Month: March 2018

Tomb Raider’s Movie Ending Explained

The Tomb Raider franchise has finally returned to the big screen after fifteen years, and while the new film ties up its loose ends nicely, the ending itself might have left you with a few questions. Let’s break down those final few minutes of Tomb Raider. Oh, and if you haven’t seen the movie yet, look away! There are major ending spoilers ahead!

After raiding a tomb and taking down Walton Goggins’ character, Mathias Vogel, by jamming a cursed mummy finger down his throat and then dropping him down a pit (hey, this is a video game movie!), Lara escapes from the island of Yamatai and heads back to her home thinking she probably saved the world from Himiko’s evil ancient deadly virus curse thing. She reconnects with the mysterious Ana Miller – played by Kristin Scott Thomas – at Croft’s corporate headquarters, where Ana tries to get Lara to do the one thing she’s wanted her to do for the entire film: sign paperwork.

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Tomb Raider: 7 Biggest Differences Between the Games and New Movie

The newest iteration of Lara Croft’s origin story, Tomb Raider, borrows heavily from the 2013 video game reboot but severely deviates from its story, characters, and, surprisingly, Lara. In the movie, Lara embarks on her first adventure in search of her missing father. She uncovers the secrets of Yamatai, Himiko, and learns more about her family.

Below are seven of the biggest changes that were made when the new Tomb Raider made the transition from video game to movie.

Warning! Complete spoilers for Tomb Raider (2013) and Tomb Raider (2018) follow.

Lara largely grew up without her father in the video game. Ana, an agent of Trinity, was tasked with getting close to and murdering Lord Richard Croft. She grows too attached to the Croft family and another Trinity agent is assigned to finish the job. Lord Croft’s death is made to look like he committed suicide. Following the incident, family friend Conrad Roth took Lara in his care and she was estranged from the estate that point forward. In the movie, her father was seemingly absent for most of her childhood while he looked for Himiko’s secrets. Lara is assumed to have been under Ana’s care.

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Tomb Raider’s 8 Biggest WTF Questions

Full spoilers for Tomb Raider continue below! Make sure to check out IGN’s review.

Warner Bros.’s Tomb Raider, an adaptation of the 2013 Square Enix game, might be based on a source material we know and love, but that doesn’t mean we weren’t left scratching our heads over a few key plot points.

Here are the eight biggest WTF questions we had after watching the much anticipated new adventure for Lara Croft, starting with …

The big plot twist in Tomb Raider hinges around the reveal that Lara’s father Richard is actually still alive on Yamatai despite Mathias Vogel saying he killed him. But wouldn’t Mathias be the first person to know Richard didn’t die? Or wouldn’t he at least have checked to make sure this person who solely could help him find Himiko’s tomb is really dead?

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Fortnite’s Invite-Only iOS Version Is Already No. 1 On The App Store

Fortnite‘s popularity continues to rise. The mobile edition of the super-popular battle royale game launched today on iOS through an invite-only beta, and it’s already topping the charts.

The mobile version is currently sitting at the top of the Free Apps chart for games on the App Store. It’s a remarkable achievement considering you need an invite to get in. It’s not immediately clear if this is the first time an invite-only game has reached No. 1.

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The first invitations to the Fortnite iOS beta started going out today, March 16, and more people will be added in the coming days. An Android version is also in the works, but it’s coming later, and Epic has not said if there will be a beta for this version or not.

We tried out the mobile version and found that it’s pretty much the same game as on console and PC. You can see gameplay from a full match on iOS right here. In addition, the mobile edition will support optional cross-play with other platforms.

Meanwhile, a new 3.3 update has launched for the console and PC game that adds a new item, remote explosives, and more. Additionally, an update is launching tomorrow on PC that fixes a crash scenario. The game’s popularity got another jolt this week when famous rapper Drake played the game during a record-breaking Twitch stream.

Far Cry 5 Has Microtransactions, Campaign Is Playable Offline

With Far Cry 5‘s much-anticipated release coming up soon, we’ve now learned a little bit more about the game and some of its features. Publisher Ubisoft confirmed to GameSpot today two key particulars about the game regarding microtransactions and whether or not you will need an internet connection to play the campaign.

As with many other games, including previous Ubisoft games, Far Cry 5 will offer microtransactions. Executive producer Dan Hay stressed that the game will be generous in what it offers, though if you want to speed up your progress by spending money, you’ll have that option. “We’ve set the game up to be generous,” Hay said. “We’ve set the game up so…nothing is locked [away]. You can go out and explore, and the game will reward you for your exploration.”

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Ubisoft PR followed up to offer a full statement on Far Cry 5’s microtransactions, saying they will allow players to speed up their progress. It remains to be seen exactly how this will work, but looking at another recent Ubisoft game, Assassin’s Creed Origins, may give us some clues. That game offers “Time Saver Packs” that include items or packs of in-game currency that you can then spend to speed up your progress. They are totally optional, and can be unlocked through normal gameplay. It is possible that Far Cry 5 will offer something similar.

Far Cry 5’s microtransactions will be available for single-player and co-op, and apparently head-to-head multiplayer as well. It’ll probably make gamers happy to learn that all of Far Cry 5’s microtransaction items are cosmetic only; they do not affect gameplay.

Also in our interview, Ubisoft confirmed that Far Cry 5’s full campaign will be playable offline. Of course, if you want to play in co-op or are interested in checking out the game’s online components, you will need an internet connection. You would expect to be able to play a campaign offline, but not all games allow you to. For example, Bungie’s Destiny 2 requires a constant internet connection, even when playing solo.

We will have lots more from our interview with Dan Hay in the days ahead, covering many other topics, but notably the conception and creepy charisma of the game’s main cult leader antagonist, Joseph Seed. We also asked Hay about Far Cry 5’s impressive- and deep-looking map-editing tools. Far Cry 5 launches on PS4, Xbox One, and PC on March 27.

In other news, Ubisoft recently announced Far Cry 5’s Season Pass, and it takes players to places like Mars and the Vietnam War.

Arrow Villain Richard Dragon Explained

Warning: This article contains spoilers for recent episodes of Arrow!

Not everyone needs superhuman powers to stay competitive in the DC Universe. For a select few, it’s enough simply to be very smart and very good at martial arts. And if there’s anyone who can give Batman a run for his money in that department, it’s Richard Dragon.

With Dragon playing a pivotal role in Arrow: Season 6 lately (in the form of Kirk Acevedo’s Ricardo “The Dragon” Diaz), we figured now would be a good time to break down the character’s comic book history and how a benevolent teacher became a bloodthirsty crime lord.

Even in a world full of martial artist superheroes like Batman and Nightwing, Richard Dragon is widely regarded as one of the greatest fighters alive. This elite warrior rose up from humble origins to become a master of both martial arts and philosophy.  But while he once used his skills to directly battle evil, he generally prefers to keep a low profile and serve as a teacher to other promising martial artists. He’s responsible for helping train everyone from The Question to Huntress to original Batgirl Barbara Gordon.

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Did the Riddler Get His Groove Back on This Week’s Gotham?

Warning: Full spoilers for the episode below.

“Reunion” kicked things off by irking me a bit – after Ivy decided to go to Bullock’s place of work rather than his home to kill him (and didn’t just go right to his home after he wasn’t at the bar) and then Harvey stormed off to track down Ivy alone after he and Jim had both just discovered the exact apartment she was hiding in (so why did he need to ask his contacts?) – but things came around by the end. Mostly.

Ivy’s plot was rather rudimentary by Gotham standards. It wasn’t anything we hadn’t seen before. A few mass murders. A tape sent to the news. A public ambush of a charity gala. Overall, I still wish we weren’t two actresses removed from the original Ivy. This is a character who goes back to the pilot episode, and “Reunion” involved her trying to get revenge for her dad’s death, but Peyton List just doesn’t feel connected to anyone.

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Amazon’s Man in the High Castle Isn’t Attracting Enough New Members

Making prestige television in today’s market requires large amounts of cash, but with streaming services like Netflix and Amazon staying tight-lipped about production and marketing costs, it’s difficult to know exactly how much these shows cost. Thankfully, a recent study has shed new light on just how much companies are willing to invest in a flagship series.

In a report from Reuters, which claims to have internal documents from Amazon that reveal not only production and marketing costs, but also the strategy Amazon uses to determine whether or not a show is successful. It’s called the “cost per first stream” approach, which analyzes the viewing habits of new Prime subscribers. The data reveals that Man in the High Castle Season 2 cost around $107 million to produce. That’s a large sum and it’s not paying off the way the company would like it to.

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