#DEXTER

The Walking Dead: The Final Season is an episodic adventure game developed by Telltale Games and later Skybound Games, and the fourth and final main game in The Walking Dead video game series, based on Robert Kirkman's comic book series of the same name. Taking place some years after The Walking Dead: A New Frontier, the game focuses on Clementine's efforts to raise young Alvin Jr., AJ, in the post-apocalyptic world, coming to join with a group of troubled teenagers surviving out of their former boarding school. Their path leads them to encounter a hostile group of raiders led by a figure from Clementine's past. The game represents the first major release by Telltale after a major restructuring; it was aimed to return to themes and elements from the first season, and is expected to be the concluding story for Clementine. The game was anticipated to be released over four episodes, with the first episode released on August 14, 2018 for Microsoft Windows, PlayStation 4, Xbox One and Nintendo Switch. However, due to the sudden near-closure of Telltale Games on September 21, 2018, the last two episodes were overseen by Skybound Entertainment, Kirkman's production company, as Kirkman had felt it necessary to properly complete Clementine's story. farewell to Clementine by debating the thought-provoking idea of knowing when to break a cycle. For years, Clementine has been compelled to protect her young companion A.J. at any cost, exactly as Lee did for her in the first season. The cycle of survival, of carrying on the lessons imparted to her, is wired into every fiber of her being. It’s what has kept them alive. In the final four episodes of the series started by the now-shuttered Telltale Games and finished by part of the same team (now at Skybound Games) we’re asked what happens when Clem and A.J. might no longer need to run and begin to have some semblance of a normal life, and after a bit too much exposition and padding it leaves them in a satisfying place. Gameplay As with other games in The Walking Dead series, The Final Season is a graphic adventure game, where the player controls the protagonist Clementine as she struggles to survive in the wake of a zombie apocalypse. The player can move Clementine around the environment to examine items, initiate conversation trees with non-player characters, and progress in the game. Decisions made by the player can affect future episodes, and The Final Season can use previous saved games from The Walking Dead to bring a player's choices from these games into The Final Season. Players that have not played previous seasons, or who may want to adjust choices made affecting Clementine's character, will be able to use a web-based Story Builder tool to create a cloud-based save game that can be used to feed into the game. This also addresses issues with various save game limitations due to platform transitions over the course of the series (for example, previous saves from the Xbox 360 or PlayStation 3 from the first two seasons are not compatible with The Final Season). In portions of the game, the player will be required to react to quick time events in action-driven scenes, such as escaping from a "walker" (the name for zombies in the series). Failure to complete the events typically results in the death of Clementine or another key character, requiring the player to retry the event. The Final Season introduces more open-ended action sequences that give the player more control during the sequence. The Final Season is the most focused arc in the series since its debut, with the adopted mother/son dynamic between Clem and A.J. creating some of the most harrowing choices I’ve made in a Telltale game. On a global level, it also offers new perspectives about the walkers, attempting and occasionally succeeding in showing us that there’s more to them than primal noises and a lust for human flesh. They were human once before the outbreak, so does Clem and A.J.’s reflexive response of killing every walker they see need to be changed, too? The Final Season points at the possibility of old habits breaking as new ways to live in this world arise and hope trickles in. About The Game The Final Season takes place roughly 7 years after the events of the first one. It is set in the same continuity of the comic book series, and it is located in West Virginia, in a world where society has collapsed after a zombie outbreak, these zombies being commonly referred to as "walkers" by the characters. It once again stars Clementine (Melissa Hutchison), who is now an older teenager, after she has reunited with Alvin Jr., "AJ" (Tayla Parx), the son of Rebecca and Alvin/William Carver, and her efforts to raise and protect him in the post-apocalyptic world, similarly to how her past guardian and caretaker Lee Everett (Dave Fennoy) once did with her. Clementine and AJ join a group of teenage survivors inhabiting their former boarding school. They are led by Marlon (Ray Chase), and are made up by easygoing, carefree Louis (Sterling Sulieman), cynical yet caring Violet (Gideon Adlon), timid Tennessee, "Tenn" (Zaire Hampton), Willy (Justin Cowden), Omar (Keith Silverstein), Ruby (Ali Hillis), Aasim (Ritesh Rajan), Brody (Hedy Burress), and Mitch (Robbie Daymond). The Delta is a faction of raiders who antagonize Clementine and the other children. Their members include Abel (Alex Fernandez), Minerva, "Minnie" (Cherami Leigh), one of Tenn's older sisters and Violet's ex-girlfriend, and Lilly (Nicki Rapp), a former member of Clementine's old survivor group from Macon, Georgia from the first season. Other characters in the game include James (Johnny Yong Bosch), a pacifistic ex-Whisperer, the children's pet dog Rosie, and Eddie (Brandon Bales), a character from the 400 Days DLC add-on for the first season, who briefly appears in a flashback. Game Story About 3 years after the events of A New Frontier, Clementine has continued to raise AJ, recalling Lee's own lessons he taught her. They drive along and stop at a train station to scavenge for food. Inside, they find a cellar with a well-stocked supply of food, but the door is rigged with a grenade, and the noise from the blast draws a walker horde. Whilst driving to escape, Clementine crashes the car, and as she blacks out, she sees someone grabbing AJ. Clementine awakens within the ruins of Ericson's Boarding School for Troubled Youth. She meets Marlon, the leader of a group of teenagers from the school, and finds they have also been taking care of AJ while she recovered. Clementine and AJ meet the other kids, learning that they have been alone for some time after being abandoned by the school staff but have found ways to survive. As she gets to know the others and helps AJ learn appropriate social skills, Clementine learns about the loss of a set of twin sisters, Minerva and Sophie, about a year prior that still troubles the children, particularly Tenn, the younger brother of the siblings. Marlon warns Clementine they are running low on food and has her help the next day with hunting and fishing. Neither effort secures enough food, and Clementine suggests returning to the train station to see what food supplies survived the grenade blast, despite the station being outside of the designated safe zone around the school. Clementine and AJ secure the food but are confronted by a man named Abel, who demands a ration of the food at gunpoint. After either complying with or subduing Abel, Clementine and her group make it back to the school, reporting on their encounter. That evening, Clementine hears two voices arguing through the pipe system, and finds Marlon and Brody, another resident, having a heated discussion in the cellar. Brody reveals to Clementine that Abel is part of a raider group that Marlon had traded Minerva and Sophie to in exchange for safety, and that he also intends to trade her and AJ should the raiders return. Marlon accidentally kills Brody for revealing this and locks Clementine in the cellar. After dispatching the re-animated Brody and escaping the cellar, Clementine finds Marlon being held at gunpoint by AJ, drawing the attention of the rest of the children. Marlon takes the gun from AJ and tries to frame Clementine for Brody's death in an attempt to get the group to turn on her. Clementine is able to convince the others of Marlon's wrongdoings, and eventually, Marlon surrenders. As the others discuss what to do with Marlon, he is killed by AJ. Although Clementine and AJ attempt to make amends, the other children vote to have the pair evicted from the school. Outside, they run into Abel and another member of the raiders, who Clementine is shocked to find is Lilly, a woman who Lee and Kenny had banished from their group years prior. Despite her attempts to negotiate with Clementine to convince the other kids to give themselves over to her group, she refuses and they start to hunt her and AJ down, during which AJ is shot. The pair are saved by James, a former member of the Whisperers, who reveals to them the raiders are forcibly recruiting people to fight in their war against a rival community. James tends to AJ's wounds and accompanies them back to the school the next morning, before departing on his own. Clementine is allowed back in the school so that AJ can have his wounds treated, and she warns the children about Lilly and the raiders, making plans to prepare the school grounds for an attack. Two weeks later, the raiders arrive at the school, looking to capture more children. In the midst of the battle, Lilly inadvertently kills one of the kids, Mitch. After Clementine saves either Violet or Louis from being kidnapped, Lilly and the raiders escape, taking Omar, Aasim, and whichever person Clementine did not save. The children vow to get their friends back, while Clementine interrogates a captured Abel. Abel's injuries from the battle prove fatal, but Clementine is able to learn from him before he dies that his group has a riverboat nearby where they have established camp. Clementine leads a small group to scout the riverboat, and she realizes they should get help from James to mask their approach with walkers. On the way back, they encounter one of the raiders who turns out to be Minerva. They find she has become loyal to the raiders and advises the group to give into their demands should they cross paths again. As the other children return to the school, Clementine and AJ find James and convince him to lead the walkers to help the following night. Back at the school, Willy makes a bomb that he plans to use to destroy the boat after they've rescued their friends. The children return to the boat and meet with James, who confides in Clementine his belief that as AJ has already killed one living human, Marlon, he may be permanently changed should he kill again, relating to his own past. Using the walkers, Clementine, AJ, and either Violet or Louis sneak onto the boat, plant the bomb in the boat's boiler, and then work their way past Minerva to rescue their friends. However, they are betrayed by Minerva and captured. Lilly confronts Clementine, telling her that Minerva killed Sophie when she tried to escape their group. Lilly notices that AJ is potentially influenceable and takes him away, leaving Minerva to guard the others. However, Clementine engineers their escape and incapacitates Minerva. She tells the others to leave the boat before it explodes while she goes to rescue AJ. On deck, Clementine sneaks up on Lilly as she is trying to convince AJ to join her, and prepares to kill the captured James and Tenn. Clementine attacks Lilly, and a struggle breaks out, with the children gaining the upper hand against Lilly. AJ holds Lilly at gunpoint, and Clementine can tell him to kill or spare her; if spared, Lilly murders James. During the chaos, the bomb goes off and the ship explodes. Clementine and AJ retreat to the shoreline as the boat quickly tilts into the waters. If Lilly was spared, she flees on a raft while the rest of her raiders, including Minerva, are overwhelmed by the walkers drawn by the explosion. Clementine, AJ and Tenn cover the children as they escape, then make their own escape through a cave system, pursued by walkers. If James survived, they reunite with him in the caves, but he berates and fights Clementine for allowing AJ to kill Lilly, then either goes his own way or buys the others some time to escape. Clementine has a talk with AJ, optionally putting the confidence in him that he can make the hard decisions at the right times. Leaving the cave tunnels, the trio meet with Violet or Louis who helps guide them back to Ericson. When they get to a covered bridge, where one end is partially collapsed, they are suddenly attacked by a bitten, dying Minerva, who has led a horde of walkers towards them. Clementine fights off Minerva, who slashes Clementine's ankle with her ax, and she and AJ cross the bridge. Violet or Louis try to make Tenn cross as well, but he is too stunned to move, and AJ decides to shoot Tenn to save Violet or Louis, or take no action resulting in Tenn crossing safely but Violet or Louis getting devoured by walkers. With the walkers still approaching, Violet, Louis or Tenn get separated from Clementine and AJ. Clementine helps AJ up a rock outcropping and then follows, but a walker is able to bite her wounded leg. They continue onto the school, but as Clementine gets weaker they are forced to take shelter in a barn. Clementine and AJ work together to secure the building, but it is quickly surrounded by walkers, and Clementine urges AJ to escape the building on his own through the roof. Amid their emotions, Clementine asks AJ to kill her or leave her to turn before escaping. In a flashback, Clementine is shown rescuing AJ from Fort McCaroll (after the events of the third season) after it had been attacked, and it is revealed she killed AJ's caretaker when she drew a gun on her. In the present, AJ has reunited with the surviving children in Ericson to help rebuild the school, where it is revealed that Clementine is still alive, having been rescued in time by the other kids after AJ amputated her bitten leg. AJ shows that he had found Clementine's hat that she lost when the boat exploded and sank, and Clementine decides that he should keep it now as the two settle in their new, permanent home. As a whole, the farewell to both the acclaimed series and the studio that started it hits its mark tonally, producing a satisfying, if slightly mani[CENSORED]tive, conclusion that finds a proper balance between hope and looming despair. On an episode-by-episode level, The Final Season has a mix of truly riveting moments and dull, superfluous exposition. All but Take Us Back, the final episode, feature scenes that either plod along at a slow pace or feel like padding altogether. Still, the destination is worth the occasional speed bump. Each episode has at least two or three pivotal moments that made me feel like reloading my save and making the other choice, only to realize that either way would leave me with mixed emotions. Breaking the cycle is hard for Clem and A.J., but it also turned out to be hard for me to bring myself to make those cycle-altering choices. Clem and A.J. have the chance to change their ways, but after knowing these characters for so long it’s difficult to want to see them act differently. Looking back on the first few minutes of the first episode, Done Running, I’m struck at how well it foretells the major themes of the season. We see A.J. in the backseat of a car, spinning the cylinder of his revolver like it’s a toy. They haven’t eaten in a while and he’s hungry. When Clem holds up a silly toy called Disco Broccoli and talks in a funny voice, A.J. isn’t amused. Nor is he happy when Clem calls him “goofball.” He’s six and, unlike Clem, hasn’t had a day of a normal life as a little kid. So rather than laughing and being a goofball with Clem he sits there with a revolver, obviously comforted by the fact that it helps keep him safe. It’s a sad opening, but it paints a vivid picture of Clem and A.J.’s current dynamic and alludes to the struggles they’ve overcome on the road that have made A.J. perpetually on edge. When they stop to enter a home in search of food, they find a married couple who tied themselves to chairs in front of the window before they turned, with a note asking for anyone who finds them to leave them be. I wondered why they wanted to be left in that state, and why I looked at them differently than the walkers I had just killed on their property. For the first time in the series, I saw them as something more, and I almost felt bad for raiding their house, even though they no longer had any need for their goods. Game Development Announced during the July 2017 San Diego Comic Con, The Walking Dead: The Final Season, is scheduled to launch as a four-episode series on August 14, 2018 for Windows, PlayStation 4, and Xbox One, with a Nintendo Switch version to launch later that year. Clementine will return as the lead character, voiced by Melissa Hutchinson, as Telltale found that fans of the series were not pleased with how little interactivity there was with Clementine in A New Frontier. Telltale wanted to have the final season call back to what fans had praised about the first season, and knew they needed to make Clementine the focus. With this direction, Telltale decided to make this the final season for The Walking Dead series so that they can create a satisfactory conclusion to Clementine's story arc. For this purpose, Telltale brought back Gary Whitta, the writer for the first season and "400 Days" content, to help close out Clementine's story. The story will follow from A New Frontier with Clementine having rescued AJ from the McCarroll Ranch, with a timeskip a few years ahead, where AJ is now a young boy. With diminishing resources amid the apocalypse, Clementine and AJ find the importance of staying with communities of vital importance, meeting other characters who have little memory of the time before the downfall of society. Clementine starts to teach AJ the essentials of survival as Lee had taught her during The Walking Dead: The First Season, as a way of paying Lee's lessons forward. Telltale had initially considered writing a version of Clementine that had become more jaded, but found this was far too different from the established version of the character, and reworked her to be more sympathetic. The final season will use the updated version of the Telltale Tool first introduced in Batman: The Telltale Series, along with improvements in the visual style to approach the style used in The Walking Dead comic. This included improved dynamic lightning, and a new rendering style Telltale called "Graphic Black" to enforce the comic book rendering style. Some scenes will feature "unscripted" zombies who may attack Clementine if the player is not careful, creating new freeform combat sequences, while other parts of the game will continue to use quick-time events as from previous games. Due to course-corrections made at Telltale in 2017, The Walking Dead: The Final Season was primarily the only game the company released that year, cutting down from twenty episodes across multiple games in 2017 to only this season's four in 2018. The game's executive producer Brodie Andersen said that "We know we ran a little hot in previous years and weren't able to fully deliver the experiences we may have wanted to, so that was important to focus in on a polished quality experience players love." Because of the reduced product schedule, Telltale was able to establish firm release dates for all four episodes in the season, a first for any of Telltale's episodic series. Andersen said that they were able to achieve this by starting from where they wanted The Final Season to end, and then building the narrative backwards from that, establishing four clear episodes for the series to work towards. A free demo of the game, offering approximately the first twenty minutes of the first episode, meant to show off the new gameplay features added in this season, was released for PlayStation 4 and Xbox One on July 31, 2018. Despite the title The Final Season, Telltale originally did not rule out a possible future for The Walking Dead games; Creative Director Kent Mudle said that The Final Season title represented the end of Clementine's journey from Telltale's view, but could revisit the franchise through other characters. When a group of survivors takes Clem and A.J. in, Done Running does a significant amount of the heavy lifting for setting up the biggest problem that Clem will need to confront: Teaching A.J. how to live in a “safe” world amongst others. Because of his upbringing he’s always on guard, which leads him to bite and hit other kids when they startle him. He’s never been close to anyone but Clem, and watching him navigate this new, more civilized existence is the most intriguing aspect of the episode, especially since your input as Clem often guides how he acts. He always listens to Clem, which adds significant weight to each of your conversations. Even simple things, like sleeping in a bed, are hard for him to understand, and you can decide whether to indulge his survival instincts or compel him into a small degree of normalcy. More About The Game On September 21, 2018, Telltale announced they were undergoing a "majority studio closure", laying off nearly all staff and leaving only 25 to complete the studio's remaining obligations. The state of The Final Season was unknown, though other planned studio projects were cancelled. The second episode was still released on September 25, 2018. Telltale stated on September 24, 2018, that the studio has been approached by "multiple potential partners" that want to help bring these two episodes to completion in some manner. Until they are able to figure out how the last two episodes will be played out, Telltale asked retailers and digital storefronts to pull sales of the game and the season pass. The game and its season pass returned to digital stores in December 2018. During the 2018 New York Comic Con, Robert Kirkman announced that his production company, Skybound Entertainment, would be helping to bring the last two episodes to release. According to Skybound, they have acquired the rights of the game from Telltale, and will be working with former Telltale Games employees who worked on the series to finish off the episodes. Ian Howe, the CEO of Skybound Games, noted that there were logistical difficulties in this. Some of the Telltale team had already moved on to other jobs prior to the Skybound deal, and for those still looking for work, they are not expecting them to relocate from San Francisco (where Telltale was located) to Los Angeles (where Skybound is located), but do need to find them space that makes the completion of development possible. They further needed to account for the time that those seeking jobs would need. By November 20, 2018, Skybound announced that development of the series had started up again with many former Telltale Games developers as part of a "Still Not Bitten" team. Howe had anticipated that the third episode would be released before the end of 2018. Spanish and Portuguese voice dubbing for the remaining episodes was dropped for budgetary reasons. Skybound also affirmed that they have gained the rights to sell the former The Walking Dead games, and will not require anyone that had already purchased a season pass for The Final Season to buy one again once the last two episodes are released. Users that had purchased the title before Telltale's closure on Steam or on GOG will receive the final episodes on those platforms, but otherwise the season was moved to the Epic Games Store for all new purchasers. According to Skybound, Epic Games had helped with the season's completion following Telltale's closure, and thus Skybound felt it was necessary to offer the game through their platform. Skybound produced a physical release of The Final Season for PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and Nintendo Switch on March 26, 2019; the season pass disc contains the first three episodes and granted access to download the remaining episode as it became available. EPISODES Episode 1 - Done Running Released: 08.14.2018 We've reached the beginning of the end for Telltale's critically and commercially successful adventure series, based on Robert Kirkman's classic comic book and the award-winning television show: The Walking Dead. Ever since Telltale's video game adaptation launched back in 2012, fans have been kept gripped by the story of Clementine, a young girl who is forced to do a hell of a lot of growing up when she is thrust into a nightmarish world of carnivorous walkers, selfish humans, friends, enemies and everyone in-between. Now a young woman, wise and self-sufficient beyond her years, Clementine has reached the end of her story where, alongside AJ - a young boy she rescued during previous seasons - she will finally face her fate. It's worth noting, first and foremost, that Done Running went longer than any episode of a Telltale Game I've played to date, about 30 minutes longer, so it seems that although there are less episodes this season, the overall story should run at the regularly-expected length. The Final Season showcases a new engine with pride, and while there is a definite improvement in graphical fidelity, character models and particularly lighting, movement still bears somewhat awkward animation. There are also some smoke and mirrors going on here. Although The Final Season boasts a new behind-the-shoulder camera and an overhauled combat system, the gameplay remains as linear as previous Telltale's storytelling titles. The new combat is little more than "Approach Walker. Activate QTE" and the new camera still only allows basic control within the small confines of a scene. Done Running does look better than its predecessors, but it really is just a new coat of paint over the same old Telltale gameplay. Done Running is mostly a matter of getting to know the new cast of characters we are about to spend several hours with, getting clued up on their thoughts, attitudes, talents and backstories. Most of the action is pretty poor, but things ramp up hard for a great, genuinely shocking finale. It is apparent that The Walking Dead: The Final Season will be more of the same, but that's hardly likely to disappoint anyone who has gotten four whole seasons into this adventure. I'm intrigued to see where the story goes from here, as well as what final fate lies in store for Clementine and AJ. But now the season's setup has been established, it's time to get down to the business of stressful character drama, humourous conversational retorts, and that all-too-nagging feeling that, ultimately, you have minimal control over events anyway. Episode 2 - Suffer The Children Released: 09.25.2018 We are merely one episode down in the final season of Telltale's adventure series The Walking Dead and already, deep in the forest, the shit has hit the fan. Having not been a part of their new community for more than 48 hours, already Clementine and Al have been thrust into high drama among their associates, holed up in an abandoned schoolhouse. With the threat of Walkers - and equally dangerous humans - lurking at the gates, bloodshed has already taken place within the school's walls, with survival and betrayal being the only lessons taught today. Is Clem responsible for bringing this drama to the seemingly comfortable community of youngsters? Regardless, will her shaky alliance of new friends see things the same way? In the aftermath of the horrendous bloodshed that took place at the climax of Done Running, Clem and A.J. now find themselves looked upon with fear and distrust from their new friends. Whilst Clementine tries to explain to a confused A.J the ramifications of his actions, Louis, Violet, Ruby and the rest of the kids are left to ruminate some tough decisions in the wake of the tragedy. Suffer The Children is a dialogue and moral-heavy episode of The Final Season. Clementine is forced to take a stand on A.J's actions, whilst continuing to keep him safe from the mounting anger of the pack. Pushed outside the compound, things go from bad to worse, as a shocking face from the past returns, bringing a violent new card into play. Away from all the skull-stabbing, some romance options also blossom into the narrative, allowing Clem the opportunity to perhaps find her own small happiness. There is some inclusivity involved here, which should definitely be applauded. But, given that we have known these prospective partners scant hours, it's hard to establish a connection of true love, although the scene I saw worked very well to attempt it, in that clumsy but heartwarming "teenage crush" fashion. Episode 2 also brings two strong new characters into the cast, a mysterious new friend and a dangerous antagonist, with the narrative immediately stamping the importance of both roles into the story. With the ticking clock counting down to an attack by a pack of raiders, Clem and crew are forced to batten down the hatches, leading to a brutal siege at the schoolhouse, filled with eye-popping, joint-snapping mayhem. This ultimately culminates in a typical cliffhanging conclusion. As the credits roll, however, all that's left is cruel sadness, with the apparent notion that it is now a cliffhanger that will never see resolution. The Walking Dead: The Final Season hasn't displayed anything particularly new or groundbreaking from a technical standpoint, but has, in just two episodes, assembled a warm cast of characters, anchored by a lead who is, absolutely, one of the best female characters in the pantheon of video games protagonists. That after multiple seasons she is unlikely to reach her own destiny - whatever that may have been - is a tragedy. I'm sure there are some very unhappy TWD fans reading articles such as this in the hope it can provide them with some sort of validation or solace. I personally don't have anything to offer to make things better. I wish I did. But, for whatever its worth, if this does prove the end of the road for Clementine and her story, you can at least take comfort in what a wonderful journey it's been, the many emotions you may have felt watching a frightened child become a confident, strong, badass young woman, whilst giving you lots of thrills, chills and some pulse-pounding moral dilemmas en route. The Walking Dead: A Telltale Series, in spite of its sad end, leaves an indelible mark in the history of video games. The artists, writers, programmers, actors and other talented folk who bust a gut to deliver this epic adventure now deserve to move on to better, brighter and happier scenarios. As for Clementine, who knows what awaits her in the future? (although I've never bought for a second that Telltale planned to kill her off). Regardless, one place that she's guaranteed to be found, forever, is in the annals of video game history and in the hearts of thousands of her fans worldwide. We'll miss you. Episode Trailer Episode 3 - Broken Toys Released: 01.15.2019 Like Lazarus, The Walking Dead: The Final Season has risen from the grave to continue shuffling toward its seemingly dour conclusion. After the unfortunate closure of Telltale Games last year, it seemed that all was lost for the story of Clementine, with the series abandoned just two episodes from its finale. That wasn't to be, however, as Skybound Games picked up The Walking Dead license - along with a bevy of Telltale's former employees - and are pushing on to complete the four-season story of survival, loss, and friendship, set against the background of a po[CENSORED]ce tearing itself apart, figuratively and literally. When we last left Clementine and A.J. the pair had violently fended off a brutal siege at their schoolhouse compound, leaving some friends abducted and others six feet under. With a diminished party and their friends' very lives at stake, can Clementine hold it together to mount a rescue mission? What hope do these kids have against a heavily-armed band of scavengers, anyway? The aftermath of the school siege begins an incredibly somber and dialogue-heavy episode, as Clementine, A.J., and the scant survivors attempt to come to terms with their losses and put together a rescue plan. After the interrogation of Abel, the one raider who was left behind by his posse, our resourceful heroes perform recon duties on the enemy base, before forming an attack plan that's all kinds of suicidal. Clem will also require help from her new friend James, a "walker-sympathiser" as it were, whom she met last episode. James is not feeling too groovy about leading his undead pals into battle, but attempts to educate our girl with a particularly scary trust exercise. Once the team of youngsters have their plan of attack in place, it's time to lead the charge on a small army of adults armed with fully-automatic weapons. Blood is shed, of course. Unfortunately, episode three stumbles. The first chapter in this season that feels "too long," despite being the same length as its brethren, Broken Toys is a slow-moving piece that includes both awkward scenes and conversation that feel out-of-place given the urgency of the situation. Knowing that the raiders could return at any moment, and are currently brainwashing their kidnapped buddies, a subplot to "Hold a Party" seems wildly misjudged, despite an excellent monologue during that sequence featuring Violet (should she still be in your crew). Kudos to voice actor Gideon Adlon. When the assault on the enemy comes, it's weirdly stop-start and messily executed. The frantic attack feels oddly muted - complete with awkward pauses for exposition time - and is not quite as heart-pounding as Suffer the Children's riveting school siege. Fortunately, Broken Toys does pull it back with a wonderfully moving, genuinely affecting dream sequence and a first-person section that is creepily immersive, even if the theory behind it is kind of ludicrous. The shift to Skybound Games has not helped the ever-struggling Telltale engine. Broken Toys crashed on two separate occasions, requiring a hard reboot of the PC. Also, during an ambitious action sequence featuring dynamic light and shadow, the framerate jerked recklessly, requiring me to lower settings until I completed it, then raise them again afterward (something I've never had to do in the series so far). I remain invested in The Walking Dead as it nears its conclusion, now just two months away. Though the move to Skybound hasn't improved the technical reliability of the Telltale Games experience, the artists, writers, and voice actors continue to present a story that remains suspenseful, delivering some great individual moments, even if it sometimes pads the run-time to reach them. Beyond that, it's just nice to see you again, Clem. Episode Trailer Episode 4 - Take Us Back Released: 03.26.2019 And so, this is it. After four intense seasons, the series formerly known as Telltale's The Walking Dead has reached its sombre climax. We have watched lead protagonist Clementine grow from a frightened child - having endured horrors no-one should ever have to experience - into a strong, confident young woman. Now the guardian of A.J., an angry and confused kid, Clementine's life and lessons have led to this final stand in a dangerous and frightening world. When Telltale's The Walking Dead first launched back in 2012, its modern blending of "Choose Your Own Adventure" books, point-and-click games, and dramatic, TV-style storytelling earned critical praise, big bucks sales, and numerous Game of the Year awards. As we know, this then led to a huge catalogue of titles from the Californian developer, hit-and-miss affairs which would ultimately lead to the studio's unfortunate demise in 2018, right in the middle of The Walking Dead's fourth and final season. Still, hope springs eternal, and the series, along with much of its team, were picked up by Skybound Games, who now present this final chapter of a tale seven years in the making. A tale that has seen Clementine meet, befriend, love, and even kill friend and foe alike. Clem has traveled a weary road, making difficult moral choices for herself and those around her, all whilst fighting for survival within a literal hell on Earth. You've come a long way, baby... Picking up immediately from where we last left off, Clem, A.J., and pals are aboard a literal sinking ship, having botched a rescue mission on sociopath Lily and her gang of raiders. After this initial action sequence, the episode gives way to several tense verbal conflicts and some tough, but frustratingly obscure, choices. Not long into the episode there begins a conversation with A.J. which, in theory, is the culmination of all you have taught the boy to date. Unfortunately, it's structurally a mess, filled with random tidbits based on your past exploits and - much like the "How have you defined Joker?" hook of Batman: The Enemy Within - I was left feeling that all I had done previously to shape A.J. got thrown out for one question. A question so morally obscure that it's difficult to take a line on it without situational context. I don't feel I failed A.J. as a guiding light in difficult circumstances, but I am left feeling that my meticulous guidance boiled down to one, maybe two choices, leaving me to deal with their heavily-weighted outcomes. Once again, the smoke and mirrors of the Telltale Games mechanic have left me feeling like I haven't really had much control over events. As Take Us Back progresses, things get inevitably emotional. A few tough decisions over the past two episodes will direct the fates of several major players, although some outcomes appear pretty much set in stone. As a climax to The Walking Dead: The Final Season, Take Us Back is fine, with some genuinely affecting scenes, but as a climax to an entire saga, it's surprisingly low-key, and even draws out its epilogue a little too long, with multiple false finishes. Fans will be pleased to hear that they slip in a particularly dark flashback, allowing us to discover how Clementine and A.J were reunited after the events of A New Frontier. How you personally feel about the narrative conclusion of The Final Season will be somewhat subjective. It shouldn't be forgotten that, at one point, we weren't getting any ending whatsoever. Skybound and Telltale should be applauded for not sending the fans away with that crushing frustration. While this concluding episode doesn't quite knock it out of the park, nor does it leave me feeling like I truly had control over events (which is a staple criticism of most of Telltale's wares), it does give Clementine - the real star of the show - her finale. It would have been an absolute crime not to. Whatever anyone thinks of the Telltale's interactive storytelling, the launch of The Walking Dead was a genre-defining moment in gaming, deserving of all the success, awards, and praise that it received. At its emotional core is the character of Clementine, who has rightfully earned a place in gaming's hall of fame as a magnetic, likable, barrier-breaking lead. For all of the series' hit-and-miss factors, they got Clementine right. Kudos to actor Melissa Hutchinson and writer Gary Whitta for their realisation of a great protagonist. Strictly speaking, you don't need a review to tell you whether to play the final episode in the fourth season of a franchise. This far down the line, you're already on board, or you aren't. I think Take Us Back's writing will find some division in the community, regardless of your own personal outcome. Some may cry, others may smile, some may even frown and exclaim "...whaaat?" But we can at least rest easy knowing that Clem, A.J., and all of us were not left wandering the wilderness, guessing at what might have been. From the first moment that patrol car spilled convict Lee Everett into a ditch, to the final curtain fall on this climactic episode, players have enjoyed telling their tale of survival, friendship, bravery, and tragedy in a post-Walker world. It's been a very bumpy ride, both technically and narratively, but Telltale's The Walking Dead worked hard to push past these shortcomings, creating a new form of interactive fiction. One which procured genuine emotional investment from its fanbase and a deserved place in video game history. We Will Remember That. Episode Trailer The Verdict The Walking Dead: The Final Season hones in on the dynamic and relationship between Clementine and A.J. to produce some startling situations, choices, and ripple effects that thread throughout all four episodes. At times, the story is bogged down and stalled by the new free-roaming gameplay and myriad side characters that are never fully developed, but each episode has a satisfying conclusion that effectively sets up the stakes for a thrilling finale. It’s a moving but bittersweet ending, especially considering this was the last game Telltale worked on before shutting down. REVIEW FROM MULTI RESOURCE

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Generation: Zero is a first-person shooter in an open world, set in 1980s Sweden. There is an opening scroll that sets up the plot and also talks about Hitler, but honestly, at this point, I've forgotten what it was all about. I remember that basically everyone had been trained in combat since they were little, and then the alarm went off, calling them to arms. I suppose that's the setup to explain why everyone has disappeared. One of science fiction’s greatest tropes has got to be the machines rising up to overthrow their human creators slash oppressors. Terminator 2 was James Cameron’s cry of #notallmachines while Black Mirror’s ‘Metalhead’ episode painted a far bleaker picture of savagery where no questions are asked, there’s only bloodshed. In Generation Zero’s case, the world gifted to us by Avalanche Studios is more of the latter, which heightens the stakes in this dystopia, creating a world that’s tense, engrossing and horrific all at once. The game isn’t without numerous other failings but in an industry where service games are constantly being tweaked and revisited, hope is alive for Generation Zero as it draws you in through its robot-infested rolling hills. After a brief wall of scrolling exposition, the game drops you onto the coastal edge of Sweden armed with only the knowledge that something on-land shot and sank your boat and that there’s something acutely concerning about that fact. The game takes place on November 14, 1989, as you return from an island retreat to discover the country inundated unexplainably by an unrelenting army of machines that shoot on sight. Ignoring the fact that Sweden is typically freezing cold in the eleventh month, Generation Zero’s world is like an anachronistic siren’s song. I was happy to see that Generation Zero is unapologetically Swedish from the get go. All the signage and voice acting is in Swedish, and even the art for mission items like handwritten notes. Decent English translations are available through subtitles, in the menu and on the contextual HUD, the latter being an example of nice user interface design. You point your crosshairs at a newspaper headline, say, and a translation appears as a subtitle. Sadly that’s the only good thing I have to say about the UI, because otherwise it’s a buggy managerial headache that devours fun. It petulantly drags your attention away from the action and back to the menial task of inventory management, like a toddler that constantly wants you to help them itemise their toy box instead of play with anything. The game’s fairly rudimental mission log keeps you pushing inland, though it’s fair to say even crude and half-baked set of objectives is more than most games of this ilk offer. So often we’re just thrown into a playground with no goal at all, so I commend Avalanche for giving us something that respects our time by forcing us in the right direction. That said, it’s far from an ideal system as the game’s HUD offers very little information on your objective and what your active quest even is, something that, I suspect, will be fixed in time. Robots of various sizes now roam the land, and the core of the game is the player exploring the world, finding clues, and surviving against the killer robots. There are no "survival" elements like hunger, sleep, or fatigue. Just health, ammo, and stamina. Killing robots, exploring, and various other things earn experience towards level ups, which then reward a skill point to allocate to one of the skill trees. The game can be played solo or via online multiplayer, which works more or less fine. There's a lot here, on paper, to like. Plus, the game can look absolutely beautiful at times. And then you actually play it and it is clear that this game is far from finished. Models and textures are clearly unfinished, enemy AI hardly functions, collision bugs are everywhere, and the whole world feels slapped together. Generation: Zero looks, feels, and plays like an Early Access title, but it is not. About Generation Zero Explore a vast open world, rendered with the award-winning Apex engine, featuring a full day/night cycle with unpredictable weather, complex AI behavior, simulated ballistics, highly realistic acoustics, and a dynamic 1980’s soundtrack. Experience an explosive game of cat and mouse set in a huge open world. In this reimagining of 1980’s Sweden, hostile machines have invaded the serene countryside, and you need to fight back while unravelling the mystery of what is really going on. By utilizing battle tested guerilla tactics, you’ll be able to lure, cripple, or destroy enemies in intense, creative sandbox skirmishes. Go it alone, or team-up with up to three of your friends in seamless co-op multiplayer. Collaborate and combine your unique skills to take down enemies, support downed friends by reviving them, and share the loot after an enemy is defeated. All enemies are persistently simulated in the world, and roam the landscape with intent and purpose. When you manage to destroy a specific enemy component, be it armor, weapons or sensory equipment, the damage is permanent. Enemies will bear those scars until you face them again, whether that is minutes, hours, or weeks later. THE MACHINES TICK Small in size but surprisingly agile, the Tick will launch itself at you if they get too close. Often found in groups, these small machines will use their wicked-sharp talons and self-destruct mode to severely hurt you if you aren’t too careful. SEEKER Seemingly harmless at first glance, the Seeker acts as a scout, signalling your location to nearby allies who will come to its aid. Make sure to stay out of the sensor range or take it down quickly to avoid being overwhelmed by reinforcements. RUNNER Quick on its feet and often moving in packs, the Runner will work together with its allies to wear you down with automated weaponry. Don’t let them get too close or they will knock you off your feet with a powerful charge, making it easier for the others to kill you. HUNTER Intelligent, swift and silent, the Hunter attacks with lethal precision, showcasing a diverse range of tactics to take you down. Get too close and it you risk getting a knife in the gut, while at a distance you must constantly seek cover or end up riddled with bullets. HARVESTER A tempting target for an ambush, but not to be underestimated, the Harvester focuses its time and energy on gathering resources and fuel from its surroundings. Oftentimes escorted by fellow machines, it will not shy away from defending itself if threatened, doing all it can to ensure that it walks away unharmed and unscavanged. TANK The most heavily armoured and armed of the machines, the Tank towers over houses and players alike, shaking the very ground with each step. Do not engage it without a strategy, plan your encounter in advance, and always be ready to run when the rockets start flying. GamePlay Look, above is a video of a firefight with my friend and me against some robots (it didn't record my mic, sorry). Some things to point out: there's a weird texture over the storage containers that clips through all of them. This was present in the entire area. Some robots just take bullets without reacting. You may notice I have to jump into the little shack each time because none of them on the entire map touch the ground. I shoot a gun off a robot -- that's cool! A robot hardcore clips through the storage containers, even in death. Healing and death are trivial. Pieces fall off robots depending on where I shoot them, exposing weak points -- also cool! This sums up Generation: Zero pretty well. There are some genuinely cool moments buried among the slop. If this were an Early Access title, I'd be very content saying to keep an eye on it as it nears release. Considering that this game is being released like this, I will instead warn not to waste any money on this unfinished title. I look forward to a potential 2.0 release, because I really want the game that was intended to come to fruition. REVIEW FROM MULTI RESOURCE

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Metro Exodus is a first-person shooter video game developed by 4A Games and published by Deep Silver. It is the third installment in the Metro video game series based on Dmitry Glukhovsky's novels. It follows the events of Metro 2033 and Metro: Last Light. The game received generally positive reviews from critics. Metro Exodus turned heads when it was first announced at Microsoft’s E3 2017 press conference with a gameplay presentation that led many to believe it would be an open world take on the franchise. While that’s not exactly true, Metro Exodus does blend open world elements with the Metro shooter/stealth formula to varying degrees of success. In Metro Exodus, silent hero Artyom leaves his home in the Moscow metro tunnels to explore the nuclear-ravaged world with his wife Anna, her father Miller, and a ragtag group of soldiers and tinkerers. The group travels from one large area to the next by train, with Artyom able to explore these relatively large areas as he pleases. Being out in the open is a pretty stark departure from past Metro games, and it comes at the cost of the excellent atmosphere and claustrophobic feelings that the other two games in the series were able to capture. Metro Exodus largely turns its back on its horror roots, though that’s not an inherently bad thing. It doesn’t exactly feel like previous Metro games because of it, but what’s presented here in terms of story and tone is fine in its own right. While the story has no shortage of grim moments and some situations are downright bleak, Metro Exodus is bizarrely optimistic for a Metro game, allowing it to tell a different kind of story. Metro Exodus is set after the events of Metro: Last Light, on a post-apocalyptic Earth that has been devastated by a nuclear war. The game continues the story from Metro: Last Light's "Redemption" ending. Similar to the previous two entries, the player assumes the role of Artyom who flees the Metro in Moscow and sets off on a continent-spanning journey with Spartan Rangers to the far east. Artyom first travels around the Volga River, not far from the Ural Mountains, to get a ride on a locomotive known as the "Aurora" that heads east for a new life. The story takes place over the course of one year, starting with a harsh nuclear winter in the metro. Another major character, returning from the previous game and the book Metro 2035, is Anna - who is now Artyom's wife. Miller, Anna's father and leader of the Spartan Order, also returns from previous games and novels. Gameplay Metro Exodus is a first-person shooter game with survival horror and stealth elements. Set in the post-apocalyptic wasteland of the former Russian Federation, the player must cope with the new hazards and engage in combat against mutated creatures as well as hostile humans. The player wields an arsenal of hand-made weaponry which can be customized through scavenging materials and a crafting system. The game features a mixture of linear levels and sandbox environments. It also includes a dynamic weather system, a day-night cycle, and environments that change along with the seasons as the story progresses. It is set over the course of one whole in-game year. Metro Exodus Story After the attack on D6, Artyom becomes disillusioned with the constant infighting and corruption within the Metro and leaves the Spartan Order. He soon becomes obsessed with proving that other human survivors exist outside of Moscow and makes numerous dangerous expeditions to the surface, much to Anna's concern and Miller's frustration. However, on one such expedition with Anna, they witness a working train running on the surface. Before they can follow it, they are captured by Hansa soldiers. The Hansa soldiers execute the other prisoners and Artyom is shot and left for dead. Surviving the gunshot, Artyom follows the soldiers to their base to rescue Anna, and in the process inadvertently destroys a signal jammer that was blocking all communications going in and out of Moscow. Radio transmissions from all over the world begin to be picked up, and Artyom and Anna realize humanity hasn't gone extinct. They escape by stealing one of Hansa's trains with the aid of a defected Hansa train engineer called Yermak. As the train leaves, the Spartan Order moves in to retake it and are shocked and confused at Artyom and Anna's presence. Knowing that Hansa will have all of them put to death for knowing the truth, Miller concludes that the Spartans' best chance of survival is to flee Moscow. Once outside the city, he reveals to the others that while many of Russia's cities were bombed, the war did not end and NATO proceeded to occupy what was left of the nation. In order to prevent more bombs from being dropped on Moscow, the Russian leadership decided to secretly jam all communications to make the outside world believe nobody had survived. They then receive a radio broadcast from Moscow Defense Command calling for survivors to rally at the "Ark" located at Mount Yamantau and Miller decides to head there, believing that the Ark is where the Russian government has rebuilt itself. As the Spartans reach the Yamantau base, they discover that the remnants of the base have devolved into cannibals luring survivors in with the false promise of safety. Artyom and the Spartans manage to fight their way out and escape, but Miller's faith in Russia is shattered when he discovers that the government never took refuge in Yamantau, or even survived the war, and thus the Spartans are left wondering what to do next. Using a map they recovered from Yamantau, they decide to travel to a satellite communication center near the Caspian Sea in the hopes of gaining access to a satellite to find habitable land to settle. At the dried up remains of the Caspian Sea, the Spartans steal water and fuel from the local bandits and free their slaves while obtaining an updated satellite map. As the Spartans continue on their journey, Anna begins to cough up blood, fearing the cause was accidentally breathing poison gas during the journey. They decide to scout a nearby forest valley to see if it is suitable to settle. While scouting the forest, Artyom is caught between two rival survivor factions who are both terrorized by a giant mutant bear called the Master of the Forest. However, he also discovers that the dam protecting the valley from radiation is on the verge of failing, making the area unsuitable to settle. Artyom kills the Master of the Forest and returns to the train, but Anna's condition has worsened. The only chance to save Anna is to find the antidote in Novosibirsk, but the entire city is heavily irradiated. Miller and Artyom decide to head into the city alone to search for the antidote despite the risk. They enter the Novosibirsk metro and find a young boy named Kiril, one of the last of the Novosibirsk survivors. Kiril explains that his father left on a mission to obtain a map marking the location of a clean, habitable area. Miller decides to go find the map while Artyom heads out to find the antidote. However, as he proceeds deeper into the city, he begins experiencing vivid hallucinations. Artyom manages to recover the antidote, but is gravely wounded by a mutant and absorbs a heavy dose of radiation. Artyom, Miller, and Kiril return to the train with the map and the antidote, but Miller dies of radiation poisoning on the way back. The rest of the Spartans donate their own blood to give Artyom a critical blood transfusion. Anna is cured with the antidote and with the map, the Spartans settle on the shores of Lake Baikal, which is completely free from radiation. Artyom's ultimate fate depends on the choices the player made during the journey. In the bad ending, Artyom dies from the radiation poisoning, and the Spartans and a grieving Anna hold a funeral for him and Miller. In the good ending, Artyom survives. Miller is buried and Artyom is selected to take his place as leader of the Spartan Order. Now that they have a home, Artyom decides that it is time to search for other survivors. While the story itself is consistently entertaining, Metro Exodus‘s narrative isn’t without its problems. Most of the characters have personalities that are indistinguishable from one another, with Artyom’s only defining personality trait being the fact that he never talks. Despite Metro Exodus having the largest script in series history, friendly soldiers are so bland that it’s virtually impossible to care about anything that happens to them, good or bad. It is possible to have some extra interactions with these characters by visiting the train between missions, and these brief chats do offer the characters a chance to stand out. What’s interesting is that these characters will actually react realistically to what Arytom is doing; for example, if Miller gives Artyom an order but the player just stands there, he will get annoyed and start yelling for him to leave. Players can choose to ignore these optional interactions, but they go a long way in fleshing out some of the characters, particularly when it comes to Artyom’s wife Anna. Experiencing their relationship is a highlight of the experience, and players are robbing themselves of some of the game’s best written and most engaging scenes if they opt out of these little moments. One downside to this is Artyom’s status as a silent protagonist makes some of these scenes feel a little awkward. Other characters even remark on how quiet Artyom is all the time, which draws extra attention to that fact. Silent protagonists aren’t always a bad thing, but in Metro Exodus, the silent protagonist makes some scenes goofy instead of as emotionally powerful as they otherwise would have been. Controversies On 28 January 2019, it was announced that the PC release would be exclusive to the Epic Games Store for one year, with the publisher citing the platform's more favorable revenue split. The game's pre-sales were discontinued on Steam following the announcement, with existing Steam digital purchases still being fulfilled. The decision caused controversy, and resulted in a large number of players calling for a boycott of the game and review bombing the franchise's previous games on Steam. One of the game's developers was criticized in the gaming press for stating on a forum that if Metro Exodus did not sell well on the Epic Games Store, its sequels may become console exclusives. 4A Games released a statement that these views did not represent those of the company. In its release month, Metro Exodus sold 2,000 units less than Far Cry New Dawn, claiming the number two on the UK's sales charts. Metro Exodus also sold 50% more copies than its predecessor, Metro: Last Light. In Japan, approximately 17,513 physical units for PS4 were sold during its launch week becoming the number 7 selling game of any format. Goofy scenes are another problem when it comes to Metro Exodus‘s story. There are some moments in the middle of the game, which we won’t spoil here, that are absolutely ridiculous, and the ensuing chaos is far more hilarious than it is scary. Some story developments feel too similar to other post-apocalyptic stories, like Mad Max and even The Walking Dead, and come across as derivative as a result. This is a shame because despite the Metro series being part of the crowded post-apocalyptic genre, it always felt original and fresh compared to similar games and media. While Metro Exodus is a departure from the series norms in terms of some plot developments and the semi-open world areas, the core gameplay is actually very reminiscent of past games in the series. Players are encouraged to be stealthy whenever possible, sneaking up on enemies by sticking to the dark and choosing to either kill them or knock them out when getting close enough. Metro Exodus isn’t very innovative with its stealth mechanics, and at this point, they’re starting to feel a bit dated, but they still get the job done. When players aren’t able to take the quiet approach, they can often shoot their way out of any tough situations. Shooting in Metro Exodus is a highlight of the the game. Guns feel heavy, with booming sound effects that are almost startling. Weapon accuracy deteriorates if players don’t regularly clean their weapons, and players are also able to equip a variety of attachments to their guns to make them even deadlier. It’s fun to explore the open world areas for gun parts, as improving one’s weapon in the game is a genuinely rewarding experience. Besides having to clean and upgrade their weapons, Metro Exodus players also have to swap their air filter when needed, fix their gas mask, and recharge the battery for their flashlight. On higher difficulties, these tasks add stress and tension that enhance the experience, and combined with the weapon management, really help players become immersed in the game. Metro Exodus players may want to consider starting out on a lower difficulty, by the way, even if they’re veterans of the franchise. Success in the game largely depends on if players have enough crafting materials to craft the first-aid kits and ammo they need to get through any given area, and there is a period at the start where these crafting materials are virtually nonexistent. This makes the first few hours of the game particularly challenging, even when compared to later stages when there are more enemies to deal with and deadly traps to watch out for. Things aren’t so bad once players get over this hump and have plenty of places to loot for crafting materials, but it definitely takes some time to do so. And then it becomes almost too easy, and we would recommend players increase the difficulty accordingly. On even the Normal difficulty setting, Metro Exodus‘s enemies aren’t playing around. Artyom can die in just a few shots from humans and a handful of vicious swipes from mutants, making each combat encounter that much more thrilling. Everything is a threat, especially early on when resources are limited, and players will find themselves in some heart-pounding situations as a result. The one downside to the otherwise great combat is the game’s checkpoint system. Metro Exodus players have to either manually save whenever possible or rely on the auto-checkpoint system that will give them a checkpoint, even if they’re in the middle of a firefight. There was one especially annoying instance where we had successfully made it past all the guards in an area and then had to turn a valve. No one had spotted us, and so we assumed the coast was clear. But suddenly Artyom’s back was riddled with bullets, and we died just as the game gave us a checkpoint. This trapped us in a death loop that forced us to load an older save and restart a portion of the game. Luckily, Metro Exodus lets players manually save almost whenever they want, and so situations like this can be avoided if players are privy to it and remember to save often Metro Exodus suffers from some other issues as well, including unresponsive buttons when trying to loot enemies, the occasional unlocked door simply refusing to open, and long load times. We also noticed NPCs clipping through objects and some noticeable texture pop-in at certain points of the game, at least on console. None of this was game-breaking, though, and perhaps would’ve been less noticeable in a game that wasn’t so visually impressive. Metro Exodus is stunning, and we found ourselves just stopping to look at and admire the game world on more than one occasion. The game world is brilliantly designed, and the changing seasons give it some much needed variety that can’t be found in the other Metro games. It’s interesting to see how the game world changes from one season to the next, and based on our time with the game, players can experience it all with virtually no frame rate dips, screen-tearing, or slowdown of any kind. Metro Exodus‘s gorgeous visuals are somewhat undermined by the NPC clipping issues and texture pop-in, and one has to wonder if those issues would have been ironed out had the game spent some more time in the oven. But even though its technical issues, lack of genuine horror, and bland cast make it fall short of its predecessors, Metro Exodus is still a decent mix of the franchise’s traditional stealth/shooter gameplay and a semi-open world environment, with some truly stellar graphics to boost. REVIEW FROM MULTI RESOURCE

Trials Rising is a multiplayer 2.5D fault-based racing game developed by RedLynx and Ubisoft Kiev and published by Ubisoft. It was released on Microsoft Windows, PlayStation 4, Xbox One and Nintendo Switch on February 26, 2019. It is the first mainline entry in the Trials series since 2014's Trials Fusion, and the first in the series to be released on a Nintendo console. Ubisoft RedLynx’s Trials series has long been a favorite franchise for players looking to experience a deft mixture of zany, over-the-top motorcycle trial racing and lavish, elaborately designed set pieces. Thankfully, Trials Rising continues this tradition with aplomb, by offering some of the most gorgeous and challenging 2.5D tracks to date, and by providing a deceptively simple set of physics-based controls that are easy to grasp, but difficult to master. Truly, based on everything that Trials Rising serves up, whether it be the smooth and addictive gameplay that will have players constantly telling themselves “just one one more try”, or even the new, albeit clunky experimentation with customization and loot boxes, the game is obviously a labor of love, and it shows. From the get-go, Trials Rising proves itself to be a game that basically anyone can pick up and play, as it slowly reveals more of itself over time so as to not overwhelm potential newcomers. Thanks to its deliberate pacing, players are constantly learning newer, more efficient ways to ride without being forced to encounter some of the more seemingly impossible tracks and obstacle courses right up front. Ubisoft RedLynx eases players in by starting with a set of Beginner tracks before ramping up the difficulty to Easy, then Medium, then Hard, and then Extreme. Supplementing the game’s learning curve is a generally solid tutorial system led by Professor FatShady at University of Trials, who guides players through various practice courses that cover the likes of throttle control, leaning, mid-air rotation, and more. Leveling up unlocks more trying tutorials on lessons such as dealing with uphill obstacles, pulling off consecutive bunny hops, and working on rear wheel bounce. Gameplay In Trials Rising, the player controls a rider on a physics-based motorcycle from the start of the level to the end while navigating a number of obstacles. The game features obstacle courses set in various parts of the world such as the Eiffel Tower and Mount Everest, and the player can compete against each other in local and online multiplayer. The game allows players to view other players’ best personal performance and they will be notified when the player's record is broken by others. In addition to being able to create custom obstacle courses and share it with other players, players can also customize the rider's outfit and the motorcycle. A local multiplayer mode called “Tandem Bike” is introduced in Rising, which two riders control the same motorcycle. Each player will be responsible for controlling a part of the balance and power of the vehicle. The meat of Trials Rising can be found in its huge amount of levels – upwards of 100, in fact – set in different spots around the globe. There are track locations in the US, Europe, China, and Russia just to name a few, and each has its own distinctive design style and layout to test a player’s abilities. Save for a few stuttering issues that can arise from the more intricate and ambitiously designed levels, the visuals are top-notch, and many courses intentionally make it hard to pay attention to the player character due to the beautiful details and dizzying array of action going on in the background. For instance, one track called “Lights, Camera, Action!” has players racing through a Hollywood soundstage that eventually leads to two giant crustacean monsters that appear to be distant cousins to Gears of War‘s Corpser shooting energy beams from laser cannons mounted to their heads. Suffice it to say, it’s moments like these that make it tough to not just want to stop and take in the scenery sometimes. Similar to Trials Fusion‘s Challenges, Rising‘s Contracts also contain variables in the way of goals, like charging players with nailing a required number of tricks like front flips and back flips, or pulling off a wheelie for a given length before the completion of a course. The more one levels up and progresses, the more sponsors become unlocked, with brands like Fox, KTM, and RedLynx doling out cosmetic items in the way of customization stickers, as well as XP incentives of differing degrees that push players to finish their sets of challenges. It must be stressed, though, that while Rising‘s tracks and courses start off easy enough, beating levels gets extremely hard once players start to reach the late game phase. This, of course, is to be expected of a title from the racing series, and it will surely please the more hardcore Trials fans out there. Game Development The game was announced by Ubisoft at its E3 2018 press conference. RedLynx and Ubisoft Kiev served as lead developers on the title. In order to ensure that players will understand the game's control scheme and gameplay mechanics, RedLynx invited several YouTubers and members of the Trials community to test and provide feedback regarding the game's tutorial. A closed beta was held in September 2018, followed by an open beta in the week prior to release in February 2019. Trials Rising was released for Microsoft Windows, PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and Nintendo Switch on February 26, 2019. About Trials Rising Trials Rising is a stunning comeback of the acclaimed gameplay with all new features, more competition and fresh visual look. With more tracks than ever before, beginners are in for a smooth ride towards mastery, while the skills and nerves of experienced players will be put to the test in the most advanced challenges. This is Trials at its best. Competition is all over the globe with fun and elaborate tracks located across several continents. Whether it’s finding the perfect line in a smoldering caldera in the wilds of Yellowstone Park, doing triple backflips off the Eiffel Tower in Paris, or navigating massive drops on Mount Everest with snow storms looming, the thrills are endless. From local backyard competitions to the biggest stadiums on the world stage, you will ride against other players as fully visualized ghosts or in real-time local and online multiplayer. Starting from humble beginnings, you’ll improve your skills, grow your fame and rise in the ranks as you beat the competition. Sponsors such as Fox Racing Gear, KTM and RedLynx are always on the lookout for new talent and will offer contracts to complete special challenges. Players will now have the freedom to customize and share any outfit or bike skin they want, resulting in endless possibilities. In addition to the outfit and bike customization editor, the legendary Trials Track Editor comes back bigger than ever. Trials Rising adds an exciting new multiplayer mode with the Tandem Bike. Two riders, each contributing fifty percent of the power and balance, ride together on one bike. Get ready for the unexpected and for hilarity to ensue! One motorbike is available at first, but more become unlocked as players continue to level up throughout the course of the game. There are six bikes, and each one has its own handling style and contrasting features that causes it to stand out from the others. Trials Rising starts players out with the Squid–an all-purpose motorbike with a good balance for its handling and speed. The Rhino becomes unlocked pretty soon thereafter, and it caters to those who want more control and power instead of acceleration. Meanwhile, the Mantis is available later on, and it moves fluidly, but is harder to control. Then there’s the Helium and the Donkey, both of which can be bought with in-game currency. Finally, the Tandem is a bike that a player and their friend can try to control simultaneously, and playing with it is just about as silly as one would imagine. Also, while each track can be played through with any of the aforementioned bikes, Trials Rising does a good job of recommending which one would be best suited for the task at hand. Should one want to take a break from completing levels in a straightforward manner, Trials Rising also has a bunch of fun mini-games under the banner of the Skill Game Festival. For example, one that’s initially available is called Bomb Bouncer, and players are tasked with bailing from their bike to hit explosive barrels that send them flying down a dirt track in an hilarious slapstick effect, as their body flails through the air with rag doll physics. The farther one goes in this instance, the closer they are to achieving a more successful run. Akin to the regular stages, more Skill Game Festival events become unlocked upon reaching a certain level, with there being one that has players riding on a flaming bike that explodes if they go too slow, and another having them try to stay on a rotating platform for as long as possible. More About The Game Unfortunately, unlocking all of Trials Rising’s levels really starts to drag because of an ill-conceived change to the way the series has traditionally worked. The courses are split into nine main leagues, most of which have eight tracks with a few that have less toward the end, and you unlock new leagues by beating the previous one’s Stadium Finals: a fun series of three shorter, multi-lane races which only unlock once you’ve earned enough XP to reach a certain player level. Tying new stage unlocks to your level instead of the medals you’ve earned like in previous Trials games is Trials Rising’s largest misstep – far larger than I initially thought it would be. For the first half of the campaign I was generally a high enough level to unlock a new Stadium Final well before I finished that league’s courses, but the second half slows down to an unreasonable degree. It took me over 13 hours to unlock the bulk of Rising’s courses– not including some secrets I won’t spoil – but a large part of that time was spent grinding its new “sponsor” Contract challenges for experience. The core problem here is that you aren’t really given a choice between doing Contracts or improving your times. In Trials Fusion, you could either go for better medals to unlock more tracks or do challenges to gain experience for other rewards. Having both leveling and unlocking leagues tied to optional Contracts makes time improvement completely secondary to progression. Not only does that seem backwards, it makes failing on Contracts I essentially have to complete whether I want to or not frustrating in a way crashing never was before. REVIEW FROM MULTI RESOURCE

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Apex Legends has become somewhat of an overnight sensation in the battle royale genre. Since its launch, the game has amassed a huge following and it has now hit a huge player milestone. Of course, if you've haven't tried the game, you probably want to know what the hubbub is all about. Lucky for you, we've detailed below all the essential details you need to know, which includes what the game is, our full review, how the game's microtransactions work, guides, and much more. What are your thoughts about Apex Legends? Do you think it has what it takes to compete against Fortnite? Let us know in the comments below. Otherwise, be sure to check back often as we update this feature with even more features and guides. The week since the launch of Apex Legends has yielded a ton of big news. Below you can get caught up on the latest details about the game. Apex Legends Update Causes Xbox One Issues With Mirage, Caustic, And Skins Apex Legends Easter Egg Was Discovered Much More Quickly Than Expected Apex Legends Is Off To A Huge Start, Hits 25 Million Players In A Week Apex Legends Celebrates Massive Player Milestone No One Noticed Apex Legends' Map Leaked A Year Ago Speaking of Apex Legends constantly evolving, you can get the specifics on just what's changing about the game in its latest patch notes. The current patch adds the new Valentine's Day event, balance changes, bug fixes, and more. Like other free-to-play games, Apex Legends has microtransactions. The game has three different types of currency: Apex Coins, Legend Tokens, and Crafting Metals. Apex Coins are the only currency that can be purchased with real money, and they're used to buy Apex Packs, Legends, and featured items. You can purchase Apex Coins in the following increments: 1,000 Apex Coins - $10 / £8 2,000 (+ 150 Bonus) Apex Coins - $20 / £16 4,000 (+350 Bonus) Apex Coins - $40 / £32 6,000 (+750 Bonus) Apex Coins - $60 / £48 10,000 (+1500 Bonus) Apex Coins - $100 / £80

Metro Exodus Anthem Apex Legends Mortal Komabt 11 The Division 2

The Crew 2 is an open world racing video game developed by Ivory Tower and published by Ubisoft for Microsoft Windows, PlayStation 4 and Xbox One. It is the sequel to 2014's The Crew 2. It features a persistent open world environment for free-roaming across a scaled-down recreation of the United States. The game allows players to control a variety of vehicles including cars, motorcycles, boats, and airplanes. The game was released on June 29, 2018. The Crew was an acquired taste. If you put in the time to max out your favorite cars with the best gear and you stuck around long enough for the updates and expansions, it was a gem of a game. Real comfort food. But, most people I know never made it that far. They understandably bounced off. In a lot of ways, The Crew 2 feels less like a sequel and more like a do-over. There are still loads of cars and traditional street races, and you can still head out on a coast-to-cast road trip across Ubisoft's greatest-hits rendition of the United States of America. But now, you're less restricted. At the simple click of a thumbstick, your car can seamlessly transform into a boat or a plane, opening up some ridiculous opportunities to goof off with friends and strangers in the shared open world. As much as I appreciate Ubisoft taking another crack at this concept, The Crew 2's broad scope leaves it feeling unfocused and unrefined at times. It's not quite the clear-cut improvement I hoped it'd be. The game features a nonlinear story, that follows the unnamed player character as they go to become a racing icon in the United States by winning in all racing disciplines available in the game. There are four disciplines: Street Racing, Off Road, Freestyle and Pro Racing. In Street Racing, the player is assisted by Latrell. In Off Road, the player is assisted by Tucker "Tuck" Morgan. In Freestyle, the player is assisted by Sofia and her father. In Pro Racing, the player is assisted by Alexis. The original game's overly serious revenge tale has been ditched in favor of something far more easygoing. The Crew 2 adopts a much friendlier tone and splits itself up into four distinct families, each with their own progression path and loosely themed activities. That means if you don't want to muck around with boats or planes, for the most part, you don't have to. You play as an anonymous racer dreaming of fame and fortune, so instead of earning XP for pulling off cool tricks or winning races, you earn followers. The bigger your following, the more events you'll unlock with all four families. Here's a quick rundown. The Street squad includes standard street races, drift challenges, drag racing, and the tense-as-hell hypercar events that'll have you soaring across state lines in 20-minute-plus tests of endurance. The Offroad family plays fast and loose, a style that lends itself well to the open-ended map. They've got rally raid, motocross, and rally cross. The Freestyle folks host trick-centric events like aerobatics, jet sprint, and monster trucks, the latter of which is a true highlight. You get to do flips, spins, and loops in a gigantic skate park. It's the best! Finally, there's Pro Racing. This family rounds out the pack with disciplines like powerboat, touring car, air race, and alpha grand prix. As for the story, it's little more than cookie-cutter fluff. I felt zero attachment to any of the characters in any of the families, and if you're anything like me, you'll want to hammer your way through the cutscenes that pop up from time to time. The game is perfectly happy to let you skip them. Like its predecessor, The Crew 2 is about making your own fun. This is a driving sandbox, plain and simple. So even if the story is totally forgettable, I can't say I mind. I'm just glad it doesn't get in the way. Game Development The Crew 2 was developed by Ivory Tower, a subsidiary of publisher Ubisoft. Parts of the development was based on the feedback they received on the previous installment. One major critique was that players did not have enough freedom to explore the world and do missions. To solve the problem, Ubisoft overhauled the game's progression system and decided not to focus much on the game's narrative, which would require players to complete missions in a very specific order, and instead divided the game into several hub worlds, with each representing a unique driving style. Players can stay in these hubs to play the missions that interest them and do not need to force themselves to visit other hubs to play through missions that do not interest them. The Crew's downloadable content, Wild Run, which was positively reviewed by players, also prompted the studio to focus more on developing content regarding offroad racing. As the game features a variety of vehicles, Ivory Tower also needed to improve the game's graphics. According to the game's producer, Stephane Jankowski, these new types of vehicles allow players to explore the open world with new perspectives. For instance, flying a plane means that players can see objects that are very far away. As a result, the engine had to be modified to significantly improve the game's draw distance. The engine was also updated to include other enhancements, such as atmospheric clouds and realistic vegetation. The game's control was designed to be accessible but "hard to master". The game was announced in May 2017 during Ubisoft's earning's call. It was revealed at E3 2017 accompanied with a cinematic trailer and gameplay demonstrations. The game was originally set to be released for Microsoft Windows, PlayStation 4 and Xbox One on March 16, 2018, however, in early December 2017 Ubisoft announced that the game was postponed towards mid- or late-2018, in order to give developers more time to deliver a quality product. A closed alpha for PC was held from 14 to 19 of March 2018 and a closed beta was held from 31 of May to 4 of June of the same year. The game was released worldwide on June 29, 2018. To entice players of its predecessor to return for The Crew 2, Ubisoft implemented a reward program, which allowed users to unlock up to 18 cars, if they had achieved certain milestones in The Crew before its successor was released. Furthermore, all players of The Crew automatically receive the 2014 Ferrari 458 Speciale upon the game's release. Also, the publisher announced the touring car version of the 2017 Mercedes-AMG C 63 and the 2017 Harley-Davidson Iron 883 as pre-order bonus, whereas players ordering the Deluxe or Gold edition will receive further vehicles, with the gold edition also including the season pass. In addition to the reward system, Ubisoft also held a closed beta for players who signed up, as well as an open beta that occurred on June 21 until June 24. Those who participated in the open beta received a gold helmet in the full version of the game. Ubisoft also plans to have a "King of the Road Trip" competition, where po[CENSORED]r YouTubers and streamers will get a chance to compete in a competition, where the players race against other players that are in the same region as them. Needless to say, The Crew 2 has a lot going on. There are also quick skill challenges like slalom and escape, special Live Xtrem Series races with mid-match vehicle swaps, and photo hunts that send you all around the map to snap pictures of wildlife or landmarks. It seems Ubisoft wanted something for everyone, but it didn't necessarily devote the same amount of time and energy into every facet. At first glance, The Crew 2's scrunched United States map looks similar to the first game's, but it's not an exact replication. The up-close details have changed, partially to account for players' ability to travel by air and sea. Some cities like Las Vegas are just spectacular with the new lighting effects. Others feel less lively and lived-in than they should. They've lost a touch of their personality. While the sequel does look better overall, rural areas are still much too sparse in a generic-open-world sort of way. I could overlook those flaws in The Crew, but it's harder to let them slide a second time. There are also semi-regular issues with trees and vegetation popping in. For me, it's a mild distraction. Aside from bad signposting in offroad challenges and occasional wonkiness with tricks not registering, I enjoyed most of the events (at least when the AI wasn't back on its rubber-banding bullshit). It's tough to put a microscope up to every type of vehicle, but I'll at least cover the basics. The car handling, in general, feels like an immediate step up from the first game. It sits in this middle ground between arcade and sim racing, with some nitty-gritty customization options that let you lean a bit more in the latter direction if you prefer. As you earn loot drops for your vehicles and kit them out with incrementally better parts, things only improve from there. On that note, the process of swapping in new equipment has been greatly streamlined. It now only takes a matter of seconds. Boats and planes control more or less like you'd expect. Some handle better than others, but they all feel generally consistent when placed alongside The Crew 2's car physics. The bigger boats have a nice weight to them, and I like that you have to account for waves. Planes, on the other hand, tend to be more hit or miss. The ones designed specifically for aerial tricks are nimble yet nuanced enough to be satisfying; the ones built for speed lack maneuverability and often leave me frustrated. After a few days with The Crew 2, I'm still trying to wrap up two of the storylines and slowly but surely max out my first of many vehicles. Not that I'm in a rush. The game is most fun when I don't have a particular goal in mind. I like to pick a random spot on the map and take the long and winding scenic route. If something crazy happens along the way, I'll go from there. I might enter an impromptu freeway race with a random player that ends horribly. Or maybe I'll see a formation of planes dropping a trail of smoke overhead and try to get in on that action. There was also that time I tried to get another player to boost with me under the moonlight for a photo challenge. I may have come across like a stalker. Gameplay Similar to its predecessor, The Crew 2 is a racing game. In the game, players assume control of a racer, who is trying to work their way to become successful in multiple disciplines. It features a persistent open world environment for racing and free-roaming across a scaled-down recreation of the contiguous United States. In addition to cars, players can control other kinds of vehicles including airplanes, motorcycles, and powerboats. Each vehicle has its own control physics, meaning that game play is different when players are controlling different types of vehicles. Players can switch between controlling air, land and sea vehicles instantly. The game features four different hub worlds, with each having their own theme and playstyle. These themes include off-road, street racing, pro racing, and freestyle. Both vehicle and character customization will be featured in the game. Similar to the first game, it will place a huge emphasis on multiplayer. It also features a cooperative multiplayer mode, which allows players to join different rally raid events together. This mode can also be played solo with artificial intelligence. The Crew 2 requires a constant internet connection to play. Once you earn enough followers, you'll reach icon status, and from there, you're in the endgame. Along with bonus loot drops and special vehicles, leveling up further will award you points that can unlock passive benefits. You can invest in higher-quality loot, earning more currency, decreasing the effect of offroad bumps, and more. There's a long list of perks to pour points into and they're a nice incentive to keep playing. It never ends. That said, proper PvP is sorely missed; it's not coming until winter. Ubisoft has already laid out its early post-release plans, and while I'm happy knowing free content updates are on the way, The Crew 2 isn't as big of an upgrade as I would've liked. I already have the sense that much like the original game, it'll take months if not years for the sequel to truly come into its own. What's here at launch is a good starting point, but it's a little underwhelming in depth and polish. I think the developers made the right call by branching out with planes and boats and going for a more approachable play-what-you-like format. They just spread themselves too thin trying to cram it all in. REVIEW FROM MULTI RESOURCE

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Tom Clancy's The Division 2 is an online action role-playing video game developed by Massive Entertainment and published by Ubisoft. The sequel to Tom Clancy's The Division (2016), it is set in a near-future Washington, D.C. in the aftermath of a smallpox pandemic, and follows an agent of the Strategic Homeland Division as they try to rebuild the city. The game was released for Microsoft Windows, PlayStation 4 and Xbox One on March 15, 2019. It received "generally favorable" reviews from critics, with most noting it as an improvement over the first installment. Much like its predecessor, Tom Clancy's The Division 2 is about an American city rebuilding itself following an act of bioterrorism called the Green Poison outbreak. Instead of New York City, the sequel is set in Washington D.C. this time around, but players still assume the role of Agents for the Strategic Homeland Division. The overall goal is to assist emergency responders dubbed the Joint Task Force in restoring order and wiping out villainous bands of marauders and violent sects of power-hungry malcontents so as to provide a safe haven for survivors of the civil unrest caused by the deadly contagion. The theme of rebuilding and restoration doesn’t purely apply toThe Division 2's plot, though, for it’s also clear that Ubisoft and Massive Entertainment have decided to critically assess the series’ foundation by strengthening the core gameplay that worked well in the original title, by enhancing the importance and frequency of loot acquisition, and by creating a post-pandemic city rich with crisp details and with cleverly designed levels that each boast their own style and flair. Just to get this out of the way, those looking for a compelling story within The Division 2 will not find it. More often than not, the game’s key characters are forgettable, generic military types who spout a lot of staid argle-bargle during cutscenes and in mission dialogue, with their presence only fulfilling the bare minimum requirement of establishing a reason as to why players need to go shoot some bad guys and get some stronger guns and gear. Similar to the first game’s story, and as found in myriad other loot-centric games, the sequel’s plot is bland and is oftentimes meandering, essentially operating solely as a framework in which the gameplay can exist. That said, what The Division 2 lacks by not having an interesting and engaging narrative is more than made up for with its copious amount of playable content, its diverse sets of weaponry, gear, and Agent abilities, its tight mechanics, and its abundance of wonderfully crafted open world elements and unique set-pieces. Once one dives into the world of The Division 2, they will quickly find that there is always something to do within its huge open world map. Be it completing main missions, finishing side quests, taking over Control Points, quelling public executions, tackling bounties, eliminating the threat of rival factions’ Strongholds, and so much more, players are given lots of opportunities to collect countless items and engage in well-crafted PvE combat. Thankfully, the firefights attached to the aforementioned endeavors are usually pretty challenging no matter the difficulty’s setting. This is due to the game’s creators having ensured there’s a good variety of enemy types that all have an astutely developed AI which forces players to constantly be on the move, switch between various points of cover, and alter their tactics in order to not get wiped out. Basically, taking enemies head-on is rarely an option for players who want to survive, whether they’re going it alone or taking a co-op approach in a squad with friends. Of course, while its more palatable playing together in a group, the game is just as viable for those who want a strictly single-player experience. Remaining firmly behind a specific spot during a given battle is usually not the best strategy, as various stages of a given level – and even during some one-shot encounters in the streets – have enemy squadrons equipped to shift the fight in their favor. For instance, one will often find themselves huddled behind cover and focusing on picking off different gun-wielding baddies, only to then be flanked by grenade-tossers, chemical-warfare fighters, or melee-types. And when a boss character with even more powerful equipment and stronger shields and health is thrown into the mix, it’s imperative to make full use of the coverage provided by the environment, which is another example of Ubisoft and Massive Entertainment having ensured that The Division 2's PvE gameplay focuses on being dynamic, and avoids becoming stale. Seven months after the Green Poison outbreak, several Strategic Homeland Division (SHD) agents are defending a civilian settlement from a bandit attack when the SHD Network, the system controlling their advanced technology and communications, suddenly shuts down and they receive a Division distress call from Washington D.C. The player’s Agent makes their way to the city where The Division and the remains of the local Joint Task Force have set up their base of operations in the White House. After defeating an attack on the White House shortly after arriving in the city, the Agent is briefed on the general situation by Manny Ortega, The Division controller for D.C. The Agent learns that much of the country’s leadership is either dead or missing and that much of the city is under the control of three main enemy factions: the Hyenas, a loosely organized group of several gangs, criminals, and anarchists who seek to take advantage of the chaos, the Outcasts, a fanatical group made up of the survivors of the various quarantine zones around the city who seek to exact revenge on those they believe responsible for their imprisonment and eventual infection, and the True Sons, a highly organized and ruthless group of former Joint Task Force personnel, paramilitaries, and other traitors and mutineers, led by former JTF officer Colonel Antwon Ridgeway, who seek to gain control over the entire capital. Ortega instructs the Agent to work with fellow Agent Alani Kelso to help assist civilian settlements, fight the various enemy groups, and restore the SHD network. Meanwhile, Ortega and Kelso uncover information that a cure to Green Poison might be located somewhere in the city, and that President Ellis may have survived the crash of Air Force One and is being held by one of the city's factions. Kelso is reluctant to waste time and resources to rescue Ellis, but Ortega points out that his security clearance may be needed to access the cure. The Agent continues to work to liberate city districts and eventually manages to find and rescue Ellis from Hyena custody. Ellis confirms that a cure to not just Green Poison, but all viral infections, exists but he can only access it with a special briefcase he had with him on Air Force One. However, the briefcase is in the possession of the True Sons who are holding it in their main base at the United States Capitol. With the Capitol too fortified to assault yet, the Agent works to strengthen The Division 2's forces while continuing to weaken the other factions. Eventually, the Agent is able to restore the SHD Network, connecting all Division agents nationwide and Ellis promises to restore the United States no matter the cost. With the tide turning against them, the Hyenas, True Sons, and Outcasts retreat to their final strongholds. With the help of civilian survivors and the JTF, the Agent assaults the strongholds and is able to eliminate the leadership of all of the factions while recovering Ellis' briefcase. However, as the Agent and The Division celebrate their victory, a new faction, the technologically advanced private security contractor Black Tusk, invades the city. Many of D.C.'s landmarks are quickly seized and Ellis goes missing, leaving the Agent to head out once again to repel the Black Tusk invasion. Players looking for content with the potential for PvP combat, on the other hand, will be keen to give The Division 2's Dark Zone a go, as the development team has decided to split the PvPvE arena from the original game up into three separate districts for the sequel, with each being best suited for Agents in specific level ranges. Dark Zone East, for example, caters to those between Levels 10 and 19, while DZ South and DZ West are more for those in higher level brackets. Due to the fact that the game just recently released to the general public not too long ago, however, the Dark Zone may not be supremely gratifying just yet for those who are solely looking to scrap with other Agents, as PvP battles are currently infrequent due to many within the player base still going through the main campaign and leveling up their characters. Nevertheless, once more players become endgame-ready, the Dark Zone’s player po[CENSORED]tion numbers in The Division 2 should grow to a satisfying rate to sate the hunger for more PvP encounters. In order to supplement the game’s PvP aspects and provide somewhat of a PvP stopgap for the time being, the developers have also included a couple of solid competitive versus modes under the banner of Conflicts, with 4v4 Skirmish and Domination modes offering good ways to mix it up with other players. Not only are the enemy encounters and battles with other Agents appealing within their own rights, but also The Division 2 makes these experiences even more pleasurable by providing players with loot and XP at a frequency that feels both plentiful and meaningful. On many occasions, the game’s loot drops will try and push one toward trying out different builds by offering up a gun type that has much better stats and isn’t what a player may have been gravitating toward originally. Those who prefer more straightforward loadouts that include an assault rifle as a primary and a light-machine gun as a secondary, for instance, may feel more inclined to try out a new marksman rifle or a shotgun due to an elite enemy dropping an unfamiliar firearm type with better stats. Despite the fact that one may not be too acquainted with the way in which the new gun functions, the game goads one into giving it a go due to the weapon’s superb stats being too hard to pass up. Fortunately enough, with The Division 2 divvying out lots of distinctive loot at a near-constant rate, and even allowing one to craft their own gear, the game doesn’t actually force players into changing up what constitutes their favorite builds if they don’t want to, and usually lets them stick with the types of guns they enjoy for the long haul. Not to mention, higher rarity guns, as well as gear in the way of gloves, chest armor, kneepads, and the like actually have unique attributes and perks that make the process of seeking them out and equipping them during The Division 2 feel more valuable. For instance, a Superior-tiered backpack could have a perk that shortens the length of time a skill’s cooldown lasts, making the object that much more helpful, while a rare gas mask could have a stat that gives a significant boost to critical shots. Of course, with all of this gear to collect and parse, players will frequently find themselves within game’s menus. Navigating them may take a little getting used to at first since there is a lot of data to sift through, but doing so will eventually become second nature after a couple of hours with the game, as their layouts, labels, and symbols are intuitive for the most part. What’s more is that The Division 2's overall skill and upgrade system is extremely fulfilling, and definitely highlights how refined the game’s RPG features can be. Leveling up lets players choose what kind of abilities they want their Agents to utilize without much hassle, whether it be focusing on assault by keeping tech like a Turret Gun in skill slot one or a Bombardier Drone in skill slot two, or being more tactical by putting a health Reviver Hive in the first slot and a Chem Launcher in the second slot. This can be done by spending accrued Skill Points and SHD Tech tokens instead of having to unlock various aspects of Medical, Tech, and Security Wings with dedicated points like in The Division 1. Ultimately, the way in which the sequel’s new skill and upgrade system is designed caters more so to player choice by not boxing in an Agent to only be able to wield a specific set of abilities because of the way they had spent their points earlier on in the game. On top of the many positives that The Division 2 has going for it already, the game’s appearance is absolutely fabulous. Insofar as its visuals are concerned, the creators have put together a remarkably detailed world that includes beautiful moments of dynamic weather, unsettling environmental stories highlighting the creep of urban ruin and decay, as well as exceptional in-game renderings of actual locations from Washington D.C. A plethora of these real-life sites provide the backdrop for many of the title’s top-notch instances of level design, with one noteworthy mission set within the American History Museum being a prime case in exemplifying how distinctive each of the quests can be in and of themselves. This is particularly true when one transitions from one area of the museum in this specific mission and into the dense, jungle-inspired set found within a room dedicated to the history of the Vietnam War. There are plenty more examples to be found in this domain, but it’s best not to spoil them and let players discover them instead. The Division 2 also contains fantastic presentation in its sound design, both in the soundtrack itself and in the noises that punctuate certain actions within the game, as the sounds from looting a highly coveted item or shots from firing any of the weapons are clean and clear, and perfectly suit the situation. When it comes to the score, the game’s more action-packed moments contain compositions with chugging guitar, driving electronic drums, and moody synths that help set the tone and push one to focus and play their best during tense situations. In between the music heard during the chaotic firefights, The Division 2 even provides deceptively simple ambient arrangements that inspire one to explore, facilitating the discovery of various hidden secrets peppered throughout the game’s sprawling map. Tom Clancy's The Division 2 received "generally favorable reviews" from critics, according to review aggregator Metacritic. All in all, he Division 2 is great for what it is, and a vastly superior product when compared to the original, with the sequel having improved upon practically every feature found within he Division 1. While it doesn’t exactly blaze adventurous new paths for the genre or deliver a glut of surprises, it nails what’s most important in a loot-based shooter – it’s fun and motivates players to come back for more. So, with such a wealth of excellent content to be found within the base game, one can only hope that Ubisoft and Massive Entertainment manage to bring about even more enjoyable materials via the game’s free Year One post-launch DLC. Destructoid praised the game for its tight, satisfying gameplay, summarizing its review with: "Impressive effort with a few noticeable problems holding it back. Won't astound everyone, but is worth your time and cash." In its 9/10 review, Game Informer wrote that "Thrilling combat, a great loot loop, and a strong endgame elevate this Tom Clancy's shooter to new heights." PC Gamer gave it a score of 82/100, calling it a "packed, rewarding, and frequently thrilling looter shooter that should have a bright future." In its 4.5/5 review, GamesRadar+ wrote: "The Division 2 is a seriously accomplished looter shooter, with a gameplay loop that keeps on giving, and an endgame that will keep you playing for months (or years) to come." GameSpot praised the world design, reward system and variation of enemies, giving the game a 9/10. REVIEW FROM MULTI RESOURCE

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Anthem is an online multiplayer action role-playing video game developed by BioWare and published by Electronic Arts. The game was released worldwide for Microsoft Windows, PlayStation 4 and Xbox One on February 22, 2019. I’ve played far too many games like Anthem, an online RPG that only makes good on its promise of meaningful multiplayer gameplay and progression after you’ve labored through its long-winded and repetitive story quests. These pitfalls don’t have to be synonymous with shared-world shooters, MMOs, or online ARPGs, but here we are again. Anthem's endgame is surprisingly fun since its already excellent combat is reinvigorated by interesting loot and challenging gameplay later on. Unfortunately, there simply isn't enough of this kind of content to make it worth the wait, and what's here is inconsistent in terms of polish, clarity, and balance. Anthem, as it stands now, is an adventure best saved for a later date. Anthem takes place on the wild frontier of Bastion, a sprawling and colorful sci-fi expanse littered with aggressive wildlife, encroaching enemy factions, and mysterious shaper relics that end up being little more than glorified enemy spawners. You play as a Freelancer, an altruistic mercenary who pilots a mech called a Javelin and subsists on the dangerous contracts divvied out by the denizens of Fort Tarsis. This cast of bohemian future folk are generally charming and well acted, at times stealing the show to deliver a touching monologue. I found myself emotionally invested in a few characters like Haluk, the prideful old warrior who refuses to hang up his armor despite it being in the best interest of himself and those around him. Set on an unnamed planet, players assume the role of Freelancers, heroic adventurers who wear powerful exosuits to defend humanity from the threats beyond their cities' walls. The game's title refers to the Anthem of Creation, a powerful and mysterious force responsible for most of the extraordinary technology, phenomena, and threats in the world. In the main narrative, the player's Freelancer is tasked with stopping the villainous Monitor from seizing control of the Anthem. Gameplay Anthem combines third-person shooter and action role-playing game elements in a "contiguous open world" shared with up to three other players. Each player takes the role of a Freelancer donning fully customizable exosuits called Javelins. These suits can be customized to have various unique weapons and superhuman abilities. Two classes of Javelins were shown during Anthem's presentation at Microsoft's E3 2017 Conference: the Ranger, which is an all-around balanced Javelin, and the Colossus, which is a larger and more heavily armored Javelin made to fill in more of a tanking role. Other Javelins include the Storm, which uses powerful technology to unleash the "rage of the hymn" while floating effortlessly in the air, and the Interceptor, which is focused on close-quarter combat and can move quickly into and out of combat. Players can build relationships with various non-playable characters, but they cannot establish romantic relationships with them, as was a trademark of previous BioWare games. The central meeting point of the game takes place in Fort Tarsis, the central stronghold of Anthem. Built by the eponymous General Helena Tarsis, it serves as a fortified settlement against the threats of the outside world and is also the point where the player goes to receive new missions and freelance assignments. It is a melting pot where all the different factions of the game meet, including the Sentinels, Corvus, Cyphers, and Arcanists. The game features both single-player and co-operative multiplayer elements in a "shared world" that can have up to four squad members per team. Teams can fight savage beasts and ruthless marauders while exploring lost ruins and experiencing massive, world-altering terrain occurrences, such as "Shaper Storms". Most of Anthem’s dialogue, though, seems to exist to justify the maddening reuse of dull activities during quests like standing on a capture point or fetching items to unlock a door. This repetitive structure makes up the vast majority of gameplay in the main story, called the “critical path.” Both agent quest and contract mission types are hilariously formulaic, to the point where my friends and I even made a game out of guessing the next objective that would be thrown our way as we flew toward it, and getting it right depressingly often. Anthem’s combat is initially strong, engaging, and unique, thanks in part to responsive flight controls that feel good on both controller and mouse and keyboard. You can take off and fly at will, staying aloft longer if you make use of waterfalls, skim across rivers or nosedive to cool your jets. The deft ariel maneuvering transitions seamlessly into punchy third-person shooting on the ground, accented by a suite of mostly fun-to-use abilities spread across its four classes which can combine into impactful combos that promote coordinated teamwork. And the fantasy behind each of the four Javelin archetypes is conveyed well with the help of phenomenal animation work. Piloting a shield-wielding Colossus into a lowly enemy scout, for example, felt like sandwiching a balloon between a charging V8 Mustang and a brick wall. There are a lot of spectacular moments, particularly when fighting larger foes, and I often found myself in awe of my ability to effortlessly execute exactly what I had in mind. Game Development Development of the game started in 2012, immediately after the release of Mass Effect 3, under the supervision of Casey Hudson, the executive producer of the original Mass Effect trilogy. Although Hudson left BioWare in 2014, the development on Anthem continued until he returned as both the project lead and the new studio head in 2017. Prior to the announcement of the game's final title, the project was codenamed "Dylan" internally by BioWare. Drew Karpyshyn worked on the game's writing before leaving in early 2018. The game's soundtrack was composed by Sarah Schachner. Marketing and release BioWare Edmonton teased the game at E3 2014. Anthem was teased during EA's EA Play pre-E3 press conference on June 10, 2017. Gameplay was demonstrated for the first time during Microsoft's E3 press conference, the next day running on Xbox One X. At E3 2017, when the game was announced, its intended release date was Q4 2018, but was pushed back in January 2018 to early 2019, in part to make space on EA's release schedule for a new Battlefield title in late 2018 release. According to Patrick Söderlund, EA's vice president, BioWare plans to support the game with new content and updates long after the game's official release, and that its launch will be "the start of maybe a 10-year journey" for BioWare. A demo of the game was released for download on January 25, 2019 for pre-order customers, and on February 1 for the public. On February 14, 2019, a live-action short film/trailer called Conviction was released online, depicting a story which takes place before the game. The film was directed by Neill Blomkamp and produced by his independent Oats Studio. On February 15, 2019, Electronic Arts made the full-game available to 'Premium' subscribers of their Origin Access subscription service, while both Origin Access 'Basic' and EA Access (on Xbox One) subscribers had access to a 10-hour trial. Aout Anthem Anthem received "mixed or average reviews", according to review aggregator Metacritic. Reviewer Kallie Plagge from GameSpot awarded the game a 6 out of 10, saying that "Anthem has good ideas, but it struggles significantly with the execution". IGN’s James Duggan scored Anthem a 6.5 out of 10, saying that "Anthem has energetic combat but it saves too much of what precious little content it has for the endgame, making playing through its mismatched story a tediously repetitive grind". Sam Loveridge from GamesRadar+, was more critical of the game. Scoring it a 2.5 out of 5, Loveridge stated that "Anthem is ultimately severely flawed, and very unfinished. There's half a good game in there, but it doesn't do enough to diminish the overall feeling of emptiness and repetition". Mike Williams from USgamer called the game a "frustrating experience", feeling that, aside from being tedious, the game lacked purpose and "ultimately doesn't feel like the best BioWare can do". PC Gamer gave Anthem a score of 55/100, saying that "Anthem's disjointed story, boring loot, repetitive missions, and shallow endgame are all disappointing. At least it's pretty". EGM's Nick Plessas was more generous toward the game. Awarding it a 7.5 out of 10, he stated "Anthem is a beautiful car that is an absolute joy to drive...", despite saying that "...the wheels will periodically fall off". Destructoid’s Chris Carter called the game a "fun experience" despite "some hard-to ignore faults". In spite of the mixed reception, Anthem received praise for its combat and flight. GameSpot described the flight as "freeing, serene and exhilarating all at once", despite being disappointed that the player will be "frequently forced to land or stay on the ground". USgamer was also fond of the flying experience, stating "Flying through massive tunnels, through monuments to the old civilizations, or simply through the trees of a forest is awe-inspiring". When mentioning the combat, IGN said that "Anthem's combat is initially strong, engaging, and unique, thanks in part to responsive flight controls that feel good on both controller and mouse and keyboard". Several critics noted extremely long loading screens that could take up to 5 minutes or longer and could even surpass the time necessary to complete an average in-game mission. The loading times were later improved as part of the game's day-one patch, among other improvements. Game Issues In early March 2019, some players reported that their PlayStation 4 consoles had been shutting down while running Anthem, including claims that the game bricked their consoles. Electronic Arts has addressed and investigated this issue by asking players with the issue to share their crash data reports. Having reached the endgame, the three repeatable Strongholds are my favorite content in Anthem due to their teamwork-inducing difficulty and mechanically respectable boss fights, but they also have their fair share of issues. The boss of the Tyrant Mine can be bested in under a minute on hard difficulty, while the final encounter in another spoiler-ridden Stronghold took my party (which included a BioWare developer) upwards of 30 minutes to whittle down on normal. I’m all for marathon boss encounters, but here the rewards didn’t match the task: the payoff from all three Strongholds is roughly the same. And while I love large, bombastic attack telegraphs like the Ash Titan’s flame wave, the hit detection on such abilities is frustratingly imprecise. Whether that’s the result of unusually bad latency or some other factor, the “How did that hit me?!” effect only gets more punishing as you venture into the Grandmaster difficulties. Considering that’s where the actually interesting rewards are on the line, that’s especially aggravating. Anthem comes closer to succeeding as a co-op action RPG than it does as a story-focused game, but only does so after a trying grind through its repetitive main quests. And even at that, its standout elements like the flashy combat and mechanically rich bosses still have a long way to go in terms of polish, variety, and balance. I have hope that with time BioWare can capitalize on its strengths and turn Anthem into something worth investing all these hours into, but all indications are there’s a lot of work to be done to reach that point. REVIEW FROM MULTI RESOURCE

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After Titanfall 2 launched between Battlefield 1 and Call of Duty: Infinite Warfare, the game failed to live up to sales expectations, with some estimates putting it 6 million units short of EA’s sales goal for the title. Following this, many assumed that the Titanfall franchise was dead, as Respawn shifted focus to Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order and virtual reality projects. But while Titanfall 3 may not be in active development, Respawn has continued working on games in the Titanfall universe, including the free-to-play battle royale game Apex Legends. Apex Legends launched out of nowhere, with no pre-release announcement of any kind. This unique marketing ploy seems to have successfully piqued the interest of the gaming community, as the game has already had millions of players. However, others have written Apex Legends off as just another battle royale game, and won’t give it the time of day. From our time with it, we can safely say that those people are missing out. What’s immediately striking about Apex Legends is its polish and technical stability. Many battle royale games, especially close to launch, suffer from a wide-range of server issues and other problems. And while we ran into the occasional server disconnect after matches in Apex Legends, all that was required from us to fix the problem was to hit one button to get back into the lobby proper. With so many online games suffering from significant issues at launch, it’s truly incredible that Apex Legends is as stable as it is without any kind of public beta or stress tests. Apex Legends is a free-to-play battle royale game developed by Respawn Entertainment and published by Electronic Arts. It was released for Microsoft Windows, PlayStation 4, and Xbox One on February 4, 2019, without any prior announcement or marketing. The gameplay of Apex fuses elements from a variety of video games, including Respawn's own Titanfall series, battle royale games, class-based shooters, and those with evolving narratives. Approximately sixty players are pitted against each other on an island in squads of three, with one player controlling where their squad lands. The squads then must scavenge for weapons and other resources to fight other squads, during which the play area gradually constricts in size until one squad remains, thus ending the match. The game also features care packages and the ability to revive your teammates within a certain amount of time. Communication with team members can be done through voice chat or through a ping system, allowing teammates to mark supplies, locations, and enemies with ease. The game features eight heroes to choose from (though two of them are locked by default), and features a microtransaction system for cosmetic items. The concept for the game came to fruition during the development of a new Titanfall game, after EA's acquisition of Respawn in 2017. The sudden success of the battle royale genre prompted the developers to create one of their own that incorporates elements of the series, in addition to the concepts seen in games throughout the past decade. Following its release, the developers announced plans for cross-platform play, as well as ports for iOS, Android, and the Nintendo Switch, in the future. Apex Legends received very positive reviews from critics, who praised its gameplay, progression system, and fusion of elements from various genres. Some considered it a worthy competitor to Fortnite Battle Royale, a similar game that had gained massive po[CENSORED]rity in the previous year. The game surpassed over 25 million players by the end of its first week, and 50 million within its first month. Apex Legends is also one of the better-looking battle royale games on the market. Since it’s set in the Titanfall universe, it borrows the art style from the main series, with slightly more exaggerated and cartoonish character models. The game world has more detail to it than one might expect from a battle royale game, and the battle royale map itself is full of varied, interesting locations to see and explore. The map is surrounded by some of the alien monsters encountered in the Titanfall games, which not only helps it feel firmly rooted in the Titanfall universe, but also helps it stand out from other battle royale games. While Apex Legends is set in the Titanfall universe and takes place about three decades after the events of Titanfall 2, it is missing some of the franchise’s key elements. Players can’t call titans from the sky, and there is no wall-running to speak of at the time of this writing. It’s easy to see how titans could break the game, but the lack of wall-running is disappointing, especially since the game otherwise allows a lot of mobility for the player. Despite the lack of wall-running, Apex Legends shines when it comes to mobility. All of the playable Legends move relatively fast, and are capable of climbing over high walls, falling from great heights with no fall damage, and launching themselves from ziplines to quickly travel over great distances. The slide move is especially great, allowing players to zoom down hills and easily catch up to enemies on the run. Combine the game’s mobility with twitchy gunplay and Apex Legends stands out as one of the most fast-paced battle royale games there is. It’s also one of the least frustrating battle royale games there is, and that’s for a few of reasons. For one, Respawn has managed to strike a fine balance with the time to kill, making it so shootouts aren’t over in an instant like in Black Ops 4‘s Blackout, and instead giving everyone a chance to win a fight, even if they’re taken by surprise. Secondly, dying in the game doesn’t mean that players are truly out, which isn’t the case in most other battle royale games. When a player dies in Apex Legends, their teammates have a chance to recover their “Banner” and return it to a respawn station to get them back into the action. In most other battle royale games, dying often means sitting and watching teammates play for upwards of half an hour or more until they either win or, more likely, die. Another reason why Apex Legends isn’t nearly as frustrating as some other battle royale games is thanks to its communication tools that help players relay information to teammates without even needing a mic. Apex Legends utilizes a ping system that allows players to easily call out items, enemies, and more, and it’s something that all the other battle royale games on the market should steal. Apex Legends is a battle royale game borrowing concepts of the hero shooter, taking place 30 years after the events of Titanfall 2. Apex differs from most battle royale games by incorporating Legends, pre-defined heroes with unique abilities that fall into roles such as Offense, Defense, Support and Recon. Players are grouped into squads of three, each player selecting a unique Legend in turn, and each match features up to 20 teams competing. All teams start with no equipment and are flown over the game's map via dropships from a random direction from which they drop onto any spot on the map they can reach. Teams scour the game map for weapons, ammunition, and other equipment while fighting to be the last team standing, all while staying within an ever-shrinking safe zone on the map. A player can be downed into a vulnerable bleed-out state, leaving them only able to crawl for cover or reach a squadmate, who can revive them. If the player bleeds out, or an opponent uses a finisher move on them, they are then eliminated, dropping their equipment to be looted and a banner. The player can potentially be respawned if their squadmates recover this banner and take it to a Spawn Beacon, scattered on the map, in a limited amount of time. Apex features both voice-chat communication with squadmates and a contextual single-button communication approach that allows a player to ping map features like weapons, opponents, or rally points. Apex Legends is free-to-play and supported through microtransactions for cosmetic items and heroes. New cosmetic items can be earned from opening Apex Packs, the game's version of loot boxes that contain a random assortment of rewards, or spending the in-game currency Crafting Materials, which are gained through Apex Packs. Apex Packs are freely earned as the player gains experience levels. Additionally, players freely gain Legend Tokens for playing matches as well as for leveling, which are used to unlock new Legends and certain cosmetic items. A final currency, Apex Coins, is bought with real-world funds and can be used to buy Apex Packs, unlock Legends, or purchase specific cosmetics. Respawn offered battle passes which reward players with new seasonal cosmetic items by completing in-game challenges. The game's first battle pass, alongside its first new playable character, were released on March 19, 2019. It’s a good thing Apex Legends has its ping system, too, because there is no option to play without teammates. At launch, Apex Legends only allows players to play in squads of three, which is one of the more disappointing aspects of the game. The lack of a solo option or any options besides three player squads, whether that be duos for four player squads, is a letdown. Hopefully some more options are added later on, but at launch, players better get used to working in teams of three. It’s possible that restricting players to teams of three was a deliberate design decision due to the hero-based shooter elements of Apex Legends. Players have eight playable Legends to choose from, who all have their own little special abilities and Overwatch-style Ultimates to give them an advantage in battles. Properly coordinating these abilities can be the difference between life and death in Apex Legends, though at the same time, the hero-shooter elements are not overwhelming and can almost be ignored. In fact, we won games without ever really utilizing our abilities. Far more important than the abilities is the core gameplay of finding weapons and shooting enemies, so players shouldn’t confuse Apex Legends as a strict hero-based shooter. It’s more of a traditional battle royale experience with some hero-shooter flavor. For example, a healer character isn’t going to have a significant problem taking care of a tank like they would in other hero-shooters, so teams don’t even need a balance of different classes to be successful. And speaking of loot, that’s another area where Apex Legends seems like it needs some work. Compared to other battle royale titles on the market, loot in Apex Legends seems relatively rare, and it seems to take longer to arm oneself at the beginning of a match. This can make for some frustrating starts when a lot of people land in the same area and there are not enough weapons to go around. However, this problem is mitigated if players make it a point to land away from other squads and avoid the high-tier loot areas. To Apex Legends‘ credit, the loot system is still one of the better ones, as it almost completely eliminates the need to manage inventory at all. Players won’t often find themselves hiding behind walls and fiddling with their inventory, as the best gear and attachments are distinctively color-coded and automatically equipped. This keeps players in the game itself, and cuts out some of the more boring bits of other battle royale titles. The loot system in Apex Legends is great, but the game does retain some elements of other battle royale titles that may rub some players the wrong way. Perhaps most notably, the game utilizes loot boxes for its cosmetics, as well as a couple of in-game currencies that can be earned or purchased through microtransactions. The game’s monetization have already drawn some ire, but since Apex Legends is a free-to-play game, its use of loot boxes is far more forgivable than it would be in a full-priced game. From our experience, Apex Legends is pretty generous with its loot boxes and they often have decent rewards, though it is a bit annoying to unlock cosmetics for characters that haven’t been unlocked yet. Apex Legends is still in its infancy, but the game has already been a success, surpassing 10 million players worldwide within just a few days of its launch. If it’s able to maintain its po[CENSORED]rity moving forward, then it’s likely Respawn will aggressively support it with content updates like we’ve seen in other battle royale titles, and those updates could address some of our concerns. But even though Apex Legends has some missteps here and there, it’s still one of the better battle royale games on the market and could give the giants of the genre a serious run for their money. REVIEW FROM MULTI RESOURCE