Gears 5’s New Map Builder Lets You Make Brutal Maps…on One Condition
The Coalition revealed a new mode for Gears 5 at E3 2019 called Escape. In it, a team of up to three must outrun a cloud of venom while slaying the Swarm that patrols ahead with their limited resources. The thing is, Escape isn’t limited to just one map. The Coalition will be uploading a new Escape hive roughly every week. This mode’s maps are built with a tile system, which will be available to all players through the new 2D Map Builder feature. We sat down with The Coalition to make our first map and explore the lengths at which we could customize a hive for Escape.
My goal was to make something terribly hard but not completely impossible. You have to complete one run on your custom map in order to publish it, which is fair. I began by placing a starting point and picked a few corridors and rooms of varying sizes to lay the framework. For the sake of time, I chose to stick with only one chapter, though The Coalition said you can build your hive to have many chapters, which are sections of the hive that are broken up by Safe Rooms. These Left 4 Dead-style Safe Rooms allow players to get a little bit of a break from the chaos; pause, get a snack, or do whatever you need. Each chapter also has a limit to how many pieces you can add based on a point value assigned to each piece. Once you meet that budget, you need to move onto the next chapter. I didn’t feel like the budget was limiting.
Maneater Is a Deranged, Open World Shark-PG
Maneater is an open-world action game presented as a reality show about a vengeful shark, narrated by SNL and Archer’s Chris Parnell. Somehow, that’s not the strangest part of it. This Tripwire-developed passion project has you chomping your way through several underwater ecosystems, growing and evolving as you go, allowing you to enter harsher waters, all while terrorising the surface world on the hunt for your meaty end-goal. It’s basically F**ko the Dolphin.
In a hands-off demo at E3, my first impression is that Maneater looks far nicer than expected, an oversaturated city casting harsh neon light over a polluted bay as a single fin pokes out of the swell. My second impression is that the shark that fin’s attached to has just grabbed a nearby swimmer in its teeth, breached 20 feet out of the water and whipped the remaining half of the still-screaming man into a concrete bridge strut with a bloody pop. I’m giggling despite myself.
How Superman: Year One Adds a Darker Twist to His Origin
You may think you know Superman's origin story forward and back by now, but there's always room for a few changes. That's the takeaway from the first issue of Superman: Year One, as writer Frank Miller and artist John Romita, Jr. chronicle the formative years of the Man of Steel in the Dark Knight Returns universe.
Read on to find out the major changes this story makes to an established formula, and why this version of Superman's origin is darker than the norm.
Superman's New Power
Superman is well-known for being one of the strongest heroes in the DC Universe, but it's comparatively rare for comics to focus on Clark Kent's heightened intelligence. Miller and Romita depict an infant Kal-El as an unusually self-aware child, one who bears witness to Krypton's destruction and grows steadily more intelligent as his journey toward Earth unfolds. By the time he arrives, young Kal is already in firm command of his mental faculties. This issue even suggests that he uses telepathy to mentally nudge Pa Kent into deciding to adopt him.
Age of Wonders: Planetfall – Hands-On With Cyborg Trash Zombies
Whenever a strategy game gives me the option to choose between several distinct factions, I'm always faced with a petrifying dilemma. Do I choose the stalwart mech-using humans known as the Vanguard that are always reliable and familiar? Do I change things up and go exotic with a race of bug-like aliens called the Kir’ko that are eager to defend their newfound freedom after centuries of enslavement? Wait a minute — is that a faction comprised of undying dumpster divers who meld whatever tech they can find or kill for and graft it onto their bodies? Yes please!
That's right, in my hands-on demo with Age of Wonders: Planetfall, I got some time in with the faction known as The Assembly. True to their name, they love manufacturing: slapping together pieces of people and machinery, engineering virulent diseases — you name it. Somehow, they feel right at home next to the dinosaur-riding Amazons and insectoid aliens all vying for a slice of planetary conquest. So far, each faction I've seen is more than just eye candy, as they all have their compelling backstories in a world reeling from the collapse of an imperious galactic civilization. Even the tech trees and upgrades tell a story of your faction's desire to stand apart and evolve, and you'll have a major role in choosing how they grow each time you play.
Everything Leaving Netflix in July
With Keanu Reeves experiencing a well-deserved Keanu-ssance, and with Carrie-Anne Moss currently starring in the final season of Jessica Jones, it's a bummer to have to break the news that all three Matrix flicks will be expiring from Netflix in July.
The rest of Netflix's official Last Call listings feature notable dramas like Gone Baby Gone, Pan's Labyrinth, American Gangster, Cool Hand Luke, and East of Eden along with comedies like Austin Powers, Bull Durham, Dumb and Dumber, and Wedding Crashers. Plus, say goodbye to all of Pretty Little Liars.
Final Fantasy 7 Remake Still Has the Cross-Dressing Sequence
Final Fantasy 7 Remake will still feature the original game’s infamous cross-dressing sequence, according to an interview with Square Enix conducted by Famitsu.
The news comes as a slight surprise as the same Famitsu feature (via Eurogamer) reveals that Square Enix has an ethics department, which instructed the developers of Final Fantasy 7 Remake to “restrict” Tifa’s chest for her new look, to ensure she didn’t look “unnatural” during action sequences. This led to her new design featuring a more athletic build and fitted clothing, rather than the more pin-up girl look she sported in the original game.
Avengers: Endgame Returning to Theaters With Post-Credit Extras
Marvel Studios boss Kevin Feige has said that Avengers: Endgame will be popping back up for a theatrical re-release "next weekend", and will include post-credit extras not included in the original theatrical release.
Screen Rant reports that Feige confirmed this at a Spider-Man: Far From Home junket, explaining that the new release will not be an extended cut, "but there will be a version going into theaters with a bit of a marketing push with a few new things at the end of the movie." It's not clear at time of writing if this is a US-only re-release.
It's not entirely clear what those new things are, but Feige gives some hints: "If you stay and watch the movie, after the credits, there’ll be a deleted scene, a little tribute, and a few surprises."
Super Mario Maker 2 Co-op Building Is More Frustrating Than Fun
Super Mario Maker 2 brings some incredible, fun, and entirely new elements to the Super Mario Maker formula. Almost every single addition, big or small, feels fantastic and works phenomenally well, with one exception: I cannot figure out who co-op level building is for.
If you've played any of the New Super Mario games, you know co-op play can be an incredible experience. It can also tear friendships apart. In other words, it's wonderful. Co-op level gameplay is part of Super Mario Maker 2, so you can make your own levels and then scream at your friends and family to "pop my bubble!" after you miss a jump or take a direct hit from a fireball.
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Doritos Packed a Spider-Man Suit Into a Bag of ‘Incognito Doritos’ for Charity
I really didn't know what to expect when Frito-Lay sent a box containing a bag of Incognito Doritos. Were they stealth Doritos disguised as celery stalks? Perhaps chip science had developed some sort of transparent, crystal corn chip? Turns out, I was way off: inside the bag hid a replica black and red Spider-Man suit from the upcoming Spider-Man: Far From Home.
It's pretty apparent right away it's not a normal Doritos bag. The first sign is it weighs way more than an ordinary Doritos bag. The second sign is it's made of much thicker material, to presumably protect the suit from dangers; I'm no scientist, so I can't be sure. My expectations were in check unpacking the Spidey suit, but I was pleasantly surprised to find the costume inside is actually incredible.