By Anonymous on Aug 25, 2018 11:30 pm Disenchantment is the latest creation to come from Matt Groening, the man behind The Simpsons and Futurama. Is his new Netflix animated series just as magical? Dave tells you if Disenchantment Part 1 is worth watching!
By Anonymous on Aug 25, 2018 08:30 pm With the upcoming 10th anniversary of Dead Space, Mike Mahardy and Jordan Ramee return to the USG Ishimura to sing the survival-horror game's praises.
Based on the two-and-half hours spent playing some late-game missions, Assassin's Creed Odyssey seems to be improving upon all the changes that Assassin's Creed Origins introduced to the tenured franchise. By better implementing player choice across every aspect of the game, whether it's in the skills you equip in combat or by the dialogue choices you use to respond to the game's hundreds of NPCs, Ubisoft is making it easier for you to put a little bit of yourself into every decision.
Ubisoft Quebec (Assassin's Creed Syndicate) is leading the charge for Odyssey. Interestingly enough, the studio shared in Ubisoft Montreal's ambitions to turn Assassin's Creed into an RPG before even knowing that's where they wanted to go with Origins. Though the team has had the desire to work on an Assassin's Creed RPG, it's been an endeavor that's challenged them for the better part of the last three years.
At a recent Gamescom event, we had the opportunity to chat with Odyssey creative director Jonathan Dumont. We discussed at length Ubisoft Quebec's philosophy behind its approach to story and combat, as well as Dumont's thoughts on why Assassin's Creed works as an RPG, why Odyssey takes place so far in the past, and what the now decade-old franchise means to him as a creator.
GameSpot: When Origins was first unveiled, one of the biggest changes was combat. What sort of influences did you bring to Odyssey when it came to improving that area?
Dumont: Yeah, it's interesting because I don't know if we have something that we looked at necessarily. We did want you to feel like you're more capable of overpowering enemies. As you grow the strength of Leonidas' spear [your protagonist's weapon and a first civ artifact], you want it to become stronger and stronger. You have base combat and then everything we put on top is to facilitate getting the upper hand over other NPCs. We also wanted that to be a player choice, so we tried to have freedom at the core of everything that we've added. But in this case, creating your playstyle, creating your class, we were thinking about [it] as, "How cool would it be to mix and match skills?" We wanted to allow players to say, "I want to do these four things in the game and that's it. And that's the way I want to play the game!"
We were looking at it more from a customization perspective instead of trying to enforce a certain way to play the game or unlock things in a certain order. Invest the points where you want them but map them like you want them and create your own playstyle. Because Assassin's Creed has been around over 10 years now, and we all play different. Some people just want to play stealth and others might want combat, so we want to make sure that your playstyle is the right playstyle for you and that the game allows you to play that way.
Was player creativity and freedom the core design tenants this time around?
Yeah, and it goes with the story too and how you role-play the character. It goes into picking your character at the start of the game. It's even present when you're recruiting your ship's crew. So how do you want to make it your own in Assassin's Creed Odyssey? Trying to make it feel like what I do as being a reflection of me and that the game offers more choices to do so was important for us in our push to make Assassin's Creed a full RPG.
What fueled the decision for the main character to have a weapon that's essentially a piece of Eden?
So, I played all the Assassin's Creed games. In most of them, you end up fighting a boss that has a piece of Eden, and I have always been intrigued by that. Why can't we see that from the start of the game? If you're going to implement that into a game set in the 1500s, it would be tough to introduce, but if you're going back 2,500 years and, in a setting, where it's [more] tied closely to the first civilization, it makes more sense. They're seen as gods still, so it fits within that setting and the traditional hero of that time, which is typically someone elevated by some power or chosen by the gods.
I always wanted to see what would happen if you could manipulate [a first civ artifact] and control one throughout an entire game. It's not usually present in our games, but with Odyssey I felt like [it's the] right time to try something a little bit outside our typical pillars.
I heard that both the Montreal and Quebec studios logically came to the conclusion that the RPG genre is where the series should go. How did that epiphany come about for the studio? And why do you think the RPG is where Assassin's Creed needs to go?
I think we spent a lot of time creating these huge open worlds and we wanted to give more incentives to explore it. We also prided ourselves in creating these credible worlds where you meet historical characters and dive into history, but we still wanted to explore it in a deeper fashion.
The RPG was a no-brainer for us and where we wanted to go with the series, which is funny because the Origins team felt the same way. We were looking at what they were building, and we were pretty much on board, so we took their code and decided that where we wanted to push further was the role-playing elements and combat customization. The RPG genre really opens our franchise to a much deeper and richer experience where you get involved and care more about what is going on than in the past.
Assassin's Creed has always been a historical fiction series closely grounded in real-world timelines, but it's intriguing to see how you're allowing players the choice to change how the story plays out a bit. Not only that, but you're also introducing these surreal elements fueled by mythology, like Medusa and the Minotaur. How do you balance these inclinations to introduce unearthly aspects while staying within the confines of reality?
Well there's two parts to that. Even though we have choices, we don't change history. Your story changes and some of the relationships you have with some characters will change, but history will follow its course and have the same conclusions you know from real life.
For what's mythological, these are small pockets out in the world. You won't see Medusa walking around or anything like that. The Greeks valued adventure, but they also had fears about adventure. The woods were dangerous so those are places you'd find the myths and legends because that's what they thought were there. In that sense, it's more of an interpretation of what they saw. But is it a simulation within a simulation via the first civ artifacts? You could ask: "Are they really seeing these things?" And some of these things will open up more as you play the game on some explanation. We don't answer all the questions, obviously because questions are interesting and are sometimes even more interesting than the answers.
But as an RPG, we wanted the player to take on bigger things. Mythology was the right choice for us in exploring that. As a whole, 99% of the world is grounded in reality. You'll get to go to see Athens and we made it just as the city was. You'll get to go to where the Oracle of Delphi was, and it looks just like what the place was. But then there's that 1% where we tapped into that first civ to allow some of these mythological elements to come out more. Typically, we do a scenario where a drug allows a character to see these things, but now we're trying to make it coexist a little bit more with the world.
What fueled this decision for this game to be pushed even further back into the AC historical timeline?
With the introduction of choice, we were looking for a setting that was culturally rich, that exposed a lot of values dealing with chaos and order, which I feel to be the thematic root of Assassin's Creed. We ultimately fell on Ancient Greece because they were asking questions, trying to find the truth. Everybody's a philosopher. There's conversations, dialogue. We wanted that to be sort of what's going on around the world because we're introducing choice into the franchise. If you meet Socrates, you talk to Socrates, you ask questions. You're looking for answers. You're trying to see what's good, what's bad, what's true, and what's false. So that is something that we felt that if you're going to introduce choice, we needed a setting like Greece to facilitate that.
I know you can't say much, but can you tell us a little bit about what the modern day storyline will look like this time around?
It's definitely a continuation of Layla's story, and it will evolve the story quite a bit. You'll get some character development in there. She's going to change and take an adventure that goes to places that you don't expect, which is an interesting way of looking at it. Layla was introduced in Origins, but now we're digging into what she's looking for.
I don't want to talk too much about it because when it comes to the present-day, some people like it, some don't. You know how it is.
Jonathan Dumont, Creative Director
I don't want to talk too much about it because when it comes to the present-day, some people like it, some don't. You know how it is. But the way we do it is if you want to dive a little bit more into it, you can still explore, and we have optional dialogue choices you can pick to ask more questions about what's going on. Or you can choose to get it pretty straightforward, but we do have a little bit more action thrown in as well to keep it engaging for those types of players too.
Assassin's Creed has been around for 10 years now. It now has a legacy. So I'm just curious: how do you approach working on a franchise that is so tenured? And for you as a creator, what does Assassin's Creed mean to you?
Assassin's Creed means something different to everybody, and people are interested in it for different things. Some are interested in more of the mechanics. Some are interested more in the lore. Some are interested in the history. Personally, I like the fact that it allows us to explore a part of history, and I like that it allows us to recreate a world that we can't go to see now. So we put a lot of effort into documenting and building those worlds.
But the coolest thing I get to experience while creating Assassin's Creed is that the series sort of reinvents itself depending on the setting. So, if you want to be true to the setting, you need to implement aspects that fit. In Odyssey's case, we have Hoplite warriors and we get to introduce large-scale battles because it's Greece and it's the middle of the Peloponnesian War. Depending on the setting there's decisions that we need to make about gameplay that depend on the character and the setting. I personally love the creative freedom that it gives us when we switch settings, since it allows us to try new things.
As a creator, it's really interesting because, yes, Assassin's Creed is a running franchise that goes on for a while and we do games one after the other. But man, they're really different when you look at each one. You go from the French Revolution to Industrial Revolution to Egypt to Greece. That's crazy! And that's really interesting in my opinion. And I think that's why it's a franchise that people love because they get to be carried somewhere new. And we try to cater to that and make the series a fun place to discover. So, in my opinion, it's those aspects that interests me most.
That's really what drives me into making another one. Because you learn quite a bit as you develop them. You learn while making it. We're not historians. We like history, but we surround ourselves with specialists. We surround ourselves with people that know more than we do. And that first year we sort of try to become experts in a field that's not our field. Our field is making games, telling stories. But really, it's like going back to school every time you start making a new Assassin's Creed, so there's a lot of growth I get to experience during the development process.
One of the best things Microsoft has done with Xbox One is make good on its commitment to backwards compatibility. New backwards compatible games are being added all the time. As with the most recent additions--Tomb Raider Legend and Tomb Raider Anniversary--these are shared by Major Nelson on Twitter at 9 AM PT on Twitter, although there's no particular schedule for how many are released (if any) on a given day. It's always a mystery as to when we'll get more; we only know what time it'll be and that it'll come on a weekday, but the next batch of games usually isn't far off.
Even without a proper schedule for new releases, the past few years have seen the list of backwards compatible games grow quite long--and, as a result, it can be extremely difficult to find those that are worthwhile. Not only are there 400+ Xbox 360 games that can be played on Xbox One, but more than 30+ original Xbox titles are also supported.
Beyond the consistent rollout of games, Microsoft has publicly made it clear that backwards compatibility is a real priority for the company. "I see games as an art form," Xbox boss Phil Spencer said last year. "Console games can get lost when hardware generations go away. It can become more challenging to play the games of our past ... There's something to be learned from experiencing what I played as a kid. There's good business there for the content owners, but as players, it's nice to be able to understand how our art form has progressed."
Spencer subsequently made it clear that backwards compatibility is--despite reports suggesting it's ignored--a feature that people do use. He wrote off data that said otherwise and pointed to an example of strong sales for an old Call of Duty game when it was added to the service: "I think the best signal we had so far is when Black Ops II landed and that month it hit NPD's Top 10 that month for game sales. An Xbox 360 game that's years old, that shows that people care."
The feature has only gotten better with the release of the Xbox One X, as it offers much sharper visuals in these old games; some even have specific enhancements on top of a resolution increase. But whether you play on an X, an Xbox One S, or even the standard Xbox One, you're treated to a feature that is currently unmatched by both PS4 and Nintendo Switch.
While not providing access to everything available on Xbox 360 and the original Xbox, the supported backwards compatible games from the two include classics ranging from expansive RPGs and thrilling adventures to XBLA gems and old arcade games refined for the big screen. Among these are all-time greats like Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic, the Mass Effect Trilogy, and The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion to name a few. But if you want a challenge that's faster to jump into, the likes of Ikaruga or Super Meat Boy will do the trick.
To help you parse through the giant list of supported games, we've compiled a list of our personal favorites to highlight which backwards compatible titles are worth your time. If you want to pick something out yourself, you can peruse the entire list of Xbox One backwards compatible games. Which Xbox One backwards compatible games do you love the most? Are there any games would you like to be added in the future? Let us know in the comments below.
Alan Wake
Unfortunately, Alan Wake has been removed from all digital platforms, which includes the Xbox Store. However, if you can snag yourself a physical copy of it (or already own it digitally), then Alan Wake will take you on an adventure that you won't soon forget. Set in the Pacific Northwest town of Bright Falls (and taking significant inspiration from the television series Twin Peaks), Alan Wake features the titular character taking a vacation with his wife, who hopes the break will help her husband with his writing block. Things quickly take a turn for the worse, as Alan's wife disappears, and he's forced to confront the darkness that shrouds Bright Falls and ultimately question his own sanity. It's a compelling narrative that'll have you aching for a proper sequel. Thankfully, the two DLC story expansions are now free, so you'll at least have something to tide you over. | Mat Paget
Assassin's Creed IV: Black Flag
Desmond Miles' trip through time ended with Assassin's Creed III, and Ubisoft's follow-up title put players into the role of a nameless Abstergo employee. It was a clean slate for the franchise, offering a great point for new players to jump in without having to start from Altair's story. Assassin's Creed IV: Black Flag steps back from the grand ideologies of the Assassins and Templars, as well as the convoluted Those Who Came Before storyline, to deliver a relatable tale of one man's quest for redemption. Edward Kenway isn't all that different from a young Ezio; he has a good heart but he's brash and selfish. Over the course of Black Flag, Edward grows from a greedy pirate into a humbled hero. The inclusion of both traditional assassination missions and new naval combat along with the lush islands and open seas of the Caribbean made for one of the best games in the franchise. | Jordan Ramee
Bully: Scholarship Edition
Rockstar constantly refines its open-world action games, which we've seen through the Grand Theft Auto series and Red Dead Redemption. But the one that always stands out to me is Bully, because it traded gratuitous violence and adult stories for the rough-and-tumble fisticuffs and hijinx of a rambunctious high school. I vividly remember the theme song that plays while walking Bullworth Academy, rushing to make it to class on time, and scrapping with the bullies in missions to become the most respected student on campus. Bully expands beyond that with loads of fun mini-games, silly characters based on high school stereotypes, and an expansive open world. While it may be a bit wonky in terms of controls and technical performance compared to modern games, everything it does right comes together for a game worth playing today. | Michael Higham
Castlevania: Symphony of the Night
Countless so-called Metroidvania games have drawn inspiration from Castlevania: Symphony of the Night, but more than two decades later, few can approach its greatness. It evolved the well-established Castlevania series in numerous ways, offering a non-linear castle to explore and RPG-style progression while maintaining the satisfying side-scrolling action of earlier titles. I came to it years after its original release and still thoroughly enjoyed it, and it's something that I still routinely find myself booting up. Exploring Castle Dracula is one of the great pleasures in gaming, and it's a testament to its design that fans of the game still have its layout memorized so many years later. I'll spare you a reference to the twist in case you've managed to avoid it all these years, but whether you're a fan of more recent Metroidvania-style games who missed out on this progenitor of the genre or someone who's never dabbled in these types of games, you owe it to yourself to see why Symphony of the Night is regarded as an all-time classic. | Chris Pereira
Crackdown
Despite initially being written off by many as "that game with the Halo 3 beta," I was immediately taken with the concept of Crackdown--an open-world game where you play as a superhero special agent who can pick up and throw cars or leap over buildings. A decade later, the fairly basic set of goals you're given leave something to be desired, but the core gameplay remains extremely fun. Hunting down agility orbs and dealing with villainous gangs is still tremendously satisfying, particularly with a friend online. Its cel-shaded art style still looks good, and with backwards compatibility introducing some impressive Xbox One X enhancements to the visuals, Crackdown is a game that's well worth picking up. | Chris Pereira
Dead Space
Let's face facts: there's practically no chance that EA will bring back Dead Space, at least not as we know it. While it's sad to think that one of the most intriguing sci-fi horror series out there has been pushed to the sidelines, the fact that Dead Space is backwards compatible on Xbox One is at least worth celebrating. I know, it's also on PC, but if you're in a console-only household, Xbox One is the only current-gen console you can look to. And why should you play Dead Space? In short: it's a spooky-as-hell third-person action game with fantastic art direction, and features one of the coolest "guns" in gaming. The enemies you face are drastically distorted humans with malformed and elongated limbs that make great targets for your Plasma Cutter--a maintenance tool that fires energy beams, making it an equally effective sidearm. Dead Space manages to juggle cool tech and a scary setting unlike any other game out there, and if you haven't tried it in the past, you really should if you have an Xbox One at home. | Peter Brown
Fallout 3
Fallout 3 kicked off the series' modern era and helped cement Bethesda Game Studios' reputation as a leader in the field of open-world RPGs. The open-ended structure allows you to freely roam a post-apocalyptic wasteland (so long as you can survive) and seek out stories in the most unlikely and dangerous places. The dialogue choices are numerous, allowing you to shape the story and your character with a great amount of freedom, staying true to the series' RPG roots. Likewise, despite the shift to a first-person perspective, Bethesda implemented the Vault-Tec Assisted Targeting System, better known as VATS, to allow for strategic menu-based combat. It was an unusual mechanic but one that quickly gained favor for how it effectively bridged the gap between Fallout old and new. Fallout 3 was hugely ambitious at the time of its release, and persists as one of the all-time great open-world RPGs 10 years later. | Peter Brown
Fallout: New Vegas
Obsidian has the magic touch when it comes to RPGs, and Fallout: New Vegas is a prime example. The vast brown deserts of Nevada might not sound very appealing, but New Vegas shines through incredibly clever writing and masterful quest design. Vaguely aligned factions and active societies fill the world with distinct charisma. I'll never forget the high-class casino that acts as a front to a secret bourgeois cannibalistic society and the reveal of Mr. House's true identity while overlooking the entirety of New Vegas. Quests like these are plentiful, and they're surrounded by such intricate lead-up and dialogue sequences that plant genuine curiosity in your head to see them to the end. Fallout can easily drop in swing tunes and old-time jazz for a great soundtrack, and it's all the more fitting with the Vegas theme. But since this is a post-apocalyptic wild west, classic country-western songs diversify the tracklist and are burnt into my memories of trekking the dangerous deserts with a big iron on my hip. | Michael Higham
Far Cry: Blood Dragon
While I've personally grown tired of the franchise formula that was established with Far Cry 3, the one post-Far Cry 2 game in the series that I'm still quite taken with is Blood Dragon. The spin-off infuses Far Cry 3's gameplay with a dystopian '80s flavor. Despite being set in 2007, the game boasts a unique look, as it's essentially made to imitate the way '80s movies tended to imagine the future; there's fog everywhere, with neon colors and lasers paired with a matching synth soundtrack. You play as a stereotypical action hero named Rex "Power" Colt, who's voiced by Terminator and Aliens star Michael Biehn. It's all very over-the-top, satirical in nature, and it pairs quite nicely with Far Cry's gameplay. Blood Dragon's distinct enough to make it worth a try even if you find the Far Cry games somewhat rote. | Chris Pereira
Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas
If I had to pick a favorite Grand Theft Auto game in the series, I will always point to San Andreas. As a sort of ode to '90s hip-hop culture and satire of Southern California street gangs, San Andreas was an odd reflection of home. Sure, it's a GTA game, violent and absurd overall, but the way characters talked, the music that played, and just the way the city streets looked were all too familiar. In addition, Rockstar layered some light RPG elements that made the streets of Los Santos feel more lived-in. Sometimes I wouldn't even do missions, and instead hit the gym or shop for clothes.
Of course, San Andreas includes an expansive open world beyond Los Santos with Las Venturas, the Vegas stand-in, and San Fierro to imitate San Francisco. Some of the mission designs are dated and the shooting mechanics aren't refined like modern entries, but San Andreas is still a ton of fun and has a unique personality that few games can match. Carl Johnson (CJ) still stands as one of the best GTA characters, ever. | Michael Higham
Halo: Reach
After Halo 3: ODST took a detour from John-117's story to focus on the mission of one squad of Orbital Drop Shock Troopers, Halo: Reach took that same format of working within a squad and reapplied it to a group of Spartans. Taking place prior to the events of Halo: Combat Evolved, the story of how the planet Reach fell is a rollercoaster of empowering firefights and emotional sacrifices. It was Bungie's last Halo title before handing the reins over to 343 Industries, and it shows. Halo: Reach takes the best online multiplayer and single-player campaign elements that Bungie spent perfecting over Master Chief's original trilogy and combines it into one incredible game. I'll still boot up Halo: Reach from time to time, and the servers for SWAT are still loaded with thousands of players waiting to vote to play on Sword Base. | Jordan Ramee
Hitman: Blood Money
Before the 2016 franchise revival, Hitman: Blood Money was the peak of Agent 47 hijinx. At its core, Blood Money succeeds because of expertly designed missions; everything from creating a specific atmosphere for each level to weaving all the variables that can play out were on point. So many clever assassinations stand out to me, like loading a prop gun with real ammo that's supposed to be fired during an opera play or strangling a target with the handy fiberwire during mardi gras wearing a big yellow bird costume. This is where Hitman got its dark sense of humor, and it breathes life into an otherwise stoic assassin.
Because it nails down the Hitman formula that's been refined with the recent entry, Blood Money has aged well and very much feels like a modern game. It's a little less forgiving and doesn't have the slew of interesting challenges from 2016's game, but Blood Money has some of the series' most memorable missions--and they remain just as fun today. | Michael Higham
Ikaruga
Japanese developer Treasure has another game on this list that's also a vertical-scrolling arcade shooter, but Ikaruga's reputation is unlike any of its peers'. Where so many games of this type bank on nuanced mechanics and subtle differences to standout in the eyes of enthusiasts, Ikaruga's big mechanic is so well known that it's gone on to inspire other developers who make games in entirely different genres. I'm talking about the black-and-white color switching mechanic, which both gives you the ability to absorb incoming enemy shots of the same color and alter your affinity to impart greater damage to enemies of the opposite color. Getting to the end of a stage in a game with one-hit deaths is challenging enough, but if you are after the top spot on a leaderboard you also have to know how to maximize your score by chaining together attacks as the appropriate color. It's tough, but Ikaruga is also a beautiful game that showcases an amount of maturity that feels unique compared to the rest of Treasure's output. While it's not everyone's cup of tea, Ikaruga is still an easy game to appreciate. | Peter Brown
Jet Set Radio
Jet Set Radio is a series that Sega may never bring back, but at least the HD port of the original Dreamcast hit is playable on Xbox One. It combines rollerblading and graffiti in a goofy cel-shaded metropolis, and apart from its sequel (which sadly isn't backwards compatible), there's no game like it. Jet Set Radio's expressive characters are only matched by the eclectic soundtrack that ranges from hip hop to Japanese rock, and it's so beloved that the lead composer, Hideki Naganuma, is regularly berated on Twitter to bring the series back, despite simply being in charge of music. Its reputation hasn't faded in 18 years, and if you don't know why, you owe it to play it and find out for yourself. | Peter Brown
Mass Effect Trilogy
BioWare's famed trilogy is defined by choice, and you'll make hundreds across all three games. Some of these decisions will be incredibly difficult, even heart-wrenching; I've spent many an evening thinking through the possible moral ramifications of my decisions. The trilogy really begins to show your impact when choices you made in the first game snowball into increasingly dire situations across the next two entries. I've only played the original Mass Effect once, but poured close to a thousand hours into the second and several hundred in the third. Each title is a masterpiece in its own right, and the latter two are mechanically sound third-person RPG-shooter hybrids that still hold up years after release. Mass Effect 2 is my favorite video game of all time, mostly because it's the best interstellar dating sim on the market. Over the course of three games, you'll fall in love with these characters and the rich sci-fi universe of Mass Effect. | Jordan Ramee
Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance
Most people love Metal Gear for the series' stealth-centric games, but that doesn't mean the action-packed Rising should be ignored; far from it! Not only does it manage to fit right into the timeline and (in a roundabout way) the series' overall attitude, it is an excellent action game that, like Bayonetta and Vanquish, perfectly showcases why Platinum Games is so beloved. The standout feature of the blade-based combat system is Raiden's ability to literally slice through enemies--a process you can control, lopping off limbs or bisecting torsos with laser accuracy. It's an impressive feat of programming, and a unique mechanic that (as far as I know) has never been truly replicated. Worry not if you've always been turned off by Metal Gear's confusing storyline. Rising is all about over-the-top katana mayhem, and when it does make an effort to tell a story, it delivers goofy melodrama that anyone can appreciate. | Peter Brown
Mirror's Edge
When Mirror's Edge released, the gaming world had never seen anything like it. First-person platforming was practically a no-no, but EA DICE proved it's possible under the right set of circumstances. The trick, at least the one that made Mirror's Edge such a revelation, was to simplify pathfinding by using clever visual cues and implement contextual animations to create a sense of flow. In one stage you will leap across rooftops, wall run, smash through windows, and slide under enemy fire before taking the aggressor out. It's basically Parkour: The Game. While its sequel, Mirror's Edge Catalyst, tried to go for a more open-world design, the original game is focused enough to be tackled in small sessions, which also encourages you to attempt run after run through a single level, chasing your best times and most stylish performances. It's an endlessly cool game that may never get old. | Peter Brown
Ninja Gaiden Black
The original Ninja Gaiden reboot was something to behold back in 2004. As one of the fastest and most challenging action games of its era, Ryu Hayabusa's revenge mission where he fights ninjas, demons--and pretty much everything in between--was a knockout when it came to delivering thrills and moments of white-knuckle challenge. I'll even admit that I earned the lowly title of Ninja Dog on occasions, which was Ninja Gaiden's not-so-subtle way of saying 'git gud' back in the day. The game consistently delivered fast-paced action, and in the months after its release, it managed to get even better. As one of the early games on the original Xbox to use downloadable content, new weapons, monsters, and challenges were eventually added in, making the game even more of a stellar title. This culminated in the release of Ninja Gaiden Black, essentially the definitive edition of the core game. While Ninja Gaiden (2004) was remade again in the form of Sigma on PS3, I still think of Black as the best way to play Ryu Hayabusa's gory and over-the-top descent through the demonic underworld. Even after the releases of Bayonetta, Metal Gear Rising, and several installments Devil May Cry, Ninja Gaiden Black hasn't lost its touch, and it still stands still one of the greatest action games ever made. | Alessandro Fillari
Panzer Dragoon Orta
I've always had a deep respect for Sega's strange shooter series Panzer Dragoon, and the last entry, Panzer Dragoon Orta, remains a stellar tribute to its bizarre world. The series' otherworldly presentation--along with its own fictional language--gave it a sense of depth and wonder that felt all its own. While much of the series had its home on the short-lived Sega Saturn, 2003's Panzer Dragoon Orta was released on the original Xbox, showing a noticeable visual and technical upgrade over its predecessors. Diving back into the game after all these years made me appreciate how much thought and craft went into the game, which has held up spectacularly. Along with a wealth of hidden lore and concept art to find, it also comes with an unlockable version of the original game--which stands as one of the greatest game rewards of all time. If you're at all curious about the Panzer Dragoon series, Orta is the most accessible point of entry, and it still brims with that sense of otherworldly wonder that the series is all about. | Alessandro Fillari
Peggle
Peggle has received a sequel you can and should play on Xbox One, but more Peggle action is still a good thing. Fortunately, the original game is playable through backwards compatibility, and it holds up nicely. The basic Peggle formula--a sort of take on pachinko and pinball, but with tremendous sound design--is still as delightful as ever. You launch balls into a board filled with pegs and various obstacles in the hopes of hitting them and removing them from play. Finishing a round hilariously causes "Ode to Joy" to play as your ball sails across the screen one last time in slow motion, but the euphoric build-up of sound effects when you pull off an exceptional shot is one of the most satisfying experiences I've ever had in a game. | Chris Pereira
Radiant Silvergun
Remember Sega Saturn? While not a powerhouse in the US or Europe, it found great success in Japan where arcade ports were plentiful. One of the most well-known Japanese-exclusive Saturn games is Radiant Silvergun, and thanks to Microsoft's effort years ago to pump up the Xbox Marketplace with Japanese games, westerners finally got an official release on Xbox 360 and can still enjoy the game on Xbox One today. The most notable feature of this vertical-scrolling shooter is the large number of weapons you can pick from, which differ more in behavior than you might expect. Like many games by developer Treasure, Radiant Silvergun is a technical showcase (for its time) that also manages to be a great game with timeless appeal. | Peter Brown
Rainbow Six Vegas 1 and 2
In between its old-school tactical shooter phase and the current competitive multiplayer focus, Rainbow Six took a trip to Vegas and balanced its military sim roots with some more approachable shooter gameplay. Both Rainbow Six Vegas 1 and 2 captured the gaudy spectacle of the city's nightlife with bright lights and rows of slot machines, which often served as cover from enemy fire. I've had so many memorable multiplayer matches; taking cover and having the camera switch to third-person, rappelling down skyscrapers to crash through windows, or turning upside down on a rappel line to pop shots are a few of the amazing moments in competition. Servers are still online, so if you can get a group of dedicated players to play a few matches or terrorist hunt missions, you're guaranteed a great time. | Michael Higham
Red Dead Redemption
Of all the games that are backwards compatible on Xbox One, Red Dead Redemption tops the list as the most exciting. When it was added to the program earlier this year, not only did people finally have a way to replay one of the best games of the last generation on a current-gen console, they also got the option to play it in 4K on Xbox One X. This open-world western proved that Rockstar Games is capable of more than just Grand Theft Auto, and with the sequel on the way, now is the perfect time to see why Red Dead Redemption is such a big deal. | Peter Brown
Saint's Row: The Third
Saints Row was always a little silly, but The Third is clearly the point where Volition realized the franchise could no longer compete with Grand Theft Auto and chose instead to double down on the ridiculous. Saints Row: The Third is non-stop parody of open-world action games and pop culture references, and I love every second of it. There's something positively magical about playing as a loud-mouthed crime boss who's weaving between traffic on her motorcycle to save her friends from a ticking time bomb as government soldiers try to stop her while Bonnie Tyler's "I Need a Hero" plays over the radio. All of which occurs in what might be the most normal level in the game. Saints Row: The Third also does a good job recapping the events of the previous two games and introduces franchise favorite Kinzie Kensington, so it's a nice jumping on point if you're looking to play Saints Row IV or Agents of Mayhem. | Jordan Ramee
Shadows of the Damned
Shadows of the Damned was a match made in heaven for me. The quirky Suda 51 brought his comedic writing chops and teamed up with Resident Evil 4 director Shinji Mikami and Silent Hill composer Akira Yamaoka to make a shooter that, at the time, felt more like a Resident Evil 4 sequel than any game before it, including Resident Evil 5. The buddy-demon hunter adventure saw Garcia Hotspur and Johnson, the trusty skull sidekick that also turns into a number of different guns, venture into Hell to rescue Hotspur's love. There is quite the variety of enemies, levels, and crude jokes. While a sequel is what I truly want, I'll gladly play through it again for the umpteenth time to revisit it all. | Mat Paget
Skate 3
The Tony Hawk's Pro Skater series may go down as having the "best" skateboarding games of all time, but none of them capture the sport quite like the Skate series does. And while the first two Skate games had a more structured campaign the open-world skateboarding sandbox of Skate 3 is still as fun to flip, grind, and bail in as it was the day it came out. Tackling a specific spot over and over again in Skate 3 mirrors what real-life skateboarding is like, though I can actually pull off a darkslide or a benihana in Skate 3. And with its surprisingly breathtaking 4K enhancements on the Xbox One X, I can't recommend it enough. | Mat Paget
Spec Ops: The Line
Six years after release, I'm still reeling from the emotional fallout of Spec Ops: The Line. This unsettling game tackles the mental and emotional cost of war, and its moral quandaries stick with you long after you've put the game down and had a good cry. Despite having third-person shooter mechanics that are okay at best, Spec Ops: The Line kept me playing. Long after it forced me to kill innocent civilians, I was frantically shooting enemy combatants in a desperate attempt to justify my own in-game atrocities. But war doesn't work that way. I don't think I'll ever forget what white phosphorus does to a person, and if you play this game, you won't either. | Jordan Ramee
Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic
Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic is a gaming classic, and it was one of the best-written stories in the Star Wars canon prior to Disney neutering its relevance. The game utilizes similar combat, squadmate recruitment, and morality mechanics that BioWare would eventually use for both Mass Effect and Dragon Age: Origins. The game lets you fulfill your fantasy of living as a Jedi or a Sith, as you explore a galaxy far, far away, four millennia before the events of A Phantom Menace. I loved exploring ancient Tatooine and Kashyyyk on the Jedi path, but not nearly as much as seeing brand-new planets, like the ancient Sith homeworld Korriban, or flirting with Bastila. | Jordan Ramee
Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic II - The Sith Lords
Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic II - The Sith Lords is one of the best Star Wars video games of all time. Although its gameplay is largely untouched from its predecessor, KOTOR II implements elements of grey to the previously black or white morality system. New lightsaber styles also add a level of strategy, and there's twice as many people you can try to smooch. My favorite Star Wars droid, HK-47, also returns from the original KOTOR, and he continues to deliver unparalleled levels of sarcastic murder puns and sass. Despite its removal from the Star Wars canon, if you love Bioware's RPGs and the adventures of a galaxy far, far away, you need to play this game. Its incredible narrative will hook you in 15 minutes. | Jordan Ramee
Star Wars: Republic Commando
Prior to The Clone Wars animated series, the only hint that the clone army was more than a faceless batch of characters was Star Wars: Republic Commando. This video game moved past the uniform helmets to reveal each clone had their own personality, likes and dislikes, and skill set. I fell in love with the troopers through Republic Commando, and the clones have remained my favorite Star Wars characters ever since. Taking the lead of Delta Squad as the dependable Boss and directing the demolitions expert Scorch, computer-savvy Fixer, and weapons specialist Sev offered a more tactical experience than 2004's Star Wars: Battlefront. New enemy types and weapons keep the game fresh across its three different locations, and the story is one of the best in the Star Wars Legends universe. | Jordan Ramee
Super Meat Boy
Super Meat Boy has become something of a reference point for games that have come after it--and with good reason, as it's an exceptionally well designed game. It's a tough platformer where death can come at any instant--and you will die many, many times. And as heartbreaking as those deaths can sometimes be, it's invariably your own fault; SMB offers extremely tight controls and a deeply satisfying wall-jumping mechanic (made all the better by the way Meat Boy leaves behind a trail of meat wherever he moves). With hundreds of levels and numerous secrets to uncover, there's a lot to enjoy here. But most importantly, playing this original Xbox 360 version means you get to enjoy the brilliant original soundtrack by Danny Baranowsky that's missing from SMB's most recent re-releases. | Chris Pereira
Super Street Fighter IV: Arcade Edition
Capcom managed to do a lot of awesome things for Street Fighter V, but Street Fighter IV is still relevant for a lot of fighting game fans due to its massive roster and years' worth of competitive refinement. Super Street Fighter IV Arcade Edition marks the penultimate upgrade for the game, but you can also download the Ultra Street Fighter IV DLC to convert it into the ultimate version of the game on Xbox One. Whether you are a serious competitor or a casual fighting game fan who just likes to mash out a few combos with friends on the weekends, SFIV has loads of great characters to experiment with, and tons of personality to keep you entertained along the way. | Peter Brown
The Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind
The Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind takes me back--to six-years-old Aiden. Even though I was far too young to be playing such an intense RPG, and 90 percent of the story went right over my head, I couldn't help but get utterly consumed in how fantastical and insurmountable Vvardenfell seemed. Maybe it was my child-like wonder, or maybe it was just Bethesda's magic. At the time, I hadn't really played anything like it, and boy were the giant mushroom houses and terrifying Cliff Racers just as cool as kicking tail during Lara's Tomb Raider adventures. Morrowind was the first RPG that really made me fall in love with the more serious and immersive side of gaming, and even though its graphics haven't aged particularly well, it still holds that obnoxiously special place in my heart that I can't let go of, a place where I forge my own story, and escape into some far-off land. And, you know, knock the daylights out of some cultists. That too. | Aiden Strawhun
The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion
"Stop right there, Criminal Scum! You've violated the law!" Once you get past the potato faces, Oblivion's hyper-saturated graphics really are something special. Oblivion also took a lot of the annoying mechanics in Morrowind and made them just a little bit better. Any race could wear any armor, birthsigns could be changed, vampirism was part of the main game, the list goes on. One minute you have the incredibly lush, almost ethereal expanses of Cyrodiil, the next, there's an actual demon invasion. It's a wonderful contrast that I don't think the other Elder Scrolls games quite capture, as they're dark and morose, and somewhat brooding--but Oblivion is brimming with energy and color. | Aiden Strawhun
The Witcher 2: Assassins of Kings
The beautiful thing about The Witcher series is that if you're looking to hop into the latest entry, you don't need to play the previous titles. However, they do add a considerable amount of context to the expansive cast of characters, and particularly to every one of Geralt's relationships. The Witcher 2 is a mostly on-rails, linear RPG. That doesn't stop it from being an incredible, dramatic, and enticing adventure, however. The world is detailed and lush, as you'd expect from the series, and the choices you make throughout the story determine some pretty major outcomes. Just make sure to spend some time between story missions to smell the roses--er, the monsters, rather. | Aiden Strawhun
Viva Pinata
Rare's output under Microsoft has been uneven, but one bright spot shines above the rest. Viva Pinata is a sweet refuge from the norm--a sim that defies easy categorization. It bears a lot in common with farming sims like Harvest Moon or Stardew Valley. Instead of standard livestock, though, you're raising up beautifully designed candy-animals with punny names like "fudgehog" and "chewnicorn." The look is distinctly family-friendly, but under the surface the gameplay is surprisingly deep. I lost many nights to converting "sour" pinatas, facilitating my animals' feeding and mating habits, and even managing the food chain. (Some pinatas eat others, you see.) I'm partial to the first, but the semi-sequel Trouble in Paradise is mostly a revision for the better. Either way you can't go wrong, and they're both available on Xbox One. | Steve Watts
Assassin's Creed Origins released in 2017 following a year off, when Ubisoft took time off to reassess the future of its flagship series. Beyond the obvious move to Egypt, Origins' most notable area of innovation was combat. Previously reliant on engaging enemies and playing out execution animations, Origins completely transformed the series' combat into a hitbox-based system emphasizing precise timing and tactical dodging. While this was a welcome shift that introduced more complexity to enemy encounters, it still had plenty of shortcomings. You could easily fall into using a single dominant strategy to win fights, and the relatively low skill ceiling meant that you ultimately had very little improvement to strive for.
Ubisoft Quebec's upcoming Assassin's Creed Odyssey seems to be attending to these issues, providing more tactical combat than its predecessor while making subtle adjustments that vastly improve the moment-to-moment thrills of engagement. This might not mean much if you're more inclined to play stealth or ranged. I've personally been more of a stealth player in past Assassin's Creed games, even in entries that didn't accommodate such a playstyle--I'm looking at you, Assassin's Creed III. But I was pleasantly surprised to find during my experiences playing Odyssey that its combat was one of the aspects I enjoyed the most. Here are four major changes I noted during a recent two-hour Gamescom 2018 preview session while playing one of Odyssey's late-game questlines.
No Shields, Just Dodges
The most welcome change to Odyssey's combat is the lack of a shield or guarding stance. No longer can you block enemy attacks or arrows--you dodge them instead. This alters the flow of combat, forcing you to pay close attention to enemy movements while also being mindful of the spacing between you and your opponent. This is the best part about Odyssey's take on Origins' combat, as it elevates your active investment in a fight. It was easy to become idle in Origins, often turtling up against enemies with a shield, charging up a strong attack to knock them down, and then wailing on them. You need to be fully aware in Odyssey, unleashing measured bursts of attacks and dodging before getting hit by an enemy follow-up.
You may not come equipped with a shield of your own, but your opponents do! There's a power imbalance you feel every time you square up against a group of shielded enemies--a feeling I rarely got from fighting such enemies in Origins. Luckily, you're given a shield removal skill that can quickly put foes on even ground with you. It's an added layer of defense to enemies that seems superficial at first blush, but during my experiences with Odyssey, it contributed to the tension and reinforced the need to be alert.
A drastic, yet subtle new addition to movement is the roll as an action. In Origins, you could perform a roll after mashing the dodge button three times; it would be the third maneuver Bayek would perform after two step-dodges. However, it didn't serve much of a tactical purpose and was more of a cosmetic animation. In Odyssey, a roll is performed by holding the dodge button, and it covers more ground than the standard step-dodge. In every encounter, I had to distinguish which enemy attacks called for a roll, and which could be simply dodged with a quick step. It's a minute change but it made all the difference in elevating my senses during a battle.
You're Making Way More Decisions In Combat
Remedying the issue of Origins' barebones combat are a ton of special skills you can equip and activate on the fly in Odyssey. The most prominently featured skill in early Odyssey footage is the Spartan Kick, which allows you to launch foes away, potentially off cliffs or into shark-infested waters. But there are several other skills you can use--some offensive and others defensive. For example, one allows you to slow down time and move seven times faster than your opponents, something that comes in handy for doling out more damage or simply getting out of harm's way. Skills are triggered by holding the shoulder button and pressing the face button associated with the one equipped on your wheel. You can equip up to eight skills at once, and each takes up a specific number of points from your Adrenaline Meter--which is now split up into segments--upon use.
During high-level play, having so many skills to mix-and-match made for a satisfying dance of creatively linking together the best ones to inflict the highest damage possible. But it also demanded think about how I spend Adrenaline. While you can use it to trigger a powerful special attack that can easily dispatch a single foe, you might be better served triggering several crowd-control moves to hurt multiple foes or launch them off the battle arena instead. A canvas for players to use skills the way they want was exactly what Odyssey creative director Jonathan Dumont intended to be a part of the game's combat.
"We tried to have choice at the core of everything that we've added." said Dumont. "We were thinking about how it would be cool to mix and match skills...we looked at it more from a perspective of customization instead of trying to enforce a certain way to play the game or unlock things in a certain order."
Boss Fights Are More Difficult And Complex
If there's anything that Origins was completely lacking in, it was boss fights. Bosses were often just stronger versions of standard enemies, and if they did have something more interesting at play, the strategy to beat them was incredibly simplistic. Even at high-level play, Origins' boss fights were prolonged encounters that simply required dodging and walloping on a foe until you had enough Adrenaline to perform an Overpower move; rinse and repeat.
Odyssey seems to throw more variety into difficult boss encounters. Admittedly, this observation is purely based on my experiences fighting against Medusa (yes, that Medusa). But if what I experienced with that fight is indicative of the entire game, then I'm quite excited for what other formidable opponents Odyssey is going to throw me against--mythological creature or not.
Medusa actually had varying attack patterns and different stages as the fight progressed. She would try to slow me down with her petrifying stare and then spawn stone soldiers to gang up on me. But as the fight went on, went on, she'd assault me with petrifying lasers and try to attack me directly, all while more stone soldiers spawned in. The fight actually challenged my ability to dodge and use skills efficiently. It's exactly what you want a boss fight to be: a test of everything you've learned and executed upon using the game's various systems. You can watch the full battle against Medusa at the end of the footage above.
You Can Restat Anytime You Want
This doesn't pertain to combat directly, but if you decide there's another character build you'd like to pursue that would better accommodate your fighting style, you're free to completely restat your ability points any time at no cost to you. This is a tremendous addition that gives you the ability to experiment and spend your ability points on other skills that may not have fit your initial character build. Once again, this seems to align with what Dumont believes is Odyssey's emphasis on creativity and player choice.
"Invest the points where you want them but map them like you want them and create your own playstyle," commented Dumont when asked about player customization. "Because Assassin's Creed has been around for over 10 years now, we all play differently. Where some people just want to play stealth or ranged, some people want combat. So, we want to make sure that your play style that you want to bring in is a right playstyle for you. And the game allows you to play that way."
That creativity is welcomed by the freedom to change the way you play at any time. The build given to me during the preview was focused more on combat, but I was able to restat into a hybrid of both combat and stealth. It made the build more focused on chain-killing as many enemies as possible with the Rush Assassination skill before being seen, and then clearing out the rest with crowd-control and attack buff skills. The opportunity to branch out allowed me to get creative with my character on a whim. It was refreshing to have no penalty for doing so, as Origins forced you to commit to a build for a majority of its runtime.
A Step Forward For Combat
There's a higher sense of urgency and strategizing in Odyssey's combat. You're thinking more and you're constantly making split-second decisions on the types of skills you want to perform. Enemy groups are quicker to surround and overwhelm you than in Origins, so it's essential to move quickly and act aggressively. All of this already puts Odyssey's combat system far above Origins' in complexity and nuance, often motivating me to pursue enemies head-on more than I'm usually accustomed to.
As someone who has always relished in playing stealthily in every Assassin's Creed game, it's exciting to see improvements that make combat less mindless and more tactical. For the first time in the series' history, I'm struggling to settle on a playstyle--not because of lacking quality in one over the other, but simply out of finding each genuinely appealing. It honestly surprises me, and for a series I've been following since the beginning, I find that fantastic.
Looking at From Software's Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice, it's clear that it's built on the foundations of the team's previous work on the Dark Souls series. Focusing on an uncompromising and stoic design sense that rewards patient players who learn from their mistakes, the developer's next big title definitely channels some of the best of what their last ten years of games have to offer. However, Sekiro is a major shift away from the slower, and more cautious playstyle of action-RPG Dark Souls and even Bloodborne--moving further into the direction of what seems to be a traditional action game.
In Sekiro, you're tasked with using some unorthodox gadgets, a sharp blade, and a ninja's cunning and agility to overcome foes that can drop you in only a few strikes. Just prior to Gamescom, we dove into a brief section of Sekiro, which showcased the unique combat and stealth encounters, and got an idea of how it recontextualizes the Souls-formula into a stealth-action experience.
Set in a heavily fictionalized take on Sengoku-era Japan in 1500, you play as a shinobi who faces a brutal defeat at the hands of a rival samurai, losing their left arm in the process. Defying death, the warrior is given a new arm by a mysterious monk who names him the "One-Armed Wolf". From here, the main character begins his quest for revenge against the samurai and his clan that roam the lands. But during his adventure, he'll encounter other dangerous beasts and larger than life monsters, slowly revealing a much greater threat that will push his shinobi training to its limits.
Unlike From Software's past titles, Sekiro focuses on the story of a defined character, and with stripped down RPG mechanics--there's a greater emphasis on the more action-oriented gameplay and smart use of the tools you have on hand. As more of a spiritual successor to From Software's previous games--which were also directed by Hidetaka Miyazaki--many of the familiar touchstones from the Souls games remain intact--but with many notable differences.
At its heart, Sekiro is a stealth-action game, and many encounters involve getting the jump up on unsuspecting enemies for quick and efficient kill, or by avoiding packs of foes altogether. With the One-Armed Wolf's grappling hook, there's a stronger focus on verticality and movement throughout the levels, where gaining the high-ground above your opponents can mean all the difference in your chances for survival. Though you're certainly free to engage them head-on, most areas are heavily guarded, and you can easily find yourself outmatched by ranged foes and close-range fighters. The enemies in Sekiro are incredibly aggressive, and they prefer to fight in numbers.
During my time with Sekiro, I was impressed with the versatility of the game's main character, which quickly asked you to learn the ins and outs of his arsenal. With the ability to sneak, hug walls, climb steep surfaces, and even jump, the protagonist's skills give him an incredible amount of flexibility and range, allowing you to uncover hidden vantages above groups of enemies, or secret encounters off the beaten path--such as a Shinobi-hunting monk who's immune to many of the Wolf's tricks. But the protagonist's most valuable tool in his arsenal is the Shinobi Prosthetic, which acts as your all-in-one support item, akin to Bloodborne's trick weapons. Allowing you to toss shurikens, spew fire, blind foes, and unleash a powerful axe that can break through enemy defenses, the One-Armed Wolf can pull off all sorts of clever moves on the fly--such as igniting your sword on fire to add extra damage.
Like other titles from the Souls series, death plays a large role in Sekiro. While the One-Armed Wolf is an extremely lethal fighter with gadgets and weapons that allow him to kill most common enemies in only a single blow, he's extremely vulnerable as well. While you're certainly able to face off against groups of foes, it's usually the smarter option not to. During one challenging section, I entered a courtyard with several guards trying to a contain an imprisoned Ogre, only to be spotting by ranged bowmen who had the high ground. With the stealthy approach out the window, I tried to engage each target one-by-one--but then the Ogre broke free and joined the fight. What followed was a cascade of violent blows and flying arrows--culminating in the large Ogre powerbombing me and tossing me like a ragdoll.
You'll die a lot in Sekiro. But as the subtitle of the game suggests, there's more to death than what it seems. Referred to as the Resurrection mechanic and used as somewhat of a tactical respawn, you're able to use up a life token (two at max)--found from resting at Sculptor's Idols, essentially bonfires--to instantly revive on the spot and pick up where you left. In most situations, you can wait for enemies to walk away, revive, and then sneak up for a kill when their guard is down. But of course, if the situation looks too dire--some enemies will choose to stick around your body--you can accept your death instead, which will send you back to the nearest Sculptor's Idol. And of course, all common foes will return after visiting the rest point, forcing you to take on that familiar gauntlet once again.
Eventually, you'll come across elite foes that guard the only path forward. These mid-bosses are among the more dangerous opponents you'll encounter, and battling them feels more like a game of wits and quick reflexes, rather than brute force. Much like stealth gameplay, melee combat is all about taking advantage of your opponent's vulnerabilities. With the Posture System, aggressive attacks, timed parries and blocks will add pressure to your opponent. Once the Posture gauge tops out, they'll enter a stunned state, opening them up to critical attacks. However, the elite enemies can do the same to you, which will decimate your life bar in a single blow.
There were definitely a lot of surprises to be found in this relatively modest demo for the game. After passing through the castle grounds, we entered a large canyon guarded by a massive snake. With the only way forward ahead of it, we had to time our jumps and grapples correctly to enter small cave in time to evade its attacks. Soon after, we faced off against the demo's boss on a bridge surrounded by sparkling red trees--one of the demo's most visually stunning areas. Known as the Cursed Monk, this multi-phased fight forces you to use every skill you have--even grappling to higher ground to avoid attacks. It was easily the hardest fight in the demo, and unsurprisingly, we couldn't beat it.
After playing more than half-an-hour of the game, it's clear that the roots of the Souls genre are still there--yet it's undeniably its own beast. One of the more common sensations felt when playing games like Dark Souls and Bloodborne is the sense of apprehension and dread. While those feelings are still present in Sekiro to an extent, the tools and skills that the protagonist possessed gave me much more of an empowered feeling throughout. Having said that, there's still much we have to learn about Sekiro, and just how far it will go with its mashup of stealth-action gameplay and the best of what the Souls series is all about.
For more on our continuing coverage of Gamescom 2018, which includes our hands-on impressions of Devil May Cry 5 and Hitman 2, be sure to check out GameSpot's hub page for all the latest news and videos.
By Anonymous on Aug 25, 2018 05:12 am Check out 15 minutes of Devil May Cry 5 in 4K resolution seen at Gamescom 2018. Devil May Cry 5 will be available on Xbox One PlayStation 4 and PC.
On the surface, Ubisoft's new first-person psychological thriller, Transference, is a pretty spooky descent into one man's misguided efforts to transfer someone's consciousness onto a computer. As is the case with most fictional mad scientists, Raymond Hayes decides he and his family are the best subjects for his final test and attempts to upload himself, his wife Katherine, and their son Benjamin all into the same simulation. Things do not go well.
Transference picks up at the conclusion of Raymond's experiment. You take control of a nameless protagonist who stumbles upon Raymond's work, but instead of a happy family living in never-ending bliss, you discover a twisted digital reality that's partially incomplete and fractured into three different perspectives.
During a Ubisoft pre-Gamescom press event, I played a 15-minute Transference preview demo on the Vive, but the game is available as a non-VR title as well. After donning the headset, I began to explore a crumbling reality. I navigated a single apartment complex that experienced minute changes, very much like the one in Silent Hills' playable teaser, through the eyes of four different characters--the three members of the family and the neutral protagonist who can view the simulation without bias--to escape a collapsing digital world. Despite the urgency of the situation, I was often drawn to stop and watch the emotional distress that had befallen the Hayes family. I desperately wanted to know what happened and solve their mystery. Transference preys on this desire, the need to solve mysteries and fulfill patterns, throughout both its storytelling and puzzles.
"We wanted the player to use their observation and the simple interactions in the game to solve the puzzles," said Transference producer Kevin Racape. "The more the player progresses, the more the walls starts closing in. You're a prisoner of this world. You feel trapped within this simulation--this crazy experiment--and that's the feeling we wanted to give to our players."
Every clue you need to make it to the next area can be found in your immediate vicinity. The trick is changing your perspective. It's exactly like a real escape room, as each challenging puzzle is meant to be solved through the shared experiences of multiple people. Often, one clue can take on entirely new meaning when seen by a different set of eyes. Our histories affect how we take in information, and utilizing this fact is the key to overcoming the varied puzzles throughout Transference.
Throughout the Hayes' apartment complex are light switches. Flipping a switch literally switches which character you see through. When I first entered the simulation, I was looking at the world as the game's protagonist. He couldn't get into the Hayes' apartment, which comes as no surprise as he doesn't know what it's supposed to look like and thus can't visualize anything past the front door.
Flipping a switch put me into the perspective of little Benjamin, which removed the door entirely and replaced it with a gaping black mass of nothingness. Benjamin's memories of the front door had been corrupted, as the data was missing a few pieces. Switching back to the protagonist, I went down to the basement, grabbed an extra door knocker, switched back to Benjamin, and added it to the corrupted data to reform the door. As Benjamin, I made my way into the Hayes' apartment and into the next room.
Most of the perspective shifts in the Transference demo revolved around puzzles and gameplay mechanics, but there were a few times when jumping from person to person revealed story details as well. For example, both Benjamin and his father view their apartment very differently, one seeing it as a nightmare and the other as a place for new beginnings.
"[Seeing] the whole environment [as a representation of] their own psyche will help a lot in discovering who they are, because if you take the time to explore and observe every item in each of the perspectives, they all have a purpose for being there," Racape said. "Through these observations, this is how you'll manage to put the pieces together. The different perspectives are necessary in order to learn more about each of the characters."
Learning the backstory behind each member of the family can help inform how to solve the game's puzzles. Even the protagonist's perspective is important, as he's the one who can see that there's something very wrong with the simulation. Of course, the protagonist himself doesn't belong and the digital world knows it.
My time with the demo ended with the protagonist being attacked by a living mass of corrupted data. "The monster that the player faces is a part of the corrupted simulation, proof that this experiment did not turn out well," Racape said. That's all Racape would say about the corrupted data, but it seemed like the monster didn't want the protagonist learning about the Hayes family.
The monster's emergence forced me into my flight-or-fight response. Unfortunately, my decision to face the corrupted data did not end well. Perhaps Katherine would have seen the monster differently, but she was the only perspective I didn't get to play. Though terrifying at the time, the corrupted data is a welcome addition to Transference. Every good escape room pushes its players to think creatively by setting a time limit, and the monster's presence adds the necessary pressure to remain alert for the clues that lead to breaking fee.
Transference launches for Xbox One, PS4, PSVR, Vive, and Oculus on September 18. A demo that acts as a prelude to the main game is available on PS4 and PSVR right now. Although playable in non-VR, Racape advises choosing the VR version of the game for a more immersive experience. It's certainly a lot scarier.
Activision has announced and released a new trailer for Call of Duty: WW2's fourth DLC pack, Shadow War. The DLC is coming out as a timed exclusive for PS4 first, before releasing on other platforms.
Shadow War concludes WW2's Nazi zombie storyline in a final chapter titled The Frozen Dawn. Taking place in the hellish depths of a lost city, The Frozen Dawn will test you with new hordes of zombie. However, seemingly magic-infused weapons will be available for you to pull off insanely powerful attacks. Some of them can be seen in the trailer, but Sledgehammer promises there are more secrets to discover in the DLC.
"Thematically for this pack, we wanted to push the fiction as far as we could, have a lot of fun with it, and give the player a sense of creativity as they play," said Sledgehammer Games lead multiplayer environmental artist Matt Abbott in a PlayStation blog post.
Shadow War also adds three multiplayer maps: Airship, Chancellery, and Excavation. Airship takes place far up on a mountain next to a docked zeppelin. Owning the zeppelin gives your team the advantage, but you have to run out of cover along narrow cliffs to reach it, and one misstep results in death. Chancellery takes the battlefield to a French stronghold for a nighttime firefight. Buildings at either end of a courtyard provide excellent sniper spots, but you can also hide in the parked trucks and set an ambush. Excavation is located in an Algerian mine. The dug up treasure and artifacts create a littered battlefield.
Operation Arcane is the final piece of content included in Shadow War. Rather than a straitforward battle, you'll play as the Allied forces who must infiltrate an Austrian lab, steal secret tech, get to the hanger filled with UFOs, and blow up the lab while escaping. The weapons you discover, like the Tesla Gun and a super soldier serum, can be stolen and used to complete the mission.
Shadow War comes to PS4 players first on August 28. The DLC releases for Xbox One and PC at a later date. For a limited time, Call of Duty: WW2 season pass owners can invite other players who don't have the DLC to participate in the content. From August 28 to October 28, if a season pass owner creates an in-game party and is party leader, everyone invited can participate in the new multiplayer maps, operation, and zombie storyline.
Taking feedback from the Rainbow Six Siege Test Server for Operation Grim Sky, Ubisoft is implementing balancing patches for a few of the game's Operators. One of the two new Grim Sky Operators, Maverick, is getting the most changes.
Players must have felt Maverick was too effective an Operator, as all of his changes are nerfs. His smoke grenade is being replaced with a stun grenade and his blowtorch's volume is being made louder so that he can no longer easily hide where he's cutting. Maverick's blowtorch is also being made weaker against barbed wire, so the process of destroying it takes about twice as long as before. Ubisoft has heard that players want Maverick's blowtorch to run through fuel faster and have a shorter range as well, but the developer is holding off on changing either for now.
In comparison, Operation Grim Sky's other Operator, Clash, is getting no changes. Ubisoft reports that the team will continue to monitor her performance going forward, though.
Three of Siege's older Operators are getting changes. Zofia is losing one of her concussion grenades, so it's harder for her to single-handedly take over a room without a strategy. Glaz is also getting nerfed. A recent bug in Siege prevents him from being able to destroy Castle's armored panels and Ubisoft has decided to keep it. Ubisoft is also planning a patch down the line to prevent Glaz from shooting through the panels entirely. Hibana is the only Operator getting a buff. She can now destroy a hatch with four of her pellets, instead of six.
Ubisoft has heard feedback concerning the length of Dokkaebi's phone calls, but the team is passing on implementing any changes for her at this time.
Weapon recoil is also getting patched. Ubisoft is focusing on shotgun recoil for now. An update won't be ready by the time Grim Sky launches, but Ubisoft will implement one before the new season is over. Ubisoft is also monitoring machine pistol recoil but has nothing planned for now.
The full patch notes for the updates coming to Operation Grim Sky prior to the expansion's launch can be found on Siege's website. Although it is not included on the game's website, Siege tweeted out another change coming to Grim Sky: partial destruction to hatch reinforcements. This balances the meta of the game a little bit back towards the Attackers, who can now eventually get to hidden Defenders with enough explosives.
Operation Grim Sky launches this September. Rainbow Six Siege is available on Xbox One, PS4, and PC.
The Star Wars Battlefront 2 dev team just announced the game's next update will launch on August 29. The Elite Corps Update adds new clone trooper appearances to the game, as well as a map playlist and multiplayer improvements.
The Elite Corps Update is the start of several Clone Wars-themed content drops that EA outlined in the company's planned roadmap for Battlefront 2. The biggest change in the update is the addition of new clone trooper appearances. You'll be able to customize the Republic Army with skins of the 41st Elite Corps and 327th Star Corps. The 41st is seen in Revenge of the Sith aiding Yoda on Kashyyyk, while the 327th is seen in the same movie gunning down Aayla Secura on Felucia during Order 66. Both corps play more significant roles in Star Wars: The Clone Wars animated series.
Skins are available for the Assault, Heavy, and Specialist classes of the Galactic Republic, with each going for 20,000 credits or 500 Crystals. There are also bundles that net you all three skins for a corp for 40,000 credits.
The new update also adds the Prequel Era Maps playlist to the game, which limits multiplayer matches to Galactic Assault on Clone Wars era maps. The Naboo Palace Hanger map is being added to both Blast and Custom Arcade, and Ewok Hunt is becoming a permanent game mode.
Other multiplayer improvements include a new end-of-round screen that lists your overall score, as well as your number of kills, assists, and deaths. You'll also be able to see the time of your longest kill streak and where you placed in terms of other players. Both emotes and victory poses are also now purchasable for both heroes and troopers. Hero emotes and victory poses will cost 2,000 credits or 50 Crystals each, while those for troopers will only set you back 1,000 credits or 25 Crystals each.
Although they are still not available, the update lists the prices for upcoming heroes Obi-Wan Kenobi, General Grievous, Anakin Skywalker and Count Dooku at 35,000 credits each.
The full patch notes for the Elite Corps Update will be releasing in a few days. The Battlefront 2 forum does have an initial outline of the major bug fixes, though, which we've listed below. Keep in mind, these changes won't be implemented until the Elite Corps update drops on August 29.
Elite Corps Update Bug Fixes And Improvements
Spawn positions for Rebels have been adjusted in Extraction on Jabba's Palace.
An issue that let players reach an area behind the armor racks on Death Star II has been fixed.
An issue that allowed a force using hero or Boba Fett to jump onto buildings on Bespin and Kashyyyk, and an unreachable ledge on Jabba's Palace has been fixed.
Star Wars Battlefront 2 is available for Xbox One, PS4, and PC.
By Anonymous on Aug 25, 2018 04:43 am Find out what shows, originals, and films are coming to the streaming platform in September as we list our top recommendations, including Black Panther, American Vandal season 2, and American Horror Story: Cult!
It's been quite the day in Fortnite. After weathering a massive lightning storm, players discovered a mysterious glowing cube in the desert. No one knows exactly what it's for yet.
Earlier today, purple lightning began striking the desert. Players quickly observed that the bolts were coursing from the rift in the sky, and that some were striking and destroying cacti. The lightning strikes started coming faster and faster, until they suddenly just stopped. In the aftermath, players discovered a massive, seemingly interdimensional cube on the edge of the desert. The rift is now gone as well.
Players have been experimenting with the cube and theorizing what it might be for. Standing near the cube rejuvenates a player's shields, but striking or shooting it will force players back and damage them. The cube glows with strange symbols, which some players, like Reddit user ulus10, have begun theorizing might be an encoded message.
Locating the cube is pretty simple if you want to experiment with it yourself. It stands out against the desert landscape and you can easily glide to it from the Battle Bus. If you manage to land on top of the cube, jumping up and then striking its surface before you touch down will send you careening into the air. It's pretty fun.
Fortnite is available for Xbox One, PS4, PC, Nintendo Switch, and iOS and Android devices.
As the search for a director continues, it looks like Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 may have to move its production start date. A new report says that production for the Marvel Cinematic Universe film has been put on hold.
The news comes from The Hollywood Reporter, which states a small group that was preparing for pre-production are being dismissed from their tasks and told they are free to find other work. It was expected that pre-production on the movie would begin in the fall prior to Disney firing director James Gunn.
The studio released Gunn from the franchise after a series of decade-old tweets that joked about rape and pedophilia--jokes that the director had previously discussed and apologized for. In the aftermath, the cast of the Guardians of the Galaxy films has come out in support of the director, with Dave Bautista (Drax) being a particularly vocal opponent of Disney's decision on social media.
"I will do what [I'm] legally obligated to do but [Guardians of the Galaxy] without [James Gunn] is not what I signed up for," he tweeted on August 5. "GOTG [without] [Gunn] just isn't GOTG." He also threatened to leave the franchise if Gunn's script for the third movie wasn't used.
According to THR, the production hold is seen as temporary as the studio looks for a director to take over the third Guardians film. "The timeline has been pushed out," a source tells the outlet.
A release date for Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 has not been announced. The Guardians team will next be seen in Avengers 4 when it releases on May 3, 2019.
By Anonymous on Aug 25, 2018 04:30 am Check out a full Play Now Exhibition match from NBA Live 19. Watch Lebron James' Lakers take on The Warriors in this gameplay video. NBA Live 19 will be available on the PS4 and Xbox One.
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