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I was worried when I first saw Mega Man 11. Mega Man series lead Keiji Inafune had left Capcom in 2010, going on to make his own Mega Man clone. The new art style initially turned me off as well, as it was not as immediately appealing as the 80s-inspired throwbacks seen in Mega Man 9 and 10. But Mega Man 11 won me over with its delightfully amped-up difficulty and cool time-stopping ability that makes its challenges (barely) possible. The moments I had to take in the scenery were few, but Mega Man 11 taught me that feeling like Mega Man is more important than looking like Mega Man. Share Autoplay setting: On Watch a full stage of Mega Man 11 above. Unlike recent groundbreaking reboots of Mega Man’s NES contemporaries like The Legend of Zelda and Super Mario Bros., Mega Man 11 only slightly modernizes series staples (shooting, jumping, boss fights) without adding much depth. Don’t expect many surprises: Just like we’ve done 10 times before, you beat the bosses, work your way through Wily’s castle, and then it’s over. I suppose that makes Mega Man 11 conform to a series where spinoffs added the most variety -- like Mega Man X’s exploration elements, which I really did miss in Mega Man 11’s linear, secret-free levels. But I highly enjoyed the one major gameplay innovation, the “Double Gear” system (I can only hear David Hayter’s Solid Snake say this), and it left me wanting more. Double Gear, Huh? The NES controller had just two buttons, and in Mega Man 1-6 they corresponded to “jump” and “shoot.” Mega Man 11 has more buttons than it knows what to do with, but the Double Gear system employs two of them – the left and right shoulder buttons, specifically – to add a new element to each of Mega Man’s basic functions. With the Power Gear you can overcharge your weapons for alternate attacks and more firepower, though it costs so much weapon energy that I barely used it, but with the essential Speed Gear you can slow down time to dodge bullets, carefully land jumps, and catch your breath. That makes the Double Gear system a fundamental change to the way Mega Man 11’s levels are designed. Giving us the power to slow time seems to have freed up the developers to add many more enemies, disappearing platforms, and trenches of spikes to navigate, lengthening levels significantly. These are the longest, most brutal levels yet in Mega Man, and I welcomed the challenge. Don’t be too afraid, however: While tough stretches in previous Mega Man games forced you to learn patterns and hone your skills, in Mega Man 11 you can stock up on powerups to take the edge off. For every challenge, there’s a consumable item to snatch you out of a pit, refill your energy, or protect you from spikes. You just have to grind a bit to collect bolts and purchase your way to success. Of course, grinding is not fun, so it’s only when I got really annoyed with replaying a lengthy level that I went shopping. switch-megaman11-screen-5-bounce-weapon-1536971345133 This time, Mega Man doesn't just change color, but also gets a custom helmet for each new weapon acquired. While those of you playing post-release will have the advantage of being able to Google up a boss-weakness guide for Mega Man 11 (because I wrote it for you), figuring out the boss order was definitely the biggest overall challenge in this universally tough game and I recommend that you at least attempt it on your own. Again, the marathon-length levels can make this a slog if you don’t end up having the right weapon, and unclear checkpoints mean you’ll have to repeat large sections if you slip up. While some tough, modern games like Super Meat Boy and Celeste let you respawn instantly, Dr. Light has yet to perfect that technology, so you’ll be hiking back through long portions of difficult levels. Personally, I like that: Failing in a video game should have consequences. Dark Souls players get it. Let’s Talk Bosses The traditional Mega Man boss design is another knock against the Power Gear as a useful ability. Because bosses already have vulnerabilities to certain weapons, there’s no point in amping up the weapons that already easily cut them down, and increasing the damage of weapons that barely do any is like upgrading your Nerf gun to Super Soaker. However, I found two pretty cool uses for the Power Gear. One is that Tundra Man’s T. Storm can be amplified to wipe out all enemies on screen like a more efficient Infinite Gauntlet. People watching me play in the office got a kick out of me hitting what amounted to the “nuke’em from orbit” button when frustration set in. The second is Impact Man’s P. Driver ability, which is a mid-air dash attack which is more useful for getting around because its charged form lets you zoom across the whole screen. See ya, disappearing block puzzle! The bosses themselves are largely familiar, and that was disappointing. You may be surprised to learn that there hasn’t been a Torch Man before, because he is a clone of Fire Man, Heat Man, Flame Man etc. (However, his level, which is loosely summer camp-themed, is pretty cute.) Fuse Man, Tundra Man, and Blast Man all filled familiar Mega Man niches. I did like Acid Man, whose level featured PH balance (!) challenges as water went from neutral to acidic. Conversely, Bounce Man’s level is a total disaster as it uses some shaky physics to bounce Mega Man around deadly balloon-filled gauntlets, robbing you of control. Finally, Block Man is just the best: His Egyptian-like palace is filled with hieroglyphs of him triumphing over Mega Man. Like previous Mega Man games, the weapons are varied but not all are useful. My favorites were Bounce Man’s B. Ball, a versatile weapon you can easily aim at enemies (similar to Metal Man’s Metal Blade in Mega Man 2); Block Man’s B. Dropper to rain heavy objects down on out-of-reach enemies; and the aforementioned P. Driver for skipping puzzle areas entirely. On the other side, Fuse Man’s S. Thunder is a charge that climbs walls and has few uses, and Blast Man’s C. Blast is a slow moving, remotely-detonated bomb that is way too slow to use in any context in a fast-moving game like Mega Man 11. Powered Up Historically speaking, Mega Man games that moved away from the squat, pixelated, grimacing Mega Man art style have had mixed results. While I never fully warmed up to Mega Man 11’s cutesy, highly-detailed graphical style, the new look didn’t interfere with the classic feel of Mega Man as it did in Mega Man 7, a beautiful, but slow and clunky game. There are some fantastic robot designs, like massive skull-faced pillars that shoot lasers from their mouths, a wooly mammoth on a hoverboard, and an ostrich that’s on fire. These recall the art of early Mega Man games while filling out contemporary 16:9 wide screens (a series first!), dwarfing Mega Man. It’s a great effect to make me feel nimble as I’m sliding around with time at a standstill to avoid giant, crazed bots. “ I guess after 10 games in 31 years he really has become a Man. While I can overlook and even grudgingly appreciate the graphics, it’s the sound that is Mega Man 11’s biggest oversight. For a series so famous for its tunes, the sedate, repetitive, techno background is a real letdown: Why not just use cool, retro-sounding chiptunes like the rest of the games if you don’t have any strong new musical ideas? Mega Man 11 also has some terrifically bad voice acting, which I actually got a kick out of -- but eventually, the repetitive callouts (Speed Gear!) got on my coworkers’ nerves, prompting them to politely ask me to turn it down. You can choose to view subtitles and hear what few dialogue lines there are in Japanese, but if you did that you’d be missing out on Mega Man’s new, rich baritone -- only in English! I guess after 10 games in 31 years he really has become a Man. What About Switch and Amiibo? Though it’s also on PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and PC, I felt compelled to first play Mega Man 11 on a Nintendo system, where the majority of the Mega Man games have lived. Here’s what you need to know about playing Mega Man 11 on Nintendo Switch: Unfortunately, there’s a small, but significant flaw in that the Y and B buttons on the right Joy-Con are too near the right thumbstick, and the classic Mega Man players’ pattern of shooting and jumping simultaneously can result in some accidental hits of the right thumbstick, which by default changes your weapons (you can turn this stick function off). Additionally, not having a D-pad on the left Joy-Con stinks. I also experienced some incorrect button signals getting to the television when playing in docked mode. Thankfully, all of this can be circumvented by using the Pro Controller (if you have one). There is one significant advantage to playing on Switch, however: You can totally cheat with amiibo! Scanning an amiibo while Mega Man 11 is paused instantly fills your health or weapon bars, or it might even give you a 1-Up, but it’s limited in that you can only scan a single amiibo once a day, and bonuses max out at 20 per day. (You can change your clock to get around this.) In a brutally hard game, this is a pretty fun (though potentially expensive) way to bend the rules. What Else? balloon-attack-mode-1530636012464 In this bonus time-based mode you must avoid red baloons and destroy blue balloons I beat Mega Man 11 on Normal in about eight hours. I’m no speed runner, but Mega Man 11 provides a lot of options for Mega Masochists looking for timed challenges, including remixes of levels with leaderboards, most of which unlock when you beat the campaign for the first time: Jump Saver challenges you not to jump, Buster Breakdown challenges you not to shoot, and Balloon Rush adds balloons that you have to destroy or avoid based on their color. I had spent enough time with Mega Man 8’s levels by this point so I didn’t have much drive to put up my times. The best bonus mode, though, is the mysterious Dr. Light’s Trial, which is an ultra-hard, one-life-only set of unique levels similar to Breath of the Wild’s Trial of the Sword DLC -- and even better, it unlocks another mystery trial mode (whose trial could that be?). Finally, you can pump up the difficulty to Superhero and play through the campaign again, if you dare. The Verdict Mega Man 11 sticks so close to the established formula that it wouldn’t have made much of a splash if it had come out in 2008, or 1998. In fact, it has more in common with 1996’s Mega Man 8 than any other game in the series, and feels like a direct sequel to it. I found Mega Man 11 amusingly difficult even with the help of the time-slowing Double Gear system and there are some cool robot moments, but in a series with such great highs (Mega Man 2, 3, 9,10, specifically) and lows (Mega Man 7), it’s pretty average. The robot bosses are mostly bland and familiar (with the exception of the very silly Block Man – I love that guy), and their imparted weapons are a hit-and-miss collection. But Mega Man plays like he should even with the cutesy but tolerable art style, and that’s good because the challenge is cranked up to 11 and getting through these levels takes old-school precision and patience. Mega Man 11 is a good foundation for the next 10 Mega Man games.

Dark Souls Remastered has, after a lengthy delay, finally arrived on Nintendo Switch. While this is really a technical and graphical polishing of the original – there’s no major new gameplay content – the Switch’s handheld mode adds an absorbing new dimension to what is, for me at least, a very familiar experience. But it also did something I wasn’t expecting: it made the return to Lordran feel oddly new. If you don’t know much about Dark Souls, here’s what IGN said when it first came to consoles... “...if you're interested in the limits of the video game form – to see just how focused, how pure and how uncompromising in its vision a game can be – Dark Souls is unmissable. If you take the time get into Dark Souls' mindset, to begin to understand the twisted way in which it operates and taste the rewards behind its cruellest challenges, this is one of the most thrilling, most fascinating and most completely absorbing experiences in gaming.” – Keza MacDonald And all of that still holds true. Dark Souls remains one of the most demanding yet rewarding action RPGs ever made, set across an intricately designed world that yields its secrets only to the most intrepid and curious. Share Autoplay setting: On One criticism that can be fairly levelled at the original is its shocking performance in certain areas. Blighttown – already a hostile environment for any player – was plagued by crippling frame rate issues that made navigating its gauntlet of dung pies and toxic darts even harder. Thankfully those problems have been ironed out in the Remastered edition. I reached the end of the game, regularly switching between docked and handheld mode, and never encountered anything that diminished my experience. The Switch version supports up to 1080p in TV mode (dynamically switching resolution depending on the action), which is an improvement on the original, and locked 720p in handheld mode. Both run at a fairly steady 30fps. While this is technically inferior to the 60fps, 4K experience available on PS4, Xbox One, and PC, it’s still such a refreshing upgrade from the original that it really didn’t affect my enjoyment whatsoever. While it doesn’t have all of the texture improvements you can find on those other platforms – bonfires don't burn as realistically, chugging estus has a less showy visual flourish – it only really suffers in a direct side-by-side comparison, and wasn’t something that detracted from my experience, especially in handheld mode. It’s important to remember this is a ‘remastering’ of the 2011 original, not a remake – these minor graphical improvements mostly to polish the original rather than pave over it, which is still a welcome improvement. Share Autoplay setting: On Dark Souls Remastered includes the exceptional Artorias of the Abyss expansion, but outside of that, there are no major changes to the core experience. There are a handful of quality-of-life improvements that address some very small, dated issues from the original. You can now easily consume multiple items at once, making it much less laborious if you want to buy something with collected souls or deepen your allegiance to a covenant. Incidentally, it’s possible to switch covenants at any bonfire. (Previously you would have to pay a visit to the covenant leader, which could involve a lengthy trek.) It's yet another small change but one that makes exploring Dark Souls’ oblique multiplayer aspects just that much easier. These are minor amendments to the original, changes made with seven year’s worth of hindsight that longtime players will feel more keenly than newcomers, but they’re welcome nevertheless. The option to play Dark Souls in handheld mode is the best thing about the Switch version. When it was first announced for the platform, the idea of confronting Ornstein and Smough on public transport sounded farcical, but in practice, Dark Souls feels oddly suited to a portable device. I found myself using commutes to get to the next bonfire, do one more boss run, or mindlessly grind souls to buy upgrade materials. If you’re familiar with the structure of Dark Souls and its world, it’s easy to give yourself errands to do which suit the pick-up-and-put-down nature of a portable console. (That said, occasionally you will get engrossed in odd places. I sat on the Southbound platform of the Northern Line for 40 minutes until I beat Artorias.) Initially I thought it would be a nice option to have, but it quickly became my preferred way to play on Switch, giving me a fresh new way to experience a familiar adventure. Watch Blighttown gameplay from the Nintendo Switch version in the video below: Share Autoplay setting: On The surprisingly interconnected world of Lordran looks lovely on the Switch’s smaller screen, despite its lower resolution. One slight grievance is that I had to frequently adjust the brightness setting when switching between TV and handheld modes, and there’s bizarrely no option on the Switch to downsize Dark Souls’ jumbo-sized HUD, which is available on other versions of the Remastered edition. But both are minor gripes against what is otherwise a fantastic port.

Almost nothing moves on the Obra Dinn, but it’s still one of the most lively video game boats I’ve been on. Its crew may be long gone, but that doesn’t stop them from having interesting voices and complex stories to tell -- most of which involve horrific deaths. I’ve never played a game quite like Return of the Obra Dinn, but now that I have, all I want is more. This investigative story skillfully straddles the line between an adventure game, a puzzle game, and a gruesome, supernatural, Moby Dick-themed version of Guess Who. At its core, it's a detective game, but you’re not out on a mission for justice or vengeance. You’re just an insurance evaluator whose job it is to assess the long-since-done damage of a merchant ship called the Obra Dinn, which has mysteriously reappeared after four years lost at sea. Share Autoplay setting: On Thankfully, that job is made a lot easier by a pocket watch that lets you view the exact moment somebody died, frozen in time. When you find a corpse aboard the ship, you can enter its memory and hear what that person heard for a few seconds before their death. Then there’s usually a bang or a crunch (or just one final exhale) and the grizzly moment of their doom snaps into view for you to explore and -- ideally -- piece together exactly what happened. “ Return of the Obra Dinn doesn’t feel like the fake investigations of a game like The Witcher 3, instead empowering you to hunt for clues and answers like an actual detective. This is Return of the Obra Dinn’s main hook, and it’s one of the coolest mechanics I’ve seen in a long time. It doesn’t feel like the forced, fake investigation of games like The Witcher 3 or Marvel’s Spider-Man, instead empowering you to hunt for clues and answers that aren’t so obvious. You won’t find highlighted items or hints here, which makes Return of the Obra Dinn as challenging to take on as it is satisfying to complete. Your overall goal is to fill out a book with the identities and ultimate fates of all of the Obra Dinn’s 60 passengers. Your book comes with a map of the ship, a manifest of names, and a sketch of everyone onboard, but you don’t start with any clue as to which name goes to which picture -- a daunting, but also extremely rewarding task. You can only figure out who is who by thinking critically and piecing together bits of information as you explore more death memories. For example, you may hear one character refer to another by name, but it’s rarely that simple. Over the course of the roughly eight hours it took me to fill out my book, I used what accent people had, what type of hat or clothes they were wearing, where they died, the way others addressed them, the tasks they were doing, the people they were friends with, the bed they slept in, how their pictures were drawn, and a billion other little things to make the necessary connections. Return of the Obra Dinn doesn’t teach you to use or look for any of that information, but it does do a great job of easing you into its tools and getting you motivated to hunt for the truth. Collecting nuggets of new info reminded me of a point-and-click adventure game, but instead of picking up various items that will inevitably be used in specific situations down the line, I was gathering tidbits about different characters that would hopefully help me solve more fates. “ I had only guessed 15 of the 60 fates by the time I unlocked the last memory, but managed to solve the other 45 just by retracing my steps. As I unlocked more memories I started recognizing characters all over, giving me a clearer picture of who they were and how they might fit into the larger plot. I was stunned when I unlocked the final memory because I had only correctly identified 15 of the 60 fates by that point. But despite being given no new information, I was able to complete the last 45 just by revisiting memories and looking at events in a new, much more informed light. I loved hunting for all the stuff I had missed, and I was shocked at just how much there was. Return of the Obra Dinn is so open-ended that it can be hard to understand what exactly you’re looking for at first, but I appreciate that it never felt like it was trying to trick me. That means if you see someone acting like the captain, they are probably the captain, not some seaman there just to throw you off. Honestly, it’s hard enough to fill out the book without any red herrings, which makes correctly putting the pieces together feel fair and well earned. As those individual fates come together, the strange and enchanting story of what happened to the Obra Dinn comes into light. While there are 10 chapters to the book, you actually start by doing the final one and then jump around as you move backwards from there, and many of them are filled with delightful surprises. You often see the end of an individual scene first, then fill in gaps as you find more bodies -- and I enjoyed that there’s plenty that’s never explicitly explained or linked at all. Share Autoplay setting: On Return of the Obra Dinn is susceptible to a bit of brute force guessing here and there, but doing so always felt more tedious than just looking for clues like I was supposed to. Your guesses are only verified when you’ve put three correct fates in at once, preventing you from just trying every combination on a single name until you get it right without leaving you floundering in the dark hoping everything is going okay. It’s just the right amount of feedback. “ The voice acting is exceptional, which let me rely on a character's intonation and expression as clues themselves. Some of the wording for the fates you choose from can be a little confusing, though. Parsing the difference between someone getting “speared” and “spiked” took just trying one to sort out, and at first I didn’t realize that “drowned” and “fell overboard” were two different things. But I really like that there are a wide variety of fates to pick from (many that aren’t used at all), even if that can complicate the very specific answers Return of the Obra Dinn is often looking for. Confusion is also undoubtedly caused by the art style, which developer Lucas Pope describes as “1-bit.” There are only two colors on screen at any time and you can switch between a variety of pallets based on different classic computers. I really like the distinct and expressive nature of its low detail, “dithered” art style, but it does make everything harder to see. That can frustrate at times in a game about hunting for subtle clues, but I also love the flavor that comes along with it -- it’s not like a magical memory of a death from four years prior would be entirely clear. That art is also coupled with some fantastic music and sound effects that make the Obra Dinn feel alive and full of character itself. The voice acting, of which there is a surprising amount, is also exceptional. It better be too, because I relied on the intonation, expression, and tone of different characters’ voices to help determine who they were way more than I was expecting. Something as blunt as an accent or as subtle as addressing another character as “sir” could help tell me whose fate I was exploring. I do wish Return of the Obra Dinn had made it just a little quicker to revisit previous memories, however. Your character moves fairly slow with no option to sprint, and you can only leave each memory by finding and exiting through a magic door, which can get a bit tedious. There’s also a ton of information to remember and sort through here, much of it qualitative and hard to categorize. But given the scope, your book does a remarkably good job of making all of that info digestible. There are also a couple of tiny technical issues worth mentioning, but they’re far from deal breakers. Return of the Obra Dinn’s native resolution seems to be much smaller than 1080p, and while that doesn’t negatively impact its stylized visuals at all, it did cause my mouse sensitivity to skyrocket. You also can’t use ‘alt-tab’ to switch windows while it’s running, which made researching 19th-century naval hats online between memories more difficult. The Verdict Return of the Obra Dinn stands as something wholly unique. An investigative puzzle game with clear goals but completely open ended paths to completing them, it’s a challenging exercise in piecing together a mystery without being spoon fed what to pay attention to. It’s got some small quality of life issues here and there, but the “moment of death” clue-hunting mechanic at its core is an absolute triumph. Return of the Obra Dinn is one of the best detective games I’ve ever played, and now I want so much more of it.

My Hero Academia is one of the best shonen anime currently airing, and it deserves a great video game that lives up to its reputation. While My Hero One’s Justice unfortunately doesn’t hit that high bar, it does a good job of adapting the action and spectacle of the anime into fighting game form. The gorgeous visuals and a flashy one-on-one combat system make it seem like a fan’s dream fighting game, but the shiny exterior hides a fairly simplistic foundation, and once the spectacle of the action wears off, My Hero One’s Justice feels less like All Might, and more like “just alright.” My Hero One’s Justice is a 3D arena fighter with a combat system that could be best explained as an appropriately quirky version of Rock, Paper, Scissors. You have three main options when it comes to attacking up close: normal attacks, counter attacks, and unblockable attacks. Normals are fast enough to interrupt and beat unblockables, counters absorb normal attacks before delivering their own powerful strike, and unblockables crush through counters. There are some extra nuances of course, like just guards, dashes, and dash cancels, but that’s the general overview of combat. And then there are the literal quirks, the unique powers that break the Rock, Paper, Scissors mold. This is where My Hero One’s Justice shines. Each character’s quirks are very fun to use and give them their own unique fighting style. Todoroki’s quirk allow him to bombard opponents with fire and ice from a distance, Aizawa’s can seal off his opponent's quirks, while Kirishima’s gives him a super armor buff. It’s all very true to the show, making characters play exactly like you’d think they would. But eventually, the shallowness of the combat begins to show through. In the default “normal” combat mode, combos are executed simply by mashing one button. If you want to truly explore what the combo system can do, you can switch the mode to “manual” and find your own combos, but the problem is that auto combos for many characters are already so strong, there’s little incentive to learn manual combos. If there’s one thing that My Hero One’s Justice nails, it’s bringing the speed, action, and sense of sheer power of My Hero Academia into a 3D fighter. Characters that should feel powerful, feel like absolute behemoths; those that are known for their speed, feel appropriately fast; and even characters, like Ochaco and Tsuyu, that aren’t really known for their combat prowess, have very satisfying movesets that make them feel like they could actually put up a fight against characters that they would canonically stand no chance against. There’s also some great environmental destructibility, as well as the hilarious mechanic of planting your opponent face first into the wall, which then allows run on the wall and get some free hits in before they break free. It’s a fun touch that also rewards environmental awareness. Let's Story! The story mode of One’s Justice picks up midway through season 2 of the anime and ends at about the midway point of season 3 as well, so it’s definitely not the greatest entry point for new fans. Even if it was though, the way the story is laid out is pretty underwhelming. Each chapter essentially serves as a super abridged retelling of the anime, told with a combination of screen grabs from the show and animated in-game character models. Though it does feature full voice acting from the Japanese cast, those who prefer the dub are out of luck. It’s hard to really tell who the story mode is for. For fans, the mode doesn’t present anything new, nor does it present anything old in a way that makes it worth revisiting it again. For newcomers, it completely skips over the first 26 episodes of the anime. There are some bright spots though. A small handful of big story moments are brought to life in-engine, and it gives a small glimpse of what story mode could’ve been. If there were more of these and less static screens, One’s Justice’s story mode could’ve been salvaged. While Story Mode ends up being disappointing, Mission Mode actually provides a much more enjoyable single player experience. There are a total of six maps to complete, each with their own set of challenges. As you complete challenges, your characters level up, increasing their stats and making them better equipped to handle tougher missions. It’s tough, especially because your health carries over from fight to fight, and though you can use items to restore health, and provide boosts to other stats in the next fight, doing so decreases your overall score at the end, so there’s a balance to be had if you’re trying to maximize your score. Share Autoplay setting: On Beyond that, there’s a traditional arcade mode and online modes, though the servers were barren at the time of this review, so I haven’t been able to test out the servers. There’s no character creation feature in One’s Justice, which feels like a huge missed opportunity, but you can customize your characters with items that can either be purchased with in-game currency or earned through completing missions. There are a couple of funny unique items, mostly involving Mineta, but for the most part, all of the cosmetic items are just items worn by other characters from My Hero Academia, which makes customized characters kind of just look like they fell into a My Hero Academia themed prop box. The Verdict There’s definitely fun to be had with My Hero One’s Justice. It’s super easy to pick up and play, the action is fast and beautiful to look at, and it does a great job of adapting the quirks and abilities from the anime to a 3D arena fighter. That fun eventually starts to fade away due to shallow combat and a weak story mode, but overall, it’s not a bad first endeavor.

The first post-game DLC episode for Marvel’s Spider-Man, The Heist, is like the main game in miniature form — fantastic character work, coupled with engaging story missions and side objectives occasionally hampered by repetition. The Heist clearly serves as the first chapter of a larger story waiting to be told across Spider-Man’s three-part DLC saga called The City That Never Sleeps, and so it feels a little light on its own. But when it works, it’s a reminder of how great it is to inhabit this webhead’s world. The Heist DLC begins quite literally with its namesake — a heist that, on a gameplay level, kicks things off with what I loved most: methodical stealth scenarios. It’s satisfying and easy to slink back into Spider-Man’s move set, especially while tackling foes who pack quite a punch. From the first brawl, which inevitably breaks out in the DLC-opening museum scenario, it’s clear these enemies are as strong as those in the later levels of the base adventure. It’s nice to see Insomniac Games try to switch things up right from the start with an engaging new crowd control objective that forced me to focus on specific enemies while also taking on the larger horde. Outside of a couple of battles, the DLC’s story missions largely play into stealth, along with a few chase sequences. After that initial sequence, they’re a bit of a mixed bag — the chases are fun, but a brief insta-fail stealth section and very quick playable Mary-Jane mission hamper the flow. That insta-fail mission is relatively easy as, rather than using stealth takedowns, there’s the potentially cool idea to call on Black Cat to knock out foes, but her presence is largely superfluous. Other than hinting at how Spider-Man missions with a buddy might work, she is simply an alternate takedown option, not a necessary one. I like that The Heist tries to add some twists to the established gameplay loops, but I wish it made more use of them throughout the DLC. I hope we see those experiments grow in the next two DLC chapters. That’s also true for the side objectives. The DLC instances you into a version of New York City where you only have to focus on its objectives (plus landmarks and backpacks if you haven’t collected them all). It’s jarring at first, but boils down to letting you really hone in on the one new collectible --a light but sweet story tie-in --and the Taskmaster-esque challenges of Screwball. The social media-loving baddie is, personally, one of my least favorite villains used in the main game, and while I don’t love her presence in the DLC, her challenges are relatively fun. Her EMP challenge missions are wholly better versions of Taskmaster’s drone chases, while her combat scenarios require you to defeat enemies in certain areas to earn bonus points. It’s nothing revolutionary, and I would have liked a few more, but they’re a welcome variation. (Less so is her challenge to defeat enemies using only two gadgets. The idea is nice but in execution it felt odd and frustrating as a one-off challenge.) On top of those side objectives, one new enemy faction is also thrown into the mix, as is a new Spider-Bot-focused crime to thwart. The new baddies are a relatively vanilla group, save for a frustrating brute with a chaingun thrown into the mix. The new crime is a nice break from the crime monotony while trying to 100% the DLC, but I only encountered it twice in completing every district. The emphasis of the roughly three-hour DLC really is on the story, in which Black Cat immediately makes an indelible mark on this world. Her history with Peter is palpably awkward for him, fun for her to exploit, and captivating to watch. Seeing how their connection informs Peter and Mary-Jane is as fantastic as the character work done in the main game. Yuri Lowenthal and Laura Bailey once again turn in stellar performances as Spidey and MJ, respectively, while Erica Lindbeck from her first line breathes captivating life into the cunning, mysterious, and chaotic addition to Spider-Man’s current life. (And, a few incidental dialogue sequences with Miles Morales are just the sweetest thing.) The story smartly twists lore to make Black Cat’s connection to Spider-Man and Peter all the more interesting. Insomniac Games toys with expectations, and proves yet again that it can nail the world of Spider-Man while also putting its own stamp on the character. What’s unfortunately lacking is the larger threat, who is clearly being saved for future DLC episodes. Obviously, there’s plenty of time to focus on them to come, and Black Cat more than justifies her moment in the spotlight for this chapter, but I would like to have seen a little more specificity from the villainous side of things, especially considering the slew of strong baddies you’re fighting from the main adventure. The Verdict The Heist certainly sets up a story and characters I’m excited to see more of, but feels more like the start of something instead of a whole worth recommending solely on its own. Its character work is once again stellar, and it left me wanting to see more, but it’s more an unresolved first act than a conclusive story tying into a larger plot. Should the upcoming Turf Wars and Silver Lining DLCs live up to what’s established in The Heist, some of its weaker elements will be easier to overlook — new gameplay ideas are intriguing, others frustrating, but none are put into practice long enough to make much of an impression. But it’s still more of what I loved about Spider-Man, making the quick return to his world a joyful one.

Agent 47 returns this November 13 for Hitman 2! No, not Hitman 2: Silent Assassin - the other Hitman 2. The one that's actually Hitman 7, if you count all the episodes of the previous game as one and not counting Hitman Go. (It's also not the second Hitman movie, Hitman: Agent 47. Confused yet? LOOK OUT BEHIND YOU! Assassins often attempt to confuse their prey to make them drop their guard and become easy targets. So when you really think about it, flipping through this slideshow of every IGN Hitman review is the only hope you have of warding off being murdered with a Dustbuster or something. It spans from 2000's Hitman: Codename 47 to 2016's Hitman Episode 6: Hokkaido, and contains the impressions of every reviewer when they were fresh off the kill in each game. Do you have a favorite Hitman kill or hilarious almost-kill anecdote? We love to hear those, so you should post them in the comments. Dan Stapleton is IGN's Reviews Editor. You can follow him on Twitter for gaming rants, lots of random Simpsons references, and terrible puns.

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Would you change your surname after marriage? Let’s get this straight—a woman may or may not change her surname after marriage and it's totally her choice. It has nothing to do with the love and respect she has for her new family but unfortunately, a section of our society still raises eyebrows if she decides NOT to change her surname. We asked a few married women how their in-laws reacted to the decision of not changing her surname, here’s what they shared. She does not consider us her family “I eavesdropped my mother-in-law talking to her daughter about how I don’t consider them my ‘real’ family because I have not changed my surname. I genuinely respect and love my in-laws but that does not mean I give up the name that was given to me by my parents.”

Price: From £74,835 (est) On sale: Now The high-performance SUV sector gets another addition with the F-Pace SVR. Tuned by Jaguar Land Rover’s Special Vehicle Operations (SVO) arm, the family SUV now has the same power as the legendary XJ220 supercar. Under the bonnet is a 5.0-litre supercharged V8 pushing out 542bhp and 680Nm of torque. The F-Pace SVR promises 0-62mph in 4.3 seconds and a top speed of 175mph. Crucially for Jaguar, the new car is more powerful and faster than its direct rival, the Porsche Macan Turbo.

Japan's cabinet has approved draft legislation to loosen the country's immigration rules. The relaxed laws would create two new visa categories to allow foreigners in sectors with labour shortages to enter the country. Japan has restrictive immigration laws and accepts few workers from other countries. But new rules could allow blue-collar workers in the construction, farming and healthcare sectors to work there. Workers in the first visa category will be allowed to work in the country for five years, and bring their families, if they have a certain level of skill and some proficiency in Japanese. The economic lessons Japan can teach the West Trending in Japan: Restless retirees Japan census shows 1m po[CENSORED]tion loss Workers with a higher level of skills would qualify for the second visa category and would eventually be allowed to apply for residency. The draft legislation needs to be approved by parliament and is facing criticism from opposition parties, who have expressed concern about its potential impact on wages and the crime rate. Po[CENSORED]tion woes Analysis by Rupert Wingfield-Hayes, Tokyo Correspondent Japan is a fascinating example of what can happen to a developed country that does not want immigration. The country's birth rate dropped below 2.1 - replacement level - all the way back in the mid 1970s. It now stands at around 1.4. Add in the world's longest life expectancy (85.5) and you have a problem. You do not have to venture far from Tokyo to see it: schools with empty, silent playgrounds. Rice fields tended by old men with bent-backs. Japan has gradually been letting in more foreign workers. My local convenience store is now staffed entirely by young people from Nepal. But technically they are here as students or "trainees". It's a system wide open to abuse by unscrupulous employers. I recently met a Vietnamese woman who'd come as trainee. The clothing factory that hired her made her work 14 hours a day, seven days a week. In her first year in Japan she had been allowed only seven days off. It's clear Japan needs foreign labour. It's also clear it needs a proper system to regulate and protect its foreign workers. Businesses in Japan have long argued for changes to immigration rules to recruit workers from other countries. But Prime Minister Shinzo Abe has stressed the proposed law is not an overhaul of the country's immigration policy. Japan will only accept foreign workers "who have specific skills and can work immediately to address serious labour shortages, only in sectors that genuinely need them", he told lawmakers on Thursday.