By Anonymous on Feb 16, 2019 11:30 pm In less than a year after the release of Far Cry 5, Ubisoft is set to release Far Cry New Dawn, a stand-alone spin-off advancing the narrative 17 years after its predecessor. But are we ready for another Far Cry?
Today, Crunchyroll will be live streaming the third annual Anime Awards. Before the show starts tonight at 6PM PT / 9PM ET, we're sharing an exclusive sneak peek of the show's opening. You can watch the video above.
The opening for this year's Anime Awards includes scenes from several notable series and movies from 2018, including Violet Evergarden, Aggretsuko, Planet With, Devilman Crybaby, Skull-face Bookseller Honda-san, Mirai, and Wotakoi: Love is Hard for Otaku. All of these anime are nominated for at least one award this year. But they're not the only ones. The most popular nominee is Megalobox, which is up for eight of the 15 award categories. Other popular 2018 series, such as A Place Further Than the Universe, Zombie Land Saga, and My Hero Academia, have been nominated as well.
This year, voice actress Cristina Vee is scheduled to host the Crunchyroll Anime Awards. She's most well-known for her portrayal of The Familiar of Zero's Louise, Sailor Moon's Rei Hino, Devilman Crybaby's Miki Makimura, and Konosuba's Darkness. Crunchyroll has also announced that industry professionals and well-known anime fans, such as Made in Abyss composer Kevin Penkin, Roosterteeth director and writer Miles Luna, and IGN senior editor Miranda Sanchez, are scheduled to announce the winner for each category.
You can catch the full livestream of the Crunchyroll Anime Awards to watch the crowning of the best of anime in 2018, and see sneak previews of new upcoming anime projects as well. Tune in exclusively on Twitch and Crunchyroll. If you need a reminder for which series and movies have been nominated, we've outlined each category below. As one of this year's judges, I had a hand in determining the list of nominees.
By Anonymous on Feb 16, 2019 09:30 am It's Valentine's Day in Valentine! So what better way to celebrate the holiday than with Dirty Arty playing Cupid and bringing love to the town (with dynamite arrows, of course).
Apex Legends encourages you to create a squad that leverages the strengths of the game's characters. Its eight playable characters each comes with their own unique abilities, so composing an effective team of three requires a bit of trial and error.
If you've chosen Pathfinder, you have interest in scoping out the path ahead for your squad. As a scout, it's your responsibility to use his various mobility options to spot enemy locations and strategic points of interest.
Sometimes a squad's path to success is made possible by a solid recon player. Pathfinder handles that role in spades with abilities that provide advantageous intel. With abilities that increase its mobility and awareness of nearby enemies, your responsibility as Pathfinder is to serve your squadmates and keep them in the know about what's happening in the battlefield. With its endearingly optimistic personality, Pathfinder makes playing the scout a charming and fulfilling experience.
Abilities
Tactical: Grappling Hook
Pathfinder's Grappling Hook can be used to get to hard-to-reach places quickly. It's your go-to method for getting a lay of the land.
Passive: Insider Knowledge
Pathfinder's Passive ability Insider Knowledge allows you to scan a survey beacon that will reveal the ring's next location. Use this whenever you see the survey beacon as it can greatly help you gain a positional advantage over the next team.
Ultimate: Zipline Gun
Pathfinder's ultimate ability is Zipline gun creates a zipline that everyone can use, allowing your whole squad to reach areas not as easily accessible.
Tips To Play
The Grappling Hook is Pathfinder's deadliest weapon. The most obvious use is to get him to high ground for sniping, since you get can get some very good vantage points for the Longbow DMR, Triple Take, or Kraber.
Don't discount the grapple's ability to make you go fast, though.It can be used to do some fun tactical plays to swing around enemies or to try to get up and over them. Getting good with the grapple can let you swing over top of enemy positions to land in perfect positions for flanking, or to totally confuse enemies as they lose track of you. What's more, with practice, you can get good at using the grapple swing to save yourself from bad situations by zipping through the air and getting away quickly.
Pathfinder's ultimate ability is great to get to high vantage points for sniping. Also, this ability allows your team to traverse long distances, or flank enemies. It's also great for creating escape routes; set up a zipline leading away from enemies as you prepare for an ambush, so if things don't go your way, you can quickly reposition for healing or to make a run for it.
The Insider Knowledge ability is pretty invaluable, and you should be making use of it in every match as often as you can. It shows you where the next ring will be, allowing you to plan your movements around the map better than other players. You can use that information to get set up in strong positions ahead of other teams, so that by the time they arrive when the ring forces them to move, you can be waiting--ideally with high ground and a sniper.
In combat situations, try to stay up high as much as you can--as Pathfinder, verticality is a capability you have that other characters don't. Pop up on rooftops, zip from building to building, and generally use your mobility to get to places your enemies don't expect to see you. Smart players will try to get angles on opposing squads they don't expect, so while the rest of your team is distracting them, you can show up on a nearby rooftop, laying down machine gun fire. It's a great way to rack up kills and knockdowns with hit-and-run tactics.
Ziplines are noisy, but they're much quicker than running, and you're tougher to hit in the air than you are on the ground. Don't be afraid to toss ziplines when you have them to help you quickly climb hills or pass over buildings, even in a combat scenario, because the added speed might be enough to get you out of harm's way.
After several hours with Anthem, I can't say I'm particularly interested in it yet. I've completed some missions, upgraded my loadout, and gone on some more missions, but I'm not yet invested in anything I'm doing. I will, of course, keep playing, and I'll be posting a full review in the coming days. There's just nothing here so far that's driving me forward. I'm curious, but only to see if my first impression--that this is a somewhat generic, Destiny-like experience--will be proven wrong.
Anthem starts, well, kind of like Destiny 2. The Freelancers, who fight off threats using mechanized combat suits called Javelins, have fallen out of favor with humanity after a significant loss in the game's tutorial mission. It's not clear why this one failure is enough to discredit the Freelancers, but after a two-year time skip, they are scattered to the winds, now underdogs who must climb back up the ladder to "hero" status. This means starting with basic weaponry, even though you were a rookie two years prior and presumably have more experience since then. Your life revolves around taking contract missions from people in the downtrodden citadel that is your base, Tarsis, which you return to after each excursion.
There's a lot of jargon thrown around throughout the opening minutes with little explanation--it kind of feels like you're listening to a conversation about people you don't know, so none of it carries much weight. There's also a long cutscene that consists of an NPC narrating background details for you, so it's also not clear how much your character is supposed to know and about what. I did gather that there's an ancient mystery at the heart of everything, but I'm not yet sure what exactly is intriguing about it. The story so far feels like a justification for why I need to level up and find new loot, rather than the groundwork for a vibrant sci-fi world that's enticing to explore.
Mission structure doesn't help this much; so far it's been going from point A to point B, shooting some enemies, and then heading to the next waypoint. If you play solo, you can take this at your own pace and presumably stop to take in the sights, but playing co-op with friends or by matchmaking--which the game recommends as the best way to play, and which nets you better rewards--means you'll have to keep up with everyone else. It also makes it easier and faster to complete missions, which is welcome, since they mostly consist of fighting waves of enemies while your NPC partner back at Tarsis scans something nearby (much like Destiny's Ghost).
It is moderately satisfying to find new loot even if the missions themselves aren't thrilling, and I am having fun experimenting with loadouts. You get an assortment of weapons and upgrades after each mission, so you can constantly change up your equipment between contracts and try out new combinations. I'm playing the Ranger class currently, and I've established a good flow of using my guns, grenades, and missiles in rotation.
Anthem's mech-powered flying keeps missions from being completely one-note. It's my favorite part of the game so far; you have to keep your suit from overheating while you fly, which means you can get creative (or at least add flourishes as you go). The main cooling methods are water and literally cooling your jets by descending. It's exciting to nosedive only to pull up at the last second, and there's something serene about flying under a waterfall and into a strange cave. The most exciting thing to happen to me in Anthem so far is finding an upgrade for my suit that increased its heat resistance, letting me fly longer. I'm hoping I find more reason to explore than I currently have, if only to have more reason to be in the air.
I'm currently treating Anthem's disparate missions as an excuse to try a new weapon or special attack, which, combined with flight, gives me incentive to keep going. I'm hoping that I get more out of the story as I go on, but so far it's too generic to get its hooks in me. I'll keep playing on PC--I've luckily only been kicked due to server issues twice--so look out for the full review in the next few days.
By Anonymous on Feb 16, 2019 07:11 am The USS Discovery chases after Spock, Stamets leads a search for Tilly, and we get an emotional reunion. Greg & Chastity break down the story and easter eggs from Star Trek: Discovery season 2 episode 5, "Saints of Imperfection". Disclosure: CBS is GameSpot's parent company.
The post-apocalyptic world of Far Cry: New Dawn is different in a lot of ways from every other Far Cry game that's come before it. But New Dawn is also a direct sequel to Far Cry 5, taking place 17 years after the events of that game in the same place: Hope County. While a nuclear winter and the arrival of the vicious marauders known as the Highwaymen have changed changed things quite a bit in Hope County, New Dawn is still full of callbacks, references, and direct continuations of the story of Far Cry 5.
The references and story scattered throughout Far Cry: New Dawn run the gamut--some are big story points that you can't miss, while others are optional missions, and still others are bits of environmental, out-of-the-way storytelling you might miss altogether. In a whole lot of cases, New Dawn answers your burning questions about what happened to your favorite characters.
We've run down the many Far Cry 5 Easter eggs, references, and stories we've come across as we've explored this new vision of Hope County. Note that this list is full of spoilers, though, so read on at your own risk. You can also check out our Far Cry: New Dawn review, and our guide to the new systems added since Far Cry 5.
Kim Rye And Baby Carmina
In Far Cry 5, the player character, the Deputy, meets Kim Rye and her husband Nick as they're preparing to have their baby. The couple gets embroiled in the Resistance against the Eden's Gate cult and their leader, Joseph Seed, and you interact with them for several story missions--including one that involves the delivery of their baby, Carmina.
Seventeen years later in Far Cry: New Dawn, Kim has become the leader of Prosperity after the Collapse, the nuclear apocalypse that devastated the world. With Nick in the clutches of the Highwaymen, Kim sends Carmina to meet with Thomas Rush, the man roaming America rebuilding settlements, to enlist his help in Hope County. Carmina also joins New Dawn's player character, the Captain, as a Gun For Hire ally.
Grace Armstrong
Your sharpshooter Gun For Hire in Far Cry 5 was Grace, a tough-as-nails fighter who brought sniper rifles to bear in battles. After the Collapse, Grace lost her sight and thus her capability as a soldier, but she retained her ability with firearms--specifically in building them. You'll recruit her early in Far Cry: New Dawn as one of your Specialists for upgrading Prosperity. There, she'll pass on her wisdom to your new Guns For Hire, as well as provide you with a Saw Launcher she's upgraded with her deadly know-how.
The Fate Of Cheeseburger The Bear
One of the best allies in Far Cry 5 is Cheeseburger, a huge bear who mauls enemies at your command as a Fang For Hire. After 17 years and a nuclear war, Cheeseburger is, unfortunately, no more. The man who found and trained Cheeseburger from a cub, Wade Fowler, eventually tried to train another bear at his F.A.N.G. center. You can return to the F.A.N.G. center in New Dawn for the Treasure Hunt mission "For Whom The Bear Tolls" to find out what happened to Wade in the aftermath of the Collapse, as well as see some fun references to Cheeseburger.
Teaming Up With Pastor Jerome
Pastor Jerome was a key member in the Resistance against Eden's Gate in Far Cry 5. A former soldier known 17 years ago as The Father, he was an ally of the Deputy and a quest-giver in that game. Jerome was a former friend of Joseph Seed before he started the cult and locked down the county--when that happened, Jerome started to fight back, dedicating himself to protecting Joseph's victims. After the Collapse, Jerome kept up his efforts of saving people from danger, this time from the Highwaymen. You can recruit him to fight alongside you as a Gun For Hire in Far Cry: New Dawn.
Hanging Out With Hurk
Hurk is a mainstay of the Far Cry series, showing up in every game to bring a lot of explosions, bumbling, and hilarious lines to the proceedings. The version of Hurk you run into in Far Cry: New Dawn is the same one that you couldteam up with in Far Cry 5, only he's created something of a life for himself since the Collapse. Hurk has become a father, but he's on a John Wick-style search for vengeance against the Highwaymen in New Dawn, and you can recruit him as a Gun For Hire to give him a hand in his quest.
Sharky's Machine
You'll find pyro Sharky Boshaw in Far Cry 5 and recruit him into the fight against Eden's Gate as a Gun For Hire in that game, where he's a pretty effective teammate who sets basically everything on fire. Sharky's back in New Dawn, having survived the Collapse along with his cousin Hurk. He spends his time hanging out near some sulphur ponds raising Hurk's baby son, Blade, while his cousin goes on his vengeance rampage. You can't fight alongside Sharky in New Dawn, but he is one of the five Specialists you'll need to recruit to advance Prosperity and the game's story.
Nick Rye
Along with Kim, Nick is a character you meet in Hope County who eventually joins the Resistance, and who you'll talk to for several story missions in Far Cry 5. In New Dawn, he's been captured by the Highwaymen and forced to help them build new airplanes. Nick is one of the Specialists you'll need to recruit to build up Prosperity, which means rescuing him from the Highwaymen's clutches to reunite the Rye family.
Master Fisher Skylar Kohrs
Skylar Korhs is one of the minor characters you can interact with in Hope County in Far Cry 5 at Dylan's Master Bait Shop. In the Treasure Hunt mission "Riddle Me Fish," you can find the bunker she and Dylan used to survive the Collapse. Both are gone by the time you arrive, but there's the suggestion that Dylan has died since Far Cry 5 and Skylar has gone off in search of some monster fish to fry.
Larry Parker's Lab
One of the more ridiculous guns you can get in Far Cry 5 is the Magnopulsar, a gun that emits microwaves and causes its targets to explode. To find it, you have to find and talk to Larry Parker, a scientist in Hope County, and complete side quests with him. Larry made it through the Collapse into Far Cry: New Dawn--you won't meet him, but you will find his bunker in the "Going Haywire" Treasure Hunt. When you discover it, you'll also find a group of Highwaymen trying to get inside, only to get zapped by a ridiculous electrical field. Finding your way inside tells you about what happened to Larry.
Joseph Seed
The final moments of Far Cry 5 leave you with a choice: Kill Joseph Seed, the leader of the Eden's Gate cult, or spare his life. Letting Joseph live is the canon ending, given that, if you do that, you see right afterward that Joseph was right about the end of the world--Far Cry 5 ends with the nuclear bombs falling and the beginning of the Collapse. Joseph drags the Deputy, the character you play in the game, into a nearby bomb shelter, to survive the nuclear war.
We find out in Far Cry: New Dawn that Joseph did make it through the Collapse, and that when he eventually emerged from his bunker years later, he met up with the surviving members of the Eden's Gate cult to form New Eden. Those folks generally leave the people of Prosperity alone, choosing instead to fight the Highwaymen. As the Captain in New Dawn, your path eventually intersects with New Eden and the things that Joseph Seed has created.
So What Happened To Your Far Cry 5 Character?
Once you find New Eden, you also discover the fate of the Joseph Seed, where you can read journal entries that tell the story of how the Deputy, stuck in the bunker and terrified of the end of the world, became a follower of New Eden. Before long, you run into the Deputy, now wearing a mask and never speaking, and known as The Judge. You can even recruit the Judge to fight with you as a super-stealthy Gun For Hire.
By Anonymous on Feb 16, 2019 07:03 am As Metro broadens its horizons, it loses some of the series' focus. But Exodus makes up for it with thrilling encounters and a crew you'll want to follow to the ends of the earth.
Metro Exodus can be a daunting game to jump into, especially if you're not attuned to the series' minimalist style of experience and low health/high damage combat. It's a single-player, story-driven FPS with a lot of systems at play, and tacking on a few open sandbox levels might overwhelm newcomers. Even if you've been with main protagonist Artyom in Metro 2033 and Metro: Last Light, there are still a bunch of things you may want to be aware of before you start the journey across the Russian landmass.
What you need to know ranges from gameplay tips necessary for survival to important pieces of the story that you could miss. Metro Exodus will make mention of the many things you can do in its world, but they can also be easily glossed over. This'll be free of spoilers, and instead try to make you privy to the ways in which you can get the most from the story or influence the outcomes of events.
Note that those who jump straight into Ranger Hardcore mode and want the toughest challenge will have UI elements turned off. This means you may not even be aware of basic mechanics, so be sure to do some research before doing so. But here, we compiled a few neat things that'll help you get more out of Metro Exodus. This won't cover every little detail of the game, so if you come across any cool secrets or interesting tidbits, let us know in the comments below!
If you want to read more about the game, do yourself a favor and check out my Metro Exodus review. I awarded the game a score of 8/10 and stated, "As Metro broadens its horizons, it loses some of the series' focus. But Exodus makes up for it with thrilling encounters and a crew you'll want to follow to the ends of the earth."
Dismantle Enemy Weapons For Attachments, Materials, And Extra Ammo
In addition to picking up the items and materials dropped by fallen enemies, you can dismantle the weapons they drop. Doing so will reward you with weapon modifications and attachments that are vital to building out your arsenal. It's important to deck out your favorite weapons with better barrels, sights, and stocks since they can be pretty janky without them. You may be surprised with how a puny revolver can transform into a deadly long-range gun with the right mods. Dismantling enemy weapons will also give you some extra ammo and crafting materials. It may be a pain to constantly search the area after a firefight, but it's worth the effort.
You Can Only Swap Guns At Base Workbenches
The crafting system may be a little tough to get your head around in terms of what you can and can't do, but changing your loadout in particular is relegated to workbenches in or around the Aurora. These are the only spots where you can swap your weapon loadout outside of picking up an enemy's weapon, in case you were wondering why you couldn't at the other workbenches scattered around the game's levels.
Primary Ammo Can Only Be Crafted At Workbenches
Workbenches are also the only spots where you can craft ammo for your primary weapons (shotgun shells, rifle rounds, revolver bullets, and sniper ammo). Of course, ammo is found around the environments, but you always want to be prepared before you take on a big mission as you might not be able to pick up as much as you expend.
Improvise And Adapt With The Backpack
Keep in mind your backpack allows you to craft steel balls for the Tikhar or arrows for the Helsing crossbow. This allows you to have a decent firearm if you happen to run out of primary ammo. Medkits and filters can also be crafted with just your backpack so you're never left with low health as long as you have enough crafting materials. The backpack lets you swap weapon attachments as well; this is key for adapting to situations on the fly. For example, if you're caught in a long-range firefight but only have guns with reflex sights, whip out your backpack and swap in a scope if you have one.
Cleaning Weapons Is Very Important
Weapons will get dirty over time, so keep an eye on how clean they are. It'll be visually represented with dirt and grime building up on the weapon itself, and a meter will show its condition when you take it to a workbench. It doesn't take that many chemicals to keep them in top condition, either, so clean them when you can. A dirty weapon will jam or overheat frequently, which you do not want happening during an intense firefight.
Third Weapon Slot Is For The Tikhar Or Crossbow, Use Them When You Can
While you get to carry two primary weapons in Metro Exodus, the third slot is reserved for the pneumatic pump gun called the Tikhar. It's not the most powerful weapon, but it can deal some damage with a well-aimed shot and comes in handy for stealth situations since it's silent. The same goes for the Helsing crossbow you find in a later chapter; it does more damage but has a low fire rate. Again, if you want to conserve primary ammo, use these when you can since you're able to craft their ammo anywhere using your backpack.
Try To Avoid Conflict Against Mutants In Open Areas
In the open sandbox chapters, you're free to roam around. However, mutants run rampant throughout and can easily gang up on you since they sometimes run in packs. You should avoid conflict with them as they're not only dangerous, but force you to expend valuable ammo and medkits (if you get hit). They don't drop ammo or resources in return, unlike human enemies. It's also tough to run away since you have a limited sprint. Be careful.
Take A Nap, Stealth Is Easier At Night
With the introduction of a day/night cycle in Metro Exodus, your visibility can change drastically in the open sandbox areas. For those who are keen on a more stealthy approach, make sure you're going into heavily guarded areas at night since you have the cover of darkness. And don't forget to keep an eye on your watch's visibility indicator that tells you if you're exposed or not. Beds at outposts allow you to rest in order to change the time of day without any consequences. Use this to your advantage.
The Gasmask (And Geiger Counter) Saves Lives
Artyom's gasmask is literally a life saver, and you should know when it's necessary to have on. If you hear him gasping for air in any section of the environment, don't hesitate to put it on. In addition, filters only last for a certain duration before needing to be swapped out--listen for a beeping sound as this is your cue to switch filters. One more tip for not getting killed by the world itself: listen to your Geiger counter. You can survive for a while in mild radiation, but once Artyom starts to get dizzy and his vision starts to blur, get to safety quick.
Side Quests (Question Marks On Your Map) Can Lead To Rewards
Speaking of points of interest, you can think of these as side quests. Not only will you get interesting bits of story that may help influence future events, but you can pick up helpful equipment. For example, in the Volga chapter, your boy Duke will mention a bandit outpost that may be worth checking out. If you save the hostages there, they'll give you a key to open up a door in a later mission which leads to a pair of useful night-vision goggles. While a teddy bear may not be classified as useful equipment, if you track one down in a side quest for the child Nastya, you get a morality point and feel good about yourself!
Consider What Others Say, Could Also Lead To Rewards
Dialogue plays an important role in Metro Exodus. Most of it is for narrative purposes but sometimes it can hint at different types of rewards that may impact your playthrough. For example, in a mission during the Caspian Desert chapter, your companion Damir mentions to not hurt innocent bystanders, but you're free to go lethal on the bad guys. If you follow suit, it leads to a morality point which can affect future events. In another case, a tribe member in the Taiga chapter asks you to not hurt them, but only if you approach him (who you might think is hostile at first glance). Doing so also leads to a morality point.
Other times, characters will mention points of interest in the open sandbox chapters, which often get marked as question marks on your map. You'll definitely want to explore these locations.
Holstering Your Weapon Can Lead To Interesting Things
It's a smaller thing to note, but Metro Exodus allows you to holster your weapon. While we're not aware of every situation it can affect, we know it can lead to interesting outcomes. A few examples include a pair of fisherman in the Volga who react negatively to you if you approach them with your gun pointed at them. In a later mission in the Caspian Desert, aiming down your sights will lead to a firefight breaking out, and you may want to avoid that. And in the Taiga chapter, the dialogue with a tribe member (mentioned earlier) hints that you may not want to hurt them.
Take Out Enough Enemies And The Rest Will Surrender
One neat feature of Metro Exodus is how enemies will react if you wreak enough havoc on their encampment. In certain situations, there comes a point when taking down enemies in the surrounding area can lead to the remaining hostiles surrendering. They'll lay their weapons down with their hands up and constantly beg you not to hurt them. If you start to feel bad but still want their loot, just knock them out.
You Don't Always Have To Fight
Some sections force you to clear out a gang of mutants or unhinged hostile humans before moving on, and that's when you need to go in guns blazing. But remember that you don't always have to fight in Metro Exodus; not necessarily for non-lethal or stealthy approaches, but for your own sake as well. There's no shame in running past a sticky situation, which you should keep in mind when you think there's no way out of a dire situation.
Hang Out With Your Crew Throughout The Game
Aboard the Aurora train between missions, your crew of metro expats relax and reflect on the journey throughout the game. Here, you can hang out with them and listen to them talk about their experiences, deeper thoughts, or watch them interact with each other. These are some of the best parts of Metro Exodus that can easily be overlooked, and it's one of the things that'll get you more invested in the story itself since these characters are fun, genuine personalities.
In a few cases, you can sit beside Anna while she talks to you about how she's feeling, her perception of the previous missions, and what she hopes for in the future. As a result, these breaks in the action can go on for a long time but we recommend sticking around for it all.
Read Your Diary And Use The Radio To Listen In On Broadcasts And Sweet Tunes
As the game progresses, Artyom fills out his diary with descriptions of the places he's been, the enemies he's fought, and the equipment he's gathered. It's also where he writes about his comrades and summarizes his perceptions of who they are and their motivations. These insights help build the characters you're journeying with.
Beside the journal is a radio you can tune to different frequencies. With a handful of channels, you can eavesdrop on chatter between stations out on the surface which often tie into the game's events. A few stations also play some really catchy tunes that you can leave on as you step away from the desk.
If You Want A Good Ending, Be A Good Person
It's been known that Metro Exodus has several endings, but if you aiming for a "good" ending, you'll want to look out for opportunities to earn morality points, just like the previous Metro games. Again, things like getting through scenarios without hurting people who aren't necessarily bad and doing nice things people ask of you will net you morality points. We just want to make sure you're aware this exists.
You Can Make The Train Go Choo Choo
Alright, this won't really help you on your journey, but it sure is a morale boost in a dark, vicious post-apocalyptic world. If you go to the front of the Aurora train during the chill chapters, you can pull the handle that makes the train go choo choo. It's fun, especially after Miller is done with one of his tirades.
Apex Legends is similar to other battle royale games, but it where it differs is its emphasis on teamwork. The game has eight different character to choose from, each with their own unique abilities. Deciding which character to play as and knowing how their abilities can best contribute to your team's survival is essential.
For a character like Caustic, defensive tactics is the name of the game. His deadly gas traps can easily overwhelm and hinder mobility of enemy squads, offering your fellow teammates fertile opportunity for an easy ambush. At a glance, Caustic's abilities often seem more contextual than universally functional, but with a little practice, you can use that to your advantage.
As stated above, Caustic's strategies are a bit contextual. His Gas Traps are lethal, but it takes a firm understanding of their capabilities to use them effectively. And with such a large map where numerous battle scenarios are possible, finding the right time to leverage Caustic's strengths proves more difficult than you'd expect. That said, getting a feel for that takes time, so remain patient and don't hesitate to adjust his abilities to the needs of your team.
In battle, Caustic is best in close quarters situations. His gas abilities let you control a fight by blanketing areas to force enemies out of or away from them, and can give your team a serious advantage as your opponents are damaged, slowed, and blinded. He's also good for countering tracker or scout characters such as Bloodhound or Wraith--gas traps placed carefully can slow people following you, block pathways, and force players to move through pathways that help your teammates.
Use Caustic to try to control the battlefield and give your team strategic advantages, and sew chaos among enemy teams whenever possible by gassing them out. Just be aware that your gas can negatively affect your teammates. It won't kill them, but it can blind and slow them.
Abilities
Tactical: Nox Gas Trap
Caustic can drop Nox Gas Trap canisters that release deadly gas when shot or triggered by enemies. Gas effectively blinds enemies, while damaging them over time, making it great for close-range encounters.
Passive: Nox Vision
Nox Vision allows you to see enemies through Gas. It's pretty convenient, as enemies afflicted by your toxic gas are highlighted in green for both you and your squadmates.
Ultimate: Nox Gas Grenade
Caustic's Ultimate Ability Nox Gas Grenade blankets a large area in Nox Gas. This ability can be used defensively or offensively, putting enemy squads into a state of panic in confined space or sending them running in the other direction.
Tips To Play
While you're likely to be inclined to surprise enemies with Caustic's traps, it's a great idea to set some down as you're fighting to tip the balance in your favor. It's also possible to block doors and hallways with your traps, which can physically impede people from getting past them. You can throw up to six Nox Gas Traps at a time. You have three on cooldown, but once that ends, you can drop three more, or drop one as you get them back off a cooldown. Another great way to use the Nox Gas Traps is laying them down behind your team as you move up. This will alert you if anyone's triggered them or are trying to sneak up on you. In addition, you can drop traps near downed enemies in hopes of luring their teammates near them. Any traps you don't use, you can also pick back up, so keep that in mind.
The enemy outlining provided by Caustic's Nox Vision is a nice perk that should encourage you to use your traps more liberally. The gas won't hurt your teammates but be aware that their visibility in gas is still similar to smoke grenades, so try not to go overboard--lest you want to frustrate your squad.
Caustic's Nox Gas Grenades are useful in leading enemies into an ambush. It's also particularly useful in pushing enemies away, so you can give your squad time to revive downed teammates. You can even throw them in the opposite scenario, preventing enemy squads from bringing back their friends.
Another handy strategy is comboing Caustic's gas trap and gas grenade in a confined space. If you're able to block an enemy into a room with a trap, throw a grenade inside. Assuming they aren't smart enough to grenade the door, this deadly combination should make for a guaranteed kill.
All this talk about deadly gas is great, but don't think the enemy is completely powerless. Beware of incoming Grenades or Arc Stars while your gas is active on the field.
Apex Legends is a battle royale game centered around the concept of surviving as a team. You can wordlessly ask for weapons and equipment or point out enemy locations with the game's ping system. Downed teammates can be revived, and you can respawn dead allies if you grab their banner in time. Everything in the game revolves around your squad working together, and that starts with knowing how to use your chosen Legend's unique abilities to benefit the team.
Wraith is one of the six Legends unlocked in Apex from the start (with two more you can earn or purchase), and this interdimensional skirmisher is one of the most versatile characters in the game. Although she's designed to excel as a hit-and-run tactician, Wraith can fit into Mirage's role as a trickster or handle Bloodhound's recon duties in a pinch. In this short guide, we're going to take a look at Wraith, and explain how this Legend can open up new avenues towards victory for you and your squad.
If you're still on the fence about picking up Apex Legends, check out our review. If you're already playing Respawn's battle royale game and you're looking for a few extra tips, we have a guide on becoming a champion, as well as a gallery of the best weapons in the game.
Wraith is one of the three offense-focused fighters in Apex Legends, so she's specifically designed to be one of her team's major damage dealers. Her abilities make her an ideal candidate for your squad's point person, so don't expect to hang back when it's time to move out. That doesn't mean you should go off on your own though. Wraith may be able to take care of herself, but she's a force to be reckoned with when she's using her portals to help her entire team get the drop on an enemy.
Confusing the enemy should be your main concern as Wraith, but if need be you can use her skills to aid downed allies, scout ahead, get your team out of a losing firefight, set ambushes, or trick an enemy into killing themselves. Regardless of how you use Wraith, it's important to keep moving during a fight. Wraith is most useless when she's standing still and trying to snipe an enemy from afar, where her abilities can really only be used defensively. Because you'll usually be in the thick of things as Wraith, you'll want to nab at least one weapon with a decent fire rate that packs a punch at close range. The EVA-8 and Mastiff shotguns are your best bets, but the Peacekeeper, Wingman, and Flatline are all excellent choices as well. Also, try to avoid executing enemies. Wraith has some really cool execution animations, but you want to keep moving to kill the enemy team as quickly as possible.
Wraith's Skills
Passive Skill: Voices From The Void - A voice warns you when danger approaches. As far as you can tell, it's on your side.
With this passive, voices warn of any incoming threat that might harm Wraith, so stick close to your teammates to defend them as well. The voices are whispered, so for the best results, play Apex Legends with headphones, subtitles on, or both. On very rare occasions, this passive makes enemy footsteps louder as well, so headphones might be the way to go, since you don't get an audible warning for those. Don't forget to hit the button prompt when the voices speak up, so you can alert your teammates as well. Knowing an enemy has spotted you, that a grenade is fast approaching, or that one of Caustic's Nox Gas Traps is waiting for you around the corner or behind a closed door can make a difference between victory and defeat
Tactical Skill: Into The Void - Reposition quickly through the safety of void space, avoiding all damage.
When Wraith journeys into the void, she becomes untouchable and nearly invisible. She also moves a lot faster too, so you can use this skill to escape an approaching ring wall. Wraith can't interact with anything while in the void, though, meaning she can't pick up weapons or items, see enemies or allies, attack, or open or close doors.
Ultimate Skill: Dimensional Rift - Link two locations with portals for 60 seconds, allowing your entire team to use them.
Wraith has one of the most useful Ultimate skills in Apex Legends. She can drop portals next to downed allies so they can crawl through and teleport to safety, or use the massive speed boost she gets from placing her first portal to escape an approaching zone wall. If you don't have a Bloodhound on-hand, you can use Wraith to drop one portal, run ahead to scout some buildings, and escape through a quickly placed second portal if any enemies are hiding inside.
Tips To Play As Wraith
Once you've gotten a knack for Voices From The Void, Wraith can become nearly untouchable at long range. Not only are you warned when someone tags you, the voices speak up when you're in a sniper's scope. The second you hear that you've got a sniper on you, warn your teammates and use your tactical skill, Into The Void. You'll disappear and become untouchable, much to your enemy's chagrin.
Speaking of Into The Void, because of its drawbacks, it's best used defensively to escape a firefight or ambush. However, you can also use the ability to reach downed allies or safely flank an enemy's position. If your team has another pinned down, you can use Into The Void to get the drop on someone, but that's much easier to do if you're chatting with friends and they guide you to where an opponent is hiding. To truly master Into The Void, learn all the tiny details of Apex Legends' map, so you know what you're doing and where you're going when you blink out of existence.
As a final note, pay close attention to the shadows that populate the void. They aren't enemies or allies. They're actually Wraith. Because she's caught between dimensions, Wraith can see every outcome she's ever made, making, or will make, in both this universe and others. Those shadows mark where she'll come out of the void if she heads in that direction, so they're basically marking her possible futures.
Above, we listed how Wraith can support her team with Dimensional Rift, but as an offense-focused character, this skill is best used for killing enemies. If Wraith uses Dimensional Rift, she can follow up with Into the Void to speed across the battlefield unscathed before placing her second portal. With this strategy, you can teleport your entire team into a flanking position behind another squad. To safeguard your first portal, you can have Gibraltar throw his Dome Of Protection over it, or have Bangalore's Smoke Launcher hide its location.
If you really want to mess with an enemy, have your squad wait behind cover with grenades, before rushing forward and placing a portal next to an another team. The second it's set, teleport back to safety while your allies step through to the enemy squad, drop their grenades at their feet, and then transport back. If you have a Caustic on your squad, his Ultimate can do insane damage with this technique, especially within enclosed spaces. If you're in the midst of a firefight, drop one portal and run to the nearest map edge to drop your second. With any luck, in the confusion of battle, your enemies will think you escaped through the portal and "follow you" through it to kill you, only to appear in open air and fall to their deaths instead. You can trick people into teleporting outside the ring wall too. If the edge of the map and ring are far away, having a waiting Caustic Nox Gas Trap or a Gibraltar with a Spitfire or Devotion and his Gun Shield up can work too. We've done a lot experiments with what Wraith's portals can and can't do if you need any more combat strategies.
How To Counter Wraith's Weaknesses
Despite the wide range of attacks Wraith can pull off with her skills, she can be easily countered by a Bloodhound. The technological tracker can tell where Wraith has gone, and see her through walls. If you're playing Wraith and see a Bloodhound, taking them out should be your first priority.
Wraith is also at her best when she is the one causing the confusion, not the other way around. Disorienting Wraith with Bangalore's Smoke Launcher, Caustic's Nox Gas Grenade, or Mirage's Psyche Out or Vanishing Act are the best ways of knocking her off her game once she's within killing range. If you're playing Wraith and your enemy responds with any of these attacks, don't panic. Use Into The Void and get out. Remember, your abilities are best used to surprise the enemy. If you're the one being surprised, you need to retreat and try again.
In 1999, some of us were worrying about the alleged impending doom of the Y2K bug that was going to destroy all our computers. The rest of us were living our normal lives and enjoying some of the finer offerings from Hollywood to pass the time. Blockbuster movies were taking the crowds by storm, but the ones that got people talking the most challenged our preconceived notions of the world around us. On the television front, this was a turning point, as networks started losing viewers to the high quality content being put out by cable channels like HBO.
The fine folks of GameSpot are taking a look back at the movies and television series we hold dearly in our hearts, for better or worse, that debuted in 1999. From moments like Neo deciding whether to take the red or blue pill in The Matrix to America waging war on Canada in the South Park movie, 1999 had some iconic moments in the cinema. And television came into its own with HBO's The Sopranos debuting, along with a show that was ahead of its time, Freaks and Geeks.
Here are our picks for the most memorable movies and television series from 1999, in order of when they were released. And if you're looking for more nostalgia trips, check out GameSpot's pieces remember games from the past.
The Sopranos was one of a handful of '90s shows--alongside the likes of Twin Peaks and The Larry Sanders Show--that truly laid the groundwork for TV over the next two decades. It helped turn HBO into a premiere destination for great original programming and showed how the medium was far from cinema's poor cousin. Created by David Chase, this sprawling saga of a New Jersey crime family was an expertly balanced mix of drama, dark comedy, and gangster thrills, anchored by a career-defining performance by the late, great James Gandolfini.
On paper, Tony Soprano is deeply unlikable man--unpredictable, selfish, violent, unfaithful--but over the course of six seasons, Gandolfini helped develop him into complex, multi-layered character, able to evoke our sympathies without ever giving some unrealistic Hollywood redemption story. The rest of the cast are just as memorable--from Tony's long suffering wife Carmela (Edie Falco) and his psychotherapist Dr. Jennifer Melfi (Lorraine Bracco) to fellow mobsters like uncle "Junior" Soprano (Dominic Chianese) and Paulie "Walnuts" Gualtieri (Tony Sirico). The ambiguous final episode might have divided audiences but The Sopranos remains one of the greatest TV shows of all time. | Dan Auty
Batman Beyond | January 10, 1999
Batman Beyond is a concept I thought I would hate. It takes place in the future, where an angsty teen becomes the new Batman, and there is so much raving going on. However, I ended up falling in love with it and have it sitting right below Batman: The Animated Series on the "Best Animated Series" list in my head. Because the Batman: TAS team (Paul Dini, Bruce Timm, and Alan Burnett) were the minds behind Batman Beyond, they created a show that stands on its own exceptionally well, yet feels as a companion piece to the original.
What I found so great about the series was that it didn't just try to rehash characters are stories from the world of Batman and toss it into a futuristic setting. Batman Beyond was always pushing forward. Sure, the Joker eventually popped back in--and that straight-to-video movie is near perfection--but the series created something new instead of living in the past.
Sure, I may have been a little too old at the time to be watching a cartoon for kids, but aside from being a Batman story, the person inside the suit--Terry McGinnis--was a high school student dealing with family, love, work, trying to be an adult, and fighting crime. That was just like me--aside from the crime fighting. Much like Freaks and Geeks, it resonated with me, which is why I fell in love with it. Also, Batman was in it. | Mat Elfring
Varsity Blues | January 15, 1999
"I don't want your life!" This was something my friends and I yelled at each other constantly after watching James Van Der Beek ditch his awful Dawson's Creek character temporarily to play a Texas high school football star with a terrible accent. Whether it's a cast that includes Paul Walker, Ali Larter, and Amy Smart, or the iconic whipped cream bikini scene, this movie is so late-'90s it hurts, and I'll never stop loving it. | Chris E. Hayner
Office Space | February 19, 1999
Office Space is a fantastic comedy that effortlessly captured the spirit of a whole generation of dead-eyed slackers (and future slackers like myself), but there's a lot more to it than that. Like The Matrix, Office Space played on my fear at the time that I'd grow up to have a soul-crushing cubicle job like my parents, driving to work every day in my metal coffin so I could get reprimanded by six separate bosses about forgetting a cover sheet on a TPS report. And Office Space offered a better route: doing literally anything else with my life.
Written and directed by Beavis and Butthead and King of the Hill creator Mike Judge, Office Space follows Ron Livingston's Peter Gibbons, a perfectly blank facsimile onto which I could project my own pathetic future self. He goes through life like a zombie until a hypnotic therapist keels over halfway through his treatment, leaving him in a semi-permanent state of disinterested contentment. Office Space ultimately suggests that's no way to go through life, although I'm not sure I fully grasped the lesson at the time.
Either way, Office Space still holds up today--just look at the countless memes and references to it present on any internet platform to this day, from Twitter to Reddit and beyond. And, oh, by the way, I'm going to need you to go ahead and come in on Saturday. | Mike Rougeau
Futurama | March 28, 1999
When it comes to debating The Simpsons versus Futurama, I stand firmly on the side of Futurama. I adore The Simpsons (come on, I grew up in the '90s), but for me, Futurama is the full package. It's bitingly funny, exceedingly smart (go on, name another show that has its own mathematical theorem), but also able to give you emotional gut punches that resonate. Even today, almost 20 years after I saw it for the first time, I find it difficult to rewatch "Jurassic Bark."
Futurama was a show made by nerds, for nerds (how else would you get the perfect Star Trek set up episode "Where No Fan Has Gone Before"), and while it poked fun at technology and pop culture, its jokes managed to have a kind of timeless quality to them, making it endlessly rewatchable. It was also oddly prescient of meme culture, with many of its lines becoming memes in their own right (shut up baby, I know it).
Futurama didn't deserve to be cancelled and revived over and over by Fox: it should have been allowed to finish on its own terms, instead of yanking itself out of all its resolved plot points, only to be sent out to die again. It was a fantastic show 20 years ago, and it's still excellent now. Anyone who says otherwise can bite my shiny metal ass. | Lucy James
The Matrix | March 31, 1999
The Matrix is still easily one of my favorite movies--if not my all-time favorite. And that's despite its two sequels, which I, like many fans, consider to be pretty much garbage. I rewatch The Matrix several times a year; the last time I tried to watch the full trilogy, I could barely get through the second, and turned the third off part-way through.
But that's beside the point, which is that The Matrix is one of the greatest sci-fi movies of all time. It has everything: Its special effects were used sparingly and in smart enough ways that they still hold up 20 years after its release, the world it establishes held seemingly endless mysteries, the action was creatively unique and thrilling to watch, the sci-fi concepts were heady and complex but presented in an easily digestible way that anyone could understand--you get the idea.
Maybe most important of all, The Matrix was just plain cool--and it remains so to this day. I love the way most of the movie's technology was already archaic for 1999--it gives the movie a timeless feel. I fell hopelessly in love with the main characters' industrial inspired, leather-clad style (although thankfully, I never took to wearing shiny trench coats in real life). Neo's double life as a cubicle slave by day was so relatable--anyone around in the '90s who didn't already have a soul-sucking office job dreaded the day they'd find themselves in a similar situation, and fantasized about the phone call from Morpheus that would allow them to escape. Maybe the next step after that wouldn't be prettier, but at least it would be real. | Mike Rougeau
10 Things I Hate About You | March 31, 1999
1999 was a banner year for teen movies, with hits like American Pie, Varsity Blues, and She's All That -- yet the one with the most heart was a 90s retelling of the Shakespeare comedy The Taming of The Shrew. 10 Things I Hate About You tells the story of high school romantic Cameron (Joseph Gordon-Levitt) who wants to date popular classmate Bianca (Larisa Oleynik), whose father establishes a rule that she may date only when her antisocial, shrewish older sister Kat (Julia Stiles) does. Bianca tells Cameron to find someone to date Kat, so he pays bad boy Patrick Verona (Heath Ledger) to woo her.
10 Things is a smart romantic comedy that is incredibly charming, especially thanks to strong performances from Stiles and Ledger, who share an electric chemistry on screen. Plus, it's the movie that gave us Ledger's unforgettable and completely adorable performance of Can't Take My Eyes Off Of You accompanied by a marching band, which instantly stole thousands of teenage hearts around the world. | Chastity Vicencio
eXistenZ | April 23, 1999
David Cronenberg's most neatly crafted and still-prescient picture hit theaters three weeks after the Wachowski's introduced the world to the world of the Matrix. Cronenberg's picture could be summarized as the thinking-person's version of the Matrix. It deals with similar turn-of-the-century cybernetic themes which may seem quaint today but, I believe, are unfortunately still relevant. But whereas the Matrix found coolness in virtual representation, eXistenZ finds cause for concern.
If you have not seen eXistenZ, it is a Canadian sci-fi action film that takes place entirely in a church. Actually, it begins with the demonstration of a new virtual reality video game designed by the world's most famous game designer, Allegra Geller (Jennifer Jason Leigh), then spirals quickly out of control following an attempt on her life by violent, pro-reality extremists. She and a Pilgrimage PR nerd, Ted Pikul (Jude Law), embark on a reality-bending, paranoid flight through rural Canada and Gellar's game, eXistenZ.
The film is beautifully executed by Cronenberg's long time collaborators Howard Shore (Lord of the Rings) composing the score, and Peter Suschitzky (Star Wars Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back) on cinematography. | Ryan Schubert
WWF Smackdown | April 27, 1999
1999 was right in the golden era of the Monday Night Wars, where WWE--then WWF--and WCW were in the middle of a battle for wrestling promotion dominance. Smackdown was WWE's return to network television, airing on UPN, in direct competition with WCW's Thunder. And Smackdown was "more of the same" for WWE fans, which was perfectly fine for the time. It's simple supply and demand because wrestling was at its most popular during the late '90s/early '00s.
Maybe it's because I played Smackdown: Here Comes The Pain a lot, but the original theme music--which is objectively annoying--for the series brings back so many memories of sitting at my friend's house, excited we had more wrestling to watch, since WCW's Thunder was mediocre at best. What I loved about the pilot episode was that there was no setup, and for all intents and purposes, it's not a pilot. It continued storylines from Monday Night Raw, and the first episode gave us programming that was very familiar. Additionally, I remember the first episode debuting The Corporate Ministry, a wonderfully convoluted wrestling stable, which eventually led to one of my favorite, unintentionally hilarious, moments in WWE history.
Obviously, WWE's Smackdown has come a long way in the past 20 years, from a B-show with a giant fist on its entrance ramp--which is objectively awesome--to a brand with its own identity, stars, and titles. Sure, the content and times have changed, but it's amazing to see this show is still on the air, 20 years later, and moving back to network television this October. | Mat Elfring
SpongeBob SquarePants | May 1, 1999
I was always a Nickelodeon kid, but for a while, I kind of just watched whatever was on and went with it. Spongebob was the first Nickelodeon show I remember actively seeking out--my dad and I saw a commercial for it and decided we had to be there when it premiered. It quickly became the only Nickelodeon show my dad could actively quote from memory (and one that we relentlessly quoted at school and, honestly, still do to this day).
Like a lot of other cartoons, Spongebob appealed to both kids and adults by balancing silliness with more clever humor and plotlines. But it really stood out--SpongeBob's relentless optimism, Squidward's nasally disillusionment, Patrick's stupidity, Sandy's intensity, Plankton's incompetent evilness, and Mr. Krabs' greediness combined for something memorable and consistently funny that was also wholesome.
It's been 20 years since Stephen Hillenburg's nautical nonsense began, but I remember those early episodes like I've just watched them (and I have recently watched some of them--they still hold up.) Don't pretend you don't know all the words to the Krusty Krab Pizza song or Ripped Pants or even Striped Sweater. | Kallie Plagge
The Mummy | May 7, 1999
After giving it a lot of thought, I think The Mummy might be my favorite movie of all time. It has everything: historical intrigue, the supernatural, a life-or-death rivalry, romance, and Rachel Weisz. It's among Brendan Fraser's best roles, too, and I think I watched it every weekend for at least six months in a row.
Rick (Fraser) is a gruff WWI veteran who cleans up real nice, and Evie (Weisz) is a scholar of ancient Egypt and a bit of a know-it-all (but that's because, well, she really does know more than everyone else). After Evie saves Rick's life, he reluctantly agrees to take her to Hamunaptra, the lost City of the Dead, which he'd more or less stumbled upon during the war. Then Evie accidentally resurrects Imhotep, a condemned and gooey mummy who is driven by love, mostly. That's the short version, but the setup is fantastic, backed by a great score and bolstered by Rick and Evie's flirtation mixed with some ancient Egyptian mysteries.
The only thing that doesn't hold up about this movie is Rachel Weisz's eyebrows (and I say that with love). I honestly could still watch it at least once a month and not get tired of it. | Kallie Plagge
Star Wars Episode 1: The Phantom Menace | May 19, 1999
We all know what Star Wars: Episode 1 is, so you don't need an explainer of any kind to kick this off. So I want to talk to you about trauma. This is a story more about experience, hype, and learning to curb your expectations rather that a movie that changed the world for the better. Ok, over-dramatic reactions aside, I could not have been more excited for a new Star Wars movie. It had been 16 years since a new Star Wars movie had been released. The hype was real, and we all may have expected way too much.
I remember standing in line for hours at my local theater--and skipping school to do so--to be the 20th person in line. I bought Darth Maul's lightsaber, and my friend and I had battles while waiting for the latest Star Wars film. Yes, that's ridiculous, but we weren't the only ones doing so. Everyone in that line was excited to see the next chapter of the Star Wars saga. We were all nerds, and we were all friends for the day. Then, the mayor of our town, her friends, and kids all cut to the front of the line and got into the theater early, taking the best seats in the house.
After watching the movie, we were all living in a sea of excuses, trying to make what we just witnessed "good" in our heads. Sadly, it was one of the biggest letdowns we--and other Star Wars fans--ever had to deal with. I could sit here and discuss what's wrong with the film, but that's been done to death. More than likely, the film was aimed at a new generation of fans, pushing the older ones aside, and that's why so many of us felt so alienated. Looking back, yeah, the movie is a bit of a stinker, but without it, we wouldn't have things like Darth Maul, and The Clone Wars and Rebels animated series from Dave Filoni. And both of those TV shows are some of the best things to come out of the franchise. | Mat Elfring
South Park: Bigger, Longer & Uncut | June 30, 1999
South Park had been on the air for two years when the big screen version was released, but as good as those early seasons were, the conceptual leap taken by the movie was a huge achievement. A brilliantly written R-rated musical satire about censorship, freedom of speech, and media responsibility, it sees Stan, Cartman, and friends drawn into the war between Canada and the US, sparked by the foul-mouthed Terrance and Phillip movie Asses of Fire.
It was ironic that a film about movie censorship led to creators Trey Parker and Matt Stone engaging in a lengthy battle with the MPAA (who are mocked merciless in the film) to get it an R-rating, as opposed for the far more restrictive NC-17 it was first given. The pair ultimately won the fight, and the Bigger, Longer & Uncut went on to become the highest grossing R-rated animated movie of all time, until Sausage Party 17 years later.
And that's not to mention the songs, each of them a hilarious parody of Broadway showtunes; Robin Williams performing the Oscar-nominated "Blame Canada" at the 2000 ceremony remains an Academy Award highpoint. South Park has had many brilliant and hilarious episodes over the years, but few can match the movie for intelligence, dazzling invention, and absolutely outrageous laughs. | Dan Auty
Good Eats | July 7, 1999
Good Eats was a show that started a hobby for me. I've always been a science enthusiast, and because of this, Food Network series awakened a love of cooking in me, which is something I still really enjoy doing in my spare time. At this time, Food Network didn't appeal to me by any means, as it was just cooking shows with mildly-charismatic hosts with their well-thought out signature catchphrases, like "Bam."
However, Good Eats was something completely different, hosted by the nerdy Alton Brown, a man who didn't have a catchphrase but appealed to me in the same way Mr. Wizard or Bill Nye did when I was younger. It explained the science of cooking with a comedic slant that really appealed to me. While there were actual recipes on each episode, I never made any, but I did try experimenting with food in the kitchen because of of the series. I apologize to my parents, and in later years, to my roommates because I made some hot garbage.
Good Eats made cooking fun, during a time when every show about it was incredibly serious and many time, horribly pretentious. On top of that, you're learning about real-life science, stuff you can use in the real world. Also, follow Alton Brown on Twitter. He's delightful. | Mat Elfring
Eyes Wide Shut | July 16, 1999
Stanley Kubrick delivered his final cut of Eyes Wide Shut about one week before passing away. It had been thirteen years since Full Metal Jacket. It was his 12th film and perhaps the most anticipated of his career. Eyes Wide Shut was shrouded in secrecy; a scandalous sex film in which Hollywood's most famous couple, Tom Cruise and Nicole Kidman, were cast in the leading roles. It was over budget and over schedule. Kubrick had always been infatuated with the 1920s novel it was based on and had gone out of his way to purchase every copy off of bookstore he could find to keep it out of the hands of others. There was rampant speculation that he had lost his mind.
I was about as much a Kubrick-phile as one could have been in 1999. I was devastated by his passing but heartened that Tom Cruise and Warner Bros sought to honor Kubrick's film without compromising his vision. The opulent orgy sequence has notoriously bad CGI cloaked figures obscuring graphic sex, but this was something the filmmaker had agreed upon prior to the film's completion. Kubrick knew better than anybody how to get movies made his way and where he could compromise.
Eyes Wide Shut is Kubrick's most carefully composed and expertly crafted film. Every scene is meticulously planned, blocked and lit by Kubrick himself. He kept the crew to a minimum and the process intimate (except for building three blocks of New York City on a backlot in London from scratch). The resulting film is his most eerie, dreamlike journey in a brooding look at jealousy and paranoia. Like any Kubrick film, it is inherently a comedy beneath the surface, and like any Kubrick film it can be appreciated from many different angles on repeat viewings. | Ryan Schubert
The Blair Witch Project | July 30, 1999
The Blair Witch Project might have been released at the tail-end of the 1990s, but its influence stretches across the entirety of the following decade and beyond. It showed that shooting a movie on a domestic camcorder was no hindrance to huge international success, and ensured that low budget horror filmmakers stopped even trying to make their movies look good. Suddenly, "found footage" was the horror subgenre of choice.
Of course, few of the imitators had the terrifying power of this movie. It looked and sounded real, as three students head into a supposedly haunted wood to explore the legend of the Blair Witch, and find themselves trapped, as weird and scary things happen all around them. The believable, increasingly desperate performances--partially real, as the actors didn't always know what tricks directors Eduardo Sánchez and Daniel Myrick would throw at them--and the growing sense of impending doom for these three kids absolutely petrified audiences in 1999.
The Blair Witch Project is a film that only truly works to the first viewing, and neither of its two sequels came close to matching it for raw scares. But in terms of a film that showed how much you can achieve with very little, Blair Witch has few rivals. | Dan Auty
The Sixth Sense | August 6, 1999
Having the ending of The Sixth Sense spoiled for you was one of those life-changing events that would set you on a different course forever, not to mention the bone-deep grudge you'd hold against the perpetrator who committed the spoiling. That's because the experience of watching the movie and seeing that twist unfold before your eyes was second to none in cinema at that time. It felt truly new. (And before you say you guessed the twist in the first 10 minutes, congrats, you're a genius? I don't know what you want me to tell you.)
Even without the infamous twist, Sixth Sense was a terrifying thriller about a little kid who was plagued by gruesome, terrifying ghosts that only he could see. The movie launched Haley Joel Osment's career into the stratosphere, and further cemented Bruce Willis as one of the biggest stars of the decade. And don't forget that it was director M. Night Shyamalan's first major feature film, which felt more significant before he used up all that goodwill with a series of duds throughout the aughts.
My dad and I watched this movie over and over, looking for all the little clues that we missed the first time around. M. Night Shyamalan would go on to become known as the cheesy twist guy who couldn't recapture his early genius, but before that, The Sixth Sense was so good that even in retrospect the hype was totally justified. | Mike Rougeau
The Iron Giant | August 6, 1999
I'm a sucker for fictional characters with limited communication skills. Before he was Groot, Vin Diesel was the Iron Giant, a mysterious space robot who crash-lands in the small town of Rockwell, Maine in the '50s. A local kid named Hogarth Hughes discovers and befriends the Giant, who seems friendly and peaceful.
Of course, the military and most of Rockwell's adult population don't like the Giant. There's a war on--the Cold War--and randomly appearing robots are generally not a great sign. With the help of a beatnik artist named Dean, Hogarth hides and protects the Giant, teaching him the difference between right and wrong, what death is, and how to use his powers for good. There are amusing hijinks and genuinely serious moments in equal measure, all building up to a phenomenal ending.
As far as animated family movies go, The Iron Giant can often take a backseat to Disney films from around the same time. It underperformed at the box office, even, really only gaining traction after its home release. But Brad Bird's directorial debut is now (rightfully) regarded as a classic of 2D animation. It's beautifully animated, intelligent, funny, and--above all--heartfelt and earnest, and it never fails to make me cry at least a little. | Kallie Plagge
Freaks and Geeks | September 25, 1999
Sorry Ronda Rousey, but Joan Jett's "Bad Reputation" will forever be attached to this NBC series, which was cancelled way too soon. Freaks and Geeks took place in the early '80s, following brother and sister Sam and Lindsay Weir, as they traverse a new year in high school.
It's a funny, coming of age story, where Lindsay is having a bit of an identity crisis, hanging out with the burnouts, while her brother Sam dealt with being a nerd, which comes with things like being bullied. The series launched the careers of Linda Cardellini, James Franco, Martin Starr, Jason Segel, and Seth Rogen, and the series heavily featured the writing of both Paul Feig and Judd Apatow. Everything we know and love about contemporary comedy started here, but it wasn't a series that relied on punchline after punchline. It was ahead of its time.
Freaks and Geeks resonated with me immensely, as I was entering my senior year of high school when the show came out. I felt the same way as these characters and had the same struggles as well, just 19 years in the future. Regardless of when the series took place, these teenagers still have to deal with the same problems: fitting in, trying not to disappoint your parents, learning how to function as a young adult, and love. If Freaks and Geeks had been released six years later, it would have ran for 10 seasons. | Mat Elfring
Fight Club | October 15, 1999
A misunderstood commercial failure at the time, the legacy and reputation of Fight Club has increased massively over the past 20 years. While star Brad Pitt and director David Fincher's previous film--the serial killer thriller Seven--was a huge success, audiences and critics simply didn't know what to make of Fight Club. Was it a dark comedy? An edgy paranoid thriller? A drama about alienation and mental illness? A savage satire about masculinity and consumerism? The answer is, of course, all of the above.
An amazing cast--a never-better Pitt, Edward Norton, Helena Bonham Carter, Jared Leto--stunning direction from Fincher, and incendiary source material (Chuck Palahniuk's novel) ensure that there's never been a movie quite like Fight Club, before or since. For once, the movie's big twist actually makes you want to go back and watch again. For those that can stomach its excesses, it remains an endlessly rewatchable, disreputable treat. | Dan Auty
The Straight Story | October 21, 1999
If there is one popular director in film history who could otherwise be accused of never telling a straightforward story, his name is David Lynch. Following his bleak, narcissistic reality-bender, Lost Highway (1997), and prior to its full blown glorious follow-up, Mulholland Drive (2001), Lynch took a pastoral detour into one of the most frighteningly linear and starkly heart-warming corners of his enigmatic psyche.
An aging Alvin Straight, who lives with his daughter Rose (Sissy Spacek), decides that before he passes away he should make amends with his estranged brother who is ailing. Because Alvin is no longer allowed to drive a car, he decides that he will drive a John Deere tractor from Iowa to Wisconsin.
Based on a true story, The Straight Story is part family drama and part road movie. It shows that David Lynch's penchant for existential horror is just as at home in a warm sweater as it is wrapped in plastic. Lynch fans and newcomers alike ought to see this film to know the breadth of Lynch's capability.
Alvin was played by Richard Farnsworth who passed away the following year and received the film's only Oscar nomination. Lynch composing veteran Angelo Badalamenti (Twin Peaks, The City of Lost Children) shows that his famous severity can be tamed in one of the most gentle and beautiful film scores you will ever hear. | Ryan Schubert
Dogma | November 12, 1999
Kevin Smith's movies hold a special place in my heart. When my wife and I started dating, we first bonded over our love of the movie Mallrats. And Dogma was the first Kevin Smith movie we got to see together in the theater. Sure, it was rated-R, but this was the late '90s, and as long as you weren't a child, you could be under the age 17 and buy a ticket no problem.
Smith's movies were very much a product of the mid to late-90s. It captured the minds of the a generation, primarily late Generation Xers and early Millennials. How did it do so? With rude, crude, and totally lewd jokes wrapped around a story about trying to find God, whom had gone missing somewhere on Earth, while two banished angels try to get back into Heaven.
Back then, it was hilarious, and it featured a ton of Jay and Silent Bob, which was a huge bonus for me. Does it hold up now? I don't dare go back and watch it because the memories of watching it in the theater will more than likely far outway the actual quality of the film. | Mat Elfring
Toy Story 2 | November 24, 1999
In some ways, Toy Story 2 seems to be the forgotten movie in the franchise. The first was a game changer and the third was such an emotional rollercoaster that it wrecked even the best of us. The second, though, touches on an aspect of toys that has become far more common in recent years; the collector's market. It also takes the action-oriented elements from the first movie and blows them up, crating a massive adventure that sends th toys to a toy store on a rescue mission to bring Woody home after he's taken by a super creepy grown man in a chicken suit. Toy Story 2 deserves more respect, so watch it again. | Chris E. Hayner
Being John Malkovich | December 3, 1999
Spike Jonze's Being John Malkovich is as funny as it is bizarre. A puppeteer named Craig Schwartz (John Cusack) discovers a portal that allows him to enter the mind of real life actor John Malkovich, allowing him to see and hear what Malkovich is doing for fifteen minutes, before being ejected into a ditch in New Jersey. He and his co-worker Maxine (Catherine Keener) decide to profit on this experience, by charging a $200 admission for people to become John Malkovich.
It's a ridiculous, mesmerizing story that twists in unexpected ways, supported by solid, over the top performances from its gifted cast, including an offtype Cameron Diaz and a very meta John Malkovich with an existential crisis. Best of all is the surreal love story between Maxine and Lotte (Diaz), who fall in love when Lotte is inside the mind of Malkovich while dating Maxine. The movie's tagline poses the question, "Ever wanted to be someone else?" and gives us a surreal look at what people might do if they could be a celebrity for a short period of time. To this day, Being John Malkovich is still one of the most original, intelligent and outrageous comedies I've ever seen, and I look forward to rewatching it every 10 years. | Chastity Vicencio
Magnolia | December 8, 1999
Today it is easy to regard Magnolia as merely Paul Thomas Anderson's fifth or sixth best film in a catalogue of nearly unparalleled quality among American filmmakers. But, in 1999, cinephiles were collectively impressed by the star-studded three hour opus from the relative newcomer who had gotten everyone's attention with a Scorsesian romp, Boogie Nights, only two years earlier.
At the time, Magnolia drew comparisons to Robert Altman's Short Cuts for its multi-character, multi-story tale of how the lives of seemingly disparate personalities are fatefully intertwined. Beyond this, it is difficult to describe Magnolia by its story as much as by its feeling: the impressions of melancholy, loneliness, and desperation that its characters share.
The Altman comparisons were apt, too, because it was abundantly clear with Magnolia that Anderson could make it seem as though drawing a spectacular performance out of any actor of any caliber was effortless. Julianne Moore, Tom Cruise, Philip Seymour Hoffman, William H. Macy, John C. Reilly and Jason Robards (in his final film) are all unforgettable.
Anderson's films have since become more intimate, more complex, more carefully constructed, and in nearly every respect superior. Nevertheless, it is impossible to leave Magnolia out of any conversation about Anderson's work in part for its foibles, but necessarily for the master craft it foreshadowed. | Ryan Schubert
Galaxy Quest | December 25, 1999
Galaxy Quest is one of the most surprising movies I've ever seen. At a glance, it would appear to be an attempt to make a Star Trek movie laced with a bit of humor. Nailing that could have made for an enjoyable if forgettable film, but Galaxy Quest is much more than that.
Galaxy Quest functions as both a sci-fi action-adventure film and a parody of that genre--and it does both of those things extremely well. The main characters--former actors from a Star Trek-like TV series--are roped into an interstellar space war involving aliens who think the actors are really the heroic characters they play. After a period of time where they believe the aliens are simply over-eager cosplayers, we get to enjoy the fun of these characters try to bulls*** their way through serving as the crew of an actual, real-life Enterprise-style spaceship while trying to hide their shock at what's happening. Meanwhile, Alan Rickman acts like a grumpy man who could not be less pleased with the show's success and its ensuing promotional opportunities, which results in one of the all-time great line readings.
This all facilitates some nice arcs, as we see characters who are loathsome or cowardly overcome their flaws as they turn into the people they portrayed. What might be most impressive about Galaxy Quest is how well it works, and how funny it remains, 20 years later. The jokes aren't reliant on recreating famous scenes from Star Trek; you don't even need to have watched that series (or anything else) in order to get it. I'm hesitant to invoke the name Shaun of the Dead, which is a triumph in numerous ways, but Galaxy Quest does an admirable job in nailing that same blend of action and comedy. | Chris Pereira
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