Happy Friday! Jess McDonell and Dan Crowd bring you another GS News Roundup, to catch you up on the big events that have happened this week! Here’s the lowdown.
Cyberpunk 2077 Developer Responds To Games-As-Service Concerns
Some speculation surrounding the next project from Witcher 3 developers CD Projekt Red came up this week, which suggested that Cyberpunk 2077 will trend towards a game model that included games-as-service traits such as micro-transactions in order to make the game more profitable. Thankfully, CD Projekt came out pretty strongly to refute this claim. Get all the details in today’s episode.
Even More Rainbow Six Siege Content Details For Next Year
Rainbow Six Siege is one of those multiplayer games that seems to be doing good by its fanbase with a steady flow of great post-release content. This week, Ubisoft announced a gamut of new things coming to the game for its third year! Watch Dan get excited about it all in the video.
Global Governments Are Getting Organised Around Loot Boxes
In the wake of Star Wars Battlefront 2’s loot box controversy, a number of government agencies and officials around the globe have begun looking into the mechanic, which is becoming increasingly common in games. There are concerns that the practice could constitute gambling, and many are organising to look into restrictions to stop the practice entirely.
What did you think about today’s news? Let us know your thoughts in the comments below, and we’ll see you next week!
Black Friday 2017 is here, bringing with it rude consumers, big crowds, long queues, and getting punched in the face because you were trying to get that last copy of Assassin’s Creed Origins from the store shelf. Luckily, there’s a way to avoid all that hustle and bustle: stay at home and download your games! We’ve already covered Sony’s PSN sale on PS4 games, as well as all the cheap Switch games on sale on Nintendo’s Eshop, and now it’s time for us to list Microsoft’s deals on cheap Xbox One games. If you’re in the US, be sure to check out all the Xbox One games on sale on Xbox Live, or scroll on down for UK-specific deals.
Call of Duty: WWII is one of the year’s biggest games, and its Digital Deluxe edition is currently available for 10% off, making it £76.49 on Xbox Live. Other big games discounted include FIFA 18 (£42), Destiny 2 (£41.24), Grand Theft Auto V (£33), and NBA 2K18 (£44). Remember that Xbox Live Gold members get additional discounts on top of the Black Friday sale.
You can see many more Black Friday UK deals in our roundups of Game’s sale, Amazon’s deals, Sony’s PSN sale, or Nintendo’s Eshop games sale. Alternatively, check out all the Black Friday deals we’ve covered so far below, or scroll down for all the games included in Microsoft’s Xbox Live sale.
Microsoft’s Xbox One Game Deals On Xbox Live
Assassin’s Creed Origins — £44
Assassin’s Creed Syndicate — £15
Assassin’s Creed The Ezio Collection — £20
Batman: The Telltale Series – The Complete Season (Episodes 1-5) — £10
Batman: The Enemy Within – The Complete Season (Episodes 1-5) — £17.50
Battleborn — £8.25
Battlefield 1 Revolution — £33
Battlefield 1 Premium Pass — £16
BioShock: The Collection — £18
Borderlands: The Handsome Collection — £18
Call of Duty®: Black Ops III – Zombies Chronicles Edition (includes Black Ops III + Zombies Chronicles) — £45.64
Call of Duty: Black Ops III – Zombies Deluxe — £66.39
Call of Duty: Infinite Warfare — £22
Call of Duty: Infinite Warfare – Digital Legacy Edition (includes Call of Duty: Modern Warfare Remastered) — £48
Call of Duty: Infinite Warfare – Digital Deluxe Edition (includes DLC + Call of Duty: Modern Warfare Remastered) — £57
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare Remastered — £28
Call of Duty: WWII – Digital Deluxe — £76.49
Dark Souls III — £25
Dead Rising 4 — £25
Dead Rising 4 Deluxe Edition — £32.50
Dead Rising 4 Season Pass — £4.80
Destiny 2 — £41.24
Destiny 2 Game + Expansion Pass bundle — £60
Destiny 2 – Digital Deluxe — £67.50
Deus Ex: Mankind Divided — £12.50
Dirt 4 — £33
Dishonored 2 — £18
Doom — £15
Evolve — £6.60
Evolve Digital Deluxe — £9.90
Evolve Ultimate Edition — £11.55
Fallout 4 — £15
Far Cry 4 — £12
Far Cry Primal — £15
FIFA 18 — £42
FIFA 18 Ronaldo Edition — £56
FIFA 18 Icon Edition — £63
Final Fantasy XV — £20
For Honor — £22
Forza Horizon 3 — £20
Forza Motorsport 7 — £32.50
Game of Thrones – The Complete First Season (Episodes 1-6) — £5.28
Gears of War 4 — £16.74
Ghost Recon Wildlands — £27.50
Grand Theft Auto V — £33
Halo 5: Guardians Digital Deluxe Edition — £21
Halo Wars 2: Complete Edition — £47.25
Halo Wars 2 — £18
Just Cause 3 — £13.50
Lego City Undercover — £30
Lego Worlds — £18.74
Life is Strange Complete Collection — £5.28
Life is Strange: Before the Storm Deluxe Edition — £16
Lords of the Fallen — £6
Lords of the Fallen Digital Complete Edition — £10
Madden NFL 18 — £36
Mafia III — £17.50
Mafia III Deluxe Edition — £27.50
Mafia III Season Pass — £15
Marvel’s Guardians of the Galaxy: The Telltale Series – The Complete Season (Episodes 1-5) — £11.51
Mass Effect: Andromeda — £17.50
Mass Effect: Andromeda Deluxe Edition — £22.50
Metal Gear Solid V: The Complete Experience — £18.74
Minecraft: Story Mode – The Complete Season (Episode 1-5) — £8
Minecraft: Story Mode – Season Two – The Complete Season (Episodes 1-5) — £14.63
Mirror’s Edge Catalyst — £6.60
Mortal Kombat X — £14
NBA 2K18 — £44
NBA 2K18 Legend Edition — £59.50
NBA 2K18 Legend Edition Gold — £108
Need for Speed Payback — £42
Need for Speed Payback – Deluxe Edition — £56
NHL 18 — £36
Overwatch: Game of the Year Edition — £30
PES 2018 — £38.49
Prey– £18
Prototype + Prototype 2 — £16
Quantum Break — £17.27
Rainbow Six Siege — £18
Rayman Legends — £7.92
ReCore: Definitive Edition — £11.24
Resident Evil 7: Biohazard — £31.79
Rocket league — £9.59
Sleeping Dogs Definitive Edition — £6
South Park: The Fractured But Whole — £42.24
Sunset Overdrive — £13.20
Tales from the Borderlands Complete Season (Episodes 1-5) — £12
Tekken 7 — £35
The Division — £16
The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim Special Edition — £18
The Evil Within — £6
The Evil Within 2 — £30
The Walking Dead: The Complete First Season — £6.60
The Walking Dead: Season Two — £6.60
The Witcher III: Wild Hunt — £15
The Witcher III: Wild Hunt – Blood and Wine — £9.59
The Witcher III: Wild Hunt – Expansion Pass — £12
The Witcher III: Wild Hunt – Game of the Year Edition — £17.50
The Witcher III: Wild Hunt – Hearts of Stone — £4.79
The original Secret of Mana was one of my favorite games back in 1993. It’s story is a tale of lost identity, it has a gameplay loop that revolves around upgrading unique weapons, and the game’s quirky radial menu system still feels fresh today. This week, after playing several hours of an in-development build of the PS4 Secret of Mana remake, I found lot of things to like, a few things that aren’t great, and several places I hope the developers can still improve on the original.
Obviously, the first thing you notice about the Secret of Mana remake is its graphical upgrade; and for the most part, the remake looks better. Despite the nostalgia I have for the 16-bit era, there are some details that just come through better in 3D. Take the opening boss battle against a massive mantis creature. The 2D sprite from the original game (the introductory boss never turns; you only ever see it from the front) is replaced with a version that not only looks more complete, but it provides a more enjoyable fight since you can circle around and attack it from behind.
With this graphical update, the main characters stand out, showing off minutiae in costume design that was lost in their 16-bit forms. And smaller enemies come to life in ways that, while not radically different, feel like they are free from the constraints of their flat-sprite animations. However, not everything benefits equally from the transition to more-detailed models. The manic dancing of the game’s shopkeepers, for instance, is distracting and feels out-of-place. In the original, the movement helped bring those characters out of the background, but in the remake it just looks weird. And the re-used NPCs, a regular occurrence in RPG design from the Secret of Mana’s original era, feel a little more egregious and harder to ignore when the game has gone through such a huge facelift.
But while the the gameplay looks better overall, Secret of Mana’s cutscenes are a mess. Now, I don’t mean the new introduction (which you can watch in the video above). The mix there of hand-drawn art with minimal animation is gorgeous and captures the beauty of the game’s lush setting. But when the story begins in earnest and you’re staring into the eyes of a character that looks like it was pulled straight from a mobile port of the game, it’s hard not be disappointed. Secret of Mana’s remake seems to use the same in-game models for both gameplay and close-up cinematics. And those characters that look great from a distance feel like ’90s CGI cartoon models when you zoom in too close, with the stiff, plastic look of old shows like Reboot.
Part of that is because the characters mouths and faces don’t move, so it gives the impression that everyone is wearing a mask. The main characters have a few different mouth shapes, and sometimes characters will close one or both eyes, but otherwise, you’re watching passive faces read out overdramatic lines. That effect is especially jarring with characters like the bully with a wide, toothy grin that you meet in the game’s opening. He always has the same wide-mouthed grin, even when he’s angry or surprised, and it’s endlessly distracting.
The other problem with the cutscenes is something that should be a positive for the remake–this version adds fully voiced dialogue for everything, from the cut-scenes to the the ancillary dialogue of all the villagers. But at least in this preview build, it’s not very good. The spoken lines draw attention to the sometimes weak writing and odd translation choices (why would you say you need a “weapon” to cut through bushes to get to town?). But the voice directing is just mediocre. There is one bright aspect to this, however; in the game’s settings you can turn on Japanese voice acting at any time. It’s still not great, but it is an improvement over the English cast and a really nice additional feature.
Another welcome option is the ability to change the game’s music from the remake’s arrangements to the original 16-bit soundtrack. To the game’s credit, the re-arranged soundtrack is fantastic, but the original score still holds up beautifully, throughout the game’s early hours.
The sound and graphics see the biggest changes from the original, and although those options feel mostly locked-in at this point, there are some other elements that I hope have time for minor tweaks before the game’s full release. The equipment screen has been altered in the remake into something much more intuitive, but when you’re buying armor from merchants you’re still given no indication whether or not you already own a piece of equipment, who has what equipped, or whether the item you’re looking at is is any better for your party. In addition, consumables still have no description, so you also have to buy and use something just to find out what it does, and several items have very steep price tags for such trial-and-error shenanigans. This final omission is particularly odd since the remake adds a Guide option to the menu. But this extra info is limited to just characters, weapons, and enemies, and even there it just gives you a closer look at the models; there are no additional descriptions.
Combat is more complex in the remake, though it needs some modifications to make it more consistent. For example, in the original Secret of Mana, your one major sword attack was simply a wide, sweeping blade arc. In the remake, you can alternate between that same wide swing or a forward jab, but sometimes even when you’re standing still and expecting to execute a wide arc swing, your character throws out a thrust instead (the pattern seems to be two big arc swings followed by a thrust, regardless of whether you’re moving the analog stick or not). It’s better to have control over what kind of attacks you’ll throw out than to feel like your character might do something unexpected.
And one minor (but very missed) element not included in the remake is how the the original Secret of Mana indicates when you’re back at 100% for an attack. In the combat system, there’s a quickly replenishing stamina gauge; you can throw out a flurry of attacks, but each blow you land before getting back to 100% is substantially lower in power. Both versions of the game have an audible ding when you return to full strength, but the SNES version also made your character flash slightly until you were at 100%. It’s such a small difference, but it made knowing when to attack much clearer, and let you focus your attention on your character and enemies rather pulling you away to look at the stamina gauge.
But beyond that lack of attack consistency and the flashing indicator, combat is better in the remake. You can switch between party members with a tap of the directional pad. The game has added a customizable hot button for quickly using items–you can set a restorative piece of candy to R1 or R2 for a quick pick-me-up without completely pausing battle. And the drop-in, drop-out local multiplayer works just as well as it did back when I was a kid.
The Secret of Mana remake isn’t out until February of next year, so there’s still plenty of time for refinement from the preview build that I played. And while there are some genuine improvements from the original, there are also a few weird missteps that make it difficult to recommend its predecessor–especially when the original is readily available on the SNES classic. But we’ll be keeping a close eye on this version as it progresses. If nothing else, the remake holds a lot of promise for a future of 16-bit remakes done right.
Black Friday 2017 is upon us, meaning cheap games and consoles for all. Here, we’re rounding up all the best games on sale as part of Nintendo UK’s own Eshop sale, though you can see many more Black Friday UK deals in our roundup of Game’s sale, Amazon’s deals, or Sony’s PSN sale.
Plenty more games are discounted elsewhere in the UK and US for Black Friday. Check out all the Black Friday deals we’ve covered so far below, or scroll down for all the games included in Nintendo’s Eshop Cyber Deals sale.
Black Friday is upon us. The annual shopping bonanza is coming up on Friday, and one of the games that will be on sale is Blizzard’s hero shooter Overwatch. The Game of the Year Edition, which contains extra cosmetic items, is going to be about half-off.
Walmart appears to have the best deal this year, offering it on PS4 and Xbox One for only $29. Best Buy, Target, and GameStop will sell the shooter for $30. If you’re OK going without a disc, the well-received game is discounted to $30 on the Xbox Store and PlayStation Store. You can get that deal right now if you can’t or don’t want to wait.
Below you’ll find the full list of all the Overwatch deals we’ve found so far; we’ll continue to update as more Black Friday savings and prices are revealed. You can find our complete coverage of other Black Friday 2017 deals through the links at the bottom of this post.
Overwatch: Game of the Year Edition Black Friday 2017 Deals:
Black Friday is almost here. It’s so close. One of the games that will be discounted nicely this year is Middle-earth: Shadow of War, which was only just released a month ago. If you’ve been on the fence and waiting for a price drop, you won’t be without options.
GameStop appears to have the best deal this year, offering the sequel on PlayStation 4 and Xbox One for just $25. Right behind that is Walmart, which will have the game for $29, while Best Buy, Target, and Toys R Us are offering it for $30. Those looking for a digital copy can pick it up for $36 on the Xbox Store, but only if you are an Xbox Live Gold member.
Shadow of War, a sequel to 2014’s Shadow of Mordor, was released at the end of October for PS4, Xbox One, and PC. GameSpot’s Shadow of War review scored it a 7/10, with reviewer Justin Haywald writing that despite some issues, “It’s a fun experience with brilliant moments that provide fascinating insight into some of the untold stories of Middle-earth.” You can read our full review here.
Below you’ll find the full list of all the Shadow of War deals we’ve found so far; we’ll continue to update as more Black Friday savings and prices are revealed. You can find our complete coverage of other Black Friday 2017 deals through the links at the bottom of this post.
Middle-earth: Shadow of War Black Friday 2017 Deals:
It’s almost Black Friday. The annual shopping bonanza is coming up this Friday, November 25, and there are going to be quite a lot of video game deals to be had. One game marked down nicely is Ubisoft’s newly released Assassin’s Creed Origins on PS4, Xbox One, and PC.
The ambitious, open-world game set in Ancient Egypt launched on October 27 behind a mostly positive critical reception. Best Buy and Target will have the title for only $35 on Black Friday, while Toys R Us will offer the game for $40. Meanwhile, GameStop will offer a discount on the game + Season Pass, cutting it down to $70. The Ubisoft Store’s Black Friday PC game sale is now underway, dropping the computer version to $40.
While you have to wait until Black Friday for those deals, the Xbox and PlayStation Stores are selling Origins right now for only $42. If you’re OK without a disc and want to play right now, that’s a nice option to have.
GameSpot’s Assassin’s Creed: Origins review scored the game a 7/10. Reviewer Alessandro Fillari said the game reaches new heights in its Egypt setting, but unfortunately, the game “routinely runs into issues that bog down the overall experience.” You can read our full review here.
A new Origins update released last week squashed some bugs and made other tweaks to the experience; here are the patch notes. You can check out a complete list of Assassin’s Creed: Origins deals for PlayStation 4 and Xbox One below. We’ll continue to update this as more Black Friday ads are revealed. You can also check out all of our other Black Friday coverage through the links at the bottom of this post.
Black Friday 2017 is almost here. Lots and lots of games are on sale this year, including new releases. Ubisoft’s South Park: The Fractured But Whole is among them, with a handful of big retailers offering the game’s PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and PC versions on the cheap.
It looks like Walmart has the best deal this year, offering the game for only $29 on Black Friday. Target has it for $30, while Best Buy will sell the turn-based game for $35 and Toys R Us and GameStop for $40. The Ubisoft Store’s Black Friday sale is now underway and drops the PC version to $40, while Steam’s sale drops it to $45. Given that the game only just came out in October, those are some pretty sweet deals.
Like its predecessor, The Stick of Truth, Fractured but Whole puts players in the role of the New Kid, who moves into South Park and joins a superhero team with Cartman and other South Park mainstays. GameSpot’s Fractured But Whole review scored the game an 8/10. Reviewer Miguel Concepcion said, “It’s an accomplishment that this game will wholly entertain devoted fans while delivering a heap of jokes that won’t fly over the heads of casual viewers.”
You can check out a complete list of South Park: The Fractured But Whole deals for PlayStation 4 and Xbox One below. We’ll continue to update this as more Black Friday ads are revealed. You can also check out all of our other Black Friday coverage through the links at the bottom of this post.
South Park: The Fractured But Whole Black Friday Deals
Black Friday is right around the corner. One of this year’s biggest sports games, Madden NFL 18, is among the titles that will be on sale. Now that some of the big retailers have revealed their flyers for Black Friday, we know how much you’ll be able to get it for.
Best Buy, Target, and Toys R Us will have the pro football game for half off, dropping it down to just $30. GameStop has an even sweeter deal, offering the game for only $27. If you don’t want to wait until Black Friday and are OK without a disc, both the Xbox Store and PlayStation Store currently have Madden NFL 18 for only $30.
GameSpot’s Madden 18 review scored the game a 9/10. We praised its use of the Frostbite engine to allow for “new levels of realism,” while the game’s single-player story mode, Longshot, also received a lot of praise. You can read our full review here.
You can check out a complete list of Madden NFL 18 deals for PlayStation 4 and Xbox One below. We’ll continue to update this as more Black Friday ads are revealed. You can also check out all of our other Black Friday coverage through the links at the bottom of this post.
Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom is the sequel to 2015’s blockbuster Jurassic World, and it is set to hit theaters in June next year. There hasn’t been much news about the movie since the title was revealed, but now we have some first footage.
The clip has been tweeted by Colin Trevorrow, who directed the first movie and has produced and co-written Fallen Kingdom. It doesn’t reveal much–it’s basically star Chris Pratt with a baby Raptor. The creature resembles Baby Blue, the Raptor that Pratt formed a bond with in the first movie. Could this be a flashback? We’ll find out next summer–in the meantime, check it out below:
Bryce Dallas Howard also returns from the first movie, and she is joined by James Cromwell, Toby Jones, and Rafe Spall. Jeff Goldbum, who starred in the original Jurassic Park, will also reprise his role as Dr. Ian Malcolm. Fallen Kingdom is directed by J.A. Bayona, who previously made the horror movie The Orphanage and last year’s acclaimed drama A Monster Calls.
Earlier this year, Trevorrow spoke about working with Bayona. “It is by far my favorite creative collaboration that I’ve ever been involved in,” he said. “Bayona is a completely different kind of filmmaker and thinker than I am, yet we do have a lot of things in common. I was able to craft something specifically for another filmmaker that I admire. I built a Spanish horror thriller with dinosaurs in it that I probably wouldn’t have built for myself.”
Jurassic World currently stands as the fourth-highest grossing movie of all time, bringing in $1.6 billion at the global box office. It was the first new entry in the series since 2001’s Jurassic Park III.
