Author: Trafficblast

This is a spoiler-free advance review of Apple TV Plus’ For All Mankind, starring Joel Kinnaman. The first three episodes of the series will be available to stream on Apple TV Plus on Friday, November 1, with episodes rolling out weekly thereafter. For more from Apple, check out our reviews of Apple TV Plus’ See, The Morning Show, and Dickinson premieres.

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Marie Buchanon (Janelle Monae) comforts Harriet Tubman (Cynthia Erivo) after she returns to Maryland for her husband John (Zackary Momoh), only to discover he has remarried after her escape to freedom. “What’s a man to a woman touched by God?” Marie points out, a statement that’s appropriate to a woman whose faith guided her in her riskiest journeys. In Harriet, co-written and directed by Kasi Lemmons (Eve’s Bayou, Talk to Me), we follow the Underground Railroad’s most famous conductor. Despite its standout performances, the film suffers from a formulaic delivery.

The story begins in 1849 in Bucktown, Maryland, where Araminta “Minty” (née Ross) Tubman is still enslaved while her husband John is a free man. When the son of her owner puts up ads to sell her, she escapes without John. She successfully makes it 100 miles to Philadelphia and meets William Still (Leslie Odom Jr.), an abolitionist who introduces her the Underground Railroad – a network of safehouses and allies to leverage for the journey to free states. Assuming the new free name Harriet, Tubman becomes a conductor for the network, freeing over 70 enslaved people (including her friends and family.)

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Ahead of its quarterly earnings call, EA released the financial results for its latest quarter in a press release. Though there are notable highlights for several of EA’s sports games, Apex Legends also made a big splash in the quarter by reaching 70 million players.

“The strong results this quarter illustrate the power of our live services and our core franchises,” EA COO and CFO Blake Jorgensen said. “Strength in Ultimate Team, The Sims 4, and FIFA Online drove live services performance above our expectations. Looking ahead, we are doubling down on live services combined with our core franchises. We’re investing in games that people play for longer and engage with much more deeply. This focus will continue to drive growth and profitability for the company through the remainder of this year and beyond.”

Existing in the same universe as Titanfall and Titanfall 2, Respawn’s battle royale, Apex Legends, has had a busy nine months. The game hit 1 million players within the first eight hours of being released, which increased to 2.5 million after a day and 25 million in a week. Apex Legends Season 2: Battle Charge saw the battle royale game’s map undergo significant changes and the addition of limited-time events. Season 3: Meltdown upped that with a whole new map and the first of Apex Legends’ holiday-themed celebrations: Fight or Fright.

EA is primed to go into the next quarter with several new games already announced. The most significant is another game by Respawn, Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order, which is scheduled to release for Xbox One, PS4, and PC on November 15. Need for Speed: Heat–which implements some welcome changes to its predecessor’s formula–is also on its way, as is a new Plants Vs. Zombies: Garden Warfare.

The products discussed here were independently chosen by our editors. GameSpot may get a share of the revenue if you buy anything featured on our site.

Luigi’s Mansion 3 releases on Nintendo Switch this Thursday, and for those looking to get their hands on Nintendo’s latest game, the best deal may be at Walmart. As with other recent releases, Luigi’s Mansion 3 will be on sale for $49.94 at Walmart stores right at launch, according to deals site Cheap Ass Gamer. Unfortunately, these discounts don’t usually extend to Walmart.com, so to save $10 on Luigi’s Mansion 3 this Halloween, you’ll need to drive to your local Walmart store.

This is the latest in a continuing pattern of release-day deals at Walmart, with major games like Call of Duty: Modern Warfare, The Outer Worlds, Borderlands 3, and Fire Emblem: Three Houses getting the same in-store treatment. While other stores like Amazon or Best Buy will frequently price match any discounts posted online, the in-store release-day deals remain a Walmart-specific tactic that’s shown no sign of stopping.

Nintendo’s spooky adventure earned an 8/10 in GameSpot’s Luigi’s Mansion 3 review. Critic Kevin Knezevic took issue with some aiming issues and cumbersome puzzles, but he praised Luigi’s satisfying new abilities and the collectible-filled hotel you never want to stop exploring.

“The strength of the Luigi’s Mansion series has always stemmed from the satisfaction of exploring its carefully constructed settings, and in that regard Luigi’s Mansion 3 certainly succeeds,” he wrote. “The game may not radically diverge from the series’ formula, but it offers up another meticulously crafted set of challenges to overcome while smoothing out some of the issues that held Dark Moon back, and the sense of accomplishment you feel when you clear a particularly head-scratching obstacle is just as potent now as the first time Luigi unwillingly strapped a vacuum to his back and stepped into a haunted mansion.”

And for those of us without a Walmart store nearby, never fear–you can still take advantage of this free, printable, and absolutely terrifying Gooigi mask from Nintendo.

The products discussed here were independently chosen by our editors. GameSpot may get a share of the revenue if you buy anything featured on our site.

Halloween sales are in full force, with the spooky day of candy and mischief set for later this week. Steam’s Halloween sale kicked off recently, while the PS4’s scary deals have been live for quite some time. Now it’s the Xbox One’s turn, as the console has revealed its Shocktober Sale that features quite a few spooky (and not-so-spooky) games.

Whether you’re looking for your next scare or just an excellent game to tide you over until the holiday season, this sale has a lot of bangers, including some of the best titles released this year. In addition to that, you can get some great deals on series like Resident Evil and Devil May Cry, in addition to DLC for games like Mortal Kombat 11, Dead by Daylight, and Dying Light. We’ve highlighted the best deals below, but be sure to check out Xbox.com for the entire sale.

See all deals at Xbox

Resident Evil 2 – $30 ($60)

Resident Evil 2 remakes the halls of the Raccoon City Police Department from 1998’s classic survival-horror game. However, it’s no mere copycat, as it makes the building and surrounding city feel brand new, staking its claim as one of the best games this year.

See at Xbox

See Resident Evil series at Xbox

Mortal Kombat 11 – $36 ($60)

Mortal Kombat 11 caps off the latest MK trilogy with a bombastic finale that is sure to make any fan of the series happy. It also has a robust customization system that lets you choose your favourite characters’ moves, equipment, and clothes.

See at Xbox

See DLC at Xbox

Borderlands 3 Deluxe Edition – $64 ($80)

Borderlands 3 marks the loot-and-shootin’ series return, complete with everything the franchise is known for–colourful characters, humour, and lots of guns. Four new character classes and a bunch of quality-of-life improvements make for a nice return to Pandora.

See at Xbox

Blair Witch – $24 ($30)

The Blair Witch video game surprised many of us when it was revealed earlier this year, and now the spooky forest can be explored at a discount. Solve the mystery of a missing boy with your German Shepherd best friend, Bullet.

See at Xbox

Devil May Cry 5 – $30 ($60)

Devil May Cry 5 brings the series back to its core storyline, featuring three playable characters in Nero, Dante, and newcomer V. All of the intense action, raunchy metal, and cheekiness is back.

See at Xbox

See Devil May Cry series at Xbox

World War Z – $20 ($40)

If you’ve longed for the return of Left 4 Dead, then World War Z may be what you need. This co-op shooter puts you in the shoes of survivors making their way through various levels and missions while taking out hordes of zombies.

See at Xbox

Metro Exodus – $30 ($60)

Metro Exodus sees the conclusion to Artyom’s trilogy with several open worlds and all of the action, story, and characters the series is known for. The post-apocalyptic, first-person shooter series is one of my favourites, and if you haven’t played the first two games, then you’ll be happy to know both are on sale.

See at Xbox

See Metro series at Xbox

Remnant: From The Ashes – $32 ($40)

Remnant: From The Ashes is the latest from Darksiders III developer Gunfire Games. It may be reductive to call this Dark Souls with guns, but it certainly takes a lot of inspiration from that series. Expect quite the challenge, as you team up with up to two friends to take on challenging bosses and hordes of enemies.

See at Xbox

The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt Complete Edition – $15 ($40)

One of the best games of all time is currently discounted to $15, and that includes both of its expansions–Hearts of Stone and Blood & Wine. GameSpot scored it a 10/10 in its The Witcher 3 review, so if you haven’t played it yet, now’s as great a time as any.

See at Xbox

Dark Souls Remastered – $20 ($50)

The entire Dark Souls series is discounted in the Shocktober Sale, including last year’s remastering of the original game. It’s called a modern classic for a reason, so if you’ve ever been curious, now’s a good time to try it out on the cheap.

See at Xbox

See Dark Souls series at Xbox

Dead by Daylight: Special Edition – $15 ($30)

Dead by Daylight is like being stuck in a horror movie: a group of players try to escape as a monster (controlled by another player) hunts them down and picks them off one by one.

See at Xbox

See DLC at Xbox

Two months after its release on PC, PlayStation 4, and Xbox One, developer Deck13 Interactive has unveiled The Surge 2‘s season pass. The season pass, available to purchase for $20 USD, features content drops through January 2020, including additional weapons, a new story expansion, and more.

Arriving first are 13 additional weapons, available in November. December gifts three gear sets for your exo-rig, giving you the option of a completely new look. The season pass culminates with a new story expansion in January. The story content, titled “The Kraken,” takes place in an aircraft-carrier and introducing new enemies and bosses. Deck13 shared a roadmap with glimpses of everything headed to The Surge 2 in the coming months.

The Surge 2 features a prominent From Software design element: online communication. In The Surge 2, you can leave messages for online players to discover. And when compared to 2017’s The Surge, the sequel does combat better in almost every way.

In our Surge 2 review, we said, “Story and sidequests aside, however, The Surge 2 is absolutely worth the effort when the combat is taken in isolation. Not only does it pack a punch, but it also channels plenty of depth in its limb targeting and deflection systems, and is ably supported by a genuinely varied collection of weapons and potential character builds.”