If Justin Roiland's name wasn't on the title screen, it would still be glaringly obvious who was responsible for Trover Saves The Universe. It would be clear within 10 seconds of hitting the start button when a massive blue alien shaped like the galaxy's most abominable chicken nugget shows up and uses your two adorable pet dogs as his new eyeballs; it would be undeniable the second our hero, the neurotic purple alien Trover, opens his mouth and the voice of Morty comes streaming out. The fascinating thing isn't that we've got another video game from the twisted mind behind Rick & Morty. It's in watching those twisted M-rated ideas mingle with all the trappings of a bog-standard 3D E-for-Everyone platformer.
The bonkers premise is that the aforementioned chicken nugget, named Glorkon, has somehow obtained god-like power from sticking your dogs in his eyes and will be kickstarting the apocalypse post-haste. You, meanwhile, are a hapless, milquetoast sucker from the suburban world of Chairorpia, where the entire population is bound permanently to floating couches, doomed to forever watch a soap opera that suspiciously feels like it's trying to teach you the game's controls. Our hero, Trover, eventually shows up on your doorstep and tells you he needs your help to take down Glorkon. Using the unstoppable might of power babies--an entire species of adorable multicolored cherubs who actually belong in the eyeballs of Trover's people--and with you at Trover's back controlling his actions, the two of you set out on a galaxy-spanning quest to figure out how to take Glorkon down.
There's a lot going on there, and it's not even scratching the surface of the absolutely bewildering cavalcade of profane oddity that follows. The very first level, your quest for a special crystal that will allow you to visit Glorkon's home dimension, is interrupted by an annoying little cuss named Mr. Popup who tells you about an alien neighbor who not only ate his family and is holding several pregnant Popup species females hostage so he can eat their babies, but more importantly, has no regard for his neighborhood's real estate zoning agreements. That's what kind of ride this is, and it only gets weirder and darker from there. Probably the best running gag in the game is a recurring one in which you inadvertently ruin the lives of the misshapen folks who sell you upgrades, each time accidentally killing their pets or relatives. Conceptually, it's wonderfully devious and outlandish, peppered in with moments of stomach-churning bodily function humor.
It's the execution that's less consistent, mostly due to the long, stuttery, and often yelled improv takes of Roiland and the rest of the cast just endlessly riffing to fill time. The game rarely allows for moments of silence to let the jokes that work land. More annoyingly, it allows too much time for the more obnoxious characters to work your every last nerve. Meanwhile, there's rarely enough silence to think your way through the more involved puzzles, which sometimes turns tricky into infuriating unless you turn down the dialogue for a couple of minutes. And that's a shame, because many of the dialogue-based jokes often do land, though you'll just have to take my word on that since absolutely none of the best examples are even remotely repeatable here. What I can say is the runtime of my first playthrough was likely tanked because I would spend minutes on end just listening to unaware enemies talk amongst themselves about being clones of Glorkon, going on about their workout routines, their weird alien sex lives, and how they'd kill Trover and how much he sucks.
Eventually, though, you need to take out some of those hilarious guards, and unlike Squanch Games' previous title, the too-obtuse-for-its-own-good Accounting+, Trover Saves The Universe is almost laughably simple when it comes to the action side of being an action platformer. You can jump, deal both light and heavy attacks, and roll. It's all much like the most elementary action-platforming principles in recent memory, with very few surprises or close shaves or tension until the latter hours. The only real complexity comes from the fact that the game is predominantly designed around VR. The game can be played without it, but the camera in particular is locked to fixed points in the stage and only reorients when Trover stands in a specific point along his path, allowing you to hit a button and teleport to his location. You can raise and lower your chair in-game to get a better vantage point, but the angles still aren't always where you want them to be, and it's awkward overall.
There's a telekinesis ability you pick up later to move blocks and environmental items around, and it's not nearly as intuitive using the right stick instead of your head to swing the camera around. For most of the game, though, there isn't really anything you need to formulate strategy around. Enemies are painfully basic grunts, usually taking three or four hits to go down. Shielded enemies have only one attack with a huge wind-up. Combat only gets harder extremely late in the game once enemies with body armor, who can only be taken out using Telekinesis, show up. The only real trick is getting the right perspective to see everything in the environment. You need to be diligent about this to find the extra power babies hidden around every stage, which are worth collecting; they give you extra health, and the descriptions for each are some of the best writing in the game.
Ultimately, even with all his neuroses and nonstop running mouth, Trover is the game's saving grace.
There's nothing special about Trover Saves The Universe from a gameplay standpoint. There's some lip service towards branching paths depending on decisions made during gameplay, but none of them drastically change the game one way or the other, aside from some alternate dialogue in the ending and a few extra trophies (the descriptions for which are hilarious, I might add). That leaves it to the comedy and concept to do most of the heavy lifting, much of which is very aware of its basic nature, and it makes it hard to be bored or unmotivated by how rudimentary it all is when Trover and many of the characters in the world around them are just as irked as you are at having to deal with a lot of the middling parts. Ultimately, even with all his neuroses and nonstop running mouth, Trover is the game's saving grace. The more Trover adjusts to being your sidekick, the more invested he gets in seeing this quest through, and the more relatable he becomes (even if he is, by his own admission, racist against Chairorpians). He's the guy trying to save the universe, but just so he can get back to his original plan, which is telling his boss off and getting sloshed at his favorite bar.
Essentially, Trover Saves The Universe is a really messed up alien buddy comedy. The work involved in spending time in this universe with these creatures is easy to a fault, but it's work being done with a hilarious partner who's often just as bored, annoyed, angry, or grossed out as you are. It's not the smoothest ride, but you've got the right company.
Destiny 2's Season of Opulence kicks off on Tuesday, June 4, marking the final new content under its current annual pass subscription. What happens in Destiny 2 after that? There's been a lot of speculation from players, but it looks like we're about to find out.
On Twitter, Bungie teased what is seemingly a livestream set to take place at 10 AM PT on Thursday, June 6, to discuss "the next chapter of Destiny 2." Let the speculation begin, since we have no idea what that next chapter might be.
It's been clear to Destiny 2 players keeping up with the annual pass--the second since the release of Destiny 2--that Bungie is building its story in a particular direction. The endgame content that came with the Forsaken expansion, concerning the besieged Dreaming City, has slowly unfolded over the last two seasons, hinting that secret enemies are executing plans of which we've only seen the edges and margins. That conflict might come to a head in the Season of Opulence, but that seems unlikely since the next content drop returns players to the Leviathan, the scene of Destiny 2's first raid, and concerns a different group of characters.
The Dreaming City situation doesn't seem primed to wrap up anytime soon, and that suggests there's more content coming for Destiny 2 before the release of the seemingly inevitable Destiny 3. A third year of Destiny 2 content is in line with what a lot of players have been expecting, and it would make sense for Bungie to hold back a new Destiny title to correspond with the start of a new console generation.
The timing of the announcement also seems remarkable. Breaking with the usual pattern, Bungie is releasing Destiny 2's new raid, Crown of Sorrows, with the start of the Season of Opulence, rather than waiting a few days for players to gear up for it. Bungie's announcement about Destiny 2's future takes place two days later, which would give the game's top raid teams all the time they'll need to finish Crown of Sorrows--and discover whatever story implications it presents. Fans on Reddit are already expecting that whatever happens on the Crown of Sorrows will point players back to the Dreadnaught, a Destiny 1 location that leaks and speculation have suggested would be the setting for the game's next expansion.
It's also worth remembering that the Season of Opulence marks the last of the announced Destiny 2 content from before Bungie's split with publisher Activision. Whatever comes next, it'll be the first Destiny content Bungie creates purely on its own. With the way Destiny's story has been going of late, suggesting the approach of more evil aliens and the possibility that some heroes could fall to darkness, there's a lot the developer could explore.
Ahead of its E3 2019 showcase, additional details about Marvel's Avengers have leaked via the E3 Coliseum website. Those details have since been removed from the site, but they revealed Square Enix's upcoming Marvel superhero game will feature both solo and co-op play.
The description for the Marvel's Avengers Showcase once read, according to PC Gamer, "Embrace your powers and join key members of the development team at Crystal Dynamics and the creative team at Marvel Games as they talk exclusively about the upcoming Marvel's Avengers. This is the defining Avengers gaming experience: an epic action-adventure that combines cinematic storytelling with continuous single-player and co-operative gameplay. Moderated by Andrea Rene, assemble in teams up to four players, master extraordinary abilities, customize your heroes to fit your playstyle, and combine powers to defend an ever-expanding world under constant threat."
Now, the showcase's description has been trimmed down to read, "Join Crystal Dynamics and Marvel Games for a Panel about Marvel's The Avengers."
Announced via a January 2017 teaser trailer (seen above) as The Avengers Project, Marvel's Avengers will finally have an official reveal during Square Enix's E3 2019 press conference, scheduled for June 10 at 6 PM PT / 9 PM ET / 2 AM BST. There's very little information about the game currently available, although we do know Tomb Raider developer Crystal Dynamics and Deus Ex studio Eidos Montreal are behind it. The original teaser seemed to imply the game's story would focus on the Avengers reassembling after the "time of heroes" has long since passed.
In the teaser trailer, we see Captain America's vibranium shield, Iron Man's repulsor gauntlet, Thor's Mjolnir hammer, and Bruce Banner's cracked glasses--suggesting the game could focus on the first team of Avengers (though nothing pointing to the other two original Avengers, Ant-Man/Giant-Man and Wasp is shown). Because of how damaged the shield, gauntlet, hammer, and glasses in the trailer are, the video could also be hinting that Marvel's Avengers takes place in the aftermath of the original team's defeat and see the rise of a new generation of heroes.
Arabia Nights-inspired dungeon crawler, City of Brass, had a fairly positive reception at launch, with our own reviewer scoring it a 7/10 almost two years ago. Free is an enticing proposition, though. As part of Epic Games' free game promotion, the first-person dungeon crawler is now available on the Epic Games Store.
City of Brass is free to download right now and will remain so until Thursday, June 6. The game is currently available everywhere--Nintendo Switch, PC, PS4, and Xbox One--for $19.99 USD, but downloading the game through the Epic Games Store will add it to your library for that sweet free price.
City of Brass comes from Uppercut Games, a studio composed of artists, designers, and programmers who had a hand in BioShock and BioShock 2. In the rogue-lite adventure game, you fight your way through Arabia Nights-inspired city streets, uncovering hidden treasures and sacred weapons, battling whatever ghosts and ghouls you may encounter in a bid to survive a little longer. With a scimitar in one hand and a whip in another, it's effectively Bioshock but in a different setting. "We are drawing inspiration from BioShock in terms of the mechanics," Uppercut founder Ed Orman told GameSpot. "We're developing a combinative approach to the game systems, encouraging players to see how the systems interact with each other. In particular, the combo of whip and swordplay into this, allowing the player to manipulate and then hurt enemies."
In our City of Brass review, we said, "While its repetitive scenery and uneven presentation are noticeable tarnishes on its sheen, the satisfying combat and well-balanced difficulty curve will keep you going back for more."
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare is making a bunch of changes to the Call of Duty formula with its reimagining of Infinity Ward's 2007 classic. The studio is going for "continuity and consistency" across all Modern Warfare's game modes, meaning guns will feel the same in multiplayer as in single-player, and character progression will carry over between those modes. And for the first time, a Call of Duty game will feature cross-play between consoles and PC when it launches on October 25.
Infinity Ward made the announcement in a press release that dropped alongside its first Modern Warfare trailer. It also noted that Modern Warfare will not have the traditional "season pass," which players usually buy to receive new maps over the course of the year after a Call of Duty game's release. Instead, all post-release maps for the game will be free to all players.
Both features should go a long way to helping keep the Call of Duty player base together, without limiting them to only playing with people on the same platform and who own the same maps that they do. In general, there should be a whole lot more people to play against. It may also make the Call of Duty esports scene a little more welcoming, as players will be able to compete on their preferred platforms.
The studio showed off Modern Warfare to journalists in the week before announcing the game, giving a sense of the single-player campaign and the technology that's going into the game. Along with reimagining the story, Infinity Ward said it's working to make Modern Warfare "more relevant" to the current world, and drew inspiration for the game's story from real-world conflicts and documentaries about them, as well as recent Hollywood movies.
The next Call of Duty game has been revealed. As you may have guessed from the numerous leaks and rumors, it's titled Call of Duty: Modern Warfare. Additionally, publisher Activision has revealed the game's release date of October 25 and some exciting details regarding both cross-play and the typical season pass offered with CoD games.
Modern Warfare is a reboot of the 2007 game--not a remake, but a reimagining, developer Infinity Ward says. The new game is not set in the same universe as the existing trilogy--Infinity Ward says that world had left little room to raise the stakes further--but it does feature some familiar faces. Captain Price is back, for example, but with what appears to be a new voice actor.
As was previously confirmed, this year's Call of Duty will include a single-player campaign. It seems as though the story will concern Russian interactions with the Middle East, while enemies will include an ultranationalist group helping to execute terrorist attacks in major cities such as London.
Modern Warfare will of course include a multiplayer mode, but Infinity Ward hasn't yet revealed much more detail on that portion of the game. It did say, however, that your progression in the campaign will carry over to multiplayer, meaning you'll always be working towards unlocking new killstreaks, perks, and weapons. And as noted above, the game will feature cross-play across all platforms. Additionally, Activision will not be selling the standard season pass that locks off new, post-launch multiplayer maps.
The original game launched for PS3, Xbox 360, and PC back in 2007, and went on to be one of the most influential games of the 21st century. It was later remastered in 2016, though that is entirely separate to this upcoming reboot.
Infinity Ward is returning to its most famous and beloved entry into its Call of Duty franchise: Call of Duty Modern Warfare. But unlike 2016's remaster of the 2007 classic, this year's version is a reimagining of the original game. Infinity Ward is updating its past work to be relevant to our current, real world, and from the sounds of things, it isn't shying away from the implications that idea brings to the biggest first-person shooter franchise in video games. (Infinity Ward is also making some major changes to how Call of Duty multiplayer works, introducing cross-play between PS4, Xbox One, and PC players, and doing away with the traditional season pass.)
Before its announcement that Modern Warfare was on its way, Infinity Ward invited journalists to its studio last week to get an early look at the title before its announcement. There, studio narrative director Taylor Kurosaki and single player director Jacob Minkoff explained this new game as a more mature, authentic, and relevant Call of Duty game that's not a superhero caricature, but a down-to-earth representation of the realities of being a soldier. It's taking scenarios that are "ripped from the headlines." Among the stated goals for the game's campaign: "Create an emotional connection through the realities of war," and "Push the boundaries of the medium."
Both Kurosaki and Minkoff formerly worked at Naughty Dog, a studio known for the narrative focus of its games, and in short, they're looking to make a Call of Duty that's about more than just shooting various enemies as they pop out of cover. It's not the first time the franchise has tried to tell deep, affecting stories about war that might make players ask themselves questions about the power fantasy about being a soldier. But Modern Warfare does appear to be the most ambitious.
Big-budget video game franchises often struggle to commit to themes, messages, and ideas--especially controversial or political ones. GameSpot sat down with Kurosaki to talk about what Infinity Ward is trying to achieve with Call of Duty: Modern Warfare, why it decided to reboot the game, and what kind of story it's looking to tell.
GameSpot: In re-imagining the story of Call of Duty: Modern Warfare to be relevant in the world today, what does that mean to you? What are you pulling from? In the presentation, you used the phrase "ripped from the headlines" a lot--what does that mean in terms of Call of Duty?
Taylor Kurosaki: Sure, well, the original game was ripped from the headlines. But it was ripped from the headlines of 2007. And now, here we are 12 years later, and the world has further changed. I would say that compared to 2007, the [Operation Iraqi Freedom] or whatever it was, that was kind of traditional warfare. Those were guys in tanks, fighting other guys in tanks and Jeeps, and this side wore this uniform and this other side wore a different uniform, and this side flew this flag, and the other side flew the other flag.
Today, modern warfare means that the war isn't just over there. That the war is everywhere. It's in our own backyards. It's in places that can suddenly become a battlefield at a moment's notice. It's about enemies who don't wear uniforms. It's about civilian collateral damage kind of being, unfortunately, part of the equation. When we set out to make this game, we asked ourselves a very literal question. We just said, 'What do the words modern warfare mean in 2019?' Not what does the game name mean, but those words as just words: modern warfare. And for us, it meant that a busy city center could be the site of a terrorist attack. That a residential compound could be the safe house of a terror cell, that commandos have to go into and eliminate the cell. It means that it's not only sort of John Wayne-style American G.I.s, but it's also local militias and freedom fighters. Where families are hit by airstrikes and people have to pick up the pieces by picking up arms and fighting for their own independence. That, to us, was the definition of modern warfare and if we didn't have all of those elements in this game, we wouldn't be doing justice to that name.
And every character in this game goes through that journey where they ask themselves, 'How far am I willing to go in order to achieve my own greater good?'"
Are there any particular real-world events that you're actually pulling from?
Sure. I mean, it's important to say that we are not trying to be sensationalist. We are not kind of making carbon copies of specific events that we see in the news. It's more about the situations. It's more about the themes. If anything, the kinds of things that we are inspired by are current-day war stories. Films like Lone Survivor or The Hurt Locker or American Sniper or even Sicario. These are all films that have come out since Modern Warfare 3. These are all films about protagonists trying to achieve whatever they define as their own version of the greater good by navigating a very complex world where there is no black and white, only the gray in between. Those are the kinds of things that we are inspired by.
And every character in this game goes through that journey where they ask themselves, "How far am I willing to go in order to achieve my own greater good?" And the answer for each and every character is different, and it depends on their own perspective. And we wouldn't be kind of utilizing the platform of game making if only the story was about that, but the gameplay was just kind of generic shooter gameplay. That not only do these characters have to ask themselves, "How far am I willing to go?" But the player that's playing this game has to ask themselves, "How far am I willing to go?" That's the true kind of magic of storytelling and games is that players get to occupy the shoes of these characters. They get to be in their skin and we get to put them in tough situations that mimic the kind of tough situations that those characters are put in.
It seems like a tough balancing act: trying to make the game fun while dealing with these heavy concepts, and trying not to sensationalize them. How do you make sure you're getting across what you're trying to get across, without just leaving the player to be like, "yeah this is great, shooting people down, whatever"?
Well, if you were a soldier and you actually deployed into a theater of war and you shot down a bunch of innocent civilians, you would be arrested and court marshaled, right?
Right.
The game kind of does the same thing. The game does not allow you to get away with going rogue. You have a command structure that you have to follow and orders that you have to follow and if you try to just be a bad apple, the game is going to smack you down for that.
Now, that's not to say that mistakes aren't made. I mean, that's a theme that we've gotten from our military consultants. They've said over and over again that the true story behind being like a Navy SEAL or a Tier 1 operator of that nature is that we, as the public, we expect these guys to go into these very, very difficult situations where the difference between life and death is a split second and the difference between determining what's a threat and what's not a threat is a split second. And they are asked to be perfect. Trying to prosecute situations that are not perfect, inherently. And so they do their best.
And when you're playing this game, I'm assuming that you're going to be doing your best, too. Because it's a hard game with a lot consequence, right? There are stakes. There's lethality. You just kind of blindly jump into a room and you're not checking your corners and you're not being mindful and being strategic about how you enter and how you slice the pie, as they say, and you're going to get owned pretty quick--which is what real war is about. So, yes, it is a fine line to walk. But we want to make something that's different. We want to make something that pushes the medium forward. This is a very young industry that we're in, the games industry. And advancements are made by leaps and bounds quickly. And so why not be at the forefront of making, of pushing the medium forward? If you're going to just play it safe and throw a fastball, then what's the point of doing it? What's the point of doing all this work?
And you know, frankly, some of the best narratives happen when not only the characters are confronted with a certain challenge, but the players are too. And also the developers. So we are also kind of finding our line as we go, as well. So, putting ourselves in the shoes of not only the characters and the players during the production of this game. I mean, that's a challenge as well and it's definitely one that we're up for.
You mentioned that the game kind of kicks back at you if you're going rogue. That's an old Call of Duty thing, where if you shoot your allies or civilians, you fail out of the mission. Is it that sort of thing again, or is there something more to it?
Well, there is more to it, again. Like I said, the Navy SEALs that we talked to, they say, "Look. We're expected to be perfect in imperfect situations. And it's impossible to always be perfect." So, no, the game doesn't have a zero tolerance policy. The game understands that you are trying to keep yourself alive, you're trying to keep your squadmates alive, and more importantly, you're trying to make sure you reach mission success. Because that's your goal. And if mistakes are made on the path to reaching mission success, sure, your allies, your squadmates are going to call you out for it. But everyone makes mistakes. So the game, it's not necessarily going to hard-fail you if you make a judgment call, like in the heat of the moment, and maybe upon further review it turns out you were wrong--but only honest mistakes.
Right. And that's just a tough thing to do with a game. And with a game of this fidelity, it can be disturbing.
Part of making this thing relevant to this world that we live in is, we all see things on the news. We see a terror attack, or we see a long, drawn-out war, or these kinds of things where there are civilians caught in the middle. And the difference is, when you play Modern Warfare, when you play this Modern Warfare, you get to suit up with Captain Price and some of his old comrades. And you get to go out there and you actually get to make a difference. We feel like it's actually very empowering for our players to be able to not be sort of paralyzed by what they see out there, but actually say, "I'm going to be one of those guys that has the wherewithal to suit up and go out there and give it my best shot to try to bring about some meaningful change."
You mentioned the idea of the game world reacting to your actions. Just how reactive is it?
It means that you can reach mission success and make a big difference, like you've saved a bunch of people. Or you can reach mission success and unfortunately, there have been heavier losses than there otherwise could have been. So again, hopefully, if we're doing our jobs right, you're going to feel that sense of urgency to make as much of a difference as you possibly can, without crossing your line. And that goes for Captain Price, that goes for the player characters, and that goes for Farah Kareem and her brother Hadir, who are the leaders of this freedom fighter militia.
...The Navy SEALs that we talked to, they say, 'Look. We're expected to be perfect in imperfect situations. And it's impossible to always be perfect.'"
So does that affect how the narrative plays out? Is there any sort of player choice and branching story?
There are choices you can make in this game that do affect the narrative in some ways. But this is not totally like a Choose Your Own Adventure. This is a high-quality, incredibly polished Sicario that you can play. And you cannot have that kind of fidelity and that kind of depth of storytelling and situations if at every turn there are four more permutations of where the narrative can go. This is a classically told story with a beginning, a middle, and an end. But you can affect how things play out sort of in the middle. And of course, just in terms of combat, right? Do you use night vision goggles? Do you use suppressed weapons or do you go loud? Do you creep into rooms cautiously or do you kick the door down, or do you shotgun the door and put a hole in it and throw a flashbang in? These are all of the kind of strategic choices that our players make at all times, tactically, in this really complex battlefield.
A lot of big games have been criticized, especially recently, for almost getting into realistic situations and politics, and then skirting away and not wanting to offend one group or another. Are you thinking about that with this story, and how are you dealing with it?
We're not talking out of both sides of our mouths. We are making a game that is heavily inspired by the world that we live in today and the situations that we see in the world today. Now, like I said earlier, we are not one-to-one reproducing real-world events because I think that would be really unseemly. And we're also not a one-to-one, in some cases, reproducing what are very, very complex conflicts world and trying to boil them down in a way that would be understandable over the duration of the campaign.
So for example, we are inspired heavily by some of the events in Iraq, and in Syria, and with the Arab Spring and even with the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan. There are a lot of similar themes about colonialism and about superpowers exerting their influence in regions through proxy allies and about militias that rise up and terrorist groups. But the one thing that we've done is--we've not specifically said, our main theater of war in our game takes place in a country where we're calling Urzikstan. And that is absolutely by design. And it's not because we want to circumvent someone saying like "Oh, this is a game about Syria," or "This is a game about Iraq." But if we called a country by the real name of a country that exists today, then we would undoubtedly be giving short shrift to these incredibly complex situations that we are in some ways simplifying so that they're more easily grockable.
And again, the themes are what's important here. It's not the sort of slavish dedication to the specific events of all these disparate countries. It's about themes that you see over and over again in these situations. We want to capture the essence of those themes and of those characters thrown into conflict and how they overcome adversity. And so inventing our own country that sort of encapsulates some of these situations down into this more understandable way is the way that we wanted to go. Again, we don't have the runway to have a war where there's 17 different factions and all this 200 years of history and things like that so that's our method for that, is that we can still handle these sort of heady subjects that are delicate without disrespecting the citizens of those war torn states.
More than a decade after the release of Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare, developer Infinity Ward is returning to the game that made its franchise into an industry-dominating juggernaut. This year's Call of Duty is, again, Modern Warfare--but it's not a remake of the game that kicked off the trilogy in 2007. Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2019 is a reimagining of the first game and brings with it some stark changes.
Infinity Ward revealed details about Call of Duty: Modern Warfare's single-player campaign to journalists last week at its studio in California. During a lengthy presentation, developers explained that this isn't a continuation of the Modern Warfare trilogy, because, in that world, there wasn't much room to raise the stakes; Russia invaded the U.S., nuclear weapons exploded, and the series' major characters had fought through it all (with some even dying along the way). Instead, Infinity Ward wanted to revisit some of Modern Warfare's concepts without being beholden to the world the original trilogy created.
There are some returning elements, though. Captain Price is again a principal character in this new story, for instance. It seems as though this game will also concern Russian interactions with the Middle East, while enemies will include an ultranationalist group helping to execute terrorist attacks in major cities such as London. Apart from broad strokes, though, we don't know much more about the story.
Studio narrative director Taylor Kurosaki and single player director Jacob Minkoff, who both came to Infinity Ward from the narrative-focused developer Naughty Dog, said they mean for this Modern Warfare to be more "gritty" and "mature," with more relevance to today's world.
"The world we live in right now is more complex than the world was in 2007, or 2009, or even 2011," Kurosaki said during the presentation. "Even now the world that we live in, the battlefield is less defined than it's ever been, and because it's less defined and because enemies no longer really wear uniforms a lot of the time, that means that civilian collateral damage is a greater part of the equation more so now than it's ever been. So what does that mean? It means we're creating circumstances where, as storytellers, we are taking these characters, and we are putting them into complex situations with a lot of pressure on them, and how they respond to that pressure reveals their true nature."
The morally gray areas of fighting a war are what Infinity Ward is looking to explore with Modern Warfare, Kurosaki said, as well as how soldiers respond to them and where they draw the lines separating what they are and aren't willing to do. The team is pulling influences from Hollywood films that tell similar war stories, like The Hurt Locker, Lone Survivor, and American Sniper, and documentaries such as Last Men in Aleppo, Minkoff said.
The world we live in right now is more complex than the world was in 2007, or 2009, or even 2011."
The game will deal with scenarios that are "ripped from the headlines" to make the game more relevant in our current world. That doesn't mean that Modern Warfare will recreate real events, Kurosaki clarified, but Infinity Ward's research for the game has included ongoing conflicts such as the Syrian civil war and the continuing U.S. wars in Afghanistan and Iraq. As Minkoff noted, "one man's freedom fighter is another man's terrorist," and Modern Warfare will also put you alongside "regular people taking up arms to fight for their homes."
To that end, Modern Warfare will explore different kinds of conflict in its gameplay. There'll be the more traditional Call of Duty approach, in which players embody Tier 1 Operator-type soldiers, such as U.S. Delta Force troops and those in Bravo 6, Captain Price's British SAS team. But you'll also fight alongside rebels, apparently in the fictional Middle Eastern country Urzikstan. Rebels won't have the same quality of gear at their disposal as Tier 1 Operators, but they'll have greater numbers, improvised weapons, a better knowledge of their warzones, and guerrilla tactics. The two different types of warfare will create a variety of gameplay situations, depending on whether you're playing as a Tier 1 soldier or a rebel in a given scenario, and whether you're facing off against Tier 1 soldiers or rebels.
Telling A Modern War Story
Modern Warfare won't have a branching narrative, Kurosaki said, but it will allow for player choices that will have an impact on the world of the game. Those choices include how you approach combat situations, like whether you go loud or quiet, or kick down a door versus pushing through it carefully. But your effect on the game world will also be deeper depending on how things play out on missions.
"It means that you can reach mission success and make a big difference, like you've saved a bunch of people," Kurosaki explained in an interview with GameSpot. "Or you can reach mission success, and unfortunately, there have been heavier losses than there otherwise could have been. So again, hopefully, if we're doing our jobs right, you're going to feel that sense of urgency to sort of make as much of a difference as you possibly can without crossing your line."
During the presentation, Infinity Ward showed two brief portions of missions from the game. The first started with police in London responding to the threat of a terrorist attack. Before the police could stop it, the terrorists detonated a bomb and then began attacking people on the street. The mission cut away to a later moment when Captain Price and Bravo 6 had used intelligence the police discovered to track down the terrorist cell responsible for the attack, locating them in a nearby London townhouse. As a member of the squad, the player's job was to sweep through the house and take down the terrorists. Price and his team carefully knocked out lights, then moved through, room by room, using night vision goggles to ambush the surprised enemies. It was a tense mission as terrorists opened fire blindly in the darkness, amplified by the possibility of civilians in the house; a baby crying on an upper floor reminded players to check their targets carefully.
It's also a level that showcases Infinity Ward's push for greater authenticity in the game, for better or worse. Several times, enemies were ripped with bullets, writhing in pain on the ground or choking on blood, before soldiers finished them with headshots. More than one room included people who initially seemed like noncombatants before they went for weapons and the player killed them. The strength of the character models and animations could make those moments intense and disturbing, Infinity Ward said its approach in that regard is "'Jaws,' not 'Saw,'" emphasizing a push toward realism that would impact players without being gross-out gory.
The mission ended with Price and the player character finding an unarmed woman in an attic room, attempting to take her alive, but shooting her before she could reach a detonator for an unseen bomb. Price also discovered intel about the location of someone called The Wolf, who seems to be one of the major villains of Modern Warfare, although we learned nothing else about him.
The second mission in the presentation took place 20 years before the rest of the events of the game and concerned two children, Farah and Hadir, and emphasized the intensity of what Infinity Ward is trying to convey with the game. Players took on the role of Farah, but the mission started with her awakening under a pile of rubble after being trapped during a bombing, her mother lying dead beside her. The player managed to bang on a piece of metal using a chunk of brick, alerting rescuers of her presence. A second later, they'd cut her free and returned her to her father.
As Farah's father started to look for her brother, Hadir, another bomb ripped through the city center, sending a shockwave through the crowd and scattering people. Trucks began to roll up on nearby streets, filled with Russian soldiers who started firing indiscriminately into crowds of fleeing civilians. Farah and her father managed to slip past the soldiers and return to their home, where they found Hadir, just as more Russian bombs started blanketing the city in deadly gas.
...If we're doing our jobs right, you're going to feel that sense of urgency to sort of make as much of a difference as you possibly can without crossing your line."
Before the family could leave with a gas mask that would protect them, one of the Russian soldiers invading the city burst through their front door and killed Farah and Hadir's father. Most of the rest of the level found the two kids hiding from the soldier as he searched the house for them. The player, as Farah, had to sneak through the house to find a screwdriver to use as a weapon against the soldier. After a harrowing fight in which Farah stabbed the soldier repeatedly with the screwdriver, the kids managed to kill him with his rifle.
With both their parents dead, Farah and Hadir took the soldier's gas mask, then headed back outside, sneaking past the Russian soldiers and stepping over the gasping bodies of people, goats, and the occasional dog in an attempt to escape.
Farah and Hadir finally reached some small farms on the outskirts of town where more soldiers were executing people and taking children away--seemingly to force them to become child soldiers. The mission ended with Farah and Hadir coordinating to distract two Russian soldiers so Farah could reach a gun and use it to kill them.
Kurosaki and Minkoff said Farah and Hadir are rebel leaders players would fight alongside in the game's present, so the mission about their childhood served as backstory showing what led them to their cause. It scene also suggested that some brand of Russian troops were among the enemies in Modern Warfare, as they were in the original game.
A Technological Upgrade
Bringing Modern Warfare into the modern era is more than an update for the game's story. The game features two major changes on the multiplayer side from previous games--first and foremost, it'll sport cross-play between PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and PC players. That means when you log into a multiplayer game, you'll face opponents (and team with friends) regardless of the platform on which they purchased the game.
Modern Warfare also does away with the traditional Call of Duty season pass. Usually, players purchase the season pass and receive periodic map packs that expand the scope of multiplayer. Infinity Ward is working to keep the Call of Duty player base together by doing away with the barrier that crops up between people who buy into the new maps and people who don't. Instead, all additional multiplayer maps will be free to all players.
Infinity Ward has done a lot for the game on the technical side, as well. Modern Warfare uses a new, purpose-built engine specifically made for the game, which is significantly increasing its production values.
One of the most interesting changes Infinity Ward is making is in how the game deals with elements like night vision and infrared goggles. In the original Modern Warfare, as developers noted, night vision goggles were little more than a green tint added to the game's existing visuals. In the rebooted Modern Warfare, developers added additional light spectra to the engine that work much in the same way as real-world lighting. That means when you pull on your night vision goggles, you see things as illuminated by infrared light sources in the game world, giving the view mode a much more realistic look and feel.
Sound has also gotten an overhaul. Modern Warfare uses ray tracing to create realistic echoes for all sounds, whether they be shots from various guns ripping down a city street, or a grenade's explosion reverberating in a tight subway staircase. You'll also notice more realistic sounds created by interactions between objects, like shell casings popping out of your gun and bouncing off objects.
One man's freedom fighter is another man's terrorist."
In addition to an upgraded presentation, Modern Warfare is also giving an overhaul to the formula for how Call of Duty games play. Infinity Ward said current games in the franchise have started to become more like three separate, siloed game experiences in a single package; multiplayer modes have a different feel and progression from the single player mode or the popular Zombies mode. With Modern Warfare, Infinity Ward said it's going for "continuity and consistency" across all modes. Weapons will feel and handle the same whether you're in single or multiplayer. Progressing your character, unlocking killstreaks, and increasing your levels with different guns will track across all modes, so you won't feel penalized for preferring single player over multiplayer or vice versa.
Though Infinity Ward didn't give journalists a chance to actually play the single-player mode of Call of Duty: Modern Warfare, it made clear the developer is trying to push itself--and in some ways, to return it to the groundbreaking place it found itself in back in 2007. The studio said it wants to "push the envelope" of what the medium of video games is capable of delivering, and include things into the game "only Modern Warfare would have the guts to show."
We've only seen the edges of what exactly that entails. From the way Infinity Ward is talking about Call of Duty: Modern Warfare, though, the studio seems intent on redefining the franchise. We'll have to wait until October 25 when the game releases to see just how successful that redefinition might be.
Dying Light 2 was announced almost exactly a year ago at E3 2018. The first game was a blast, so the news that a sequel was on the way was received warmly by many.
A year on, we're yet to hear too much more about the second in the series. However, with E3 2019 just around the corner, we're bound for more Dying Light 2 news. With that in mind, let's take a look at what we do know, and what we'd like to see this June.
What We Know So Far
Developer Techland revealed last year that Dying Light 2 is set 15 years after the events of Dying Light, in a "modern dark age." Humanity has been devastated in the war against the Infected, and now surviving factions of human beings are vying for control of what may be the last city on earth. How you interact with those factions and whom you choose to align yourself with will have considerable long-term impacts on the physical world around you (like in the image below, which shows the same city district after making two different decisions). Of course, you'll be doing all this while battling hordes of zombies, too.
Dying Light 2 will also be much larger than the original game; the city you inhabit is four times the size of all the levels in Dying Light. Like in that title, parkour plays a large role in getting around (and staying alive).
A release date has not been announced for Dying Light 2--all we know is that it's coming to PS4, Xbox One, and PC in 2019.
What's Confirmed For E3?
Techland has confirmed it's bringing Dying Light 2 to E3 2019, though it hasn't offered much in the way of clues. "We can't wait to show you the latest look at our most ambitious project to date," it said in a tweet. The game was announced on Microsoft's stage last year, so it's possible it could end up being shown off there again. Microsoft's E3 2019 press conference starts on June 9 at 1 PM PT / 4 PM ET / 9 PM BST (6 AM AET on June 10).
What We Hope To See At E3
It's been over four years since the first game launched for PS4, Xbox One, and PC, so we're thirsty for more from Dying Light's universe. Given we've seen little of the game since its reveal a year ago, more gameplay footage is a must. We'd also like more detail on the world-shifting mechanic Techland has previously spoken about. The differences look dramatic, but how much nuance does a system like that contain? And how much will it really affect your playing experience?
Further, we'd love to hear more about these multiplayer "surprises." If it's not battle royale, what is it? Is it standard deathmatch-type games? A shared open world? Only time will tell.
Of course, the biggest question on fans'--and our--lips is when will we get to play Dying Light 2? Techland has been hit with layoffs in recent months, though the company says development of Dying Light 2 is not affected. If that's the case, the game should still be on course for its 2019 release--just tell us when, Techland!
The Dark Crystal: Age of Resistance is the upcoming prequel to the classic 1982 fantasy movie The Dark Crystal. The series has been in the works for a couple of years and finally hits Netflix on August 30. The first trailer has now been released.
Like the movie, which was co-directed by the late Muppets creator Jim Henson, the new show uses puppetry to create the world of the Dark Crystal. It looks visually stunning, and the trailer is packed with the weird creatures and striking set design that will be instantly recognisable to fans of the film. It looks like it'll have the same mix of thrilling adventure and dark fantasy too--check the trailer out below, and the poster at the end of this story.
Dark Crystal: Age of Resistance will run for 10 episodes. It has an impressive voicecast, which includes Taron Egerton, Anya Taylor-Jo, Nathalie Emmanuel, Mark Hamill, Jason Isaacs, Keegan-Michael Key, Simon Pegg, Andy Samberg, Helena Bonham Carter, Natalie Dormer, Eddie Izzard, Gugu Mbatha-Raw, Mark Strong, and Alicia Vikander.
The official synopsis reads: "The Dark Crystal: Age of Resistance tells a new epic story, set many years before the events of the movie, and realized using classic puppetry with cutting edge visual effects. The world of Thra is dying. The Crystal of Truth is at the heart of Thra, a source of untold power. But it is damaged, corrupted by the evil Skeksis, and a sickness spreads across the land. When three Gelfling uncover the horrific truth behind the power of the Skeksis, an adventure unfolds as the fires of rebellion are lit and an epic battle for the planet begins."
In a recent interview with Entertainment Weekly, director Louis Leterrier spoke about the challenges involved with using puppetry rather than the CGI you'd expect for a show like this in 2019. "I was not fighting against anyone, I was fighting against common sense and practicality," he said. "It's so so complicated to build a puppet, hire puppeteers, all that stuff. We chose the long, hardest road and we're very thankful [we did]. It looks absolutely stunning."
E3 2019 is fast approaching and in under two weeks time, we'll be inundated with press conferences, new game announcements, gameplay videos, and everything else that makes the annual event so exciting. Historically, much of the excitement has been focused on the big three: Sony, Microsoft, and Nintendo. However, in recent years publishers have also wowed attendees and those watching it all unfold via the internet. Bethesda is one of those publishers, generating buzz with Fallout, Doom, Wolfenstein, and The Elder Scrolls related announcements. This year, the company is once again holding its own press conference, and we're expecting it to be pretty exciting.
Bethesda is set to host its press conference on Sunday, June 9. For those who aren't in Los Angeles, California and able to attend in-person, the press conference will be streamed online and, of course, here on GameSpot. We'll also have the breaking news as it happens. If you plan on watching, take a look below for a breakdown of everything you need to know.
What Time Does Bethesda's Press Conference Livestream Start
Bethesda's E3 2019 press conference will take place on June 9, before the show officially opens. It is expected to begin the livestream at 5:30 PM PT / 8:30 PM ET for those in America. However, if you're in the UK, you'll have to stay up into the early hours of Monday, June 10, as it starts at 1:30 AM in the BST timezone. Those in Australia, meanwhile, will be able to catch the show at the more reasonable time of 10:30 AM AEST on June 10.
Where To Watch
Bethesda will be streaming its press conference on its Twitch and YouTube channels. You'll also be able to catch the livestream on GameSpot's various channels. We'll have our expert analysis before and after the stream as part of our pre- and post-shows. Make sure to bookmark the links below, and you'll be able to see all of our E3 2019 coverage using them.
It'll come as no surprise to learn that Bethesda has been pretty quiet about what it plans to show at its E3 2019 press conference. Thus far, all it has confirmed is that Doom Eternal will have a presence, which makes perfect sense given that it is scheduled to be released this year. Bethesda got the Doom train rolling this year at GDC, specifically during the Google Stadia reveal, where it showed plenty of gameplay. It was a rather fast and furious showcase of all the new abilities the Doom Slayer has, from the Meat Hook used to grapple around environments to retractable arm-blades to slice up enemies. Hopefully, id Software will take to the stage to give us a more in-depth look at it all and explore how it will fit into the chaotic rhythm of gameplay. With any luck, we'll get a release date too.
Beyond that, we know that Wolfenstein: Youngblood is in development and is another Bethesda title that should be released later this year. It takes place 19 years after Wolfenstein II: The New Colossus and has Jessica and Sophia Blazkowicz, the twin daughters of B.J. Blazkowicz, as the central protagonists. The duo head to Paris to try and find their missing father, and kill some Nazis along the way. In a series first, Youngblood will allow co-operative play, and we haven't seen much of how that will work, so we've got our fingers crossed for hot co-op play deets.
The Elder Scrolls Online continues to be a game that Bethesda is supporting, so there's sure to be some time dedicated to giving players of the game insight into what's on the way. Bethesda has ensured that the game feels fresh through DLC updates, so we wouldn't be surprised to see more of that, but fans will no doubt also want to know about tweaks and overhauls that may be planned, and E3 2019 is an ideal place to reveal those.
The same can be said for Elder Scrolls Blades, the mobile Elder Scrolls title that was recently released. Since the game is still in its infancy, Bethesda will want to draw as much attention as possible to the game and convince viewers to pick up the game and get involved. Given the number of eyes that will be on them during the press conference, expect a hard sell on Elder Scrolls Blades at some point.
The final safe bet is Rage 2, which is out now but set to receive DLC that we'll probably get our first glimpse at during E3. Bethesda does like to surprise us, however, so maybe there's more. We're hoping that Arkane, the team behind Dishonored and Prey, has something to show. While it is working on Youngblood alongside MachineGames, we'd love to see the studio debut a new game of its own.
Make sure to check out GameSpot's full coverage of E3 2019 for the latest breaking news. You can also see what other publishers and companies are doing in our full E3 2019 schedule.
Xbox Live Gold members get a slate of free games every month alongside their usual perks of online multiplayer and game discounts. The lineup for June has just been revealed, and it brings a lot to look forward to for members.
Available June 1: Beginning on the first of the month you can pick up EA Sports NHL 19 for Xbox One, the most recent installment of the long-running hockey franchise. With a slate of new game modes and improved skating mechanics, you can cool down your summer on the ice. That day will also bring Portal: Still Alive, the Xbox 360 port of the renowned first-person puzzle platformer. Thanks to backwards compatibility, of course, you can play it on your Xbox One as well.
Available June 16: Then, on June 16, two more games join the rotation. The indie fighting game Rivals of Aether for Xbox One will be available as a free download. It takes place in a fantasy setting where fighters harness the elemental powers of fire, water, air, and earth. That day will also bring Earth Defense Force 2017 for Xbox 360, letting you squash bugs till your heart's content. It's also available to play on Xbox One through backwards compatibility.
Dying Light 2 developer Techland has announced a partnership with Square Enix. The two companies are teaming up to distribute the open-world zombie game in the Americas when it launches later this year. In addition to the partnership, Techland teases we'll get another look at the game in just a few weeks at E3 2019.
"This partnership represents an incredible opportunity for both companies to bring Modern Dark Ages to audiences across Americas," Techland head of marketing Ed Lin said in a press release. "Our partnership kicks off this year at E3 and we are looking forward to a great campaign that showcases the fan favorite Dying Light DNA in the expansive and savage world of the infected."
While it hasn't been explicitly confirmed, Techland's comments about the partnership beginning at E3 presumably means Dying Light 2 will be a part of Square Enix's E3 press conference, which takes place on Monday, June 10, at 6 PM PT / 9 PM ET (2 AM BST on June 11). This year's press conference is shaping up to be a big one for Square Enix. While we don't yet know the company's full E3 lineup, it has previously said that it will showcase more of the Final Fantasy VII Remake in June, presumably during its E3 presentation. Square Enix has also confirmed it'll officially unveil its mysterious Marvel's Avengers game at E3 2019.
Dying Light 2 was officially unveiled at E3 2018. The game is set 15 years after its predecessor and takes place in a "modern dark age," where the remnants of humanity are vying for control of what may be the last city on earth. Techland describes the title as a "narrative sandbox," and the decisions you make as you play will shape the world around you. Like the first game, Dying Light 2 will also support multiplayer, but Techland says it won't have a battle royale mode.
No firm release date has been announced yet, but Dying Light 2 is slated to launch for PS4, Xbox One, and PC later this year. Developer Techland recently announced a round of layoffs, although the studio says these will not affect Dying Light 2's development.
Crunchyroll has announced, starting June 6, that it will be co-publishing Grand Summoners, a tap-battle gacha RPG. Starting that same day, Grand Summoners will host a crossover event with popular 2018 anime Goblin Slayer, adding characters from the anime to the game.
"Crunchyroll has been an essential partner of GoodSmile Company and NextNinja in creating a worldwide audience for Grand Summoners since early 2018, Grand Summoners producer Masayuki Yamagishi said in a press release. "Crunchyroll has a unique, deep understanding and respect for Japanese anime and games. Their commitment to understanding the joys and challenges of Grand Summoners often far exceeds our expectations--and is the foundation for our partnership."
The Goblin Slayer crossover event begins June 6 and continues until July 31. During the limited-time event, you'll be able to unlock and play with three major characters from Goblin Slayer--the titular hero, High Elf Archer, and Priestess--in raids and in-game battles. This crossover follows on the heels of several popular anime-themed events within Grand Summoners, including That Time I Got Reincarnated as a Slime, Golden Kamuy, and Kill la Kill.
After launching to controversy, Goblin Slayer went on to become one of the most popular Fall 2018 anime series. The series follows a group of adventures, each named for the party role they embody, who journey through a fantasy world. The show focuses on Goblin Slayer, a mysterious masked knight who only ever hunts goblins and refuses to aid in other tasks. After saving an inexperienced adventurer named Priestess, Goblin Slayer finds a companion who supports him on his quest and also helps him open up more to others.
If you're looking to catch up on the anime before the crossover event, you can find the original Japanese version on Crunchyroll and the English dub on Funimation. A new Goblin Slayer OVA is set to release in Japanese theaters in 2020, and will supposedly come to the west at some point.
The first trailer for Rambo: Last Blood is here. The fifth movie in the long-running action series stars Sylvester Stallone as former soldier and mercenary John Rambo who is called back into his old life for one last mission.
The trailer doesn't really give much about the story away, but it delivers everything that fans of the series will expect. Namely, Stallone shooting, stabbing, and blowing up lots of people, this time in Mexico, while his voiceover tells us that "death is coming" for his enemies. Check it out above.
Rambo: Last Blood hits theaters on September 20 and is directed by Adrian Grunberg, who previously made the Mel Gibson thriller Get the Gringo. The movie also stars Spanish star Paz Vega (Spanglish, The OA) as a reporter who teams up with Rambo to rescue her sister from a drug cartel.
The Rambo series kicked off in 1982 with First Blood and was followed by two sequels in 1985 and 1988. The most recent movie was 2008's Rambo, which Stallone directed and made $113 million worldwide.
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