Video Games

EA Sports announced Friday that Paris Saint-Germain star Kylian Mbappe will be the cover athlete for the FIFA 22 video game.

Honoured to welcome back @KMbappe

The #FIFA22 cover star 🌟

Stay tuned for the game-changing reveal on July 11th 👉 https://t.co/oT0kH2cJ7b pic.twitter.com/w1NABM6Fjj

— EA SPORTS FC (@EASPORTSFC) July 9, 2021

This marks the second consecutive year that Mbappe has been the cover athlete, as he graced the front of FIFA 21 as well.

The 22-year-old Mbappe is a star forward at PSG who helped lead them to Ligue 1 titles in three straight seasons from 2017-20. He also won a Ligue 1 title with AS Monaco in 2016-17 before joining PSG.

Mbappe has led Ligue 1 in goal scoring each of the past three seasons as well, scoring 33 times in 29 matches in 2018-19, 18 times in 20 matches in 2019-20 and 27 times in 31 matches this past season.

Additionally, the two-time French player of the year is a key part of the French national team, scoring 17 times in 48 appearances for the senior squad.

At just 19 years of age, Mbappe was part of the French team that won the World Cup in 2018. 

Mbappe became the youngest French player to score at the World Cup and scored a goal in their World Cup Final win over Croatia. As a result, Mbappe won the FIFA World Cup Best Young Player Award.

Since then, Mbappe has developed into one of the best players in the world, and EA Sports is once again recognizing him as such.

Per FIFPlay.com, FIFA 22 is expected to be released worldwide on Oct. 8 for PlayStation 5, PlayStation 4, Xbox Series X/S, Xbox One, PC Windows, Nintendo Switch and Google Stadia.

It seemed only a matter of time before Nintendo brought out another Switch big hitter in the form of a Mario Golf revival.  

Mario Golf: Super Rush from developer Camelot Software Planning is the first entry in the nostalgia-littered series since Mario Golf: World Tour in 2014. 

A storied franchise on handheld and home consoles alike, this latest iteration aims to utilize the Switch's one-of-a-kind functionality to offer a must-play experience on the console—handheld or on the big screen. 

While another Mario Golf entry could have had a by-the-books feel, an innovative, wildly fun new gameplay mode uplifts Super Rush in an unexpected, must-see way. 

   

Graphics and Gameplay

Super Rush's visuals aren't going to drop many jaws—which isn't a bad thing. 

By now, Nintendo fans and even casual observers know what to expect visually from a game in the Mario franchise, be it Mario Party, an HD remake or something else. The color factor is on overload and characters cutely emote just as fans would expect them to based on what's happening. The environments feature droves of detail and easter eggs to the observant eye. 

Where Super Rush really excels from the presentation standpoint is in how it utilizes space and access to information.

The HUD itself can actually spar with some of the best sporting titles out there. This is an arcade game, sure, but critical information litters the screen. A list of available clubs lines the right side, while helpful scoring, hole and wind information, plus a helpful map, occupy the left side.

And the shot meter to the right of the club information is easy to see and use. It's where players will time their swings, and it displays yardage numbers and hole locations based on swing power. Here is where players will also see what type of spin they put on a shot.

Another fun wrinkle to the shot meter is where it curves the higher up it goes. Time a shot to stop within the curved portion of the meter and the risk for the ball to veer off course increases. It's a fun risk-reward element, as going to the very top of the meter creates the most yardage but with more risk. More of the shot meter is curved depending on where the character shoots from on the course.

In the past, golf games have struggled mightily with how much information to actually put on the screen. Some have drowned the player in information in the name of simulation, only to overdo it and turn players away. Others have given off too little info, which arguably feels even worse.

Of the many courses, only the training course feels bland. The rest feel like they drop a player right into a traditional Mario level. This is especially the case when characters have to actually navigate the level between shots, dodging traps and the usual cast of harm-inflicting enemies that occupy Mario levels. 

Those courses are a good representation of the marriage between visuals and gameplay. Some are tougher than others, and while novice players can cut their teeth on the practice course, obstacles like shot-ruining trees start to pepper the unlockable courses and increase the challenge. 

Still, the game is easy enough to grasp for new players. The game helpfully selects the proper club and minor details upon lining up for a new shot, and it becomes a matter of aiming, timing the proper button prompts and even putting spin on the balls.

That, or in Wii Sports-esque fashion, players can use motion controls. It's fun to swing a Joy-Con like a golf club, of course, but it's still more enjoyable to use traditional controls.

No matter one's choice, it's a joy of an arcade-style game to play, if not relaxing. There's some notable depth, too, as missing a putt usually ends up with the player smacking themselves for some detail they missed, such as the slope of the green or the wind factor. 

Out of the box, opponent A.I. feels all over the place, which is surely intentional. Sometimes they're on fire, other times players will have to wait around while they bumble through triple-bogey holes. In that way, at least, it's a dash of realism that makes things enjoyable. 

As one should expect, though, the game is endlessly more fun with multiple players, whether it's passing a Joy-Con around for a local gaming session or online. That random element gets multiplied quite a bit, especially because the experience is so accessible to players of all ages and capabilities. 

True to its arcade-based nature, there's also an easy way to fast forward once a character hits a shot. Instead of watching a ball bounce ploddingly after coming back down from orbit, players can zoom through this and get on to the next shot.

Maybe this all files under the "expected" column, but Nintendo had long ago nailed down this gameplay formula. That it just happens to feel like the perfect game for the Switch's functionality is a sort of cherry on top. 

       

Story, Multiplayer and More

Super Rush uses the backdrop of a story mode for what is effectively a tutorial to get players acquainted with some of the finer details of the sport and game.

Dubbed Golf Adventure, the story mode lets players dig into some light RPG systems while they progress along a guided path. It hits the expected tones and plot points for a Mario-sports hybrid game and is generally entertaining. 

Though players are stuck with Mii characters, the mode does a good job of managing to work in interesting conversations with a colorful cast of characters, never mind some boss battles based around golf challenges. Weather patterns provide unique challenges at times, too, to keep things fresh.

Along the way, players will work on skills like power, stamina, speed, control and spin. In the background, there's enough in the way of detail to the pseudo-tutorial that even veteran Mario Golf players might pick up a thing or two that will come in handy.

On the RPG side of things, besides earning skill points to improve those certain areas, earning coins to buy attire has big benefits beyond just looking good on the courses. Certain items provide buffs, such as faster running through a bunker. They can be highly situational boosts, but they shouldn't go underestimated and provide a layer of depth the mode otherwise wouldn't have. 

This mode also opens up a bit in a free-roam sense that resembles a town in the recent Pokemon games. Players can pop into different rooms and buildings, chat with side characters and decide where they go next. It's nothing mind-blowing by any means, but it's a small bit of worthwhile immersion instead of just going from menu to course to menu over and over again. 

Impressive as Golf Adventure might be, it's nothing compared to Speed Golf.

Hinted in the intro as the big innovation, Speed Golf throws a Mario Kart—if not Super Smash Bros.— element into the game of golf. Four characters tee off to start a hole, then they must grab their clubs and dash to wherever the ball landed. 

It sounds simple, but it isn't. Players receive grades based on how quickly they complete the hole and by how many shots they take. The presence of collectibles on the course, special traversal moves and special shots that impact other players and the spots of their shots add a brilliant, chaotic element. 

Sprinting after a ball while trying to avoid the opposition and quickly getting off the next shot is an absolute blast. The theme is urgency, and while one might be goaded into quickly firing off shots, players still need to take into account the many details that go into making a golf shot. One mistake can be critical and have the player's entire run derailed. 

Special Shot and Special Dash abilities highlight this new mode. The dash is just what it sounds like: A unique movement ability exclusive to each character to help them speed ahead. Mario's, to keep it simple, is a series of flips. The Special Shots are themed, too—Luigi's will freeze the ground around where his ball lands, altering things for his competition, for example.

Those five attributes also play a role here, as characters must pick up items that refill stamina gauges. Getting hit by other characters, naturally, drops said items. The key is—on top of the usual things that go into a golf game—proper resource and skill management while keeping the proverbial head on a swivel. 

As a whole, Super Rush spans 16 characters and six golf courses. The former are unlocked from the initial launch, while the latter are not. But it never feels unfair to work for those courses. With any luck, the game will only keep expanding on both of these areas with future updates. 

Super Rush supports four players online, and so far it has been smooth sailing. A large list of options and settings to tweak should keep things simple and the action on the course.

A highlight of a trip through the menus is the glossary. That might sound boring, and maybe it is. But the fact the developers went out of their way to make sure folks new to the game could thumb through and understand all of the terminologies of the sport despite this being a cartoonish arcade game deserves a tip of the hat.

    

Esports Appeal

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=okfELNVfOVI

Super Rush is bound to have some esports appeal in the same sense Mario Kart or past Nintendo sports games have managed to do. 

Maybe Super Rush won't demand its own international events or anything that broad in scope, but the reach of the Switch console globally and the fun factor of the game here—plus the skill needed to be really good—should mean it has quite the healthy competitive scene for a long time. 

Maybe an underrated element to the multiplayer side of this new offering is the ability to tweak how a match proceeds. Players can choose an all-in-one option, meaning a player takes all of their shots until they finish a hole before another player gets to start. This, as opposed to the traditional everyone-takes-turns-by-shot approach, could speed up matches, add tension and improve the viewing experience.  

Plus, it sure doesn't hurt that the mentioned fun factor and skill ceiling make it a candidate to have a massive following online, be it with must-see clips on a platform like Twitter or as live material on a platform like Twitch. 

    

Conclusion

Super Rush is one of the most enjoyable games to launch on the Switch this year, if not since the console released—which is saying something given the impressive depth of the console's library. 

Outside of the expected Mario character and polish, Super Rush just has the arcade-style golf down in a way that should leave any other contenders taking notes. It's a blast to play solo, somehow even better with friends or online and has some surprising depth. 

Speed Golf is by far the major star of the show, but the love and care that went into each course, the gameplay mechanics and similar things like the extensive tutorials and glossary really speak to the effort put in. 

Whether players enjoy it from a home console or on the go, Super Rush has the legs to last another seven years, should Nintendo elect to go that long before releases in this series again. 

Olympic Games Tokyo 2020—The Official Video Game is one of the summer's most interesting releases.  

Named after the Summer Games that were supposed to happen last year, this offering from developer Sega actually released in Japan on Nintendo Switch and PlayStation 4 consoles—in 2019, in anticipation of the big international event. 

With the Olympics shifted to this summer, the global release on all platforms has finally arrived. Adding to the layers of intrigue is the fact this is the first traditional Olympics game since London 2012, two console generations ago. 

Despite all that buildup atop the pressure of being the lone gaming representative of an international event, Sega's big release manages to stick the landing. 

    

Graphics and Gameplay

Similar to the gameplay, Tokyo 2020 straddles the line between realism and fun arcade-style. 

This is a vibrant sports game with plenty of good-looking elements, from the expressions on the faces of athletes to the mannerisms they use while competing in events. The visuals for the crowds behind the scenes won't win any awards, but that's an area most sports games have struggled with, and what's there seems to fit the theme. 

At its core, this is more in line with a Wii Sports-type title than it is Madden. Athletes aren't meant to be wildly accurate. Spaghetti hair can go all over the place, and it's apparent there are only so many animations to go around. 

One wouldn't suggest Tokyo 2020 is a graphical powerhouse in the sports arena compared to annual releases. But some of the features deserve a nod. Each of the venues seem strongly recreated and the day/night cycle lends a sense of realism to the proceedings. 

Tokyo 2020 has a flair for the fantastic, too. Mixed with the aspects of realism are arcade-like lighting effects on fastballs from the mound or when an oversized boxing glove decks an opponent's face. Basketball players can jump as high as Space Jam characters and in general, there's a cartoon levity to it all that is surprisingly welcome. 

Gameplay itself is about what one would expect entering what is essentially a collection of sporting minigames. The basic button prompts and helpful hints make sure each one is accessible to younger audiences, which is a nice touch, especially for family couch sessions. 

Sprinting, for example, is as simple as timing the starting gun properly, smashing a button and then accurately responding to a random directional prompt to finish things off. 

On launch, events like baseball and boxing are hits. Baseball turns batting and pitching into a cat-and-mouse game in the strike zone as hitters try to chase which square the pitcher will throw the ball into. Boxing is even simpler, but properly blocking blows and throwing haymakers is a blast. 

Not every minigame is as fun, though. Rugby seems like an outlier that should be a blast but falls flat—it just seems like a bunch of NPCs running around and randomly tackling with no great directional control over where passes go thanks to a limited camera angle. Basketball, while it has a 2K-style camera, has some RNG to it (characters can miss perfect shots, etc.).

Tokyo 2020 also throws in some noteworthy depth to most events. The button prompts are simple enough, but the skill to nail down proper timing and sequences will set players apart. On paper, that would seem to make for an interesting situation in tandem with the online leaderboards. 

It all means gameplay falls largely into the expected column. There's a ton of fun to be had, especially if players can nail down their favorites and stay away from ones they don't like. 

    

Modes, Customization and More

Tokyo 2020 doesn't hold back in the number of offerings available to players. 

The full double-digit count is as follows:

• 100m
• 4x100m Relay
• 110m Hurdles
• Hammer Throw
• Long Jump
• Baseball
• Basketball
• Beach Volleyball
• BMX
• Boxing
• Judo
• Rugby Sevens
• Soccer
• 100m Freestyle
• 200m Individual Medley 
• Sport Climbing
• Table Tennis
• Tennis

It might seem like a lot, but it would be easy to see a game like this veering into overwhelming territory quickly if there were too many events. The list above strikes a nice balance between hitting on the critical notes and not stretching a player too thin. 

Online co-op and competitive multiplayer makes the cut too, with up to eight players able to partake in a single event. We'll see how things hold up once users fire up on the servers from all over the world, but things seem smooth so far.

An underrated element for purists to keep an eye on is the droves of stat tracking found buried in the menus. Interestingly enough, there's even a panel that tracks medal count by country via the online servers, which—if a player cares about this sort of thing—makes it fun to contribute to that total. 

Beyond the expected, Sega didn't slouch when compared to the laundry list of modes found in other games. There is a practice mode where players can run exhibition events against each other and even Ranked Games.

An extensive customization suite lets players pick from a number of interesting presets for style, physique and so much more. Players are also free to tweak abilities in different categories, tailoring athletes to specific events. 

Despite being tabbed as the first traditional Olympics video game in roughly a decade, Tokyo 2020 isn't afraid of leaning into the silly side of things. Sonic the Hedgehog is in the game as one of over 50 different costumes players can choose. 

Granted, purists who just want a simulation-type experience might scoff at having sumo wrestlers running sprints and hurdles. But nobody should blame Sega for leaning into the family-friendly, couch-session fun that makes games like Mario Party so popular. Players don't have to partake in the silliness, after all. 

And that silliness is part of the fun. Call it a nice juxtaposition to the real world, where the Summer Games were initially delayed due to the COVID-19 pandemic, and other sporting events are only just starting to open up to fans again. 

It's also nice to see all of the unlockables in the game are free to earn during normal gameplay. These days that feels rare, but Tokyo 2020 rewards a player's time beyond the fun found in events themselves. 

      

Conclusion

Like a skilled Olympics competitor, Tokyo 2020 walks a fine balance between accessibility for all ages and a skill gap that should make things competitive on online leaderboards. 

While the tone is a little strange at times—this is the first realistic virtual Olympics game in about a decade but Sonic can compete—it's part of the fun and helps it grab attention and hold its own in an arena dominated by the likes of Mario. 

Maybe Tokyo 2020, already a year old by name alone, won't have the longest legs once the real-life Games conclude. But Sega has insulated against that with a smooth set of online features and also written a strong blueprint for future entries to run with.

If there's one thing developer Insomniac Games can do, it's match—or exceed—expectations.  

The developer that handled a global Marvel property with 2018's Spider-Man and 2020's Spider-Man: Miles Morales next turns back to its roots with this summer's Ratchet & Clank: Rift Apart. 

As accomplished as Insomniac might be, going back to a beloved, classic Sony franchise while assigned the task of doling out a next-generation summer blockbuster for the PlayStation 5 is not an easy task.

Yet veterans and new players alike should be happy to learn that Insomniac has done it again, this time taking Ratchet and Clank, joined by new hero Rivet, on a jaw-dropping journey that is bound to contend for best-of-2021 lists. 

      

Graphics and Gameplay

Rift Apart is one of those magical presented experiences that serves as a good measuring stick for where video gaming as a whole stands at this juncture. 

The organic characters in the game boast mannerisms and expressions worthy of a Pixar movie on the big screen and fur that is distinct in its brushing patterns. The ray-tracing reflections off the metallic surface of Clank's body are eye catching, in and out of cutscenes. Cosmetics show up faithfully in those cutscenes, too. 

One of the things Rift Apart does best is the jaw-dropping backgrounds to each area. The wealth of movement, detail and grandness of the areas beyond the actual playable parts are engrossing, and probably the best we've seen from a video game to date.

Not that this should be too much of a surprise coming from the developers who offered up some of the most immersive cityscapes to ever grace video games in the Spider-Man realm. Rift Apart isn't an open-world game like that by any means, but the presentation of depth to areas is so robust it could easily fool onlookers. 

Contrast is another thing Rift Apart does amazingly. The world players have come to know and love is bright and vibrant, while the altered dimension Nefarious City is much darker and moodier. The latter is still incredibly impressive, a lot of times almost hitting on cyberpunk vibes (especially in those backgrounds), but the tone shift is clear. 

Accompanying that stellar shift in mood to fit the narrative is superb sound design that should leave the rest of the industry reaching for a new bar. The weapons are impactful and creative, the ambient noise gives a sense of a lived-in world and the voice acting doesn't have much of a rival out there.

It's slowing down and really taking everything in that allows the details to shine through. Ratchet, for example, will flip his hammer around and do tricks with it if the player doesn't touch the controller for a little while. At one point, he was doing this and the hammer hit a ball and sent it flying—it didn't merely go through it like one might expect.  

While some non-player characters in the world aren't all that varied, it's a minor detail that's more than acceptable given everything else happening on screen at once. And it's easier to notice that peaceful NPCs scatter for cover once the fighting starts, which is an immersive detail. 

Combat is a showcase of next-gen details. There's not a big need for enemy health bars because the damage caused to robotic enemies tells the player the state of their foes. There's also no need to look at ammo counters or recharge states of weapons when lights and indicators are so easily seen on the weapons themselves.  

Reminiscent of something like the new Crash Bandicoot, Rift Apart transitions between tense platforming segments into fun on-rail scenes with quips and funny stuff peppered throughout. Add in the unique combat, and it's a stellar gameplay experience with little in the way of downtime. 

Flexing the Spider-Man roots once again, Insomniac shifts the action from a playable state to cutscenes and back again—or vice versa—plenty of times during small and big setpieces alike. It's stunning to experience because everything is so stable that it's almost hard to tell when a cutscene ends and the gameplay starts. It's also worth pointing out this next-gen-feeling feature is much better than the quick-time-events (QTEs) of old that used to plague games. 

Leave it to Insomniac to make the most of new hardware from a gameplay perspective. Like Returnal, Rift Apart is the latest PS5 release to lean all the way into the new vibration technology built into the controller. Half-trigger pulls and full presses perform different functions across certain weapons, making for a rewarding experience filled with feedback. It also would seem to remove extra button or menu prompts just to change firing modes.

The core mechanics of the series have been refined further here and won't blow anyone away. Aiming, platforming and chaining wall-runs and grappling together is simple enough. So is flicking through some oldish-feeling weapon wheels on the fly in the middle of combat. 

Those wheels don't always feel the most responsive, and it's going to take players a long time to memorize what is where on them once the weapon unlocks start flowing. It can also be hard to keep track of what's happening in big battles because of the camera, but it doesn't disrupt the fun often. 

In true Ratchet & Clank form, the combat is a silly romp that doesn't let up and boss battles, even early on, just escalate it to giant proportions. It's a blast, as is discovering new weapons and experimenting with them throughout the game's expansive story. 

      

Story and More

Said story is right in line with what fans of the series might expect. Right out of the gates, one of the heroes gets transported to a different timeline where the series-long big bad Dr. Nefarious is an emperor and said hero finds an alternate version of his sidekick. 

It's a thrilling ride from there, with gigantic set pieces and relaxing downtime. Rift Apart represents the apex of the series, if not gaming, in the way it can slip in some genuine laugh-out-loud humor amid the chaos and even dramatic story beats (early in the game, a password scene comes to mind). 

While the visuals and humor are aimed at younger audiences, there are some grander, more mature themes at play that adults will feast on. Namely, the examination of well-known characters in alternate dimensions when they are radically changed by their surroundings.  

Also impressive is that each of the big three characters gets to shine in their own way. 

This makes the game accessible to veterans of the series or newcomers alike.

There is a wealth of difficulty options to keep the playing field even for all types of players. There's even the ability to skip a puzzle if players don't want to rack their brains and just get back to the good stuff. It's all aimed at a good time for as many players as possible—we even got stuck in the world once thanks to a foolish bit of jumping; the game recognized it and reset us. 

Rift Apart has a massive list of accessibility options in the menus and enough in the way of presentation and gameplay that would make even PC games blush. 

Each gun has levels to grind that enable more purchasable slots on its individual skill tree. Things like increased range, finding more ammo and other slots dot each gun's skill tree. If players explore enough, there are always resources available. Even better, going all-in on one or two guns creates a special sort of attachment to the weapons. 

Completionists should have a huge time sink here. Each area in the game has its own map with a wealth of things to do on it, including alternate dimension challenges that are mostly great fun and varied while offering cosmetic rewards for besting them. There are little nonessential sidequests that offer the same thing.

The game goes out of its way to reward players who explore every nook and cranny. Finding Gold Bolts unlocks rare rewards, if not cheats. And uncovering Spybots, Bears and other items does much the same. 

In short, Rift Apart can be as deep or simple as a player wants it to be, which is another strong mark in the positive column. 

       

Speedrunning Tips

To say Ratchet & Clank: Rift Apart is a good speedrunning game would be a gross understatement. 

To this day, the last main installment in the series—Ratchet & Clank on PlayStation 4, released in 2016—has speedrunners duking it out for the No. 1 spot on the global leaderboards daily. As of this writing? The world record is under the 25-minute mark. 

Much goes into a special run on a game in this series, though the most important thing in the most recent installment is proper map knowledge and timing. That enables clutch jumps, even out of bounds while taking damage, to make player-created shortcuts that shave off times and reach usually-inaccessible areas. 

For Rift Apart on release, speedrunning is quite a bit simpler. Smashing through any dialogue and cutscenes is a must. So is avoiding combat when possible. Yes, collecting drops from enemies and crates would be nice, but the idea isn't to upgrade a ton of different things that require a lot of parts, anyway. 

The goal is to pump everything into the shotgun weapon found early in the game. It's a monster of a weapon and upgrading it increases its range. Pumping all upgrades into that and only swapping off when ammo runs out seems to be the way to go. 

Otherwise, the simple time investment that is memorizing maps, searching for shortcuts and figuring out what's essential will make for the best early runs. This will still get refined for years to come, but for now, the competitive scene and the different styles of play are such to make this is a speedrunning hit. 

   

Conclusion

As expected, Insomniac has thrown out another instant classic for the PlayStation 5. 

While Rift Apart doesn't do much in the way of the unexpected, it's so refined, immersive and a display of what gaming at its peak looks like right now that it's hard not to come away impressed. That it can appeal to players of any age and skill range just adds to the applaud-worthiness of the feat. 

It's not often that a game comes along capable of appealing to so many with a huge fun factor with virtually no issues or exploitative features. 

Yet Ratchet & Clank: Rift Apart is just that; it's a must-play showcase of both the PlayStation 5 and this new generation of consoles.

A remake of the Mass Effect trilogy was always one of those things whispered about in corners of the internet any time a company decided to bring other old classics back, reshaping them around current hardware.  

And like the Reapers, the long-awaited remakes have inevitably arrived. 

Developer BioWare has made the dream come true, bringing one of the most beloved trilogies in gaming's history to the forefront again with a compilation effort consisting of the original trilogy: Mass Effect, Mass Effect 2 and Mass Effect 3. 

As if there were ever any doubt, the souped-up remasters live up to most expectations.  

    

Mass Effect

Originally released in 2007, Mass Effect was always the game surely to undergo the most change if BioWare and EA opted to go all-in on a remaster—and it's also the one gamers wanted to see the most. 

Despite its status as a classic of a space opera RPG, the original game had some serious faults—cover was clunky and scarce, weapons could feel inaccurate and the graphics, albeit superb at the time, haven't held up all that well. 

But gameplay was especially a contentious issue for those who debated how BioWare should handle a remaster. Tweak the gameplay too much and this nostalgia trip of a classic loses the charm. Don't tweak it enough and critics will hammer it with understandable outdated accusations. 

It was also interesting to see whether Mass Effect 1 would scrap the cooldown mechanic on guns in favor of the ammo system found in later games. Negative, there—some of the tried-and-true mechanics remain. 

The verdict? There's still some of the RPG-randomness when it comes to accuracy. But this remake feels much closer to the over-the-shoulder gunplay of Mass Effect 2 than it does its original state, which still makes it a pretty significant upgrade.

Gone is the big circle of a crosshair that presents players with where shots might land and in is a more precision-based crosshair. It still manages to feel just as good, just modernized. The same goes for the cover system, which is still pretty clunky but does its job well. 

One will still notice a pretty big gameplay leap when jumping from this one to the other two, but that's the preservation of a classic factor coming into play. It's not the next two games and shouldn't be—gameplay-wise, this is about as spot-on as even the grandest of expectations should have had for Mass Effect 1. 

Then there's the Mako, the biggest point of anger from almost any review of the first game, critic or gamer alike. The vehicle still bounces like it's got balloons tied to every discernable surface. But it's also weightier and more responsive with a boost that helps move it out of tough spots. 

This is to say the Mako is modernized and therefore not as much of a chore, which is all players can really ask of the change-of-pace gameplay there. 

Graphically is where this updated version of the first game shines. 

It's almost a little creepy how close the game now resembles Mass Effect: Andromeda, the most recent game in the series. Characters are immensely more detailed and move with more modern machinations. There are little extra details all over the place, from clothing to things scattered about environments, which will send players diving into comparison screenshots and videos. 

Mainstays of the game, such as Eden Prime, have staggering new effects like fog and extra particles. Those are modern by today's standards and not too shocking, of course, but they were unheard of back in the day on the horsepower the old consoles had for the original release.

Much of this can file under the "expected" column, but going over a classic again with some much-needed modernization love is nothing short of a great thing. 

    

Mass Effect 2

Mass Effect 2 arrived three years or so after the original with some blatant leanings toward action games and away from the heavy RPG influence of the first game. 

And for the most part, it was a resounding success. There was still an enthralling story there, but BioWare weaved in modern details like regenerating health and ammunition juggling to make the gameplay smoother. 

Much of that remains and feels just as good as it did then. Commander Shepard and crew move much smoother through a variety of graphically souped-up environments, and modern players will feel more at home with what the game asks them to multi-task in regards to action and abilities. 

As the cliche goes, the devil's in the details when discussing the graphical enhancements for the middle child of the trilogy. Mass Effect 2 looked great when it released in 2010 on systems like the Xbox 360, but it's a wonder to see some of the characters and locales working with modern technology. 

Headed up by a healthy dose of lens flare all over the place, tons of new light sources, shadow work and upgraded textures, this should have players who even worked through the second game multiple times excited to see what's around the next corner. 

    

Mass Effect 3

As the most modern game in the original trilogy, it's safe to suggest Mass Effect 3 needed the least amount of remaster love. 

Still, that won't stop players from noting the same graphical attention given to the prior two entries. And some of the game's original gameplay elements were taken from here and applied to the other two. 

One thing worth cramming into the third game's section is the Legendary setting for progression, which offers a new, lower level cap. Across the board, players earn more experience and skill points earlier, which leads to a faster game across all three of the offerings. 

Personally, that's meant to have the first two games mimicking the pacing of the third—which is a hard thing to complain about. There's still an adequate challenge across the board no matter how fast the player levels his or her crew, but the option to go back to default progression in each of the individual games remains. 

    

Performance and more

As a three-game package, Mass Effect Legendary Edition has some nice things going for it.

All three games can be started from the same launcher. There's a solid list of options to tinker with, including a "calibration" menu, which is a funny nod to a certain character. 

Narratively speaking, the story is exactly how fans will remember it. It's the example of a space opera RPG/action series done right, and to this day it doesn't have much of an equal. Players are free to be as good or evil as they want, questing for different endings in this timesink of a series that can transfer progression and details from one game to the next. 

Across the board, it's clear the universal additions like extra details and particle effects aren't alone. Body compositions and face details, with some impressive attention paid to alien features, are a highlight of the overall package. 

Load times are noticeably shorter, and those dreaded lift sequences that used to mask loading screens are either widely short and/or outright skippable. 

Of the notable issues, most come on the technical side. There are bugs here or there, including graphical hiccups with textures sometimes. An issue with lips synching properly to the audio can distract, though like the other items, a patch or two will eventually smooth things out. 

Elsewhere on the technical side, it's a little weird to see the lack of a FOV slider, even just on the PC version of the game, especially given the presence of a standalone photo mode. That's surely something that could be added at a later date. 

But those negatives, as hinted, pale in comparison to the overall package. It's a marvel to see something like the first game at a stable 4K and 60 FPS. Planting them all on equal footing presentation-wise is a long-awaited feat that is as epic as it sounds. 

We'd be remiss not to mention the omission of multiplayer from this remake. The multiplayer component of Mass Effect 3 was shockingly competent and fun, which made it something of a cult hit. Popping into it even in 2021 would be a fun time because its ideas hold up so well, so here's to hoping it resurfaces at a later date. 

    

Conclusion

There's a hesitancy to wishing for a remake of a classic game on modern hardware, let alone hoping a whole trilogy gets the love and attention it deserves. 

Yet Mass Effect Legendary Edition is a shining beacon of how it's done. 

Like the first game that started it all, this remastered collection isn't without small hiccups here and there. But it's a stunning feat, and longtime fans of the games will have a silly smile while playing through it—though it doubly serves as a perfect starting point for players new to the series. 

Few modern game releases can boast hundreds of hours of superb content. It's almost an unfair comparison to make, of course, but the point is simple: Three modernized classics are out in the wild via an incredible package anyone with even a hint of interest should experience. 

Resident Evil Village, the latest entry in the classic horror series, aims to take the first big step of the next generation by straddling the balance between frights and the thrills of first-person combat.  

To do so, Capcom's direct sequel to Resident Evil 7: Biohazard throws protagonist Ethan Winters into a village of mystical monstrosities and tasks him with not only survival but mystery unraveling and going on the offensive. 

A gorgeous, terrifying affair that flips the expected concepts of horror on their head at every turn, Village is a stunning feat, both for the beginning of this new console generation and for the series as a whole. 

    

Graphics and Gameplay

Village is beautiful, in its own twisted, dark and grimy way. 

Capcom has pulled off a masterclass in theme through brilliant use of lighting and detail. Getting lost in the corridors of a castle is all the more terrifying when it's impossible to tell what might jump out of the shadows. 

Out in the blinding snow of a presumably European mountainside village, the grisly detail of disfigured, loose-skinned horrors get up close and (un)comfortable often. Everyone Ethan encounters, regardless of how long they actually stick around for, animates realistically and has detailed features. 

Village is almost disturbingly immersive, which is the point—but it sure doesn't hurt that the sound design might be the best on next-generation consoles to date. 

Part of that is because Village plays with expectation. Directional audio helps the player avoid jump scares—until a monster that makes zero noise pops out, of course. The sounds of Village, from the disgusting movements of enemies to the audio clues and frights, only add to the immersion and leave players on edge, especially so with headphones.

To its credit, Village isn't just a "every area looks distinct" handwaving ordeal. They do, but they also feel very different. Without diving too deep into spoiler-territory, one locale overseen by one of the mythical big bads requires more stealth than the others. 

The types of monsters encountered along the way, from Lycans to zombies and more, all ambush at sporadic times and demand on-the-fly adaptation from players, helping them all feel unique. 

The variety in locales and monsters arrives at just the right time alongside a beefed-up crafting system that allows more options than ever. We're talking military-grade equipment right on down to what type of herbs to make for certain boosts. Choose the wrong way, and Village makes the player pay dearly. Luckily, customization feels like it has been even more streamlined, with just a few button presses leading to new items. 

Village does a great job in building tension, leaving players stranded or being pursued many times. But Ethan also cobbles together quite the arsenal, and Resident Evil 4 comparisons are inevitable—players will spend quite a bit of time blasting through enemies almost in Doom-esque fashion. 

As a result, Village can feel clunky. Ethan has the ability to run, block and even hurdle over things now, but it's hit and miss. So is the sluggish-feeling crosshair, even though it's still imperative to properly line up headshots. 

Maybe that's a little unfair, as the game is trying to be a lot of things at once. But players shouldn't go into this expecting Apex Legends or Destiny levels of smoothness in the first-person action.

That aside, we'd be remiss not to say Village feels at its absolute best and truest when Ethan is vulnerable and has drained all of his resources. 

This is more of an action game than the slower, horror experiences of previous entries in the series. That's good and bad. On one hand, it feels like a natural evolution of the series and this tale in particular. Ethan, the main character, hits a breaking point early in the game and wants to go on the offensive. 

On the other, it's sad that the series shifts away from its roots so much from a gameplay perspective. And that's especially so when those moments, fleeting as they are, remain so good, with a next-gen kick to boot. 

Despite the pacing at times, the game is still a masterclass in horror when it wants to be. After being tense for a long time, it feels like just as a player relaxes, something wild happens and sends a jolt right through the controller, almost as if someone was observing the play session and smacking the scare button on cue. 

It's a fun experience all around, even if it does feel a little too easy on normal settings. But for those who want to do more than just see and feel what unfolds, multiple playthroughs are the solution. 

      

Story and More

As the direct sequel to Resident Evil 7, Village has the benefit of pushing the pedal to the floor narratively right away. 

Ethan is back and so is his family, at least momentarily before the game rips players out of a cozy life and into a snowy village plagued with horrors. The baseline story is simple enough—Ethan wants to save his daughter, Rose. But the plot complicates matters. 

Ethan himself is a little boring and often doesn't seem to react how one might in these terrible circumstances. But the possible counter to that is that he makes the demonic supporting cast all the more fantastical. 

That cast consists of big bad Mother Miranda and underlings Lady Dimitrescu, Donna Beneviento, Salvatore Moreau and Karl Heisenberg. 

They're all fiendishly delightful in their own ways and quite memorable. But that comes with a caveat—the actual gameplay experiences built around them are ho-hum affairs. Players who have encountered big bads and strafed around them until their health ran out in other games won't find much different here. There is some Nemesis-style smartly tracking the player throughout the game here, but the actual fights are so-so throwdowns that are just meant to drain the player's resources. 

Similarly, players looking for in-depth puzzles won't find them within Village. Quite a few, especially early on, just leave notes that detail how to solve them right out in the open. It feels like a decision to keep this more fast-paced Resident Evil moving for players of all capabilities, but it's a little disappointing to see the brain-twisters go the route of the dinosaur. 

The village itself is a character. While it seems everything unfolds in a pretty set pattern than won't deviate much on subsequent playthroughs, let's just say backtracking through areas players think they know is always a fun and surprising time. The further players get in the game, the more things open up. 

It all weaves nicely into the story, which has a lot going for it thanks to the continuity from the last installment. It's a treat to find out how this all ties into the larger Resident Evil story and should stir up some excitement for what might come next.  

Those who yearn for complementary information to flesh out the story won't be disappointed here, either. There are plenty of morsels drip-feeding the background info—characters, myths and surroundings alike—to players who go off the beaten path a bit. 

Speaking of off the path, a merchant named Duke pops up all over the place and his area serves as a little safe zone. He notably offers hunting for the player. It's not Red Dead Redemption hunting by any means, but it's more of a vehicle to get players out and off the expected story path—where the village and its horrors can go to work on anyone who isn't on guard. 

Duke also doubles as a vendor for ammunition and the like, and despite his grotesque appearance, players will undoubtedly breathe a sigh of relief every time they happen across him. 

Village also comes equipped with an endgame of sorts. Points earned for completing certain tasks in the story mode all the purchase of weapons and ammo for future runs, as well as Mercenaries mode—a gory endgame survival sprint through select stages of the game. 

There, players will earn rewards for taking down as many enemies in a given stage as possible. It's sure to be a fun online bragging component with streaming appeal. It's also got the most replayability of anything in the game. 

In a lot of ways, this is Resident Evil just taking another step in its modernization. Sleeker menus, more behind-the-scenes options and streamlined systems such as crafting show the series is eager to match expectations.  

      

Speedrunning Tips

The Resident Evil series isn't a stranger to speedrunning. 

Look at Resident Evil 7, where the world-best times on any-percent runs check in at under the hour-and-a-half mark. Don't think 100 percent runs are easier for some reason—they check in just over that mark. Ditto for knife-only runs. 

At this stage, Biohazard's runs are a science, even to the point runners know how to despawn enemies. 

That's not the case for Village right out of the gates, where sheer force of will should produce the best times. That means a course load's worth of work in memorization, from layouts to boss patterns and which enemies to fight or avoid at each juncture. 

Given this is a more action-oriented experience, going on the offensive is the best bet. Conserving ammo for only when it's strictly needed is ideal. Doing so will enable the runner to avoid going out of their way to find more crafting resources. 

As of now, engaging with sidetrack items such as minibosses that aren't essential to hitting the end credits is a bad idea. Skipping dialogue and cutscenes, when applicable, is a must too. 

Where Village should really shine is in the competitiveness of the scores and times posted in the Mercenaries mode. That's where the big replayability and speedruns will come from once runners have dissected and perfected the campaign. 

     

Conclusion

Village is a thrill and a clear nod to the beloved Resident Evil 4. The variety of enemies and engrossing surroundings of the village that seems to have a personality of its own, make it a special experience. That Capcom has perfected how to capitalize on expectations and technology to exploit the player on this horror rollercoaster just makes it all the better. 

Especially impressive is the ability to run through the game again in a new-game plus mode with added difficulty. That, plus Mercenaries mode, gives Village some serious legs and staying power. 

For longtime fans, Village is a romp with big implications for the future. It's an onboarding point for new players too even if the narrative is a bit confusing because this is Resident Evil at its modern best, with plenty of hints of what's to come. 

EA Sports announced Friday that the first three picks in the 2021 NFL draft are now playable in Madden NFL 21's Madden Ultimate Team.

Jacksonville Jaguars quarterback Trevor Lawrence, New York Jets quarterback Zach Wilson and San Francisco 49ers quarterback Trey Lance can all be deployed after landing with their new teams during the first round of the 2021 NFL draft on Thursday.

Lawrence and Wilson were both widely expected to be the top two picks for several weeks leading up the draft, but the Niners left some suspense on the table.

The assumption was that San Francisco would either go with Alabama quarterback Mac Jones or Lance, and they opted for upside by taking a signal-caller in Lance who spent just one season as a starting quarterback for FCS program North Dakota State.

Now, Madden NFL 21 players can test out the impressive skills sets of Lawrence, Wilson and Lance without having to wait until the release of Madden NFL 22.

Additionally, EA Sports announced that 23 NFL rookies will play Madden NFL 21 between Friday and Monday, controlling their new teams against fans.

EA Sports will also hold The Madden Bowl: Draft Edition on Sunday, streaming on the EA Madden NFL Twitch channel, Madden Competitive Gaming YouTube channel and the ESPN app. NFL rookies will appear throughout the broadcast of The Madden Bowl.

All of the weekend's festivities will give gamers another reason to enjoy Madden NFL 21, while also getting them ready for the release of Madden NFL 22 in August.  

Returnal was one of the big PlayStation 5 exclusives Sony went out of its way to announce before the console ever released, yet it went largely overlooked.  

If we knew then what we do now, that would have never happened. 

Developer Housemarque has unleashed the first truly next-generation-feeling game from seemingly out of nowhere, blending third-person action with stunning production values and a sci-fi psychological horror backdrop that paints an unforgettable tale. That story plays a critical role in the game's presence of permadeath features as players battle an endless, rearranging planet while attempting to solve the mystery. 

Like that mystery, Returnal is an engrossing, surefire Game of the Year contender that requires closer inspection. 

    

Graphics and Gameplay

It's the overarching package that makes Returnal feel like the first big next-generation game.

Visually speaking, the game is stunning. The color palette is diverse, there's detail oozing out of every crevice and plant on the hostile Atropos, and the shading and lighting work only heightens the sense of immersion—and horrific sense of overwhelming loneliness. 

Returnal really sells the idea of an alien world both beautiful and terrifyingly dangerous, with a rather gigantic former civilization that used to inhabit it. Amazing little environmental details, like fluorescent plant life reaching for the game's protagonist Selene as she walks by, are a highlight of the experience. The gradual degradation of Selene's suit alongside her own composure sure doesn't hurt, either. 

And things look great when the action gets going fast. Prominent colors fly across the screen, but it's never difficult to make things out. It's when the action slows down that a sense of awe highlights the experience. 

Atropos isn't just gorgeous and varied. There are claustrophobic spaces, sprawling ones with jaw-dropping architecture and so much more, plus the simpler, major differences between each biome. But the game toys with this, too—returning to a spot a player remembers could suddenly result in something shocking, such as a floor falling out from underneath Selene that didn't on the last run. 

The sound design is a contender for best-ever status, by the way, especially with headphones. Every little footstep, enemy and drop of water has directional tech to it, accentuating the experience in a way most games have never been able to in the past. 

We—and pretty much everyone—have raved about the PlayStation 5's new controller vibration technology, and Returnal feels like the first game to use it to its full potential. 

The game's opening cutscene is it merely flexing this attribute repeatedly, albeit in the best way possible. As Selene's ship comes to a gnarly end, every little impact it makes on the way down has a stunning, different vibration to it in a player's hands. It sounds silly, but it's a moment you truly have to experience. 

There are some expected things with this next-gen controller tech. Pulling L2, for example, will aim down sights and enable the typical firing of a weapon. Yanking it all the way down past the sticking point, though, enables a secondary fire that is more powerful. Interwoven with this feature are things like unlockable additional fire rates and the ability to have the weapon jam up. 

And then there are the subtle things. The patter of rain Selene herself might feel on her suit is stunningly reflected in this new vibration technology. Step into some cover underneath a tree and it realistically adapts. 

There aren't really enough words to describe how amazing the controller tech adds to the immersion. Games have looked amazing in the past. Sound design, especially with headphones, has been something special in other games. But this adds a whole different dimension, the one true thing that feels next-gen about either new console so far. 

Returnal's traversal has a next-gen feel to it, too. If a player thinks Selene can do it, she probably can. She can trot along or sprint, mantle on things just out of reach, use a dash to clear big gaps or pass right through enemy projectiles and quite a bit more once she unearths certain technology. 

The free-form exploration—with almost-reachable areas just taunting the player until they stumble upon an upgrade—is where Returnal feels like one of the old Metroid Prime games. The game encourages backtracking to progress and even the slightest bit of exploration, with the twist that the order of the world changes with each run, of course. 

Combat is always enjoyable and varied, which plays a big part in the potential GOTY status. There are a variety of different weapons to stumble upon and experiment with, never mind modifications to the suit or abilities. Aiming itself is intuitive enough, as there's a large bit of auto-aim working here—aim at an enemy while running-and-gunning and shots are more than likely going to hit. This isn't a precision-based shooter by any means, which just works given how fast things can unfold. 

There's a helpful, if not ever-so-slight, immersion-breaking reticle that tells players where threats are coming from so Selene doesn't get caught unawares. Enemy projectiles are often bright and nearly impossible to miss. They fire in typically expected patterns not dissimilar to old spaceship arcade fighters, so it's sometimes easy to manipulate these to create an opening, take cover or even phase right through them with the dash. 

Part of the sheer fun of combat is the Adrenaline system. It sounds basic, and maybe it is, but it's a fun compounding impact that adds tension and reward for smart play. Selene builds this meter, which has five levels, by dealing damage. But the moment she takes any damage, the whole thing resets. Each tier of meter offers another bonus, such as enhanced vision, more weapon proficiency or additional damage. 

Not only does this add tension to what would otherwise be basic encounters with basic mobs, it's a blast to weave through a ton of enemy projectiles without taking damage, only to become even deadlier against a group because the enhanced vision now outlines enemies in red, even behind obstacles. 

It's a nice way to flip the whole situation on its head. For the briefest of moments, despite being outnumbered, Selene can become the hunter and devastate enemies, even if she's really the lone human lost in this horrific sci-fi mystery. 

And all of that was merely the simple stuff. 

Ready for where it gets really complicated? Excellent, because complicated is good. 

Factors like suit integrity and weapon proficiency play a big role in the structure of the game. The former is just what it sounds like and only replenishable through certain drops found or purchased throughout the world. 

Proficiency is quite a bit more interesting, as it plays a key role in dictating what weapons a player stumbles upon next. The higher the weapon proficiency (upped by inflicting damage or through items) during a given run, the better chance of finding a powerhouse of a weapon that makes upcoming battles easier. 

The word "run" was used with purpose. Returnal can classify as "Roguelike," meaning an ever-refreshing experience upon each run. When Selene dies or the player quits, she's routed back toward the ship crash again and starts over. Even wilder, the format of the world has changed. 

Playing into this is a set of items besides weapons players must juggle. Artifacts deal buffs for the current run only, whereas Consumables are single-usage items. Timing the usage of these or playing more aggressively or conservatively based on losing key items and starting over is part of the fun. And like these items, weapons reset, too. 

There are also parasites to discover and use, which Selene not-so-cautiously attaches to her body. These can provide bonuses at the cost of detriments elsewhere. 

It all equates to a staggeringly immersive experience, never mind one that is consistently tense. All of the above just grabs a player and refuses to let go. So far, most deaths don't feel cheap or undeserved. Early on, Returnal isn't as hard as one might expect for a game that slots into these genres, but boy does that change in a hurry. 

Wildly enough, one might suggest the character work and story itself trumps the above. 

        

Story and More

The name should say it all, right? Returnal, a smooth mixture of returning...eternally.

That's the fate that befalls Selene, an ASTRA deep-space scout lured to the unknown planet dubbed Atropos. She crashes, and away players go. 

The opening cutscene absolutely nails the sense of horror right out of the gates. It's not just a shipwreck that leaves her without weapons and a way to communicate with anyone off-world. While under assault from hostile aliens, Selene quickly stumbles upon what appear to be her own corpses and voice messages she doesn't remember recording—all before waking up and realizing the world changes every time. 

Selene is just a big part of the equation. This isn't Halo's Master Chief or Amos Burton from The Expanse or some gung ho marine ready to trailblaze through a new planet. She's more Samus from Metroid in her determined, yet cautious attitude—and she's just as lost as the player. 

The way Selene clearly starts to question the recordings of her past self as the mystery unravels, especially as the voice captures get stranger and hint at more danger, is simply engrossing. It takes a game like Red Dead to organically develop a main character in a way that marches nicely alongside the player's feelings, yet Returnal has done just that. 

Returnal is a long single-player experience, too, and rest assured this mystery doesn't just up and unravel in the opening hours. Selene realizes early on that the opening cutscene was far from the first time she had experienced or even been on the planet. Narratively, it feels like it can slug it out with The Expanse, to use a modern example. 

Along the way, like everything else in the game, there's a nice risk-reward when it comes to the currencies. Oblities disappear when Selene dies. Ether doesn't. But the latter goes into Artifacts and otherwise that can be lost on death, so players have to pick and choose when to get risky with hard-earned drops. 

Speaking of risk-reward, that's true of the rewards found throughout the game. Chests with potential upgrades have a chance at making Selene's suit malfunction. So do certain keys, which could unlock critical places but cause malfunctions such as longer recharge times for dashes or weapons. 

It must be said that Returnal strikes a really, really good balance between a hardcore Roguelike and everything else. Yes, the world changes with every run and weapons can reset, etc., but Selene does get to keep some permanent upgrades and bigger biomes remain unlocked. So while it can be punishing like some of its contemporaries, the balancing act here should have others taking notes. 

That said, there are some hurdles to the game's structure. An unexpected game crash, power outage or something else kills off a run instantly with no way to get it back. Leaving the console in rest mode when an update automatically triggers might do the same. To say that could be a point of frustration would be an understatement. 

Believe it or not, there is an interesting online component to Returnal, too. On Helios, players can take on a daily challenge that tasks them with performing a certain scenario with specific weapons and modifiers. Out in the world, players can stumble upon other deceased players and tackle whatever felled them for big rewards. 

On the technical front, Returnal runs like a charm with solid framerates. The lone exception was multiple hard crashes, especially early in the game. That's frustrating in any video game, but especially one with a structure like this. But in the quick-updating landscape of today, it's hard to imagine issues won't get rooted out quickly. Otherwise, it's a bit of a technical marvel on the performance front.  

    

Speedrunning Tips

Returnal should end up having a really healthy speedrunning community in large part because of the skill it takes to navigate the platforming and combat challenges spread throughout the course of the story. 

And the fact it will never be the same playthrough twice makes it appealing to viewers on platforms like Twitch. 

So how best to go about it? Early around the game's release date, it seems the best approach is memorizing each area as much as possible so that a new run can't throw out too many surprises. That will assist the majority in where players can possibly find upgrades or big bosses to advance things. 

Otherwise, being uber-aggressive with enemies, especially by phasing through attacks, is the way to go. In the interest of the fastest run possible, so is simply picking up all the risky items that could cause malfunctions and using some farmed currencies to buy further upgrades or remove negative debuffs. 

Keeping in mind that Selene dying is literally part of what progresses the plot, it should be thrilling to see how speedruns evolve over the years. Accomplishing a task, then flinging her off a platform to her death just to start another run should be both hilarious and quite strategic.

No matter what ends up being most viable, it looks like there is serious potential here for any-percent and 100-percent runs. 

   

Conclusion

It's really hard to poke a flaw in Returnal—and it's not like it is just benefitting from zero expectations. 

The combat gameplay is precise and intense, the stakes are always huge and the production values and technological innovations only amplify what is already an engrossing story featuring a main character and setting that won't soon be forgotten. 

Zooming out even further, Returnal has managed to strike a balance few releases in the genre have before. Future games, be it in the genre or otherwise, will draw from the lessons learned in terms of a symbiotic story and gameplay feature set with tremendous immersion. 

It should go without saying, but Returnal won't be for everyone, whether it's because of the horror elements, escalating difficulty or something else. But it really is a marvel worth experiencing at least once, as Returnal really feels like the start of the next generation of gaming. 

New Pokemon Snap's long-anticipated arrival faces a plethora of challenges.   

It seems hard to imagine now, but the original Pokemon Snap on Nintendo 64 was something of a cult classic that flew under the radar a bit while the anime genre was really just getting off the ground. 

Twenty-two years later, developer Bandai Namco Studios is in charge of not only a juggernaut of a franchise with a classic property, it has to modernize it in the face of dramatically different technology. 

1999 was a long time ago. Snap's return boasts modernization, going from a time filled with rolls of film to straight-up Instagram-style editing of digitized snaps while aiming to retain that classical feel fans remember with such fondness. 

There was never any doubt a follow-up this long in the making was going to be an instant hit under the Pokemon umbrella.

      

Graphics and Gameplay

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J991KIyenEc

Snap takes place in the Lental region, which is typical Pokemon. Fans know what that means—luscious green forests, sprawling, sunny beach areas, deep, dark undertones to cave-like areas and a fitting classical soundtrack that always kicks in. 

Players of any Pokemon release over the last 20 years know all too well how varied and gorgeous the locales can look. This isn't competing for the best-looking game on Switch title by any means, but it's a looker nonetheless. 

The good-looking backdrops that smoothly take on new life during the night are merely a backdrop for what's really important, of course—the wildlife serving as the subject of the photographs. 

It's very apparent the art direction and presentation is going out of its way to bring out the personality of each Pokemon. This isn't a one-off situation where players (or trainers, technically) in the base game see the 'mons a bit during a battle and not again. It's seeing all sorts with different personality types in their natural habitat and merely observing, which is not only a great, immersive feat. 

Some Pokemon will approach the player, especially if prompted. Some will even wave or hit a pose. Others will ignore the player or outright become somewhat hostile. All make for good photos in some fashion or another. 

Assisting the immersion factor is the expected Pokemon sound design. The tunes are liable to get stuck in a player's head, and the ambient noises and monster-specific roars are in good form here. Maybe most jarring is the odd voice acting, which happens sporadically and often a person in the background makes a noise or quip that doesn't line up with the speech bubble the player has to read. 

Aside from that, this is a next-generation-feeling Snap game. It should be considering the series skipped three console generations, but it hits the high bar regardless. 

On the gameplay front, players plop down in the Neo-One and follow it along set paths in regions while snapping photos. The quest? Filling out a photo-version of the Pokedex dubbed the—you guessed it—Photodex. 

This is about as simple as it sounds, with some of the buttons on the controller not even featured in the game. There's a zoom function and a camera to rotate, plus a few odds and ends like scans and items. But this is a timing-based ordeal that's pretty fun, as even the slow crawl of the Neo-One can become tense while hunting for the perfect shot. 

There's a to-do list of challenges to tackle, sometimes on specific routes at certain times, sometimes not. Some of these can be as simple as catching a Pokemon at night yawning, others much more complex. 

That's where a lot of the fun in Snap resides—embarking on a route in pursuit of rare challenges or interactions. Oftentimes players get just one fleeting chance at these per run, which adds a surprising bit of tension to what is otherwise a slow-paced on-the-rails experience. 

There hasn't been a ton of innovation in the how to trigger some of these interactions, though. Throwing a fluffruit, performing a scan or even playing a Melody tool gives a chance at special reactions. 

Even if there aren't a ton of new ways to do it, the sense of achievement from getting that picture-perfect moment that will earn a huge grade from the professor is still gigantic. 

Professor Mirror grades pictures on a star-based system that weighs size, pose, direction, placement and other Pokemon. He grades photos once and players can't edit them until after the grading process, of course.

One important feature: The Photodex can only hold one photo of each 'Mon across four star ratings. Players have to choose wisely when it comes to keeping star-rated photos. And in a similar vein, it's a little disappointing players can only choose one photo of each Pokemon from a route per run. 

Editing is a smooth modern addition to the game that is easy to use. The expected subjects are here—players can crop, re-center, alter brightness, blur and focus. There are filters, frames and stickers, too. 

The editing experience is an eye-of-beholder thing. Players who just want to get out on the routes and gun for high grades won't use it much. But players who want to take their hard work online and check out what others have posted can find almost the same amount of replayability.

     

Story and More

Like the presentation department, longtime players know what to expect from Snap. 

The player character drops into the world and eventually stumbles his or her way into being an assistant to Professor Mirror while he combs the land for photos in the pursuit of mapping the region. His assistants Rita and Phil are the usual Poke fodder, with something of a rival in there for good measure. 

With the gameplay so engrossing, Snap didn't need much more meat on the bones for the story. But there's a little there via the Illumina phenomenon, which is a new revelation in the world players will have to investigate that features Pokemon out in the world glowing for a mysterious reason, which eventually leads to the players using the Illumina Orb.

The story weaves through the standard fare for the overarching franchise, with the real centerpiece the gameplay experience itself.

 Completing routes and tasks earns Expedition Points, which boosts Research Level for a given route. And doing this changes everything within a route, from which Pokemon appear on a specific route at what times to their behavior, which could lead to even better moments, scores and experience gains. 

Of course, it wouldn't be a modern Pokemon game without a discussion about inclusion and omission. 

The list of Pokemon these days is staggering. Back before the calendar turned to 2000, the original game hardly featured half of the original 151. The count here is well up over 200. That's not a ton compared to just how many Pokemon exist now as the series flirts with the 900-range (even Shield and Sword didn't have every Pokemon, which was a source of controversy), but it's a huge number regardless, never mind the different behaviors and, thanks to the story, versions. 

There is an interesting thing to keep in mind if the number of Pokemon creates controversy, though—there are only so many stages in the game. It's clear the idea was to keep a theme running for each one, so non-fitting monster types in certain stages wouldn't make sense. Maybe there's a chance more Pokemon enter the game if the team behind it adds more stages in the future as DLC. 

So far, the online functionality Snap promises seems robust enough to keep players coming back for more. Best of all, it should be interesting to see how this game takes on a life of its own over actual social media. Back in 1999, the original didn't have the takeoff potential. With all sorts of media platforms to interlink players around the globe, how this one develops and sustains itself over time could decide future innovations, both in the Pokemon series and gaming as a whole.  

Speaking of functionality, the game is yet another big hitter that doesn't suffer much in handheld mode, if at all. Taking a game like Snap on the go is just another stroke of brilliance on Nintendo's part after conceptualizing the Switch hardware itself. 

While Snap isn't bogged down with a ton of options for players to modify, it does come up huge with a critical one—the ability to change cursor and camera speed. Snap is slow by default, so players who wish to whip the cursor and camera around faster are free to crank it up to 10. 

    

Conclusion

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6d5zofUi-Wc

It would be hard to imagine the Snap revival better than this. 

In fact, one could almost credit Nintendo for pumping the brakes on another entry in the series until the perfect hardware arrived. That's the Switch, which outputs superb visuals and has that important handheld functionality just perfect for this particular series. 

While the target audience is clearly children, the layers to the gameplay and the overarching status of social media globally make this one of the more engrossing titles on the Switch console. 

If there isn't another Snap for two decades, this one is better positioned than the last to stand the test of time. 

With MLB The Show 21 dropping Friday for gamers with early access, all eyes will be on the new features and upgrades that developer San Diego Studio has made to this year's game.

The early access was made available to anyone who preordered either of the special-edition versions featuring Jackie Robinson on the cover. Everyone else will have to wait until Tuesday to get their hands on the best MLB simulation on the market.

San Diego Studio has given fans plenty to get excited about, with multiple new features and improvements to make for a smoother gaming experience.

                    

Stadium Creator

Major League Baseball is the only one of North America's big four sports wherein the dimensions of the field vary from stadium to stadium. A football field is always 100 yards from goal line to goal line. A basketball court is 94 feet long and 50 feet wide. And a hockey rink is 200 feet long and 85 feet wide.

A baseball stadium, on the other hand, could be 310 feet down on foul line and 325 feet down the other. San Diego Studio is finally letting fans take advantage of the uniqueness of MLB stadiums by letting them build their own in MLB The Show 21.

As indicated in the trailer, Stadium Creator includes contemporary, traditional and fantasy design kits to help you build your home park. The feature will only be available to gamers on next-gen consoles, so PlayStation 4 and Xbox One owners are unfortunately out of luck this year.

Players with a PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X/S will be able to share their creations in online gaming. It will also be available to use in Diamond Dynasty and Franchise modes.

                   

Create Your Own Shohei Ohtani

One of the major selling points in MLB The Show over the years is Road to the Show mode. While it would have been easy for San Diego Studio to rest on its laurels because of the popularity of the feature, this year's game features one significant change for the better.

A trailer dropped in February indicates that MLB The Show 21 will give gamers the ability to create a two-way player:

Coach and Tatis Jr. tell you about how your Ballplayer can leave Road to the Show for the first time in @MLBTheShow.
Pre-order now: https://t.co/Z3yPsTabus#MLBTheShow pic.twitter.com/tSvIhnK7aS

— MLB The Show (@MLBTheShow) February 11, 2021

Ramone Russell, MLB The Show's product development communications and brand strategist, told Brian Shea of Game Informer the decision to allow two-way players came from the studio learning that gamers will often create a pitcher and position player.

"A lot of people create a pitcher and a position player," Russell said. "Now you can be a two-way player, and we have this new narrative feature set that talks about you being a two-way player. If you choose not to be, you don't have to, but you have that opportunity now."

Shohei Ohtani of the Los Angeles Angels has become one of the sport's must-watch superstars because of his ability to hit 100 mph on a radar gun and drive the ball 450 feet with the bat.

Now, gamers who have thought about trying to create their own Ohtani will have that opportunity.

               

Gameplay Improvements

One area of MLB The Show that had gotten stale was its gameplay. Pitching mechanics have been largely unchanged for a long time, though that is not going to be the case this year.

The traditional pitching meter will still be included, but it's also receiving an upgrade in the form of Pinpoint Pitching.

According to Shea, Pinpoint Pitching gives gamers "more control on the mound than ever before," though it is "more challenging" than the standard pitching meter.

Russell explained to Shea what that will mean in the context of the game:

"'I'm aiming to pitch here. If I hit the meter perfect, it needs to go here.' For that to happen, you need to have a lot of levers that can't be easy to hit or you kind of break the game. There needs to be some depth there, and that's what Pinpoint Pitching is; we're grading you on your gesture, we're grading you on your gesture timing, and we're grading you on your accuracy."

Shea noted that if Pinpoint Pitching doesn't tickle your fancy, the game will include "rebalanced" versions of the pitching meter, analog and pulse for your pitching needs.

During a feature premiere in March, San Diego Studio also showed off new fielding mechanics that will make it easier to know the proper route to take on fly balls and where to position yourself to play balls hit off the wall.

The ability to make jump catches at the wall has also been overhauled. In addition to being told you will need to jump with a series of upward arrows, the animation will also allow for more flexibility so that avatars are capable of making catches to the right and left side of their bodies instead of only straight up and down.