Month: May 2018

Early in the 21st Century, THE IGN CORPORATION advanced podcasters into the nexus phase – a podcaster virtually identical to an idiot – known as a Benny.

The Nexus 6 Bennies were inferior in strength and agility, and considerably less intelligent, to the genetic engineers who created them.

Bennies were used Off-world as slave labor, in the hazardous exploration and colonisation of other planets.

After a bloody mutiny by a Nexus 6 combat team in North London, Bennies were declared illegal on earth – under penalty of death.

Special police squads – Blade Runner Units – had orders to shoot to kill, upon detection, any trespassing Benny.

Continue reading…

Of course, it goes without saying that we’re talking full spoilers here!

Solo: A Star Wars Story finally reveals the origin of everyone’s favorite scoundrel in that galaxy far, far away. But the movie’s also full of references and Easter Eggs for Star Wars fans everywhere. Let’s break down all the ones we spotted.

And we’re gonna do it in less than 12 parsecs! Watch the video above for all the Easter eggs, or check out the slideshow below for the quick version…

That’s everything we found in Solo, but let us know what Easter eggs and references you uncovered.

And then be sure to check out our review of the film, or our deep dive on what Maul has been up to since The Phantom Menace. Or watch the Solo cast take our ultimate Han Solo quiz below…

Continue reading…

Full spoilers for Solo: A Star Wars Story follow. You have been warned!

And for more on Solo, head here for our rundown on all the Easter Eggs and references in the film.

Wait… what? Is that… but I thought he was dead… Whoa! Darth Maul is alive!

After you’ve seen the latest Star Wars film, Solo: A Star Wars Story, you may find yourself a bit in shock at the end. That collective gasp heard worldwide came with the big reveal that Maul is back. But how? Why? Didn’t Obi-Wan Kenobi slice him in half and send him tumbling down into the planet core of Naboo all the way back in 1999’s Episode I: The Phantom Menace? And why isn’t he referred to as Darth Maul in the film’s credits?

Continue reading…

Far Cry 5‘s first expansion, Hours of Darkness, will launch on June 5, Ubisoft announced today. You play as Far Cry 5 story character Wendell “Red” Redler, but in a different period in time. Namely, Hours of Darkness is set during the Vietnam War and follows Red as he finds and rescues his squadmates in the jungle as he fights against NVA and VC soldiers.

Hours of Darkness is playable solo or in co-op, just like the main game, and it also includes “new gear and abilities.” There are also two new modes that you unlock after completing the story, the first of which is Survivor Mode. As its name suggests, this is a more challenging mode that limits your loadout. The other mode is Action Movie Mode, which is basically the opposite, as it gives you a “generous” loadout for more action.

On top of the Hours of Darkness expansion itself, all Far Cry 5 players–whether or not they buy the add-on–are getting new Vietnam-themed content for the Far Cry Arcade. These assets can be used for any maps you make using the Arcade tools. Ubisoft added that Far Cry 5’s future expansions will also included themed assets for free.

You can get Hours of Darkness by itself for $12 USD. It is also included with the game’s $30 Season Pass and $90 Gold Edition. Two more expansions will follow Hours of Darkness, including Lost On Mars (in which you fight aliens on Mars) and Dead Living Zombies (in which you fight zombies).

In other news, Ubisoft today released the Hours of Darkness soundtrack, which you can listen to using the Spotify embed below.

The Star Wars universe is showing no signs of slowing down. On the eve of the release of Solo: A Star Wars Story, there’s another beloved character getting their own standalone movie–and a writer/director attached that is sure to delight many fans.

According to The Hollywood Reporter, James Mangold has signed on to write and director a Boba Fett movie. The infamous bounty hunter, first introduced in 1980s’s Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back, has long been a character fans speculated would get his own standalone movie. He was set to be featured in the Star Wars 1313 video game, which was ultimately canceled.

Mangold most recently wrote and directed Logan, the final film starring Hugh Jackman as Wolverine in the X-Men film franchise. It’s also been reported that he’s co-writing a follow-up film centered on Laura, the mutant child also known as X-23, that was introduced in the movie. It’s unclear whether his entry into the Star Wars franchise would be Rated R, like his X-Men movie was.

Boba Fett isn’t the only standalone Star Wars movie believe to be in the world. An Obi-Wan Kenobi film is reportedly gaining steam, as well. It was recently reported by TMZ that the movie’s story is set on Tatooine with Kenobi looking over an infant Luke Skywalker. While a director has not been confirmed, Stephen Daldry (The Hours) was named in TMZ’s report.

There’s also that potential Lando Calrissian standalone movie that made the news in past weeks. Lucasfilm president Kathleen Kennedy admitted that Lando’s is a story the company would like to tell, which was then misquoted to say it was the next Star Wars movie in the works. Still, with the reaction to Donald Glover is in the role in Solo: A Star Wars Story, getting his own movie would be very exciting.

Ubisoft has announced some of the games it will have to show at E3 2018 next month. In a news release, Ubisoft said it will have “new info and content to share” on the games like The Division 2, Beyond Good & Evil 2, For Honor, Skull & Bones, Starlink: Battle for Atlas, and Transference. Notably absent from the list of big announced Ubisoft games is the new Avatar game from The Division studio Massive Entertainment.

This list of course dos not include unannounced games, and we know Ubisoft will have at least one big AAA game announcement to make at E3. It is looking likely that it is a new Splinter Cell game, though nothing is confirmed at this stage.

Ubisoft’s E3 2018 briefing is slated for 1 PM PT / 4 PM ET on Monday, June 11. Like last year, it’s being held in the Orpheum Theatre in Los Angeles. We’ll have full coverage of the event as it unfolds, including breaking news stories and roundups of new trailers.

When E3 2018 kicks off properly only June 12, E3 attendees can visit Ubisoft’s booth on the show floor to play some games. Though a full list of playable titles has not been revealed, Ubisoft said it will have “more game stations than ever.”

“Video games are playing a bigger role in the future of entertainment and in people’s lives, which is why I’m always excited to see the innovations and games from around the industry showcased at E3,” Ubisoft CEO Yves Guillemot said. “Our talented teams can’t wait to show off what they’re creating, and to share how we’re partnering with players to develop diverse experiences that are enriching and, most importantly, fun.”

For more on E3 2018, check out the rundown of the press conference schedule. You can also get up to speed on the show with GameSpot’s History of E3 video feature.

For a game that’s based on the world of Robert E. Howard’s Conan the Barbarian, Conan Exiles has remarkably little to do with any part of that universe. It’s a big, open-world survival sim that sticks true to its initial hardcore vision to a fault. When you combine the steep learning curve of a deep but confusing crafting system with largely monotonous gameplay and a spectacularly awful UI, Conan Exiles feels like it does everything it can to push back on those curious enough to step into its admittedly intriguing but highly flawed world.

The game opens as you regain consciousness in the scorching desert, completely naked and vulnerable. As an exile, you are trapped in a doomed and cursed land with nothing but the faint memory of being cut down from your crucifix by Conan, the giant hunk of man-meat himself. From there, you’re free to wander off into the wild yonder. The exiled lands are massive, made up of different environmental biomes that can be explored freely from the outset. Spectacular-looking sandstorms can roll in out of nowhere, forcing you to seek shelter lest they consume you. You can climb anything from mountains and trees to walls and buildings, provided you have the stamina. This adds an extra dimension to exploration, with the added payoff of some lovely views of Conan’s varied world.

You start out small, picking up rocks and sticks and crafting simple tools. Almost everything you find can be broken down one way or another, and while it’s neat to watch rocks chip apart and trees topple over as you hack into them, the humdrum motion of harvesting never feels rewarding. Eventually you’ll need to build shelter and a bed, which becomes your new spawn point. Given the game’s brutal permadeath mechanic, doing this sooner rather than later can save you some real heartache.

Shelter can mean anything from a small stone shack all the way to a giant castle, complete with reinforced walls, towers, and even a trebuchet. Building is block-based and relatively free form, allowing for hugely elaborate base designs that can be some fun to build, provided you take the time to gather the raw materials to build everything you need. That’s all well and good, except for the part where you aren’t shown how to do any of it. It’s all up to you to simply figure out or dive head first into a wiki to have anything explained in detail.

If you aren’t motivated by curiosity, Conan Exiles’ single-player mode will feel empty and largely aimless. It’s more like a practice mode, with only a handful of NPC outposts and structures to find. When you do, most of them are hostile, and the few that aren’t only offer minimal interaction. Multiplayer changes this up for the better in a few ways, mainly through the addition of other human players.

More importantly, though, multiplayer gives you more purpose and clearer goals to achieve. This includes defending your base from other players as well as The Purge, an army of NPCs that might attack and destroy your base as you gain XP. You can also join Clans, which will allow you to build collectively, either on or near clanmates’ already-laid foundations. For times when you do have to leave home behind, you can create Thralls–human NPCs with specialised abilities you can knockout, bind, and drag back to base to enslave–to help protect it, and they do a decent enough job.

Character progression in both single and multiplayer takes place in the Journey, a series of tasks grouped into chapters that, when completed, grant you attribute points to spend on any one of seven main ability slots. You also gain knowledge points to unlock new crafting recipes, of which there are a lot. The number of things you can craft is staggering; weapons, armor, survival items, and even religious altars to help to deify the gods of the world and earn their favour.

Once you start crafting more complex items, you get better acquainted with one of the game’s worst aspects: its UI. There’s nothing intuitive about it, and like the rest of the game, there’s very little explanation given as to how it works. On top of that, it’s overly complicated, requiring you to place the resources along with any fuel required into the crafting bench first, select what you want to build from the menu, and then hit the play button to actually craft it. There’s also almost no difference between the console and PC UI, so it’s an absolute nightmare to do any kind of inventory management with a controller. And like in most survival sims, it’s what you inevitably spend a significant amount time doing, making it a constant source of frustration.

When you get tired of chipping away at trees and rocks, which you will, you can chip away at creatures or other humans instead. There are all manner of things in the exiled lands for you to kill or be killed by, from animals and beasts to monstrous boss creatures like a giant black spider and a huge, spiked Dragon. But despite the sizeable enemy variety and the large array of weapons you can smith–from daggers to axes and giant mallets–combat is just plain bad. Both light and heavy attacks feel unwieldy thanks to sluggish animations, and weapon strikes lack any impact, resulting in dull and monotonous fights.

Conan Exiles is one of the most unsatisfying games I’ve ever played.

To top it off, Conan Exiles just feels really unpolished. The bodies of harvested enemies simply disappear into thin air, and large areas of the world can pop in and out of view at any time, clipping your character through the ground then respawning you somewhere else on the map. When the night starts to come, the moon’s light casts upwards from the ground, creating an bottomlit effect that looks atrocious. It’s also not in the most stable condition, with a number of crashes affecting gameplay randomly on both PC and Xbox.

Ultimately, Conan Exiles is one of the most unsatisfying games I’ve ever played. Its crafting and resource systems may be dense enough that the ultra-patient could find something to enjoy here, but anyone else would likely walk away with their hands thrown up in defeat. The mind-numbing tedium of harvesting resources, woefully boring combat, and a slew of bugs left me feeling completely underwhelmed and unimpressed when it was all said and done.