Reports coming in seem to suggest that Doom VFR, Doom’s VR spin-off, is crashing on load if you try to use it with the Oculus Rift.
It’s been a big month for Doom, with the release of both Doom VFR and the game’s Switch version. But while Doom is potentially reaching a bigger audience, it seems there are limits to how far it’s spreading right now.
According to UploadVR, if you try to run Doom VFR with a Rift, the game will automatically crash. Bethesda has been a big cagey on whether or not Doom would work with the Rift, or whether it would be exclusive to other headsets (including PlayStation VR, which it is available for), but it seems like they’ve made sure that it only works with Vive.
While the game was only ever formally announced for Vive and PSVR, some players still expected the game to work with the Rift natively through Steam, but this does not seem to be the case.
UploadVR has also managed to get the game working with a Lenovo Windows-based VR headset, so it’s not necessarily absolutely exclusive to HTC Vive.
As ResetEra user krejlooc points out in this thread, this is very unusual for a game that uses SteamVR for its API – it seems that the developer is intentionally preventing Rift users from playing the game.
So keep this in mind if you’re looking to play Doom VFR – it wouldn’t work with an Oculus Rift (at least, not right now).
Bloodborne has been out for a few years now, but there are still secrets nestled away inside its code.
It was only last week that a creature no one had ever reported seeing was found in a Chalice Dungeon, which has the game’s fans open to the idea that there’s even more hidden away in there. Now, thanks to some datamining, we know that there’s definitely some extra stuff on the disc – it’s just not all accessible, necessarily.
Sanadsk, who has made a bit of a name for himself digging up secrets in Souls games, has started to get into Bloodborne, and has uncovered some character and enemy models we’ve not seen before. They’re all showcased in the video below.
The first enemy here looks to be a boss, a big shaggy golden dog that looks pretty horrifying. There’s a texture in here for black fur too, but we like the golden fur look – it sets this beast apart.
The second is a fire demon of some kind, labelled a ‘Creeper’ in the code. There are low quality, unfinished textures on this one (as you might expect), but it’s still very neat. There are two versions of this guy in the code, a one-headed and a two-headed model (although their heads are actually just skulls, with eight sockets in them). It’s got a fire motif to it – this is the case with a lot of the content Sanadsk found, apparently.
The third is a weird-looking NPC scholar, wearing a big coat. Sanadsk could not find any dialog for this character, or anything to suggest that he’s someone we hear about in the game, but he seems less hostile than the other models. Next is a skeleton holding a scimitar, which happens to look a lot like the skeletons in the catacombs in Dark Souls 3 – Sanadsk theorises that the final model ended up there.
The final model is a pig-like creature holding an axe. It’s covered in fur, with big teeth and weird antlers. It looks like it would have been fun to kill.
Sanadsk says that there’s still work to do on extracting these files and figuring out where all of these things were meant to be and what their code names were. He still has other models he’s found, but he’ll have to get to them later (he has exams to study for – good luck, if you’re reading). He also says that some of the things he found in here ‘blew his mind’.
So there you go – hopefully we’ll have more uncovered assets soon.
Brendan Greene and the team at Bluehole Studio are trying to wring as much power as possible out of the Xbox One X.
Back in July, when we first heard that PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds was coming to Xbox One, we learned that the game was already running at 30-40FPS on Xbox One X, even with fully populated 100-person servers.
Now, talking to games magazine Games TM (as noticed by WCCFTech), Greene (PlayerUnknown himself) has said that the team is pushing for 60 frames per second on the Xbox One X version – and that they’ll shoot for that on the regular Xbox One too, although that might not be possible.
“Definitely on Xbox One X, 60FPS. On Xbox One, we’re not sure. We may have to limit it at 30FPS, maybe, but the last time I saw it, it was running at about 30 to 40”, he told the magazine. “We’re still constantly improving it so, you know, the aim is to get to 60”.
While Greene is pretty sure it’s doable, he also acknowledges that frame rate is not as important for a game like this as it might be for a twitch shooter. “Unlike the more high paced shooters, frame rate isn’t that important”.
PUBG is coming to Xbox One on December 12, which is not far away now. It will have a physical release as well as a digital one.
Since the title is part of the Game Preview program, expect to see it tweaked and improved over time.
Destiny 2 is a fun game, but right now it’s struggling to cater to both its most hardcore, ‘hobbyist’ fans.
It’s been a big week for Bungie addressing the problems with Destiny 2, with the acknowledgement that the team needs to be more open about what is happening with the game, and the promise of numerous tweaks to come, including a fix for the currently busted endgame XP system.
Now, in the latest episode of The Bungie Podcast, Bungie’s Luke Smith, Mark Noseworthy, and Eric Osborne have talked about the different levels of engagement a player can have with Destiny 2, and the players they’re letting down.
Internally, they say, players are generally considered to fit into one of three categories: tourists (who check the game out and maybe finish the campaign), collectors (who might put as many as 100 hours into the game, but not much more), and hobbyists (those who consider Destiny to be a part of their lifestyle, and presumably have our huge Destiny 2 guide bookmarked). It’s those hobbyist players, Osborne believes, that they’re letting down.
These players, Osborne says, are not being given enough excuses or reasons to come back to the game right now. “If you have a game that you really love, you want to be given reasons to log in (…) and I think where we’re at today (is that) Destiny 2 is a game that doesn’t have enough excuses or reasons to play for those hobbyist players”, he says.
Even within Bungie they have all three types of players, they acknowledge – Luke Smith is in the 99% percentile of players in terms of play time, and finds himself sitting on the many legendary shards he has accumulated.
They acknowledge that, after the first month or so of hobbyist play, things start to dry up. “And they don’t have as many bars to fill, there’s not as many things to chase potentially. They don’t have those same reasons to log in.”
The full podcast is worth a listen if you’re interested in where Destiny 2 is going. It’s good to hear these problems being acknowledged, so that they can be addressed.
The Shadow of the Colossus remake will be with us within three months, so the developers at Bluepoint Games have released a video to update us on their work.
We found out about the Shadow of the Colossus remake during this year’s E3, but haven’t seen a whole heap since then, so any information we can get is good.
This video doesn’t contain any new footage – it’s the introductory cutscene, which we’ve already seen, but with developer commentary over the top of it.
In this video we hear from Mark Skelton, art director on the remake, Marco Thrush, co-founder and president of Bluepoint Games, and Peter Dalton, the technical director. Bluepoint are port and upgrade wizards – they recently developed the excellent Uncharted: Nathan Drake Collection and Gravity Rush Remastered, and handled the (extremely good) Xbox 360 version of Titanfall.
This video finds the three men talking about the artistic decisions in the opening section, and how they wanted to encapsulate the original’s sense of the ‘hero’s journey’. Everything has been remade from scratch, taking the original as a template, and the team worried a lot about scale, getting the size of it all correct.
The whole game has been reanimated, they say, and new details have been added everywhere while the artistic sensibilities of the original have been maintained. Agro, Wander’s beloved horse, has a new physics system – his tail and poncho will now move more realistically.
It’s not the most revealing video, perhaps, but it’s got some neat insight into how the project is panning out. Shadow of the Colossus is a PS4 exclusive, and will release in February 2018.
Two-Two Interactive company president Karl Slatoff does not view loot boxes as a form of gambling.
Speaking at Credit Suisse’s 21st Annual Technology, Media and Telecom Conference – as reported by Gamasutra – Slatoff weighed in on the issue, stating that he does not view loot boxes as a form of gambling.
“In terms of the consumer noise you hear in the market right now, for me it’s really all about content”, he reportedly said. “It’s about over-delivering on content (…) you can’t force the consumer to do anything.”
Take-Two Interactive, the company that owns both Rockstar Games and 2K Games, has been very clear on the value of microtransactions in their games. Back in July, company CEO Strauss Zelnick said that “you can’t give stuff away for free in perpetuity; there’s no business model in that“. The implication was that all games going forward would include microtransactions.
Grand Theft Auto Online, which encourages users to buy money in-game, has been extraordinarily successful at generating revenue. GTA 5 is, in fact, the best selling game ever in the US. NBA 2K18, on the other hand, annoyed a lot of players with its aggressive emphasis on microtransactions.
It’s hard not to wonder what this all means for Red Dead Redemption 2, which is looking pretty nice in the footage we’ve seen so far. Will the game have an online mode, equivalent to Grand Theft Auto Online, and if so will we be encouraged to spend our money within it?
We don’t know anything definitive just yet – hopefully we won’t have another Star Wars Battlefront 2-style debacle on our hands any time soon.
Monster Hunter World is getting close – get ready in advance by studying up in its armour skills.
Arekkz has played the game quite a bit, and has the low-down on all the armour abilities he was able to see and learn about in the game. He speaks broadly about the skills he encountered without getting into the specific numbers too much, because they have not been finalised.
Armour skills are basically what they sound like – abilities that are present on particular pieces of gear. Equip them, and they’ll provide you with bonuses. Some of these abilities level up over time, too – we’ve included information about how many levels the ability has whenever it is provided.
Monster Hunter World has heaps of different armour to equip, and plenty of skills to go with them. Make sure you get the whole squad kitted out in the best stuff when the game comes out.
Here’s the video, but we’ve also transcribed the abilities below.
Destiny 2: Curse of Osiris brings us a stack of fancy new duds to swoon over.
Curse of Osiris is the first Destiny 2 expansion and releases December 5. As well as raising the power cap, adding a new area and bringing a new kind of Raid Activity called Lairs, it delivers the expected slew of new loot.
Doomfist is being worked on in the Overwatch Public Test Realm, and Blizzard is confident that they’ve made some improvements.
Doomfist came to Overwatch back in July, and since then there’s been quite a bit of discussion about the character’s abilities and balance.
Some changes have been made to the character on the Public Test Realm (where you can also check out Blizzard World right now, by the way) to try and tweak the character, making him feel a bit better to play.
These changes have been outlined in a post on the Overwatch forums made by Geoff Goodman, the game’s principle designer. He addresses the changes made to Doomfist, and the issues they’re still working on.
Below is the list of changes he mentions.
Things that are fixed
Wall slamming should be much improved. The wall slamming logic has also been simplified so players should find that a 45 degree impact angle is the cutoff between the target being slammed into the wall, or sliding off. This is the biggest change that should be noticeable instantly.
Rocket Punch now breaks breakables again. Not only was the bug fixed that caused it to no longer break breakables, but the system we have in place now should break them much more consistently than before.
Seismic Slam being canceled when landing too close to a wall should be fixed.
Seismic Slam will now ‘slide’ a small ways up ramps instead of instantly triggering. Winston’s leap has also changed in the same way. The slide distance is manually tuned so let us know if it seems like he is sliding up ramps too much or too little.
Things we’re still working on
Seismic Slam has a bug when you or your target is near a corner, it will sometimes not find them as a valid target. We have identified this bug but it is going to take a little longer to get a fix in place.
Ghost punches. This is an issue where you Rocket Punch and go through an enemy, instead of impact them. Some of these reports are latency related, but we did find an issue that was causing this to come up beyond just typical networking issues. Hopefully we’ll get in a fix in soon.
Corner bounce. This happens if you use Rocket Punch near a corner or edge, and it causes you to ‘bounce’ off and slide quite a ways away, probably messing up your punch. This is a recent bug caused by a seemingly unrelated change. We have identified why this can happen though, and are working on a fix for it.
Things we’re still investigating
Rocket punch vs. Rocket Punch/Charge. We get reports that it can feel really ‘random’ what happens when 2 Doomfists using Rocket Punch hit each other, or a Reinhardt using charge hits a Doomfist that is Rocket Punching. We’re still gathering data and information on this one, and hope to be able to improve the consistency of situation. The intended result is that both players should fall over, much in the same way that two Reinhardts charging into each other knocks both of them down.
Aerial Seismic Slam sometimes causing Grounded Seismic Slam. We’ve gotten reports of people being up in the air and using Seismic Slam sometimes triggering the ‘Grounded’ version instead of the ‘Aerial’ version. This one seems really rare so its pretty hard to track down, but we’re looking into it.
There’s a game in the works based on the hit anime series My Hero Academia (in Japan, at least).
The magazine scans below come from ‘YonkouProductions’, an account that focuses on anime and manga news. By the look of it, it’s going to be some kind of brawler with an art style very much in keeping with the style of the anime itself.
According to a partial translation by Gematsu, you’ll be able to destroy the stages with your attacks during fights. A trailer will be shown at some point between December 16 and 17 at Jump Festa 2018, an annual anime/manga celebration in Japan.
So what is My Hero Academia, exactly? I’ve never seen it myself, but it’s set in a world where most people have superpowers, and follows a lad – Izuku Midoriya – who is initially powerless, but enrolls in a school after being granted powers by one of the greatest heroes on Earth. Naturally, it’s full of big cool fight scenes.
There’s no confirmation yet that this game will release outside of Japan, but we might learn more after the trailer debuts.
Rocket League is getting a splash of 80s neon next week.
The Velocity Crate system, which was just recently announced on the Rocket League website, will drop on December 4. If you’re lucky you’ll be able to nab the Imperator DT5 vehicle from one of them, along with six new decals and engine audios, which can also be used with other Battle-Cars. Very nice.
We’re also promised new “goal explosions, wheels, and more”, which hopefully means that get some nice dumb 80s hats in there as well. It’s just a shame that Rocket League cars don’t have hair to tease out until it’s bigger than seems necessary.
The screen above shows off the new ‘dueling dragons’ victory explosion, which is pretty neat.
The last post we made about a major Rocket League content update was when the Fast and Furious pack dropped in early October.
Rocket League continues to update with new content years after its initial release. The game recently came out on Switch, and was, by most reports, a pretty great port. This update will come to all versions of the game.
Jump in on Monday if you want to start unlocking your cool new 80s accessories.
Update 1.03 is now available for Star Wars Battlefront 2.
Released, today, Star Wars Battlefront 2 update 1.0.3 introduces a redesigned End of Round MVP screen along with fixes various issues pertaining to collision and traversal issues on Jakku, Kashyyyk, and Endor.
These issues were also fixed via tweaks to combat areas on Tatooine, Endor, and Hoth in certain game modes so players would no longer run into “invisible barriers” stopping their movement.
Players will also no longer receive an error message when quitting a game. Also, Boba Fett has been reprimanded for capturing objectives while hovering high above the objective. After promising this will no longer happen, he walked off hanging his head like a kicked puppy.
The redesigned End of Round MVP screen will now highlight players based on score instead of specific “honors”.
“This means that a larger number of players will have the chance to become highlighted in the End of Round MVP screen,” reads the notes.
The live team at Sledgehammer said upcoming patches will continue to improve the game, and the next update will provide balance changes for the Heroes vs Villains mode.
Today’s update follows Star Wars: Battlefront 2 patch 1.02 which focused on fixing issues such as spawn positions, deleted saves, killstreaks, disappearing lightsabers and other issues seen in the beta.
A detailed list of all the changes made in update 1.03 can be found in the patch notes below. The patch is available now on all platforms.
Star Wars Battlefront 2 update 1.03 – patch notes
Reduced the amount of Score and Battle points gained by using the Disruptor Shot mod for the NT-242 when used against vehicles.
Reduced the amount of Score and Battle points gained by using the LAAT Gunship against vehicles.
Reduced the amount of damage the Stinger Pistol ability does against Heroes & Villains.
Boba Fett can no longer capture objectives while hovering high above the objective.
Blocked of some areas on Kamino and Naboo where players could use aerial units to gain an unfair advantage over other players.
Tweaked the spawning positions when playing Strike on Kamino.
Tweaked the combat area on Tatooine when playing Strike.
Tweaked the combat area on Endor when playing Blast.
Tweaked the combat area on Hoth when playing Blast.
Tweaked the spawning positions of Starfighters when playing Galactic Assault on Tatooine.
Tweaked the spawn positions of the AAT when playing Galactic Assault on Kashyyyk.
Fixed several collision and traversal issues on Jakku.
Fixed several collision and traversal issues on Kashyyyk.
Fixed several collision and traversal issues on Endor.
Fixed several collision issues on the Death Star II.
Fixed several UI issues in the spawn screen when playing Heroes vs Villains.
Fixed an issue where the objective markers would not update correctly during Galactic Assault on Endor.
Fixed an issue where some automatic doors would not open when approached by Villains in Heroes vs Villains.
Fixed an issue where texture was missing near the East Gate Control when playing Strike on Yavin IV.
Fixed an issue where the reticule from Lando’s Sharp Shot ability would remain active longer than intended.
Reduced the amount of the damage the NT-242 with the Disruptor Shot mod does against the AT-ST.
Fixed an issue where the Scan Dart ability would not work correctly when used on doors.
Players will no longer be able to start a round if the pre-round requirements are not met.
Fixed an issue where the HUD would indicate that friendly forces are taking damage when being hit with by the Ion Charge ability on the AT-RT.
The Heavy Trooper’s Impact Grenade ability VFX now works as intended.
The DLT-20A Targeting Rifle VFX now works as intended.
The Pulse Cannon ability VFX now works as intended.
Fixed several issues with the End of Round screen where tall characters would not fit in the screen.
Fixed an issue where the players could not Zoom after switching weapons from an overheated TL50.
Fixed several clipping issues that occurred during the campaign.
Fixed an issue where Iden’s Star Cards will display their multiplayer stats during the Campaign.
Fixed several animation issues for Heroes and Villains.
Fixed several texture issues in Arcade mode.
Fixed several collision issues in Arcade mode.
The End of Round screen now gives feedback to players on Rank Up that they are awarded with Credits.
More reinforcements are awarded after each phase in Galactic Assault.
Time required to complete interact objectives has been reduced.
The Bureau: XCOM Declassified is free right now through the Humble Store for 48 hours.
Released in 2013, The Bureau: XCOM Declassified takes place in 1962 during the Cold War-era. A top-secret government unit called The Bureau is currently investigating attacks being carried out by a mysterious and powerful enemy.
Players take on the role of Aagent Carter in the tactical, third-person shooter.
With the voice actor strike ending in September, it has allowed the original Life is Strange voice actors to reprise their respective roles in a bonus episode for Before the Storm.
A bonus episode for Life is Strange: Before the Storm will be released and feature original voice actors Hannah Telle and Ashly Burch as Max and Chloe.
The bonus episode, titled Farewell, is part of the Life is Strange: Before the Storm Deluxe Edition
Deck Nine Games, which developed Before the Storm, stated Rhianna DeVries will continue to work closely with the team.
DeVries was used for motion capture of 16-year-old Chloe and will continue this job in Farewell. She also provided the voice of Chloe while the actor’s strike was in progress, which prevented Ashly Burch from reprising her role.
“The team here were thrilled to hear the news that both Hannah Telle and Ashly Burch were able to come back together again to voice Max and Chloe”, said Jeff Litchford, VP of Deck Nine Games.
“We were really happy with Rhianna DeVrie’s performance as Chloe in Before the Storm and the fan reaction to her has been great, she’ll continue to work closely with us as part of a really close team we have created.”
The Farewell bonus episode will be released for Life is Strange: Before the Storm in early 2018.
For those who prefer digital, the PS Store may be the way to go.
If you decide to grab it through the store, or via disc, be sure to grab the Stormy Ascent Level if you want a challenge.
This extra content for Crash Bandicoot N Sane Trilogy was designed by Naughty Dog and included as a hidden level in the original game. The level is almost four times longer than any other that was present in the original game, and has been remastered and updated for the current offering.
Super Mario Cereal is heading to a US grocery store near you.
Nintendo and Kellogg’s have teamed up to provide Nintendo fans and cereal connoisseurs alike with a sugary bowl of yummy goodness: it’s Super Mario Cereal.
As stated in the rumor post, the box also functions as an amiibo accessory. Those playing Super Mario Odyssey can tap the cereal box on Switch to receive gold coins or a heart in the game.
The limited-edition cereal box will begin hitting store shelves across the US starting December 11, and contains colorful marshmallows with mixed berry flavors. The main cereal looks as though it will be similar to what’s in a Lucky Charms box.
Whether it will taste similar is something we’ll have to find out for ourselves. And we plan on it.
Xenoblade Chronicles 2 lands tomorrow alongside a day-one update.
Patch 1.1.0 will be released tomorrow when Xenoblade Chronicles 2 lands on Nintendo Switch.
Along with a few gameplay improvements, it will also include support items from the first DLC drop which is part of the Expansion Pass.
These items are: 50,000G, three cream orange paratas, 10 silver cylinders, and five common core crystals.
The rest of the first DLC drop will contain quests and eventually a challenge Battle Mode where players will face powerful enemies. Content also includes an additional adventure with a new side story. A date for the remainder of the first drop isn’t known as of press time, but the official site notes that starting in January, a series of additional quests for the main game will be released.
As far as the patch is concerned, 1.1.0 will add the Event Theater function to cutscenes, adjustments to game balance, a tab for Expansion Pass to the main menu, and various gameplay improvements (thanks, Nintendo Everything).
Content releases for Xenoblade Chronicles 2 will continue into fall 2018, and the Expansion Pass will take up around 600MB of space as it currently stands.
While you’re at it, give Alex’s Xenoblade Chronicles 2 review a read. While he felt it was a bit sluggish during the first few hours, he said those who “stick it out are in for something really rather special.”
Xenoblade Chronicles 2 is absolutely huge, but it’s not a case of quantity over quality.
I probably shouldn’t have been, but I was caught off-guard by how utterly enormous Xenoblade Chronicles 2 is. The game is so big I’ve struggled to put the necessary time into it to put pen to paper for a review, but after some marathon sessions the game finally began to click. It’s a game that takes some time to get to where its developers clearly envisioned it ending up, but once it does it’s excellent stuff.
In many ways Xenoblade 2’s length telegraphs to players what to expect from the game. It’s enormous and has stunning depth, but in line with that it takes its time to stop, smell the proverbial roses and really consider what it’s presenting to you. The opening of the game is a slow-paced, world-building affair that eschews the explosive openings most games go for now. Even Zelda: Breath of the Wild’s opening which simply turns you loose into the open world with little fanfare seems bombastic by comparison.
After some story and exposition drops you’re presented with a hub world complete with NPCs, side quests and plenty of intriguing little nooks to explore, and the game really doesn’t kick off and up a notch until you complete a few sub-objectives and initiate the first proper story mission. Basically, it takes its sweet time – which can feel a little frustrating early on, but it’s necessary.
“The core design of Xenoblade is ultimately the star of the show, with combat and character customization still a joy even as you hit hour twenty or thirty.”
Xenoblade Chronicles 2 needs to take things slow because this is a properly hardcore Japanese RPG. The slow-moving pace is necessary because Nintendo and Monolith Soft want a larger audience for this title as evidenced in things like the Zelda DLC crossover. There’s an absolute slew of systems to introduce from the way you traverse the enormous world of Alrest to the entirely overhauled battle mechanics that are now driven by your equipped ‘blade’ weapons, with each of the many blades in the gaming having an assigned role, your character’s typical RPG class and the associated systems then determined by your three currently equipped blades.
At a glance Xenoblade 2 seems like it’s all about auto-attack and letting the game play itself, but in reality there’s a great deal more to it than that. Your three party members will always automatically hone in on an enemy and unleash basic attacks, but the real skill in Xenoblade comes in pre-battle preparation and then deciding when you switch strategies or change approaches mid-battle in order to chain together attacks, with this eventually leading to mega-powerful burst attacks. As you perform regular attacks you build meter that can be spent on ‘Arts’, special attacks that often carry unique properties that can turn the tide of battle.
It’s quite complicated, and at a very broad level I’m vaguely reminded of Final Fantasy 13, a game that could look like hitting X on auto battle over and over again but that actually was all about shifting between carefully pre-determined battle load-outs that could actually get quite stressful in its challenge. Xenoblade Chronicles 2 is that, but with the background depth in character growth and customization that was sorely missing from that game.
If you want an idea of just how complicated it is, just take a look at a screenshot of the game in battle. The user interface is a bit of an eyesore to put it lightly, but I also can’t act like everything on-screen isn’t entirely necessary. Xenoblade’s combat is hectic, exhilarating and tactically rich – and that means a lot of information has to be surfaced back at you. Seriously, look at it.
This core design of Xenoblade is ultimately the star of the show, with combat and character customization still a joy even as you hit hour twenty or thirty. It’s a Japanese-style RPG exactly as you expect, so you’ll be advancing a slightly melodramatic plot where a boy-meets-girl story mashes up with saving the world while picking up quests and exploring a huge, varied world, but combat is where the game is at its absolute best. It takes several hours too long treading on eggshells to finally introduce every mechanic you need to truly express yourself in battle – another trait the game shares with Final Fantasy 13 – but once you do everything clicks. It’s a joy, and it’s also a well-balanced joy, not running into the pitfall of forcing grinding to progress.
These successes match well with wonderful environments, and it’s easy to see in them in what ways Monolith Soft likely provided support to Nintendo during development of Breath of the Wild. Alrest is a place just as enticing as Hyrule, but by the very nature of its lore is also one that feels infinitely more varied, a fact that allows for ambitious, sprawling environments with unique, memorable design elements.
The final winning element is a generally charming-whimsy-filled script – though it’s one that takes a good while to get going. What’s surprising is that this cliche-filled narrative takes a turn at a certain point and begins to barrel towards much more exciting and immediately engaging events – but like what feels like everything in Xenoblade Chronicles 2 it takes a while to get to that point even if you ignore side quests and attack the main story specifically.
“The localization is full of hit-and-miss work, sometimes regaling you with some lovely regional British accents that work. Most of the rest of the cast is not so lucky, however.”
All this evens out to a compelling, enjoyable experience, though elements of Monolith Soft’s design still leave me puzzled. For one, the manner in which you open blades is reminiscent of all your worst loot box nightmares with the real money component removed. There’s a shed load of blades you can gather and use, but you nab them for the most part by opening ‘Core Crystals’ – basically loot boxes that you open up that’ll give you a random reward. There’s no nickel-and-dime mechanism for spending real cash here, but the frustration of getting a rubbish draw is here all the same. The game even autosaves the second you begin to open, the developers making clear save-scumming isn’t on the cards. Blades are tied to a lot beyond combat, such as lockpicking and other environmental abilities that can do everything from gain you new loot to open up new areas of the world, so having the right blades is key.
Then there’s the character design and the localization – and this is where Xenoblade 2 seems to struggle the most. The localization is full of hit-and-miss work, sometimes regaling you with some lovely regional British accents that work, with positive stand-out performances for protagonist Rex and his Welsh cohort Nia. Most of the rest of the cast is not so lucky, however. You can download Japanese voices if you prefer, however, and performances aside the entire cast is generally lovable and memorable in a way the cast of Xenoblade X were not.
The character design is probably my main issue, with the style in question really not working for me at all. After an inept more realistic turn in Xenoblade X this game veers back hard in the opposite direction towards anime, and I can’t help but feel like somewhere in the middle – incidentally where the first game sat artistically – would be better.
There are minor technical issues too, but they’re minor enough to not really factor. There’s a nasty Mass Effect 1-like texture loading thing going on after fast travel and some frame rate shenanigans, but generally it runs well. In fact, my biggest technical criticism is that the previously-mentioned user interface doesn’t shrink or change at all when you’ve got the Switch in handheld mode – and that’s a lot of information for such a small screen.
I’ve spent a while touching on my main criticisms, but ultimately if you enjoy high-quality character customization around combat in an RPG these criticisms are likely to melt away after you’ve spent a few hours navigating the more hand-holding tutorial sections of the game. There’s an admirable, bold level of depth on show here, and even the story begins to pull its weight more vigorously in the second half of the game. The fact that combat still works after so many hours proves that this is the best sort of RPG, one with a longevity and a depth not so often found in story-driven Japanese RPGs in the current market. You’ll likely want to go back to tackle high-end sidequests, optional monster battles and more even after the story credits have rolled.
Nintendo might be marketing Xenoblade Chronicles 2 as the next step for players done with Breath of the Wild, but in truth it’s a welcome throwback to the Japanese-made RPGs of yesteryear, featuring both the strengths and weaknesses you’d expect from that fact. I suspect many will bounce off Xenoblade Chronicles 2’s sluggish first few hours, but those who stick it out are in for something really rather special.
Xenoblade Chronicles 2 is Nintendo’s big RPG for the holidays. How does it stack up? Reviews are in.
Xenoblade Chronicles remains a cult classic, and while pseudo-sequel Xenoblade X wasn’t a bad game it didn’t quite scratch the same itch as the first game. Fans can rejoice now, however, as Nintendo is going back to what made that cult Wii title a favourite with Xenoblade Chronicles 2 – a major RPG outing for the Switch that in terms of size and length is probably the biggest and most ambitious game on the system since The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild.
Nintendo has generally been targeting the Zelda audience with Xenoblade Chronicles 2 in fact, going so far as to insert a Xenoblade 2 themed quest into Zelda in the form of free DLC. But how does it stack up to Breath of the Wild in the reviews department? Here’s the scores:
First-person shooter Survarium has opened up its first PvE missions and we have free keys for you to sample it.
Tough FPS Survarium has been serving up multiplayer PvP survival and shootouts for quite some time now, but it’s finally started to reveal its PvE content.
The first of which is a co-op mission for three players to explore a new map, clear out enemies and collect data on an unknown anomaly in the area.
To take part in the beta, all you have to do is subscribe to our YouTube channel via the widget below – the first 5,000 to do so will be handed a free code which can be redeemed on the official site -> My account –> Add promo code –> apply code.
Please note is will take between 5 and 30 minutes for the code to be applied to your account.
Each code gifts you three keys to play the new team mission and can be used for established Survarium accounts or brand new ones.
Are you still playing Battlefield 1? Good, because there’s loads happening in December.
Developer DICE is issuing freebies and bonuses from November 30 to December 31 and most of it you can grab just by logging in.
Every Monday and Thursday you’ll receive 250 free scrap for logging in, as well as seeing new Holiday Battlepack Revisions and items in the Scrap Store.
On every Tuesday a Holiday Battlepack Mission will be available – complete it and you’ll earn a Superior Battlepack. Every Wednesday coughs up a Battlepack just for logging in, too.
Special rewards are promised on Friday’s but you’ll have to wait to see exactly what they are, and Saturdays are all about double XP for Events and Sundays double XP Squad Boosts.
On December 25, you’ll get an extra Xmas gift of a Superior Battlepack.
Team Bondi’s game is at its best when the player’s messing up.
L.A. Noire feels at home on the Switch. While its appearance can seem compromised on the Nintendo hardware, especially when held up against the PlayStation 4 and Xbox One versions of the 2011-debuting game, released simultaneously a few weeks ago, the environmental pop-in, frame-rate dips and slightly sticky controls (okay, so they’ve always been rather imprecise), such shortcomings are forgivable given the platform’s play-anywhere flexibility.
I’ve been taking the life and times of Cole Phelps on the move, on commutes both lengthy and brief; and to bed with me, playing until I’m nudged to turn off the light. And treating the title he’s the ostensible protagonist of (depends on your moral compass, really) as entertainment to be dipped in and out of, like a good book, each new case a fresh chapter of proceedings, has drawn me further into its murky world of 1947 Los Angeles than Australian studio Team Bondi’s one and only game ever achieved six years ago. It transpires that short-session play is, for me at least, the right way to pick apart the many and varied misdemeanours of the City of Angels’ criminal underworld.
And yet, L.A. Noire does its utmost to point the player, as Phelps, down the wrong path. Once the former military man, not long home again after serving in the United States Marine Corps during the Second World War, has earned his spurs in the LAPD as a street-beat rookie (the game’s tutorial phase, essentially), he earns a promotion to the city’s traffic desk. It’s here that Phelps’ intuition is first tested – and his ability to tell right from wrong, and support accusations with previously acquired evidence, is in the player’s hands. You’re supposed to read your suspects’ faces, looking for giveaways of dishonesty, the game’s (still) remarkable MotionScan-captured performances full of the tiniest flinches and twitches. Sometimes it works.
“L.A. Noire simulates what it’s like to be human in high-pressure situations with surprising aplomb: some you win, some you lose”
And, sometimes, it doesn’t. Indeed, frequently what looks for all the world to be the right move really, really isn’t. But what’s great about L.A. Noire, something that I’m only really appreciating on this fresh playthrough (case outcomes suitably forgotten), is that it doesn’t much matter that Phelps, under your command, can play bad cop at a time when a little understanding might’ve delivered a more useful statement. Even when you mess up, the game rolls onward – the guy you had dragged into custody can clam up because your hand’s been shown to be nothing but twos and sevens, but however many lines of investigation hit dead ends, there’s always an opportunity for another shuffle of the deck. Phelps can’t lose – not so early in the game as the traffic desk. And not even when he’s promoted to homicide does the dealer ever really do him a disservice.
Homicide, entirely expectedly, sees the game’s narrative take a decidedly dark turn – and this is your warning that spoilers follow.
L.A. Noire’s homicide section, spanning five murders that don’t initially appear connected but ultimately reveal themselves to be the handiwork of just a single individual who, in the game’s fiction, is the same guy who murdered Elizabeth Short, aka the Black Dahlia. A very real murder case, the Black Dahlia remains one of America’s most famous unsolved mysteries. Short, aged just 22 at her death in January 1947, was severely mutilated – and the same is true (mercifully, to a lesser extent) of some of L.A. Noire’s unfortunate victims. All of the bodies found during Phelps’ spell on the homicide desk are women, some of whom are found naked, all of whom have suffered cataclysmic injuries. It’s a bleak, depressing stretch of the game’s growing-ever-murkier overarching storyline.
Phelps – and partner Rusty Galloway – are given the option of two perps to pin the second case of the homicide desk on. “The Golden Butterfly”, named after a piece of the victim’s jewellery (found in the pocket of one of the two who can be charged), can see either Hugo Moller or Eli Rooney take the fall, potentially all the way to the gas chamber. Moller is the husband of the deceased, and Rusty’s got a thing about pointing the finger at the other half ahead of anyone else. Rooney is unsubtly, but never explicitly, presented as a paedophile, and the homicide desk’s captain, James Donnelly, is palpably eager to have him off the streets. But when I come to make a call between the two, flitting between interview rooms to extract all I can from each suspect, I find the evidence stacked against Hugo.
Donnelly blows a gasket. Rooney’s quietly released. Moller stares the death penalty in its grim face, his 15-year-old daughter left to face up to becoming an orphan. The game continues. Another murder, this time a younger woman, not much older than the heartbroken Moller child. A trail of blood leads away from where she’s been dumped, naked, in an alleyway – and following it leads to the discovery of several of her possessions. Whoever committed this heinous act is exhibiting a creative side, a sick flair doubling as a mocking of the police force, that’d evolve into a poetic paper trail, supported by a steady supply of missing victim items (rings, a shoe, a watch), leading to a final standoff.
But before then – before the heavily telegraphed suggestion that these murders aren’t the work of separate individuals, and that the LAPD has the wrong people awaiting trial – there’s a shot at redemption. Another of the homicide desk’s cases, “The Studio Secretary Murder”, lines up a pair of key suspects, one a nervous, young bowling alley engineer, the other a would-be renaissance man who looks down his nose at Phelps and Galloway. Naturally, the inclination is to immediately finger the guy with the attitude well above his station, largely on account of him being an insufferable prick; but then the alternative option who had been drinking heavily with the victim prior to her murder, doesn’t have a story that completely checks out either. Donnelly’s getting itchy. Galloway just wants a drink.
“Your wrong steps are hard to read at the best of times; and when you think you’ve cracked both case and the system working away beneath it, L.A. Noire pulls the proverbial rug out from under you”
Bouncing between interrogations, one suspect accuses the other, and back again. My hammer falls on the cocksure, cravat-wearing sonofabitch in interview room two. It is, the game appears to tell me, the right answer. Donnelly doesn’t tear me a new one. I breathe a sigh of relief, and then: another letter, and an excerpt from Percy Shelley’s 1820 play Prometheus Unbound. The 19th century work is translated by Phelps to indicate a location in Downtown Los Angeles, Pershing Square, specifically its fountain. “The local hobos use that as a latrine,” comments Phelps’ reliably languid partner, as he – as we – climb into the spray. Another letter, another location, and the hunt is on.
Garrett Mason leads us on a merry chase. But when he finally falls, having been revealed as the murderer of all five women, the place he calls home a disturbing collision of religious iconography and anatomical intrigue, all of our previous work, both good and bad, is undone. Doesn’t matter if you quit out of the game to replay your interviews once a wrong move had been made. Equally, all of those five-star case closures you thought you’d chalked up (don’t worry, the game’s not about to undo your trophies or achievements) now count for nothing. Donnelly arrives, alone, no camera flashes nor press scrum in his wake. You’d think this would be headline news, splashed across the morning papers, dominating the game’s crackly radio waves. No?
No. Because Mason was the brother of a high-standing government official, the captain reveals. “The city owes you both,” he says, but we’re to not whisper a word of this to anyone. The men we’d previously arrested and charged, they’re all let go courtesy of some conveniently missing evidence when it comes to trial time. However right you thought you were, too bad, the game tells you: you’re wrong.
And I think that’s a fairly remarkable facet of what is an imperfect but, on Switch at least, second time around, very rewarding game. Your wrong steps, in Phelps’ shoes, are hard to read at the best of times; and when you think you’ve cracked both case and the system working away beneath it, how those faces reveal their true thoughts, L.A. Noire pulls the proverbial rug out from under you. Whether you walked away with five stars or two at the close of an investigation, whether you sent a father with a quick temper or a legitimate pest to their fate, it’s all for naught as the game delivers a thunderous full stop to Phelps’ homicide career.
Being wrong is, actually, part of being right all along. Phelps receives another promotion, of sorts, perhaps more of a sideways step, into the vice department. And the player – by which I mean me, on this return to a game I barely remember the first time (beyond one multi-fail chase sequence that I’ve not reached yet; but you can skip the action-orientated bits you suck at, if you really must) – comes to terms, thanks to clear in-game acknowledgement that not everything here is quite as black and white as you might’ve thought, with the fact that it’s okay to mess up. To rub your captain up the wrong way. To chuck an innocent man in the slammer.
Because that’s life, isn’t it? You make wrong decisions, all the time – and even when you’re on a roll of good fortune, it can add up to absolutely nothing of lasting significance. Maybe you aced that job interview, but guess what – now the position’s been filled by an internal promotion. L.A. Noire simulates what it’s like to be human in high-pressure situations with surprising aplomb: some you win, some you lose. But on balance, somebody will probably come along to make the whole shebang a futile exercise anyway.
Old classic Battlezone 2, originally released by Pandemic Studios in 1999 for PC, is getting the remake treatment.
Battlezone Combat Commander has been unveiled by Rebellion, the studio responsible for publishing the remake.
The game will feature new visuals and cross-play online multiplayer (for up to 14 players) between GOG and Steam, plus mod support and cloud saving – all the bells and whistles. It’s looking pretty slick in the trailer below.
The game is being developed by Big Boat Interactive, the studio that was also responsible for Battlezone 98 Redux.
The game is due to release at some point in 2018. In the meantime you can sign up to be a part of the game’s beta, which will let you test out the game ahead of its launch.
For those who haven’t played the game before, here’s the plot, straight from the press release:
A mysterious alien force threatens humanity itself. In this galaxy-wide war, you are in command of the resistance. Leading from the front, you take to the battlefield in thrilling first-person combat, piloting futuristic, customizable war machines including hover-tanks, colossal mech walkers, lightning-fast mortar-bikes and more.
The most recent Battlezone game to see a release was Battlezone VR, available at the launch of PlayStation VR. It’s interesting to see this series quietly come back the way it has.
Hopefully we’ll have a more definitive release period soon.
We’ll get our first proper look at the second map PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds during the annual Game Awards next month.
The Game Awards, hosted by Geoff Keighley, are known for unveiling a few first-look exclusives in among all the awards and music acts (last year we got Run the Jewels, and it was pretty cool, despite some aggressively terrible mixing).
Now, thanks to Keighley’s Twitter account, we know one of the exclusive looks we’ll get this year. The new map for PUBG will be unveiled with a gameplay demonstration.
On December 7, the Game Awards will show you where you’ll eat your next chicken dinner (which they’ll hopefully pair with a cool pint of beer, considering how arid it’s probably going to be out there).
We’ve gotten little glimpses of the map, including this lovely overhead shot of a major town, but this is the first time we’ll see people actually playing in it.
PUBG recently received a 1.0 test patch, and is gearing up to leave Early Access soon. It’s been a big year for the game – it has racked up a phenomenal 20 million sales already.
The Game Awards will air on December 7, at 5:30 pm PST / 8:30 pm EST. You’ll be able to watch the whole thing on YouTube.
We hope you didn’t have major Destiny plans for Friday morning, Guardians.
UPDATE: This downtime was originally announced for Thursday November 30, but it has been delayed until Friday December 1 at the exact same time. This piece has been updated to reflect this.
Destiny 2 has been had quite a few periods of downtime since it started, although typically they do not last long – this might be one of the lengthier periods.
Bungie has announced that this down time will run from 8am Pacific on Friday, December 1 until 2pm on the same day. If you’re playing the game at 8am, you’ll be able to keep playing until 9am. After that, all players will be booted to the main screen, so don’t plan any big activities.
As always, if you need a Destiny fix during that time, why not spend it reading through our Destiny 2 guide? It’s the next best thing to playing the game.
Hopefully Destiny 2 services will return smoothly at the appointed time.
The new Destiny 2 Ghost Skill for the Amazon Alexa will let you chat to Ghost in-game, throwing commands and questions its way.
The Amazon Alexa now has a skill that will let you talk to Ghost, with Alexa as an intermediary, while playing Destiny 2. For example, if you issue the command ‘Alexa, ask Ghost to equip my most powerful weapon’, Ghost will do so.
The sales page promises that you’ll now have an easier time managing your items and switching between them on the fly, although for many huge Destiny fans the main appeal might just be talking to Ghost. It’s perhaps not as helpful as, say, our huge Destiny 2 guide, but it’s still pretty neat.
This skill can be used with any Alexa-enabled device, but if you really want the full ‘chat to Ghost’ experience, there’s also a Ghost-shaped speaker available for purchase. The Ghost still needs an Alexa-capable device to pair with, but if you do so you can hear Nolan North’s voice piping out of it.
The Ghost speaker will not launch until December 19, making it a primo Christmas gift for the huge Destiny fan in your life.
Starts Mystic Messenger and end up on Jaehee’s route with our complete walkthrough.
This Mystic Messenger guide page provides a walkthrough from the Prologue through to Day 4, giving the correct answers to obtain Jaehee’s route at the character branch after the four shared days.
Jaehee is only available in Mystic Messenger’s Casual Story mode. If you’re playing Deep or Another Story, you can’t catch her.
As usual for our Mystic Messenger route get walkthroughs, we’re only listing the chats where you earn hearts for your target – in this instance, Jaehee. You should participate in more chats than these, aiming for a participation score of at least 50%. In any chat where Jaehee is not present, your strategy should be to favour Jumin and 707, as these are “safe” hearts that can’t push you onto a different character route, and when that’s not possible, to alternate between Zen and Yoosung to avoid earning too many hearts from either of them.
That said, Mystic Messenger is designed so that you the characters play off against each other round robin style, so as long as you always favour Jaehee and don’t miss too many of her chats, she’ll come out on top with the answers we’ve provided below.
