YaKoMoS

Crackdown 3’s best moments come in utter chaos. You leap between buildings to dodge hails of bullets while dropping a similar maelstrom of rockets onto enemies below, all the while looking for a path to the specific glowing bit you need to launch an explosive into. Almost every activity on the game’s map requires you to shoot a lot of enemies, and encounters continually escalate as you keep hungrily killing. It’s competent, unambitious action that’s fun in the way every open-world game you’ve played since 2001 has been fun. It lets you jump on top of buildings, collect agility orbs, and then jump on top of taller buildings. It lets you point rocket launchers at bad guys and laugh at their ridiculous ragdoll animations. It offers the compulsive satisfaction of ticking boxes and filling completion lists on an open map. It’s full of utterly benign entertainment that’ll pleasantly fill eight or more hours, which you will then promptly forget. You are Commander Jaxon of the Agency, whose real defining trait is that he’s Terry Crews. You’re looking to liberate the island city of New Providence from the evil corporation controlling it, Terra Nova. After an amusing bit of bombast from Crews, the Agency dropship is blasted from the sky and you’re reduced to a burned-up husk in a medical tank. Then you can reconstruct yourself – either as Terry Crews or any number of other agents whose defining traits are typically that they are not Terry Crews – and hit the city to take down Terra Nova. You can go through that reconstruction process at any time, from any safe house, regardless of considerations like race, gender, or the consequences of limitless plastic surgery. That devotion to freewheeling openness is Crackdown 3’s best trait. You’ve got three weapon slots, which work pretty much like primary, secondary, and power slots many other games would have – except for the part where you can put any weapon in any slot. Want nothing but rocket launchers? Sure, that works, and it’s not even a bad strategy. The game uses the same lock-on system as the original, in which holding a button will place an unbreakable crosshair on the enemy closest to the centre of your view. If you’re using a precision weapon, you can flick around VATS-style to target specific body parts, though there’s rarely a reason to go for anything other than the head. It doesn’t take much skill – instead, the challenge is in managing a field of enemies to keep yourself from getting overwhelmed. There are fun little bits of design, like the way your shields recharge as you gather experience orbs from defeated enemies. That means you’re incentivised to be constantly on the move, quickly killing enemies to keep your health up, rather than hunkering down waiting for your shields to refill. It’s an exhilarating nod to id’s latest Doom. Certain boss fights will hit you with near continuous damage, which you can only really mitigate by taking out the swarms of smaller enemies that fill the arena. Your arsenal offers a wonderfully varied catalogue beyond the expected shotguns and assault rifles. The pulse rifle lets out a fiery beam that satisfyingly melts enemies. The Decimator and Jackhammer each fire unique flurries of rockets, for when you need something a bit flashier than a standard RPG. With that quick lock-on, it’s easy to pick a target, fire something powerful, and be on to the next by the time the explosions even start. A moment into any fight, you’re surrounded by booms, the familiar rhythms of destruction. That destruction won’t apply to any part of the environment around you, though. The impressive environmental destruction tech demoed years ago is completely absent from the campaign. Now it’s purely part of the game’s multiplayer, which comes in a standalone client. The single-player world is essentially static – both in the literal sense that you can’t blow holes in walls, and in the sense that there’s little personality on the streets. You can kill civilians with no effect outside of an admonishment from your handler over the radio. The story sets up a sort of tension between two heroic factions, with the ‘kill the bad guys at any cost’ mantra of the Agency on one side and more populist ‘help the people’ mission on the other, but that never pays off. One side activity has you rescuing civilian prisoners who’ll then join a militia uprising against Terra Nova – which basically means there are sometimes people with friendly blue dots over their heads nearby when you’re doing the work. A nuanced, moral treatment of revolution is not what Crackdown is here to provide, but the game’s in desperate need of something, anything, to lend it a sense of weight, personality, or progression. Your goal at the outset is to kill your way through the lieutenants of Terra Nova, then finish off the company’s evil boss. You do exactly that. And hardly anything more. Moving forward is a matter of completing map activities until you unlock a boss fight. Blow up some pipelines to draw out the head of the refineries, then kill him to get at the boss of the whole industry division. Repeat similar actions until the eight named bosses are dead, then go beat the big bad and finish the game. Their lairs are just locations on the map. There are no discrete story missions, no characters to interact with in the world, and no twists on your journey to beat the boss at the end of it all. The original Crackdown’s best feature was its superpowered movement, which you could regularly upgrade by collecting agility orbs. Crackdown 3 has those same continually-improving leaps, but now you can also earn double jumps and air dashes as you level up. It’s a step toward making movement more fun, but it’s the part of the game that feels most locked to the past. This doesn’t feel like a game that’s come after a decade of Assassin’s Creed parkour, or the free-flowing navigation of Sunset Overdrive, or even the utter silliness of Saints Row IV’s superpowers. Ironically for a game with such big leaps, it reaches no heights of its own. While the separate multiplayer client suggests that Wrecking Zone is a substantial addition, it’s anything but. There are just two modes, both 5v5 – one where you attempt to hold control points, and one where you have to collect badges from downed enemies for points. Multiplayer uses the same rigid lock-on system as the single-player game, so you can skillessly target enemies and pour rockets on them. Any direct confrontation will go to whoever has more health, so effective play means using jumps and dashes to evade fire – which is then complicated by the fact that any wall can be blown apart with ease. The two theoretical selling points here – your mobility and environmental destructiveness – just serve to make the handful of tiny maps feel the same, since no obstacle can impede your progress. That feeling of sameness isn’t helped by the small selection of weapons, which you can switch between any time you respawn. You can choose a character on the main menu, but that’s just a skin. There’s nothing to unlock, and while a lack of multiplayer progression might be refreshing over a decade after Modern Warfare, the skill ceiling feels so low and there’s so little variety that there’s not much reason to keep playing. Wrecking Zone feels like an afterthought – a half-hearted way to keep some form of that Azure-powered destruction in the game. Crackdown 3 feels like it fell out of a time machine. Either one from 2007, when it would’ve seemed at least a little fresh, or from 2027, when some indie developers passionate for the games of their youth decided to make a back-to-basics throwback to an era of open worlds with little for you to do but run around, shoot, and pick up collectibles.

Destiny developer Bungie has said that with Shadowkeep, it’s only just beginning. It’d be a ridiculous thing to say of any other series that had just celebrated its fifth birthday, but then Destiny, for all its influence and po[CENSORED]rity, has had a turbulent gestation – one which never really feels like it’s finished, but then welcome to the reality of live games, I guess. It’s bitterly fitting, then, that Shadowkeep’s own launch was marred by server problems even as over two hundred thousand people tried to log in on Steam. Having now finished the campaign, passed 900 power, and started digging into the overhauled character-building systems such as armour 2.0, the sense that Bungie is still laying the foundations persists. The campaign teases a seismic development in Destiny’s universe, for which we’ll likely be waiting another year or possibly more. Shadowkeep introduces the most promising changes to the endgame yet, especially in PvE, but PvP is still kind of a mess. The campaign shares much of its structure and many objectives with last year’s Forsaken expansion. There are six ‘proper’ missions, padded out with a new strike, some forced sojourns into the new location, and boss-focused hunts that can be attempted in any order. It’s just that this time we’re exploring the Moon and hunting ‘Nightmares’, rather than Uldren Sov’s Scorn Barons. As revealed in Shadowkeep’s marketing, these are throwbacks to monsters from Destiny history created by a malevolent force beneath the surface of the Moon, which returning queen of melodrama Eris Morn has disturbed. Your ultimate goal is to forge a creepy new armour set so as to investigate said malevolent force. To do this you need the ‘essence’ from five Nightmare versions of past Destiny bosses, each of which then needs ‘cleansing’ in the open world through various activities, such as killing Hive and completing bounties. It’s a weaker premise than Forsaken’s quest for vengeance, not a lot actually happens, and frankly it just isn’t as good. It does produce a few cool slices of nostalgia, however: my muscle memory thrums as I steer my Guardian along the familiar twists and turns down to the Summoning Pits to fight Phogoth for possibly the hundredth time, though doing so is snappier on PC. It’s also strangely bittersweet to see these old halls darker and more dilapidated, and to think that my original characters on PlayStation 4 would have some of their own memories to share, validating and chiming with mine. Bungie, please: give PC players a way to sync characters with Destiny 1! The open-world tasks to ‘cleanse’ the Nightmare essences are sufficiently brief and varied to not outstay their welcome while doing a decent job of getting you out and about on the lunar surface. Destiny veterans will find that a few earthquakes (moonquakes?) and the arrival of a massive fortress, the Scarlet Keep, has changed a lot. The moon was a pretty chill place in Destiny 1 – monochromatic, tranquil, defined by far-reaching grey-white landscapes. Now, huge cracks have split the ground in Archer’s Line and Anchor of Light, leaking sinister green energy and damaging the moonbase and the accelerator. Scarlet-coated Hive and purple-garbed Fallen are everywhere. It feels far more chaotic, colourful, and claustrophobic. As a fan of the old Moon I’ve found this a little jarring, but if you didn’t play Destiny 1 you won’t know the difference, and setting aside old preferences, there’s a lot to be said for Shadowkeep’s reconstruction. In particular, I’ve had some fun at Sorrow’s Harbour – a new area to the north of the Scarlet Keep – which organically gathered flocks of Guardians to kill lesser Nightmares in the open world together. -Shadowkeep’s chilling new score – all choral chants and nails-on-a-chalkboard strings – can be heard in Sorrow’s Harbour, but really shines in the campaign’s creepiest moments; when you’re swarmed by Thrall in a reprise of the opening stages of the Crota’s End raid, or when the sinister phantoms of dead Guardians flock around you in the depths of the Hellmouth. This is Destiny trying to do horror, and while it’s unfailingly atmospheric – from day one, Destiny has boasted the best art direction, lighting, and grandiose dark sci-fi concepts in any shooter – it’s never actually frightening. Destiny is structurally incapable of conjuring any sense of real dread, except perhaps in its raids. Elsewhere I’m always too powerful, enemies are always too easy, checkpoints are always too close. Eris can puff up Crota all she likes but Warmind let us kill a worm god in a strike, for goodness’ sake, and it wasn’t even hard. In tabletop parlance, Destiny’s fluff does not match its crunch, and never has. This tonal disconnect extends to the way the Nightmares are spoken of. Through Eris’s portentous blather Destiny wants us to be petrified of facing these old foes again – Phogoth is the essence of fear, Skolas’s pride led to bloodshed across the system, and blah, blah, blah – but I and anyone who remembers them will get a warm fuzzy feeling, while newcomers will just shrug. But hey, maybe this is the point – there’s always been something tongue-in-cheek about old Eris – and all this doomsaying complements the ominous grandeur of the Moon and the Scarlet Keep to create a campaign that feels fresh for Destiny 2. In both tone and content, then, Shadowkeep is a conscious throwback to Destiny 1, but – thank goodness – one leavened with five years’ hard-earned competence and self-awareness. After the campaign, Shadowkeep’s most important changes are Nightmare Hunts and Nightfall: The Ordeal. Nightmare Hunts are short missions which are all about the boss at their end – it takes barely five minutes of clearing rooms in the World’s Grave before I’m facing the Nightmare of Crota. As in his old raid, he staggers when hit with a special sword, but is otherwise invulnerable. Each wave of adds includes two Swordbearer Knights which drop said swords, so you can see what you have to do. Nightmare Hunts have timers and scoring, like Nightfall strikes, with more hunts and higher difficulty settings due to roll out over the course of the season. Nightfall: The Ordeal is a new interpretation of the Nightfall strike, traditionally Destiny’s toughest PvE activity outside of the raid. It has four difficulties, the lowest two of which offer matchmaking, and the highest three of which feature a new hazard: champion enemies. These come in three flavours, each of which can only be killed using mods unlocked by the seasonal artifact. That artifact will drop from the new season rank tree around the end of the campaign, and will level up through XP gained in normal play. You’ll get to unlock those anti-champion mods as it does so, along with a host of others, which at higher tiers offer truly exciting possibilities for theorycrafters alongside the armour 2.0 overhaul (this video from Aztecross Gaming is a great rundown of what’s possible). It’s still too early to say whether Bungie has been wholly successful in this ambitious overhaul of PvE, but at least tinkering with your build is pretty frictionless. Mods are now infinitely reusable once unlocked and only cost 500 Glimmer to equip. Better mods will take more ‘energy’ in your armour, but upgrading your energy is very affordable until tier seven, by which time you’ll know if you want to commit any further. Perhaps reflecting the reduced importance of raw power, infusion is now very cheap, with all gear, even Exotics, costing only one upgrade module (a common new consumable) to infuse. There’s a big blind spot, however, and that’s PvP. The reorganisation of the Crucible’s playlists is welcome – especially the dedicated solo queue for Survival, which I know will encourage me to push for some Glory points this season – but after several games it’s clear that substantial and familiar balance problems persist. The Recluse and especially One-Eyed Mask have been, inarguably and egregiously, busted for months now, and it’s baffling that they escaped Bungie’s recent swing of the nerf hammer. Shadowkeep is like a microcosm of Destiny’s wider trajectory: uneven, but upward in aggregate. Its story is solidly atmospheric with hints of exciting things to come, and while I’ve lost count of how many times I’ve said something like that about Destiny only to be disappointed (cheers, Curse of Osiris), the scale of what’s teased in Shadowkeep does represent a bit of a step up. Besides, thanks to those disappointments, I feel like expectations are pretty low for Destiny’s storytelling, both in my case and across the community. It’s far more important that elsewhere, PvE is in its best condition ever, bursting not only with content but with systems that ask more from you than simply overpowering it. And so, even if only because it’s finally given Bungie the confidence to claim the mantle of ‘action-RPG’, Shadowkeep is an exciting new chapter in Destiny’s ambitious, turbulent story.

That doesn't include an extra $995 for destination charges. Back in October we finally got word that Audi was opening its U.S. gates for the long roof A6. The sharply styled A6 Allroad has an undeniable presence with its slightly flared haunches and pothole-conquering ride height, while the greenhouse offers comfortable accommodations for five as well as plenty of space for cargo. It has everything the typical SUV buyer could want, but it also has something buyers don’t want – a $66,000 price tag. Ouch. Audi recently shot us a reminder that the 2020 A6 Allroad was coming, and with that came a mention of starting prices for Premium Plus and Prestige trim levels. Technically, the Premium Plus starts at $65,900, but that doesn’t include an additional $995 for destination so actually, the Allroad really starts at $66,895. By comparison, you can spend approximately $3,000 more and step into Audi’s larger flagship SUV, the Q8. No wonder people are choosing SUVs over wagons. Truth be told, the price isn’t entirely unexpected. Wagons are a rarity in the U.S. market so there isn’t much competition to face down. You’ll pay nearly the exact same price for a Mercedes-Benz E-Class estate, and if you want a BMW wagon, well, you can’t have one in the States. Volvo still carries the long roof torch, however, and you can even step into a comparable V90 Cross Country for upwards of $10,000 less. Gallery: Audi A6 Allroad: As a reminder, $66,896 will buy an A6 Allroad fitted with a mild-hybrid powertrain consisting of a 3.0-liter turbocharged V6 producing 335 horsepower, driving all four wheels through a seven-speed DCT. Audi’s virtual cockpit is standard-issue inside, featuring a 12.3-inch infotainment system and the high-end Bang & Olufsen stereo. If that’s not enough there are options galore, not to mention the Allroad Prestige model, but choosing that trim level elevates the cost to $71,395, and that’s the starting price

Hosting guests at home is the ultimate exposure. I have always found that my eBay mismatched tumblers, previously imperceptibly creased tablecloth or unknowingly un-plumped cushions all leap to the forefront of my vision as soon as guests pass over the threshold. Luckily, friends and family usually find it within themselves to overlook these minor hiccups. However, the festive season does seem to open our hearts and front doors to wider circles of acquaintances, be they new partners of your friends, extended family or colleagues, who you may want to impress. Work Wife, if you’re reading this, of course we’ll do that dinner at mine, soon. This is far from an etiquette manual, but a collection of some tips and tricks for contemporary entertaining. From your first festive dinner party to New Year’s Eve cocktails, here are a few hacks and buys to get you through the entertaining season. Jazz hands not included. The phenomenon of tablescaping is all the rage, and should be on your entertaining hit list. Instagram could burst with all the place-setting content. In fact, 2019 has been the year that this type of viral imagery has extended beyond the realm of the wedding pin board, and into the interiors and lifestyle arena. According to Alison Howell, design development manager at Burleigh, the trick to eye-catching table styling is dynamic levels that play with scale. “Introduce height as well as lower lying pieces to create an undulating line across your dining table,” she advises. “Mix and match large serving terrines with smaller bowls or lower lying platters. Gone are the days of pared back, restrained and understated table-settings.” Another great way to achieve this look at Christmas dinner parties is with glassware. So pair taller wine glasses with shorter water glasses, and, if you are drinking wine, display your decanter proudly on the table. Mix tall and short table vases for greenery at different heights, always bearing in mind the eye-level of your guests, assuming they will want to see the person opposite. (But of course, do take this on a case-by-case basis!) A great selection of classic, contemporary and highly modernist glassware can be found at LSA International. Another source of wonderful tips and tricks for tablescaping is Willow Crossley, an Oxfordshire-based florist whose sustainable and seasonal approach allows freshly cut flowers to be a part of your table decoration all year round. “I make a real effort with the table. It’s my thing,” she says. “It feels wrong not to have some sort of decoration at home.” Crossley believes that table decoration really doesn’t have to break the bank, and that rustic eclecticism can be achieved with some creative thinking. “I don’t think there should be rules, but my top tip is planning. Simple swaps such as mismatched, coloured glassware, coloured candles and ribbons around the napkins can have a massive effect. Use lots more candles in the evening to make it more grown up and glamorous, and in the day keep it fun, bright and entertaining.” She also advises hosts not to forget about their guests, who should feel free to contribute to the overall table. “Ask guests to bring napkins, glassware, vases and accessories,” she says. I ask Crossley what her Christmas table will look like this season, and it’s set to be the stuff of tablescaping dreams: “This year, for me, more is more. I’m going to create a blue and white tablescape with flower-filled Burleigh jugs down the middle and punchy full-on gold splashes. I think blue and white is one of my favourite combinations – I used it recently for a wedding at Aynhoe Park. I’m going to use a highly graphic fabric tablecloth, beautiful blue and white china, napkins with big velvet bows and coloured candles.” Many argue the kitchen has usurped the dining room as the domestic setting for entertaining over the past few years, with the kitchen island counter just as much of an opportunity to wow guests with your playful table styling. A far cry from the kitchen’s original role, unseen in some back alley of the home, the contemporary kitchen is a multi-functional space. At Christmas, the kitchen is often the beating heart of any household entertaining guests, so it needs to look and feel the part. There are some structural measures you can take when entertaining in the kitchen to ensure it functions for its myriad uses. Tom Howley, who runs a bespoke luxury kitchen brand, suggests altering your seating and lighting arrangements to streamline evenings spent entertaining at home. “When hosting a dinner party at your kitchen island, guests will want to interact with the host while they prepare the food,” Howley says. “This requires an element of multifunctionality that can be achieved through strategic lighting and seating solutions to encourage guests to relax and enjoy the kitchen. One layout solution would be to ensure the seating area around the island counter does not interfere with access to the stove-top, fridge or drinks cabinet. There should be no seating close to this area. This way, the host can focus on cooking and fetching more drinks without tripping over their guests’ shoes! In turn, the most effective lighting solution is to specify a lighting scheme that allows bright task-lighting over the countertops where food preparation is taking place, and warm, low lighting for the guests. There may only be a couple of metres between these two very different light sources, but it makes a world of difference to your guests’ entertaining experience and the chef or the host’s cooking experience.” Where possible, a home bar within a drawing room or a separate space away from the bulk of an evening’s festivities is a wonderful late night retreat. Robert Soning, founder of design-led property developer Londonewcastle, believes a dedicated home bar space is a relic of the 1950s that shouldn’t be lost to the 20th century. Soning says: “If you’re after a home bar or an aesthetic talking point for you and your friends to gather around then there are a few things to consider. Firstly, space, especially considering the “conservative” size of most inner-city homes. If you have the space to include a fitted bar in the kitchen or living room, ensure the scale of the furniture works in the space. However, if space is more limited, a simple bar trolley sourced from a vintage supplier such as Vinterior, 1stdibs, or even eBay, or a contemporary piece will create a similar, sociable atmosphere. You can also think outside the box and substitute a sideboard or console table for your home bar.” Finally, if you have attended a festive dinner or drinks party, sending a thank you note is a wonderful way to express your gratitude to the host. Papier has a beautiful selection of thank you notes to suit any host or attendee, including collections with top designers such as Matthew Williamson and Luke Edward Hall.

An Italian judge has ordered Facebook to reopen an account run by the neo-fascist party CasaPound and pay the group €15,000 (£12,500) in legal fees. The social media behemoth blocked the group’s account, which had around 250,000 followers, in September for violating the platform’s policy against spreading hate. The far-right party has increased its following in Italy by leading anti-migrant campaigns on social media. On Tuesday the judge ruled excluding the party from Facebook was “in contrast with the right to pluralism... eliminating or strongly compressing the possibility for association... to express its political messages”. Facebook complied with the court order and restored the page in Italy, but the account remained inaccessible outside of the country. A Facebook spokesperson said: “We have complied with the court order and restored the relevant Page and Profile. We are continuing to review the decision and are considering our options.” The Roman court’s ruling made no reference to Instagram, which is owned by Facebook and also blocked the group’s account. It had also said Facebook would be fined €800 (£668) for every day in violation of the judicial order. It was unclear when Facebook restored the account and whether it incurred any fine. “Magistrates order Facebook to reopen our pages, citing the constitution and stating that Casapound has the right to exist and to communicate on social media,” Casapound’s leader, Simone Di Stefano, wrote on Twitter. Facebook also banned another neo-fascist group, Forza Nuova, in September. The page remains inaccessible.

Here's the hot hatch about a month before you're supposed to see it. Toyota originally introduced the GR Yaris back in September 2017, but only in Japan where the supermini carried the “Vitz” moniker before switching to the fourth generation a couple of months ago. The company is not wasting any time coming out with a new GR-spec Yaris as the official reveal has been programmed for next month at the Tokyo Auto Salon. We won’t have to wait until January to see the car in full since our friends at Wheels have just spotted the hot hatch with no camouflage whatsoever in the Australian outback while shooting a promotional video. Unlike the regular Yaris shown so far with five doors, the spicy GR derivative will adopt a sportier three-door layout with a gently sloped roofline lending it a more exciting side profile. Beefy brakes hiding behind large wheels are also visible, as is the wider grille at the front to let the uprated engine breathe better. At the back, the dual exhaust tips and chunky roof-mounted spoiler denote the subcompact hatchback has been tweaked by Gazoo Racing. Gallery: Toyota GR Yaris spy photos: Wheels was also able to take a peek inside the cabin where purists will be glad to hear the GR Yaris had not only a manual gearbox, but also an old-school handbrake lever. With this being a pre-production prototype, it’s understandable why the interior might not seem all that exciting, but we do notice the body-hugging front seats and “GR” badging on the steering wheel. Although not immediately visible, the Australian magazine reports the feisty Toyota has a button for an intercooler water spray, located between the steering column and the door. Technical details are still shrouded in mystery, although it is generally believed the rally-inspired Toyota GR Yaris will be powered by a turbocharged four-cylinder gasoline engine linked to an all-wheel-drive system. Your guess is as good as ours as far how much power the four-pot will deliver, but we’re expecting some healthy numbers once the car will be revealed in full on January 10.

Welcome

Cases of bird flu have been confirmed at a chicken farm in Suffolk, the government has said. All 27,000 birds at the commercial farm will be culled after a number were found to have the H5 strain of avian flu, the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) said on Tuesday. The cases are the first recorded in the UK since June 2017. The strain has been identified as “low pathogenic avian flu”. Public Health England (PHE) has said the risk to public health is very low, and the Food Standards Agency said food safety is not at risk. A one-kilometre exclusion zone has been set up around the farm to limit the risk of the disease spreading. Chief veterinary officer Christine Middlemiss said: “Bird keepers should remain alert for any signs of disease, report suspected disease immediately and ensure they are maintaining good biosecurity on their premises. We are urgently looking for any evidence of disease spread associated with this strain to control and eliminate it.” Dr Gavin Dabrera, public health consultant at PHE, added: “Avian flu is primarily a disease of birds, and the risk to the general public’s health is very low. “As a precaution, we are offering public health advice and antivirals to those who had contact with the affected birds, as is standard practice.” A detailed investigation is under way to determine the most likely source of the outbreak.

Google is paying homage to the rainiest day in UK history with a Doodle celebrating beloved wellington boots. On 5 December 2015, an area of the northwestern county of Cumbria, England, recorded more than 13in of rain over a 24-hour period. Four years later, the search engine is expressing its gratitude for the boots that have made rainy day weather bearable for centuries. These are three interesting facts you should know about wellingtons, better known as wellies. They were first created in the 1800s The wellies we know and love were first imagined by Arthur Wellesley, the first Duke of Wellington. According to Google, the duke asked his shoemaker to make a shorter version of military issue Hessian boots and swap polished calfskin leather to a waxed version in the hopes that the boots would be easier to wear with trousers. The result was the first pair of wellingtons. The boots were made out of rubber in 1856 After briefly going out of fashion following the duke’s death in 1852, the boots were revived in 1856 with the arrival of vulcanised rubber. The first rubber wellies were created by Edinburgh-based company North British Rubber Company, later named Hunter Boot Ltd. However, they did not become po[CENSORED]r until the First World War, when millions of pairs were commissioned for soldiers as a means of preventing trench foot. By the end of World War II, when the boots were again depended upon in large quantities, wellies had become a po[CENSORED]r footwear choice for men, women and children. One of the most po[CENSORED]r colours in Britain is green In 1956, Hunter Boot introduced The Original Green Wellington. The style quickly became a staple in many British households, before becoming even more po[CENSORED]r when the late Princess Diana was photographed wearing the boots alongside Prince Charles. Today, wellies are available to purchase from numerous companies, in any colour imaginable. Whether they are needed to navigate the rainiest day ever or when you just want to jump in a puddle, wellies have maintained their usefulness hundreds of years since they were first created.

Porsche commissioned the test before knowing what the EPA rating would be. You may have heard that the EPA’s official range rating for the Porsche Taycan Turbo is a bit on the low side. In fact, it came back at just 201 miles, which is far cry from the Euro-spec WLTP rating of 279 miles. It even dips below conservative estimates for the U.S. that placed the EV super sedan in the 212 to 250-mile range. The plot thickens even further, as Porsche actually commissioned an independent test to gauge the Taycan Turbo’s real-world range. As you might expect, those figures are considerably higher than the EPA rating. If that sounds retaliatory and a bit suspicious on Porsche’s part, you’re not alone. Jalopnik first reported on this subject, pointing to statistics from California-based AMCI Testing that show ranges more in line with Europe’s WLTP 279-mile figure. We had more questions than answers, so we dialed up Porsche and learned that this testing wasn’t retaliatory at all. In fact, it was conducted long before there was even a whiff of EPA results for the Taycan. “We had AMCI do testing beforehand,” explained Porsche Spokesperson Calvin Kim. “We do a lot of testing with third-party vendors for various things such as performance figures, fuel economy, interior noise, all kinds of different metrics. We actually started this process months ago, specifically because in Europe the WLTP test uses a different methodology altogether from EPA. We didn’t know exactly what the car was going to get, and we don’t like being in that position so we commissioned a company to get that number for us to better understand real-world performance.” Gallery: 2020 Porsche Taycan Turbo: According to AMCI Testing’s website, the Taycan Turbo achieved 288 miles on a single charge in city driving, and 275 miles in a combination of city and highway driving. The testing process involved driving a Taycan Turbo over two specific routes during weekdays at the same time of day, with the car set to Normal mode and accessory loads consistent throughout the drives on the city/highway loop. Speeds were “precisely coordinated” to match the speed of traffic flow up to the legal limit, and even 5 mph over the limit on highways. The city test loop saw the Taycan Turbo in Range mode with the HVAC system turned off and speeds coordinated with traffic. Contact information wasn’t readily available for AMCI, but we do have a message into the company asking for a comment on the results. According to its website, AMCI Testing has evaluated 4,000 cars and conducted 250,000 tests over the course of 30 years, and is monitored by the FTC. The website further states that none of its claims have been overturned. As for Porsche, the automaker had no comment on the EPA results, aside from acknowledging it will be the figure printed on the Taycan Turbo’s window sticker. Beyond that, Porsche is confident in the results of AMCI Testing's evaluation.

Fe is a painterly, much-ballyhooed exploration game set in a wondrous fantasy world. It’s clearly inspired by the ancient woodlands of developer Zoink’s native Sweden, delivering a world of echoing oaks and creaking roots, swamp creatures and majestic stags. Update: This review-in-progress is now a full review. Some text has been updated and it has been given a final score. It’s a picturesque exploration game that feels like a poet’s idea of a 3D platformer, one that’s significantly classier and more subtle than the cartoonish efforts we’ve often seen in this genre. And yet it also defies this genre categorization, incorporating elements from many different gaming cultures. Fe manages to pull together influences from cartoon platformers as well as from arty narrative games. It plays with stealth and RPG-like progressions to create an exploration into a fairy tale, where the tasks are fun and engaging, but they mean less than the stirring world around them. Set in a dense woodland, Fe first presents itself as a Journey-esque game. Like Journey, it centers on a mysterious, whimsical character in a strange world. Weird hieroglyphs, giants and ruins abound. I commune with other creatures using sound and symbols. A mournful cello soundtrack grinds its sad song. Then the game morphs into a fancy 3D platformer in which I bounce over rocks and swim through rivers and climb mountain ledges, looking for gems and upgrading my powers through quests and challenges. There are even little bomblike blob thingies that I can pick up and throw at obstacles. Unlike most 3D platform games, Fe refuses to grab me by the shoulders and point me in any particular direction. It doesn’t indicate what I ought to actually be doing. It just lets me wander around its pretty gardens. Frankly, the first few hours of the game can feel confusing and even frustrating, as I try to comprehend its inner workings. But in those wanderings, I come to a creeping understanding: that Fe actively wants me to feel lost and confused. Yes, there are a map and mechanics in place to help me find my path, but I feel the game urging me to experience a sense of wonder in its pretty world — and a sense of apprehension and dread as well. I start to feel like Little Red Riding Hood, tripping on roots and falling into ditches. Once I connect to this spirit of exploration, of looking and experiencing rather than merely conquering, the game gifts me with a sense of liberty. I’m soon cooing with pleasure as the world peels away its secrets. Fe stars a creature who reminds me slightly of the scamp from the movie Lilo & Stitch. It’s a prickly little thing with no particular abilities, save for a great tolerance for falling from enormous heights. The beginning of the game suggests the critter has come here from another planet. Our hero encounters other creatures. I sing to the creatures, and they become my friends. Sometimes they offer favors that open up new ways to overcome obstacles. Different creatures sing in different languages. I learn those symbolic languages along the way, unlocking new powers that unlock new parts of the map. Language acts as a puzzle mechanic, but it’s also important to the game’s unfolding story. The forests are inhabited by fearsome robots that capture animals for dastardly ends. I do not fight them, at least not directly, but I can confound them with the help of other animals, or by liberal use of stealth. (In this world, my porcupine-like back is similar in appearance to a common bush.) Pretty soon I can soar among treetops, glide from one rock face to another, ride the strong upward currents of strange flowers and cadge rides on the backs of As I come across runes, gems and other fantasy paraphernalia, the world’s mysteries are uncovered. A narrative emerges. But it’s the world itself that provides the most pleasure, a constantly shifting landscape of color and shape that invites conquest of its heights and exploration of its depths. Its clever design obscures a fairly linear path by creating the illusion of freedom. Larger missions come and go, generally involving the freeing of creatures who are at the mercy of the robots. Yes, there are irritations. As is often the case with highly vertical 3D games, a wrong step sets me back, falling miles and miles to a place long since left behind. This can be frustrating, especially in later sections of the game, when multi-jump challenges spike and there’s an occasional challenge when pixel-perfect leaps are mandatory. None of this takes away from a magical feeling, especially when I’m gliding through the world, making use of skills acquired along the war. The world and its inhabitants come to feel as one. This is a fairy tale, grounded in the confidence of its own environment. I come to feel a bond with my surroundings, and with the beings I befriend along the way, a kind of kinship. They are designed to be wooed and to be loved, to be treated as individuals. I have no resistance to their charms. I become a part of the scenery, perhaps even part of the family — and this, perhaps, is the game’s great strength. It’s a fantasy that envelops me. Like the great trees that tower over this world, it entwines its roots and branches around me, squeezing out any thought of escape. As the game reaches a grand finale, I’m left with the satisfying knowledge that there is still much to explore, winkling out hidden gems and secrets. It’s one of those games that works for those who are happy sticking to the main quest, as well as completionists who want to see and collect everything. Some of the gem-collection challenges take practice and patience, but they are not required to complete the game. Fe is a magical, expansive and multi-hued world that creates a sense of marvel. Like a real-life walk in the woods, it is a thing of elemental beauty that demands to be inhaled and admired.