Month: March 2020

Leigh Whannell is currently enjoying the success of his new film, The Invisible Man, which opened at the top of the US box office and has reviewed well. The director and writer, who has just signed on to create more horror films for Blumhouse, is also instrumental in one of the most important horror franchises of the 2000s–he wrote and starred in the original Saw, and then wrote Saw II and III as well.

In an interview with Fandom, Whannell has reflected on the Saw films–particularly the first one–and recalls that he and director James Wan had lower aspirations than you might expect. “We never intended that movie to connect with people the way it did,” he says. “Our goal was to make a straight-to-video film. This was 2003. Video stores were still a thing.” Whannell says that he and Wan were big fans of video stores, and that they thought “it would really be cool if we could land in Blockbuster on that shelf.”

Saw went on to gross over $100 million worldwide on a budget of $1.2 million, and the series continued to expand from there. Whannell’s last writing credit for the series was on Saw III, which ends with the brutal death of Jigsaw, the serial killer behind the film’s murders. “The last Saw movie I wrote was the third one and I killed the villain,” Whannell recalls. “Doesn’t get more definitive than that. He’s dead!”

But, of course, the series continued on after this, despite Whannell stepping away from writing them. “They came to me and said ‘Let’s get into it. Let’s do Part 4!’ And I said ‘No, I think we’re done here.’ And they said ‘No, we’re not done but thanks for your time!’”

Whannell says that he feels that they created a sort-of “millennial Freddy Krueger,” as although Jigsaw’s death was never reversed, he continued to be a part of the series from beyond the grave. “In the same way I used to go to sleepovers in my teens and watch Freddy movies, millennial kids were doing that with Saw movies. I still have people come up to me and go ‘When I was a kid I grew up on Saw movies.’ So that’s pretty cool.”

A new movie in the Saw franchise, Spiral: From the Book of Saw, will release May 15, 2020. It will be the ninth film in the series. It has, by far, the most famous cast of any film in the franchise–it’s is written by and stars Chris Rock alongside Samuel L. Jackson. Whannell is attached as a producer.

Tobin Bell, who played Jigsaw in the other eight movies, is not credited as appearing in Spiral–so if he does, it will be a surprise.

GameSpot may get a commission from retail offers.

Trigger warning: This story references sexual assault

Almost Family has been cancelled by Fox after wrapping its first 13-episode season on February 22, according to the Hollywood Reporter. With low ratings across its run and a lukewarm reception from critics, it’s unlikely to be missed.

The series follows the aftermath of a fertility doctor using his own sperm to conceive over 100 children with unsuspecting mothers. Three of the doctor’s daughters meet each other as half sisters as they struggle with the revelation and its consequences.

The Fox series faced some controversy about its subject matter, with one reviewer criticizing how “a disgusting crime is merely the backdrop for a quirky family drama.”

These problems were only compounded when allegations surfaced that series star Timothy Hutton raped a 14-year-old model in 1983, published in a Buzzfeed report on Monday. Hutton has emphatically denied these claims.

Almost Family is based on Australian show Sisters, which was picked up by Netflix after its run on local TV. While Sisters also only ran for a single season, it was much better received by critics than its American remake. Sisters is still available to stream on Netflix.

One of the industries impacted by the new virus COVID-19 is the film industry, which is expected to suffer massive losses as would-be moviegoers stay home instead of going to the cinema.

According to The Hollywood Reporter, the global box office will take a $5 billion hit due to the global virus. In 2019, movies collectively made $42.5 billion around the world, including an all-time record from international markets of $31.1 billion.

The COVID-19 virus has thus far spread to more than 90,000 cases worldwide, and has killed more than 3,000 people globally. Half of those who have been infected have recovered. The virus emerged in China, which is where the bulk of the cases and deaths have been reported.

Movie theatre chains in China have been closed since January, with some 70,000 theatres closing up due to concerns around the virus. China is the world’s second-largest movie market, only behind the United States. To put the impact of the virus on box office results into perspective, total box office results in China for the January 24-February 23 Chinese New Year period came to $4.2 million, which is down massively from $1.76 billion from the same period a year prior.

Box office results in other international markets experiencing significant virus outbreaks, including South Korea and Italy, have also tumbled.

“The atmosphere of fear is palpable,” a spokesperson for South Korea’s CGV movie chain told THR. “The situation is similar to what we’ve seen during the spread of swine flu in 2009 when there were 80,000 infected cases in Korea.”

Some movie distributors are cancelling promotional events due to the coronavirus, as the cast of No Time To Die will no longer appear at events in China. Additionally, the largest 007 fansite has called on the producers of the movie to delay the film due to the virus.

The full story at THR is incredibly in-depth, covering many angles and offering deep insight into the impact of the virus on the global movie market. Go read it.

The Nintendo Switch released three years ago on March 3 2017, and has proven extremely popular since. The system’s birthday isn’t being treated with too much fanfare, though–there’s a new system update available, but it doesn’t add a whole lot.

Update 9.2.0 is available now, and will download next time you try to use the Nintendo Eshop or other online services. It can also be downloaded manually from the System Update option in the System Settings menu. Here’s what has changed, according to the update notes: “General system stability improvements to enhance the user’s experience.”

Nintendo tends to release several such updates for the Nintendo Switch each year–don’t expect any major new features when you turn on your Switch next and see that the system’s ready for an update.

Here’s our list of the best games from the Switch’s first three years, which we continue to update as new great releases arrive. March 2020 is shaping up to be a huge month for the console too, with the release of both Pokemon Mystery Dungeon: Rescue Team DX and the much-anticipated Animal Crossing: New Horizons.

Please use a html5 video capable browser to watch videos.

This video has an invalid file format.

GameSpot may get a commission from retail offers.

There isn’t a lot of room for newcomers in the fighting game genre. Veteran franchises like Street Fighter, Tekken, Mortal Kombat, and Guilty Gear have dominated the space for years, so the new challengers that do choose to step into the ring usually have the backing of a popular license. Granblue Fantasy Versus is just that kind of rookie fighter; it’s based on a property that’s incredibly popular in Japan thanks to a successful mobile gacha (virtual capsule-toy vending machine) game with RPG hooks, but relatively unknown everywhere else. Versus is, for all intents and purposes, Granblue Fantasy’s debut on the world stage.

Developed by Arc System Works–known for excellent fighting game adaptations of Dragon Ball Z and Persona 4–Granblue Fantasy Versus has a strong core thanks to unorthodox gameplay mechanics that delicately balance depth with approachability, while introducing interesting new ideas of its own. The extra flourishes that serve as a nod to fans or aim to adhere to RPG roots whiff on occasion, but the experience as a whole holds its own thanks to the strength of its fundamentals.

ArcSys has made strides in improving the approachability of its anime fighters more with simpler inputs and easier-to-understand systems, but for Granblue Fantasy Versus, it has moved away from the breakneck pace, air-dashing-oriented, aggressive playstyle of anime fighters to something more traditional. As a ground-based fighting game, Versus has a much slower pace of play and places heavier focus on normals and special moves instead of partner assists and lengthy touch-of-death combos. In that respect, it can be likened more closely to Capcom fighting games such as Street Fighter. The emphasis is on timing and spacing your attacks properly to create opportunities for follow-ups or set up situations where you have an advantage, but not necessarily an almost guaranteed victory. At a higher level, it’s about footsies, precisely executed mixups, smart use of the universal overhead, and the occasional frame trap. For newcomers–of which there’s likely to be many, given the popularity of Granblue Fantasy–it’s much more stable ground to find footing. Fighting game veterans will naturally have an advantage, but for everyone else, the mountain doesn’t seem as steep to climb, so the idea of walking the path to mastery is much more inviting.

Auto-combos, a common mechanic in ArcSys games, have been included, which means that a complete newcomer can pick up a controller and press an attack button repeatedly to execute basic combos. These strings of attacks are effective, but limited in damage and applicability without the addition of special moves to a string.

And it’s here that Granblue Fantasy Versus starts to throw in unique ideas that make for interesting moment-to-moment fighting, but also embody the spirit of how an RPG is played. Special moves are executed in one of two ways, the first being a traditional combination of directional movements and button presses–a quarter-circle forward and attack will, in most cases, execute a projectile if a character has one, for example. However, there are also shortcuts mapped to buttons–you can pull off that same projectile attack with just the press of the R1 button. For every character, special moves are mapped to R1 or R1 plus a directional button. The added layer is, like in an RPG, each of these special moves goes on cooldown after being used, with the length of that cooldown being longer if you use the shortcut to execute it. This is ArcSys’ way of balancing out the system so that those who struggle with fighting game inputs can still do cool moves, but players that put in the work are also rewarded for their effort.

This system also creates a rather interesting meta-game that lends a degree of unpredictability to fights, especially at higher levels. In most traditional fighting games there are certain tells that provide a keen player with some indication of what is about to happen. Take a charge character like Street Fighter’s M. Bison, for example; if you see him shifting one way or another for too long, you know he might unleash a certain special move, and you can try to prepare your next move accordingly. That’s not the case in Granblue Fantasy Versus, however, since the shortcut commands can instantly execute special moves.

This means that diminutive knight Charlotta can go from walking towards you dragging an a-bit-too-big-for-her sword to launching herself in the air to deliver a crushing overhead blow without needing to charge down back first and give away what she’s about to do. And you’re left to react in an instant. Similarly, the terrifying behemoth Vaseraga might be a little less scary when he’s across the screen, but at any second he could come barreling at you to deliver a devastating shoulder check because of an instant input. The same can be said of every other special move in the game.

It sounds like a nightmare to deal with and, admittedly, it can be. But it also creates a really fascinating dynamic that hasn’t been explored much in the past. Games like Smash Bros. and Capcom Vs. SNK 2 EO also have these kinds of easy input options, but rarely has it factored into the way a game is played as meaningfully as it is in Granblue Fantasy Versus. The cooldown system layered on top of the shortcuts present strategic decision-making moments where you weigh up the pros and cons of using shortcuts versus having an ability temporarily taken out of play and how long it’s unavailable for. As with many aspects of fighting games, this early in the game’s life it’s difficult to pass a definitive judgment on the scope of the systems and mechanics, as the fighting game community often finds new and innovative ways to use techniques, but as it stands, the pieces fit together in a satisfying way even if the bigger picture isn’t fully visible.

Granblue Fantasy Versus has a robust and intricate set of fighting game mechanics that are easy to get a grasp of and offer plenty of depth to explore for those who keep digging

Granblue Fantasy Versus has a number of other familiar mechanics cherry-picked from across the genre’s history. Spot dodging lets attacks be side-stepped with the press of a button, while there are also multiple options for guarding. If directional inputs are used to manually guard high and low, as well as cross-ups, Just Defense is available with proper timing. However, if the dedicated guard button is used, it becomes possible to dash out–and through, in some cases–or dash back. The dedicated guard button also makes blocking cross-ups more consistent, but Just Defense becomes unavailable. Again, Granblue Fantasy Versus asks you to weigh up whether you want to take the easier approach at the cost of some advantages or put in the work for more of a payout. What I’ve enjoyed most is trying to get my head around using both at the right moment–engaging with the technical side of play when I feel confident, but then switching to the simpler options when I’m feeling overwhelmed or want to be safer. It’s kind of like being able to juggle with two balls, but then having a third thrown into the mix; I know how to do it, I just need to coordinate myself better to account for the new variable and get the timing down and the rhythm right. The process of trying to hone the skills needed to do that has been gratifying.

All this is to say that, fundamentally, Granblue Fantasy Versus has a robust and intricate set of fighting game mechanics that are easy to get a grasp of and offer plenty of depth to explore for those who keep digging. It’s a shame, then, that the game doesn’t leverage the intricately designed one-on-one gameplay for its RPG Quest mode, and instead relies on shallow button mashing. Functionally, this mode serves multiple purposes: It introduces those unfamiliar with the franchise to the world and its characters, tells its own unique story, and teaches you the basics of how to play. Sadly, it fails to do any of these in a satisfactory way, while also opting to diminish everything that actually makes it fun to play.

Battles in this mode look and feel more like the mobile RPG version of Granblue Fantasy, but it’s not turn-based. Instead, you have direct control over characters and must dispatch waves of incoming enemies in something that feels somewhere between a classic side-scrolling beat-em-up and Tekken’s Force Mode. However, the enemies present little to no challenge. They also have very little health, so they can usually be offed with a couple of heavy attacks. As a result, there’s little reason to use some of Granblue Fantasy Versus’ more interesting ideas. Sure, you can use special moves to combat enemies, but why do that when just spamming a single attack button gets the job done? Occasionally, boss characters appear, but they don’t force a change in approach–the all-out attack is the smartest and easiest thing to do most of the time.

Other members of the fighting game’s cast have been corrupted and led astray as part of the game’s story, and you encounter them on your journey. To snap them out of their stupor, you’ve got to give them a beating and, in these encounters, battles take the form of the typical one-on-one fight in Granblue Fantasy Versus. However, these characters are mostly there to be sandbagged so they can be added to your party. The unsatisfying gameplay makes the cliche, forgettable story about a bunch of sky pirates freeing their friends from evil and battling an evil empire even more tiresome to sit through. I really wanted to care about the characters; de facto protagonist Gran has a shounen anime look and charm that I’m partial to. Lowain is a very odd, free-spirited fella with cat ears that calls his mates into battle to take cheeky little shots, and he also summons Yggdrasil, a Primal Beast that’s basically a giant lady that bullies his enemies. Then there are archetypes like cool knight Lancelot and arrogant fire boy Percival. As someone who favors charge characters, I really took a shine to Charlotta, who is surprisingly vicious, given her small cutesy design. They all are visually appealing, but the story mode does absolutely nothing for them. Their characterisation is thin at best, in a story that bounces between obtuse and rote. And when the gameplay punctuating this is unrewarding, it’s hard to recommend sitting through it.

The RPG Quest mode is also where the Granblue Fantasy mobile game’s gacha elements appear. You unlock unique weapons for completing the main story quests, but you don’t get to actually use any of them. Instead, they all get thrown into what is effectively buckets, and their combined power then raises the attack attributes of your character. Enemies have elemental alignments, and using opposing ones will grant bonus damage, but manually crafting loadouts is time-consuming and unnecessary when an option to automate and optimize exists. There’s no real reason to overthink loadouts since elemental alignment is the only major factor at play, so allowing the game to simply put an ideal one together is the best course of action. Ultimately, the gacha elements end up being a throwaway novelty, instead of a valuable wrinkle to gameplay.

Granblue Fantasy Versus has a comprehensive suite of training missions that cover everything from basic moves and specials, to advance combos, strategies, and specific mixups. Any and all time spent there is more valuable than in the RPG Quest mode, especially since that’s what’ll be tested when you head online. Currently, the game’s servers aren’t as populated as they will be post-launch, but in the time we spent playing online the experience was generally smooth. Occasionally hitches can be attributed to matching up against players outside our local territory, but otherwise there haven’t been any disruptive network issues.

Granblue Fantasy Versus presents a set of systems that are distinct and unique without putting up unnecessary hurdles for those that are just here to get a Granblue fix. Arc System Works has cleverly meshed RPG and fighting game mechanics, and the way that manifests in the core one-on-one battles is really exciting. In other respects, namely the campaign story mode and its gacha stylings, it leaves a lot to be desired. In bringing Granblue to the wider world, Arc System Works hasn’t put its best foot forward, but Versus is definitely a game where you can come for the fantasy and stay for the fighting.