The Flash Stumbles in Season 4

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Note: this is a mostly spoiler-free review of The Flash Season 4, which is now available to stream on Netflix. I'll avoid discussing major spoilers until the end of the review.

After this year, Arrowverse fans might start to feel a sense of dread when one of these shows reaches its fourth season. Arrow really hit a wall in Season 4, which easily ranks as the series' worst to date (despite all Season 6 did to try to "beat" it). The same phenomenon struck again with The Flash in its fourth season. The series plummeted in quality, with many of the changes aimed at fixing the problems of Season 3 instead making matters worse. At this point, fans can only hope that the Flash will continue to follow Arrow's example by turning things around in Season 5.

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The Future Looks Bright for DC's Superman Comics

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I wouldn't blame anyone for approaching Man of Steel with mixed emotions. On one hand, this is the first major DC Comics project from writer Brian Bendis since signing an exclusive contract with the company late last year. That's a pretty huge deal. On the other, the Superman franchise wasn't exactly in need of a major status quo upheaval. For the past two years it's been doing just fine in the capable hands of Peter Tomasi, Patrick Gleason and Dan Jurgens. But like it or not, big changes are brewing for Superman. The good news is that Man of Steel #1 suggests the character is still in capable hands.

Thankfully, this Man of Steel isn't following the same approach of 1986's Man of Steel, which saw writer/artist John Byrne chronicle a revamped origin story for Supes before commencing his run on the monthly Superman comic. The last thing Superman needs right now is yet another origin story retread. The new Man of Steel is much more about looking ahead to an uncertain but intriguing future. What little flashback material there is in issue #1 is largely geared towards fleshing out Superman's newest major villain, Rogol Zaar, and his possible role in the destruction of Krypton.

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SEGA Genesis Classics Review

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Just as every generation needs a revolution, so too does it need a new SEGA Genesis Collection. The first 28-game package arrived on PlayStation 2 in 2006; three years later we received the excellent Sonic’s Ultimate Genesis Collection on PS3 and Xbox 360, packing a much meatier 48.

Now here we are with the latest bundle, SEGA Genesis Classics, collecting 53 little pieces of our childhoods (those of us born in the ‘70s and ‘80s, at least). It’s a good selection, featuring a variety of absolute bangers (Sonic the Hedgehog, Streets of Rage) and some cult favorites (Shining Force, Landstalker), though some glaring holes in the lineup prevent it from feeling comprehensive, but this is the best way to sample the SEGA Genesis library today without the actual original console, CRT television, and carts.

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Yoku's Island Express Review

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A Metroidvania-pinball hybrid isn't a thing I ever expected to exist, but Yoku’s Island Express feels like a breath of fresh air in a genre that’s felt crowded as of late. It’s fun, adorable, and wonderfully unique while still satisfying the things I love about 2D platformers. Even if its pinball paths occasionally got frustrating to navigate, I enjoyed every minute I spent with its charming, secret-filled campaign.

Yoku’s Island Express creatively fuses a traditional Metroidvania game with pinball mechanics in a way that feels surprisingly natural. You take control of a tiny beetle postmaster named Yoku, pushing around a ball and making deliveries on a large open-world island. There’s a fairly straightforward but cute story to follow, alongside a hefty amount of side quests, hidden collectibles, and other distractions.

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TCL 55R617 4K HDR Roku Smart TV Review

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TCL is a relative newcomer to the US television market, but this Chinese company has been in the global market for years. In the few short years it's been in the States its racked up a lot of excellent reviews by offering TVs loaded with features at fairly inexpensive prices. Last year's P-series was widely lauded for its performance, value, and Roku integration. TCL's added a few improvements to this year's model, and I'm taking a look at the 55" 55R617 (See it on Amazon). Let's see how it measures up.

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A Strong Finish Redeems Arrow's Bumpy Season 6

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Note: this is a mostly spoiler-free review of the sixth season of Arrow, which is now available to stream on Netflix. I'll discuss basic character and plot details but save direct spoiler chatter for the end of the review.

It's not always easy being a fan of Arrow, as the show's sixth season frequently proved. The show was at its most uneven and frustrating this year. For a while it seemed as though Season 6 was doomed to go down in history as the show's worst to date. And while it did finally turn things around in the last couple months, it may have been too little, too late for many viewers.

The show's sudden drop in quality is all the more surprising given the strong foundation Season 5 had put in place. Season 5 ended with the series best episode yet, wrapping up the conflict between Oliver Queen (Stephen Amell) and Adrian Chase (Josh Segarra) and leaving viewers with a cliffhanger wherein the fate of nearly every member of Team Arrow was in doubt. That's how you end a season. The Season 6 premiere, "Fallout," is not how you begin one. That episode squandered most of the potential from "Lian Yu." Rather than delivering a dramatic overhaul of the status quo and showcasing a Team Arrow left reeling from Chase's final attack, it showed that annoyingly little had changed in Star City during those missing three months. The impact of that attack was minimal, with almost zero casualties and a handful of easily reversible changes to the norm.

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Marvel's Cloak and Dagger TV Series is more Spider-Man than Daredevil

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This is a spoiler-free review of the first two episodes of Marvel's Cloak and Dagger, premiering June 7 on Freeform.

What happens when one moment bonds you to another person for life, meaning that no matter where you are, physically and emotionally, you are forever linked by tragedy? Marvel’s Cloak & Dagger explores this story in a raw and poignant way - presenting a tale that is sometimes heartbreaking, but still gives hope for another promising young adult series for Freeform.

Set in post-Katrina New Orleans, Cloak & Dagger is an adaptation of characters created by Bill Mantlo and artist Ed Hannigan in 1982. Tyrone Johnson/Cloak (Aubrey Joseph) and Tandy Bowen/Dagger (Olivia Holt) are two teenagers who gained their powers as children after a Roxxon Corporation accident (Roxxon is the only real nod to the Marvel Cinematic Universe so far - there are thankfully no heavy-handed nods to "the incident" here). The kids don’t see each other again until years later, but when chance occurrence reunites them, they unexpectedly wake up their superhuman powers when they have hand-to-hand contact.

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Detroit: Become Human Review

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It’s a testament to the breadth of Quantic Dream’s branching storylines that I felt terribly guilty as the credits rolled after my second playthrough of Detroit: Become Human, as I’d played against my personal moral compass to test how far I could push the story’s exploration of the morality of artificial intelligence. This was very much the opposite of my mostly peaceful first run, and Detroit obliged my wickedness to a surprising degree, leaving a trail of bodies of those who had previously survived in my wake. And while it never seems to know when enough heavy-handed expositional dialogue is enough, Detroit: Become Human manages to be a frequently moving melodrama that bends to your choices with meaningful results.

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Marvel's Fresh Start Reinvigorates Black Panther

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Writer Ta-Nehisi Coates breathed new life into Black Panther when he took the helm of the previous solo series in 2016. Unfortunately, the momentum generated in the opening storyline, "A Nation Under Our Feet" didn't entirely carry over into subsequent stories like "Avengers of the New World." Black Panther needed a shake-up as badly as any ongoing comic, and Marvel's Fresh Start relaunch delivers exactly that.

While it may seem silly to relaunch the series with Coates still attached (particularly given how it just reverted to its original numbering last fall), in this case the new #1 is justified. Black Panther #1 makes a clean break from what came before. It features a completely new status quo and mostly different cast of characters. Heck, it doesn't even take place on Earth. Instead, the new series picks up where Marvel Legacy #1 left off with the reveal that Wakanda has become an intergalactic empire in its own right. That twist alone is enough to push the series in a direction unlike anything we've seen before. That alone is a pretty huge selling point.

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Everything Coming to Netflix in June

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Netflix in June is bookended by Marvel's Thor: Ragnarok at the front and Star Wars: The Last Jedi toward the end - with a little 101 Dalmations and Tarzan in between, if you were looking for even more Disney to absorb.

There are also new seasons of Netflix Originals GLOW, Marvel's Luke Cage, and Voltron: Legendary Defender - along with the fifth season of Marvel's Agents of SHIELD, the fourth season of iZombie, the second season of Supergirl, and the - um - fourteenth season of Grey's Anatomy.

On the movie front, there's National Treasure, The Departed, In Bruges, The King's Speech, and a Sense8 movie that's acting as the show's series finale.

Check out the slideshow gallery below for a spotlight of some of the most notable June Netflix offerings, followed by the full list...

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Dark Sous Remastered Review

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When we first reviewed Dark Souls in 2011 we gave it a 9.0 for Amazing. Here’s what we said about it then:

“If you take the time to get under Dark Souls' Skin and understand its twisted mindset, what you'll find is one of the most absorbing, deepest, hardcore gaming experiences in existence. But it's also brutally unforgiving and inaccessible, especially at first. If you play games just to be entertained, then Dark Souls isn't for you. But if you're at all interested in just how far a video game can go, how singular and focused it can be in its vision, Dark Souls is unmissable." Read our original Dark Souls review.

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Razer Blade Stealth Laptop + Core V2 Review

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Gaming laptops are one of two things: Big, heavy, and powerful, or if they're even remotely portable they're got just enough muscle to play casual games, and you can forget about running AAA games on a thin-and-light. With the Razer Blade Stealth (See it on Amazon) and Core V2 enclosure, the company is trying to let gamers have their cake and eat it too, combining a super portable laptops with an enclosure you can fill with any desktop class GPU.  You can use the Blade Stealth as a typical laptop all-day, then plug in the Core V2 when you want to play a real game. For the past few weeks, I’ve been using the Blade Stealth and a Core V2 (See it on Amazon) with a GTX 1060 (See it on Amazon), trying to figure out if this combination is brilliant or crazy. It turns out, it’s a bit of both.

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Family Guy's Season Finale Wastes Its Potential

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Warning: Full spoilers for the episode below.

Family Guy began its sixteenth season on solid ground, using "Emmy-Winning Episode" to spoof the entire TV landscape in true self-aware fashion. Sadly, this season didn't end on anywhere near that level. "Are You There God? It's Me, Peter" took a potentially cool premise and used to recycle one of the oldest plots in the animated sitcom playbook.

This episode started out well enough, with Peter becoming so lazy and slovenly that his body literally fused to the couch. That paved the way for a handful of gross but amusing gags. Even the cutaway jokes in this segment were surprisingly decent, including Oliver Platt's motivational video and the high school choir's terrible rendition of "It's the End of the World as We Know It (And I Feel Fine)". It's actually a little surprising the writers didn't just stick with the couch fusion bit as the main storyline for this episode. Though granted, it did start to wear out its welcome by the end. The extended callback to the couch scene from "Blue Harvest" didn't help. That brand of humor captures the show at its worst - overly drawn-out and interested only in making references to other things.

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Colossus and Juggernaut's Most Epic Battles

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Warning: this article contains spoilers for Deadpool 2!

Deadpool 2 takes a deep dive into the X-Men universe, introducing iconic characters like Cable and Domino and giving X-Force its big screen debut. But for many X-Men fans, nothing tops seeing the metallic mutant Colossus clash with the unstoppable Juggernaut.

These two super-strong characters have a rivalry that dates back to the early days of Chris Claremont's legendary Uncanny X-Men run. Check out our slideshow to see four epic encounters between these two and who won each battle.

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For more on Deadpool, check out everything that happened in the first movie in five minutes right here. Or read our review of Deadpool 2 here. You can also check out Deadpool's 17 craziest comic book stories here.

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Logitech G305 Wireless Gaming Mouse Review

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The hunt for a wireless mouse has always been a little tricky for gamers on a budget. Even if you can find the right mouse with low latency and a decent sensor, the best wireless mice typically require a serious monetary investment. Or at least, they used to. The new Logitech G305 (See it on Amazon) is made specifically for anyone who has been eager to go wireless, but was turned off by the steep price tag. At just $59.99 it's the most affordable high-end, wireless gaming mouse I've seen thus far, and even better, it doesn't sacrifice quality or performance to achieve its lowish price tag. It's even available in white, if that's your thing.

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The Craziest Moments from FOX's Gotham

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Now that we know Gotham will return for a fifth and (shortened) final season next year - and that series creator Bruno Heller has a new Alfred Pennyworth series headed to Epic - it's time to look back at the most insane stunts and storylines the show's ever pulled off.

"I don't think there was necessarily one place or one moment where we decided that anything goes," EP/showrunner John Stephens told us. "I think it was really just done by taking one step and then taking another step and so on. And then you turn around and see where you are and how far you've come and you're miles from where you actually began."

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Riverdale Finale Can't Solve the Show's Sophomore Slump

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This recap contains spoilers for Riverdale's Season 2 finale, episode 22, "Brave New World."

To say that Riverdale Season 2 has been a mixed bag is perhaps the understatement of the year. After a knockout freshman season that focused on a compelling, character-driven mystery even as it reveled in its own innate ridiculousness, the show collided with the sophomore slump from hell.

Stories began, only to suddenly vanish with no real resolution or explanation. Relationships changed as the story demanded it. Characters disappeared completely for weeks at a time – or made decisions that were wildly divergent to anything we’d seen from them before. And rather than focus on the things that made Season 1 great, such as the series’ core friendships and families, Riverdale told stories about the mob, a local gang war, and a confusing serial murder.

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13 Reasons Why Has a Sophomore Slump

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Note: this is a spoiler-free advanced review of 13 Reasons Why's second season, which premieres on Netflix on Friday, May 18.

There was a lot of collective head-scratching when Netflix announced a second season of 13 Reasons Why. Not because the first season wasn't a well-crafted teen drama (you can see my review here), or because its apparently massive viewership numbers didn't warrant a follow-up. The confusion came from the fact that Season 1 told a largely finite and self-contained story. The goal was to show us why troubled teen Hannah Baker (Katherine Langford) committed suicide, and the first season definitively answered that question. In the process, it used up the entirety of the Jay Asher novel. What is there to be gained from revisiting Hannah Baker's story?

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State of Decay 2 Review

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State of Decay 2’s open-world battle for survival against a zombie menace is the right kind of post-apocalyptic fun. It creates plenty of high-stakes moments, punctuated by the relative calm of foraging for supplies while always looking over your shoulder. It’s a potent mixture for a while, until the combination of repetitive missions and annoying bugs eventually dulls the joy of squashing heads, even when your co-op entourage rolls deep.

Just like in 2013’s original State of Decay, in State of Decay 2 you can freely switch between randomly generated survivors in your post-apocalyptic community – and you’ll regularly have to, because they can only be pushed so far before their stamina starts to give out. Or worse, you did something stupid and got someone permanently killed, taking their unique traits and whatever leveled-up skills they’ve acquired with them. You’re not able to customize their names or looks at all, which is a shame, because if XCOM has taught us anything it’s that it’s fun to tell your friends and co-workers how you got them killed. But that fear of loss (you can’t reload from an earlier save!) adds some significant weight to the struggle that plays out on one of three open-world rural maps, as you scavenge the region to build a shelter and work to cleanse the land of a disease known as the Blood Plague.

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X-Men Wedding Special Is a Missed Opportunity

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Kitty Pryde and Colossus are getting married soon, for reasons that still remain unclear. It's a symptom of a larger problem with X-Men Gold, a series that banks heavily on mutant nostalgia without bringing much of real substance to the table. If you're not already on board with the wedding, don't expect X-Men Wedding Special #1 to change your mind. This book has its moments, but does little to justify a story development that didn't have a lot of logic or impetus behind it in the first place.

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Hyrule Warriors Definitive Edition Review

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When we first reviewed Hyrule Warriors on the Wii U in 2014, we gave it a 7.0, for Good. Here’s what we said about it then.

“Surprisingly, Hyrule Warriors does a good job of tying together the combat of Dynasty Warriors and the revered characters and lore of the Legend of Zelda series in a way that makes me feel powerful in a world I love. Character customization adds unique flavor to the simple combat, and the satisfying weapons, rewards, and story make it a fun alternative to the typically serious Zelda games. It’s just a shame you can’t share the action with a friend without significant slowdown.”

Read the original Hyrule Warriors review here. Hyrule Warriors: Definitive Edition for the Nintendo Switch offers that plus all of the little quality-of-life enhancements Hyrule Warriors Legends on the 3DS introduced and then some, but with none of the crippling performance issues.

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Dexter's Michael C. Hall Returns to TV in Netflix's 'Safe'

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The following is a spoiler-free review for the first episode of Safe - an 8-part series premiering on Netflix Thursday, May 10th.

Dexter's Michael C. Hall ditches his Dark Passenger for a British accent, returning to TV for the pulpy, oft-preposterous event series Safe - an England-set missing child thriller penned by mystery novelist Harlan Coben. It's a twisty, turny, soapy "whodunnit?" (or even, at first, a "whatsevenhappening?") that features Hall as a recent widower sent into a panic after his teen daughter, Jenny (Amy James-Kelly), fails to come home from a night out.

The hook here, the theme meant to grab you and suck you in, is that everyone in Tom's life - all his neighbors and immediates - are harboring some form of dark secret, or tethered relevance, to Jenny's disappearance. And everyone's shady side life seems to come to a savage head exactly one year after Tom buries a wife who'd lost a battle with cancer. Naturally, the circumstances of her death are relevant as well, and interwoven into the entire sordid mess.

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The Forest Review

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I’ve been dumped in the middle of a foreboding, eerily quiet wilderness – like you typically are in open-world first-person survival games. As I make my way to the nearest coast, I’m startled out of my foraging by a bestial grunt and prepare to defend myself. But the hunched and disheveled creature pursuing me stops several yards short of tearing my face off… and waits to see what I do. This was the moment I realize The Forest is going to spend the next 30ish hours cleverly and terrifyingly subverting my expectations.

The wooded, alpine peninsula that becomes your home is almost idyllic in its quiet splendor, made up of delightfully verdant woodlands and sparkling ponds. But it’s also inhabited by several tribes of feral, macabre cannibals who mark their territory with grotesque effigies of human skin and bone from their victims. From the moment I first came across one, the peaceful, easy feeling turned into a constant paranoia. Everything was always just a bit too quiet, and even twigs snapping from my own footsteps or a rabbit darting out of a bush could make me jump.

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Breaking In Review

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The home invasion thriller is an ironic genre, if you think about it. In reality, strangers breaking into your house with violent intent would be one of the scariest things that could ever possibly happen to you. But in movies it’s frequently kinda silly, with people making terrible decisions just for the sake of the plot, and bad guys with elaborate motives like finding hidden safes filled with treasure. You know, like everyone has.

Lewis McTeague’s Breaking In manages to be a little bit of both. It’s an effective, exciting home invasion thriller which also suffers from some wonky storytelling, but not so much that it ruins the experience. Fortunately, it’s anchored by an excellent lead performance from Gabrielle Union, who confidently sells the harrowing reality of this scenario even when the screenplay falters.

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Lu Over the Wall: An Anime Little Mermaid

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Lu Over the Wall is easily one of the most bizarre and trippy movies I have watched in a long time. This anime film from the makers of Devilman Crybaby follows an over-the-top storyline surrounding the young mermaid Lu and her bond with a boy named Kai. While that initial premise may sound a lot like a certain Disney animated classic, the similarities completely end there.

Lu Over the Wall tries to accomplish so much in just under two hours that it lacks any sort of focus whatsoever. What at first looks like a simple tale of the friendship between a human and a mermaid quickly diverges into so many subplots that it’s nearly impossible to keep up. For example, the very beginning of the movie plays up Kai contributing his DJ skills to a band that two of his classmates have put together. While it’s basically the only storyline to get adequate enough time dedicated to it, I still felt like it could have been a completely different movie on its own.

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Destiny 2: Warmind Review in Progress

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Once the glamor of Destiny 2: Warmind’s short but well-told story campaign wears off returning to the power level grind feels less fulfilling than ever before. While there’s a lot more power to chase this means you won’t be accessing a decent chunk of the content in the immediate future. When the most enticing new activity, the Escalation Protocol horde mode, is locked behind a 370 recommended power level, you may find yourself wondering what new content there is to enjoy in the meantime.

That two-hour campaign is at least intriguing in that it fleshes out the lore of the universe in some interesting ways and introduces us to the compelling (but underused) Ana Bray. I was excited to learn more about her via the adventures as her storyline connects with the Warmind construct known as Rasputen, which has been at the core of the Destiny storyline since the original campaign. Throughout the main story and adventures we’re treated to a public space with plenty of secrets to uncover, and afterwards there’s the new Escalation Protocol that pits Guardians against wave after wave of enemies for Legendary rewards. There are also new multiplayer maps in the Crucible and a raid lair on the way this Friday.

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DC Delivers a Beautiful Justice league Overhaul

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DC Rebirth was a boon to so many characters and franchises, but oddly, the Justice League line never seemed to benefit in the way so many others did. Part of that is simply that writer Geoff Johns and artist Jason Fabok are a hard pair to follow. But more importantly, there's never been a sense that the Justice League as a team has a clear direction of purpose in the Rebirth era. The team has been needing a big, ambitious overhaul, and No Justice could be just what the doctor ordered.

No Justice is a weekly four-issue miniseries that sets the stage for DC's new Justice League lineup - Justice League, Justice League Dark and Justice League Odyssey. It's also a followup to the recent Dark Nights: Metal crossover, though all you really need to know is that the Source Wall has been breached and new dangers are spilling into the DC Universe from realms unknown. The idea being that the Justice League has to become bigger and better if it's going to face these new threats, and the only way to do that is to forge an alliance with one of their fiercest enemies.

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Terminal Review

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I’m convinced that writer/director Vaughn Stein is secretly the Riddler. His debut film, Terminal, is my only proof. Far from a bad movie – the strong acting and clever use of classic literature is certainly entertaining – this dark tale twists and turns a little more than it needs to.

Terminal’s story focuses on a few key characters and their interactions with a seemingly deranged waitress. A legendary underworld figure, Mr. Franklin, hires two assassins to take part in a high-profile hit. They aren’t given any details on the target, just a black briefcase with clues leading them to a contact with more information. To mull over the details in a quiet place, the pair of hit men take refuge in a rundown diner. Meanwhile, a grammar school teacher with a terminal illness wanders about a train station at night. His disposition is grim; he isn’t trying to catch a train in the normal sense. Before he can make good on his departure, the teacher’s solitude is invaded by an inquisitive janitor. Their brief chat about train schedules end with a suggestion: a nearby diner where the teacher could get some tea and possibly rethink his travel plans.

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Marvel's Venom Relaunch Lives Up to the Hype

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It's been almost exactly 30 years since Venom made his debut in Amazing Spider-Man #300. The character has seen a great many highs and lows since then, becoming one of Marvel's biggest cash cows in the '90s, cycling through several new hosts and story directions and finally coming full circle with his most recent series. Marvel is celebrating that anniversary in the best and simplest way possible - by kicking off a new ongoing series featuring a promising status quo and a terrific creative team.

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Pillars of Eternity 2: Deadfire Review

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By spreading its sails and taking the journey to a creative and interesting setting, Pillars of Eternity 2: Deadfire finds fertile ground for interesting and nuanced roleplaying stories. The main storyline is its biggest weakness, but Deadfire comes into its own by drawing you into the surrounding saga of its embattled islands and the distinct peoples fighting over them. This island chain offers no shortage of fantastic tactical battles, fascinating allies, and exotic places to explore.

2015’s Pillars of Eternity is a love letter to the Baldur’s Gate school of classic isometric RPG, presented in the classic sword-and-sorcery style: a dark and thought-provoking adventure with elves, dwarves, plate mail, and fireballs. Deadfire, on the other hand, strikes a bold contrast and ditches most of these tropes for a less common style. By minimizing castles and forests in favor of a beautiful ocean and boats, and the sword-and-shield aesthetic for sabers and blunderbusses, Deadfire’s 40-hour campaign almost feels like it takes place in a completely different world from the original despite the fact that it stars the same Watcher of Caed Nua character we originally played as.

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Netflix's Manhunt Review

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John Woo was once considered the master of action cinema, dominating the action landscape throughout the 1980s and 1990s with hyperbolic, bloody, bullet-riddled spectaculars. In his native China, he helmed classics like The Killer, Hard Boiled, and A Better Tomorrow. In America, he raked in enormous box office numbers with overblown-slash-awesome popcorn explosions like Face/Off, Hard Target, and Mission: Impossible 2. After the dismal Paycheck, Woo returned to China, and turned his attention to historical epics like Red Cliff and The Crossing, both of which run over four hours apiece.

Right at the beginning of Woo's new film Manhunt, now available on Netflix, the protagonist – a Chinese lawyer named Du Qiu (Zhang Hanyu) vacationing in Japan – has a conversation with a waitress about how much better old movies used to be, and about how all the new films are too long. Woo, it seems, has a need to wistfully recall – and celebrate – his own filmography, looking back to his glory, possessed by a halcyon pang to recreate the slow-motion bullets and boxes of doves that had become his signature. The brash bloody action that immediately follows Manhunt's opening– and continues entertainingly apace throughout the span of the film – feels comfortably retro. It's all blood packs and stuntmen instead of CGI. We haven't seen mid-budget Chinese action schlock quite this slick for at least 20 years.

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Arrested Development's Season 4 Remix Doesn't Fix All the Problems That Plagued It

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Warning: Slight spoilers for the remixed fourth season of Arrested Development follow...

Landing fortuitously in time for Newport Beach's "Cinco de Cuatro," Arrested Development's remixed, re-cut, re-edited, and all together reconfigured fourth season - labeled "Fateful Consequences" -  is now available for mass streaming consumption.

It's no secret that the experiment that was Season 4, which was the show's first Netflix season (as well as one of the first seasons of a show to be rescued from cancelation by Netflix), wasn't met with the usual Arrested adulation. Though not without funny moments and goofy gags, Season 4 was also kind of a bloated mess with 30 to 35 minutes Rashomon-style episodes that focused on single characters - even if those characters weren't exactly capable of carrying an entire episode on their own.

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SteelSeries Rival 110 Gaming Mouse Review

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Be sure to visit IGN Tech for all the latest comprehensive hands-on reviews and best-of roundups. Note that if you click on one of these links to buy the product, IGN may get a share of the sale. For more, read our Terms of Use.

With its comfortable design, accurate sensor, and limited but useful customization options, the SteelSeries Rival 110 (See it on Amazon) is a well-rounded budget gaming mouse. It’s a six-button, 7,200 DPI mouse with a polished look that makes it appear to be more expensive than just $40. It lacks some of the DPI options of other budget gaming mice, but it boasts one of the largest DPI ranges in a mouse at this price point. Let's take a look under the hood and see how it stacks up to other budget gaming mice:

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A Promising New Era Dawns for the Avengers

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It can be tough to keep track of Marvel's numerous Avengers relaunches, especially as they seem to be arriving more and more frequently. By my count, this is the fourth comic since 2010 to bear the name "The Avengers #1." But at the end of the day, a great creative team and a great pitch are all a series needs to stay on track, and Marvel seems to have both with this latest incarnation of the series.

The Avengers #1 builds directly on the backbone of last fall's Marvel Legacy #1 one-shot, to the point where readers are probably better off making that book their starting point. Not that this issue isn't perfectly accessible on its own, but it's better to have that context for the Avengers of 1,000,000 BC and the threat currently facing the Marvel Universe. Especially given that the flashback elements are by far the most compelling element of the series at this early stage. Without them, this issue tells a pretty straightforward "getting the gang back together" story. But by opening with another glimpse of Odin and his team at the dawn of humanity, this series suddenly gains a much greater sense of scope.

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DC Nation #0 Is an Amazing Value

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With a measly cover price of 25 cents (or free if you're reading digitally), DC fans don't need much incentive to give this issue a try. It's heartening, then, that DC devoted so much time and energy into giving readers the ultimate bang for their minuscule buck. With three different all-star creative teams and three stories that offer compelling glimpses of what's to come for the DCU, this issue would be well worth a read even at a normal price.

The first story included in this issue reunites writer Tom King and artist Clay Mann for a Joker-centric tale leading into the upcoming Batman/Catwoman wedding. The premise is simple but effective, with Joker invading a random Gotham City resident's home so he can wait for his wedding invitation to arrive in the mail. King's script maintains a high level of suspense throughout. We know just as Joker's new "friend" does that no invitation is coming, so it's really just a waiting game until the Clown Prince of Crime snaps. King's take on the villain is noticeably different from that of "The War of Jokes and Riddles." While still prone to making bad jokes and puns, this Joker is clearly more deranged yet also more at peace with himself.

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YouTube Red's Cobra Kai Keeps the Karate Kid Legacy Alive

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It’s been 30 years since the legend of The Karate Kid was born, and if you’ve ever wondered what it would be like to see All Valley Tournament alums Daniel LaRusso and Johnny Lawrence reignite their rivalry, then you’re in luck with a new original series from YouTube Red, titled Cobra Kai.

After five films, and one failed animated series, it’s great to see The Karate Kid franchise getting back to its roots, by shifting the focus back onto Daniel and Johnny, decades after the famous Crane Kick altered the destiny of these two very different men.

William Zabka’s portrayal of Johnny is the standout in the first two episodes, delivering an unexpectedly comedic performance. When Johnny is first introduced, it’s clear that he’s still feeling the emotional impact of Daniel’s kick. He’s a lonely drunk, lacking all of that California-boy bravado that made him so memorable in the first movie.

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LG 27UK850-W Monitor Review

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Be sure to visit IGN Tech for all the latest comprehensive hands-on reviews and best-of roundups. Note that if you click on one of these links to buy the product, IGN may get a share of the sale. For more, read our Terms of Use.

After LG released its first HDR monitor last year, the 32UD99, it quickly followed up with three more 27-inch models, and the 27UK850-W (See it on Amazon) I'm looking at here is at the top of the heap. It isn’t specifically a gaming monitor but it does come with some features gamers appreciate, including HDR support, AMD's adaptive sync technology, a low response rate – and the benefits of an IPS panel. Plus it’s 4K resolution too. But even with that resolution, is HDR and a smattering of gaming features enough to justify a price just shy of $700?

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Donkey Kong: Tropical Freeze on Switch Review

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When we first reviewed Donkey Kong Country: Tropical Freeze on the Wii U in 2014, we gave it a 9.0, for Amazing. Here’s what we said about it then:

“Donkey Kong Country: Tropical Freeze is a great platformer full of tense sequences and tough levels. Boss battles are a huge highlight, and it’s packed with hard-to-find secrets and collectibles. Multiplayer could use some improvement, but I found myself laughing whenever my teammate and I wiped out on some of these unforgiving setups. But a rewarding sense of accomplishment stuck with me each time I overcame a new obstacle, and that feeling kept me going all the way to the end.”

Read the full Donkey Kong Country: Tropical Freeze review.

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