are dictated by "the circle"--or, in this case, "the storm." Near the start of each match, a large circle will appear on the map in a random position, dictating the eye of the storm. Outside of this circle, the approaching clouds will damage and kill you. A timer in the corner of your screen notes when the storm will contract, creating a new, tighter circle. Over the course of the match, the storm will close in more and more, shrinking the play area on the island and forcing everyone closer together until only one (or one team) remains. This means that paying attention to the circle's location and the timer are your top priorities. You can't just run to the center of the first circle that appears in a match and stay there, because smaller circles won't always have the same center point. Often, the movement of the circle means you'll have to make a run for it to escape the storm, leaving you vulnerable to attack. Always keep the circle in mind, and know where you need to be. The best practice is to get there quickly and carefully.
Gather Resources First
When you first land on the island in Fortnite: Battle Royale, you'll be armed only with your melee pickaxe. You can fight people with it... but that's not especially effective, and will get you killed against pretty much any other weapon. The pickaxe's main use is for bashing through structures and gathering resources, the latter of which is one of the first things you want to do--provided you're far enough from other people that it won't immediately draw attention. Breaking up anything causes a commotion; for instance, you might destroy some vehicles to get a decent bounty of metal, but you risk triggering its alarm and broadcasting your location to other players. To start: Smash walls, structures, and (especially) trees, and gather yourself at least 300 units of wood. This will supply you with key materials that can keep you alive. If you switch to the building menu, you'll see that you can cycle through a few structures, like floors, roofs, walls, and stairs. You'll need resources to build those things, so gather materials quickly before taking off toward the circle. It's much safer taking time to gather materials in the early game than it will be later on, and you can smash just about anything to get the wood, brick, and metal necessary to make stuff.
Practice Building (Especially Under Fire)
With your resources in-hand, you'll want to spend your first few matches learning the ways that buildings can help you. Building structures is Fortnite's claim to fame--and using structures creatively will get you out of trouble, help you traverse the map, and provide cover in a firefight. You don't want to be building constantly, but you need to get comfortable with the system, so that you can make whatever you want as fast as possible when things get hairy. The build menu lets you choose a structure, its material, and its location very quickly. Once you click the button to start building something, it constructs itself automatically. This means that even under fire, building is a viable option: If you start to take fire, you can lay down a wall ahead of you to absorb some of the incoming bullets while you use it as cover and shoot back. Ramps get you over otherwise impassable terrain and can help you create instant high ground that give you an advantage over other players. It's a system that you definitely shouldn't sleep on, because it can give you serious advantages. Just note that structures make noise as you're constructing them, and messing around in the build menu can leave you vulnerable. Player structures are also visually very conspicuous. The various materials have their pros and cons, too; brick and metal sound like the stronger materials at first blush, but using them in construction takes longer than wood, and they can be tougher to find. In touch-and-go battle situations when you need immediate cover, wood is usually the right call, while brick and metal are better saved for endgame fortifications when you expect to be in tougher fights.
Gear Up
As soon as you hit the ground, it's time to hunt for weapons, so head into a building and grab whatever's there. All your usable items go into one of five inventory slots, located on the bottom of your screen (that goes for guns, as well as health and support items). You'll want to get armed with whatever you can find straight away--but don't be afraid to drop things in favor of better weapons. Weapons come in several varieties. You'll find close-range shotguns and long-range assault and sniper rifles, as well as pistols, SMGs, and occasionally rocket launchers and more. Weapons also have rarity classifications: Weapons with white auras around them and white icons in your inventory are the most common and also the weakest; green are uncommon and a little better; blue are rare and better still; purple are epic; orange are legendary; and gold are mythic. As a general rule, the higher the tier of the gun--and the better it is. Rarer weapons are often more accurate and more powerful, and come with add-ons like silencers or scopes. Swap out more common guns for rarer ones during the course of the match to increase your firepower. You'll find a lot of these rarer guns in treasure chests, which are hidden in buildings. These are indicated by a glowing gold light and a humming sound, but they're usually hidden behind walls that you might have to destroy (or attics that you'll need to build stairs to reach). Always try to seek out chests, as they have valuable gear--such as bandages and shield potions--as well as guns. You'll definitely need all the supplies you can get if you want to be a contender in a match's late game.
Keep Quiet
The large scope of Fortnite: Battle Royale's island means that players can spread out quite a bit. Finding other people and avoiding detection are two of your main concerns in a given match, because it's easy to get ambushed or taken out from afar. Especially as matches go on and the play area contracts, you'll be closer to players--and they'll be able to hear you moving around, building, and shooting. Sound and silence are essential tools to victory, and good speakers or headphones is highly recommended to help you get a bead on what's happening around you and locating the source of sounds. Running is a noisy way to move around, and sprinting is even louder, and even kicks up some dust behind you. You can reduce your movement sounds by crouching and moving more slowly, but note that even rotating your character creates the sound of footsteps. Doors also make a ton of racket, but in Fortnite, you'll often find it's possible to jump through a window and avoid doors entirely. You'll also want to avoid shooting unless absolutely necessary, as the sound is like raising a flag on your location--although silenced weapons help with that issue a great deal. Finally, gathering resources with your pickaxe and building stuff makes a lot of noise, often for an extended period of time. These are essential to survival at Fortnite, but always be aware that when you smash or build things, you might be giving away your location.
Don't Fight Unless You're (Pretty) Sure You Can Win
Firefights in Fortnite, as in other Battle Royale games, can start out looking like clear victories and quickly become disasters. Your greatest advantage at all times is surprise, but you only have one life to live. This crucial fact means that often, it's better to ignore another player and stay hidden (if you can't get the jump on them), rather than attack them and risk losing it all, even when you have great weapons. Aiming in Fortnite is a little harrowing as well, which can make actually hitting other players tough at any kind of range. First off, you'll want to pick the right gun for the job: Up close, even a fairly common-level shotgun can be devastating with a headshot, while further away, assault rifles and sniper rifles can take people out before they know what hit them. Take your time, line up your shots, and make sure your opponent is within range so that you take them down before they can react. Survival is your most important goal, so use discretion: If you're not confident you'll be able to take down whoever's in your sights quickly and cleanly, you're probably better off letting them go.
Be Careful In The Open
Players used to PUBG know that the game often consists of sprinting across open ground, trying to get to a closing circle. In Fortnite, moving into the open is just as harrowing, because the cartoonish art style makes you more visible at a distance--and you can't get any lower to the ground than a crouch. This means picking your path when you move in the open is an essential skill to learn, and the players who live the longest typically minimize their time in the open or move smartly to different positions to avoid getting caught. First, use structures and cover like cliffs and boulders to your advantage, to protect your back or sides and limit the areas you have to keep an eye on. Next, move quickly while in the open, and carefully and slowly when you're in cover. The human eye is built to detect movement, so you're safest when you're not in motion. You can occasionally hide among pine trees or in bushes to make yourself even tougher to spot. You'll also want to make use of Fortnite's third-person perspective to position your character to peek around corners and through doorways before you enter them, and avoid walking into an ambush (or right into someone hiding in a corner, out of your line of sight). Another quick tip: Close doors behind you. It's an easy way to make it less obvious that you're in a building, and this makes it tougher for other players to track you.
Drink Shield Potions As Soon As You Find Them
Health in Fortnite: Battle Royale is divided into two types: your player health, which is a green bar on the bottom of your screen, and your shield, which is a blue bar--each topping out at 100 points. Shield depletes before health, and when your health is gone, you're dead. You won't start the match with a shield, however, so you'll have to find one. Treasure chests are the places where you'll often find health items--and in particular, blue shield potions. These take up a space in your limited inventory, and since you won't start the match with a shield, it's usually best to drink these as soon as you find them, as your shield lasts until it takes damage. Shield potions come in two types. Larger shield potions give you 50 shield points, and can be stacked twice to double your health; smaller shield potions give you 25 shield. Only the larger potions can push you up to 100, though: If you use two small shield potions, you'll top out at 50 shield points. Note that shields won't protect you from falling damage, so take care of yourself. If you can find health items like bandages and medkits, you'll likely want to hang onto them for later use (bandages give you 15 health to a max of 75, while medkits will heal you fully). A rarer healing item called Slurp Juice--which comes in a purple bottle--replenishes your shield and gives you back health over time at a rate of one point per second for 25 seconds, making it more versatile in a sticky situation. Even rarer Chug Jugs are also extremely useful, fully restoring your health and shield, but requiring 15 seconds of your time to use.
Watch For Player Buildings
As matches wear on, you're likely to start seeing player fortifications. The good news is that player buildings are usually square, blank, obvious towers... so you'll usually see them from a distance. They're great indicators of where players are staked out, so if you ever spot a tower or other fortification, you should absolutely approach it with caution--it usually means someone's waiting with a scoped rifle, hoping to take down passersby. Often, when you're on the ground and spot a tower, it's best to keep clear of it. Usually, fortifications suggest that players are well-stocked and ready for a fight from a distance--and if they're up high, they typically have a line-of-sight advantage. If you're looking to fight someone in a tower or other structure, you're going to want strong weapons. The newly added minigun can chew up materials like wood and brick pretty well, and tough-to-find rocket launchers can absolutely devastate fortifications. You should always try to bring the right tools for the job. Fall damage can play a big part in some of these fights. If you can destroy the bottom of stairs or the supports of a tower, you might be able to collapse it altogether, so pay attention to how you can use the environment and the construction to your advantage.
Never Trust Cover
No cover in Fortnite is foolproof. Just about everything in the game is destructible--not just player-constructed fortifications. Even buildings on the map can all be wrecked with the right weapons; locations that feel safe generally aren't, and every wall can be destroyed in the middle of battle. This means that even when you're hiding out or grabbing cover in a firefight, you should always be prepared to move, strafe, run, and otherwise do your best to avoid fire. Walls won't save you--and especially late in the game, the likelihood of someone bringing along a rocket launcher or minigun to a battle increases tremendously. Those things annihilate cover pretty easily, so learn not to rely on it. Mobility is often your greatest ally, so jump and build to give yourself additional advantages in battle.
Be Careful When Looting Defeated Players
Fights in Battle Royale games are almost always close calls that fill you with adrenaline, and taking down another player always comes with a rush of relief. Don't let your guard down, though; every time you fire your gun, you announce yourself, and the loot that players drop when they die makes those locations targets for other players. Immediately after winning a fight is when you need to be extra-careful. Instead of rushing up to a dead player and going through all their gear (which can leave you very vulnerable), it's often better to take a beat, grab cover, and survey the situation. Other players might be attracted to the gunfire or spot the loot as you're on your way to grab it, allowing them to get the drop on you. Similarly, you might be able to use the dead player's loot to get the drop on them. Being careful is key to survival in Fortnite: Battle Royale--so play smart, and always expect another player lurking nearby. The same goes for the supply drops, which occasionally get ejected into the sky by the party bus as it flies overhead. The drops have great loot, but almost always attract a lot of attention, so approach them carefully.
Use This Time To Learn
Most of these tips are geared toward teaching you how to keep yourself alive in Fortnite, and it can be tempting at the start to hole up inside a building deep in the circle with the first gun you find, trying to outlast everyone else. You might even find yourself getting into the top 10 players in a match without firing a shot. It's worth it to experiment in Fortnite: Battle Royale, especially early on. Learn your capabilities and get a handle on how other people play the game. In other words: Go get yourself killed. Finding good weapon locations, discovering how to use buildings effectively, and getting used to how guns handle in firefights is all part of what it takes to win in Battle Royale games. Fortnite matches pit you against 99 other players, so the likelihood that you're going to lose is extremely high. Embrace it, and use your first matches to build skills rather than hide out in an attempt to win. You'll do better in the long run when you start to learn the ins and outs of the game, as well as what you're comfortable with and how you can best succeed. You can also spectate other players once you're dead, which can clue you in on how more experienced players approach the game--it's a highly useful learning tool.
By Mat Elfring on Feb 21, 2018 03:00 am
WWE continues to make strides with its women's division by having the first women's Elimination Chamber match. On Sunday, February 25, at 8 PM ET/5 PM PT, the Elimination Chamber event comes to the WWE Network and PPV, and this is the first time in the show's history there will be both a men's and women's Chamber match. As of this writing, there are only four matches on the card, which makes me wonder if there will be a Kickoff Show. Before we get to the full match card and predictions, you may be wondering why there is a picture of Ronda Rousey above. Well, she's officially signing her Raw contract during the event. WWE's website is promoting this as a major part of the Elimination Chamber. That means something big is going to happen, especially when the company has more to say about this moment than either of the singles matches on the card. Because this is a high-profile part of the event, we'll make a prediction for it. Our prediction: The contract signing doesn't go as planned. Stephanie and Ronda brawl, setting up their Wrestlemania match Note: Should there be more matches on the card, we'll be adding them throughout the week. We doubt this PPV will only have four matches.
Matt Hardy vs. Bray Wyatt
Since Matt Hardy has been "Woken," he's gotten under Bray Wyatt's skin, and Wyatt was the man who broke Hardy in the first place. I've really been looking forward to seeing a match between these two take place, as I am still trying to forget the short and bland Raw 25 contest between them. In order for this storyline to move forward, which it needs to, Hardy will have to get the win with the hopes these two will have a Wrestlemania match, even if it's just on the Kickoff Show. Our prediction: Matt Hardy wins
Women's Elimination Chamber Match
(For the Raw Women's Championship) WWE has been pushing the women's division hard and elevating it the past year. We saw the first women's Money In The Bank match--which had a controversial finish--and the first women's Royal Rumble match--which lived up to the hype even when the women from the Diva's era couldn't keep up with the other talent. Now, we'll see the first women's Elimination Chamber match. In this contest, Bayley, Sasha Banks, Sonya Deville, Mandy Rose, and Mickie James will battle it out in the Chamber alongside current Raw Women's Champion Alexa Bliss. It's a bit of a surprise that the title is up for grabs a couple months before Wrestlemania, so we're thinking Bliss will retain, even though I really want to see Mickie James have one last title run. Our prediction: Alexa Bliss wins
Asuka vs. Nia Jax
Asuka and Nia Jax had quite the rivalry during their time on NXT. Jax seemed like the one woman who could have stopped Asuka, but she fell short every time she tried. Sure, this match may just be a repackaging of the NXT run, but it's one worth watching as it will have a much larger audience. Without a doubt, the win will go to Asuka, preserving her streak, but hopefully, this will make Jax look good as well. Our prediction: Asuka wins
Men's Elimination Chamber Match
Raw's top talent is stepping into the Elimination Chamber to see who will take on Brock Lesnar at Wrestlemania for the Universal Championship (can Lesnar lose the title already?). The Miz, Seth Rollins, Roman Reigns, John Cena, Braun Strowman, Elias, and Finn Balor all have a chance for a title match, as long as they can make it through the Elimination Chamber. If a Wrestlemania match wasn't on the line, I could see any of these men winning; however, WWE's biggest event of the year needs a big name, and while Cena seems like the biggest draw, we're giving the win to Strowman. He's been pushed hard by the company the past year, and this match has his name all over it. Our prediction: Braun Strowman wins Secondary prediction: Strowman destroys the Elimination Chamber Third prediction: Lots of pointing at the Wrestlemania sign
By Miguel Concepcion on Feb 21, 2018 01:45 am
Alternative Missions
The 2018 release of Metal Gear Survive marks the first Metal Gear game since Hideo Kojima's departure from Konami. Yet it's most certainly not the first game in the franchise he hasn't helmed. While these games collectively fall short of Kojima's consistent track record, there are more gems here than duds, like Metal Gear Solid: Ghost Babel and Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance, which have each rated as well as many of the mainline Metal Gear installments on GameSpot. Take a look: For better or worse, it's likely that the Metal Gear name will live on well after Metal Gear Survive. If a non-canonical spin-off with zombies sounds dubious, consider the Metal Gear pachinko slot machine game that features completely remade cutscenes from Metal Gear Solid 3. It's a proverbial CQC gut-punch with a knife twist. But as a whole, this collection of spin-offs shows Konami's penchant for trying out new game mechanics, sometimes departing from the tactical espionage action that made the franchise a success. If you're curious about Metal Gear Survive, a second beta is currently live. It will run until February 18 and is available on PS4, Xbox One, and PC. Like the previous beta, it focuses on co-op play where the only available game type is a take on the classic multi-wave Horde mode made popular by Gears of War and, more recently, Fortnite. For more thoughts on our impressions on Metal Gear Survive at this point, you can check out our most recent preview and our beta livestream.
Metal Gear (NES, MS-DOS, Commodore 64)
Just as there are a dozen features the NES version preserved from the original MSX2 game, so too are there a dozen notable changes that makes the NES edition a brand-new experience. It begins right from the opening shot: the NES version has Snake parachuting--with three mystery operatives who are never seen again--in the middle of the jungle while the MSX2 game has him infiltrating underwater. There are differences in level layouts and how enemies drop loot, yet the most notable omission from the NES game was the Metal Gear tank itself--it was replaced by a super computer. Thankfully, the MSX2 version, along with Metal Gear 2: Solid Snake, would appear in North America as part of the bonus content in Metal Gear Solid 3: Subsistence and later in Metal Gear Solid HD Collection.
Snake's Revenge (NES)
Given the success of Metal Gear on the NES, it wasn't surprising that an unofficial sequel targeted to Western audiences would follow. Notable alterations over the previous game included pre-equipping Snake with a knife and handgun, changes to how he communicated with his support team, and more side-scrolling areas. While it's not essential to play Snake's Revenge to appreciate the franchise, it does maintain some of the first game's emphasis on stealth and the risks of triggering an alert state.
Metal Gear: Ghost Babel (Game Boy Color)
Capitalizing on the runaway success of the first Metal Gear Solid, this GBC spin-off--simply titled Metal Gear Solid in the West--bridged MGS with the much older titles, stylistically speaking. It paired the static camera view of MSX games with the aesthetic appeal of Yoji Shinkawa's character designs (as well as the GBA could pull off his detailed artwork, at least). It had connections to MGS by featuring not only Solid Snake, but also Meryl Silverburgh, Mei Ling, and Roy Campbell. Its bosses, with codenames like Marionette Owl and Pyro Bison, used naming conventions similar to the specialists of Foxhound. It's also notable for referring to the playable character in the Special Missions mode as "Jack." Was this a reference to the eventual appearance of Raiden a year later in MGS2 or Big Boss himself?
Metal Gear Solid Mobile (Mobile, N-Gage)
For a non-canonical Metal Gear game, this mobile entry makes a strong case for inclusion in the franchise's official lore. It helps fill a narrative gap between MGS and MGS2, when Solid Snake and Otacon were pursuing their Metal Gear eradication goals through Philanthropy. It wasn't without its Kojima-inspired twists plus references to the character who would be revealed as Raiden. And for a game designed for the N-Gage phone, it was impressive that its mechanics and visuals weren't that far off from the original MGS.
Metal Gear Solid: The Twin Snakes (GameCube)
This remake of Metal Gear Solid was designed in the style of MGS2 right down to the optional first-person view and improved enemy AI. Helmed by Silicon Knights, this GameCube exclusive was so well-executed that it was easy to play along with (or if you preferred, look past) Solid Snake's reimagining as a superhuman operative who can springboard off incoming missiles. For all the new features and cutscene surprises, it was a shame the studios involved didn't take this rare opportunity to add more connective narrative tissue between MGS and MGS2, like new insights into the mysterious Patriots organization.
Metal Gear Acid (PSP)
"Turn-based card game" certainly was a drastic departure for a stealth-oriented third-person action-adventure series like Metal Gear, but it proved successful enough to warrant a sequel. Pairing tactical combat with trading cards offered its share of depth and complexity, with cards divided into categories like weapons, equipment, and actions. And it was also notable for being the first Metal Gear game to have a multiplayer component, a few months before Metal Gear Online was introduced in Metal Gear Solid 3: Subsistence.
Metal Gear Acid 2 (PSP)
This sequel to the first Acid kept the tactical card gameplay with new features, like cover fire and the option to dispose of cards for in-game currency. Visually, Acid 2 stood out for being the only Metal Gear with a cel-shaded art style, which was complemented with particle effects and three-dimensional equipment boxes. It was also unique for including a Solid Eye pack-in cardboard attachment that created a 3D effect even though the PSP was not designed as a 3D handheld.
Metal Gear Solid: Portable Ops / Plus (PSP)
A rare canonical Metal Gear not directed by Kojima, Portable Ops was anticipated for being the first sequel that continued Big Boss' story from Metal Gear Solid 3. Its Comrade recruitment system signalled a departure from the solo mission designs of previous games, and narratively foreshadowed Big Boss' destiny as a military leader. Portable Ops also proved that the third-person controls of MGS3 could translate well to the PlayStation Portable, despite the handheld's lack of a right stick.
Metal Gear Touch (iOS)
Two years after the release of the hugely successful iPhone, Konami would capitalize on the touch-enabled smartphone with Metal Gear Touch. Repurposing the events of Metal Gear Solid 4 into a shooting gallery, this retelling of Old Snake's last missions was an entertaining yet non-essential tour of the locales from the PS3 game, with appearances from characters such as Raiden and the Beauty and the Beast Unit. Unfortunately, it's since been removed from the App Store--though, anyone who's previously purchased Metal Gear Touch can redownload it.
Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance (PS3, Xbox 360, PC)
By the conclusion of Metal Gear Solid 4, no character in the franchise more deserived a spin-off than Raiden, whose lethal skill with a blade made him a perfect fit for Bayonetta developer Platinum Games, the studio behind Metal Gear Rising. He always bore similarities to the equally agile and lethal Gray Fox, so it wasn't surprising that Kojima originally envisioned this game as a story of the tragic character also known as Frank Jaeger. An equally curious fun fact was that--after settling on Raiden as the protagonist--Metal Gear Rising was intended to bridge the events of MGS2 and MGS4. Add to that the previously planned gameplay mechanic where Raiden would harness power and take information from his vanquished prey. Ultimately, Revengeance was set after MGS4, where its design and gameplay departure from the series felt appropriate in a post-Snake narrative.
Metal Gear Survive (PS4, Xbox One, PC)
If there's one thing Metal Gear Survive should be given credit for, it's for living up to its 'Survive' moniker. The unlimited stamina you could take for granted in The Phantom Pain? Gone. Not only do you start Survive with very limited stamina, you also have to continually sustain yourself with food, water, and in some cases, oxygen. These demands are stacked on top of the constant need to forage anything you can pick up for Survive's immense crafting component. It remains to be seen if its online component will have long-term appeal, but being able to experience a new Fox Engine-designed Metal Gear game is certainly its silver lining.
By Kevin Wong on Feb 21, 2018 01:30 am
You know you're going to watch them all.
With Raw, SmackDown, and NXT firing on all cylinders, the WWE superstars are in for a big, busy year. Here's a comprehensive PPV schedule so that you don't miss a thing. There are 17 PPVs in all, and you can BELIEVE THAT.
1. NXT TakeOver: Philadelphia
Date: Jan. 27, 2018 Location: Philadelphia, Pennsylvania The first PPV of 2018 is an NXT exclusive. Because the storylines have more time to breathe, and because the shows are not as heavily produced as the main roster PPVs; the NXT Takeover series showcases some truly great in-ring action. Results: Andrade "Cien" Almas (c) def. Johnny Gargano to retain the NXT ChampionshipAleister Black def. Adam ColeEmber Moon (c) def. Shayna Baszler to retain the NXT Women's Championship Velveteen Dream def. Kassius Ohno Undisputed ERA (c) def. The Authors of Pain to retain the NXT Tag Team Championship
2. Royal Rumble
Date: Jan. 28, 2018 Location: Philadelphia, Pennsylvania It's a 30-man over-the-top-rope battle royal for a guaranteed title shot at WrestleMania. This is the first year that there is a women's rumble, and it's the perfect opportunity to push a brand new star. Results: Asuka won the first-ever 30-Woman Royal Rumble Match Brock Lesnar (c) def. Braun Strowman and Kane for the Universal Championship Cesaro & Sheamus def. Seth Rollins & Jason Jordan (c) for the Raw Tag Team Championship Shinsuke Nakamura won the 30-Man Royal Rumble Match The Usos (c) def. Chad Gable & Shelton Benjamin to retain the SmackDown Tag Team ChampionshipAJ Styles (c) def. Kevin Owens & Sami Zayn to retain the WWE ChampionshipBobby Roode (c) def. Mojo Rawley in a United States Championship Open ChallengeThe Revival def. Luke Gallows & Karl AndersonKalisto, Gran Metalik & Lince Dorado def. Drew Gulak, Gentleman Jack Gallagher & TJP
3. Elimination Chamber (Raw exclusive)
Date: Feb. 25, 2018 Location: Las Vegas, Nevada This is the eighth PPV in the Elimination Chamber series; the first one was in 2010. This is also the first time there will be a women's Elimination Chamber match.
4. Fastlane (SmackDown exclusive)
Date: March 11, 2018 Location: Columbus, Ohio This is the last main roster stop on the Road To WrestleMania, where any last minute swerves or title changes take place. This will be the fourth PPV in the Fastlane series; the first one was in 2015. This is the last single-branded PPV of the year. Henceforth, all PPVs will be dual-branded.
5. NXT TakeOver: New Orleans
Date: Apr. 6, 2018 Location: New Orleans, Louisiana The Friday before WrestleMania, the future superstars of WWE show off their skills. Expect this show to have less of the glitz and glamour, but more of the physical storytelling.
6. WrestleMania 34
Date: April 8, 2018 Location: New Orleans, Louisiana It's the Showcase of the Immortals; one year's worth of storylines reaches its climax at WrestleMania. This will be the second time that WWE is hosting its biggest show in The Big Easy.
7. Backlash
Date: May 6, 2018 Location: Newark, New Jersey Traditionally held after WrestleMania, this is the 14th show in the Backlash series. It usually features rematches of the WrestleMania card, often with extra stipulations. This makes it one of the most important "minor" PPVs of the year.
8. NXT TakeOver: Chicago
Date: June 16, 2018 Location: Chicago, Illinois The Windy City has a smark-heavy crowd, which is perfect for NXT Takeover shows. Expect a rowdy audience and lots of CM Punk chants.
9. Money in the Bank
Date: June 17, 2018 Location: Chicago, Illinois Climb the ladder. Retrieve the briefcase. Pave a pathway to glory. This will be the first year that Money in the Bank will be considered a "big" PPV, with a similar level of prestige as the Royal Rumble, WrestleMania, SummerSlam, and Survivor Series.
10. Extreme Rules
Date: July 15, 2018 Location: Pittsburgh, PA Extreme Rules is a throwback to the non-PG era of WWE, when trash can lids, kendo sticks, and folding chairs were the norm, not the exception. For one night, WWE pushes "family friendly" to its absolute breaking point.
11. NXT TakeOver: Brooklyn IV
Date: August 18, 2018 Location: Brooklyn, New York The most prestigious NXT Takeover, this is the fourth PPV in the Brooklyn series. It's where Triple H proclaimed, "WE ARE NXT!" and laid down a gauntlet for the rest of the locker room. Expect another classic PPV.
12. SummerSlam
Date: August 19, 2018 Location: Brooklyn, New York It's the biggest party of the summer. This is the fourth year in a row that WWE is hosting SummerSlam in Brooklyn at the Barclays Center. From 2009-2014, WWE hosted Summerslam at the Staples Center in Los Angeles.
13. Hell in a Cell
Date: September 16, 2018 Location: San Antonio, TX The most dangerous match in WWE history will never reach the heights that it did in 1998, when Mick Foley nearly killed himself in his match against the Undertaker. But then again, no one wants to raise the bar any further than that.
14. TLC: Tables, Ladders, Chairs
Date: October 21, 2018 Location: Boston, Massachusetts Like Hell in a Cell, this event is a brutal match stipulation that's been converted into a themed PPV. Expect punishment and brutality, within well-defined parameters.
15. NXT TakeOver: WarGames II
Date: November 17, 2018 Location: Los Angeles, California The first War Games NXT PPV went so well, that WWE has decided to do it again. NXT is the prime WWE destination for quality tag team action, and this PPV exemplifies that.
16. Survivor Series
Date: November 18, 2018 Location: Los Angeles, California It's the climax of the Raw vs. SmackDown conflict. Expect run-ins, show invasion angles, and general mayhem. Only one brand will reign supreme.
17. Clash of Champions
Date: December 16, 2018 Location: San Jose, California It's the evening when every WWE championship title will be up for grabs. This is the third PPV in the Clash of Champion series; the first one was in 2016.
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