Month: February 2019

Ape Out has you make your way through mazes dodging hostile scientists and using brute strength to make your way across levels. Here’s 7 minutes of gameplay captured on PC.

Judgment brings you back to Kamurocho, home of the Yakuza series. You’re now detective Yagami getting into fights, playing minigames, eating beef bowls, and decorating your office.

After seven mainline games in the Yakuza franchise, and having grown so close to series protagonist Kazuma Kiryu and his rollercoaster of a life, stepping into his hometown of Kamurocho without him didn’t feel right. But Ryu ga Gotoku Studios’ new game, Judgment, thrusts you back into the red-light district as Takayuki Yagami, a lawyer-turned-private eye, whose detective sensibilities spin a fresh perspective on a place we’ve seen so many times. And after two hours of hands-on with the localized version, I’ve come to appreciate seeing a familiar town in a new light, not to mention investigating the ongoing drama of Kamurocho’s criminal underworld.

It takes some time to adjust and accept Yagami, especially when I pass by the old Serena bar and Millenium Tower, or stop by the Sega Arcade in Theater Square and Don Quijote off Nakamichi street. These are the spots I’ve been to countless times as Kiryu, and a sense of nostalgia hit me as I was playing. However, the book’s been closed on the Dragon of Dojima and with a heavy introduction to Yagami’s own tumultuous life and how he ties into the overarching Yakuza narrative, I can’t help but buy into what Judgment is trying to do.

New Stories From An Old City

In many ways, it’s the same old seedy Kamurocho–modeled after Kabukicho in Shinjuku, Tokyo–mainly because it’s literally the same map and assets from Yakuza X. Low-level goons trying to flex, shady types looking to swindle you, and thugs ready to fight fill the streets. But that’s only the backdrop to Yagami’s story. In a flashback, it’s established that he’d been a lawyer with Genda Law Firm in Kamurocho, and successfully defended one Shinpei Okubo, who Yagami seems to have a personal connection with. After being found not guilty, Okubo subsequently stabs his girlfriend and burns down their apartment; this is as it appears in the introductory cutscene, but knowing Yakuza games, there’s certainly more to this particular story.

Fast-forward three years later, Yagami left the life of a lawyer to work as a private investigator, trading in his suit for a sweet pair of skinny jeans and slick leather jacket, if he’s not in disguise. He stays close to his former associates at Genda Law who remain integral to the story, even taking on jobs for his old boss. Old cohorts aside, Yagami works alongside his partner Masaharu Kaito–the beefy, well-dressed right-hand-man who can hold his own against mobs of bad guys. He’s also ex-yakuza and was previously booted from the Tojo Clan for reasons currently unknown. Two misfits from opposite ends of justice whose circumstances have them caught in the middle.

Even the central drama pulls from what we already know; the Kansai-based Omi Alliance encroaches on the Tojo Clan’s turf yet again, but Omi goons are found murdered throughout Kamurocho, inexplicably with their eyes gouged out. Thus, the first chapter titled “Three Blind Mice” gets you involved in one of Judgement’s deeper mysteries. It leads to another web of characters who all seem to be building up to have roles in a larger conspiracy, setting the pieces for a potential plot twist down the road. One of them being Kyohei Hamura, a captain in the Tojo Clan’s Matsugane Family, who’s suspected of committing one of the said murders–and Yagami must help defend him.

I didn’t get to see the conclusion to this particular story thread, but I picked up some interesting bits along the way that painted a clearer picture of where Yagami fits in. He’s presented as a stand-up fellow and doesn’t appear to have any burning desire or motivation to help either side in this endless gang war, but does some basic (and shady) debt collecting for the Matsugane family to make ends meet. But Prior to Hamura’s arrest, it’s said that patriarch Matsugane had paid for Yagami’s law school tuition to defend Okubo in return; the aforementioned incident three years ago. As I inched closer to the truth in this early chapter and wondered how Yagami will handle the truth, the more complicated pieces started to fall in place.

With all the narrative juggling you’ll be doing and Yagami’s dynamic role as a veteran investigator and hardened fighter, it’s a sensibility that also pours into Judgment’s gameplay.

You Can’t Fight Your Way Through Every Problem

Compared to most Yakuza games, Judgment’s main story has you doing a bit more than beating dudes to a pulp before reaching an often respectful resolution. The opening hours give you a taste of the different phases of a typical mission. In one phase, you’ll follow a suspect in one of those tailing sequences where you fail if you get too close or stray too far from the target. In another, you’ll examine your immediate surroundings to gather evidence within a confined location for a case you’re investigating. At other times, you’ll engage in chases on foot a la Yakuza 3, 4, and 5 where you pursue a suspect and avoid obstacles to catch them before they escape. There’s also a phrase of talking to bystanders at key locations to hopefully obtain witness accounts that bring you closer to solving the case at hand.

On their own, these in-between sequences haven’t been all that great yet, and if anything, simply break up the pace of what we’ve come to expect. One thing that seems to stand above the rest is the addition of a more dynamic dialogue tree. These don’t necessarily influence the story’s outcomes the same way many modern RPGs do, but they put you in position to lead conversations and play at least a small part in digging out information and piecing evidence. By nature of taking the role of an investigator, you’re more inquisitive about the surrounding environment and the people within it. So much so that you can form bonds with some characters; we’re hoping for Persona-style social links, but we’ll have to wait to see how far this’ll take us.

When it’s time to throw down, the series’ tried-and-true beat ’em up combat resurfaces, using a near identical control scheme. Yagami plays reminiscent of the footloose financier Shun Akiyama (playable in Yakuza 4 and 5), who relies more on agile kicks and acrobatics than haymakers and brutal throws. His high-flying fighting style also feeds into the EX Actions (formerly Heat Actions) in which you’ll see Yagami wall-jumping to deliver a devastating knee or follow up a roundhouse with a swinging double kick through a doorway. Although I was only able to mess with the demo’s available EX Actions, scrolling through the upgrades menu reveals even more stylish attacks–I get the feeling that Judgment’s humorous side may shine here (I mean, we saw Yagami kickflip a skateboard to kick a dude in the face in a previous trailer). Yagami gives off an air of parkour-influenced swagger as opposed to Kiryu’s traditional absurd brutality that I, and I suspect many others, will be onboard for.

Downtime And Minigames

As expected, minigames are found around the corners of the sandbox of Kamurocho, mainly at the Club Sega right in the heart of Kamurocho’s Theater Square. ‘Kamuro of the Dead’ delivers a light gun-style experience that throws back to House of the Dead and sparked thoughts of the ridiculous spinoff Yakuza: Dead Souls. And the smaller things like the dart boards and UFO Catcher crane game are still around. But the adorable plushies you pluck out of it serve a slightly bigger purpose: you can now decorate your office space with them. Yagami lives in his office and sleep on the couch as if he (like his fighting style) was pulled straight of the Akiyama template. And in this office, you can put your own flair on it with cute stuffed cats, office plants, and Super Monkey Ball monkeys–a nod to director Toshihiro Nagoshi’s pre-Yakuza claim to fame.

Sadly, karaoke isn’t present in Judgment. The rhythm-based minigame that brought so many beautiful and hilarious moments throughout the Yakuza series was said to not be a great fit for Judgment and its characters. It’d also be pretty difficult getting new Yagami’s voice actors Greg Chun (English) and Takuya Kimura (Japanese) to sing karaoke songs in the voice over booths in a way that makes sense for both languages.

A New Watermark For The Series’ Localization

For the first time in Ryu ga Gotoku Studios’ history, its game will feature dual audio; you’ll have the option for the English or Japanese voice track with separate subtitles for each. It’s a new challenge for Sega’s localization team that’s been renowned for its stellar work on bringing the current generation of Yakuza games to the West with their original spirit in tact. While I find the Japanese voice work to be the best fit, the English voices left me pleasantly surprised, especially with the extra effort made to animate proper lip-syncing for a separate script.

Prominent anime and video game voice actors were brought on for Judgment; alongside Greg Chun in the lead role are Matthew Mercer, Max Mittelman, Yuri Lowenthal, Cherami Leigh, and SungWon “ProZD” Cho to name a few. Having spent some time with the English track, I began to ease into it and found myself brought into the story all the same. Having this option opens the door for those who’ve always wanted a dubbed version.

Awaiting Judgment

Judgment is tempered in a way that fits what the game is going for. No longer are you navigating the ranks of a yakuza clan or sorting out your own family drama while taking breaks to hit the dance floor or belt out a few songs at the karaoke bar. I’ll miss that, it’s what made Yakuza’s story and characters full of life. The masterful fluctuation between absurdity and melodrama takes a back seat, at least that’s how it appears.

There are a lot of new faces, and keeping track of who’s who comes part-and-parcel, and even with just two hours with the game, there’s still plenty of detail I haven’t laid out here. But if I’ve learned anything from seven Yakuza entries, it’s that Ryu ga Gotoku Studios makes good on the details it throws into its games. Judgment provides a fresh perspective of a familiar setting. It may not be a Yakuza game by name, but the spirit seems to still be there. You can investigate Kamurocho’s latest crimes as Takayuki Yagami in Summer 2019 when Judgment launches exclusively for PlayStation 4.

Ape Out is, at heart, a game about jazz. The soundtrack is crafted by your improvised actions as you careen a runaway ape through the game’s levels, leaving a path of destruction and bloodshed in your wake. It’s high energy and exciting, even if, by the end, it feels like you’re playing the same basic tunes over and over.

It’s a very simple game, at least in terms of how it’s played–You’re an ape, and you must run through each level without getting blown up or shot three times by human enemies. The camera is positioned above you, giving you a Hotline Miami-esque omnipotence when it comes to where your enemies are positioned. You can push enemies, who will splat and die if they hit a solid object, or you can grab them, at which point they’ll fire at least one shot from their gun straight forward, hopefully into another person. A grabbed enemy can be thrown with more precision, which is especially handy if they’re wearing an explosive pack, which will blow up and take out anything within its blast radius. You’ll spend most of your time running forward, smacking enemies as you go, occasionally snaking away to avoid a mob or stopping to rip a steel door off its hinges.

But the way Ape Out elevates its relatively straightforward gameplay loop is by evoking the feeling of creating music, thanks to Matt Boch’s captivating procedural soundtrack, which generates a drum-heavy percussion beat under the action. During lulls, the music fades to a calm, but when the action gets frenetic the drums and cymbal crashes kick in hard, and there are occasional horns and contextual changes depending on what’s happening in any given stage. Additionally, the levels are presented as though they were albums, with each new subsection representing a track, complete with transitions from Side A to Side B at the midway point. It’s a fascinating system which gives those moments where you’re in the middle of a killing spree a significant extra kick. It’s a repetitive game–you’re ultimately doing the same thing continually over the whole course of the game–but it can also be quite propulsive and thrilling, especially when you’re on a good run.

The stages themselves are starkly designed, with limited color palettes and simple geometric shapes. The ape itself is a single orange shape, and enemies are demarcated by a handful of different designs. There’s a slight film grain effect over the action that gives everything a subtle jittery quality, and the album motif is even baked into the loading screens, which make the faint scratching noises of a vinyl record that is left on the turntable after the music has finished. The game’s greatest strength is how defined and consistent this aesthetic is. The unique art blends perfectly with the soundtrack, making the game’s violence a bit more palatable than it might have otherwise been, and its boldness pulls you into the action very well.

It’s great that Ape Out has so much style and flair, because it’s essential to your investment due to the game’s lack of variety. There are slight variations in how each level operates–the third album, for instance, features combustible liquids that can create walls of fire if you throw an explosives expert into them, and in the second (and best) album there are windows that riot police can rappel through–but they never dramatically alter how you need to play the game. A few new enemy types pop up, but the methods you use to deal with them never really change. There are a handful of good sections where the lights go out and you need to track enemy movements based on the beams of their flashlights, and they highlight how much the game could have benefited from more interesting gimmicks and variety. It’s a shame that Ape Out isn’t more playful, because whenever new ideas are introduced, they’re always welcome–there just aren’t that many of them. The game is short, yet some levels still feel superfluous and samey. I kept hoping a level would come along that would fundamentally change how I had to play, but this never happened.

Levels are semi-procedurally generated, so while some landmarks and choke-points will always pop up in roughly the same spot, the exact layout and enemy placements will change. This means that you’ll sometimes find yourself in situations where a huge number of enemies swarm you at once, and properly defending yourself is all but impossible. Several times I encountered enemies wearing explosive vests and found that avoiding both their blast radius and gunfire from another enemy was frustrating and futile. The game isn’t too difficult on the default difficulty, although there are occasional spikes when a level is a bit longer, which gives enemies more time to put bullets into you.

Ape Out is a game that draws you in with its strong aesthetic style and flair, but it feels short on ideas. When you’re barrelling through a room, knocking multiple enemies into walls and watching them explode into puddles of blood, it can be quite exciting. But the game never really rises above being a mild thrill, and a lack the variety means that it’s too repetitive to truly make a strong impact. Ape Out isn’t as creative with its level designs and challenges as it is with its soundtrack and art, but as it stands it’s a pleasant, jazzy way to spend a few hours.

The transition from one season to the next is rarely a smooth one in the world of Fortnite, as developer Epic Games likes to make significant changes that turns everything that veteran players know on its head. Epic does this through large-scale world events that both develop Fortnite’s lore and also rework the island that players spend all their time on.

As Season 7 was coming to a close, players reported earthquakes and, eventually, cracks began forming on the island. Now, it has been revealed that an incredibly powerful figure being held captive by the Ice King has escaped. Alongside this enigmatic figure finding his freedom, a volcano has emerged on the island and ninjas have appeared. If the Ice King’s Ice Fiends and strange fire ninjas wasn’t enough, pirates have also arrived on the island. Each of these factions have their eyes on a treasure, and as the weeks progress, the struggle to acquire said treasure will no doubt get messy.

All of this has changed the Fortnite island in significant ways. When looking at the map, it’s most noticeable in the upper right corner, where the new volcano can be seen, with a pool of lava surround it. That lava isn’t just for show, as touching it will do one point of damage and also bounce the player away. That might not sound like a lot, but when a skirmish gets heated, backing into some lava when your health is low could be the difference between a Victory Royale and coming in second place.

Around the volcano, two new areas have also appeared. Sunny Steps is to the east and has a distinct Mayan aesthetic, with pyramid structure that look like temples. It’s also nestled in the jungle and surrounded by greenery. With the sun beaming down over it, the area looks quite idyllic, though we anticipate it won’t be long before its home to chaotic skirmishes.

To the west of the volcano is Lazy Lagoon, which is an area themed after the new pirates that have arrived on the island. A huge pirate ship can be found docked there, and we expect the challenges coming over the next few weeks will have us boarding the ship regularly.

But the changes aren’t just constrained to the island, as the spawn island, where players gather before boarding the Battle Bus has also changed. It now has a little more of jungle theme, while also having some touches to remind players that there’s pirates out there now. You can take a look at the map, as well as the new locations in the images above.

The volcano has also caused volcanic vents to appear around the map. These have an impact on gameplay, as they shoot out air that can be used to aid traversal. If you, or a vehicle you’re in, gets caught up in an air stream coming out of a vent, you’ll be launched into the sky. They work very similar to how the jump pads used to, so function as a replacement.

Epic Games has released the Fortnite update 8.0 patch notes, so you can see everything that’s changed and added for the new season. The new Battle Pass is also available, and we have a comprehensive Fortnite Season 8 Battle Pass cosmetics guide, which has images of every unlock available, so you can check it out before purchasing a pass or figure out what you want to focus on getting.

Jessica Chastain appeared on Jimmy Fallon’s late night show tonight where she introduced a teaser for the new trailer for the upcoming superhero movie X-Men Dark Phoenix [Update: the full trailer is now also available]. You can watch it in the video embed here.

Dark Phoenix is directed by Simon Kinberg, who makes his directing debut after years as a writer and producer on X-Men movies. Sophie Turner returns to play Phoenix, while Chastain plays the main villain. In the interview with Fallon, Chastain teased that her character might kill someone.

“I get to beat up a lot of X-Men in the movie. Maybe kill some. It’s an intense movie, but we had fun,” she said.

Dark Phoenix and the other X-Men spin-off, New Mutants, are said to be the last X-Men films to be separate from the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Disney is buying the majority of Fox’s entertainment assets, so X-Men characters could become integrated into the MCU.

In a recent interview, Disney CEO Bob Iger stated that Marvel Studios boss Kevin Feige could take charge of the X-Universe as well. “I think it only makes sense,” Iger said. “I want to be careful here because of what’s been communicated to the Fox folks, but I think they know. It only makes sense for Marvel to be supervised by one entity. There shouldn’t be two Marvels.”

Dark Phoenix comes to theaters on June 7.

Game of Thrones showrunners D.B. Weiss and David Benioff invited author George R.R. Martin to come to Ireland to film a cameo for the upcoming eighth and final season–but he said no.

Martin explained to Entertainment Weekly that he had a very good reason for staying hunkered down at home in New Mexico–he was working on the sixth novel in A Song of Ice and Fire saga.

“David and Dan invited me to a cameo in one of the final episodes, which I was tempted to do,” he explained. “But I didn’t hink just for the sake of a cameo I could take the time to return to Belfast.”

Martin also confirmed that he filmed a cameo in the pilot episode of Game of Thrones, but it was cut. “I was a guest at Dany’s wedding. But that was when she was played by Tamzin Merchant, so all that footage got thrown out when we recast with Emilia Clarke.”

An image of Martin in costume for the cameo can be seen here on the Game of Thrones wiki.

Game of Thrones Season 8 premieres on April 14 on HBO–you can see the latest footage here. While the main show is ending, a prequel series is in development.

The SteelSeries Arctis 7 wireless headset is a quality choice, but HyperX, Logitech, and more have sets to suit your head.

The BenQ HT2150T is your best option. Low input lag, excellent contrast ratio and its short-throw design make it a fantastic pick.