By Meg Downey on Dec 07, 2018 12:19 am
This year was filled to the brim with incredible superhero comics, from the classic to the experimental, the horrific to the hilarious. With plenty of major pop cultural touchstones to tie into and spring off from, Marvel and DC brought their absolute A-game to the mix with new and continuing ongoing series and limited runs that managed to encapsulate everything we love in cape-and-cowl stories. With books that elevated the relatively obscure status of characters like Mister Miracle to the already classic likes of heroes like Captain America and the Justice League, this year was a veritable smorgasbord of stories for both genre newcomers and dyed-in-the-wool True Believers. If you just walked out of a theater after falling in love with Tom Hardy's quirky Eddie Brock? We've got a title for you. If you've been a lapsed X-Men lifer trying to get back in the game? There's a book for you, too. Just want to jump into some good old fashioned action or horror? That angle's covered, too, don't you worry. Of course, these are only ten of the dozens and dozens superhero books that released or persisted through 2018--did your personal favorite make the cut? Let us know what your picks are for best superhero title of the year in the comments below, and keep checking back here at GameSpot for the rest of our year's end coverage, from movies to tv and beyond. Other Best Of lists to check out from 2018:
10. The Life of Captain Marvel
It may seem like low hanging fruit to give Carol Danvers her very own stand alone miniseries right on the even of her big screen debut, but Margaret Stohl and Carlos Pacheco's The Life of Captain Marvel managed to go for anything but the obvious. Half an effort to give new readers an easy introduction to one of Marvel's most popular--and most complicated--female heroes, half a complete reevaluation of Carol's origin story from the ground up, The Life of Captain Marvel succeeded on every level for both Captain Marvel newcomers and veterans alike. If you're excited to meet Carol for the first time on the big screen, this is one of your very best options as both a starting point and a springboard for the larger Captain Marvel mythology.
9. Immortal Hulk
On the surface and especially for fans who know the character exclusively through the MCU, it may seem like the Hulk isn't all that complex a guy--he's Bruce Banner sometimes, he smashes other times, he's the strongest there is,and not much else to it, right? Wrong. According to Al Ewing and Joe Bennett's Immortal Hulk, there's a lot more lurking just below the surface of Marvel's not-so-jolly green giant, and it's anything but campy and fun. Returning in the most literal sense to Hulk's 60s roots of existential horror, Immortal Hulk posits that there's a much, much darker side lurking just beneath the surface of Bruce Banner's radioactive curse--and it's delightfully creepy and deliciously ominous every step of the way.
8. West Coast Avengers
You've probably heard of the Avengers--you may have even heard of the West Coast variation on the team, but you've definitely never seen them quite like this. A team comprised of a perfect mix of classics Clint Barton, Kate Bishop, America Chavez and wildcards like Quentin Quire and Gwenpool, Kelly Fitzpatrick and Stefano Caselli have managed to perfect the perfect balance of hilarious character moments and over-the-top superheroic stakes--and it's only just begun. With a gorgeous, vibrant look and the tone and punchlines perfect for off setting some of the denser, more die corners of the Marvel universe, West Coast Avengers is an absolute delight.
7. Justice League
Long-time Batman writer Scott Snyder left Gotham this year, and brought fan-favorite artist Jorge Jimenez with him as they took over the DCU's heavy hitting core team, the Justice League. Spiraling out of the equally impressive, universe-shattering Dark Knights: Metal, Snyder and Jimenez's Justice League has gone for broke from issue one, and shows absolutely no intention of slowing down. Weaving in cosmic catastrophes with offbeat humor and charmingly quirky gags (seriously, Starro is a baby kept in a jar, nicknamed 'Jarro'--it's a whole thing), the Justice League finally feels like the heart and soul of the DC Universe again, after a long post-Flashpoint absence from the limelight. What's more, the book has also introduced the Legion of Doom--yes, the team from those vintage Saturday morning cartoons--into the mainline DCU for the first time ever, in case you needed any more reason to give this book a shot.
6. Venom
Everyone's favorite pile of symbiotic alien goo has actually had a pretty great year, all things considered. Not only did Venom get his very own movie--which, despite some less than stellar reviews wound up being a major success--he also got a brand new ongoing comics series by Donny Cates and Ryan Stegman. The book, which focuses on Venom's original host, Eddie Brock--who's been sitting on the sidelines for a while--has done some serious legwork in updating and expanding Marvel's symbiote mythology and fleshing out the weird and wonderful connection between Venom and Eddie himself. It's horrific, over the top, and just a little romantic--everything a great Venom story should be.
5. Superman/Action Comics
The news that long time Marvel writer Brian Michael Bendis was making the jump to DC last year sent major shockwaves out through the comics community, rivaled only by the announcement that he'd be taking over both Superman and Action Comics moving forward as part of his new contract. Having only dabbled in the DC Universe briefly, fans were anxious to see what Bendis would bring to the table with Big Blue--and were not disappointed by the results. Together with his co-creators Ryan Sook and Ivan Reis, Bendis has ushered in a new era of Superman titles for the Rebirth DCU, diving deep into Clark Kent's multifaceted history, personal life, and family while providing plenty of classic cape-and-cowl goodness.
4. Rogue & Gambit
There's nothing quite like a genre fusion, especially when those genres are superhero, romcom, and spy comedy. Kelly Thompson and Pere Perez took everyone's favorite on-again-off-again mutant couple of, well, Rogue and Gambit (surprise!) and tossed them into a hilarious and heartfelt caper involving some tried and true tropes: couples retreats, messy break ups, misunderstandings, you name it. Rogue & Gambit managed to strike the perfect balance of sweet and spicy while playing to the duo's strengths and providing laugh out loud gags, all in service of setting up one of the major X-developments of the year: Remy and Rogue's eventual marriage (and subsequent spin-off) Mr. & Mrs. X. Clocking in at an easily bingable five issues, Rogue & Gambit is the perfect way for returning fans to jump back into the X-Men side of the Marvel Universe, or for new fans to get their foot in the door with a book that's as approachable as it is charming.
3. Mister Miracle
On the slightly heavier end of the spectrum, Tom King and Mitch Gerads' Mister Miracle brought twelve issues of philosophical and existential dread to the DC Universe. Diving deep into the dense, cosmic world of comics legend Jack Kirby's Fourth World saga, Mister Miracle examined the life and times Scott Free, a superhuman escape artist and god from the otherworldly dimension called New Genesis and his wife, Big Barda, a god from the hell-adjacent realm of Apokolips as they split their time between the endless war waging on their home planets and their mundane day-to-day lives in Los Angeles. Told almost exclusively in nine panel grids, Mister Miracle managed to be poignant, poetic, and surprisingly hopeful, shining a worthy and well deserved spotlight on corners of the DCU that have long since been ignored by the mainstream.
2. Batman
Writer Tom King has been on a roll with the mainline Batman title since the dawn of DC's Rebirth era in 2016, and this year just continued the trend. From the (eventually ill-fated) marriage proposal of Bruce Wayne and Selina Kyle to Bruce's subsequent emotional breakdown, 2018 in Batman has become a slow burning conflict with Bane complete with the looming threat of an even more dangerous puppet master lurking just out of sight. Bolstered by King's trademark prose and his roster of all-star collaborators like Mikel Janin, Joelle Jones, and Clay Mann, Batman has become as much a superhero comic as it is an art piece, digging deep into the fractured and disparate pieces of the Dark Knight in ways that make it feel as classic as it does fresh. We're half way through King's planned 100+ issue run on the character, and things are showing absolutely no sign of slowing down.
1. Captain America
2017 was a bit of a controversial year for Captain America on the comics front, after the Secret Empire event rewrote a substantial amount of his history and ignited a global war, he was left in something of a lurch with little direction and a time travel follow up story that seemed to only take him further off course. Thankfully, 2018 saw a massive return to form with a creative team switch up and a new #1. Ta-Nehisi Coates and Leinil Francis Yu have taken Steve Rogers down a path that has forced him to confront both the fallout of Secret Empire and the nature of his own identity in the climate of America today, making for what is sure to be a Cap run for the ages. Gorgeous, expansive, and unafraid to pick at the edges of Steve's more dubious symbolism, Coates and Yu's Captain America is our favorite superhero comic of 2018.
By GameSpot Staff on Dec 07, 2018 12:05 am
What scared you in 2018?
2018 was a terrifying year, and not just because of the horror movies and shows on this list. If anything, having so much great horror to watch was a welcome distraction from the terrors of real life. Thank Paimon for escapism, right? Whether you wanted to get terrified in theaters surrounded by like-minded horror fans, or simply scare the crap out of yourself sitting on the couch with the lights off, 2018 had you covered. Do you like your horror dressed up as family drama? Would you rather go all-out insane with a battle axe and some macaroni and cheese? Or how about simply revisiting some of the classics in new and bone-chilling ways? Horror remains the best escape from the real world that we have, because great horror demands all your attention. It gets your adrenaline pumping and keeps you glued to your seat. For a couple of gripping hours--or many more, in the case of the great longer-form horror we get on TV these days--it keeps your mind hostage, preventing you from thinking about anything else. In no particular order, these 19 movies and shows were the best horror available in entertainment this year. What were your favorites? Let us know in the comments below, then check out our lists of the top 10 movies and top 10 TV shows this year, the 30 best Netflix exclusives, and the 28 best performances of the year.
1. The Haunting of Hill House
The Haunting of Hill House if scary, sure. It's filled with jump scares, hidden haunts that you won't see until it's too late, and so much tension that you'll spend the entire time on the edge of your seat. More importantly, though, The Haunting of Hill House is an impeccably made family drama. While it belongs firmly in the horror genre, what makes this Netflix original so special is that it's not the scares that drive it. Instead, it's the story of this family falling apart in the aftermath of a traumatic event and being forced to reckon with it years later. It's hard not to feel for every member of the Crane family as they confront their demons, both literal and figurative, in an attempt to simply live their lives. When it's at its best--which happens quite often throughout the season--that's the element The Haunting of Hill House leans heavily on. Every year there's plenty of well-made horror projects, including those that trade in the same type of scares as this. It's rare for any of them to have the emotional punch of this series, though, and it's that raw emotional terror that makes Hill House such a compelling thing to watch. -- Chris Hayner
2. Annihilation
It's tricky to describe Annihilation in any way that does it justice. Part cosmic horror, part sci-fi thriller, part existential meditation on the nature of personhood, director Alex Garland took Jeff VanderMeer's experimental novel of the same name and pushed it to its absolute limits. With an all female starring cast made up of powerhouse actors like Natalie Portman, Gina Rodriguez, and Tessa Thompson, supported by Oscar Isaac doing his best trope-reversed damsel in distress, Annihilation is at once a minimalist art piece and robust creature-feature with tension to spare. Ostensibly the story of a team of scientists setting out to explore the mysterious "Area X," an anomalous area of swamp land struck by what may or may not have be an alien artifact, Annihilation rapidly warps itself into a dream-like, surrealist painting where animals and plants have mutated into impossible hybrids. Worse yet, as the team soon discovers, the same phenomenon is happening to them--and there's nothing they can do to stop it. The end result is as bloody and as horrifying as you might expect. Despite being more than a little challenging to watch at points for the squeamish among us, Annihilation never stops being beautiful, and never forgets its own desperately human core--even when that human element is rapidly transforming into something else entirely. -- Meg Downey
3. Suspiria
When it comes to remakes, the horror genre has the all around best track record of any category. Luca Guadagnino's adaptation of Dario Argento's classic 1977 Italian Horror genre film is arguably the greatest to date. In a Kubrickian fashion, Guadagnino borrows the pieces he personally finds most alluring from the original, discards the rest, and brings them to life with his own vision. The result is that Suspiria is a fundamentally new and original masterpiece in its own right. Suspiria's myriad achievements and quirks should not be overlooked by any serious cinephile. The centerpiece--or pieces--of this achievement are the several performances by Guadagnino's long-time collaborator Tilda Swinton. But no horror film is complete without the horror itself. To this end, Suspiria gracefully turns dance into gruesome torture, depicts people or objects as twisted as any Cronenberg film, and paints an outside post-war world fraught with tragedy that mirrors the inner turmoil of its characters to an almost stifling degree. -- Ryan Schubert
4. Hereditary
A dysfunctional family isn't a particularly original source of horror, and Hereditary doesn't blow the genre open with some revolutionary new take. It's just gripping, white-knuckled, old school horror that never, over more than two hours, lets you get comfortable for long, despite the familiarity of its themes and tropes. Hereditary is one hell of a horror movie, but it's also a family drama that explores how tragedy and grief can twist people into unrecognizable shapes. The movie examines how people deal with grief; the reactions of the Graham family--Toni Collette's Annie, Gabriel Byrne's Steve, Alex Wolff's Peter, and Milly Shapiro's Charlie--run the gamut when Annie's mother (Peter and Charlie's grandmother) dies. The tragedy unravels them in a slow burn that makes the ending--where the story finally descends into utter, terrifying chaos--no less than traumatic. But the real twist comes in the first act, when an unbelievably shocking development reveals exactly what kind of movie Hereditary is. First time feature director and writer Ari Aster here proved himself a master of horror in a single stroke, and we can't wait to see what he does next. -- Mike Rougeau
5. Halloween
Some classic film franchises get a remake. Others get a reboot. But the Halloween franchise got a retcon. With Halloween (2018), the filmmakers wiped out seven sequels to the original Halloween (1978), and told a standalone "40 years later" story. Jamie Lee Curtis reprises her role as a traumatized Laurie Strode, now a grandmother, who's protecting her family from an aging, escaped Mike Myers. Monsters are terrifying when they're unknown to us. And the new Halloween restores that dark ambiguity. We don't need to know who Mike Myers is related to, or the granular motivations for why he does what he does. He just needs to kill. And in this film, which is a slasher through and through despite some darkly funny scenes, he does so with teeth-shattering, brutal efficiency. -- Kevin Wong
6. Mandy
Was Mandy's Red Miller the role Nicolas Cage was born to play? Who knows, but it sure was a triumph either way. Cage is best when he fully embraces characters that play back into his meta meme-made-human persona, and director Panos Cosmatos' Mandy--a f***ed up fever dream about revenge, forging battle axes, and macaroni and cheese--was the perfect vehicle for that. Trying to make sense of this movie misses the point. The experience of watching it is simply enough. Throw the normal rules of cinema out the window; Who cares if half the dialogue is unintelligible? Why shouldn't the movie's breakout star be a fake pasta mascot who appears in a commercial in the background for a few seconds? What if Cage spends a whole scene screaming, chugging vodka, and trashing a bathroom? Mandy abounds with themes and moods that are deep as an ocean, and often as inscrutable. But it's a heady trip just to see it at all. -- Mike Rougeau
7. Overlord
Overlord has the makings of B-movie badness: A squad of everyman US soldiers has to infiltrate a Nazi-occupied French village on the eve of the D-Day Normandy invasion. The village hides a secret, though: The Nazis have transformed the church's undercroft into a secret lab where they're creating unkillable, zombie-like supersoldiers. Naturally. But Overlord works on basically every level. Jovan Adepo and Wyatt Russell lead a likeable cast of characters, while Mathilde Ollivier's not-so-helpless villager Chloe meets them tit-for-tat. The war action thrills and the horror chills, and the movie makes excellent use of the tropes of its setting and genre while bringing plenty of new ideas to the table as well. All in all it made for one of the most fun movie experiences of the year. -- Mike Rougeau
8. A Quiet Place
Who'd have thought that Jim from The Office would deliver one of the year's best horror movies? John Krasinski might be better known for his acting roles--which also include the recent Amazon thriller Jack Ryan and Michael Bay's 13 Hours--but he's emerging as a great director too. A Quiet Place is his second movie, and he takes a simple horror/sci-fi concept and wrings every last drop of tension from it. A Quiet Place is an incredibly tense thrill ride with some unexpectedly powerful emotional moments. It's impossible not to be drawn into the story of a family trying to survive in a world where even the slightest noise could bring on an attack from a species of savage, hungry mutant creatures. The stylish direction and brilliant use of sound makes the movie scary, but what really helps it stands out is the moving human drama, delivered by a superb cast that includes Emily Blunt, Millicent Simmonds, and Krasinski himself. The movie was justly rewarded with big box office returns, and a sequel is on the way--let's hope it's just as good.--Dan Auty
9. Apostle
Apostle is the latest movie from The Raid: Redemption director Gareth Evans, and it saw him move from martial arts madness into dark horror territory. Apostle is set in 1905, and stars Legion's Dan Stevens as Richardson, a man who infiltrates a religious cult on a remote island with the intention of rescuing his kidnapped sister. This is very much a movie of two halves, and the first plays out more like a spooky mystery than a straight horror movie, as Richardson becomes part of this deeply religious society. But if the main influence of the first half is creepy British folk-horror films like The Wicker Man, then the rest simply tosses everything else into the mix. The movie leaves the realm of the "real" and embraces the supernatural, throwing in some horrific torture, surreal, nightmarish imagery, and even a couple of bone-crunching fights along the way. It's inevitable that this throw-it-at-the-wall approach will create elements that don't always work; the climactic scenes feel a little rushed, and even at 130 minutes, there are plot points that seem a little under-explained. But in an era of generic, formulaic horror, there weren't any other movies quite like Apostle in 2018. -- Dan Auty
10. The Chilling Adventures of Sabrina
The first season of Chilling Adventures of Sabrina really caught us by surprise. It's nothing like the TGIF sitcom we remember. Instead, it's like someone took Riverdale and injected a lot of Satan and a fantastic cast. Sabrina has a gothic horror aesthetic and a supply of spooky creatures running through it as it unravels the story of a young girl town between two worlds--the mortal world and the bewitching world. It's the kind of adaptation modern Sabrina comics deserve and, thankfully, it's not slowing down anytime soon. Season 2 is currently in production. -- Chris E. Hayner
11. Cam
This gripping chiller was one of the most original horror movies of the year. It's set in the world of adult web cams, and focuses on Alice, a cam girl who's life is changed when someone--or something--with her name, face, and live cam login starts occupying her channel. On paper, Cam's mix of sex and horror suggests that it will be an exploitative film, but while it's definitely disturbing, it also presents a sensitive, intelligent view of the live cam industry as well as some insightful observations about how we interact with modern technology. Cam is definitely a horror film, but it ultimately has more in common with the surreal work of David Lynch and the tech-satire of Black Mirror than a more conventional scary movie. There are no jump scares and there's little violence, and most of the movie either takes place in daylight or in the brightly-lit glare of Alice's studio. But for horror fans bored of the clichés and predictable scares of the genre, Cam is an ambitious, scary treat. -- Dan Auty
12. The Purge
TV, it turns out, is the perfect medium for The Purge's particular combination of slasher-esque horror, social satire, and ridiculous-but-worrisome premise. The idea of trying to survive a single night of lawlessness every year doesn't really hold up to intense scrutiny, but that's not the point--Purge Night in the franchise is an effective vehicle to make comments about the real world, while also putting characters in dreadful and frightening situations. And at that, the TV version of The Purge excels. With the added runtime a 10-part series affords, Universal's The Purge show is able to dig into a lot of ideas the movies so far have only hinted at. For a show about scary masked psychos turning America into a Mad Max-style warzone, The Purge is a pretty intelligent, multi-layered show. And when it's not making you think about America and society, it's throwing some intense action and horror your way. There's a lot to like about The Purge, not the least of which is how it engages your brain while freaking you out. -- Phil Hornshaw
13. Terrified
The streaming service Shudder released a number of superb new horror movies this year, and this Argentinian shocker is perhaps the best. It's not what Terrified is about--this tale of possession and paranormal infestation sounds fairly standard on paper--but how it's done. Director Demian Rugna throws everything at the wall; there's no time wasted in the build-up, and within ten minutes a bloodied woman is being thrown around a room by some unseen evil. From then it's a relentless onslaught of supernatural madness, as three people--a veteran cop, a paranormal investigator, and her old colleague--are brought together when they investigate strange goings-on on a normal suburban street. Featuring more scares per minute than anything else released this year, and packed with bizarre and disturbing imagery, Rugna takes a load of familiar horror tropes and delivers something truly wild. It's the most aptly titled movie of 2018, and a must-see for horror fans. -- Dan Auty
14. Revenge
While the ordinary title and basic plot might not suggest that this French movie is going to be anything special, the movie is one of the wildest, goriest action/horror hybrids for a long time. A young woman named Jen is brutalised and left for dead in the desert by three men; unluckily for them, she survives and returns to exact her bloody vengeance. Coralie Fargeat's debut film quickly abandons reality to deliver a hypnotic, exciting, ultra-stylised and hyper-violent thriller. As the film progresses, it starts to have more in common with the likes of Mad Max or The Terminator than any conventional horror movie, with minimal dialogue and just an incredibly exciting series of chases and confrontations as Jen picks off her attackers in increasingly outlandish ways. Matilda Lutz delivers a stunning performance as the party girl who transforms into a superhuman killing machine. -- Dan Auty
15. Goosebumps 2
No, of course Goosebumps 2 isn't filled with gore, horrific jump scares, and shocking psychological terror that will traumatize you for days. However, it's one of very few "horror" movies you can watch with your kids who might not be ready for the likes of Hereditary or Mandy just yet. This sequel to the last Goosebumps film sees Jack Black return as author RL Stein and manages to pack in some relatively fun thrills and chills that should keep you and your family entertained, if you're looking for an easy-to-digest scary movie for all ages. What's more, there are some nice shoutouts to horror classics sprinkled throughout, including Halloween III: Season of the Witch. -- Chris Hayner
16. Hold the Dark
Jeremy Saulnier followed his dark thriller Blue Ruin and Green Ruin with this bleak, ambitious Netflix movie. It's set in a small Alaskan town, where a young mother is coming to terms with the the abduction of her child by a pack of wolves. She contacts renowned a wolf expert to track and kill the animal that took her child, but with her soldier husband on the way home from Iraq, a bloody reckoning is inevitable. With a superb cast that includes Jeffrey Wright, Riley Keough, and a terrifying Alexander Skarsgård, Hold The Dark is a stunningly acted, intense, and ambiguous movie. The striking locations, stunning cinematography, and droning music help create an environment that is unforgiving and almost otherworldly--while nothing actually supernatural happens, Hold the Dark often feels like a horror movie than a straight thriller. But that's not to say it's always a slow-paced, open-ended mystery. Saulnier might like his narrative ambiguity, but he also loves to deliver visceral action, and there are moment of shocking violence, including a harrowing, brilliantly-directed shoot-out sequence. For those who like their thrillers to provoke and challenge as well as thrill, Hold the Dark is an impressive achievement that isn't quickly forgotten. -- Dan Auty
17. The Terror
When it came to serious, claustrophobic horror, it was hard to beat The Terror on TV this year. This adaptation of Dan Simmons' novel presents a fictionalized account of what happened to a pair of ships, the Terror and the Erebus, that mysteriously disappeared in 1848 while attempting to find a trading route through the Arctic. Over the course of 10 episodes, the show builds up an intense, gripping story as the crews of both ships learn to survive in this harsh environment. The Terror is slow, serious, and uncompromisingly bleak, which might account for the fact that it didn't have the profile of some other scary series this year. But for those who go on this journey, it is utterly engrossing viewing. It features one of the best ensemble casts of the year, with incredible performances from a host of recognizable faces, including Jared Harris, Tobias Menzies, Ian Hart, and Ciarán Hinds. And while it never relies on predictable scares, it absolutely delivers the horror goods too, with giant ice monsters, murder, madness, and cannibalism all on the menu. -- Dan Auty
18. Unsane
Director Steven Soderbergh has made a wide variety of movies over the years, from big commercial films such as Out of Sight, Erin Brockovich, and the Ocean's 11 series, to small, weird, low budget experiments. This year's hugely entertaining horror thriller Unsane straddles both camps. It has a major star in Claire Foy, best known for Netflix's The Queen and the recent The Girl In the Spider's Web. But it's far from a conventional movie. This is a creepy, uncomfortable film that Soderberg decided to shoot entirely on an iPhone. While an obvious smartphone look is hardly going to suit every movie, in Unsane it really works. Foy plays a woman recovering from a trauma who is involuntarily admitted into a psychiatric hospital, where she encounters the very person she has spent the last two years trying to escape. Unsane plays with themes of delusion and mental instability, and the iPhone's familiar, ultra-real look removes that layer of distance that a traditionally-shot movie has, and allows Soderberg to really get up close--both figuratively and literally--to his characters. Foy gives a magnetic performance as the woman trying to keep her mind together, and there's strong support from Joshua Leonard (The Blair Witch Project), Juno Temple (Suicide Squad), and Amy Irving (Carrie). It's a gripping, unpredictable, weird, and funny movie, and one of the year's best. -- Dan Auty
19. Ghost Stories
Ghost Stories probably went under a lot of people's radars in 2018, but it's well worth checking out. Set up as an anthology of three supernatural tales, this quintessentially British horror film is an effectively creepy chiller that features one hell of a satisfying twist. Following paranormal debunker Phillip Goodman--don't let the surname fool you--as he investigates three cold cases, Ghost Stories successfully weaves each short story into the greater narrative. While all three tales have their moments, it's the haunting of a night watchman, gruffly brought to life via an understated performance from Paul Whitehouse, that is the most effective. Writer-director-star Andy Nyman and his co-director, Jeremy Dyson, create a wonderfully creepy atmosphere across the three ghostly narratives conjuring up a palpable sense of eerie dread among all the set piece scares. Couple that with a roster of great performances from an all star cast and you've got yourself a great British horror. --Adam Mason
By Array on Dec 06, 2018 11:10 pm
How To Smash Like A Pro
Super Smash Bros Ultimate may look similar to the Wii U version, but there are a lot of changes under the hood. If you wanna be at the top of your game, you might want to familiarize yourself with some of these changes and strategies. To help you become battle ready, we've compiled some brief, easy-to-digest tips covering both basic and advanced tactics. After you finish reading this guide, you're likely to still have trouble doing well in a fight, but be patient! It takes time to get good at Super Smash Bros. Ultimate. If you want a decent stage to practice, we recommend turning off items and playing on Battlefield or Final Destination map variants. This will allow you to focus on the mechanics instead of chasing down the best items or dodging stage obstacles. Of course, you might be wondering as you're working to master the basics: "How do I unlock more characters?" Fortunately, the answer to that question is simple; though, it requires some work. Simply play World of Light mode (where rescuing characters unlocks them across all modes) and partake in multiplayer matches, where the "New Challenger" unlock opportunities constantly occur, which you can easily retry via the "Games And More" menu if you fail. The characters you unlock both in World of Light and multiplayer occur in a specific order and by the same means of simply progressing the story or playing more matches. As a result, there's no specific conditions of unlocking characters, so you can't just aim to unlock one character over another. Remain persistent and you'll unlock the character you want before long. Not to mention you'll keep getting a steady flow of additional characters to test out all these tips with. After all, understanding the game's mechanics is only half the battle. You have to find your main as well! Regardless, be on the lookout for more Super Smash Bros. Ultimate guides in the coming days. Super Smash Bros. Ultimate is out on December 7 on Nintendo Switch. For our thoughts about how the game turned out, read our review in progress. GameSpot critic Edmond Tran gave the game a 9/10 and said: "Situational downers don't stop Super Smash Bros. Ultimate from shining as a flexible multiplayer game that can be as freewheeling or as firm as you want it to be. Its entertaining single-player content helps keep the game rich with interesting things to do, as well as bolstering its spirit of loving homage to the games that have graced Nintendo consoles. Ultimate's diverse content is compelling, its strong mechanics are refined, and the encompassing collection is simply superb." There's still so much more to learn about the game, but now that it's in our hands, it won't be long before we start hearing about some of the best tactics to play the game. Do you have any useful Super Smash Bros. Ultimate tips that you don't see here? Let us know in the comments below.
Recoveries
The whole point of Super Smash Bros. is to knock your opponent off the stage before they knock you off the stage. Unfortunately, there will be times where you get knocked off first and you'll have to recover. Most characters have a jump and a double jump as well as a special move that will give them a bit more distance. However, this special move varies from character to character. For example, Link can use his sword spin like a helicopter and Ness can use PK Thunder to send him flying in any direction. Some characters have really good stage recovery like Kirby and Pitt, while others--such as Incineroar and Little Mac--have terrible recoveries. Some characters even have multiple specials that can be used for stage recovery. Ike, for example, can use his use side special to cover a lot of horizontal ground. As you play around with different characters, make sure to get a feeling for how each of their recovery styles work.
Smash Attacks
For most characters, Smash attacks are their most powerful moves. Smash attacks can be performed by pressing A and inputting a direction (up, down, left, right) at the same time. Alternatively, you can also use the right stick to perform these moves. You even can charge these attacks to inflict higher damage. Be careful though, most of these moves have a lengthy recovery time and are easy to dodge.
Final Smash
The Final Smashes have been rebalanced in Ultimate. There are no longer any Final Smash attacks that allow you to transform into a superpowered state for a limited period of time. Instead, every single Final Smash requires you to be within arm's length of your victim. This makes most Final Smashes a bit less forgiving this time around, as you really have to wait for the right time to use it.
Counters
Many fighters like Chrom, Ike, Marth, King K. Rool, and Peach are equipped with a counter move. If you time this special maneuver correctly, you will counter another fighter's attack and deal a nice bit of damage back at them. Practice this enough and you'll find that successfully countering an opponent is also one of the most satisfying experiences in the game.
Dodging
You can once again Spotdodge, Roll, and Air Dodge in Ultimate. However, these maneuvers work a bit differently this time around. For starters, you can now perform directional Air Dodges by inputting a direction with the dodge. You can even shift momentum with a directional Air Dodge. However, this maneuver has a lengthy recovery window, so be careful. You can perform a Roll by inputting right or left with your shield up. Like in previous games, this is a good way to get on the other side of your opponent and counter. However, if you Roll too much in succession, your recovery will take longer. And if your timing is off, this could leave you open to a devastating Smash attack. Spotdodging (pictured above) occurs when you press down with your shield up. This grants you a few frames of invulnerability. This type of dodge can be tricky to time. However, if you successfully Spotdodge, you can easily counter your opponent. From what we can tell, spot dodging in quick succession does not have any negative effects. Learning how to dodge correctly is key to being an effective fighter in Ultimate. Learning which dodge to use and when takes a lot of practice, but it can give you a significant advantage against tougher opponents.
Short Hop Attack
Performing Short Hop Attacks in previous Smash games always required a bit of dexterity. Luckily In Ultimate, all you need to do is press attack and jump at the same time. This is useful because you can use it to change up your standard dash attack and--because its a short hop--you won't spend as much time in the air.
Rage
As you build up damage, you might notice that your character will start to smoke and flash red; this means they're enraged. While enraged, you deal more damage and hit your opponents with greater physical force. Rage can be used to close the damage gap between you and your opponent if one exists.
Shielding
For the most part, shielding works similarly to previous Smash games. While on the ground, you can throw up your shield and it will protect you from all incoming attacks. Over time, your shield will shrink and eventually it will break. When it breaks, you are unable to move or attack for a brief period. One big change with shielding, however, is how Perfect Shielding works. If you drop your shield right before an attack connects with you, the attacker will be stunned momentarily. The duration of the stun differs depending on the strength of the attack. But if done correctly, you can follow up your opponent's attack with one of your own. Getting the timing down is really tough, so we recommend jumping into training setting CPU behavior to "Side Smash." You'll know you've performed a Perfect Shield correctly if your character flashes (refer to the image above).
When The Going Gets Tough, Jump Into Classic Mode
While Ultimate is primarily a multiplayer game, don't hesitate to spend time in Classic mode from time to time to get used to the basics of the game. It's the perfect training tool if you need a practical way to test out your skills without pressure of competitive play and without all the weird modifiers from World of Light mode.
By Array on Dec 06, 2018 06:04 pm
That cold chill you're feeling is the arrival of Fortnite: Battle Royale Season 7, which launched today and involves an iceberg crashing into everyone's beloved island. As a result, things are getting a bit nippy in Fortnite, but don't despair, there's plenty of new skins and other cosmetic items that will have your character staying warm. Naturally, you'll need to do the legwork to unlock those skins, as well as the accompanying Back Bling, Contrails, sprays, Harvesting Tools, Pets, Emotes, Loading Screens, and various other new cosmetic items types that are available now. If you aren't familiar with how it works, here's a quick breakdown: Fortnite has a Battle Pass which you level up by completing weekly challenges and accruing Battle Stars. The more stars you get, the higher your Battle Pass tier. As your Battle Pass tier goes up, more cosmetics become available. If you need a detailed breakdown, you can read our feature on how the Battle Pass works. There's over 100 rewards as part of Season 7's Battle Pass and, based on how long it has taken in previous seasons, you can expect to sink somewhere between 70 and 150 hours into playing Fortnite if you plan on getting it all. But, before you commit to that, we thought we'd let you have a look at everything you could potentially unlock, so you know whether it's worth your time and can also focus on certain rewards that you really want. As detailed in the Fortnite Season 7 patch notes, the update also introduces new areas such as Frosty Flights and Polar Peak for players to discover. Additionally, the update will let you "rule the skies with the new X-4 Stormwing plane." This is a new kind of vehicle that will shake up the way people play Fortnite for sure. The patch notes also confirm the arrival of Wraps, a new kind of cosmetic that is new to Season 7. You can see those Wraps, along with new skins, emotes, and other unlocks in this gallery.
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