Beat Saber is one of the inaugural titles on the brand new, wireless Oculus Quest, and no doubt one of the best titles on the platform. It is, however, definitely one of the most involved and intricate titles. It's half rhythm game, half swordfight, and everyone should know by now you don't just go around trying to slice stuff up--even little virtual reality blocks--without discipline and training. Luckily, we're here to help with a few tips to help you get the most out of your experience.
The Trick Is To Keep Breathing
Many players are too excited about the prospect of playing Beat Saber, without really considering what they're getting themselves into. Make no mistake, the game is definitely an exercise, and you should prepare yourself to treat it as such. Starting out with stretching, knowing your physical limits, and taking full advantage of the non-campaign options to slow songs down to get good and loosened up are all smart moves. Beat Saber isn't a game you should expect to binge. If you're getting tired, rest, get water, maybe even slide down to a slower/less difficult song. Your body will thank you for it.
Roam If You Want To
Of course, the big advantage of playing Beat Saber on the Quest in particular is the freedom of movement that comes from having no wires in the way. That's great in terms of not being shackled to the place where your TV or monitor is. But for Beat Saber in particular, it brings a slew of other advantages.
See, the scoring system for the game is very much predicated on the strength and angle of your sabers. Not just minute cuts, but huge swings, and their follow-through. The further away you can slice before hitting your block, the more points you can, and there's a bonus for how far away your slice ends, with 110 points per block the ideal goal. Those swings need plenty of space to happen, and its worth figuring out beforehand not just the ideal place for that, but the ideal placement. Explore your space. You can twist and turn and move with a wireless headset, and if turning your whole body is the best way to make a tricky slice, so be it.
Saturday Night Wrist
Your instinct when first starting out in Beat Saber will be swinging your arms like baseball bats to hit every block. While the game's certainly doable this way, it's also a easy way to exhaust yourself before you even really get started.
What you really want are effective swings, using the least amount of effort. And for many of those strikes, you want to use your wrist more than your arms. That's a tricky balance to strike, especially when you hit your first plateau of skill. But more often than not, if you can conserve your strength for when it really matters, you'll have a much easier time for those stretches of songs where it's mostly those kinds of notes.
I Will Be Heard
The audio straps for the Quest are surprisingly robust for being so small, and offer great spatial sound. But if you're looking for a bit of extra oomph while swinging away, headphones are still very much an option. Especially for Beat Saber, where the rhythm of each song is so crucial for timing your next swing, the most vital tools for success in the game are still your own ears.
However, keep in mind, you're still going to be more active here than your average run-through on a treadmill. If you do go with the headphone option, just make sure they're secure enough to stand up to a lot of extra movement.
Hold On, Hold On
When you first get ahold of Beat Saber, your instinct is going to be holding the controllers the same way you hold them for every other game you play, finger still wrapped around the trigger, despite never needing to use it for this game. And certainly, you can still play it that way, but you run the risk of tiring your hands and arms out easier than usual. You might want to consider getting a little more ambitious.
The Quest's controllers are designed in such a way that there are actually a few ways to hold them for a game like this. As long as they're in view of the headset, they'll still register. With your hands not needing to keep such a vice grip on the handle of your sabers, you're more likely to play a little more loosely and comfortably for longer periods.
That doesn't mean take the wrist strap off, though. Safety first, kids.
Hit The Lights
The Oculus Quest has a few different calibration options in terms of defining the play area in VR, and you can use the calibration to make things a bit easier on yourself.
After playing the game a bit, you might find that certain blocks may be harder to hit than others, especially once you starting getting into the higher difficulties and you start seeing those curveball diagonal blocks. They're never impossible to hit, but they can be difficult, depending on how the game's set up, and where the upper boundary of the screen is. The solution? When calibrating the screen, set the floor level a little higher or lower than your normal, and the playing field in-game will follow suit. High blocks in particular can be hit with a little bit less effort, low blocks can require less effort to hit a full 110pts. It's just an all around smart move.
Niantic's follow-up to Pokemon Go, Harry Potter: Wizards Unite, is now available. Like its predecessor, the new Harry Potter game tasks you with walking around, interacting with real-life locations that have been translated into the game world, and collecting things--among other Wizarding World-related activities. And like Pokemon Go, it has an augmented reality component designed to bring a bit of fantasy into your everyday life.
There's a lot to learn in Wizards Unite, from how to take on enemies in combat to what you're even trying to accomplish (it's complicated!). We'll keep updating this article with the latest news, guides, and more on Wizards Unite, so stay tuned. For now, here's what you need to know.
It's Live Now
Set to launch on June 21, Wizards Unite appeared on the App Store and Google Play a day early, on June 20. Those in the US and UK--as well as Australia and New Zealand, which got access even earlier--can now download the game, which is free to play.
Microtransactions
Like Pokemon Go, Wizards Unite contains microtransactions. You can spend real money to purchase Gold, which you can then use to buy items in the game. These include potions and Runestones, which are used for Wizarding Challenges in the game.
Impressions
We were able to play the game a bit early during an event. From what we've played so far, it seems like Wizards Unite is dodging some of Pokemon Go's problems at launch.
As discovered by several players, the latest patch appears to have introduced a nasty bug. If a player began the game before the 1.02 patch was issued, installing the patch may have impacted the save file by having some treasure chests with progression-necessary items appear already opened, without their included items. The developer recommends that players impacted by the bug should start a new save file entirely.
"We have been investigating a PS4/Xbox One issue that is blocking player progress in the game," read a statement from 505 Games. "We apologize for this bug and thank you for your patience while we investigate. The issue occurs when a new game is started before downloading the 1.02 update. After the update, treasure chests will appear in the incorrect open/closed state.
"Without the items from these chests, progress is blocked. Players affected by this bug will be required to restart the game with a new save in order to properly progress. We investigated a number of options to address this issue and each fix requires a new game to be started. Despite our efforts to provide a fix that preserves pre-1.02 progress, this is the best solution to avoid future issues.
"Xbox One players will also be affected by this when the 1.02 patch is delivered next week. Switch players who have a physical copy should download the 1.02 patch before playing."
The situation is less than ideal, especially for the most passionate players and backers who jumped in and played a significant amount of the game as soon as they could. And unfortunately, the combination of the uncertain nature of the bug with the hallmarks of this genre make it especially problematic.
The bug could appear at any point in gameplay, and halts progression entirely. But the Metroidvania genre is built around non-linear progression. The entire point is finding new tools and backtracking repeatedly over the same areas, finding new pathways and entrances that then lead to more new tools and making other areas even more accessible.
As I've played Bloodstained for review since hearing of the bug, I've already had moments of second-guessing myself. The tell would appear to be already-opened chests in previously unexplored areas of the map, but backtracking means unexplored areas can appear very familiar. Have I been here before and opened that chest, or is this the bug? It's often difficult to tell. The genre is built around feeling stuck and then finding another way forward, but this is an entirely different experience when there may not be a way forward. Under the constraints of a review, restarting from scratch is a huge loss of time, but one that might ultimately become necessary.
GameSpot is currently seeking clarification on whether there is a foolproof method to tell if you have the bug. And if you haven't started the game yet or haven't put too much time into it, restarting may not be an issue. But for early adopters, the bug undermines what makes the genre great.
No Nintendo Switch owner's collection is complete until they have a dedicated gamepad, and you can't do much better than $35, especially for this striking Legend of Zelda-skinned wireless model from PowerA currently on sale at Amazon. That's $15 off from the sticker price of $50 and $35 less than a first-party controller. PowerA offers the controller in both wired and wireless variants in a wide range of designs, but none on sale for quite as much. There is no timeframe associated with the deal, so get it while you can.
PowerA's third-party, officially licensed Switch Pro controllers are an affordable, stylish option for anyone on a budget. GameSpot has tested both the wired and wireless options, and found the design, feel, and performance to be excellent. Although it does not feature the rumble or Amiibo NFC-reading of Nintendo's first-party controllers, PowerA adds two programmable buttons on the back that can be re-mapped on the fly. The only drawback is that it is powered by AA batteries, which are included. PowerA promises 30 hours of battery life, and you can take the sting off of buying replacement batteries by investing in a rechargeable battery set.
Now that the Epic Games Store has begun giving away free games on a weekly basis, Epic account holders have an even greater variety of games to add to their collection; however, the new weekly schedule means those freebies are available for a shorter time. So don't wait too long to grab Rebel Galaxy, the latest free PC game available from the Epic Store. The space trading and combat simulator is free to claim now until next Thursday, June 27, when it will be replaced by cinematic story game Last Day of June. As a reminder, you need a free Epic account to claim the game, and once you do, it'll be yours to keep.
Rebel Galaxy is a single-player, Western-style space adventure set in a randomly generated universe that involves combat, exploration, trade, and negotiation. You'll act as commander of an "immensely powerful star destroyer." The gameplay is restricted to a two-dimensional plane of movement, and while there is a story, you're free to choose your own path, whether you want to fly around and battle pirates, mine asteroids, hang out with aliens, or explore space anomalies.
GameSpot hasn't reviewed Rebel Galaxy, but the game does have 5,000 reviews and a "Very Positive" rating on Steam, so you're not losing anything by grabbing it while it's free and checking it out.
Epic just wrapped up its storewide Mega Sale, which offered steep discounts and an additional $10 off every game over $15. The free weekly game giveaways, which began during the Mega Sale, will now continue through the rest of 2019, so even if Rebel Galaxy isn't your game, be sure to check back, as Epic has already established a track record of giving away some great games for no cost. And while PC game deals are on your mind, get ready for more savings, as Steam's Summer Sale 2019 is predicted to kick off in just a few days on June 25.
Nintendo's E3 2019 Direct brought us the release date for Astral Chain, the new action game from NieR: Automata and Vanquish developers Platinum Games. We did see some gameplay during E3 2019, but Nintendo just released a full 10 minutes of futuristic cop fighting action. Unsurprisingly, the Nintendo Siwtch exclusive's combat looks to have a lot in common with Bayonetta.
In the 10-minute video, there's lots of Witch Time-like dodging, fluid transitions between close-quarters and ranged combat, and flashy combo finishers. There's also exploration, character customization, and robotic dog petting. We even get a look at moves centered around the chain, like chain bind, where you wrap the chain connected to your companion around an enemy and temporarily lock them in place. It's all as stylish as any other Platinum Games title. Check out the gameplay video below.
Astal Chain was announced during a February 2019 Direct and takes place in a futuristic city occupied by special forces units paired with living weapons called Legion. The game oscillates around this core mechanic, as you pull off combos and explore with the assistance of the robotic creature. It's directed by Takahisa Taura (NieR: Automata) and supervised by Hideki Kamiya (Bayonetta), so it's no wonder Astral Chain's combat looks familiar.
Astral Chain launches on August 30 for Nintendo Switch.
Harry Potter: Wizards Unite, the anticipated new free-to-play mobile game from Warner Bros. and Pokemon Go developer Niantic, has launched earlier than expected. The game was slated to launch on Friday, June 21, but those in the US and the UK can already download it now on both Android (through Google Play) and iOS devices (App Store) and begin playing.
Like the aforementioned Pokemon Go, Wizards Unite is free to download and features optional microtransactions. You can spend money to purchase Gold, which can then be used to buy in-game items such as potions, Dark Detectors (which reveal special items), Runestones (which are required for Wizarding Challenges), and more.
The story of Wizards Unite revolves around an event known as the Calamity, which has caused Foundables--people, creatures, and artifacts from the Wizarding World--to appear in the Muggle World, thereby risking their discovery. Moreover, these Foundables are sealed by Confoundable magic. As a member of the Statute of Secrecy Task Force, it is your mission to break these Counfoundable spells and retrieve the Foundables. You'll interact with Harry Potter and other familiar faces.
We recently went hands-on with Harry Potter: Wizards Unite thought it felt very much like a Harry Potter version of Pokemon Go, albeit with more content from the outset. Right from the start, the game offers a variety of quest objectives to complete, and you can add other players to your friends list (a feature that didn't come to Pokemon Go until years after its launch). The game also features an RPG-style Profession system that allows you to unlock abilities in skill trees.
Wizards Unite launched in beta form in Australia and New Zealand last month. If you're interested in getting a closer look at the game, you can watch nearly 15 minutes of gameplay footage of the beta version in the video above.
When the original Child's Play first arrived in theaters in 1988, it was downright scary. A talking doll possessed by the soul of a serial killer going on a murder spree is a pretty messed up idea for a horror movie, at least in the 1980s. In 2019, the idea seems dated and a little silly, even as the original franchise keeps chugging along in the form of direct-to-DVD movies of varying quality and a TV series in development at Syfy. The new reboot of the first film, though, isn't trying to be the same kind of movie. There are no possessed dolls to be found. Instead, the maniacal Chucky (voiced by Mark Hamill) is a malfunctioning piece of artificial intelligence inside of a cutting edge smart toy. Does that change make this modern spin on Child's Play worth your time, though?
It does, at least eventually. Child's Play centers on Andy (Gabriel Bateman), a young teenager with a hearing impairment who has just moved to a new neighborhood with his mom Karen (Aubrey Plaza) and is having trouble making friends. To help out on that front, mom gifts him a Buddi doll, a smart toy with incredibly impressive artificial intelligence that learns and retains knowledge. What Karen doesn't realize is that the safety protocols on this particular Buddi doll have been turned off and bad things are going to happen as a result.
By this point, chances are you've seen in the trailers that the new Chucky doll controls other in-home smart devices and uses them to carry out some of his killings. Unfortunately, it takes way too long for the movie to realize that this is when Chucky--and the film as a whole--are at its best. The first half of the movie, by comparison, seems slow and plodding as you wait for what you know is bound to happen.
There are a handful of scary moments in the first half of the movie, but they feel hollow given how the film opens with a very exposition-heavy commercial for the Buddi doll that talks about all of the incredible things it can do. Knowing that Chucky can interface with appliances, tools, and more made me want to see that sort of thing in action, only to instead watch the doll choke a cat and wave a knife around for 45 minutes.
Once the second half of the movie kicks in and Chucky comes into his full power, the movie becomes a lot more fun as you watch him wreak havoc by controlling everything from a thermostat to a self-driving car. It's at this point that Child's Play realizes its full potential as both a horror movie and a commentary on the glut of smart devices that populate modern lives.
That's what makes this new take on Child's Play such a scary endeavor. It feels realistic in a way the original franchise never did. No, dolls aren't walking around killing everyone, but given that everything from TV to appliances to lawn mowers can be smart devices now, it seems entirely possible that something could go horrifically wrong and put the machines in charge. It's the same reason the Terminator franchise remains so intriguing over 30 years after the first film debuted.
I wish Child's Play had dedicated more time to that side of the story. I also wish it hadn't given away so many of its death scenes in various trailers. Practically every notable death is in the movie's marketing, save for a big--and truly awesome--set piece toward the end of the film. That said, each of the deaths is more graphic than what was seen in the trailers. Child's Play more than earns its R-rating.
As for the cast, practically everybody easily handles the roles they were given. Plaza's part as a single mom trying to earn enough to support her son and keep him happy is a new role for the actress, but one she does well with. Bryan Tyree Henry is very entertaining as Detective Mike Norris, whose mother lives next door to Karen and Andy. He befriends the young man, not realizing the murders he's investigating are being committed by a toy.
The movie's real standouts, though, are Hamill and Bateman. Hamill's innocent Chucky voice is bone-chilling, given everything that's unfolding. It's a massive change from the deranged voice given to Chucky by Brad Dourif in the original franchise. It's a welcome one, though, enhancing the maniacal doll's new motivation. He's not a deranged killer; he's just a piece of technology that's working incorrectly.
Bateman, meanwhile, is incredibly believable as Andy, a kid just looking for his place in the world and a friend to stick by his side, whether it's a doll like Chucky or the kids down the hall. He also handles the horror aspects of the movie well, which is no surprise given his previous credits in 2014's Annabelle and 2016's Lights Out.
All told, Child's Play is decent but flawed. While it includes some truly gut-wrenching horror moments and a few jump scares, that it takes too long to fully embrace what it is--a techno-slasher--is disappointing. With the table set, though, hopefully, it will be received well enough to get a sequel that doesn't waste any time in unleashing Chucky's full potential.
Amazon is offering a limited-time deal that should be of interest to PC gamers: up to 63% off on a selection of Logitech gaming and productivity PC hardware, including mice, keyboards, headsets, speakers, and a gamepad. The collection is listed as a deal of the day, so strike while the iron is hot if you need any of the included items to round out your rig.
For gamers in need of a new gaming mouse, your best deal will be the G300s Optical Ambidextrous Gaming Mouse for 63% off at just $15. It's a precision, wired mouse with nine programmable buttons and on-board memory for three stored profiles, giving lots of flexibility for playing every game exactly how you would like. The only controller on offer is the F710 wireless gamepad for $31.20, under the usual $50. It's not the best-looking gamepad on the market, but it's solid, programmable, and a steal at this price.
Anyone who's been a PC gamer for any amount of time is likely familiar with Logitech, which has been one of the leading makers of third-party PC peripherals since the 1980s. Logitech has a history of offering solid, inexpensive baseline for entry-level PC gamers, though in recent years they have filled out the competitive, higher-end of its offerings with the Logitech G line in particular. Check out some of our favorite deals from the sale below:
If you've picked up Bloodstained: Ritual of the Night, you may be surprised at the absence of an advertised feature. Multiplayer isn't included in the game yet, but it is still on the way according to the publisher.
Both the Xbox Store and PlayStation Store list the game as having multiplayer for up to two people, matching a stretch goal achieved in the initial Kickstarter pitch. Steam and Nintendo both list it as single-player only.
For the time being, it is only single-player. Multiplayer is coming as one of several free updates, per a launch press release from 505 Games. Online and local co-op and Versus modes are listed alongside other post-launch updates that will add Roguelike mode, Boss Rush, Chaos Mode, and Nightmare Difficulty.
Bloodstained is billed as an "Iga Vania" after its creator, Koji Igarashi. It was conceived as a modernized homage to classic Castlevania games like Symphony of the Night from Igarashi. But rather than a family of vampire hunters setting out to stop Dracula, this one focuses on an alchemy-enhanced girl named Miriam fighting against demons. In a castle, naturally.
The release of Bloodstained was relatively quiet, coming just after E3 without much fanfare. The launch trailer made a splash with a promise of a Shovel Knight cameo. If you're looking for a good deal on Bloodstained you can pick it up on PC at a discount.
Blockbuster director JJ Abrams is teaming up with Marvel, but not for the next phase of the cinematic universe. This time he's writing a comic book with his son, Henry, with art from Sara Pichelli and Dave Stewart. The five-part mini-series will begin in September.
The two Abrams introduced the project with a short message on Twitter, after a countdown that has had fans guessing over the last few days. Though plot details are scant, they say this series will introduce a new villain called Cadaverous, and they told The New York Times this story will show "Peter Parker in a way you haven't seen him before."
Pichelli is a long-time Marvel artist with a lot of experience with Spider-Man, having illustrated Miles Morales in the Ultimate universe, the Spider-Men story arc, and more. JJ Abrams compared seeing her work to the experience of getting concept art during movie production.
"You have an idea for what Maz Kanata's castle will look like [in Star Wars: The Force Awakens]. It's theory for months and months, and then you go through phases and design. Then one day you walk onto the set and you're standing there. You might not be shooting, but you're just standing on the set," he told the NYT. "And to get Sara's artwork, the black and white early renderings, to get those, it's weird because you're suddenly looking at a brilliant artist's interpretation of work that you've been talking about for a long time."
Whatever this story arc will include, it's being pitched as a limited run, so presumably it will be a self-contained story instead of an ongoing series. Though the new villain, Cadaverous, could very well be adopted into the larger Marvel universe.
My Friend Pedro's best moment is the first time you get to use a frying pan to kill someone. This is an action game that bends over backwards to make sure you look cool, where every kill is meant to make you feel special, and the frying pan is the best realization of that vision. The bullets in My Friend Pedro will ricochet off certain objects, and if the angles line up just so--as they do the first time you encounter a frying pan--you can kick the kitchen implement into the room ahead of you, and then take out all the enemies in that room by shooting the pan, watching as bullets ping off it and cut through anyone standing nearby. It's glorious.
In these moments, My Friend Pedro feels like a beautiful, brutal ballet. Indeed, the game is entertaining for most of its runtime precisely because of how over-the-top and theatrical its kills are. Killing enemies by shooting a frying pan, ricocheting your shots off a sign, or kicking an object right into someone's face is entertaining. However, it's also a game that has fewer tricks up its sleeve than it initially suggests, and will run through most of its good ideas just past the halfway point. That's not to say that the game gets bad--it's fun all the way through--but it starts to feel less inventive and exciting than those pulpy, crazy earlier levels do.
You play as an unnamed, masked protagonist who is accompanied on his violent journey by Pedro, a talking banana who acts as both narrator and instructor throughout the game. It's clear early on that there's something a bit off about Pedro, and while there are some eventual "reveals" to contend with, he's mostly there to lend the game a sense of weirdness and to offer hints and tips as you go. There's a thin plot, but it's easily ignored--the only really important information is that you need to run through each level killing all the enemies, and if you kill every enemy quickly without dying, you'll get a higher score. There's a score multiplier that allows you to chain kills for more points, and trying to compete for a solid spot on the leaderboards is a good incentive to replay earlier levels on more challenging difficulties.
As you chain together kills through the game's 40 levels, you have opportunities to shoot enemies while going down zip lines, riding on top of rolling barrels, jumping through windows, skateboarding, and bouncing off of walls. You can activate your focus at any moment to line up your shots and time your bullet-dodging spins perfectly. If you have two guns equipped, you can aim them independently, letting you dive right into the middle of a group of enemies with twin uzis blaring in different directions.
Shooting your enemies is a joy, for the most part, but the combat isn't without its faults. The game's default auto-aim assist locks you onto the nearest enemy or potential target if you're pointing your aiming reticule in their direction, which can sometimes make it more difficult to pull off the stunt you'd envisioned. If an enemy is standing in front of an explosive canister, for instance, aiming past them for that gratifying explosion is difficult because your gun sight won't pull away from them. Thankfully, you can turn auto-aim down to almost nothing, which gives you more freedom at the cost of making the game a bit more challenging overall.
My Friend Pedro suffers a bit from a lack of enemy variety, and while the style of goon you're facing changes over time--you fight assassins in the second set of levels, then professional gamers not long after--the main difference is that some of them have more health than others. There are some slight variations, but most enemies can be taken down in the exact same way: by pointing and shooting, with or without theatrics. Your enemies will shoot back with increasingly powerful guns, and while you can feel untouchable when you're diving into a room in slow motion, they put up enough of a fight, even on "Normal" difficulty, that you need to be careful.
Every now and then you might have to deal with a sentry gun or a minefield, too, but the game is at its best when you're proving your superiority to organic enemies. Those slow-motion dives into hails of enemy bullets that visibly crawl through the air towards you are obviously inspired by The Matrix, and My Friend Pedro gets closer to capturing the feel of that film's shootouts than many of the myriad games that have paid homage to it. There are also a few boss levels to contend with, which are brief diversions that make some attempt to mix things up, but even these peak with the first one. The game runs through most of its ideas for creative ways to kill people pretty quickly, and while that sense of wonder never quite dries up, its truly great moments become more spaced out in the second half.
In later stages, the game features numerous platforming sections as a way of keeping things fresh. They're never complicated enough to require you to really think them through, and several of them suffer from the game's finicky controls. While the movement controls are fine for combat, they're often hard to contend with when you're trying to traverse tricky terrain. When you're asked to roll and jump and slide down ropes with great precision, as you sometimes are, the game stumbles, as the controls don't lend themselves well to exact platforming. This only really becomes a major problem right near the end, as the final few levels get extra demanding.
The level designs also grow uglier as you go, too--when Pedro explains that you're fighting gamers in the sewers because video games tend to feature sewer levels, it's funny, but not funny enough to justify the drab aesthetics that the sewers display. That's not to say that these levels are devoid of joy--a late mechanic that gives some enemies shields that need to be deactivated adds some nice strategic depth and most levels serve up at least one or two sections where you can pull off some cool moves--but overall they're not as free-wheeling and enjoyable as the game is in its early stages.
There's some padding, and the game suffers whenever there aren't enemies on screen. It's also, oddly enough, less entertaining when you start to get access to more powerful weapons--the late addition of a sniper rifle feels fundamentally at odds with the game's up-close-and-personal action, and while the assault rifle you unlock in the game's second half is powerful and fun to fire, it's a shame they didn't go a step further with its wildness and let you dual-wield the best guns for maximum carnage. My Friend Pedro is greatest when you're close enough to the bad guys to warrant continual cost-benefit analyses of running up and kicking them to death, but sometimes the best way to progress is to take out your enemies from a distance by pointing and shooting without much flair.
But then you get to leap through a window on a skateboard, jump and spin through the air in slow-motion, firing uzis at two enemies at once; when you kick an explosive canister around a corner and pop out to shoot it just before it hits an enemy in the face; or when you jump between two walls, spring out of a gap, and take out two guys with a shotgun before they even know you're there. My Friend Pedro might pepper its later stages with fewer exciting moments, but the moments that make the game fun never fully go away. As soon as I finished the game, I restarted at a higher difficulty, keen to test my improved skills on harder enemies.
There are sections in My Friend Pedro that are as satisfying and thrilling as you could hope for in a game like this, where it nails the feeling of being an impossible video game hero who can perform the unimaginable with great style and flair. There's a lot of appeal in replaying your favorite stages over and over, trying to move up the leaderboard. It isn't consistently exhilarating throughout the entire campaign, but My Friend Pedro is worth playing because it's full of moments where you can jump down a shaft and shoot in two directions in slow motion, or kill an enemy by kicking the skateboard you're riding into their face, or take out a room full of bad guys with the help of a frying pan. When it dedicates itself to letting you be inventive and weird with how you rack up your kills, My Friend Pedro is wildly enjoyable.
It's the midway point in June, but already, streaming services like Hulu, Netflix, and Amazon Prime Video have been revealing what what's coming out in July on their services. In the upcoming month, Amazon has plenty of content coming next month, including various original series. However, unlike Hulu and Netflix which drop the majority of their content on the first of the month, Amazon's big release date is the 31st of July.
Starting at the beginning of the month, Amazon will be releasing some new content. The 2019 Andrew Garfield drama Under The Silver Lake comes on July 1. The movie follows a man who meets a mysterious woman. The next day, she disappears, and he searches LA to find her, only to learn there is a bizarre conspiracy surrounding her.
If you're looking for something a bit more high-profile, the 2019 reboot of Hellboy comes to the service on July 23. While it wasn't critically acclaimed, it will be there for you to check out if you're interested. In GameSpot's review, Dan Auty said, "[David] Harbour remains a great choice to play the character, and it will be a shame if this is the last time we see him in the role. But ultimately this is not the Hellboy movie fans wanted to see him in."
Amazon's most anticipated release in July is Season 1 of The Boys. The series debuts on July 26, and the show follows a world where superheroes are in power and celebrities. A group of vigilantes is on the move to stop some of these corrupt heroes and put a stop to them. As you can see in the trailer above--or in the comic book series--The Boys does not pull its punches. It's violent, shocking, and is not intended for younger viewers.
The end of the month is when most of the month's content is released. On July 31, there will be plenty to watch: Dumb and Dumber, Twelve Monkeys, and a bunch of Star Trek movies hit the service. However, the movie that you need to watch is the 1995 movie Hackers. In this cinematic rave of colors and annoying EDM, a group of computer hackers find a virus that steals money from a corporation, but the hacker behind that virus is framing them, so they need to clear their name by hacking computers in the most unrealistic way possible. Hack the planet, right?
Below, you'll find the complete list for everything coming to Amazon Prime Video in the month of July.
New To Amazon In July
July 1
Under the Silver Lake (2019)
July 2
Phoenix (2014)
July 3
Peterloo (Amazon Original movie)
July 5
Kung Fu Panda: The Paws of Destiny S1B - Amazon Original series
It's a strange thing to knowingly bid farewell to a fictional character you've followed for over a decade, and then learn to love their replacement. I teared up a little when longtime protagonist Kazama Kiryu finally exited the Yakuza series (presumably for good) at the end of The Song Of Life. But as we wait for Yakuza to begin anew in earnest, Ryu ga Gotoku Studio has crafted a different opportunity to revisit the staple setting of Kamurocho as newcomer Takayuki Yagami, a disgraced defense attorney turned private investigator. And fortunately, despite some unremarkable additions to the standard RGG template, by the end of Judgment it's hard not to feel like you want to spend dozens upon dozens more hours with Yagami and friends.
Yagami might not be a yakuza, and Judgment might not be a mainline Yakuza game, but you'd be mistaken for thinking that the overarching narrative of Judgment doesn't heavily adopt the criminal theatrics that RGG Studio has become known for. While the plot kicks off with a relatively straightforward investigation into a serial killer, Yagami's investigation into it uncovers a vast, complicated and interweaving conspiracy of secrecy and betrayal that involves the history of the cast, the Japanese legal system, the Tokyo police department, multiple yakuza factions, and higher stakes beyond. It's an unsurprising escalation, but it's told in such a way that keeps you glued to the screen--the mystery is gripping, the drama is irresistible, and the performances are excellent.
Yagami and his partner Kaito are the primary emotional conduits, and they remain incredibly empathetic and genuinely likable characters throughout. They have interesting personal dilemmas and arcs of their own, and a warm, convincing dynamic together, regularly joking around and pulling one another's chains, and sharing determination when they need to. Kaito is a former yakuza who acts as the brawn to Yagami's brains--though Yagami still manages to be an impossible kung-fu savant, for reasons that are never truly explained in any meaningful way, and in skinny jeans, no less. The two bring a delightful vibe to the otherwise serious nature of the story, and they are treasures.
In some ways, Yagami is more believable and well-defined as a protagonist than Kiryu was in the Yakuza series. Where you were often encouraged to put Kiryu, a typically unwavering deity of honor, through uncharacteristic sojourns into weirdly perverse pursuits, Yagami rarely acts in a way that feels out of character, nor are you allowed to get involved in anything that goes against his demeanor. It's a notable quality that helps to make him more consistently likable, even if he does do something you think is idiotic.
Judgment's side activities do their best to reflect Yagami's nature. Side missions are mostly framed as citizens calling upon Yagami for his private investigator services, though are still a place for RGG Studio's penchant for absurdism to get a workout. More interesting is the game's Friend system, which allows you to befriend dozens of unique individuals spread across Kamurocho, whether via side missions or their own discrete activities. Performing a variety of tasks in service of a person will level up your friendship with them, eventually giving you access to perks like secret items on a restaurant menu or a helping hand in combat. It's a nice thematic element that rounds out Yagami's character as a good-natured, friendly neighborhood PI.
The uncomfortably debaucherous side of RGG games is still present in Judgment, though it's mostly left to be associated with the more unsavory characters and aspects of the plot rather than Yagami himself. That means the saucier activities of Kamurocho are gone, including the entertaining cabaret club management minigame. Instead, there's a dating aspect where you can grow closer to women Yagami has already befriended over the course of the game, which involves regular interactions via in-game text messages, and eventually a series of dates. It feels more wholesome as a result, though only as wholesome as a 35-year-old man dating a 19-year old can be.
Elsewhere in the game's entertaining array of side distractions, Judgment features an incredibly robust Mario Party-esque board game, a two-player port of Fighting Vipers, an original light-gun shooter called Kamuro Of The Dead, an obviously-made-in-a-different-game-engine version of pinball, and drone racing. That's on top of a healthy, familiar selection of Virtua Fighter 5: Final Showdown, Puyo Puyo, UFO catchers, darts, batting cages, Mahjong, Shogi, and various casino card games, among other activities, all seen in previous Yakuza titles.
There are plenty of other familiar aspects that return from previous Yakuza games, but not all of them shake out to be in Judgment's favor. For example, while the game's major cinematics are lovingly rendered and animated as always, lesser, more stilted character models with cold, dead eyes still dominate a lot of the game's cutscenes and suck some emotion out of the otherwise excellent drama.
Kamurocho is another weary aspect, which is an admittedly blasphemous notion at first--the district itself still feels lively, bustling, and full of things to do--but this is still very much the Dragon Engine-era Kamurocho from Yakuza 6 and Yakuza Kiwami 2, both of which released a year prior. But it's not just the fact that Kamurocho is still relatively fresh in your mind if you've been following the series closely (there are only a handful of new interiors), it's Judgment's lack of a meaty palette cleanser--nearly all Yakuza games since the 2005 original have featured an additional city to free-roam in, or at least additional protagonists to help add a bit of excitement to the series' familiar formula. Judgment has a tiny additional interior location situated outside of Kamurocho, but it's purely a story setpiece.
Conversely, many of Judgment's attempts to add to the core Ryu ga Gotoku template wear out their welcome almost immediately. Yagami's position as a lawyer-turned-private-eye means there are a lot of segments that involve tailing and chasing people, getting into places he isn't supposed to, searching for clues, and making deductions. The prospect of performing all of these thematically appropriate activities would be attractive were they not all mechanically boring in practice.
Tailing and chasing people are the biggest offenders, made worse by the Judgment's heavy reliance on them. Slowly following targets through the city while trying not to let the targets spot you (they're all very on edge) is a dull, slow, and arduous process which is often made more frustrating by the infamous RGG Studio movement system, which is clunky at the best of times. A reliance on predetermined hiding spots strips the act of any dynamics and creativity. Chases are faster but equally monotonous auto-running sequences where you need to steer Yagami left and right within a set path, avoid any obstacles, and perform the regular quicktime event to keep up with a target. With the exception of one amusing sequence on a skateboard, the game's numerous chases are all ultimately stale, when they should get your heart pumping.
Searching for clues and making deductions are poised to be the more attractive mechanics due to the game's legal bent--Yagami will sometimes need to search an area in first-person for clues or explain a hypothesis or contradiction. But these moments are let down by being incredibly straightforward, and expecting something that sits anywhere near to what you might find in a Danganronpa or Ace Attorney game would be misguided. You're provided with a checklist of things to find during search scenes, meaning the discoveries don't feel revelatory--but finding the hidden cats is the real treat here. Deduction segments feel more like opportunities for the game to make sure you've been paying attention to the story so far, rather than a chance for you to join the dots and stumble upon the discovery for yourself.
While the mystery in Judgment is certainly a journey that you're merely accompanying Yagami on, the lack of player agency in the detective segments makes them feel like a useless chore. There are two different types of lockpicking minigames--which are fine, if uninspiring--and there's also a bizarrely unexciting mechanic where you have to choose which key on Yagami's keyring to use when entering certain doors. The most interesting new idea is the addition of a couple of brief sequences where you play as one of Yagami's co-workers and go undercover, which only left me wanting to see that idea explored even further.
Ultimately, most of Yagami's progress is made by doing what all good protagonists in RGG games do best--kicking the shit out of people. Yagami has two different kung-fu influenced fighting styles: Crane style is designed to deal with groups of enemies, whereas Tiger style focuses on single-target damage. Fighting starts off feeling a bit clunky and limiting--especially the flashier Crane style, whose moves come with long recoveries and see Yagami spend more time doing flips than landing hits--but this changes over time as you upgrade Yagami's combo speeds and attack damage, making the risk of opening yourself up more viable. Tiger style is more intricate and versatile, however, with a much larger and more powerful variety of moves to unlock and use--including an exploding palm technique that's a blast to use again and again.
Additional fighting techniques are introduced to flesh out Yagami's flashy, acrobatic style and include the ability to leapfrog enemies, wall jump, and link attacks off those maneuvers. The Yakuza series' explosive "Heat" moves appear as "EX" moves, allowing you to execute devastating cinematic special attacks, reliant on specific environmental and combat situations. Despite not being a Yakuza game, combat is your primary interaction with the world in Judgment. Fighting all sorts of delinquents, gangsters, and at one point, a group of academic researchers is still very entertaining, though, and it's great that there are abundant opportunities for you to lay down some street justice.
It's disappointing to realize that Judgment is at its best when it veers closer to the mold that it came from. Even though the game's familiar fighting and side activities will happily keep you occupied, it's a shame that the most intriguing and unique additions are also the dullest things about Judgment, because the new roster of characters have been wonderfully crafted otherwise. Yagami, Kaito, and the supporting cast are incredibly endearing, and following their every move as they unravel the sinister machinations looming under the surface of Kamurocho is a sensational journey. I can't wait to return to these characters, but I'm hoping we can all do something different next time.
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