Maneater starts off with your typical tutorial sequence. You play as an adult shark and learn some of the core moves in your fishy arsenal such as lunging, tail whipping, and more. But the tutorial suddenly takes an interesting turn at the end of it when you’re caught and subsequently killed by the game’s main antagonist Scaly Pete. You then find out that the shark you were controlling for the game’s tutorial was actually your (the protagonist) mother when Scaly Pete slices you out of her womb before you’re able to escape his clutches while taking his right arm with you in the process. You then begin your journey of survival, literal growth, and eventual revenge.

"It’s an idea that initially seems quite dumb, but in spite of its premise, Maneater surprisingly turned out to be a lot more than what I had expected, and in spite of a few shortcomings, is a pretty decent take on the brand of open-world action-adventure genre that GTA has created."

In spite of its seemingly tragic introduction, Maneater is actually pretty comedic, from its bright and colorful visuals to its absurd story and humorous characters. The game’s light tone is further emphasized by the game’s narrator, voiced by Chris Parnell of Archer and Rick and Morty fame, who regularly comments on your activities and spouts amusingly delivered shark “factoids” mixed in with a lot of pop-culture references. Parnell does an incredible job at making the game feel more engaging and makes the entire journey all the more enjoyable.

The game is divided into several areas that you are freely able to move between, allowing you to go back and complete quests or retrieve collectibles you may have missed. In fact, some of the game’s side quests actually require you to go back for them later on as the enemies you have to defeat to complete them are too strong for you at the time you’re given the quest. If you’re not too keen on swimming all the way back to previous areas, the game expectedly provides fast travel to each of the grottos you’ve unlocked. Grottos act as your base of operations where you’re able to not only equip the myriad of mutations you’ve unlocked but also upgrade them to improve their effectiveness.

To unlock mutations, the game tasks you with either killing specific powerful sea creatures called apex predators, killing named human hunters, or collecting all the landmarks in each of the game’s areas. Upgrading each mutation requires resources you obtain by either killing sea creatures and humans or through the boxes you find and open around the map. The game’s roster of mutations is pretty interesting, and it allows you to mix and match them depending on your playstyle. There’s the bone mutation set that basically turn you into a battering ram, the bioelectric set that lets you shock and stun enemies as you bite them, one mutation allows you to stay out of the water for longer periods of time, and one that lets you regain more health from eating things, to name a few.

"In spite of its seemingly tragic introduction, Maneater is actually pretty comedic, from its bright and colorful visuals to its absurd story and humorous characters."

While you’ll easily be able to chomp on most of the game’s sea life, from catfish to seals and more, you’ll also have to battle with some of the more aggressive species in the game. And underwater combat in Maneater is actually surprisingly interesting as it requires you to do more than just blindly spam your bite attack. You’ll need to learn how to not only properly move in the water but also to time your attacks, so you don’t end up biting at nothing while leaving yourself open to attack. You’ll also need to learn how to dodge enemy attacks to avoid ending up as fish food yourself. Fortunately, the game allows you to fall back and chomp on nearby prey to regain some health before jumping back into the fray.

This makes the journey from being a small pup to a mega shark quite satisfying as you increase in size and creatures that were previously too large for you to fight become easy prey when you become ten times larger than you were. Engaging sea creatures smaller than you gives you the ability to hold them in your jaws and thrash them about for more damage. You also have the ability to tail whip sea creators to stun them, allowing you to really chomp down on them for a short period of time.

While hunting human civilians is quite easy apart from having to jump onto land and grab a few before you suffocate, killing humans does induce the game’s own Wanted mechanic. So after killing a certain number of humans, hunters begin to show up in droves until you hide and they eventually give up. But unlike GTA’s star system, the infamy level in Maneater is persistent so hunters will increasingly become more numerous and difficult to deal with as you kill more humans in the game. It is quite nice that even when you face the game’s more equipped human hunters, you’re still able to simply jump onto their boat, grab them by your jaws, and drag them into the water to become fish food, as it should be.

"It is quite nice that even when you face the game’s more equipped human hunters, you’re still able to simply jump onto their boat, grab them by your jaws, and drag them into the water to become fish food, as it should be."

It’s disappointing though that the game’s elements don’t really interact with each other. Aggressive sea creatures don’t attack each other or smaller non-aggressive ones, sharks don’t attack humans, and human hunters don’t attack other sharks, just to name a few. It would’ve been nice to have sea creatures and humans interact with each and their own as it would help make the game’s world feel more alive.

The game also does start to feel repetitive after a while as the variety of things to do doesn’t really increase as the game goes on. You’re either tasked with killing a certain number of humans or sea creatures, set to hunt a specific sea creature or apex predator, or finding all of a map’s collectibles. Luckily, the apex predator battles do provide a bit of a challenge, especially in the early stages of the game, and help break up some of the tediousness. Searching for collectibles also gives you something else to do than simply chomping on living things. It also allows you to appreciate each of the game’s different areas, which are all impressively designed and made quite unique from each other, with some featuring a number of discoverable areas including underwater tunnels and passageways.

This game was reviewed on the PlayStation 4.

"Having a total of 150 players along with a larger map potentially leads to longer, more exciting games that ramp up the action at a higher rate as they progress, due to the potentially larger cluster of people in the remaining playable area."

The 150 players are then divided into 50 squads of up to three players. Sadly, the developer hasn’t included a solo mode in the game at launch. Players can either be matched with random teammates or play solo but still go against squads of up to three people. This gives solo players a distinct disadvantage against full and/or organized squads. While it’s still very possible to win matches as a solo player, you’ll just have to play more intelligently to make up for the numbers disadvantage.

Having a total of 150 players along with a larger map potentially leads to longer, more exciting games that ramp up the action at a higher rate as they progress, due to the potentially larger cluster of people in the remaining playable area. The larger number of opposing squads also forces players to be more cautious when traversing the map as firefights between more than two squads become common, especially in the denser locations.

In the typical multiplayer mode, players are normally limited to using one primary weapon, such as rifles and SMGs, and one secondary weapon, which includes handguns and launchers, but in Warzone, players are able to equip whatever combination of primary or secondary weapons they choose, which expands the number of options and playstyles players are able to execute.

Warzone features quite a large variety of weapon drops, but many of them are base models with no attachments, while the more capable weapons are blueprint variants from the regular multiplayer mode, which all come with a predetermined number and selection of attachments. Warzone categorizes and identifies its weapons using colors on their nametags, signifying how many attachments the weapon has equipped.

"The streamlined approach to backpacks and armor gives players less to worry about when finding and collecting items, giving actual combat more time to take center-stage."

Base weapons with no attachments are white while the most souped up weapons are gold. The color-coding system is akin to that of Apex Legends but rather than being used for different levels of weapon attachments, it just shows how many attachments a weapon has equipped. Players are also able to equip one tactical equipment (such as flash or stun grenades), one lethal equipment (like frag grenades and C4), and one field upgrade (munitions box, recon drone, etc.).

While there’s no way to customize your weapon and its attachments in the middle of a match, you’ll be able to create customized weapons when you set up your loadouts. The drawback is that loadouts can only be used via Loadout Drops, which can be found on the map or purchased via the game’s Buy Stations, another new mechanic the game is introducing. Once you get a Loadout Drop and equip a loadout, you’ll be equipped with everything in it from weapons, perks, and equipment.

The game also doesn’t have a multi-tier backpack or armor system. Everyone will be able to carry the same amount of ammo and items and you are also limited to using only the same number and type of armor plates. Players will also be limited to carrying only up to five additional armor players. Squadmates will be able to help each other out though as they’ll be able to drop some or all of their extra plates or specific ammo type they’re carrying to give their teammate.

The streamlined approach to backpacks and armor gives players less to worry about when finding and collecting items, giving actual combat more time to take center-stage. The set maximum health and armor also presents a more even playing ground, making players rely more on their wits and skill rather than their luck in finding gear. It also enables players who may have fallen behind the chance to still catch up and win.

"The Gulag is an unusual but incredibly fun feature that gives players and squads another chance at getting back into the action and winning."

Warzone has also done away with the healing and bandage mechanic from other battle royale games, instead utilizing Call of Duty’s signature healing-over-time mechanic. Players now need only get away from combat and hide to begin healing their lost health. The mechanic is disabled while inside the gas though, so players will still take constant damage within it even when outside of combat. To avert this, players can equip gas masks that will prevent them from taking damage within the gas for a short period of time.

Dying in Warzone isn’t always instantly the end though because of one of the game’s most interesting new features, the Gulag. When you die for the first time in Warzone, you’ll be sent to the Gulag to fight a 1v1 match against another player. You’ll be equipped with the same weapons and equipment and whoever wins, either through killing or capturing the flag, will be respawned and parachuted to a random location in the map.

It’s an unusual but incredibly fun feature that gives players and squads another chance at getting back into the action and winning. If your whole squad is wiped, it only takes one of you to succeed in the Gulag to get an opportunity to revive the entire squad, thanks to another mechanic that lets players come back to life in Warzone – the cash system and its aforementioned Buy Stations.

Apart from weapons, ammo, and equipment, the map is also strewn with cash that players can collect and use at several Buy Stations around Verdansk. Players will be able to purchase an assortment of items from Buy Stations, including armor plate bundles, munitions boxes, killstreaks, and most importantly, squad buybacks that resurrect your teammates. The Buy Stations makes collecting cash quite crucial to both surviving and gaining an advantage over your enemies.

"Apart from the battle royale mode, Warzone also has a Plunder game mode, which changes some significant things from the typical battle royale formula."

Players can also earn cash via the game’s contracts, which are missions you can find and take around the map. Contracts will either have you hunt a specific player, hold a specific location in the map, or find three select supply crates. While contracts do reward a large chunk of cash, two out of the three mission types are incredibly risky as they mean either intentionally getting into firefights or revealing your location.

As previously mentioned, the developer has also included Killstreaks in Warzone, but they have found a way to somehow balance them in this game mode. Rather than being able to choose Killstreaks and access them when you kill enough enemies in a row, Killstreaks are purchasable items from the Buy Stations and can only be used once. Players are also limited to carrying only one killstreak, so the advantage they provide in Warzone is quite fair and balanced.

Apart from the battle royale mode, Warzone also has a Plunder game mode, which changes some significant things from the typical battle royale formula. First off, respawns are infinite so you’ll be able to jump back into the fight to help your squad after a short respawn time. Secondly, given that you can’t completely wipe out other squads, the victory condition for the game mode is different as well.

Instead of being the last one standing, the squad that has collected and deposited the most cash wins the match. Once a squad has collected $1 million or when the 30-minute mark is reached, the match’s bonus round is triggered which automatically deposits all the money squads have on-hand and starts a two-minute timer, giving squads one last shot at collecting cash to win the game.

"Plunder is an interesting and fun game mode, especially for squads of friends, as the infinite respawns take away much of the pressure of staying alive and you aren’t necessarily forced to look for fights as there are other ways to collect cash."

Just like in the battle royale mode, cash can be collected around the map, from completing contracts, and killing other players. Dying means losing a large chunk of the cash you’re currently carrying. But players can deposit their cash at specific pick-up points in the map or by using a deposit balloon (?). While depositing your cash secures it from death and increases your chances of winning, it also means not having cash on-hand to purchase items during the match to beef up your squad.

While you don’t really have any reason to needlessly hoard cash in battle royale, as you’d usually want to spend it on squad buybacks and such, it becomes more difficult to use in Plunder. The mode forces you to think about and decide when it’s best to use some of your cash to purchase items to help you win without ending up overspending. So, balancing between depositing and holding onto your cash for spending becomes crucial.

Plunder is an interesting and fun game mode, especially for squads of friends, as the infinite respawns take away much of the pressure of staying alive and you aren’t necessarily forced to look for fights as there are other ways to collect cash. Solo players are at an even bigger disadvantage in this game mode though as it becomes increasingly difficult to deposit cash at pick-up points because of campers. You’ll end up having to rely on finding deposit balloons or keeping yourself alive for the entire match to be able to compete effectively as a solo player.

"Call of Duty: Warzone features an undeniably unique and interesting approach to the battle royale genre."

Call of Duty: Warzone features an undeniably unique and interesting approach to the battle royale genre. While it does lack a few features that would cater to more players, such as a solo mode, it definitely has a ton of potential and an already entertaining suite of features from its cash system to the incredibly fun Gulag.

This game was reviewed on PC.

Earth Defense Force: Iron Rain is developed by Japanese developer Yuke’s, which works on the WWE 2K series and previously developed the Pacific Rim video game. It’s the second game in the series that isn’t made by Sandlot, the first being the aforementioned Insect Armageddon, and as such doesn’t use any of the classic EDF assets, but still retains the series’ iconic horde of giant insects such as ants, spiders, and more.

"Iron Rain doesn’t use any of the classic EDF assets, but still retains the series’ iconic horde of giant insects such as ants, spiders, and more."

Iron Rain also sheds away the light and comical tone the series is known for and has replaced it with a more serious plot as well as an actual cast of named characters. This new installment is also the first in the series to introduce a completely customizable main character.

Iron Rain is set in an alternate North America and begins with the EDF (Earth Defense Force) finally fighting back against the alien invaders called the “Aggressors” and their giant flying Hivecraft. The battle culminates with most of the EDF’s forces being decimated by the Hivecraft and the player becoming the lone survivor and hero of the pivotal battle, successfully destroying the Hivecraft with the help of the EDF’s new Type-S PA Gear exosuit.

The game then jumps forward seven years as the player wakes up from his/her coma. Now wielding the last existing Type-S PA Gear, the player, who now goes by the codename Closer, joins Blast Team as they defend against the returning and rapidly growing threat of the Aggressors as well as the appearance of the Kindred Rebellion, a group of anti-EDF renegades that oppose many of the EDF’s policies.

While Iron Rain does present a more substantial plot than its predecessors, many of its elements are still pretty cliche, and most of the plot and character development is presented either through running dialogue within the missions or in between. Regardless, the relatively stronger plot and the addition of actual characters and character development made the experience significantly more engaging and immersive. Each of the characters felt fleshed out enough to be invested in them.

"While Iron Rain does present a more substantial plot than its predecessors, many of its elements are still pretty cliche, and most of the plot and character development is presented either through running dialogue within the missions or in between."

As previously mentioned, Iron Rain still keeps the same wave-based third-person shooter gameplay as its predecessors wherein players are placed in enclosed but large maps and fight off hordes of enemies. The game allows players to switch between the classic center-positioned third-person camera angle and the off-set over-the-shoulder camera angle

Players have access to four different PA Gear types that are unlocked at different points in the campaign including Trooper, Jet Lifter, Heavy Striker, and Prowl Rider. Each of the PA Gear types have their own set of special abilities that use the Energy Core meter. The player can also use the Overdrive ability to use special abilities without consuming energy while also being able to fire and reload weapons faster.

Character loadouts are limited to two weapons and each PA Gear can carry a limited amount of items. Like other EDF titles, Iron Rain features a large variety of weapons across several weapon types for players to unlock. But while many of the weapons are pretty balanced when it comes to their respective strengths and weaknesses, there are a few that feel like they were created just to pad the weapon count in the game.

Players also slowly gain access to a wide assortment of items they can equip and use during missions that range from recovery items and traps to turrets and vehicles. Apart from the weight limit of each PA Gear type, bringing items on missions also include a cost that will be deducted from the earnings after each mission. Unlocking weapons, items, and upgrading the player’s health all cost either money, gems, or both.

"While many of the weapons are pretty balanced when it comes to their respective strengths and weaknesses, there are a few that feel like they were created just to pad the weapon count in the game."

While Iron Rain retains the same ammo mechanic as its predecessors, wherein players have an unlimited pool of ammunition and can keep reloading their weapons indefinitely, there are certain weapons in the game that have an actual limited amount of ammo and cannot be reloaded or replenished within the mission. With the amount of enemies players have to deal with in missions, it’s good that this mechanic was kept intact.

As with previous EDF games, the Aggressors in Iron Rain come in two types: Giant Creatures and Ravagers. The former can range from giant insects to kaiju while the latter are different robotic weapons including mechs and giant spacecraft. The Kindred Rebellion also possess both mechs and giant creatures that are hostile to the player.

Unlike Earth Defense Force 5, which had over 100 missions, the campaign of Iron Rain has been trimmed down to a little over 50 missions. The decision to reduce the number of missions could have been made to help the game’s story progress better, given that this installment has a bigger emphasis on its plot. While some of the missions were definitely tedious and felt like filler, most of them were still engaging and progressed the plot rather well.

Sadly, while many of the gameplay elements were interesting and enjoyable, the game’s controls oftentimes just felt janky and sluggish. Going from sprinting to anything including shooting and even using some of the special abilities at times requires players to let go of the analog stick first, which is a caveat you no longer often see in modern shooters. Vehicle and mount movement was also unresponsive and the implementation felt archaic and tacked on.

"The decision to reduce the number of missions could have been made to help the game’s story progress better, given that this installment has a bigger emphasis on its plot. While some of the missions were definitely tedious and felt like filler, most of them were still engaging and progressed the plot rather well."

Thankfully, the visuals of Iron Rain have improved significantly over its predecessors, even over last year’s Earth Defense Force 5. While it doesn’t come to par with many modern AAA shooters, the series has never really put more importance on the fidelity of its visuals over making sure it ran smoothly in spite of the sheer number of elements presented during each mission. As such, any visual improvements are greatly appreciated and Iron Rain has done a great job balancing its graphical improvements and performance.

Overall, Earth Defense Force: Iron Rain is still a generally enjoyable experience and is taking strides that would be good for the series moving forward. In spite of its issues and its tendency to become tedious and repetitive, the game is riddled with a large number of fun moments. The inclusion of a more thought out plot along with the gameplay improvements its making give it a more engaging experience that could give the game more attention outside of its usual audience.

This game was reviewed on the PlayStation 4.

One Piece: World Seeker is the latest action-adventure game based on the series from publisher Bandai Namco Entertainment and developer Ganbarion. It is the first open-world One Piece game released so far and one that doesn’t just retell the story of the anime/manga. In World Seeker, players once again take on the role of Monkey D. Luffy, the franchise’s main protagonist, as he’s joined by his crew the Straw Hat pirates.

"Setting aside its issues with the source material, the story of World Seeker is still pretty interesting and feels almost like a genuine One Piece filler story. While there are moments when the story needlessly drags on, it does have a lot of great moments."

One Piece World Seeker features an original story and setting made just for the game. Series creator Eiichiro Oda supervised the story of World Seeker and even created two new characters for it. It takes place on Jail Island where Luffy must not only rescue his crewmates but also help the island’s inhabitants resolve a long-growing conflict and prevent another war for ownership and control of the island and its resources.

Apart from the entirety of the Straw Hat crew, World Seeker features quite a large number of recognizable faces from the One Piece universe, including Marines Akainu, Kizaru, Kuma, Tashigi, and Smoker; Sabo of the Revolutionary Army; CP-0’s Rob Lucci; and Ichiji, Niji, and Yonji from the Germa 66. Then there are the previously mentioned two new characters created by Oda for the game – Jeanne and Isaac.

But even while Oda was involved in the creation of the game, several of its elements easily conflict and are inconsistent with the manga’s story. Some of these include the game featuring outfits of the Straw Hat crew from older arcs while also featuring characters introduced in latter arcs of the anime/manga. There’s also the inclusion of Akainu and the expected and massive significance of him and Luffy meeting again that the game just brushes off.

Setting aside its issues with the source material, the story of World Seeker is still pretty interesting and feels almost like a genuine One Piece filler story. While there are moments when the story needlessly drags on, it does have a lot of great moments. The dialogue between Luffy and his crew as well as the game’s other characters are also reminiscent of the anime/manga and the flow of the story is decently enjoyable.

"While the character models are pretty well-executed, they just look out of place in the game’s world. The different locations in the game also look quite bland, generic, and not at all reminiscent of any location in the One Piece universe."

One Piece: World Seeker features cel-shaded character models placed in a traditionally 3D-modelled world as opposed to both being cel-shaded, which poses quite a dilemma for the game. While the character models are pretty well-executed, they just look out of place in the game’s world. The different locations in the game also look quite bland, generic, and not at all reminiscent of any location in the One Piece universe.

The game also doesn’t provide much variety when it comes to enemy character models as it reuses many of the models and only adjusts them slightly to make them look different. While it is expected that a game like World Seeker would end up reusing character models for generic enemies, a larger variety of designs would have been very appreciated. Nonetheless, character animations both in-game and during cutscenes are quite decent.

As previously mentioned, World Seeker is the first game in the series to feature open-world gameplay. Switching to an open-world style, as opposed to the linear style of some previous titles, allows not only the developers but also the players the freedom and opportunity to introduce and experience more of Luffy’s abilities outside of combat. It also allows players to tackle the game’s many challenges and missions differently depending on their playstyle.

Many of the game’s maps allow players to access missions from different angles and some missions let players either go all out and fight or use stealth to take down enemies one by one.

Players also have access to a skill tree that can unlock and upgrade Luffy’s abilities that range from different attacks and defensive moves, boosts to his HP and other stats, to abilities that help him move around and explore the environment.

"While the game’s wide range of abilities make exploration and combat quite interesting and enjoyable, the combat does end up tending to be repetitive and tedious."

The game features several of Luffy’s abilities from the anime/manga and implements them in rather interesting ways. Luffy is able to switch between Observation Haki and Armament Haki modes, each giving him a different moveset and playstyle. Simply put, his Obvervation Haki mode gives him faster, single-target attacks as well as a dodge while Armament Haki equips him with slower, area-of-effect attacks and a block.

Luffy can also build up a Tension bar that can be used to unleash ultimate attacks such as his signature Red Hawk attack, activate Conqueror’s Haki, or transform into his Gear Fourth mode. The different modes and abilities the game gives players access fits its open-world style quite well and makes progressing into the game stay fresh as you unlock more. Lastly, the game also features equipment that can be crafted and equipped to increase Luffy’s attack or defense.

One of the most enjoyable parts of the gameplay is Luffy’s ability to extend his arms to reach out to ledges or trees and pull himself to them, which makes traversing the game’s world much more convenient and provides players access to different ways to travel around the map. The ability can also be upgraded to allow Luffy to slingshot himself into the sky and glide for a short time for even faster traveling.

While the game’s wide range of abilities make exploration and combat quite interesting and enjoyable, the combat does end up tending to be repetitive and tedious. Most of the fights, including some of the boss encounters, are also quite easy, which contributes to their tediousness. Making enemies more difficult and varied while also introducing more unique mechanics in the boss fights would have made combat enjoyable all throughout.

"There’s a lot to enjoy in One Piece: World Seeker, especially for fans of the series. But it’s also mired with the same faults of many other games in its genre."

Apart from the main story, World Seeker also expectedly features a large number of side missions and activities. Side missions can be discovered throughout the game’s world or from Luffy’s companions through its Karma social system. Sadly, the side missions are all rather generic and don’t really offer anything new in terms of gameplay. On the other hand, the side quests offered by Luffy’s companions may unlock additional cutscenes for players to experience.

There’s a lot to enjoy in One Piece: World Seeker, especially for fans of the series. But it’s also mired with the same faults of many other games in its genre. In spite of the One Piece franchise providing so much potential for design and gameplay, World Seeker still feels a lot like another generic anime/manga-based action-adventure game. But those who are able to forgive the tedium of its gameplay could still enjoy it a lot.

This game was reviewed on the PlayStation 4.

The current season, the Season of the Forge, includes several seasonal updates including new weapons, new crucible content, the return of the Iron Banner, the return of the holiday-themed The Dawning event and more. It also saw the release of the Black Armory DLC for annual pass holders, which introduced the three Black Armory Forges, the new Scourge of the Past raid lair, new exotics, new legendaries, and a whole lot more.

"The staggered release schedule for Destiny 2 content not only gives people time to prepare for them, as content like the Forges and the new raid come with either Power Level requirements or recommendations to clear them, but it also gives players something to look forward to throughout the season."

Bungie didn’t release all the content for Season of the Forge all at the same time though. The four Lost Forges were released in stages, with the first two being released only three days from each other while the last two were separated by several weeks. The same goes for the Scourge of the Past raid lair and the new exotic quest The Draw, with the former released back in December 7 while the latter scheduled to release later this month on January 29.

The staggered release schedule for Destiny 2 content not only gives people time to prepare for them, as content like the Forges and the new raid come with either Power Level requirements or recommendations to clear them, but it also gives players something to look forward to throughout the season. The end of the season does look very thin but given the difficulty curve of the Black Armory Forges, the earlier release of the fourth and final Forge might have been for the better.

The Black Armory Forges, namely the Volundr Forge, Gofannon Forge, Izanami Forge, and the still to be unlocked Bergusia Forge. All the Forges have similar Horde-type mechanics wherein players need to kill endlessly spawning enemies in three waves, with the final wave also summoning a boss. To complete the first two waves, players will need to ignite the forge by depositing orbs that drop from blue-glowing enemies. Killing these enemies will also increase the event’s very limited timer.

One of the new and interesting mechanics that the Black Armory and its Forges have introduced are shield drones. The boss of each Forge and the world bosses called Forge Saboteurs that players can kill during the process of unlocking the Volundr and Gofannon Forges are protected by drones that players need to kill to deactivate their shield and damage the boss itself. It’s an interesting new shield-based enemy mechanic that gives players an extra challenge during fights as the drones are rather small and revolve around the boss.

"The Forges aren’t impossibly difficult, especially when played with a coordinated Fireteam, and isn’t entirely a unique experience as it’s just another iteration of the popular Horde mode, much like the Dreaming City’s Blind Well."

When the first two Forges were initially released, the power levels of enemies that players encountered ranged from 615 to 630. But after community feedback, Bungie lowered those numbers by 5, making the Forges more accessible to those who have just reached 600 but a power level of 610 is still the recommended minimum. While increasing one’s power level may be a bit harder from 600-650, the differences between increases start becoming more apparent so even increasing one’s power level by 5 can make running the Forges more manageable.

The Forges aren’t impossibly difficult, especially when played with a coordinated Fireteam, and isn’t entirely a unique experience as it’s just another iteration of the popular Horde mode, much like the Dreaming City’s Blind Well. But like the Blind Well, the Forges are still quite enjoyable and provide a good challenge for players who are grinding their way to the current soft cap of 650. The one major criticism of the new Forges though don’t lie in the events themselves, but rather in the way you gain access to them.

Unlocking the first three Forges requires players to go through a long and incredibly tedious questline that involves killing a whole lot of enemies in different ways, sometimes using only Power weapons. The questlines don’t really provide much substance to the game’s story or lore and feels like a senseless grind just to make it troublesome for players to get into the Forges. Luckily, the fourth and final Forge could possibly be unlocked the same way the Dreaming City content was, wherein once the event is unlocked by one player, it’s unlocked for all.

For those who are tired of grinding the Forges though, the Black Armory DLC also includes the aforementioned Scourge of the Past raid. While this new raid isn’t as long and complex as the Last Wish, it is definitely much more enjoyable. Rather than providing a difficult challenge, it gives players a chance to simply enjoy the content with their Fireteam, with the raid featuring quite a number of pop culture references not only in its environment but also in its encounters. The raid only lasts about two hours but it’s definitely the most fun piece of content of the current season so far.

"The Season of the Forge and its Black Armory DLC are a weird mix of good and bad ideas."

Overall, the Season of the Forge and its Black Armory DLC are a weird mix of good and bad ideas. The Forges themselves are interesting to run, the raid is short but sweet, and the new exotics are great. On the other hand, the Forge questline is unnecessarily tediousness and, in spite of how fun it is, many might have hoped for a longer, more challenging raid experience. Additionally, the Black Armory didn’t exactly launch well, with Bungie having to change things, such as the difficulty of the Forges, as feedback started to come in.

This game was reviewed on the PlayStation 4.

If you’ve never heard of Subnautica before, it isn’t exactly a new game. Just like many of the titles in its genre, Subnautica was first available as an early access title on PC back in 2014. The early access was also made available on Mac OS X and Xbox One in the couple of years after that. It then came out of early access for the PC back in January of this year before also fully releasing on the Xbox One and PlayStation 4 this month.

Subnautica differentiates itself from the other games in the genre by not only setting the entire experience in water but also giving the game an actual plot for players to follow. New players start off the game in the middle evacuating a giant starship via one of its drop pods, both of which proceed to crash into an ocean planet. Players must then figure out how to survive this water world while also finding a way to get off it.

The giant starship the player originally started out in lies in ruins a few hundred meters away from the player’s drop pod, providing a clear goal for exploration. Subnautica does a great job at telling its main story without forcing the player to follow it exclusively. The game mostly leaves players to their own devices and allows them to play and progress at their own pace, striking a good balance between its story and its open-world.

"As for building habitats, players utilize the Habitat Builder, a sort of handheld version of the replicator but for building structures."

The game doesn’t make it easy for players to get started though as it provides very little guidance on what to do and how to do it, leaving you to discover most of it yourself. It might take awhile but once players get the hang of the game’s mechanics, the experience starts flowing more smoothly as players discover and realize their objectives and start moving towards achieving them.

Players will need to watch out for several things to survive their watery prison including thirst, hunger, health, and oxygen, among others. Emptying out on either hunger or thirst will start depleting health, which in turn will lead to death once it runs out. The most pressing of the four though is oxygen as players will be spending most of their time underwater and running out of oxygen far below the surface will instantly lead to death.

The core of Subnautica’s experience is in its exploration and crafting and how both of those mutually expand as the player progresses through the game. With oxygen dictating just how long a player can stay underwater to explore, being able to craft better oxygen sources such as bigger air tanks allows players to explore further into the ocean. And being able to explore further in turn allows players to obtain new resources for crafting better tools and/or equipment.

Apart from the main game mode called Survival, Subnautica also offers three others to give players a variety of experiences. Freedom removes both hunger and thirst, Hardcode is the same as Survival but players will only have one life, and a Creative mode that basically lets players play around with the game’s building and crafting system without hindrances by removing the game’s survival and story elements.

The crafting system in Subnautica is pretty par for the course for a game in its genre and consists of combining several resources to create tools, equipment, and more. While this type of crafting system usually requires a bit of suspension of disbelief as the end product is oftentimes far removed from the resources used to build it, Subnautica makes up for it by utilizing a Star Trek-inspired replicator, which helps to maintain the game’s immersion.

As for building habitats, players utilize the Habitat Builder, a sort of handheld version of the replicator but for building structures. There’s a whole multitude of ways players can build and customize their ocean homes, including building a variety of power generators to keep everything running, rooms for storing all your resources, or even your own aquarium. It provides a nice respite from exploring the depths of the ocean for resources.

Collecting resources for crafting in Subnautica involves a whole lot of discovery, or searching the Wiki, as the game gives very little to no clues as to exactly where you find specific resources. Oftentimes you’re simply swimming up to every thing that isn’t water or sand to see if it’s something you can either simply pick up with a press of a button or something you can harvest using your knife.

"Subnautica is probably one of the most visually stunning yet absolutely terrifying takes on the open-world survival genre."

The visuals of Subnautica range from bright and colorful to dark and ominous, giving its ocean world a whole lot of life. The ocean’s plants, creatures, and other living and non-living inhabitants are all striking in many different ways with both familiar and alien features, making them easier to spot and be weary off. The game is a visual treat for those who have always been fascinated by the diversity of aquatic life, even if this time it’s all alien.

Coupling the game’s visuals is the amazing sound design that makes the game truly terrifying. The horror of not knowing what and where sounds are coming from oftentimes makes drifting around in the deeper depths of the ocean a heart-racing experience. Even when you feel a bit safer in your submarine, not fully knowing what else is swimming in the ocean’s dark depths around you is unnerving.

Subnautica is probably one of the most visually stunning yet absolutely terrifying takes on the open-world survival genre. Its survival and exploration elements coupled with its robust crafting system as well as an actual plot makes for a refreshing and enjoyable experience that even those who have tried to stay away from the genre might actually enjoy. As long as they’re not too afraid of the water.

This game was reviewed on the PlayStation 4.

While Rondo of Blood and Symphony of the Night were originally released in 1993 and 1997, respectively, although the former was a Japan-only release, the versions of the two games in Requiem are based on The Dracula x Chronicles compilation for the PSP. This means that fans of the original Symphony of the Night may find themselves disappointed as the original script and voice acting were replaced for The Dracula x Chronicles, which took away some of the iconic lines from the 1997 release. Another caveat is that while The Dracula X Chronicles featured two versions of Rondo of Blood, the original and a 2.5D remake of the game, Requiem only features the former, albeit with new scripts and voice acting as well.

"Castlevania Requiem does bring some improvements and new features to both games including expected trophy support, customizable controls, a weird quick save feature, and the ability to switch between Japanese or English audio."

As previously mentioned, Rondo of Blood wasn’t initially released outside of Japan, making it the less popular of the two titles. Regardless, it’s still definitely worth playing for those who have already finished Symphony of the Night and those who are just getting into the two games or even the franchise itself. It’s about an hour long and is one of the last of the “classic” Castlevania games, which features a traditional linear format. Players take on the role of Richter Belmont or Maria Renard (once unlocked) and go through Castlevania on a quest to defeat Dracula and his horde of demons. It must be noted though that those unfamiliar with Rondo of Blood might find it difficult as the game relentlessly throws challenges at you.

In spite being a sequel to Rondo of Blood, Symphony of the Night was the game that ultimately became the franchise’s most popular and one of the reasons why the term Metroidvania exists. It took the core gameplay of Rondo of Blood and infused it with non-linear level design, exploration, and role-playing game elements, something that wasn’t really common at the time. Playing as Dracula’s son, Alucard, players get to level him up to improve his stats as well as equip him with  weapons and items, giving the game a satisfying character progression outside of the story. In spite the loss of the original script and voice acting, Symphony of the Night is still as enjoyable as it was when it was initially released.

Castlevania Requiem does bring some improvements and new features to both games including expected trophy support, customizable controls, a weird quick save feature, and the ability to switch between Japanese or English audio. The video resolution has also been bumped up to support up to 4K and players will be able to choose between “normal” aspect ratio and fullscreen modes, with the former having an accompanying assortment of backgrounds to fill up the would-be black vertical spaces. There’s also options to simulate scanlines, activate a smoothing filter, and an interlaced mode.

In spite of the graphical improvements that the new features introduce, both games have really begun to show their age, most especially Rondo of Blood, which reveals  just how much Konami could have done to make this release much more than it is. A visual overhaul, the choice to switch between the classic and revamped script and voice acting, and more quality of life improvements would have put this release on par with some of the recent notable classic collections of the past couple of years.

"Castlevania Requiem really feels like a missed opportunity by Konami to create a PS4 release of both games that would not only introduce them to newcomers but also give long-time fans something significantly new to experience."

While both games are still undeniably enjoyable, the package just feels like a basic port or re-release for the sole purpose of tying in with the aforementioned Castlevania animated series, especially when considering that the last Castlevania game was released four years ago.

In conclusion, Castlevania Requiem really feels like a missed opportunity by Konami to create a PS4 release of both games that would not only introduce them to newcomers but also give long-time fans something significantly new to experience. And while both games are still as enjoyable as they were when they were first released, there’s just so much more they could have done with these ports. Nonetheless, those who’ve never played either or both titles should definitely consider picking this up while those who have already finished both may find themselves disappointed to find that not many things have changed with this release, unless they really just want to play either or both games on the PS4.

This game was reviewed on the PlayStation 4.

As the title clearly implies, DC Super-Villains turns the series on its head and has players take the side of DC’s roster of super villains. While the popular Justice League does make an appearance at the start of the game, they quickly disappear and are replaced by a group of look-alikes from Earth-3 calling themselves the Justice Syndicate. It’s up to the villains to find out what really happened to the Justice League and what this shady new group of heroes are actually up to, as the villains can’t really conquer the world with them in the way. It’s an interesting and fun story that turns the villains into the pseudo heroes without really stripping away what makes them villains in the first place.

"Even with villains as its main cast though, DC Super-Villains doesn’t really become dark at any point and remains “kid-friendly” all throughout."

Iconic villains such as The Joker, Lex Luthor, and Catwoman are expectedly present as well as many other notable bad guys including Harley Quinn, Metallo, The Riddler, Clayface, Scarecrow, and more. Even lesser known villains such as Cheetah, Granny Goodness, Mercy Graves, and Solomon Grundy are playable. With a playable cast of over 160, DC Super-Villains definitely doesn’t hold back in the character department. Each playable villain is equipped with their own unique quirks, abilities, and weapons that players can use to get through the game’s myriad of stages and puzzles.

DC Super-Villains features quite an all-star cast of voice actors. Kevin Conroy, Mark Hamill, and Tara Strong reprise their iconic roles as Batman, The Joker, and Harley Quinn respectively from the Batman: The Animated Series, respectively. Michael Ironside from Superman: The Animated Series and Justice League Unlimited fame returns to his role as Darkseid. Other notable stars in the cast include Roger Craig Smith (Assassin’s Creed), John Barrowman (Arrow), and Brandon Routh (Superman/Legends of Tomorrow). The phenomenal performance of the voice cast just gives the game another layer of authenticity and fan service that players can enjoy.

Even with villains as its main cast though, DC Super-Villains doesn’t really become dark at any point and remains “kid-friendly” all throughout. The stories and motivations of many of the villains featured in the game have been toned down and a lot of what would be expected to be mature content has been replaced by comedy and silliness. While there is some mischief and a bit of chaos, it’s all presented in the lightheartedness that’s expected of a LEGO game. The game is able to package its villains and the game’s story in a way that doesn’t feel too deep or complex yet is still able to sell the idea of playing with villains as the stars instead of the usual heroes.

"The character selection screen now allows you to filter characters by special ability so switching through characters is a lot easier in this installment."

Character creation is back in a big way in DC Super-Villains. In a first for the series, your player created character is now at the core of the game’s story and is no longer limited to Free Play mode. There’s a lot of ways players can customize their character, from changing many parts of their appearance to their weapons and super powers. Players can even customize the way some super power effects look, such as changing the color of your lightning bolts and choosing whether you fire them from your hands, eyes, chest, or even your weapons, and even more customization options, abilities, and weapons open up as players progress in the game.

Players will still be able to switch to any of the game’s myriad of characters by either pressing a button or holding said button down to open the selection screen and switch to any of the characters you currently have at your disposal. The character selection screen now allows you to filter characters by special ability so switching through characters is a lot easier in this installment. While the game lets you play as any character of your choosing without hindrance for the most part, certain puzzles in the game can be solved only by specific characters.

Although, much like previous entries in the series, the puzzles in DC Super-Villains aren’t all that difficult to figure out or accomplish. While some are quite creative and require a bit of thinking, most of them are pretty straightforward in their design and easy enough to solve. The game also gives a lot of hints to help solve the puzzles, which keeps them accessible to the game’s younger players. Character-specific puzzles are also now marked by their portraits, which saves you the time of figuring out who among the game’s dozens of characters you need to use to find a solution.

"LEGO DC Super-Villains is definitely a fun and entertaining experience for both long-time fans of the series and even those new to the series may find it enjoyable in spite of its simpler mechanics."

Combat in DC Super-Villains is simple and straightforward as always, without much complexity or depth in it, something that’s expected with a game that’s primarily targeted towards a younger audience. The characters are still limited to three attacks – a basic melee attack, a special attack, and a ranged attack, although each character’s set of abilities are fairly unique to them. The enemy AI has seen a few improvements but ultimately doesn’t pose much of a challenge, with many of the game’s combat sequences being easily clearable just by mashing the attack button.

The game’s open world allows players to explore and take on missions that lead them to several locations in the DC universe including Gotham City, Metropolis, Smallville, and more. Even several iconic places such as the Hall of Doom, S.T.A.R. Labs, the Daily Planet, Arkham Asylum, and more are available for exploration. The maps and levels aren’t particularly huge and feel more like districts than entire cities but there’s still a lot to experience in the game’s many locations including several puzzles and side missions. The game does punish you somewhat whenever you get into any mischief in the game’s maps by sending the police after you but they don’t really pose much of a problem.

LEGO DC Super-Villains doesn’t stray too far from the formula that made the previous games in the franchise so popular but adds enough to make it one of the best in the series. Making the player-created character the center of the story is a big deviation from the series’ norm but the developers have made it work well-enough in this installment that we might see more of it in the future. The quality-of-life improvements, such as the new character selector filter and the portraits for the character-specific puzzles, also make the game much more accessible and removes some of the inconveniences the previous titles posed. LEGO DC Super-Villains is definitely a fun and entertaining experience for both long-time fans of the series and even those new to the series may find it enjoyable in spite of its simpler mechanics.

This game was reviewed on the PlayStation 4.

The release of Destiny 2 last year shared a similar story. The game was lauded for improving some of its predecessor’s shortcomings, providing a more coherent and compelling narrative as well as adding several quality-of-life improvements, while also being criticised for taking away some of the aspects that made the original so great, such as the removal of random rolls and the change to a more restrictive weapon system. Destiny 2 also faced an issue that its predecessor didn’t, the lack of a proper end-game. There really wasn’t any reason to keep playing once they cleared all the available content. And just like its predecessor, the first two expansions of Destiny 2 didn’t do much to improve the issues it was facing.

"Two of the most interesting are the fights with the Rider, which somewhat forces the player to fight with a Pike, and the Trickster, which leaves players guessing which ammo drops are actually traps left by the Baron."

A year later, just like The Taken King with the original Destiny, Forsaken is promised to finally fix many of the issues that have plagued Destiny 2 since its launch. And while I can say that it succeeds at accomplishing that, it also gives players so much more.

Starting the Forsaken expansion proper thrusts players into the middle of a jailbreak at the Prison of Elders, a place players of Destiny’s House of Wolves expansion will remember, where fan-favorite character Cayde-6 meets his untimely demise at the hands Uldren Sov, the expansion’s primary antagonist, and his thrall of Scorn, the new group of enemies players will be facing in Forsaken. The Scorn, a group of mutated Fallen, are led by a group of eight Barons that have allied themselves with Uldren. Cayde-6’s death divides the remaining Vanguard on whether they should pursuit Sov and his Scorn are allow their comrades death to go unanswered. Ultimately, the player takes on the quest for justice (or revenge) without the direct involvement of the Vanguard.

The rest of the campaign sees the player venture into the Tangled Shore, one of the new areas introduced with Forsaken, to hunt down each of the Barons and eventually Sov himself. The campaign introduces new characters like Fallen crime syndicate boss Spider and the return of familiar faces like Petra Venj, both of which will provide the bulk of the missions for the Forsaken campaign. While most of the main missions in Forsaken, including the hunt for the Barons and Sov, are held in the Tangled Shore, some of them lead the players back to previous areas such as the EDZ and Io. Players will also have the option to choose which missions they want to take that will lead to the Barons themselves and even have the choice of which order they want to take down the Barons, with the exception of their leader, The Fanatic, who the player faces last before taking on Uldren Sov, giving the expansion a less strict linearity without sacrificing its narrative.

While players may mostly choose which Barons they want to take down first, each has a recommended Power Level listed but these aren’t strict guidelines and players will be able to defeat them even with lesser gear, with some effort. Each of the Barons have unique and interesting characteristics and mechanics that players have to overcome and I found that some weapons work better than others for some of them. Two of the most interesting are the fights with the Rider, which somewhat forces the player to fight with a Pike, and the Trickster, which leaves players guessing which ammo drops are actually traps left by the Baron. None of the Barons are impossibly difficult but they each provide a distinct and enjoyable challenge for players to experience.

"The release of Forsaken coincided with the return of many of the issues players were facing during the game’s initial launch, namely its strict weapon system and its lack of a compelling end-game."

The campaign of Forsaken is one of the game’s best so far, with its engaging and compelling narrative. The death of Cayde-6, something fans have known since it was revealed in the expansion’s story trailer back in E3, gives the player a stronger and more personal motivation to pursue the story much more than the usual “save the galaxy” arc. And while the revelations at the end of the campaign does bring the narrative back to something of universal importance, it only serves as a transition and backdrop to the other new area the expansion brings into the fold, which acts as its new end-game – the Dreaming City – which is set to solve the game’s lack of a proper end-game.

The Dreaming City not only plays host to Forsaken’s new raid, The Last Wish, but it also provides a whole new end-game area for players to explore. The Dreaming City features new enemies to fight, places to discover, quests to complete, events to participate in, Strikes to accomplish, and whole lot more. The new area is constantly changing as times goes by and players discover and clear more of its content. After The Last Wish raid was cleared for the first time, a new set of content was unlocked for everyone in the Dreaming City. The introduction of this constantly evolving end-game area gives players something to keep coming back to and be part of as more and more content is expected to be unlocked as times goes on.

The release of Forsaken coincided with the return of many of the issues players were facing during the game’s initial launch, namely its strict weapon system and its lack of a compelling end-game. With the release of Forsaken, Bungie also introduced a new patch (available for all players) that revamped the weapon system into something that may well be the best version the franchise has seen yet. And while the new system may feel a bit confusing at first, especially for those who have gotten used to its previous iterations in both Destiny 2 and the original Destiny, it ultimately allows players a wider range of variety and flexibility that leads to a more engaging and exciting end-game.

The old weapon system introduced when Destiny 2 first launched that involved two primary weapons (kinetic/energy) and one power weapon limited loadouts drastically compared to how they were in the first game. It put many of the special weapons like shotguns, sniper rifles, and fusions rifles in the same slot as rocket launchers and grenade launchers so players could no longer wield both a shotgun and a rocket launcher. The new system keeps the same damage type slots (kinetic, energy, power) and ammo types but weapon types are no longer completely exclusive to certain damage types or weapon slots, allowing players to create some interesting mixes of weapons depending on their playstyle.

"Getting to the end-game of Forsaken isn’t so difficult as well. Progression in Forsaken isn’t as grindy as one would expected, at least until the player reaches power level 500, the game’s current soft cap."

Weapons considered as special, like shotguns and sniper rifles, can now also be used in the kinetic or power slot, provided that their damage type coincides with it. The same goes for the energy and power weapon slots, so players can potentially equip three shotguns or three sniper rifles if that’s what they want. There’s still some understandable limitations to the new system, which is mostly dependent on the roster of weapons currently available in the game. I’ve yet to come across a hand cannon that does Power damage, making it equippable in the Power slot. But it does allow Bungie to introduce some unique weapons, such as the just mentioned Power hand cannon, later on.

The drawback with the new system though is that weapon types still use their corresponding ammo types. Shotguns and sniper rifles still use special ammo (green), hand cannons and scout rifles still use primary ammo (white), and rocket launchers still use heavy ammo (purple). So if you do decide to equip three shotguns, you’ll be stuck using the same type of ammo for all of them, which drastically limits the ammo at your disposal and leaving the other ammo types unused. This provides a somewhat soft restriction to the new weapon system as it encourages players to find optimal loadouts that make use of all the ammo types.

The other significant feature the release of Forsaken brought back into the game is random item rolls. When Destiny 2 was first launched, it stripped away the random perk rolls that were present in the original game, and introduced weapons with static perks. This meant that getting a duplicate loot drop was meaningless and took away a feature that was significant to the game’s replayability. In Forsaken, random perk rolls have returned and once again gives players incentive to keep playing to hunt for that perfect roll, helping the game provide a better end-game experience than it previously had.

Getting to the end-game of Forsaken isn’t so difficult as well. Progression in Forsaken isn’t as grindy as one would expected, at least until the player reaches power level 500, the game’s current soft cap. I was able to steadily increase my power level just by going through the campaign and doing the occasional event, which provided a constant stream of better equipment. Apart from going through the quest line that unlocked the new Super and its accompanying abilities, there wasn’t much additional grinding need to keep up with gear nor experience until I reached power level 500.

"The release of Forsaken and its accompanying changes has finally brought Destiny 2 into a place that players, old and new as well as hardcore and casual, will be able to easily enjoy."

Once players reach the end-game, there’s no shortage of content for players to tackle to reach the new power level cap of 600. There are now new weekly and daily bounties along with the aforementioned new activities unlocked in the Dreaming City. While grinding isn’t for everyone, the grind provided by Forsaken’s end-game is what was crucially missing from Destiny 2’s initial release. The new activities partnered with the new weapon system and random perk rolls have given the game the proper and enjoyable end-game that dedicated and even casual players would keep coming back to.

Progressing into and throughout the end-game isn’t the easiest of tasks though. All the enemies in the Dreaming City are above power level 500 and players who have just entered the area will find themselves initially struggling to keep up and survive. But with all the content the new area has to offer, players will also find themselves steadily overcoming the difficulty curve of the Dreaming City.

It’s pretty safe to say that Forsaken is to Destiny 2 as The Taken King was to the original Destiny. The release of Forsaken and its accompanying changes has finally brought Destiny 2 into a place that players, old and new as well as hardcore and casual, will be able to easily enjoy.

This game was reviewed on the PlayStation 4.