Pokemon: New Free Legendaries For August 2018 Revealed, Here’s How To Get Them

A new month is upon us, which means another pair of free Legendary Pokemon will soon be available for Ultra Sun and Ultra Moon. This time, The Pokemon Company is giving away the Ruby and Sapphire cover monsters Groudon and Kyogre as part of its ongoing Year of Legendary Pokemon promotion, but they’ll only be available for a limited time.

As with previous distributions, the way to receive the Legendaries depends on which region you live in. Once again, US residents will need to travel to a specific retailer to pick up a free download code for the Pokemon. This time, the code will be available at participating GameStop stores from August 3-26. UK and Canada distribution details have yet to be announced.

The Legendaries can be redeemed in any seventh-generation Pokemon game, but the one you receive will depend on which version you’re playing. Those with a copy of Sun or Ultra Sun will get Kyogre, while Moon and Ultra Moon players will get Groudon. Additionally, the Pokemon will come at different levels and know different attacks based on the game you own; in Ultra Sun and Ultra Moon, each Legendary will be level 100 and come equipped with a Gold Bottle Cap, while they’ll be level 60 in the original Sun and Moon versions.

To claim your Legendary, you’ll need to redeem the download code using the Mystery Gift feature from the games’ main menu. After selecting Mystery Gift, choose the option to receive your gift with a code/password, and input the code you picked up from GameSpot. The Pokemon will then be downloaded into your game. Once those steps have been completed, you’ll be able to pick your Pokemon up from the deliveryman waiting inside any Pokemon Center.

As part of the Year of Legendary Pokemon, The Pokemon Company is giving away a different Legendary for free each month in 2018. This marks the seventh giveaway held thus far, following on the heels of July’s free Legendaries, Tornadus and Thundurus. You can see all of the free Pokemon available for Ultra Sun and Ultra Moon right now in our roundup.

Fired Guardians Of The Galaxy Director James Gunn Is Unlikely To Be Rehired–Report

Disney’s decision to fire James Gunn from the Marvel sequel Guardians of the Galaxy Vol.3 led to a joint-statement from the cast, in which they offered the writer/director their support. There had been some subsequent speculation that Disney might rehire Gunn, but a new report states that he is very unlikely to return to the movie.

According to Variety, the studio is “currently not planning” to rehire Gunn. The site spoke to “multiple people familiar with the studio’s current thinking,” and says that, despite the support from the cast of Guardians movies, the tweets that ultimately led to his dismissal remain totally at odds with Disney’s family-friendly image.

Despite the strongly worded statement, there is no suggestion that any of the cast, which includes Chris Pratt, Zoe Saldana, Bradley Cooper, and Vin Diesel, will quit the series as a result. They are all under multi-film contracts, and while the movie was expected to start production in February 2019 ahead of a 2020 release, it had not officially been given a release date as yet.

The tweets that led to Gunn’s dismissal date back almost a decade, and saw the director joking about topics like pedophilia and rape. They resurfaced online via conservative website The Daily Caller, and Disney was quick to sever ties with him. In a statement, Walt Disney Studios chairman Alan Horn said, “The offensive attitudes and statements discovered on James’ Twitter feed are indefensible and inconsistent with our studio’s values, and we have severed our business relationship with him.”

Gunn offered a subsequent statement in which he took responsibility for the tweets and accepted Disney’s decision. “My words of nearly a decade ago were, at the time, totally failed and unfortunate efforts to be provocative,” his statement read. “I have regretted them for many years since–not just because they were stupid, not at all funny, wildly insensitive, and certainly not provocative like I had hoped, but also because they don’t reflect the person I am today or have been for some time.

“Regardless of how much time has passed, I understand and accept the business decisions taken today. Even these many years later, I take full responsibility for the way I conducted myself then. All I can do now, beyond offering my sincere and heartfelt regret, is to be the best human being I can be: accepting, understanding, committed to equality, and far more thoughtful about my public statements and my obligations to our public discourse.”

Pokemon Go: Legendary Pokemon Raikou Available Again Through New Field Research [Update]

A new month is just around the corner, which means a new batch of Field Research quests will soon be available in Pokemon Go. Developer Niantic has shared the first details about the upcoming set of challenges on Twitter, including which Pokemon awaits those who manage to complete enough of them. [Update: The new Field Research tasks are now live in Pokemon Go.]

According to Niantic, August’s batch of Field Research tasks will revolve primarily around Electric-type Pokemon. As usual, the first task you complete each day will reward you with a stamp; if you collect seven of them, you’ll achieve a Research Breakthrough and unlock additional rewards, including an encounter with a rare Pokemon.

The reward for achieving a Research Breakthrough this time will be another encounter with Raikou, one of the three Legendary dogs originally from Pokemon Gold and Silver. Raikou was previously available in Pokemon Go last fall as a Raid Battle, but this gives players another opportunity to capture one without having to team up with other Trainers and travel to a Gym.

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Field Research tasks are distributed at PokeStops. They’re one of two types of quests introduced to the game earlier this year, along with Special Research. The latter are more story-driven challenges assigned by Professor Willow, with the reward being an encounter with a Mythical Pokemon. The first set of Special Research led to Mew, while an upcoming questline will give players the chance to find Celebi.

In addition to Raikou, Pokemon Go players can encounter another Legendary in the game right now. The powerful Steel-type Registeel is appearing in Raid Battles from now until August 21, when it will be replaced by Regirock. Before then, Niantic will host the next Pokemon Go Community Day on August 11 and 12, with Eevee starring as the next featured Pokemon.

7 Free PC Games Now Available For Amazon / Twitch Prime Members In The US

August is here, which means Amazon/Twitch Prime members can now grab the latest batch of free games from Twitch. Between August 1-31, Prime members can download seven games: Antihero, Death Squared, Jotun: Valhalla Edition, SteamWorld Dig, and a bundle that contains Wizardry 6, 7, and 8. That’s a generous lineup, particularly after we got 21 games in July.

To get the games, you first have to link your Amazon Prime and Twitch accounts. Once you do, head to Twitch.tv on a desktop computer and click the crown icon near the search bar. There you’ll find a dropdown menu with buttons to claim the games for free. They’re yours to keep forever, even if you cancel Amazon Prime down the line. All you need is the Twitch desktop app to install them.

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The games themselves were mostly well-received when they came out. Much like the recent God of War, Jotun: Valhalla Edition takes place in the realm of Norse mythology. You play as Thora, a warrior who must explore the frigid world and solve puzzles to prove her worth to the gods. In SteamWorld Dig, you explore a massive underground world, fighting enemies and collecting valuable treasure to help you upgrade your abilities. Finally, the Wizardry Bundle contains the “Dark Savant” trilogy of first-person RPGs.

Antihero is set in in the Victorian underworld, where you’re tasked with assembling a thief’s guild. It’s a turn-based strategy game in which you convince criminals and street urchins straight out of Dickens to join your criminal empire. Puzzle fans may enjoy Death Squared, a co-op game that has you moving colorful cubes around a dense map.

In addition to games, Twitch Prime members also get ad-free viewing on Twitch, a free channel subscription every 30 days, and free in-game loot for titles like Fortnite and Call of Duty: WWII.

Games for Twitch Prime members in August 2018

  • Antihero
  • Death Squared
  • Jotun
  • SteamWorld Dig
  • Wizardry Bundle (includes Wizardry 6, 7, and 8)

Peter Parker Is Spider-Man on PS4’s Greatest Strength

If you show a picture of Marvel’s Spider-Man to someone for the first time, they’re likely to notice one thing: the suit. Insomniac has created a brand-new look for Spider-Man that’s entirely unique but immediately recognizable, its own spin on a hero we’ve been following for decades.

But while it’s true that the suit may catch your eye first, spending real time with the game reveals what’s underneath is just as important. For all the work that’s gone into making a new look for Spider-Man, Insomniac has put equal work into Peter Parker, giving the man behind the mask new depth and instant relatability that defines the character.

A More Mature Hero

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Spider-Man PS4: Why You Should Be Excited About Mary Jane

As we’re approaching the release of Insomniac’s Spider-Man game, it’s become clear that the game nails the big things. For a lot of fans, getting the feel of Spider-Man right was the most important concern. We now know that traversing New York City indeed feels fantastic, with smooth, satisfying web-swinging and parkour that effortlessly carries Spidey from one corner of the concrete jungle to another. Combat, too, is easy to pick up yet complex enough to reward experimentation and encourage customization. Taking on the role of Spider-Man feels so good that it’s very easy to overlook the other playable character.

Though you spend most of your time playing as Spider-Man (and plainclothes Peter Parker), some missions star his on-again, off-again girlfriend Mary Jane. She understandably hasn’t been the focus of the pre-release hype; when I had a chance to play several hours of Spider-Man recently, I, like a lot of other people, was most interested in trying out web-swinging for myself. But after a few hours, a handful of story missions, and a lot of goofing-off as Spider-Man, I was surprised at how much MJ stood out.

This version of MJ is an investigative journalist, and she hasn’t talked to Peter in months. They’re reunited early in the game thanks to circumstances involving bigtime crime boss Wilson Fisk (suffice it to say his art collection is on sale). Peter is at the gallery to take out bad guys, while MJ is there to snoop around under the guise of covering the auction for an art publication. You play the first part of the mission as Peter, switching to MJ as a flashback in lieu of listening to her explain what happened.

The two are opposites in a lot of ways. MJ’s part has no combat, just some low-pressure stealth and a minor puzzle; the main activity is taking photos of the art, which MJ comments on as you go. A samurai-like statue prompts her to comment about how history sometimes feels like a series of “boys dressing up and getting into fights,” while a mask leads her to ruminate on Peter’s secret and how, if she were a hero, she’d want people to see her face.

When MJ asks one too many probing questions, the art dealer tells her to leave. Instead, she pretends to head to the bathroom and sneaks her way to a back room to find the incriminating files she’s looking for. Later, when the dust has settled, Peter asks MJ to dinner, and she asks him if he remembers why they broke up–it’s implied that being Spider-Man and being a boyfriend don’t exactly go together.

MJ, like Peter, wants to make the world a better place. She goes about it a different way both because she has no powers and because she’s a different person; it’s very clear from the relatively brief introduction that she and Peter don’t always see eye to eye and that she isn’t afraid to tell him that. All of this gives her the potential to be a powerful foil and provide much-needed depth to Spider-Man’s superheroic story.

The unfortunate reality is that female characters in stories like this often exist solely to further the male protagonist’s journey, and we don’t know yet what MJ’s place is in the game overall. Her role as a foil only works if she’s also a well-rounded character in her own right; otherwise, any depth she seems to provide would be a convenient facade. But after only 20 minutes, I got a sense of the character she might end up being: someone strong-willed, clever, maybe a little rash, and who’s interesting to play even though she can’t swing from building to building.

Spider-Man PS4’s First Two Hours Has Everything We Want, And Something We Don’t

If you love reading superhero comic books, there’s a good chance that a huge part of what makes them so attractive is the way they explore the regular lives of the people behind the masks. Matt Murdoch’s daily courtroom drama and neighborhood philanthropy, Jessica Drew’s demanding commitments as a single mother, and the multifaceted teenage dramas of Kamala Khan and other student-aged heroes are equally as engrossing as the crime-fighting adventures of their alter-egos. And when work and life clash, that’s when things really get interesting.

The more mundane side of superhero stories are rarely explored in video game adaptations, and that’s something Insomniac Games is openly talking about as a major point of difference in their take on Marvel’s Spider-Man. In the game’s first two hours, which I experienced during a recent preview tour, a large chunk of time was spent controlling Peter Parker in his mild-mannered form, as well as Mary Jane Watson. Insomniac explained that this ratio was largely indicative of the rest of the game, with major themes of mentorship and trust as something that would be explored with and without masks.

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That might sound like a far cry from what’s been shown of Insomniac’s Spider-Man up to this point, but these moments hit all the right notes for us. The game’s version of Peter Parker falls on the dweeby side, despite being old and having almost a decade of crime-fighting expertise. He’s messy, perpetually behind on his bills, and isn’t currently in any kind of romantic relationship, all thanks to his second life. But he takes time to visit his Aunt May and catch up with acquaintances, as well as work on science projects as part of his day job, hoping he can do some good there, too.

I spent a large part of Spider-Man’s opening hours exploring interior environments as Peter, making and listening in on small talk, looking at photos and reading documents to fill out back-story, and performing research experiments–there are Pipe Dream and pattern matching minigames that can earn you experience points to spend on Spidey abilities. Mary Jane, an investigative reporter in this universe, has her own separate narrative motivations that quickly become entwined in the rest of the plot. Her interactive segments have their own mechanics, which Insomniac told us would grow and evolve over the course of the game. For more on Mary Jane’s section in these opening hours, be sure to read Kallie’s in-depth account.

But as happy as I was to see a big emphasis on the Peter and MJ side of things, I still had just one thing on my mind, being this was my very first first hands-on: Whether or not Insomniac’s Spider-Man was going to surpass the memories I had playing Treyarch’s open-world Spider-Man 2 for consoles, generally regarded as the best Spider-Man game to date, thanks to its phenomenal web-swinging mechanics. And it most definitely does, as we’ve previously reported. Insomniac’s Spider-Man adheres strictly to the rule that Spidey’s web lines need to attach to a structure, and that creates the wonderful sense of tangibility that is both essential to selling the experience, as well as creating a satisfying need for forethought when traversing New York City.

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It works like this: R2 shoots out a web line, and pressing X while mid-swing will let you jump and gain height or distance, depending on where you are in your arc. Pressing X without being attached to a web line will let you perform a quick web zip, which propels you forward, allowing you to gain directional momentum without losing height, and is great for quickly changing directions. Finally, holding L2 will trigger a slowdown, allowing you to aim a cursor and hit R2 to create a direct zipline to that particular point (provided it’s in range), and is a great landing technique that allows you to expertly perch on lampposts and other locations, just like a spider can.

Web swinging feels fantastic, and minor additions, such as hitting L3 to nosedive, using Circle + Triangle in tandem with the left stick to perform aerial tricks for experience points, and the motion blur when you pick up a large amount of speed, adds a lot to making the act of getting around town a pure joy. Even Central Park can be traversed by web-swinging, thankfully, so long as you pick a route with enough trees to latch onto.

Movement on the ground also feels suitably Spider-Man-like. Aside from using L2 and R2 to web zip from point to point, holding R2 acts as an Assassin’s Creed-like parkour button, allowing you to easily clear obstacles, as well as run up and across the side of buildings. But if you need a break from thinking about how to get from A to B, Spidey can also just take the subway and fast travel to a different station.

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The parkour button isn’t the only inspiration Insomniac’s Spider-Man takes from an Ubisoft series, though. In a move that took me completely by surprise, Spider-Man incorporates the archaic mechanic of tower reveals, that is, points of interest that you have to find, travel to, and solve a puzzle at in order to reveal a map of the immediate area, as well as the locations of other points of interests like side missions, challenges, collectables, and Far Cry-style outposts. Each district of Manhattan represented in the game–Chinatown, Greenwich, Financial District, Hell’s Kitchen, Midtown, Upper West Side, Central Park, Upper East Side, and Harlem–has a number of towers hidden within them, which you’re required to activate before you’re even able to see where you’re going on your minimap.

This is strange not only because the mechanic feels incredibly outdated–Ubisoft has moved on, their open-world franchises now focus on more organic discovery mechanics–but it just doesn’t make characteristic sense. Insomniac has been pitching their version of Spider-Man as an experienced one, one that’s been fighting crime in New York for nearly a decade, and it’s incredibly puzzling that this Spider-Man hasn’t internalized an intimate geographic knowledge of the city he protects. I don’t believe him when he exclaims, “I’m flying blind here!” while swinging through world-famous Times Square, no matter what the tower MacGuffin might be.

Any activity revealed by towers can still be found by naturally stumbling across them, and minor Spider-Man 2-style randomly-generated events, such as car crashes and armed robberies, also can pop up unannounced, which is great to see. But the emphasis on using towers to reveal them just seems like a huge misstep, a puzzling addition that feels like unnecessary filler.

But there’s still plenty of good filler in there, namely, the number of things you can stuff into Spider-Man’s suit. As expected, you can unlock dozens of different Spider-Man costumes by earning experience and leveling up to gain access, and spending different tokens (earned through completing side content) to purchase them for use. Each suit comes with its own unique suit ability to assist you during the game’s exciting, Batman Arkham-inspired combat system, but a nice feature is that once you own a suit, you can transfer its unique ability to a different suit you own.

For example, I immediately sought to don the Spider-Man Noir costume, which comes with the ability to stop enemies from calling backup (great for stealth approaches), but swapped that out for the Battle Focus ability from the Advanced Suit seen in the game’s marketing materials. Battle Focus steadily increases your Focus meter, used in combat to heal and perform the game’s cinematic takedowns. Other suits and abilities I saw included the Classic Suit (webs every enemy in sight), Scarlet Spider (creates holographic decoys), and the Spider Armor MK II (protects from bullet fire).

True to Peter’s science background, you can also equip a number of unique combat gadgets, switching between them using a radial menu with L1, and upgrade their effectiveness over the course of the game. Aside from the standard web shooters, they include things like impact webbing to pin enemies to surfaces, spider drones that seek out opponents and fire energy, electric webs that stun, web bombs that are proximity triggered, web trip mines, concussive blasts, and a suspension matrix that suspends enemies in the air.

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The game also has a skill tree for ability progression, featuring three branches with which to upgrade Spidey’s combat and web swinging techniques. The Innovator branch focuses on web-based combat techniques, such as using webs to disarm gun-toting thugs and the ability to throw a larger variety of objects and enemies, while the Defender branch improves Spider-Man’s general striking, evasion, and combo abilities, letting you earn bonuses for things like perfectly-timed dodges. Finally, the Webslinger branch largely lets you perform additional traversal moves, but also gives you access to Spidey’s infamous web swing kick in combat. It also unlocks the aforementioned ability to perform tricks in mid-air for small amounts of XP and large amounts of style.

There are a number of references too, of course, found in dialogue, environment, and the game’s backpack collectibles. But it’s a range that can be appreciated by both casual Spider-Man fans (Spidey asking “Should we kiss?” to a hanging enemy), and fanatics (a mention of “Nazis made of bees”). There were some nice interactive touches I loved: using the attack buttons around citizens lets you wave and give high fives, with some interactions giving you XP, and J.J. Jameson now hosts a podcast Peter listens to, but you can unsubscribe in the audio settings menu.

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Insomniac’s representation of the Spider-Man experience plays as good as it looks, at least in its opening hours. The web swinging and acrobatic combat are instantly satisfying, but it’s also wonderful to see that there’s a lot more to it–a significant focus on interacting as Peter Parker and Mary Jane (which we’re hoping will continue to evolve into something great), a depth of progression options and combat abilities, and many minor, but exciting details that positively colored my short experience. The opening hours had me eager to play more–even just to have more time swinging around the city–but it also reinvigorated my excitement about the Marvel universe in general. I just wish I could forget about those towers.

What Did You Think of This Week’s Comics?

The comic book industry started out August the right way, with the start of Marvel’s Infinity Wars crossover and new issues of Batman and The Walking Dead.

Scroll down to check out our new reviews and thinkpieces and let us know your favorite books of the week in the comments below.

Batman #52 Review

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Written by Tom King | Drawn by Lee Weeks

“Tom King and Lee Weeks have a fairly simple task before them with this current Batman storyline. They need to establish Bruce Wayne’s present state of mind following his unexpected breakup with Selina Kyle and why he’s losing his grip as Batman. There are surely simpler, more straightforward ways the two could have gone about that story. But the fact that they’ve put so much effort and care into the series’ first post-wedding storyline makes it that much more of an enjoyable read.” -Jesse

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Madden NFL 19 Review In Progress

The Madden series aims to be a true-to-life representation of the popular American sport, and Madden 19 is a refined step forward with advancements across the board. There are some issues hanging over from past games, and the Franchise updates are not as big and exciting as you might expect, but Madden 19, with its capable Frostbite engine and its compelling Longshot story mode, remains the best, most complete Madden game to date.

On the field, Madden’s gameplay has never looked or handled better, and this is due in part to a new system EA calls Real Player Motion. One of the biggest pieces of this is the new “one-cut” feature for ball-carriers that allows them to change direction quickly and with a burst of speed to get around a defender. An appropriately timed cut, coupled with an acceleration boost, lets you make tight, fast, and precise turns that help you get through the line or to the edge when making runs. You can also perform hesitation moves that can make a big difference in those crucial moments when you see an opening or a gap, and it’s thrilling to successfully execute a run, even if it’s only for marginal yardage. Establishing the run game can be critical, and it’s nice to see Madden 19 make running responsive, fun, and representative of what you see in real NFL games.

To balance out the new tactics for ball-carriers, Madden 19 adds a new strafe burst mechanic for defense. If timed appropriately, this can help you get into position faster than normal and improve your chances of stopping a big run. EA has always strived to give players more control and better responsiveness on the field, and the advancements this year are nice, even if they are only granular in nature. And in a further step towards emulating actual NFL games, Madden 19 lets you choose a custom celebration after a touchdown or a big defensive play with individual and team-based celebrations. Whether you’re performing a simple spike on your own or doing the spoon-to-mouth dance with your team, it gives Madden a more authentic feel.

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This is the second year of Madden using EA’s Frostbite engine, and it has indeed made strides to make the game look better. Character models are now more lifelike, while small things like player sweat (yes, really), the way bodies crunch and recoil after big hits, sunspots pouring onto the field at dusk, and weather elements like rain and snow get even closer to replicating an actual NFL broadcast. While the graphics looks better, the physics can still be really weird at times. I saw things like arms bending in ways they absolutely should not, mid-air collisions causing the ball to launch through the air at an angle and speed that makes no physical sense, and balls that disappear into the ground for no reason. Crowd animations can also be odd at times. The Madden franchise has always been replete with bugs and weirdness, and I tend to agree that this is part of the charm; none of the issues I encountered were enough to completely break the immersion. Also new in the presentation department are the menus, which now look sleeker and are less cluttered.

Madden 19’s commentating is a big bright spot. The play-by-play/color duo of Brandon Gaudin and Charles Davis return, and they have an excellent rapport. Their banter succeeds thanks to their football acumen, as well as their willingness and ability to emulate real NFL broadcast booths and shoot the breeze on topics like stadium food and Seinfeld references. While Gaudin and Davis turn in excellent performances, the Texas high school commentators from Longshot mode really steal the show with their over-the-top, homer play-by-play calls that left me laughing and wanting more. Another commentating update this year is former ESPN anchor Jonathan Coachman as the pre-game/halftime host; he replaces Larry Ridley. Coachman is enthusiastic and fun to listen to, but most Madden players are likely to skip these segments. Madden 19’s commentary will be updated on a regular basis with new dialogue lines that reflect what happens in the real NFL once the season kicks off later this month, though it remains to be seen if the commentators will tackle controversial subjects.

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One of the deepest modes in Madden 19 is Franchise. Last year’s game was frustratingly light on advancements and improvements, but the new Madden thankfully adds more to the mix to give you a different kind of control over shaping your franchise–and the individual players on your team. One of the more notable new features is what’s called the Archetype Progression system which adds different styles to positions and lets you continue to build and expand your players over the course of one or multiple seasons. The XP you earn in games gives you skill points that you can then spend to upgrade one of the archetypes for your player instead of assigning them to specific attributes. This can feel frustrating as it effectively limits the amount of fine control you have to shape your players as specifically as you were able to previously. This might have been done to help balance teams in online play, but whatever the case, it’s a bit of a bummer to have that kind of precise control taken away.

Madden 19’s new custom draft class creator for Franchise is another welcome addition. At launch, you’ll be able to download draft classes made by the community, so you can expect some dedicated player to create the latest real-world NFL mock drafts in real time.

Another way to play Madden is through the card-based Madden Ultimate Team mode, which remains Madden’s deepest pursuit–and it’s stocked with things to do this year. In addition to the standard challenges, of which there are more than 100, there are Solo Battles where you can go up against other fan-created MUT squads in weekly tournaments, while there will also be a playlist for MUT squads made by EA Sports developers, NFL players, and celebrities. It’s a thrill to take on a different squad each playthrough in Solo Battles, and I can see myself returning again and again to this mode to see how my team stacks up. Already a deep and robust mode, MUT adds the brand-new MUT Squads Challenges, where you and two others take on the CPU in a series of challenges. I am currently testing this mode on pre-release servers, and I’ll have more to say about this when the public servers go live. MUT still pushes you towards microtransactions, and that may be a concern for some. But it remains as exciting and satisfying as ever to put together a fantasy team where Tom Brady can throw a touchdown pass to Jerry Rice.

Returning from Madden 18 is the Longshot mode, which was arguably the biggest, most impressive, and fleshed out new feature that the franchise had ever seen. It wasn’t perfect, and neither is this year’s version, Longshot: Homecoming. The story picks up with Devin Wade having a tough time in the Dallas Cowboys training camp, with Colt Cruise struggling through life in Mathis and getting blindsided by a major life event that puts his entire life and career into question. The voice acting and performances of all the major characters, Wade in particular, are solid. EA also recruited celebrities like frequent Adam Sandler collaborator Rob Schneider, Ron Cephas Jones (This Is Us), Jimmy Tatro (American Vandal), and Joey King (The Kissing Booth) for the mode, and they turn in memorable performances.

Homecoming’s story is one of pain and struggle, loss and redemption, and how football really doesn’t matter when compared to issues at home and in life. Homecoming, like Longshot before it, has bold ambitions in terms of the story it tells and the feelings it wants to evoke, but it doesn’t always work. At one point early in the story, Cruise remarks to a character about “some of the most cliched stuff I’ve ever seen,” and this could also apply to Homecoming’s story. At times, it can be uneven and inconsistent in its tone, coming across as very hokey and ham-handed.

And in what is a surprising move, EA (almost) completely dropped the Telltale-style dialogue options from the first iteration. It was fun to make choices and steer the conversation in the original Longshot, even if the story never really branched, so it’s a real shame that EA moved away from this in favour of a more traditionally structured story. That being said, the narrative will pull you through and, at just about four hours in length, you may finish it in one sitting. Unfortunately, I experienced a significant difficulty spike at the end of Devin’s story where he goes up against a much better team and has to make all the right plays to get the win. A lack of variety in this sequence and the upswing in difficulty made what should have been a climactic conclusion a boring and frustrating affair. Those issues aside, I had a fun time playing through Devin and Colt’s story, which reached a satisfying and heart-warming end.

Madden 19 is an excellent football game that improves on last year’s entry in almost every way. There are problems, but there has never been a football game that more authentically represents the NFL than this in terms of presentation, controls, and depth. Madden 19 servers go live on August 10, and GameSpot’s final review will be published after we’ve thoroughly tested their stability.

Castle Rock Episode 4 Breakdown! “The Box” | Plot, References, and Characters

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