Category: Gamespot

The R-rated animated comedy Sausage Party comes to theaters this Friday, August 12. Ahead of that, reviews for the film have started to show up online. We’ve collected a handful of these to help you decide if the film is worth your time and money.

Sausage Party tells the story of how grocery store products discover the horror of what happens when they go home. The main character is a sausage named Frank (voiced by Seth Rogen), who leads a group of food items on a journey of discovery and survival. Rogen also wrote the movie alongside his Superbad and Pineapple Express collaborator Evan Goldberg.

The film features the voices of many funny people, including Kristen Wiig, Jonah Hill, Bill Hader, Michael Cera, James Franco, Danny McBride, Craig Robinson, Paul Rudd, Nick Kroll, David Krumholtz, Edward Norton, and Salma Hayek.

One thing to note about the reviews below is that, with the exception of the critique from HitFix, they all stemmed from SXSW screenings in March. As Variety’s review explains, the SXSW version had “glaringly apparent” rough edges and some scenes were not in their final state. We will continue to add more reviews to this roundup as they become available.

• Film: Sausage Party
• Directors: Greg Tiernan, Conrad Vernon
• Writers: Seth Rogen, Evan Goldberg
• Distributor: Columbia Pictures
• Release Date: August 12
• Rating: R

Variety

“For those of you who have ever envisioned Seth Rogen reconstituted as an anthropomorphic processed meat product–and you know who you are–Sausage Party may be savored as, if not a dream come true, then a drug-fueled hallucination without the potentially harmful side effects.” — Joe Leydon [Full review]

The Hollywood Reporter

“Not content with this exhaustive exploration of the carnal possibilities of foodstuffs, the film then gets meta, with a coda crossing over into the world of live action. Look out, Hollywood: These groceries are tired of being manipulated for the amusement of those who eat their brethren. They’re coming for you, Seth Rogen–wipe that mustard and relish off your face.” — John DeFore [Full review]

HitFix

“Sausage Party is a milestone in studio animation because it feels like animators being unleashed, and considering the largely unrealized potential of animation, that is a welcome thing, indeed.” — Drew McWeeny [Full review]

ScreenCrush

“Rogen has proved himself to be one of our finest modern comedic talents, expertly blending smart, dumb, and funny (I’m still convinced This Is the End is a near masterpiece), but Sausage Party feels more like Kevin Smith at his most immature. Let me be frank: It’s not the wurst, but I’ve still got some beef with this movie that you won’t relish having to digest. And that’s no baloney.” — Mike Sampson [Full review]

IndieWire

“Though it plays like a Pixar movie on acid, the film is also a brisk disappointment that takes every opportunity to shock, maim, or offend; for every inspired gag that earns a massive laugh, there are too many others that rely on food puns or the funniest variation of ‘f**k’ for a cartoon hot dog to say.” — Charlie Schmidlin [Full review]

The Guardian

“Talk about fresh. Seth Rogen’s naughty food cartoon Sausage Party is, like much of his best work, deceptive packaging. The script he and his usual collaborator Evan Goldberg have written (in conjunction with Kyle Hunter and Ariel Shaffir) seems, at first, to trade solely on anthropomorphized food using profanity on supermarket shelves. This is mildly amusing at first but, like a bun out of its Cellophane, threatens to go stale. That’s when a jar of honey mustard gets returned.” — Jordan Hoffman [Full review]

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Gears of War 4 developer The Coalition has announced it will hold a Q&A session this week where it will take questions live during a video broadcast.

The event is scheduled for Friday, August 12, beginning at 3 PM PT / 6 PM ET. You can watch the event live on the Gears of War Twitch channel here.

Jack Felling (Esports producer) and Octus (community manager) will be on hand during the livestream to answer questions about the Gears of War 4 Pro Circuit and anything else about the game.

Gears of War 4 launches on October 11 as an Xbox Play Anywhere game. This means you can buy a digital copy on either Xbox One or PC and receive access on both platforms. The PC version will support dynamic resolution scaling similar to what’s seen on Xbox One, where the frame rate is locked at 30 FPS in single-player and 60 FPS in multiplayer.

The Coalition recently revealed the many ways in which the game has changed since its beta earlier this year and teased that a movie based on the series could be on the way.

More recently, some new campaign footage debuted, showing off Marcus Fenix mourning his tomatoes…and a new enemy race.

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Looking for a new Xbox One controller? Amazon is currently offering the new Xbox One S controller–which is compatible with the Xbox One, Xbox One S, and PC–for only $50. This is a $10 discount, as the controller sold for $60 when it launched on August 2.

The Xbox One S controller is a new and improved version of the previous pad. One of its standout features is its textured grip, while it also has twice the wireless range of previous Xbox One controllers.

Go to Amazon’s website here to place an order. There is no word on how long the deal will last, so if you’re interested, you may want to act quickly.

The Xbox One S launched on August 2. The console is 40 percent smaller than the original model, while it also has an internal power supply. The $400 2 TB version is the only one available now, but Microsoft is also releasing 1 TB ($350) and 500 GB ($300) SKUs in the coming weeks and months.

Additionally, there are special edition Madden NFL 17, Halo 5, and Gears of War 4 Xbox One S models on the way.

For more on the Xbox One S, check out GameSpot’s review.

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While Patrick Stewart had been rumoured to be returning to the X-Men franchise in Wolverine 3 for some time, his involvement was only confirmed in June when production on the film began. Now the actor has been talking about reprising his role as Professor X, and what the future holds for the character. Warning, potential spoilers ahead!

Speaking to ITV News, Stewart hinted that this could be his last appearance in the blockbuster superhero series. “I would imagine this is probably the end of this franchise for me,” he revealed. “But the thing about science fiction and fantasy is that you can never, ever say it’s the end, it’s over.”

Stewart went on to admit that dying in 2006’s X-Men: The Last Stand wasn’t the end for Professor X. “Jean Grey vaporised me,” he said. “From which you would think there would be no return. But watch out in March. I’m going to be back.”

The veteran star also teased that Wolverine 3 would reveal a side of his character previously unseen in earlier X-Men movies: “[You’ll see] a very different Charles Xavier. Nothing like the Charles Xavier you’ve seen in the past.”

Wolverine 3 is directed by James Mangold, who previously helmed 2013’s The Wolverine, which went on to make more than $400 million worldwide. Hugh Jackman will play the clawed fan favourite for the last time, and unlike its predecessors, the movie will carry an R certificate. In an interview with Collider in May, producer Simon Kinberg described the film as “a very cool, different film.”

“It’s a very radical, bold, different Wolverine than you’ve ever seen in any of these [other] movies,” he said. “It takes place in the future, and as you and others have reported, it is an R-rated movie. It’s violent, it’s kind of like a western in its tone.”

Wolverine 3 hits theaters on March 3, 2017.

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Sean Murray, founder of No Man’s Sky developer Hello Games, has responded to news that two players travelled to the same point in the universe in an attempt to meet. Posting on Twitter, Murray said that the meeting has “blown my mind.”

Despite the fact that Hello Games has repeatedly said the chances of two players meeting in No Man’s Sky are minuscule, the game does have a feature that allows players to scan for others nearby. Murray said the team wanted it to happen, but didn’t expect it so soon.

“We added a ‘scan for other players’ in the Galactic Map to try to encourage this happening. We wanted it to happen – but the first day?,” he said. “We want people to be aware they are in a shared universe. We added online features, and some Easter Eggs to create cool moments.

“We hope to see those happening… but too many of you are playing right now. More than we could have predicted,” he continued. “It is a testament to how amazing our network coders are that Discoveries are still working at all.”

Oddly, one thing he did not address is the fact that the two players that met up were unable to see or interact with each other in any way. This has resulted in some confusion, given that Murray has indicated Hello Games wanted people to find each other and has put in Easter Eggs for when they do.

Sean Murray has been hinting on Twitter that the game’s servers are under strain, so it could be connection issues that prevented the two players from interacting with each other. It remains unclear whether or not it’ll eventually be possible to see someone.

Murray also revealed that 10 million species of alien creatures have been discovered in the short period the game has been playable. This, he pointed out, is more than has been discovered on Earth.

If you’ve just started playing No Man’s Sky, then check out our feature, No Man’s Sky: Everything You Need to Know. Ahead of delivering a final review, Peter Brown will be publishing a No Man’s Sky daily diary. You can read that here.

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Digital Foundry today posted its performance analysis for No Man’s Sky, and while the overall take is positive, the site found that the space game’s frame rate could drop significantly in some places.

30FPS is the target on PlayStation 4, but it can dip well below this–Digital Foundry reported one sequence when it fell to 13FPS–when the game engine is stressed. This can happen when you land on a new planet and then immediately boost across the surface, near to the ground.

“In this case, the PS4 is struggling to meet the 33.3ms per-frame render time, while generating new scenery and details on the fly,” the report said. “These are calculations made a split-second before revealing the new terrain or object, and when it can’t keep up, we see dips to the 20FPS line, and sometimes even lower.”

According to Digital Foundry, this drop in frame rate is not always related to what’s going on in the environment. Instances of lower frame run for as long as players boost full speed in any one direction. There is quite a simple workaround for this, it seems.

“Once you double back on yourself with a full 180 turn, or even slow down, suddenly we’re back to an even 30FPS again. From here, the frame rate issues disappear once you start moving again,” Digital Foundry said.

Why does the frame rate drop like this? Digital Foundry believes that it might have something to do with No Man’s Sky’s procedurally generated worlds.

“Everything has to be calculated ad hoc. These drops are essentially a trade-off for not having any loading times, and letting everything render in seamlessly,” it said. “It’s a distraction for sure, but equally, it does takes a very deliberate course of action to make it happen. Bringing the game back to 30FPS is also easy, and overall, it’s worth putting up with to enjoy the game’s unique, seamless approach to exploration.”

Elsewhere in the performance analysis piece, Digital Foundry said No Man’s Sky holds on to its 30FPS target well throughout the game (except for what was mentioned above). Additionally, the game runs at a native 1080p resolution.

It could be that the PC version of No Man’s Sky ends up looking and performing the best, at least for people who have a capable gaming rig. After a delay, No Man’s Sky comes to PC on August 12.

You can read Digital Foundry’s full No Man’s Sky performance analysis here; note that it’s only for the PS4 edition.

Earlier this week, Hello Games boss Sean Murray said No Man’s Sky is a “weird” and “niche” game that “might not be for everyone.” He also stressed that No Man’s Sky “is not a multiplayer game.” The chances of two players meeting in the universe is “pretty much zero,” Murray explained.

For more on No Man’s Sky, check out GameSpot’s review in progress, while this post rounds up everything you need to know about it.

In other news, developer Hello Games has revealed it’s working on an unannounced game as part of its effort to be the “Johnny Depp of studios.”

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