Month: February 2019

Microsoft has made Crackdown free on the Xbox Live marketplace, allowing you to download the game on Xbox 360 or Xbox One. With Crackdown 3 right around the corner, it’s a good opportunity to see how the series originated.

In Microsoft’s announcement of the deal, there was no word whether or not the game would be free forever or for a limited time. However, as the deal is to “celebrate the launch of Crackdown 3” it’s probably best to act on this offer prior to Crackdown 3’s release.

When we got the chance to check out Crackdown 3, we thought it’s single-player was a little too much like the original game. Despite the 12 year difference in release dates, Crackdown 3’s campaign looks and plays just like the first title in the series. However, Crackdown 3’s multiplayer is fantastic, and made an incredible first impression that completely overshadowed the single-player gameplay.

Crackdown 3 is one of three major February PC releases that isn’t releasing on Steam. A Microsoft first-party exclusive, Crackdown 3 is releasing on the company’s store. Also this month, BioWare’s multiplayer-focused shooter Anthem is launching on Origin, while 4A Games’ post-apocalyptic RPG Metro Exodus is exclusive to the Epic Games Store. Of the three, Exodus has proven to be the most controversial, with Valve calling the game’s move to Epic to be “unfair” for players, and Steam users review bombing both Metro 2033 and Metro: Last Light in response to the exclusivity.

The original Crackdown is available for Xbox 360 and PC, and can be played on Xbox One with X-Enhancement via backwards compatibility–along with a long list of other games. Crackdown 3 is scheduled to launch for Xbox One and PC on February 15.

In our Crackdown review, Jeff Gerstmann gave the game a 7.8/10, writing, “Crackdown feels unfinished. It feels like the developers sat down and crafted a wonderful-looking city and carefully considered how the gameplay and abilities should work, and then they didn’t have enough time to plug in enough activities to take advantage of it all. While you’ll certainly have a lot of fun playing Crackdown, it’s hard not to get the distinct feeling that it was on the cusp of being so much more.”

Crackdown 3 is finally actually arriving, but you can try out the Wrecking Zone multiplayer a little early by taking part in a technical test. It will begin on Thursday, February 7 at 12 PM PT / 3 PM ET.

According to the announcement, the test will be exclusive to Xbox Insiders. Players will try out the Agent Hunter game mode, which involves taking down rival agents and stealing their badges for points. The Blackout Zone map will be the one used for this test. If you’re in the program you can begin installing at 9 AM PT / 12 PM ET. Other playtests throughout the weekend will be announced through the Xbox Insider hub, as well as on Discord and on game’s Facebook and Twitter.

If you’re not an Xbox Insider, membership is free so you can join whenever you’d like. You just have to download the Xbox Insider Hub from the storefront on your Xbox One, and then go to the Insider Content section and download “Wrecking Zone: Technical Test.” That will give you access to the test, and Microsoft encourages users to leave feedback.

The company says that the Wrecking Zone multiplayer uses its Azure Cloud service, which is part of why it’s putting the mode through its paces this way. We came away impressed by Crackdown 3’s multiplayer, finding it overshadowed even its single-player offering. If you’re a subscriber to Game Pass, you’ll have access to Crackdown 3 on its release day, February 15–along with a raft of other games this month. A new launch trailer (above) shows off some of what’s in store.

With no pre-release marketing whatsoever (unless you count the leaks), EA and Respawn both announced and released a brand-new game earlier this week, Apex Legends. It’s a battle royale game spin-off of sorts from the Titanfall series, and early impressions of it have been positive. Being free-to-play on PS4, Xbox One, and PC means that most anyone can jump in. But maybe battle royale isn’t your thing. Or perhaps using the weapons from Titanfall has, like me, gotten you thinking about that series. Whatever the case, if you’ve gotten the urge to jump back into a proper Titanfall game, you can do so for awfully cheap right now on Xbox One.

As part of this week’s Xbox Live sale, you can pick up Titanfall 2: Ultimate Edition for just $4.50/£3.75. That’s a steep discount of 85% off the regular price, and a mere pittance for such a terrific game. It’ll be available for that price through February 11 with or without Xbox Live Gold (though you’ll need it in order to play online multiplayer). This Ultimate Edition comes with some extra perks to give you a head start on progression and some cosmetics in multiplayer.

Titanfall 2 was released back in October 2016 and faced somewhat of an uphill battle to garner attention, due to stiff competition launching that fall. But it was nonetheless a genuinely excellent game, expanding on its predecessor in intelligent ways while still providing the fluid, fast-paced gameplay it was known for. There are few, if any, games that can deliver the same kind of thrills as Titanfall 2. It’s not uncommon to parkour through the environment, leap into your titan, and take out an enemy all in one intense sequence, or to rip the pilot out of a titan using your own and then soar through the air as you eject, causing a massive explosion. It’s great.

Titanfall 2 also features two notable elements absent from Apex Legends–the titular titans and the ability to wallrun–as well as a surprisingly enjoyable single-player campaign. While short, for just a few bucks, the story mode is worth the price of admission on its own.

This great deal is unfortunately only available on Xbox One, and not PS4 or PC. Bear in mind, Titanfall is 2 is available for free to EA Access subscribers on Xbox One and Origin Access subscribers on PC, so you do potentially have an avenue to play it for relatively cheap on those platforms. An equivalent PS4 service is not yet available, although comments made by EA this week may have teased that a PS4 version of EA Access is finally on the way. And although Respawn has said Titanfall 3 is not currently in the works, a new “premium” Titanfall game of some sort is on the way.

The eighth and final season of Game of Thrones is now only two months away, and while we are yet to see a full trailer, a new batch of images has been released by HBO. Unsurprisingly, the photos don’t give much away, but it does show all of the main characters and will get fans excited for the upcoming season.

There are 14 images in all, and if nothing else, it’s a handy way to remind viewers exactly who is still alive as we go into Season 8. So there’s Cersei Lannister (Lena Headey), Arya Stark (Maisie Williams), Tyrion Lannister (Peter Dinklage), Sansa Stark (Sophie Turner), Daenerys Targaryen (Emilia Clarke), Jon Snow (Kit Harrington), Jaime Lannister (Nikolaj Coster-Waldau), Brienne of Tarth (Gwendoline Christie), Bran Stark (Isaac Hempstead Wright), Samwell Tarly (John Bradley), Samwell Tarly (John Bradley), Varys (Conleth Hill), and Davos Seaworth (Liam Cunningham). Check them out below:

Although the full trailer for the next season is yet to be released, a cryptic first teaser was released last month. It didn’t contain any actual footage, but it did hint at the fates of members of the Stark family. We also know the final battle in the new season is the largest in the entire series, and most brutal as well. It premieres on HBO on April 14.

Although Game of Thrones is nearing the end, there is a prequel spin-off on the way. X-Men: First Class’ Jane Goldman will serve as showrunner and has developed the story with George RR Martin, who wrote the original novels. This week it was revealed that the show will start filming early this summer.

While it’s yet to receive an official title, Martin suggested last year that it would be called The Long Night. He subsequently walked that back, perhaps due to pressure from HBO that didn’t want that name shared yet. In any event, it does provide some insight into what to expect. It is expected to premiere in 2020 or 2021.

Despite being members of the Justice League alongside one another, Bruce Wayne and Barry Allen aren’t exactly the characters you’d expect to team up. It’s not that they don’t have a healthy working relationship–they’ve saved the world together more times than anyone could really count–but at the end of the day, they’re just very different people. Anyone who’s seen an episode of The Flash and watched one of the many, many Batman-centric films out there in the universe could tell you that.

But the truth of the matter is, the dynamic between Batman and The Flash over in their comic book incarnations is fraught with a lot more complexity than the boiled down versions we see on screen–and that’s exactly what the four-issue mini series, The Price, by Joshua Williamson, Guillem March, and Rafa Sandoval, explores.

“When you think about characters in the League, characters like Bruce and Clark have this relationship that’s explored, or Clark and Diana, or Bruce and Diana. Barry has this relationship with Hal Jordan that’s well known–but we’ve never really explored the idea of Bruce and Barry who are like these two guys that are like nerdy science friends. They’re detective bros, right?” Writer Josh Williamson explained in an interview with GameSpot. “For a really long time, Barry didn’t have someone he could talk about [his forensic work] with. Barry is very much this like, nerdy awkward guy and Bruce is this suave cool guy but underneath that they have this connection. They have this understanding for each other as scientists and as detectives.”

That connection is specifically important, since the case currently holding their attention is not only incredibly disturbing–it’s deeply personal. In the Heroes In Crisis event series, a mass murderer targeted Sanctuary, a secret mental health facility for superheroes. One of the victims was, unfortunately, Wally West–Barry’s protege and close friend of Dick Grayson, Batman’s protege. As if the murder itself weren’t horrifying enough, the Justice League still has no real idea who was responsible or why which, on top of being grieving friends and guardians, is arguably the worst position a pair of detectives could be in.

Worse yet? Wally’s stay at Sanctuary was Bruce’s idea. There’s a certain amount of unspoken blame floating between the two heroes as Barry forces himself to reconcile Wally’s death with Bruce’s advice and Bruce is forced to stomach the guilt and responsibility for the part he played.

Yeah, it’s messy–and people like Barry and Bruce tend to take messiness to a whole new level. They may be superheroes, but neither of them are well known for their healthy coping mechanisms.

So of course, the pressure of those circumstances–the grief, the frustration, the need to solve the mystery–is starting to weigh on both Barry and Bruce’s shoulders. “There’s this growing tension between them,” Williamson said. “They’re two people who are good friends, who understand each other, but they’re both feeling so burnt out and worn down by all of this. […] It’s about not only about solving the case, it’s about solving the friendship.”

That level of interpersonal struggle is where The Price really sets itself apart. It departs, largely, from the formulaic superhero conflict that is ultimately resolved by punching, and digs into the emotional stakes at hand. Is there a place for grief and self-care in the realm of people who have to save the world daily? Can someone like The Flash ever take a break, sort himself out, and come back with fresh eyes? Is Batman ever allowed to stop and refocus?

Obviously, there are no clear right or wrong answers, making the story that much more engaging. Sure, there’s a villain–there is an immediate concern. “Stopping [a villain] is obviously the chief concern,” Williamson said, “but it becomes about what’s after that. The question becomes, okay, if we stop [the villain], what do we do with them? Whose responsibility are they?”

Thankfully, the heaviness of the theme doesn’t weigh the story down any more than it needs to–thanks, in part, to artists Sandoval and March alongside colorist Tomeu Morey, who help bring a cohesive energy and life to the forefront. The Price takes place in four issues, alternating between Batman #64 and #65 and The Flash #64 and #65 with March handling the former and Sandoval on the latter. “They make such great storytelling choices,” Williamson explained, “by the end of the process, we were actually going through and striking lines of dialogue. The art just worked better to make the point.”

The Price is a perfect story for anyone looking to dig a little deeper into the minds of their favorite heroes–whether they’re fans of the live action Barry on CW’s The Flash looking for more to read between episodes, or long-time fans of the DCU who have lapsed in their reading. It doesn’t take much prerequisite work–pick up the trade paperbacks for The Button (conveniently available on Comixology Unlimited), Flash War, and catch up with the currently ongoing Heroes in Crisis event if you’re looking to be a completionist; or hop right in with The Price part 1 in Batman #64.

Now that February is underway, Sony has revealed last month’s best-selling PS4 games on PSN in the US and Europe. January saw the release of two of this year’s most anticipated titles, Capcom’s Resident Evil 2 remake and Square Enix’s Kingdom Hearts 3, and each one unsurprisingly charted highly on both sides of the pond.

Kingdom Hearts 3 was the most-downloaded PS4 game in the US in January, with Resident Evil 2 taking the runner-up spot. The survival horror game proved to be even more popular across the Atlantic; it was Europe’s best-selling PSN game for January, while Kingdom Hearts debuted at No. 6.

The rest of the chart was made up largely of the usual suspects, including Rockstar’s perennial hit Grand Theft Auto V, which continues to sell astoundingly well despite its age; the game was No. 2 and No. 3 in Europe and the US, respectively. Call of Duty: Black Ops 4 took the No. 4 spot in the US, while PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds, which made its PS4 debut in December, was No. 5 in Europe and No. 6 in the US.

Sony also revealed PSN’s best-selling PSVR titles of January. The VR rhythm game Beat Saber topped the chart on both sides of the Atlantic, but the remainder of the list was almost entirely different in each region. Job Simulator and PlayStation VR Worlds came in No. 2 and No. 3 in the US, while Astro Bot: Rescue Mission and Creed: Rise to Glory made up the rest of Europe’s top three.

You can see PSN’s top 10 best-selling PS4 games in the US and Europe for January 2019 below. The full list for each region can be found on the US and European PlayStation Blogs.

US’s Top 10 PS4 Games On PSN For January 2019

1. Kingdom Hearts 3
2. Resident Evil 2
3. Grand Theft Auto V
4. Call of Duty: Black Ops 4
5. Madden NFL 19
6. PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds
7. Red Dead Redemption 2
8. FIFA 19
9. Minecraft
10. Battlefield V

Europe’s Top 10 PS4 Games On PSN For January 2019

1. Resident Evil 2
2. Grand Theft Auto V
3. FIFA 19
4. Need for Speed Payback
5. PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds
6. Kingdom Hearts 3
7. The Sims 4: Deluxe Party Edition
8. The Forest
9. Rocket League
10. Battlefield V

You need a javascript enabled browser to watch videos.

Please use a html5 video capable browser to watch videos.

This video has an invalid file format.

Sorry, but you can’t access this content!

All the clues are hiding in plain sight.

In early 2018, Fox announced a deal with WWE to get the TV rights to its Tuesday night programming, Smackdown Live. The agreement, which cost Fox a reported $1 billion for five years, will kick off this October, but one question WWE fans have had was, “Will Smackdown continue to air live?”

There is official confirmation now about the fate of Smackdown in late 2019. “It’s live, and what’s remarkable [is] these are people that know their audience,” Fox Entertainment CEO Charlie Collier explained during the Fox executive session at the Television Critics Association press tour. “They’re great storytellers and I think it fits beautifully with what we’re doing.”

While Smackdown is coming to Fox, there is more WWE content planned for this new partnership, treating wrestling more as a sport than a weekly, episode TV series. “The Fox sports networks, FS1, and others, will have some other wrestling–not live Smackdown, not Raw, but other ties to the WWE world.”

As to what programming Fox plans on delving into is a mystery at this point, but considering FS1’s current content, it’s reasonable to speculate that there will be recap shows as well as talking head series where we get an editorial experience about WWE programming, something the WWE Network has attempted to deliver.

Currently, Smackdown is airing on Tuesday evenings on USA, and the stories are all pointing to the biggest event of the year, Wrestlemania. WWE’s premiere PPV will be coming to the WWE Network on Sunday, April 7, as well as through cable and satellite providers.

I adore Crash Team Racing; it was one of my favorite games growing up and it still is to this day. I remember every course, item, and shortcut from the original. And even after all these years, I can still compete against some of my best lap times. I firmly believe that CTR is the best kart racer of all time, and after playing a few hours of Crash Team Racing Nitro-Fueled, I can say with most certainty, that there’s nothing to worry about about.

Nitro-Fueled’s presentation is incredible. The three tracks I got to play–Crash Cove, Polar Pass, and Dingo Canyon–all looked great. There’s so much new detail that developer Beenox has packed into the remake, not only on the tracks themselves, but particularly in the backgrounds. In Polar Pass, for example, I noticed bears climbing banners while a train chugged along just above the raceway. Details like this added new life to classic tracks, elevating their presentation past the original.

Each character has their own unique set of animations for jumping and celebrating, too. Some character exclamations and taunts have also been re-recorded, while entirely new ones have been added to the roster. Dr. Neo Cortex has never seemed more like a bumbling maniacal mad scientist than he appears and sounds here. Speaking of which, sound design has also experienced an upgrade; missiles whizzing past my ears to an exhilarating effect, and the potions I threw ahead at my competitors landed with a satisfying splash. And of course, hearing the re-recorded title theme music hit me with a wave of nostalgia.

As for replicating the overall feel, the CTR remaster seems to be honoring the original–for the most part. From the moment I picked up the controller, I was tapping the X button to charge my initial boost out of the gate, and immediately went into lining up the angle to get the perfect powerslide around the next corner. It certainly plays just like it used to: you start sliding, charge your turbo, and hit L1 to boost up to three times. The longer you let it charge, the longer your boost goes. However, the length of time that a boost lasts has been shortened, which is particularly noticeable on long, straight lanes without turns. On Crash Cove, for example, it used to be easy to keep your boost going in the final stretch using the turbo pads, but in Nitro-Fueled, this once useful strategy has been nerfed.

Coming out of your drift also felt a bit off as well as if the turning radius after boosting had been adjusted. I’m not entirely positive if it’s a matter of how far or quickly you turn, but it led to a couple of cases where I accidentally boosted off the ledge or into a wall because my angle was off. I’d need to test this mechanic more before confirming it to be an actual issue. What I played was still an early build, so there’s always room to fine-tune everything if my suspicions turn out true. Worst case scenario, it just means I need slightly adjust how I approach those turns.

Minor control issues and changes aside, what I played of Nitro-Fueled still exceeded my expectations. I can’t wait to pick it up and feel the rush of competition again. The updated visuals and sound were more than enough to trigger a deep yearning in me to jump back in. If Nitro-Fueled meets the high quality met by both Crash Bandicoot N-Sane Trilogy and Spyro Reignited Trilogy, then this just might be one of my favorites this year. However, if Nitrous Oxide is still a dirty cheater after all these years, I’m going to lose it.