Month: October 2020

Dirt 5 Xbox Series X 4K Gameplay – Ice Drifting And Rally Racing

Dirt 5 is the next entry in the rally racing series and takes on a more arcade-sim hybrid style, which you can see here in our gameplay of it running on the Xbox Series X. We show off a few different race types from Dirt 5’s career mode, such as Icebreaker, Ultracross, and Land Rush. The career mode offers several styles of racing that require different types of vehicles as you progress through it. A podcasting duo also tells the story of your driver while in menus as you jump from one race to the next and build your reputation.

One thing to note is that this is a preview build and driver AI has not been properly tweaked yet. I was able to take first place in each race fairly easily with difficulty set to Very Hard, but we expect that to be tuned properly by the time it launches.

Dirt 5 has two enhancement options on the Xbox Series X. What you see in the video above is Image Quality mode, which prioritizes visuals and appears to be able to hit 60 FPS most of the time. However, there were some frame drops when dirt, snow, and other particle effects kicked up on screen. Frame Rate mode, of course, brings down visual quality to hit higher FPS more consistently–Dirt 5 is also one of the games that takes advantage of next-gen’s 120FPS capabilities.

More coverage of the next-gen consoles is on the way, but for now, enjoy Dirt 5 gameplay on the Xbox Series X or check out my earlier hands-on Xbox Series X preview.

Fear the Walking Dead Season 6 Premiere Review

Warning: Full spoilers for Fear the Walking Dead’s Season 6 premiere follow…

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Fear the Walking Dead opened its sixth season strong with a violent, hyper-focused Morgan “rebirth” story that got our crossover champ back in the (literal) saddle – and with a whole new look, purpose, and weapon.

Fear’s Season 5 experiment with mostly keeping its large ragtag ensemble apart (for narrative, but maybe also budgetary, reasons) and delivering character-specific episodes had both its ups and downs. The episodes were usually pretty good due to the spotlight, but the season, as a whole, suffered under the fragmentation.

Of course, story-wise, ensemble-wise, Fear is a far cry from what it was when it started. Heck, it even feels distant from what it was two years ago. Maybe that’s this show’s ultimate trick: to constantly shift and morph while The Walking Dead stays resolute in its stasis. Regardless, when talking about either show, we know Morgan Jones has been through it. The guy has experienced everything. He lost his family, he went full-blown mad, he tried to be a pacifist, he tried to be a terminator, and then he literally Forest Gump-ran from Virginia to Texas to start over with a new batch of bozos. My point is, it takes some special care to give us a Morgan adventure we kind of haven’t seen already.

“The End Is the Beginning” — where the title comes from some suspicious dudes tagging a large nuclear sub (and who are possibly after its payload key) — has its flaws, in that it only answers one of the character cliffhangers from the Season 5 finale (though, admittedly, the most important one), but it winds up putting Morgan through a solid pressure-cooker adventure that heals him, refreshes him, and sets him out as sort of a ghost of his previous identity. He’s finally found a place where he can bring everyone. One that’s safe and off the (and every) map. Now he just has to go rescue them all, while also handling Ginny. “Morgan Jones is dead,” he eerily tells her over the radio, “and you’re dealing with someone else now.”

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The bulk of “The End Is the Beginning” was about getting Morgan’s head right after failing fairly hard at the end of last season. How do you get this guy back on the “we’re not doing careful, we’re doing right” track that was the crux of the videos he and his team sent out all across Texas. Well, you do it by showing him how that message affected other people. One person, who we never even see (which is sort of cool), saves Morgan’s life after Ginny shoots him. Of course, the now-bearded Mr. Jones is still very much at death’s door, some time later, when the episode starts and walkers barely give him a second glance, but the point is that some altruistic citizen saved his bacon.

Then there’s Isaac, played by Michael Abbott Jr, who’s a former ranger in Ginny’s outfit who Morgan meets out on the road. Yup, he’s a previous villain whose heart opened wide after watching one of Morgan’s VHS tapes. Isaac, who’s oh-so-briefly an antagonist here, just wants to get back to his pregnant wife and sees Morgan, with his gangrene smell, as way past some walkers. And it turns out, the very sweaty Isaac is very sweaty for a good reason. He’s already been bit by the time he finds Morgan and just wants to be there for his wife. He’s a good single-episode character to have, as his story gives Morgan hope, perspective, and the motivation to “power up” and fight off walkers with one good arm. Also, Morgan made the decision to fight through those walkers so that Isaac didn’t have to take two more days to go around them before he knew Isaac was dying, so that was a nice touch.

Oh, but Isaac wasn’t the only new face this episode. Demetrius Grosse (The Rookie, Westworld) infused this premiere with some delicious villain vibes as a bounty hunter named Emile. Using a dog that can apparently track someone’s scent for an unheard of distance, Emile, like the It in It Follows, is guaranteed to find whoever he’s after. With a cowboy hat, an appreciation of beans, a vicious axe, and a love collecting dead heads we haven’t seen since The Governor, Emile was a pure pleasure to watch. Plus, mini arc-wise, Morgan went from willfully sparing Emile (by shooting him in the arm) to willfully ending him (with the swing of an axe). Now we’ve got a Morgan (donning Emile’s hat and trading in his staff for the axe) dead set on rescuing his friends and a pregnant Grace.

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Fear The Walking Dead Season 6 Premiere Fails To Fix Its Big Problem

When Lennie James’ character Morgan moved from The Walking Dead to Fear the Walking Dead, it essentially rebooted the show. Most of what was left of the Clarke family was dispatched of, and a slew of new characters to support Morgan were introduced. Whether or not you enjoy this new version of Fear the Walking Dead, it’s hard to ignore the fact that it’s a 100% different series.

Warning: The following contains spoilers for the Season 6 premiere episode of Fear the Walking Dead, titled “The End is the Beginning.” If you haven’t watched it yet, stop reading now.

Unfortunately for that show, this new series is far less interesting than what came before it. There’s no disputing the fact that Season 1 of Fear the Walking Dead was a very rough start. The show hadn’t figured out what it was going to be at that point and was on rocky ground, following a family from Los Angeles as the world crumbled around them. However, in the two seasons that followed, Fear became the better of the (at the time) two The Walking Dead shows. While the mothership series became less and less interesting–and continues to do so–Fear felt like a breath of fresh air.

At the heart of the series was Madison Clark (Kim Dickens), a strong female survivor that was, essentially, the Rick Grimes of this piece of The Walking Dead’s universe. She was fierce, she was dangerous, and she was loyal to her people. And then she was killed off without warning.

It began with the introduction of Morgan at the beginning of Season 4. With new showrunners Ian Goldberg and Andrew Chambliss taking over the series, it veered in a wildly new direction. By the halfway point in that season, Madison was dead, along with her son Nick, who was killed off a few episodes earlier. All that remains of the first seasons of the show are Madison’s daughter Alicia (Alycia Debnam-Carey), Nick’s girlfriend Luciana (Danay García), and Strand (Colman Domingo), a friend of Madison’s who was made after the apocalypse.

Since her death, Fear the Walking Dead has completely shifted over to becoming the Morgan show. While that was clearly the intention, fans of Fear the Walking Dead in the form it used to take can’t help but feeling left behind. This isn’t the series they signed up for.

Then, in the Season 5 finale, it looked like the show recognized the odd turn it had taken and was looking to correct the course. Morgan was shot and left for dead, leading many to think he wasn’t long for this world. A trailer for Season 6 released at San Diego Comic-Con revealed that while Morgan may not be dead yet, something was very wrong.

Now you’ve seen the Season 6 premiere and there is, indeed, something wrong. What’s wrong is that essentially nothing has happened to Morgan, other than the fact that he’s traded his walking stick for an ax. In the episode, Morgan is traced by a vicious ax-wielding bounty hunter and at one point seems to give up. After all, he’s lived a hard life and can’t seem to get a win.

If you’ve watched The Walking Dead at all, though, you should know that at this point Morgan is pretty much invincible. So, naturally, the episode ends with the bounty hunter beheaded. Morgan claims his ax and tells the villainous Virginia (Colby Minifie)–via walkie talkie–that the Morgan she knew is no more. He’s something else now.

While Season 6 of Fear the Walking Dead will see episodes that center on other survivors from the series, given that they were all separated at the end of Season 5, there’s a major problem facing the series. Fear the Walking Dead is unwilling to let Morgan go, even as the character weighs the show down.

It’s an unfortunate turn, as it also tarnishes the character’s legacy. Morgan was a fascinating character to trace on The Walking Dead. From meeting Rick Grimes while his son was still alive, to the mentally disturbed man encountered seasons later, to the full-fledged member of the group, his trajectory throughout the series was among the most heartbreaking of anyone.

Now, though, he’s overexposed and simply not that interesting–regardless of how badly Fear wants him to be the focal point.

The biggest problem with the Season 10 finale episode of the Walking Dead is that the stakes felt so low. With fans knowing the series is ending in Season 11, it seems impossible that any meaningful character will meet their end before then.

That’s the same problem Fear faces, but specifically with Morgan. He’s essentially been shown to be unkillable at this point. Even when shot in the chest and left to the zombies, he manages to walk away stronger and more determined. It’s hard to get invested in a character like that, especially when you realize all of the characters that had to be sacrificed to give him the spotlight.

Here’s hoping that there is an interesting future ahead for Fear the Walking Dead–and even for Morgan. He can still be salvaged, but it’s going to take some work to humanize him again. Show us that Morgan is flesh and bone, just like the rest of the show’s characters.

Until then, it’s hard to get excited about what’s to come.

The Outer Worlds Finally Comes To Steam This Month

The Outer Worlds is finally coming to Steam. The game, which launched on PC through the Epic Games Store and Xbox Game Pass in October 2019, will soon be available through Valve’s storefront–it will release for Steam on October 24.

(This is the Obsidian-developed RPG, not the space-faring Outer Wilds; you’d be forgiven for confusing the two, especially since both launched on Epic rather than Steam.)

The game, which recently released its first expansion, is available through Xbox Game Pass for Xbox One too, and can be purchased on PS4 and Switch. Developer Obsidian has since been bought by Microsoft, so future installments in the series could be Xbox and PC exclusive.

We were big fans of The Outer Worlds, giving it a 9/10 and naming it one of the best games of 2019.

Obsidian followed The Outer Worlds with something very different–Grounded, now available in Early Access. It’s a multiplayer title full of giant spiders and terrifying birds. The studio is also working on Avowed, a new RPG for Xbox Series X.

Now Playing: The Outer Worlds | Best Games Of 2019

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Sonic The Hedgehog 2 Is Free On Steam Right Now, Grab It While You Can

Sonic the Hedgehog 2 is a beloved classic, a game that cemented Sonic as a major series. And now, if you’ve never played it before, you can get the game for free–it’s currently discounted by 100% on Steam.

The game is totally free until October 19, meaning that you have a full week to pick up Sonic the Hedgehog 2 and keep it forever. This is the Sonic game that first introduced Tails, Sonic’s twin-tailed fox friend, with the two teaming up to defeat Dr. Robotnik yet again.

The game is free to celebrate the 60th anniversary of Sega, which was founded in 1960 to manufacture slot machines. Sonic the Hedgehog 2 originally released in 1992 for the Sega Genesis. This free copy is, essentially, a port of the original, so don’t expect any remixing on par with Sonic Mania.

There’s a huge Sega sale happening on Steam right now to celebrate the anniversary; check out all the bargains here.

The game scored an 8/10 in GameSpot’s 2007 review of the Xbox 360 version.

Now Playing: James Marsden And Ben Schwartz Take Our Sonic The Hedgehog Trivia Challenge

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Wonder Woman’s Gal Gadot To Play Cleopatra In New Movie Directed By Patty Jenkins

Two of the biggest names behind the Wonder Woman films are working together again on something new. Gal Gadot will play Cleopatra in a period drama about the Egyptian ruler in a new film directed by Wonder Woman’s Patty Jenkins.

Paramount Pictures won the auction for the movie after an auction with Universal, Warner Bros., Netflix, and Apple said to be in the mix, according to a report from Deadline. The new film will be written by Laeta Kalogridis, who wrote the Martin Scorsese movie Shutter Island. She also co-wrote the script for Alita: Battle Angel and created the Netflix show Altered Carbon.

Pitches to studios were made over Zoom calls, according to Deadline. And this is more than a simple development deal–the report said Paramount is working with “an urgency to mount a big budget theatrical release film as quickly as possible.”

This won’t be the first biographical movie about Cleopatra, as Elizabeth Taylor portrayed the historical figure in the 1963 movie Cleopatra that won four Oscars.

In addition to the new Gal Gadot film, Deadline reports that former Sony producer Amy Pascal has been developing a Cleopatra film of the book Cleopatra by Stacy Schiff. Angelina Jolie was originally attached to this project before Lady Gaga’s name entered the mix. According to Deadline, James Cameron, Denis Villenueve, and David Fincher were all considered as candidates to direct. The latest is that Eric Roth (Forest Gump, Munich) is writing a script. As such, Deadline states that Paramount and Sony might be racing to start their movies first.

The next Wonder Woman film, Wonder Woman 1984, is scheduled for release on Christmas Day.

Doctor Who: The Edge Of Reality Is Coming Next Year, But It’s Not An Entirely New Game

A new Doctor Who game is coming in 2021–kind of. Doctor Who: The Edge of Reality has been announced for a Spring 2021 release on PC, Switch, PS4, and Xbox One, and it’ll include Doctor Who actors Jodie Whittaker and David Tennant voicing the Doctors they play in the series. It’ll be a first-person adventure game.

The Edge of Reality is not an all-new game, as it’s based on the 2019 VR title Doctor Who: The Edge of Time. Unlike past Doctor Who titles, this one actually felt like Doctor Who, so Edge of Reality could be quite good, too.

According to the game’s official site, Edge of Reality will feature “brand-new gameplay, new monsters and new worlds to explore.” The site also says that the game will “continue the story that began in The Edge of Time,” so fans of the original will hopefully get something new out of this version.

A trailer has been released, too, and you can check it out below. It does not contain any gameplay footage, though.

The game is being built with next-gen systems in mind, according to the official site; while PS5 and Xbox Series X versions have not been announced, it will be playable on those systems through backwards compatibility.

A new Doctor Who game for mobile devices and Switch has also been announced. It’s called The Lonely Assassins, and it’s a “found phone” game, where you explore a phone to uncover a mystery.

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Guilty Gear Strive Gets Final 2021 Release Date For PS5, PS4, And PC

Guilty Gear Strive, the latest entry in Arc System Works’ acclaimed fighting franchise, aims to take things a step further with improved animations and new fighting mechanics. It’s coming to PS4, PS5, and PC, and you’ll be able to get your hands on it in 2021.

Releasing for all three platforms on April 9, 2021 (or three days earlier for the Deluxe Edition and Ultimate Edition) Guilty Gear Strive looks to be a good starting point for newcomers without sacrificing the series’ famous depth. Among Arc System Works fighters, it’s arguably the most “hardcore,” with Dragon Ball FighterZ appealing to less-experienced players due to its auto-combo system and streamlined mechanics–not that there isn’t plenty of depth in that game, too.

Guilty Gear Strive doesn’t ditch the 2D art of its predecessors, but it does give the art a ton of detail that make it look like you’re watching a climactic anime battle. There are 3D elements to the characters, as well, letting them portray more emotion and adding a new sense of weight to the fights.

One of the characters Arc System Works recently showed off was Giovanna, who makes use of a green spirit wolf for some of her attacks. She’s one of 15 characters who will be on the roster from the beginning.

The Deluxe Edition of Guilty Gear Strive releases on April 6, 2021, and includes the game along with the season pass, while the Ultimate Edition also includes a digital soundtrack, digital artwork, and special colors. There will be five characters in the season pass, and it will also include additional story content. In the meantime, you can try to learn the basics with these starter guide videos.

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Ghost of Tsushima Will Be Playable on PS5 with 60FPS via Game Boost

Sucker Punch has confirmed that Ghost of Tsushima will be playable on PS5 on day one via backward compatibility, and PS5’s Game Boost will allow for the game to reach frame rates of up to 60FPS.

Revealed on Twitter, Sucker Punch announced the details following PlayStation’s breakdown of the top backward compatibility questions. In addition to what was mentioned above, Ghost of Tsushima will also support save transfers and even faster load times.

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The quicker load times are an interesting, if obvious note, mostly because Sucker Punch previously said that it had to lengthen some of the game’s loading screens on PS4 because they were so fast and players were having a tough time reading the tips.

This bit of good news for those looking to get a PS5 also arrives alongside the news that Ghost of Tsushima: Legends, a free co-op mode, will be out on October 16, 2020.

Ghost of Tsushima: Legends is part of the version 1.1 update that will add a New Game+ with additional trophies and a Ghost Flower merchant, Armor Loadouts, a play time indicator, new options for Photo Mode, and more.

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Oh, and perhaps most importantly, it will also let players in New Game+ use the Charm of Canine Recruitment to pet dogs and make them their allies a.k.a. their new best friends.

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Have a tip for us? Want to discuss a possible story? Please send an email to [email protected].

Adam Bankhurst is a news writer for IGN. You can follow him on Twitter @AdamBankhurst and on Twitch.

Guilty Gear Strive Release Date Announced for PS5, PS4, and PC

Arc System Works has announced that Guilty Gear Strive will be released on April 9, 2021, on PlayStation 5, PlayStation 4, and PC. For those who wish to upgrade to the Deluxe or Ultimate Edition, the game will be playable from April 6, 2021.

The release date was given alongside a new trailer that promises that Guilty Gear Strive is “A Fresh Start for the Series” that began back in 1998 with the original Guilty Gear on PlayStation.

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This fighting game boasts a striking visual style with hybrid 2D/3D cell-shaded graphics. There will also be a fully voiced story mode that is said to bring the story of Guilty Gear, which spans over 20 years, to a close. There will also be new characters joining fan favorites and a robust rollback net code.

Guilty Gear Strive was originally set to be released in 2020, but it was delayed to 2021 due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

The roster includes such characters as Sol Badguy, Ky Kiske, May, Faust, Potemkin, Chipp Zanuff, Zato-1, Millia Rage, and Axl Low. As part of our IGN Expo, we revealed that Ramlethal Valentine will be returning to Guilty Gear Strive, a female fighter who specializes in controlling the mid-range, and uses two large swords as her primary weapons (carried by her flying Luciferos partners).

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Have a tip for us? Want to discuss a possible story? Please send an email to [email protected].

Adam Bankhurst is a news writer for IGN. You can follow him on Twitter @AdamBankhurst and on Twitch.