Muppets Now: Series Premiere Review

The latest game news from IGN - one of my fave channels ever - check it out The premiere episode of Muppets Now is available on Disney+. [poilib element="accentDivider"] The latest attempt to update The Muppets, while also hopefully keeping the classic charm of the original '70s series, is the YouTube vlog/Zoom meetings-inspired Muppets Now - which is not as totally tacky as it sounds. Far better than the ABC mockumentary series, The Muppets, from five years ago, Muppets Now only feels slightly strained under the weight of revamping The Muppets for a modern fandom. The show's improvisational feel, and the fact that, overall, it sticks with the variety show format, helps create a sense of warmth and familiarity for those who might initially object to the cyberspace elements. [poilib element="poll" parameters="id=a61a8aaa-7be5-4b13-86c2-4dbe1124d785"] And look, the fact that Scooter, as the gang's producer, is uploading these segments and sketches to a streaming service rather than producing them live in front of an old-timey audience isn't completely out of line. Sure, the very idea of Muppets evokes a yesteryear appeal and a vaudeville aesthetic, but iCarly, which was very funny and hugely successful over a decade ago, proved that a family-friendly series could thrive with a web show as its premise. [ignvideo url="https://www.ign.com/videos/2020/06/24/disney-plus-muppets-now-official-teaser-trailer"] The first episode of Muppets Now, "Due Date," is a sweet treat. It takes a few minutes to really get cracking, but after watching Scooter click and drag the various segments, followed by a fashion vlog featuring Miss Piggy and Uncle Deadly (one of the few MVPs from the 2015 series), the episode finds some modest gold with Kermit (new voice actor Matt Vogel) teaching Walter how to properly photobomb in “Muppet Masters." Yes, as it turns out, Kermit's secret superpower is the ability to instantly invade others' precious photo ops. It's heartily funny and it nicely warms us up for a cooking segment ("Okey Dokey Kookin") that pits the Swedish Chef against chef Carlina Will. This entire bit is very well done and a lot of fun as Will does her best to prepare a curried chicken dish while Swedish Chef borks his way through a mess (mistaking plantains for potted plants) and then cutely cheats in order to present something resembling food. [poilib element="quoteBox" parameters="excerpt=The%20final%20sketch%20is%20the%20best%2C%20featuring%20a%20charming%20Q%26A%20with%20RuPaul%20called%20'Mup%20Close%20and%20Personal.'"] The final sketch of "Due Date" is its best. The show's looser, unscripted vibe builds from Piggy's fashion corner to Walter to Chef and nicely culminates in a sit-down Q&A with RuPaul called "Mup Close and Personal." It's here that the best elements of the series, and the Muppets in general, swirl together for a chat that's both heartwarming and silly. [widget path="global/article/imagegallery" parameters="albumSlug=the-biggest-shows-coming-to-streaming-for-the-second-half-of-2020&captions=true"] Watching RuPaul's genuine reactions to Kermit, Fozzie, Gonzo, and more, while also deftly playing along, is a joy. And RuPaul's extended attendance, with the improv atmosphere, feels right. It works a lot better than Taye Diggs and Linda Cardellini's pop-ins, which land as too random. Overall, it's a promising start to what's hopefully a new and worthy Muppets run on Disney+.

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The Umbrella Academy: Season 2 Review

The latest game news from IGN - one of my fave channels ever - check it out This is a spoiler-free review of Netflix's Umbrella Academy Season 2, which is released worldwide on July 31. [poilib element="accentDivider"] Season 1 of Netflix's Umbrella Academy was a riotous ride full of bonkers setpieces, quirky character moments, and banging needle drops that suffered only by being released on the same day as DC Universe's Doom Patrol, which somehow managed to be exponentially more bonkers, quirky, and banging than any of us could've predicted. Thankfully, while both are driven by a makeshift family of misfits led by an eccentric and emotionally (and often physically) unavailable father-figure, Umbrella Academy and Doom Patrol have found ways to expand their respective universes and damaged heroes in distinct ways, carving out very different trajectories that are equally enjoyable, eclectic, and insane. On paper, the premise of Umbrella Academy Season 2 seems as if it might simply repeat many of the same key beats as Season 1: the Hargreeves siblings are accidentally scattered across different years in 1960s Dallas as a result of Number Five's attempt to transport them back in time to stop the apocalypse that Vanya caused at the end of Season 1, and must now reunite to stop a different apocalypse before making it back to their version of 2019 - all without causing any Back to the Future-esque disruptions to the timeline that might change the future. Oh, and they're once again investigating a mystery surrounding their father, Sir Reginald Hargreeves, all while battling assassins sent by the mysterious, timeline-protecting organization known as The Commission. [ignvideo url="https://www.ign.com/videos/2020/07/27/the-umbrella-academy-s2-7-big-questions-we-have"] Luckily, showrunner Steve Blackman and his writing staff have managed to remix the show's premise into a new verse that is even more satisfying than the first, by focusing less on the central mystery (which was undeniably the weak link in Season 1) and more on the dysfunctional dynamics between every member of the Hargreeves clan. Season 2 finds intriguing new character combinations that give each sibling a chance to shine - and by separating the team and forcing them to adapt to their strange new surroundings with outsiders who aren't aware of their true histories, we get far more insight into their mental and emotional states than we might otherwise. David Castañeda's Diego, arguably the most underdeveloped member of the family in Season, 1 is given a hilarious and surprisingly poignant deconstruction here - while he's often treated as a cheap Batman knockoff with delusions of grandeur (and remains the butt of his siblings' jokes in Season 2), the show excavates his mental state in fascinating ways that give Castañeda an overdue moment in the spotlight. The same is true of Emmy Raver-Lampman's Allison, who is forced to deal with the dangerous and dehumanizing realities of life in Jim Crow-era Texas in a way that her white siblings are blissfully unaware of, and Ellen Page's Vanya, who is suffering from amnesia following the events of Season 1 - a plot choice that easily could've felt cliche, but miraculously makes space to reset her relationship with her siblings without wallowing in the baggage of what came before. The show handles these plot threads with a deft touch that never feels preachy or too self-important, adding depth to the season and helping anchor the plot even when other characters are reveling in the winking absurdity that has become one of Umbrella Academy's trademarks. Klaus, as per usual, has one of the most ridiculous and pitch-perfect storylines, but the show never short-changes his emotional development, picking up the plot threads of the trauma he suffered in Season 1 when he accidentally got caught up in the Vietnam War. In general, with a little temporal distance from the events of Season 1 (and the preceding lifetime of resentment that had built up between them), the Hargreeves of Season 2 are better able to appreciate each other - even while mocking each other mercilessly - which takes the banter between them to a whole new level and makes the family a lot more fun to spend time with. [widget path="global/article/imagegallery" parameters="albumSlug=umbrella-academy-season-2-30-images&captions=true"] Most of the supporting characters in Season 2 exist as lenses through which we get to know our heroes better rather than fully-formed people in their own right - which is slightly more forgivable in a show with such a large core ensemble - although Diego's new love interest, Lila (Ritu Arya) adds an unpredictable shot of adrenaline to the proceedings. And Season 2's villains aren't half as distinctive or interesting as Hazel and Cha-Cha were in Season 1, although you get the sense that the writers were having so much fun digging into the broken psyches of the Hargreeves family that they didn't want to pull focus away from the team. Instead, Sir Reginald still looms large, and the show commits valuable narrative real estate exploring the myriad ways their absentee father shaped the Academy into the emotional basket-cases they are as adults. Umbrella Academy still doesn't always know when to quit while it's ahead when it comes to certain action beats or plot threads (a couple of setpieces in the final two episodes severely outstay their welcome, which was also a frustrating feature of the first season), but overall, Season 2 feels far more focused, with a confident sense of what works and doesn't. Once again, the series pulls off a remarkable high-wire act in balancing its tone; Umbrella Academy Season 2 manages to be funnier and more surreal than its freshman year, even when digging into weightier topics - it arguably spends its entire season unpacking its protagonists' childhood trauma, but still finds time for an adorable dance number, a tongue-in-cheek deconstruction of time travel tropes, and some deliciously inventive fight sequences, cementing it as one of Netflix's most entertaining and ballsy franchises.

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Skater XL Review

The latest game news from IGN - one of my fave channels ever - check it out Unlike the Birdman’s games – or the one with actual birds in it – Skater XL is a serious and mostly authentic and grounded simulation of skateboarding and it innovates in a truly engrossing way with its nuanced and tricky two-stick control system. There have been times over the last several days when I’ve become deeply immersed in the process of learning a new trick and executing it perfectly on a cool line I’d found some place within the maps. However, playing on Xbox has exposed the fondly-regarded PC version’s secret: it’s heavily reliant on user-made mods to flesh it out. This has left the console version feeling extremely light on content at launch and, combined with some regularly occurring jankiness, the result is something that generally feels more like a tech demo than a complete game. [ignvideo width=610 height=374 url=https://ift.tt/2BPw6M0] Skater XL’s controls may initially seem familiar to Skate’s gesture-based brand of analogue stick flicking – and it’s true that there are some rough similarities – but mastering Skater XL’s controls is actually like learning a whole new language. In Skater XL, each thumbstick represents the skater’s corresponding foot. That may sound simple but sometimes it’s a bit like rubbing your belly with one hand while… braiding your own hair with the other. Even a straightforward kickflip requires you to pop the board with your back foot and then execute a properly-timed kick with your front foot. If you chuck a rotation in there, that’ll require one of the triggers. If you want to throw a grab on top of it all, that brings in the bumpers – and all of a sudden you’re squeezing your controller from all angles like it owes you money. [poilib element="quoteBox" parameters="excerpt=This%20complexity%20may%20ultimately%20be%20a%20turn%20off%20for%20some%2C%20but%20I%E2%80%99ve%20quite%20enjoyed%20just%20zoning%20out%20and%20trying%20to%20perfect%20some%20complex%20skate%20tricks"]This complexity may ultimately be a turn off for some, but I’ve quite enjoyed just zoning out and trying to perfect some complex skate tricks. Things like this are often a simple button-push away in other skate games but would require a huge amount of practise in reality, and so they do in Skater XL. Overall I get the feeling the goal here has been to build a control system that attempts to mirror the finesse of foot movement that real-life skateboarding requires and, to a certain extent, that has worked. The granular control over grinds is particularly nifty if you move the sticks slowly enough not to trigger an ollie or shuvit. That said, it’s loaded with annoyances, too: the zone on the stick for performing manuals feels a bit too small, you can’t seem to turn more than 90 degrees on the spot without pushing off in the complete opposite direction, and sometimes my skater will bust an unwanted ollie before I’ve let go of the stick.

Tre Cool

During my second morning playing I attempted a tre flip, which in Skater XL requires two similar yet slightly out-of-sync movements with each stick. I couldn’t get it. I just couldn’t remotely nail the timing, and the angles were beyond me. Skater XL was asking my monkey fingers for Moonlight Sonata and all they had to give was Mary Had a Little Lamb. At one stage I even noticed there’s an achievement for performing 10 tre flips in a row. I scoffed. It was never going to happen. But I made a few more attempts, and those few attempts turned into a few more attempts, and a few more attempts after that. Eventually I landed one. Then three in a row. Then 10 in a row. Skater XL’s controls are a bit of a wall to crash through compared to, say, an arcade skate experience like any Tony Hawk game out there, but because they ask you to practise and practise, there’s a quaint loop here that imitates the spirit of the real thing – or, at least, learning a real, physical skill – in a satisfying way. Try. Fail. Try again. Fail again. Try again, succeed, celebrate. [ignvideo width=610 height=374 url=https://ift.tt/3fnjqK5]

American Wasteland

That loop, however, is all Skater XL has. There’s no campaign for its four pro skater characters or even a path through its five core maps or the three user-made maps from PC modders that have been curated and added to the console versions. There’s no ultimate goal beyond “go skate.” Each of the maps has a list of challenges you can complete but they feel a bit like a long series of tutorials. This may be enough for skaters who just want to noodle around, bust tricks, and experiment with the video editor, but for those accustomed to more substantial skating games I expect Skater XL may feel a bit like the part of a game you play while you wait for the rest to install. The high school level feels very authentic, there’s a faithful rendition of the West L.A. Courthouse spot, and the downtown L.A. map also features riffs on several iconic spots skaters will likely recognise, but they’re all completely lifeless. No NPC skaters, no moving vehicles, no multiplayer; just you. The visuals and bright and sharp and the menus are clean and unobtrusive, but the visual quality is a little uneven overall. There’s some great detail on some of the surfaces, in particular – like the benches and pillars of the West L.A. Courthouse spot bearing the scrapes and scars of a few thousand 50-50s – but certain things don’t quite stand up to the same level of scrutiny (like shirts clipping through pants or the fuzziness on props like cars). The Big Ramp level is fun in bursts, but there’s no denying that it undermines Skater XL’s focus on making you strive hard to perfect the fundamentals of straight street skating when I can bust out a successful backside 1800 into… a port-a-loo, by accident. There’s big rift between the gritty, harder-than-it-looks urban skating Skater XL wants to celebrate and the fact you can successfully land a double-900 from low orbit on flat ground without your ankles exploding, and then… skate off through the desert. It just doesn’t feel finished. [ignvideo width=610 height=374 url=https://ift.tt/2EvYnrH] There’s a halfpipe on the Big Ramp for transition skating, too, but it's unreliable and I find whenever I get into a groove I end up exiting the pipe or landing on the coping unintended and bailing. The bails aren’t particularly great, either; if skaters aren’t freezing their limbs in odd positions they’re regularly clipping through the environment. They can be hard to predict, too; sometimes you’ll pop off the same low rail half-a-dozen times and collapse in an unexplained heap all but once, and other times you can accidentally fall from a freeway bridge and skate away with no hassles. The audio is very good, however, and there’s a nice suite of honest skating sound effects. With the short soundtrack turned off there’s an almost meditative quality to the hiss of rolling wheels and scraping ply.

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Transformers: War for Cybertron Trilogy - Chapter 1 Review

The latest game news from IGN - one of my fave channels ever - check it out This is a mostly spoiler-free review of the first chapter for Transformers: War for Cybertron Trilogy, titled "Siege." All six episodes are currently available to binge on Netflix. [poilib element="accentDivider"] Hasbro's iconic Transformers franchise has been around for over three decades, and with a seventh live-action film reportedly on track for 2022 and an animated feature from Toy Story 4 director Josh Cooley in the works, one might assume the robot-heavy stories are in danger of losing their potency due to sheer overuse. Netflix's latest venture into this imaginative universe, titled Transformers: War for Cybertron Trilogy, proves that there's still plenty of Energon left to mine with an action-packed storyline that explores what happened on the Transformers’ home world of Cybertron before the Autobots and Decepticons make their way to Earth. While the main plot of this six-episode first chapter surrounding the Autobots and Decepticons’ search for the AllSpark will be familiar to fans of the live-action movies, there are some fascinating new bits of lore that are worth tuning in for. One of the most notable and exciting aspects of the series is actually getting to spend a significant amount of time on Cybertron, as opposed to brief flashbacks. Instead of focusing on the Earthbound conflicts, here we get to follow iconic characters like Optimus Prime and Bumblebee through the ruined and abandoned streets of their once-prosperous civilization. It’s a distinctively different, more dystopian atmosphere: we’re watching the Titanic-like inevitable demise of this world rather than the hopeful establishment of a new home. [poilib element="poll" parameters="id=4e8fed2c-21bb-4f80-b862-ea7a09c89827"] The action doesn’t necessarily offer anything new in terms of its execution, but it’s always thrilling to watch some Decepticon-on-Autobot violence in a variety of settings. One scene in particular channels George Miller’s Mad Max: Fury Road, as the Transformers travel through a rust-colored desert while massive tornados and red lightning act as a mesmerizing backdrop. This epic scene also showcases the show’s gorgeous 3D animation, which doesn’t suffer from a lack of fluidity like many other anime-style shows. [poilib element="quoteBox" parameters="excerpt=All%20of%20these%20tiny%2C%20yet%20vital%20details%20make%20War%20for%20Cybertron%20feel%20much%20more%20connected%20to%20the%20original%20animated%20series%20and%20less%20like%20a%20spinoff%20of%20the%20Michael%20Bay%20films."] Music and sound design are used to great effect here, with the score appropriately reflecting a somber tone whenever the Autobots are exploring the planet-wide cityscape while booming to a ferocious techno roar once the battles against the Decepticons commence. The actual transformations from robots to vehicles and back again honor the original animated series from 1984, with none of the modern sound elements used in the live-action adaptations. Even some of the inflections of the voice actors, like Frank Todaro’s interpretation of Starscream (whom he’s played in other recent Transformers animated series), are very close to the original version of the character, as voiced by Christopher Collins. All of these tiny, yet vital details make War for Cybertron feel much more connected to the original animated series and less like a spinoff of the Michael Bay films. (The War for Cybertron video games, released in 2010 and 2012, were also able to accomplish that pleasingly retro aesthetic.) [widget path="global/article/imagegallery" parameters="albumSlug=transformers-war-for-cybertron-trilogy-chapter-1-gallery&captions=true"] However, while it firmly establishes its universe’s loyalties, in terms of character development War for Cybertron struggles to give each of its vast ensemble of characters enough time to really stand out. Optimus Prime (voiced by Jake Foushee, who has carried original series and movie actor Peter Cullen’s torch in recent animated series), per usual, is front and center as the leader of the Autobots and embodies the heroic characteristics we've come to know and love – which works to his disadvantage, because it makes him a predictable and inspirational but uninteresting character. On the other end of the spectrum, Megatron is one of the more dynamic characters to follow here since he hasn't really broken bad quite yet, and watching the beginning of his fall is interesting. For instance, when an opportunity presents itself to be rid of the Autobots for good, the Decepticon leader isn't instantly on board with the whole genocide thing. It's refreshing to see this iconic villain have priorities other than evil for evil’s sake. [poilib element="quoteBox" parameters="excerpt=Of%20all%20the%20characters%20in%20this%20first%20chapter%20of%20War%20for%20Cybertron%2C%20Bumblebee%20has%20the%20most%20complete%20character%20arc."] The supporting cast includes myriad Transformer legends such as Wheeljack (Bill Rogers), Ratchet (Rafael Goldstein), and Ironhide (Kaiser Johnson). But since many of them are relegated to minor plotlines, Bumblebee (Joe Zieja) definitely steals the show. Instead of the relatively diminutive, music-loving version of the yellow hero we've seen in the film franchise, this Bumblebee has yet to choose a side in the ongoing Autobot vs. Decepticon battle. It's enjoyable to watch him slowly (forgive the pun) transform from a devil-may-care smuggler who doesn't stand for anything into the noble soldier we've come to adore. We know where it’s going all along, but of all the characters in this first chapter of War for Cybertron, Bumblebee has the most complete character arc. [ignvideo url="https://www.ign.com/videos/2018/07/31/watch-john-cena-hit-the-streets-disguised-as-bumblebee-comic-con-2018"] Chapter 1 ends on a mostly satisfying note, as the story effectively sets up the next chapter. However, it feels like the Cybertron portion of the story is a bit rushed – you can feel the urgency as the writers hurry towards the inevitable conflict on Earth. First and foremost, while we are given glimpses and clues as to why the conflict between Megatron and Optimus began, it's never fully explained to the degree you’d expect in a prequel series, making their relationship feel less complex than their actions imply. In addition to that, we’re given hints at ancient deities, prophecies, and even an abandoned concert hall once used for musical performances, giving the impression that there is still so much more to see on the ravaged planet. Hopefully, this isn't the last time we'll see Cybertron during this trilogy.

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Motorola Edge+ Smartphone Review

The latest game news from IGN - one of my fave channels ever - check it out For a few years, Motorola’s Moto Z line may have been the company’s “flagship” smartphone offering, but it lagged behind the competition in design and specs while maintaining a lower price point. That all changes with the new Motorola Edge+, which sees the company go all in on specs, features, design, the latest 5G goodness, and the $1,000 price tag that’s so hot right now. Let’s see how Motorola’s latest attempt at flagship quality holds up. [widget path="global/article/imagegallery" parameters="albumSlug=motorola-edge-review&captions=true"]

Motorola Edge+ – Design and Features

The Motorola Edge+ has been freed from the shackles of the Moto Z family, no longer having to conform to strict shape and size guidelines to continue supporting Motorola’s fleet of Moto Mod attachments. The result is a phone that looks a lot more like the premium handsets that surround it in the market, with some similarity to Samsung’s previous generation of Galaxy S phones before Samsung brought back flat screens with the Galaxy S20 family. You’ll find Gorilla Glass 5 on both sides of the phone sandwiching a 6000-Series aluminum frame. The glass of the display also wraps around the sides of the chassis, leaving minimal bezels at the top and bottom. Motorola delivers a punch-hole camera in the top-left corner instead of relying on a notch like Apple’s iPhone 11 Pro or LG’s flagships. Motorola also notes a “Water repellant design” that falls short of the more rigorous IP68 ratings found on many other flagship phones. The Motorola Edge+ has a large footprint at 161.1mm x 71.38mm x 9.6mm and 203 grams, which lets it fit in a 6.7-inch OLED display and a 5,000mAh battery. In terms of size, it would compare closer to the Samsung Galaxy S20 Ultra or S20+ than it would to the Galaxy S20. It’s not just glass that wraps around the sides either, but actually an active display area as well, making for an effect that can look cool in some situations or just wonky as visuals warp around the edge. The display itself is a sharp enough 2,340 x 1,080 and boasts a 90Hz refresh rate for a smoother feel. The display is impressively bright, offering easier readability in direct sunlight next to the Galaxy S20 at max brightness. It also supports HDR10+. And, if you need to connect to another display, the UBS-C port supports DisplayPort. The design of the Motorola Edge+ has many aspects that reflect the current flagship landscape, including a fingerprint sensor built into the display, a slim earpiece speaker for fairly robust stereo sound, and support for wireless charging (and reverse wireless charging). It bucks one industry trend by including a 3.5mm headphone jack, albeit without any of the fancy DAC enhancements LG offers. Motorola has also gone all in on modern internals. You’ll find the necessary components to get 5G (both mmWave and Sub-6GHz), as well as support for Wi-Fi 6, Bluetooth 5.1, and NFC. You won’t miss out on much in terms of connectivity here except for the fact that Verizon’s current 5G rollout is incredibly limited, meaning very few people will be able to take advantage of the Motorola Edge+’s 5G connectivity within the US for some time. While the Motorola Edge+ design feels solid overall, there are a few points where it could be improved. A few issues stem from the way the glass and metal all fit together. There’s a considerable gap between the display and frame, which allows for debris to get lodged, and it also makes for wobbly side buttons that don’t inspire confidence. The phone is a bit slippery as well.

Motorola Edge+ – Software

The Motorola Edge+ comes running on Android 10 out of the box and is mostly free of bloatware despite its close ties with Verizon. There will be a few Verizon apps and games pre-installed, but it will otherwise run Google apps as its defaults and feature just a few of Motorola’s enhancements, such as the ever-handy Moto Actions (which offer two of the easiest ways to launch the camera app or toggle on the flashlight with simple hand movements). This time around, Motorola also has baked in some software to make use of the display’s edges. This includes setting it to light up for notifications, a game mode that adds shoulder buttons to the edge, a floating toolbar that lives on the edge, and a button that can stop some apps from extending over the edge so that you can more easily see all the content (which shows Motorola knows the edge isn’t always as practical as it is nifty).

Motorola Edge+ – Gaming and Performance

Thanks to Motorola’s inclusion of the top-notch Snapdragon 865 chipset with 12GB LPDDR5, the Motorola Edge+ is a performance powerhouse. The octa-core processor paired with a 90Hz display makes it that much easier to feel just how smoothly this phone operates. In side-by-side Geekbench 5 tests, it outperformed the Samsung Galaxy S20 with a 909 single-core score and a 3340 multi-core score to the Galaxy’s 903 and 3140, respectively. Launching and switching between apps is a breeze, and the phone easily runs graphically intensive games like Asphalt 9. Even the camera launches quickly, making it that much easier to snap a photo in the moment. Scrolling around and zooming in on 108MP photos is also fluid and responsive. Some of that speed may come down the Motorola Edge+’s 256GB of UFS 3.0 storage. Launching Asphalt 9, the game was running and ready to play in less than 10 seconds. The battery performance was also satisfactory – 5,000mAh is a lot to work with. Even with such a large and bright display, the Motorola Edge+ can handle running all day on its beefy battery. However, it’s worth noting that I was running on 4G LTE throughout my testing, and using Verizon’s 5G mmWave network has been more power intensive in my experience. The 5G modem that’s paired with the Snapdragon 865 chipset may be more efficient than the one found in Motorola’s 5G Moto Mod, though. [widget path="global/article/imagegallery" parameters="albumSlug=motorola-edge-image-samples&captions=true"]

Motorola Edge+ – Camera

The cameras on the Motorola Edge+ are a notable feature. The old, circular camera bump found on so many Motorola phones is gone. In its place, you’ll find a serious array of cameras. Here are the key specs:

• 108MP, 1/1.33” sensor, f/1.8, 0.8 micron pixels with Quad Pixel Technology, OIS
• 16MP Ultra-wide + Macro Vision, f/2.2, 1 micron pixels, 117-degree FOV
• 8MP Telephoto, f/2.4, 1-micron pixels, 3X optical zoom, OIS
• TOF sensor
• 25MP Front-facing, F/2.0, 0.9 micron pixels with Quad Pixel Technology

This array of cameras isn’t just competent but also commendable. The main sensor is capable of snapping some stunningly sharp photos that look absolutely great. Neither the wide-angle nor zoom cameras disappoint by shifting too far away from the look of the main sensor either, making for a consistent shooting experience. The wide-angle camera also performs double duty as a macro camera that can snap incredibly detailed photos from about an inch away. The result is a photo that shows more than I can see with my own eyes. The telephoto lens offers up a 3X optical zoom which helps get a closer look at far off subjects, but it doesn’t compare to the zoom offered by Samsung’s Galaxy S20 family, as increasing to a 10X digital zoom shows the Motorola Edge+ struggling to resolve some of the detail that Samsung manages to piece together. Neither phone really offers a good photo at that level of zoom, but at least the Samsung version is a bit less hazy. The only drawback I noticed from the rear cameras was how they handled color. For the most part, they seemed to do a solid job offering natural color and decent HDR performance. But, on one occasion I went out shooting in the wake of a thunderstorm, and the cameras simply couldn’t reckon with the wild, orange sky. The resulting photos were left with a much more mundane gray sky and even the double rainbow lost a bit of its vibrance. In low-light the cameras still take decent shots, but not nearly as readily as in bright conditions. Flipping around to the front-facing camera, the Motorola Edge+ sticks the landing again. This 25MP shooter will bin the photo down to 8MP by default, but with either resolution setting the result is a crisp shot – the kind that leaves you feeling like you might want to wash your face more often. The front camera also has up to a 240fps slow motion mode that can let you see just how wiggly your nose is after it’s been flicked. The video capabilities are simple, but clean. There’s no fancy HDR10+ recording here nor 4K/60fps, but the camera will let you go up to 6K/30fps with a fairly wide field of view. The video stabilization also keeps even intentionally jarring hand motions from ruining shots, so you’ll need to turn that off if you want to recreate Cloverfield. For full use of the different sensors in video mode, you’ll have to dial it down to 1080p/30fps. It all makes for a simpler, and easier to use camera system than those found on Samsung and LG flagships, but it’s also less rich in extra features. [widget path="global/article/imagegallery" parameters="albumSlug=best-smartphones&captions=true"]

Purchasing Guide

The Motorola Edge+ is available exclusively from Verizon for $999.

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Hellpoint Review

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If you were to create a checklist of what makes a game a Souls-like, meaning it follows in the footsteps of FromSoftware’s massively popular Dark Souls series, you’d get bullet points that look nearly identical to Hellpoint: respawn checkpoints in a labyrinthine world, the loss of all currency on death unless you can retrieve it, slow and methodical combat with light and heavy attacks, as well as challenging encounters punctuated by enormous boss monsters. It’s all here, for better and for worse, but its elaborate sci-fi setting gives it some character of its own and a strong combat system made suffering through the extensive bugs largely worthwhile.

At the very start you’re plopped into a cloned body on a massive space station with zero explanation, left to fend for yourself against demonic entities and godlike beings. That’s the entire plot, basically, which feels like a waste of the potential for this immediately intriguing sci-fi universe. There are some books you can skim over, message terminals to read, and a handful of prompts at control stations here and there to peruse which add some flavor, but the majority of Hellpoint’s storytelling is suggested by its environments and enemies. Much like Dark Souls, it’s a world rich with palpable tension and mystery that lead you to pose questions constantly, even though it seldom gives you answers.' [ignvideo url="https://www.ign.com/videos/the-first-12-minutes-of-hellpoint-demo-gameplay"] Visually, Hellpoint is quite stunning. When I’d exit a walkway and emerge onto a terrace that overlooks a sea of stars and spiraling colors I’d legitimately just stop and stare for a few minutes. Interiors are similarly stylized with bright, popping colors that contrast the dark and decrepit tone incredibly well. At one moment you could be exploring a nearly pitch-black hallway with enemies lurching at you from around corners and then it’ll feel like you’re walking across the bifrost to Asgard. And yet, despite the dramatic swings in color palettes and lighting, it all feels consistent and cohesive. A lot of love and care clearly went into the world building from a design perspective and it makes me immensely curious to see and learn more – which underscores the lack of a real story, as a side effect. [poilib element="quoteBox" parameters="excerpt=A%20lot%20of%20love%20and%20care%20clearly%20went%20into%20the%20world%20building."]During my approximately 20-hour playthrough I kept swinging back and forth between adoring the surreal, occultist-inspired atmosphere and getting utterly frustrated at the sheer lack of direction and communication. More so than is typical for this type of game, the station is an absolute labyrinth of interconnected passages and regions that are dizzying to explore and there’s little to no indication of where you should be going. Granted, it’s more or less standard for Souls-likes to not have a map screen, but here that omission makes Hellpoint seem more aimless than usual. Every single boss I fought, essential item I found, or critical path I discovered, was entirely by accident. Finding a random key card that grants access to crucial new zones five hours later is par for the course. Checkpoints (called Breaches) are scattered everywhere, but you’ve got to use an extremely rare “synchronization” item to open them up for teleportation between one another, so planning out which ones you want to use for fast travel is key. However, it’s basically impossible to do that intelligently without a map for planning. The result is that the fast travel system can’t be relied upon, so I was usually desperately hoping to find a shortcut connecting back to previous regions or just running back through entire zones to retrace my steps. [poilib element="poll" parameters="id=265e7679-1e5a-43fd-9229-fd7f3d08b2bf"] Overall, though, I like the way Breaches work more than campfires in Dark Souls because not only do they heal you, but they do not respawn enemies. (Instead, enemies automatically respawn after a certain amount of time.) Because of that, backtracking was usually not as frustrating as in other Souls-likes since I didn’t have to kill the same enemies over and over as much. Breaches also don’t refill your healing item – instead, you recharge that (and your Energy resource) over time by landing melee attacks. It’s a good balance and incentivizes fighting aggressively if you’re close enough to a Breach to just run back and heal really quickly. [poilib element="quoteBox" parameters="excerpt=Combat%20in%20Hellpoint%20is%20its%20strongest%20aspect%2C%20but%20not%20for%20the%20reasons%20I%20expected."]When you do eventually die (and you probably will, a lot) not only do you drop all of your experience points, but a ghost version of your character spawns in the area to start hunting you down. Your ghost will always be equipped with whatever you were using at your time of death, which can often make it extremely fun and challenging to take down. Once I fell down a pit and died after clearing a big room full of enemies using a new axe weapon, so returning to that room with the addition of my ghost to contend with made it even more difficult than before. This isn’t the first time a game has used a “fight your zombie” mechanic, but it’s certainly something in the back of my mind each time I consider trying out new weapons. Ranged weapons are tricky to use well, but in the hands of a tricky AI ghost they can often be tough to deal with. Combat in Hellpoint is its strongest aspect, but not for the reasons I expected. Moment-to-moment gameplay felt floaty and a bit wonky at first, like the awkward jump mechanic that makes timing leaps across death pits difficult to control – especially compared to the weighty precision of Dark Souls. Even so, Hellpoint’s fluidity eventually grew on me. Dodging is extremely powerful here and happens super quickly, letting you immediately evade attacks and reposition. The biggest annoyance is that getting behind enemies is extremely difficult unless they’re lunging forward since they seem to use the same lock-on targeting you do. [widget path="global/article/imagegallery" parameters="albumSlug=hellpoint-screenshots&captions=true"] A huge part of what makes combat so satisfying is the progression system. Not only do you upgrade weapons at terminals to improve their overall stats and apply mods, but using the same weapon for a few hours will start to unlock special abilities. For example, one of my swords expands in length to do more damage, while my hand axe emits an ethereal glow that doubles as a thrown projectile. There’s a lot of weapon variety, from trusted one-handed melee items and shields to massive hunks of metal and spears, all the way to railguns. Yes, guns – it takes a while to find ranged weapons worth using and to get your stats high enough to fire them well, but they can be very powerful and change the pace of fights enormously. They all use your Energy meter for every shot – even the thrown weapons – so they likely won’t ever be your primary method of attack (since you need melee attacks to recharge Energy) but they’re useful for softening up a target before moving in for the kill. [poilib element="quoteBox" parameters="excerpt=There%E2%80%99s%20some%20quality%20creativity%20here%2C%20just%20not%20quite%20enough%20quantity."]There aren’t a ton of enemy types so there’s lots of repetition throughout, but the enemies that do exist are all vastly different. Fighting a hovering alien creature that looks like a giant, enraged beta fish that can shoot lasers is extremely different from going up against a cross-shield-bearing holy knight that can summon laser spikes from the ground to impale you. There’s some quality creativity here, just not quite enough quantity to feel like you’re constantly stumbling across new things. By the end I was just fighting weaker, smaller versions of full-on bosses I’d fought earlier. While I do intend to complete the 10 hours of additional post-game content and extra bosses for a full, true ending, if there are new enemies there I’ll be annoyed they were held back when they might’ve made the main campaign more diverse. A high level of difficulty is a big draw for Souls-like games but Hellpoint isn’t very consistent in that regard. Naturally, the first few zones are extremely deadly and challenging, in part because you’re still learning how combat works, but once things clicked I found the difficulty curve to be choppy and inconsistent, without a steady increase in difficulty. Some of the later boss fights I was able to handle on the first try after dying nearly a dozen times on some of the earlier ones. On the other hand, some non-boss enemies presented a real struggle even at late-game stages due to how frequently you face them and how relentless they can be in their attacks. It’s almost as if Hellpoint could sense my comfort and complacency so it’d come for me extra hard when I least expected it. I relish those fights, but they didn’t feel logically placed. [ignvideo url="https://www.ign.com/videos/hellpoint-co-op-trailer"] Co-op works just like it does in Dark Souls, in that you place messages seeking help in the environment where other players can answer, though here those messages are indecipherable symbols and shapes, making them basically useless. You’re also subject to invasions by PvP attackers, or you can directly join a friend’s game using a unique code (or in local co-op). It’s fine, but there isn’t an understandable reason why these sorts of games can’t just have more stable and functional co-op that isn’t convoluted. [poilib element="quoteBox" parameters="excerpt=Gratuitous%20bugs%20and%20performance%20issues%20make%20it%20feel%20like%20it%E2%80%99s%20struggling%20to%20deliver%20a%20fully-functioning%20game."]The biggest things getting in Hellpoint’s way as it attempts to fully establish itself are the gratuitous bugs and performance issues that make it feel like it’s struggling to deliver a fully-functioning game. At one point when another player joined my session to assist, my framerate tanked into single digits and it felt like I was playing a slideshow. At another, I fell through the floor and everything was invisible other than floating weapons representing me and the enemies. And another time one of my menus was stuck on-screen and wouldn’t close, preventing me from attacking or even quitting out – I had to alt+F4 just to restart from the last Breach I visited. Not to mention the abhorrent texture pop-ins happening right in front of your face, unignorably interfering with the otherwise beautiful scenery. For a real laugh you can also turn off blood in the settings which inexplicably also removes sound effects ridding combat of any visceral impact. But then thrown weapons still would trigger blood splatter, so what even is the (Hell)point? Beyond that, some of Hellpoint’s more interesting features are never really introduced or used in interesting ways. For example, one big idea that is woefully under-explained is the black hole the space station orbits. As it turns out, depending on its position relative to the station (as indicated by the clock-like thing in the top left corner of the screen) different things can happen. For example, sometimes it will cause more or more powerful enemies to spawn, and so on. It would’ve been nice to have some introduction to that concept so I could’ve planned around it, but at the same time the events weren’t a big enough deal that I needed to be aware of it to succeed.

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Quibi's Die Hart Review

The latest game news from IGN - one of my fave channels ever - check it out Die Hart is available for download on Quibi. This is a review for all 10 episodes.  [poilib element="accentDivider"] Die Hart is Quibi's new series, which by Quibi rules means a feature-length movie dosed out in 8 minute bites. It stars Kevin Hart as a fictionalized version of himself attending a hard knocks "action star school" in an attempt to impress a director who sees him as a potential leading man. As a meta-comedy, Die Hart held a lot of of promise, but after 10 episodes of muddled execution and little laughter, it's only a modest misadventure. Die Hart's "real" world, in which Hart is a movie star often relegated to being Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson's sidekick, strangely picks and chooses what it takes from reality. Hart's career is intact but his marriage is not. Tom Cruise is real, John Travolta is not (as Travolta plays action school coach Ron Wilcox). Overall, it makes sense for Hart to play himself, and not a differently-named star who just so happens to have a lot in common with Hart, but the rest of the decisions regarding what remains intact from our world, what's heightened, and what's totally surreal is inconsistent. And it hurts the comedy in the end. [ignvideo url="https://www.ign.com/videos/2020/07/06/die-hart-official-red-band-trailer"] Funnily enough, it's Hart who feels the most grounded here in Die Hart, as he's playing someone surrounded, at all times, by incongruous lunacy. The series wants to play off of Hart's bread-and-butter shrillness but because everything about the premise is absurd, Hart, understandably, questions every single thing he encounters. Ron's school is preposterously dangerous (you do find out why, ultimately) -- filled with real fire, bullets, and aluminum baseball bats to the head -- and it's clear that Hart is being targeted for humiliation and gaslighting from the get-go. Game of Thrones' Nathalie Emmanuel plays Jordan King, an actress who joins Ron's school and serves as an uneasy ally to Hart in Hart's quest to prove that Ron is up to...something. Hart thinks Ron is hiding secrets, perhaps about a murdered drug dealer, but what any of that has to do with the fact that Ron runs a weirdly hazardous training camp is anyone's guess. Again, by the end, everything gets explained, but because the viewer never buys Ron's school as being a real thing (because Hart never does), and because Hart often feels like it's all a joke being made at his expense, the full reveal doesn't land quite right. [ignvideo url="https://www.ign.com/videos/2020/07/20/die-hart-exclusive-red-band-clip-what-is-your-motivation"] Without trying to spoil the various twists, Die Hart borrows generously from an acclaimed comedy from 20 years ago. Of course, that's a long enough time to afford a new take, or a refresh, of a clever premise, but Die Hart never tonally finds its mark. The big curtain drop at the end certainly explains why, along the way, nothing makes sense, but the series suffers a bit because of its reliance on" Kevin Hart in peril" as its crux for comedy. Which is exactly also...what's being criticized about Kevin Hart? Aside from tonal bumpiness, the production here is a solid and the performances are on point. Hart, as Hart, gives it his all while Emmanuel turns in a prime performance as his more-than-capable sparring partner. Travolta, too, gets to have some fun after a decade of relative irrelevance (American Crime Story notwithstanding) and it's good to see him, basically, take on The Rock's role here. You know, if we're looking for the lead character who puts Hart through the wringer. Also playing himself, in perhaps the most enjoyable element here, is Josh Hartnett, who shows up as a suave and confident graduate of Ron's school. Hartnett's presence also gives the series its best quick gag. [widget path="global/article/imagegallery" parameters="albumSlug=quibis-movie-and-tv-shows-reviewed&captions=true"] [poilib element="accentDivider"]

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Razer Opus Wireless ANC Headset Review

The latest game news from IGN - one of my fave channels ever - check it out Even with the number of options out there – and believe us, there’s A LOT – it’s astonishingly hard to find quality Bluetooth headphones in the mainstream sector. There are, of course, the usual shoo-in brands like Bose, Sony, and Beats that most people go for. And, there are those that sit right on the cusp of the audiophile market like Sennheiser, Audio-Technica, and Shure. The rest are either not worth your money or, at best, a hit-or-miss. That means that if you want something other than what these brands offer – in terms of aesthetics, perhaps, or price – then you’re kind of limited. If you’re looking for great quality sound, that is. [widget path="global/article/imagegallery" parameters="albumSlug=razer-opus&captions=true"] That’s why, when I tested Razer’s latest attempt at non-gaming over-ear headphones, I was mildly and pleasantly surprised. This set of cans rivals the likes of Beats Solo Pro and Bose QuietComfort 35 in terms of quality and features, minus the high price tag and perhaps with a brighter sound. I’m absolutely here for them.

Design and Features

If the Razer Opus Wireless ANC Headset has one weakness as a pair of consumer Bluetooth headphones, it’s probably the aesthetic. Not that the headphones aren’t great looking – on the contrary, they have a smart, no-nonsense, minimalist design that will appeal to almost anyone. Razer trims that with its name on both ends of the band, as well as the THX logo on both ear caps, in silver engraving, then wraps it all up in a rare midnight blue coating. (The black shade to follow.) It’s a clean look, but overall a bit homogeneous and just a tad too familiar. I’ve actually seen this similar clunky style on a pair of Sony headsets or a cheaper Sennheiser long before I’ve ever laid eyes on the Razer. This is, of course, hardly a deal-breaker, but if you’re typically drawn to more unique-looking headphones like I am, you probably won’t get excited about this one. Looks aside, there’s plenty to love about the Razer Opus’s design, especially in terms of comfort. The top of the adjustable headband is padded with luxurious memory foam that’s almost half an inch thick and wrapped with soft leatherette that’s nice to the touch. As are the ear cups, which are also angled so that they fit around your ears better and sit on your head beautifully. And, while the headphones are tight enough to stay on even when you're moving your head around, they’re not too tight that they feel like they might be crushing your skull after you’ve had them on for a while. I tend to have a problem with Bluetooth over-ear/on-ear headphones – even after only a few minutes of wear, my ears and the sides of my skull start to feel the pressure. This hasn’t been a problem with the Razer Opus. The ear cups also swivel about 90-degrees towards the back, a feature you won’t always find in Bluetooth headphones, but comes in handy when you have it, as it helps in both packing flat in your backpack and accommodating different head shapes. I love swiveling ear cups as I prefer to move one cup off my ear when someone’s talking to me or listening to PA announcements at airports. Although that doesn’t work as well with the Razer Opus due to the larger, angled cups, it’s still a nice feature to have. There are five buttons here – the essentials: volume up, volume down, play/pause and power, and the ANC/Ambient button that turns the Razer Opus’s Hybrid Active Noise Cancellation function on and off. What this button does, essentially, is it lets you turn off the ANC and pick up a bit of ambient noise around you so you can hear what’s around you without needing to take the headphones off. The “hybrid” in the name refers to the two-mic system these headphones use for its ANC. It’s got both a feedforward mic, which is designed to cancel low to mid frequencies, and a feedback mic, which is designed to cancel out lower pitch noise. The two work together to deliver a pretty effective noise cancellation. What I appreciate more here, however, is the nifty Ambient Awareness or Quick Attention mode, which is activated when you hold down the ANC/Ambient button. This function essentially stops the audio and lets you clearly hear your surroundings. So, instead of you scrambling to hit the pause button, turn ANC off, and push one ear cup aside just to hear airport announcements or have a short conversation with someone, you simply hold this button down. It’s pretty effective too – it’s almost as if a veil has been lifted, and you can clearly hear everything around you even with your headphones still on. Another Razer Opus feature worth mentioning here is the ability to auto pause when you take the headphones off and auto play when you put them back on. It’s a really handy feature, though I did find it to be app-specific. That is, while it works well with Apple Music, Spotify, iTunes, and YouTube, it hasn’t worked once with Amazon Music, and often has trouble with Netflix. Of course, it’s also worth noting that although I did have a production model as my review unit, I tested the headphones a week before their official release. A simple update should fix this limitation right up. Together, these features clearly point to the Razer Opus being marketed towards not just mainstream consumers, but specifically mainstream consumers who are always on the go. These headphones are designed to be used when you're walking to work, working at cafes, commuting on trains, and flying to your next destination. They even come with their own airline headphone adapter to prove it.

Software

At this point, not much can be said about the Razer Opus app. Available for both iOS and Android, it’s a pretty straightforward app, with just an EQ that’s only customizable with the five available presets Razer has preconfigured for specific situations. Unfortunately, at least for now, you cannot control the EQ yourself. Besides the EQ presets, you can use this app to set the headphones’ auto shutoff – after up to 1 hour of downtime – and to toggle the Auto Pause/Play feature. It’ll also display how much juice you have left on the headphones, although it doesn’t give you exact numbers, just a battery icon. What’s most impressive here, however, is that it doesn’t matter which device the headphones are currently connected to. You can control your Razer Opus headphones via the app on your phone, regardless of whether it’s paired with a laptop or a Nintendo Switch Lite or anything else. As long as the headphones have been previously paired and set-up on the app, you’ll be able to switch presets to get the most ideal sound.

Performance

What I’m blown away with here is that although the Razer Opus has a consumer-level price tag, these headphones do sit in the prosumer category when it comes to sound quality. Testing them on a whole lot of songs, as well as several games (Far Cry 5, Red Dead Redemption 2 and Animal Crossing) and a couple of movies (Inception, Spiderman: Into The Spiderverse), I found them to produce a slightly warm sound. They deliver a mid-low boost, with a very controlled low end that can be had in spades without being overwhelming. Kendrick Lamar, for example, sounded amazing on these cans. To see how these headphones fare with movies, I chose to watch Inception, as Nolan likes to put a lot of rumble in his movies and a lot of really quiet speaking parts. While it's not the same as watching the movie on a home theater unit with a sub, the headphones still had plenty of rumble. Even better, the voices were clear and articulate despite all the action and the score that’s playing. The high-end is also very controlled, although there is some very high end sizzle that gives some songs a bit of harshness (as well as pushes sibilance and cymbal sounds forward a little). This seems to be a Razer signature sound, however. Both the controlled low end and the very high end sizzle are tonal qualities I’ve experienced in other Razer products like the Nommo Pro and the Razer Hammerhead Duo. The Razer Opus also has a wide soundstage, great enough that you’ll feel immersed in the media you're listening to, especially music. You could hear individual instruments coming out of different directions, almost as if you're on stage with the musicians. They’re also excellent for movies – in that one scene in Inception where the whole street starts blowing up, you can hear the different placements of explosions as they appear across the screen. Sadly, for gaming, while the headphones work well, they don’t really offer virtual surround sound or other tricks of the trade that gaming headsets often tout for a more immersive experience. They’re still plenty immersive though, and should get you through your gaming needs when you’re away from your actual gaming rig at home. Using them while playing Far Cry 5, for example, you could hear characters move from one side to another or yell out from far away. There are two ways to connect these headphones to devices and handheld gaming consoles – via Bluetooth (4.2) and with the 3.5mm cable included, which gives you a couple of options. Unfortunately, when you take the analog route, you’re also taking away a couple of features: the ANC and the EQ presets. As a result, you’re not only hearing all that noise around you, but you’re also getting sound that’s muddier, hazier and less articulate with mediocre spatial separation. In short, the sound quality goes down a bit when you go analog – enough that I’d stick to Bluetooth whenever possible. With no notable latency, even in gaming, you can count on that connection to give you the best experience possible. As far as the noise cancellation feature, there’s a lot to love here. I appreciate the fact that you can turn the ANC on/off, and I love that Ambient Awareness feature that essentially lets outside noise pass through just by holding down a button. Having said that, the noise cancellation may not be quite as good as Bose or Sony’s, both of which have such impressive noise cancellation that they can drown out loud airplane engines. However, not many headphones can beat those two companies’ noise cancellation technology. The fact that the Razer Opus’s comes pretty close is a feat in and of itself, so we’re not complaining. When it comes to battery life, the Razer Opus is no slouch. Many headphones offer up to 20 hours of battery life, and the Razer Opus promises up to 25 hours. Even after about 15 hours of use on a single full charge, the headphones still had around 20% battery life left. While 25 hours on a single charge may be a little optimistic, these will at least perform favorably next to other Bluetooth headphones out there.

Purchasing Guide

The Razer Opus Wireless ANC Headset retails for $199.99, and is available in the US, Canada, and Europe as well as China and the Asia-Pacific. It comes in midnight blue and black.

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Fantasy Strike Review

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One of the questions I’m sometimes asked by friends is what the best entry-level fighting game is for someone who is new to the genre, but who also doesn’t want to spend hours in a training mode or immediately get completely blown up when they play online. My answer is generally, “such a game doesn’t exist, but the closest you’ll get is probably Fantasy Strike.”

Fantasy Strike is a fun, easy to play fighting game with simple controls, tight and strategic fighting mechanics, a well rounded cast of 12 unique fighters, and some wonderful innovations in the genre that I wish other, bigger franchises would take note of. Visually, it’s very bland and lacks its own unique personality, but if you look beyond that, you’ll find one of the most daringly different fighting games of the last decade – not to mention it’s free-to-play, has great netcode, and full crossplay support between PC, PS4, and Nintendo Switch.

[ignvideo url="https://www.ign.com/videos/2020/07/21/fantasy-strike-free-to-play-trailer"]

Breaking the Rules

Fantasy Strike throws the basic rules behind most fighting games out the window, instead writing its own with the goal of making things as intuitive and accessible as a traditional fighting game can possibly be. You can’t crouch, which eliminates all high/low mix-ups; the life bars are broken up into segmented chunks of HP, so you always have a clear idea of how many more hits are needed to win or lose; your super meter fills up automatically; there are no complicated input commands; you can counter throws by just standing completely still. The list goes on and on, resulting in a very distinct flavor of a familiar whole.

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Fantasy Strike uses a three button fighting system with each character largely sharing the same basic input commands for each of their moves. While on the ground, every character has three light (A) attacks, one medium (B), one heavy (C), and one super. While in the air they also have one attack for each button along with an aerial specific super as well. This makes it very easy to jump between and learn new characters, which is great because online ranked play requires you to create a three person team.

[poilib element="quoteBox" parameters="excerpt=Every%20character%20in%20Fantasy%20Strike%20feels%20like%20they%20have%20something%20unbelievably%20powerful%20that%20only%20they%20can%20do"]

Despite the similar movelists, these characters all play dramatically different from each other, even those within the same archetype. Jaina, for instance, is a zoner who can fill the field with projectiles, but can also be incredibly nasty up close with some very tricky cross ups and respectable damage. Argagarg on the other hand, despite also being a zoner, focuses on poisoning his opponent and utilizing his projectiles to push his adversaries away and keep the poison active. Every character in Fantasy Strike feels like they have something unbelievably powerful that only they can do, which makes the entire roster very fun to play and also satisfyingly challenging to play against.

Accessible By Design

Even beyond the simplified inputs, one other area of accessibility that Fantasy Strike absolutely excels at is using visual cues to tell you everything you need to know about the properties of a move. You’ll never wonder why you got hit by something, or be confused as to how to counter a specific move. When enemies glow blue, they have armor; when they glow white, their attack is unblockable; when they get you with a command grab, big bold letters appear that say “Jumpable,” letting you know that you could have jumped to avoid getting hit; when you see blue sparks after an attack is blocked, you have frame advantage; when you see red sparks after an attack is blocked, it’s punishable. It’s all incredibly intuitive, and the stuff that isn’t outright taught in its excellent intro tutorial is easy enough to pick up on with experience.

There are so many design choices present to make things easy and accessible that you would think the depth of the gameplay would suffer as a result, but surprisingly, it doesn’t. Fantasy Strike successfully manages to lower the skill floor of all of its characters without ever dropping the skill ceiling, and it does so not only through excellent design of its movesets and character archetypes, but also by giving players the right tools to understand those movesets and archetypes.

Embedded within Fantasy Strike are excellent spotlight videos for each character that go over everything one would need to know in order to be competent with that character. These videos are short, comprehensive, and most importantly, they’re presented in a way that makes it very easy to understand complex concepts like set-ups, cross ups, frame traps, and more. Within just an hour or so, I already felt comfortable enough with a character to jump online and start having competitive matches. After a few of those, I was on my way to winning my first ranked mini-tournament. These kinds of tutorial videos are absolutely something that should be standard among future fighting games.

[poilib element="quoteBox" parameters="excerpt=There%E2%80%99s%20no%20getting%20around%20Fantasy%20Strike%E2%80%99s%20bland%20style"]

As good as all of this is, there’s no getting around Fantasy Strike’s bland style. Its roster, while very mechanically interesting, are among the most boring character designs I’ve played in a modern fighting game. Rook is just a stone golem with no distinguishing characteristics; Setsuki is a kunoichi with rainbow hair that feels randomly colored in with a paint bucket tool; and Grave is the prototypical Ryu-style character who just wants to improve and fight strong opponents, just to name a few.

These boring looking fighters aren’t helped by a weak arcade mode that does very little to give them any much needed personality and is hampered by inconsistent voice acting throughout. Looks aren’t everything of course, but when the competition even among indie fighting games includes gorgeous options like Skullgirls, Under Night In-Birth, and Them’s Fightin’ Herds, Fantasy Strike’s isn’t even in the same league on the audio/visual side.

For the solo players, in addition to arcade mode, there’s also a daily challenge mode, a standard survival mode, and an interesting twist on a Boss Rush mode that throws all concerns about character balance out the window by rewarding you for each victory with your choice of an incredibly overpowered perk after each fight. What’s great is that many of these power ups are specific to each character and designed to either cover their inherent weaknesses or ridiculously enhance their strengths. In one Boss Rush run, I had a Rook that could deal 6 damage off of a standard throw by just the third round, basically allowing him to one-hit KO a lower health enemy as soon as I got my hands on them. It’s an amusing distraction, but not one I felt the need to come back to after a few runs.

All For Free

Fantasy Strike’s actually been around since 2017 as a Steam Early Access game, but as of July 21, 2020 it became completely free to play with the full roster of 12 characters available immediately. That’s unprecedented in a genre where other free-to-play games lock most of their characters behind some sort of pay wall, and it truly makes Fantasy Strike the best entry point for newcomers interested in fighting games. You won’t get access to the single-player modes like Arcade, Boss Rush, or Survival without paying at least $20 for the Core Version, but you’ll still be able to access Fantasy Strike’s full suite of training modes, and most importantly, you’ll be able to play online in both casual and competitive playlists. However, if you’re playing for free, you won't have access to local versus multiplayer, and you won’t be able to start a private room with another person unless at least one of you owns a paid for version, which is a humongous bummer even in spite of all that Fantasy Strike offers for free.

Instead of charging for characters, developer Sirlin Games has introduced a very unusual subscription service called Fantasy+ that gives players access to special Master level costumes that can’t be purchased in the shop, XP boosts on all characters (which is just a show of how experienced you are with a character and opens up the Master costumes at level 20), and access to Replay Theater. Replay Theater is the star here, and it is actually a pretty fantastic innovation on how players are able to view recorded matches, and though it doesn’t quite justify a $5 per month premium fee, it is a great perk for those who want to show support for the developers who are offering a substantial amount of value by keeping the whole roster free to play.

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Many fighting games have the ability to rewatch your own matches and replays of high level matches, but with Replay Theater, you can actually filter what you want to see based upon the rank of the players and the specific characters used in the match. You can even set the filter so you can watch only matches of one specific character vs another, which is super helpful if you find yourself having trouble with a particular matchup and want to see how high level players deal with it.

Microtransaction Reaction

In addition to Fantasy+ there’s also a store within Fantasy Strike where you can purchase an in-game currency called gems with real money in order to buy skins, intro animations, victory animations, and other minor cosmetics. Gems can be purchased in $10 (1,000 gems), $25 (2800 gems), $40 (4,700 gems), $60 (7,500 gems), or $100 (13,500 gems) packages, with animations costing 350 gems and skins costing anywhere from 350 to 500 gems The 500 gem skins are fairly significant overhauls of a character’s look. There’s one for Onimaru for instance that changes his look from being a generic samurai to a clearly Street Fighter inspired oni, while the 350 gem skins are mostly just recolors of the existing base skin. Overall it’s a fairly standard selection of cosmetics. $5 for a skin seems pretty pricey, however, especially considering most fighting games offer full characters as DLC for very close to the same price.

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Necrobarista Review

The latest game news from IGN - one of my fave channels ever - check it out It’s a downright tragedy that Necrobarista was released when the whole world is participating in social distancing. All through my playtime, I kept thinking how nice it would be if I could just grab my laptop and knock out this review at my nearby coffee shop. God, do I miss coffee shops. The traditional text boxes and flat character sprites of a visual novel can often feel like similarly static affair to the mundanity of sheltering-in-place, but Necrobarista supercharges that formula by fully animating the action. Couple that dynamic presentation with a colorful cast of characters and it offers up an engrossing story set in a supernatural coffee shop. While that tale is a fantastical tearjerker about the mundanity and melancholy of death, Necrobarista is really about spending five hours with a loveable cast of misfits. There’s the coffee shop’s boss Maddy, her co-worker Chay, a young engineering genius named Ashley, the recently-deceased Kishan, the infamous Australian outlaw Ned Kelly, and a couple of other passers-by, all of whom are as charming as they are funny. [widget path="global/article/imagegallery" parameters="albumSlug=necrobarista-screenshots&captions=true"] Maddy and Chay quickly establish themselves as the stars of the show, and their relationship forms the heart of this ghost story. Maddy, who inherits the coffee shop from her pun-loving mentor Chay at the start of the story, begins the game as a curt, quick-witted barista who’s faster with a comeback than your coffee. But as things progress, the tragedy that links Maddy and Chay together becomes readily apparent. It’s also impressive how quickly Necrobarista can introduce compelling drive-by characters who nearly steal the show. Side stories pop in and out without much warning, like one character’s dream of becoming a battle bot champion. A pair of teens who attempt to steal some liquor from the bar might have the best line in the game: “If you’re not perpetuating teen drinking culture, you’re a loser.”

A Bold New Style

The most immediately noticeable thing that sets Necrobarista apart from the typical visual novel is its presentation. Where other games would just give you a text box, some static character art, and a backdrop, Necrobarista moves like an animated TV show. The 3D graphics are lovely and well animated, even if all you need to do to make them move is press the enter key to progress the dialogue – which Necrobarista presents via speech bubbles rather than a text box. The art style is clearly anime-inspired, but there’s more than just the character art behind that inspiration. Since it’s animated, there are nice bits of cinematography at work here as well. Scene-specific camera angles that dramatically zoom in on characters and sudden cuts make Necrobarista a more engaging affair than most visual novels. [poilib element="quoteBox" parameters="excerpt=Necrobarista's%20camera%20work%20helps%20it%20stand%20out%20as%20an%20unusually%20pretty%20visual%20novel."] If I had to pick Necrobarista’s closest animated equivalent, it would be the work of Studio Shaft, creators of shows like Bakemonogatari and Sayonara, Zetsubou Sensei. Necrobarista shares Shaft’s penchant for quick cuts to stylized blocks of text and eccentric camera angles that frame its characters from all kinds of obscure positions. That comparison is definitely a compliment, and its camera work helps Necrobarista stand out as an unusually pretty visual novel, not to mention a very screenshot-able one. Trust me, my folder is pretty full. [ignvideo url="https://www.ign.com/videos/2020/07/15/necrobarista-release-date-trailer"] And what a wonderful metaphor a coffee shop is to tackle the kinds of themes developer Route 59 chases during Necrobarista’s fairly short runtime. Like in Edgar Wright’s Shaun of the Dead, which drew parallels between part-time work and a zombie apocalypse (albeit Shaun worked at an electronics store), the coffee shop is a location that uses the drudgery of part-time work as a launchpad to dive into more heady questions about life and death. The writing is not all that different from the existential voice of millennials raised on social media. That is to say, the characters speak to each other with a very post-2008 Great Recession nihilistic attitude. You’ll surely recognize it when people complain about capitalism and student debt, or make fun of old people. For some, I can imagine the characters will likely come off as insufferably young – although Tik Tok tells me that there are already gamers out there who will find them insufferably old. Fortunately for me, these characters walk and talk like my generation, which makes them incredibly endearing to me, personally. (With apologies to my boomers and zoomers.) Necrobarista is more interested in living (and dying) in the moment than rushing toward some climactic resolution. That can drag at times as its characters meander and take detours, interact with minor characters, or have off-topic conversations. [poilib element="poll" parameters="id=58386c58-66f2-4cec-8fd2-44ae0306593e"] There are also extra bits of story that can be unlocked by collecting specific tokens at the end of each chapter, though it’s kind of a pain in the ass to do so. Certain words will be highlighted during the main story, and you can then pick seven highlighted words at the end of each chapter to convert into tokens representing a specific character or place.Short interludes between chapters then let you explore the coffee shop freely in first-person perspective and interact with various objects. These objects can unlock stories if you have the right amount of unique tokens, but more often than not I found myself coming up short, which is a shame since some of these asides are quite good. But that annoying system aside, Necrobarista’s characters kept me coming back, and the more time I spent with them the more I grew to like them. Readers who are drawn to melancholy will likely find a particular joy here, and credit to the creative team for crafting such a bittersweet experience that lingers just the right way once the credit rolls.

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Othercide Review

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Some parents are really invested in their kids’ report cards or success in extracurricular activities. Othercide offers a different kind of parental pride as you command a small army of warrior Daughters armed with giant swords and sleek revolvers they can use to slice, bash, and blast through a menagerie of Lovecraftian horrors. But this is more than an outlet for such dreams of blood-drenched parenthood, though. Othercide is also the best turn-based tactics game of the year so far.

With the help of a mysterious figure called the Red Mother, Othercide puts you in charge of a darkly ethereal realm called the Inner Void from which you summon Daughters – echoes of whatever the Mother used to be – to stop the coming of an eldritch entity known as Suffering. Similar to 2018’s Into the Breach, this will require failing and going back in time over and over until you manage to get it right. Each successive “Remembrance” allows you to carry over a currency called Shards from your previous run, so I never felt like I was having to start from square one. Failure is an expected and essential part of progression.

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Once I realized that death was never really the end, it could sometimes feel a bit too forgiving, though. Shards are used to activate unlocked bonuses on a per-run basis like increased health and damage, and even the ability to skip bosses you’ve already defeated. While there is a satisfying sense of progression, I usually earned so many shards per run that I didn’t have to make interesting decisions about how to spend them. I could activate all of the bonuses I’d unlocked at once.

No Country For Health Potions

Luckily, the other resources at my command did require me to make those difficult calls. Notably, Daughters do not heal between missions, and you won’t find any healing abilities or items. On top of taking damage, most of the more powerful special attacks cost health to use. The only way to heal a daughter is to sacrifice another one of equal or higher level. Having a supply of sacrifices is rarely an issue, as the Vitae needed to summon new daughters is handed out in abundance. But the emotional weight I felt destroying one of my children so that another may live could be potent. As a consolation, the beneficiary will carry a part of the sacrificed daughter with them always in the form of a small mechanical bonus based on her stats at the time of death.

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The final, and most precious, resource is resurrection tokens. Since each failed Remembrance sends your entire current roster to the cemetery, these function as a way to carry over some of your best fighters from one run to another. They’re very hard to come by over the course of a run, though spending shards can allow you to start with a few from the get-go. They allowed me to maintain some sense of continuity and build a deeper bond with Daughters who had been with me since the beginning, which I really appreciated.

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When the turn-based action kicks in, Othercide proves itself a satisfying, challenging, sometimes frantic tactical dreamscape. Each of the four classes has a distinct role to play, from the tanky Shieldbearer to the heavy-hitting Blademaster to the ranged support specialist, the Soulslinger. The enemy diversity is great, from quick and deadly Scavengers to hulking, insectoid abominations that can lock you in pace with a gooey discharge. New foes are introduced gradually across the five chapters, and even seeing familiar ones in new combinations often forced me to stop and think about how to handle the situation.

A time-based initiative system throws further excitement and consideration into the mix. Daughters who use more than half of their action points will have to wait a lot longer to act again, so it’s often smarter to end your turn with at least half remaining so you can better react to the changing battlefield. And with three mission types – the tense Rescue, desperate Survival, and ass-kicking Hunt – I had to learn what works best in a variety of situations.

Mad, Mad World

The one area where these missions felt a bit lacking was in the map selection. I saw the same layouts often enough for it to become a little repetitive, even if the horde of baddies was different every time. At least they’re nice to look at. Well, “nice” might not be exactly the right word. Othercide is bleak as hell, and its mostly black-and-white, gothic horror aesthetic does a great job creating an atmosphere of oppression and danger. The splashes of red the highly stylish Daughters bring enhances the feeling that they stand as emblems of hope in this doomed nightmare.

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I can’t wrap up without mentioning the bosses, which are each expertly-designed puzzles that often have multiple viable solutions, but will absolutely kick your ass back to the beginning if you go at them guns blazing. I wasn’t able to best any of the ones I came up against on a first try, but any enemy you’ve faced previously will be added to the codex where you can read up on its behavior. All of the enemies in Othercide behave deterministically; there’s no randomness involved, except in the dice rolls for things like attacking and dodging. So understanding that a specific boss or enemy will always go after the closest Daughter, or the one with the least health, can allow you to manipulate them and lead them into traps. I really hit my stride when I realized the power this knowledge could give me.

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Carrion Review

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For anyone who’s ever watched a monster movie and thought “Hey, it would be pretty cool to be that monster,” the premise of Carrion is immediately appealing. It’s a power fantasy that has you going an utter rampage through an underground facility, terrorizing both armed and unarmed inhabitants along the way. Developer Phobia Game Studio is uncompromising in its approach to making Carrion as true to this fantasy as possible, and it makes for a game unlike any I’ve played thanks to a collection of truly excellent moments. Even when the novelty of grabbing a helpless scientist and slamming them all around a room, Hulk-style, wore off, Carrion’s puzzles and cerebral combat encounters still kept me thoroughly entertained. The monotony that lurks between them, however, is the real monster.

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If there’s one thing that Carrion nails, it’s the movement and abilities of its leading amorphous, multi mouthed, tentacled monstrosity. The monster has total freedom of movement, with its appendages automatically shooting out and pulling it toward whatever direction you point it in. It’s delightfully creepy to watch and there’s a great speed and fluidity to its movements, which is important because hit-and-run tactics are crucial when dealing with the more dangerous weapon-wielding enemies you’ll encounter.

You can control one of your tentacles via the right stick and grab either enemies or pieces of the environment with the right trigger. Enemies can be consumed for health and extra biomass, or slammed and tossed around like rag dolls; bits of the environment can be hurled across the room; and doors can be ripped right from their hinges. It’s hard not to crack a devilish smile when you’re able to creep down on an enemy from the ceiling, quickly pull them up, eat their top half, and drop their lower half down for the rest of the people in the room to freak out about.

Carry On

As you progress through the underground facility, you’ll unlock strains of DNA that add new abilities to your repertoire, such cloaking, growing blades and charging through barricades, and most notably, parasitically controlling a human. In typical Metroidvania fashion, these abilities typically have both a combat use and a navigational use, and every time you get a new ability you’ll be able to explore previously closed-off sections of the map.

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The best Metroidvanias manage to hide worthwhile upgrades and secrets to encourage backtracking and exploration whenever you get a new ability. This is one pro tip Carrion doesn’t follow in that there are only nine mostly useless, optional upgrades. Worse still, searching for them is a nightmare because of how easy it is to get lost. There’s no map to consult, no reminder of your current objective, and no waypoint or hint system to guide you. At one point I backtracked to access a previously blocked off area, only to find that all it did was provide a useless shortcut. Then I found myself hopelessly lost in a cleaned-out facility for an absolutely miserable two or so hours of aimless wandering.

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On my second playthrough, I could see that there is a fairly cleanly laid-out path to follow to get from main objective to main objective, but any deviation from that path makes it very hard to find your way back because you don’t know what those main objectives are. Just to illustrate how much of an issue this was, my first blind playthrough took about six hours. My second took a little over two.

Rip and Tear

It’s worth repeating that the actual moment-to-moment gameplay of Carrion is excellent. There are some very cleverly laid-out encounters that offer a ton of freedom in terms of how you literally pick apart your prey, and while it’s pretty easy early on, in the later bits it ups the ante significantly with armored mechs, fast drones that can rip you to shreds, and flamethrower-wielding soldiers who will have you rushing to the nearest body of water if they manage to set you on fire.

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As far as the story goes, there isn’t much of one to speak of, but that actually works in Carrion’s favor. From the start until the end, the perspective never shifts away from the monster, outside of a couple of quick flashback sequences that provide some context for its origin. That makes it kind of a fun and unique way to experience the increasingly dire state of your human adversaries, as presented through emergency bulletins and LED signs.

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