RiZ3R!

Name Game: ANCESTORS LEGACY - COMPLETE EDITION Price: 38.26 to 10.16 The Discount Rate: 73% Link Store: Steam Offer Ends Up After : IDK

accepted but make the work time 24h @[MC]Ronin[MC]

The new, eighth-generation Chevrolet Corvette delivers many impressive statistics. But none is more remarkable than the one with the dollar sign in front of it. Persuade an American dealer to sell the base car at its official MRSP list price - unlikely for several months at least - and it will cost just $59,995. This for a mid-engined 490 hp sportscar with performance that gets it close to supercar territory. Bargain is an overused term, but it's hard to think of any better way to describe the C8. Of course, there is no chance that any Corvette would ever officially reach the UK with the direct sterling equivalent of that pricetag; currently translating to around £49,000. Context is everything here, and in the 'States that means the entry-level C8 is cheaper than the $60,250 base Porsche 718 Boxster. Even selecting the plushest available 3LT trim package for $71,495 and adding both the $5000 Z51 performance pack (which brings a sports exhaust, a limited slip differential, bigger brakes, upgraded aero and Michelin Pilot Sport 4 tyres in place of standard all-seasons) and adding adaptive dampers for $1895 still brings in a fully laden 'Vette for less than the $81,950 Porsche charges for an unoptioned Cayman GTS 'Stateside While supercar makers can afford to throw exotic materials at structures, the C8 has been built around a far lower-cost aluminium structure. There are two carbonfibre parts to add strength in critical areas, one being a panel underneath the central "backbone", the other the rear bumper beam. Chevrolet claims the C8's structure is 19 percent stiffer than that of the C7. It is bigger, too. Indeed big, full stop: the 2723mm wheelbase in 248mm longer than that of the Cayman and the overall length of 4630mm makes it longer than almost any other mid-engined two-seater and 134mm longer than the front-engined C7. The advantage of that is the relatively spacious cabin and the added practicality of the rear luggage compartment. The C8 has also lost the transverse rear leaf spring of other recent 'Vettes, now having coil springs at each corner. Chevrolet has been talking about a mid-engined Corvette for several decades; the original plan was for the previous-generation C7 to make the switch until GM's bankruptcy in 2009 saw the project cancelled. While much about the C8 is new beyond the novelty of reversing the order of passengers and powerplant, much is familiar as well. Design riffs hard on the same themes, with a very similar sharky front end to that of the outgoing car and familiar rear lights. Exterior bodywork is still made from glassfibre, and the core of the mechanical package is the time-honoured 'small block' pushrod V8, this driving the rear wheels through an eight-speed twin clutch gearbox. First impressions are overwhelmingly positive, the new Corvette looking smart and well-finished, its cabin lacking the powerful aroma of resin and cheap plastic that characterised its predecessors. The car I drove in Michigan was a top-spec 3LT, with pretty much every easily-touched non-glass surface in the cabin being made from Alcantara, leather or carbonfibre. Ergonomics aren't entirely successful, the long row of switches for heating and ventilation between the front seats are hard to see and the driver's seat is mounted higher than the passenger's; even its lowest position feels too high. Headroom is also limited for taller drivers although - another Corvette trademark - the C8 remains a targa, with a lift-out roof panel. (A full convertible will be offered later.) The steering wheel is probably the squarest fitted to any car since the Austin Allegro and - to get the niggles out of the way - the long dashboard and shallow windscreen angle throw up lots of distracting reflections. Such grievances make a very modest heap next to the Corvette's considerable virtues; it is a hugely likeable car. GM's decision to stick with the pushrod V8 for the entry-level car is vindicated within a couple of minutes; while short on technical sophistication it is effective, willing and hugely charismatic. Despite the relocation, noise levels have actually fallen slightly, the C8 having much less of the low-frequency hum of previous Vettes. Throttle response is instant, mid-range is keen and although the engine only revs to 6600rpm, it sounds better in proximity to its limiter than some posher alternatives do hundreds or even thousands of revs higher.

A cheap and widely available drug could save hundreds of thousands of lives a year worldwide if it was routinely given to people brought into hospital with head injuries, UK doctors say. Tranexamic acid helps stop bleeding in and around the brain when blood vessels have been torn. A large international study in The Lancet now suggests it improves patient survival rates if given early enough. It cannot undo damage but can stop smaller bleeds becoming worse. Intravenous tranexamic acid is already used to treat patients with life-threatening bleeds from chest or abdomen injuries as well as women with dangerous bleeding after childbirth. I knew I was stunned' Pam Foley, an artist from Oxford, is one of the patients who took part in the study, led by the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine (LSHTM). Some of the 12,000 head-injury patients in the trial were given the drug while others were given a dummy injection or placebo. Pam does not know which she received but is grateful she was able to take part. After falling off her bicycle, she had fractured her skull and cheek bone and was bleeding from her head. She said: "All I remember is one minute on my bike, next minute on the ground trying to get up. "I knew I was stunned but I didn't realise how much I had hurt myself. "There were people around me, fortunately, who were so kind, and somebody called the ambulance." Pam lost her sense of smell and taste after the head injury and they have not returned - but, overall, she said, she felt very fortunate with her recovery. How it works Tranexamic acid stops blood clots from breaking down. The drug appeared to work when given up to three hours after the head injury, reducing the risk of death for some patients. The treatment is not effective for everyone. While it can help patients with mild or moderate brain trauma, people with very severe head injuries are unlikely to benefit from it, the researchers say. The price of the drug varies slightly around the world - a course of treatment in the UK would cost about £6.20 per patient. One of the lead investigators, Prof Haleema Shakur, from the LSHTM, said: "The results are just amazing. It's the first trial to ever show that a [medical] treatment can reduce the risk of traumatic brain injury patients dying. "This is the first time that we have seen a beneficial effect. It will have huge implications worldwide. "It's a widely available drug, it's relatively cheap and it's really simple to give." Co-researcher Dr Ben Bloom, consultant in emergency medicine at Barts Health NHS Trust, said: "Treating traumatic brain injury is extremely challenging, with very few treatment options available for patients. "Thanks to these latest results, which are applicable to patients with head injuries of any cause and of all demographics, clinicians now have a potentially powerful new treatment available to them." Dr Nicola Magrini, from the World Health Organization, said it would carefully evaluate the findings and consider whether to add tranexamic acid for head injuries to its Essential Medicines List - drugs it considers important enough to be made widely available to patients across the world.

Russia has said it will not allow clashes between Turkish and Syrian forces, as Turkey's military offensive in northern Syria continues. "This would simply be unacceptable... and therefore we will not allow it, of course," said Moscow's special envoy for Syria, Alexander Lavrentyev. The withdrawal of US troops from the region, announced last week, gave Turkey a "green light", critics say. Russia is a key military ally of Syrian leader Bashar al-Assad. Bowen: Trump's pullback reshapes war UK government Turkish halts arms exports The people caught in the middle in northern Syria Offensive explained in four maps Mr Lavrentyev, during a visit to the United Arab Emirates, described Turkey's offensive as "unacceptable". He said Turkish and Syrian officials were in contact to avoid any conflict. And Russia's defence ministry said its forces, which have been deployed in Syria since 2015, were patrolling along the "line of contact" between Syrian and Turkish forces. How did we get here? The Turkish offensive, which began last week, aims to push the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) from the border region. Turkey considers the biggest militia in the SDF a terrorist organisation. The Turkish government wants to create a "safe zone" in the area, where it can resettle Syrian refugees currently in Turkey. Many of them are not Kurds and critics warn this could lead to ethnic cleansing of the local Kurdish po[CENSORED]tion. Dozens of civilians have been killed in the operation so far and at least 160,000 have fled the area, according to the UN. Kurdish-led forces have been a key ally of the US in the fight against the Islamic State (IS) group in Syria. They described the US withdrawal, which preceded Turkish action, as a "stab in the back". There are fears the destabilisation could risk a resurgence of IS, as thousands of former fighters and their relatives are being detained in northern Syria. Hundreds of IS family members are said to have already escaped from one camp. Some aid organisations have been forced to suspend operations and evacuate international staff over security fears. Facing immense pressure, Kurdish-led forces announced a deal on Sunday with the Syrian government for military support to help repel Turkey. Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan insists the operation will continue until his country's "objectives have been achieved" despite the involvement of Syrian government forces. President Donald Trump also phoned his Turkish counterpart to demand an immediate truce, Vice-President Mike Pence said. Mr Pence said he would travel to the region "as quickly as possible". What is happening in Syria? Following the deal with Kurdish-led forces, the Syrian army began to move towards the border on Monday. The deal is seen as a boost for Syrian President Bashar al-Assad as it meant his troops would return to north-eastern areas for the first time since 2012, when their withdrawal to fight rebels elsewhere allowed Kurdish militias to take control. Despite disagreeing with their attempts at self-rule, Mr Assad did not seek to retake the territory, especially after the Kurds became partners in the coalition against IS with US troops on the ground. Apart from fighting IS, the Kurds were fundamental to the US in limiting the influence of rivals Russia and Iran and keeping some leverage on the ground. Syrian government forces have entered the strategic town of Manbij, inside the area where Turkey wants to create its "safe zone". Turkish troops and pro-Turkish, anti-government fighters had been gathering near the town. Will Islamic State re-emerge? Orphaned siblings rescued from Syrian camp Turkey v Syria's Kurds explained Your questions answered 'We have no friends but the mountains' For now, Syrian forces will not be deployed between Tal Abyad and Ras al-Ain, where Turkey has focused its efforts. Why does Manbij matter? Turkey has threatened the city since Kurdish-led forces liberated it from IS in 2016. Manbij lies close to the border, and Turkey counts the Kurdish militias in Syria as terrorist organisations. Over the past two years, hundreds of US troops have visibly patrolled the streets of the city. In March 2017, the Pentagon deployed soldiers to the area - and unlike in other parts of Syria, they flew US flags from vehicles to visibly deter a Turkish operation and reassure both sides. It was on such a patrol that a suicide bomber killed four US soldiers in Manbij earlier this year. But the deployment has now come to a rapid end. On Tuesday, US military spokesman Col Myles B Caggins wrote on Twitter: "Coalition forces are executing a deliberate withdrawal from northeast Syria. We are out of Manbij." Syrian government forces and their Russian allies have quickly moved in. A video posted on Twitter shows a Russian war reporter inside what was the US military camp, with equipment seemingly abandoned in the rush to leave the area. War-weary Syrians in Manbij wait to learn fate According to the Russian defence ministry, Syrian government forces have now taken control of more than 1,000 square kilometres around Manbij. Photos from the scene show military vehicles flying both Syrian and Russian flags entering the city. It marks a dramatic change in the Syrian civil war, just over a week after President Trump announced a US troop withdrawal from the border.

There are 3 methods that may solve this Method 1: Making sure you’re using the right microphone Before you dive into one of the other potential fixes that are a little more technical, let’s get the obvious things out of the way. Some users have reported fixing the issue after discovering that the microphone used by steam was different than the active microphone. This issue is quite a common occurrence among users who are frequently switching from their built-in microphone to a headset mic. Here’s a quick guide to using the Steam menu to make sure that you’re using the right microphone: 1: Open Steam then click the Steam menu in the menu bar and choose Settings 2: In the Settings menu, go to Voice and check out the currently used microphone under Recording (audio input) device. If the microphone is different than the one that you’re using, click on Change device. 3: Select the microphone that you’re actively using and then hit the Set Default button. 4: Test the voice chat feature and see if the issue has been resolved. If you’re still struggling with the same issue, continue with the following methods below. METHOD 2 :Sing Out of Steam from other computers Some users have reported being able to resolve the issue after realizing that the Steam account was actively being used on a different computer. In this case, the solution was to sign out of the other computer. Upon doing this, most users have reported that they instantly regain their voice chat function on their Steam accounts. Think long and hard if there’s any chance that your account is being used on a different computer. And if it is, sign off on it to regain the voice chat feature. Note: If you don’t have access to the PC that is using your account, changing the password will automatically disconnect the account from the other PC. If this method hasn’t resolved your issue or wasn’t applicable to your situation, proceed to the method below METHOD 3 : Turning off audio ehnancements f the first method wasn’t effective (or not applicable), let’s see if the issue is caused by the built-in Windows Audio Enhancement features. A lot of users have reported fixing the issue after managing to disable audio enhancements. Here’s a quick guide on how to do this: 1: Right-click on the volume icon (bottom-right corner) and choose Recording devices 2: Select your active microphone and click the Properties button. 3: Go to the Advanced tab and make sure the box associated with Enable audio enhancements is turned Off. 4: Reboot your computer and test your microphone on Steam. It should function without issue.

INFO Darksiders II is an action role-playing[3][4] hack and slash action-adventure video game developed by Vigil Games and published by THQ. It is the sequel to Darksiders and was released in August 2012 for Microsoft Windows, PlayStation 3, Xbox 360[5] and as a launch title for Wii U upon the console's Australian, European, and North American release in November 2012. The story follows the efforts of player character Death to clear the name of his brother, War, who stands accused of wiping out humanity. A remastered version, titled Darksiders II: Deathinitive Edition, was published by Nordic Games for the PlayStation 4, Xbox One and Microsoft Windows in 2015, and ported to the Nintendo Switch in 2019. A parallel sequel, Darksiders III, was released on November 27, 2018. GAMEPLAY First comes War; then comes Death. Appropriately enough, Darksiders II turns its eyes from its predecessor's protagonist to a new one: Death himself, War's brother and one of the four horsemen of the apocalypse. His story plays out over the same time period as War's, but Darksiders II's narrative isn't so much about plot as it is about place and tone. The original Darksiders set a darkly fantastical mood, but the sequel hones its edges. The armor is still chunky and the sound of steel on steel still rings across battle arenas, but the skies are more ominous, the shadows grimmer, and the architecture sharper, as if every spire threatens to puncture the heavens and make them bleed. And so Darksiders II draws you in not by narrative, in spite of its characters' frequent and raspy soliloquizing. Rather, it uses sights and sounds to impress upon you the importance of your deeds. While one level harks back to the angels-versus-demons, Christian apocalypse themes of the original game, Darksiders II springs forth from a more inventive vision. The dusky dungeons and desert expanses are more diverse than before, and the character designs are more imaginative, as if they've wandered in from biblical legends you've never heard. The characters you meet--undead rulers and impossibly proportioned behemoths among them--speak with humorless gravity, and Death often responds with a sneer and a verbal challenge. The joylessness of Darksiders II's characters is a contrast to the pleasure of existing in this world. An icy opening introduces you to the basics of combat and movement. In traditional action game style, you slash away at clawed creatures with primary and secondary weapons. You run along walls and jump across beams like a devilish Prince of Persia. But most importantly--and in contrast to the original--your enemies drop coins, armor, and weapons. You can don equipment, sell it to a merchant, or sacrifice it to level up rare possessed weapons, which you can customize at certain thresholds. If the original Darksiders was an action/adventure/puzzle game, then the addition of loot drops role-playing elements into that mix, which brings to mind a potential concern: Darksiders was already a heavy mixture of recipes that had come before, recalling games like The Legend of Zelda, God of War, and even Portal. There were so many mechanics and so many tools to keep track of that the game struggled to find its own identity. In Darksiders II, a funny thing happens on the way to the apocalypse: it establishes an identity all its own, rather than one defined through the games that inspired its existence. The game's expanded scope (about twice as big as the first game) and thoughtful pace (about twice as long as the first game) are most responsible for this. You now have a chance to breathe between battles, and each new mechanic has time to settle in before a new one is introduced. The more leisurely sense of pace is obvious from the very beginning. Darksiders' first hour was front-loaded with explosions, angelic cries, and the bloodcurdling sights of demonic forces swarming across the earth. Here, there are moments to take in the frozen chasms beneath you, and to enjoy the slick new motion mechanics that have you defying gravity in heady flights of fancy. (You won't miss War's wings in light of Death's fleet-footedness.) You might miss the up-front barrage of action at first, but Darksiders II is more about adventure than constant onslaught, though there are plenty of battles waiting ahead. As you ride your steed to the first main dungeon, you can relish the green fields of the first of multiple major regions, and simply enjoy the act of being. If you want, you can explore some of the surrounding ruins, where treasure chests protect valuable pauldrons and cloaks. Or you can slash up the baddies that roam the land, even from atop your horse. But once you get into the dungeons, Darksiders II becomes special--more cerebral than your average action game, and more energetic than your average exploration game. As expected, each dungeon requires that you puzzle out how to get from one point to the next. At first, this involves scaling walls, throwing the naturally occurring bombs you stumble upon, and pulling a few levers. Then, you get a phantom grapple hook that allows you to swing from glowing hooks and extend your wall runs. Later, you split yourself in three, petrifying your main form and using two doppelgangers to stand on switches and move platforms. Ultimately, you fire portals to travel across great ravines and even through time itself--and these are hardly the extent of the tools you use to make progress through Darksiders II's clever self-contained puzzles. Where the original Darksiders' puzzles could drag, Darksiders II's are more expertly crafted, each one a little more difficult than the last--but never too difficult as to be frustrating. The learning curve is silky smooth, and once you reach the final dungeons, there are some outstanding moments when puzzling out a solution makes you feel remarkably smart. It's a tough tightrope for a developer to balance: making environmental puzzles feel challenging without becoming a roadblock to progression. Darksiders II's dungeons get it just right, giving you enough hints through camera angles and other subtle cues, and then trusting you to work out the solution. The only cue you can't rely on too heavily is your crow, Dust, who is supposed to point out your final destination should you get stuck, but might lead you astray, or flutter high above you and then teleport back. Fortunately, you won't often need Dust's services, given each dungeon's natural progression. Nor will you need to worry about using a spinning blade to play connect-the-bombs, which was part of Darksiders' less appealing puzzles. You also needn't constantly fiddle with menus to switch between items and abilities, which is just as well, considering the sluggish menu performance. Given the sheer breadth of abilities, you still do a bit of controller micromanagement; you might need to switch between an ability and your revolver often in a particular level, for instance, though the related ability wheel is easily accessed with the D-pad. Nevertheless, managing your abilities and equipment is smoother than it was in the original. That isn't to say that Darksiders II's combat is all that challenging on normal difficulty, though it is more energetic than in the original. No longer can you whittle down a demon's health and perform a single-button finishing move almost every time. You can still perform such finishers, but they are far less common, though some equipment can raise your chances. Provided you have enough health potions (and there's no reason you shouldn't, given your easy wealth), you won't often feel in danger. Even certain bosses can be conquered in a single go, in contrast with Darksiders' more challenging endeavors. That's a particularly disappointing development when you reach the final monstrosity and realize it's an anticlimactic pushover. The challenge is hit-and-miss, but the thrills are unmistakable. Easy as many are, the bosses are often enormous in scale, and some require the use of your special abilities--your grapple, for instance--to succeed. With only a couple of exceptions, Darksiders II doesn't use quick-time events to elicit excitement: the torrents of blood that spew across the screen are the direct result of your combos and volcanic fury. The biggest battles are pure power fantasy, reinforced by Death's ever-more-threatening armor and ever-more-potent weapons. Even the way Death opens doors and chests is part of this power trip, with the horseman summoning ghostly arms to perform such lowly labors. Stuck? All you have to do is look around, and the answers become clear. If you want to further beat your chest and bellow, you can do so in the crucible, where you earn new equipment--or sacrifice it for the possibility of better loot--by taking on progressively stronger waves of baddies. Alas, you won't feel so powerful when coming head-to-head with Darksiders II's uncommon (but pace-breaking) execution foibles. Sluggish menus and occasional loading hitches aren't major issues, but annoying ones. Ditto for some invisible walls and unhelpful camera angles during platforming sequences. More important are the system crashes possible--though not inevitable--while playing the Xbox 360 version. Don't let the scattered execution snafus be of great concern: Darksiders II is remarkably well put together, particularly in light of its impressive scope. Bigger doesn't mean better, of course, but this isn't a "more of the same, just bigger" kind of sequel. The game uses its expansive geography to cultivate a poetic tempo in which your intellectual triumphs are rewarded with the immediate pleasures of fleet-footed platforming and demonic brutality. In Darksiders II, Death is not an end, but rather, a portal to a memorable saga of snarling brutes and stolen souls. TRAILER

INFO ar Cry 3: Blood Dragon is a first-person shooter video game developed by Ubisoft Montreal and published by Ubisoft for the for PlayStation 3, Microsoft Windows and Xbox 360 in 2013. It is a stand-alone expansion to the 2012 video game Far Cry 3 and the eighth overall installment in the Far Cry franchise. Blood Dragon, a parody of 1980s action films, cartoons and video games, takes place on a retro-futuristic open world island with players assuming the action role of the military cyborg Sergeant Rex "Power" Colt. The game received generally positive reviews upon release. GAMEPLAY Great 1980s movie montages featured plucky underdogs, perhaps played by Sylvester Stallone, or maybe Ralph Macchio, demonstrating their determination to triumph over the forces of communism, bullying, or stodgy adults who don't believe in the power of young love. They were accompanied by properly cheesy pop hits, possibly performed by Joe Esposito, or maybe Deniece Williams, creating a wonderful audiovisual time capsule that could have only originated in that fabulous decade. Far Cry 3: Blood Dragon understands the power of the '80s. When its inevitable montage comes, you probably won't know the music, but you'll know the type. It's the kind that would have been sung by Michael Sembello, or Kenny Loggins, or Foreigner. If you're a child of the decade, you'll be glad that Blood Dragon knows you so well. Don't worry, though: if the 1980s are before your time, or if you don't retain any nostalgia for the decade of parachute pants and the Brat Pack, Blood Dragon stands on its own without relying on references, though it packs in plenty of them. This downloadable spin-off of 2012's Far Cry 3 is a fantastically entertaining first-person shooter with more clever dialogue and action-packed hours than most full-priced games. At $15, it's a better deal than every Cabbage Patch Kid you ever loved, every Tears for Fears record you ever spun, and every Muppet Babies episode you ever viewed. Combined. Well, perhaps Blood Dragon isn't quite that valuable. Nevertheless, it's hard not to be charmed from the moment it begins. Low-resolution cutscenes introduce you to Rex Colt, cybercommando. Rex is voiced by '80s mainstay Michael Biehn, better known for appearing in films like The Terminator (as Kyle Reese) and Aliens (as Dwayne Hicks). Biehn's forced rasp is the perfect complement to Rex's nationalist badassery, and his sincere line delivery makes several scenes all the more hysterical. Consider this dialogue: "I swore an oath to a special lady. Lady Liberty. She taught me that winners don't use drugs." It's a corny line right out of a War on Drugs-era public service announcement, but in the context of an offer to have dragon blood injected into Rex's veins. Meanwhile, you "rent" (that is, collect) VHS tapes of movies with titles like Bourne to Dance; this particular film features a special teacher showing his student "the kind of love he's never known before…the love of dance." You don't need to know the '80s to get Rex's repeated oral sex gags, of which there are far too many. Nor do you need to know the past to understand that calls of "no" during a consensual sex scene would have been inappropriate in any decade. Luckily, most of the jokes aren't so juvenile, including video game cracks that make fun of red exploding barrels, game-violence controversies, and even Ubisoft's own games, like Far Cry 3 and Assassin's Creed. (Listen for bits of throwaway dialogue about girls with tribal tattoos and feather collecting.) The tutorial sets the tone straight away, telling you to press a button "to demonstrate your ability to read," and loading screens helpfully inform you that if you need a hint, perhaps the next loading screen will have one for you. Not every joke is so obvious--you may not notice or get nods to erotic artists and prison documentaries--but the gags are there, making Blood Dragon one of the funniest games in recent memory. Of course, an '80s-focused game wouldn't be complete if it didn't look the part, and Blood Dragon certainly makes proper homage to its inspiration. Cutscenes look as if they could have been ripped right out of the original Metal Gear, or Shadow of the Beast, complete with the muddy reds, purples, and blues that characterized them. The same color scheme, in turn, infuses the first-person gameplay, as if you're traversing the game's medium-size island while wearing dark magenta sunglasses. Small audiovisual touches, such as the way Rex sometimes takes a blowtorch to his cybernetic arm when healing, and buzzing sounds to indicate Rex's part-mechanical nature, enthusiastically sell the roboapocalyptic setting. And by the final hour, which lends a sly twist to common action-game power trips, you'll appreciate how Blood Dragon uses nostalgia and humor to say something about the state of modern shooters. Blood Dragon isn't just an homage to great memories, however, but a terrific game in its own right. If you played Far Cry 3, you will recognize the structure. Enemy bases are strewn about the island you explore, and by annihilating all of the enemies that patrol them, either silently or forcefully, you convert them to your cybernetic cause. Meanwhile, you move from mission to mission, infiltrating dams and rescuing endangered trash-talking scientists, using semi-futuristic variants of familiar weapons--a sniper rifle, an assault rifle, a bow, and so forth--that handle like their standard Far Cry 3 counterparts. In time, you upgrade most of these weapons; your sniper rifle's bullets gain an explosive charge, your shotgun gets a flaming kick, and so on. You earn access to weapon upgrades by finding collectibles and performing side missions, and you earn other enhancements, such as the ability to perform silent takedowns on heavies wielding flamethrowers, by leveling up. There is no skill tree or anything like that: when you cross the necessary level threshold, you gain new skills automatically. You'll be glad of those enhancements, too, particularly when coming face-to-face with one of the game's titular blood dragons. These beasts are dinosaurs that shoot laser beams from their eyes, and they're a wonder to behold in action. As it turns out, it's not as difficult as you might think to take one down, but the first time you learn of the dragons, you sneak by a trio of them and then witness one zap a bunch of enemy combatants into dust. You might be engulfed by terror the first time you go head-to-head with one, but dragons are only major threats on hard difficulty. They're still fun to face as you roam the open-air island, though, even on medium difficulty. They charge toward you when you make your presence known and give you a powerful swat, and then they rear up before firing their eye-lasers at you, giving you a chance to sprint out of the way. Several story missions have you facing one or two of them in closer quarters than usual, which ramps up the tension. The only downside to facing a blood dragon is the actual act of defeating it: the dragon simply disappears into thin air and an explosion of goo follows, but without any animations or effects tying the two events together. It's an anticlimactic end to a hectic battle. Such battles are made more hectic when you simultaneously confront gunners and snipers, but in this case, you can toss the gooey hearts you collect from downed foes to direct the dragon's attention toward your enemies. It's a distinct pleasure to watch dragons scoop up adversaries with their mouths and chomp away, and in the case of a facility takeover, you might get a dragon to do all the legwork for you. You're just as likely to charge into battle yourself, however, if for no other reason than to enjoy the solid shooting, or to take an entirely stealthy approach. Just like its forebears, Far Cry 3: Blood Dragon makes any approach viable and fun. In fact, getting all sneaky is more satisfying here than in the original Far Cry 3, in part because you can perform chained takedowns from the very beginning. It's a gruesome delight to stab multiple enemies in a row, and then finish off one final soldier with the throw of a shuriken. Blood Dragon's multilevel bases are larger than Far Cry 3's outposts, and enemies are spaced out in sensible ways, allowing you to move in for the silent kill using a number of different approaches. In a few levels, enemy animations can go missing, or a hulking soldier might unnaturally zoom into a different location, which can trip up your plans. Thankfully, such instances are rare, and aren't likely to dilute the stealthy satisfaction. TRAILER

INFO Dear Esther is a first-person exploration and adventure video game developed by The Chinese Room for Microsoft Windows, Mac OS X, PlayStation 4 and Xbox One. First released in 2008 as a free-to-play modification for the Source game engine, the game was entirely redeveloped for a commercial release in 2012. Featuring minimalistic gameplay, the player's only objective in the game is to explore an unnamed island in the Hebrides, listening to a troubled man read a series of letters to his deceased wife. Details of her mysterious death are revealed as the player moves throughout the island. The Chinese Room released a spiritual successor to Dear Esther, titled Everybody's Gone to the Rapture, in 2015. In 2017 an updated version, Dear Esther: Landmark Edition was released, based on the Unity engine. GAMEPLAY Dear Esther is not a video game; at least, not in the traditional sense. In 2008, it was released for the PC as a Half-Life 2 mod. Now, it has been rereleased as a stand-alone product with updated visuals and remastered audio. It casts you as a person stranded on a lonely island. At first, it seems you are the narrator, whose voice chimes in as you explore. However, even this easy assumption is called into question as the pieces of the narrator's story come together. If met with an open mind, Dear Esther can intrigue you with its haunting tale You're more of an observer than a participant in Dear Esther, walking and listening and doing little else. It's devoid of enemies to test your reflexes, and the only puzzles are those built into the story. The singular goal is exploration, albeit along a linear path. Your journey begins on a shoreline, staring out into the endless sea. Then, the narrator interjects. His voice--that of a seemingly middle-aged, well-spoken Englishman--is your only companion. He recounts events from his life, both past and present, that lead up to his incarceration on the island. These snippets are automatically triggered as you progress, and their delivery is excellent. The lyrical prose blends exposition with poetry, and the articulate delivery injects hints of frustration and melancholy. Together, they form a consistent tone as somber and beautiful as the island itself. Dear Esther's visual update renders it almost unrecognizable from what it was four years ago. While the setting is realistic, Dear Esther plays with light and color in a way that makes each section feel distinct and, at times, otherworldly. Eventually, you learn of the island's previous inhabitants and their toils. That, in turn, informs your own situation. As you start constructing what's really going on, more questions are raised than can be answered. Am I dreaming? Why am I here? Am I the narrator? One of the tale's few certainties is the significance of the distant, blinking radio tower, which is rarely out of view. Dear Esther is more of an experience than a game. You are intended to experience and internalize everything around you and form your own conclusions about what's happening. The story in Dear Esther works well in video game form--possibly more than as a book or movie. Obviously, the narration and images could be conveyed in either medium, but video games allow for pacing and discovery that would be impossible to reproduce elsewhere. The narrative is intentionally ambiguous, and it is flexible enough to accommodate what you see or don't see. An old photo coupled with a simple candle could go completely unnoticed by some, along with the insight that could be drawn. Split paths and side routes are common. And while most lead to dead ends, the additional narration or imagery gained could help shape Dear Esther's outcome. Revisiting previously completed areas will sometimes produce new lines of dialogue as well. Depending on how much time you invest, you can flesh out the world in impressive and intriguing ways that could be ignored by someone who rushes through. For the most part, the story is expertly told, but there is one stumbling block along the way. At one key juncture, control is wrestled away from you, and the transition is immensely unwelcome. After spending hours unraveling the tale at your own pace, this is a jarring intrusion that hurts the suspension of disbelief. It's a shame a more creative solution couldn't have been implemented since this one scene ultimately couldn't end any other way. Dear Esther's somber tale is a fine companion to a stormy evening and a hot beverage. In the right setting, with the right mindset, it can be engrossing in a way that few games can. Going in, you may question if Dear Esther should even be classified as a game. But that question slowly fades the more hours you sink into this adventure. Instead, you question the existence of your character and the fate of the island, showing that semantic inquiries aren't nearly as interesting as a well-told tale. TRAILER

INFO Sid Meier's Civilization VI is a turn-based strategy 4X video game developed by Firaxis Games, published by 2K Games, and distributed by Take-Two Interactive. The latest entry into the Civilization series, it was released on Microsoft Windows and macOS in October 2016, with later ports for Linux in February 2017,[1] iOS in December 2017, and Nintendo Switch, the game's only console release, in November 2018. PlayStation 4 and Xbox One ports are planned in November 2019. GAMEPLAY The original Civilization came out in 1991. I was five years old at the time. I didn't fully grasp the game's historical underpinnings or strategic subtleties, but I do remember playing with my dad and racing to build catapults before other leaders had a chance to expand their empires too far. Because even though the first game laid the groundwork not just for future Civ titles but for the strategy genre as a whole, it was, essentially, a glorified arms race. Yes, you could found cities, build world wonders, and unlock new options through technological research, but inevitably, combat played a central role. Just like a real civilization, however, the franchise evolved over time, gradually grafting new ideas onto its classic framework--a process that’s now culminated in Civilization VI: the deepest, most well-rounded base game the series has ever seen. More than ever, every win condition feels equally rich and equally viable, whether you’re pursuing culture, religion, science, or domination. You can build arts districts that allow you to more quickly accrue culture points and attract great artists. You can create new religious units like apostles to more efficiently spread your gospel to world. You can use the builder unit in new ways to better capitalize on the resources that surround your cities, accelerating humanity’s ascent into space. And of course, you can still amass a formidable army, but even warfare presents new considerations that force you to lean on other systems beyond battle tactics. Maintaining military units, for example, is expensive, but picking trade routes with a high gold yield helps mitigate the financial impact. War weariness will eventually lead your po[CENSORED]tion to revolt, but using diplomacy to squeeze luxury resources out of your allies can quell rebellion. And espionage, now deeper than ever, lets you not only place spies but pick specific missions for them to carry out. Civ 6 is packed with added nuances that enrich existing systems, but it also makes some major changes, the biggest of which is “unstacking” cities. Rather than occupy a single tile on the world map, cities now sprawl outward, allowing you to capitalize on each city’s specific surroundings--assuming you exercise some serious foresight. Certain structures, for example, function more efficiently on specific types of land, while others can only be built if certain typographical demands are met. Not only does this change the way you consider the board, it also adds a new strategic layer that fills a gap and creates greater variety in the types of thinking Civ demands. You’ll find a host of slightly smaller but equally smart changes as well. You can now tailor your government to your specific playstyle by earning various policy cards that impact everything from war weariness to cultural output. Civics replace social policies and now function identically to technologies: pick one from an expansive tree, spend a few turns researching it, and unlock new cultural possibilities like theocracy or globalization. And with the addition of active research, you can cut research time in half by meeting specific, logical conditions tied to individual Techs and Civics--settling next to a coast will boost your research in sailing, for instance. This practice ensures an advantage for vigilant players. Smart though these changes may be, they are accompanied by several notable imperfections. Tourism, for example, is the metric by which Cultural Victories are measured, yet the math behind it is esoteric at best. Missionaries and other religious units are similarly opaque. Though I did manage a Cultural Victory during one match, it required some frustrating trial-and-error guesswork, and Religious Victories seem slightly too easy to achieve once you uncover the ideal method for maximizing your output. And while you could argue that commerce and diplomacy facilitate every win condition, it’s a shame neither serves as a win condition itself. The UI could also use a few refinements. There's absolutely no rhyme or reason to "Unit needs orders" notification, for example. Rather than directing your attention to units already on screen, it arbitrarily whips around the map, seeming highlighting units at random. I experienced a few performance hitches as well, like noticable delays between selecting the Civics menu and the menu actually appearing on screen. Nothing I experienced ever became intolerable, thankfully; my frustrations generally topped out at "annoyed." And other aspects of the presentation--most notably the instrumental score and Sean Bean's excellent voice work--definitely won me over. Perhaps most crucially, though, opponent AI proved to be a bit of a mix. Catherine Medici was clever enough to preemptively declare war against me when she saw my troops massing at her border, and even brought anti-cavalry units to take down my tanks. Cleopatra, on the other hand, seemed to capriciously switch strategies--from religion to domination and back again--and just floundered uselessly as a result. If nothing else, the new agenda system does imbue each leader with a discernable playstyle, and when one denounced me, the game explicitly told me why, making diplomacy a more straightforward affair. And even on higher difficulties, none of opponents broke a treaty or attacked me arbitrarily. In fact, I spent an entire match trading with Norway without issue. Adjustable match parameters return as well, allowing you to adjust not only the difficulty but also the number of opponents, the presence of barbarians, and the overall map size. That last one is especially crucial since the "standard" size has decreased, most likely to force more interaction. Playing on larger maps with fewer opponents seems to work just fine, though. International trade takes longer and territorial expansion is far easier, but the game still plays largely the same. Civ 6 has a few rough edges, but they’re pushed far into the periphery by spectacular strategic depth and intricate interlocking nuances. Any frustrations I experienced were immediately eclipsed by my desire to continue playing. Just one more turn, every turn, forever. TRAILER

Name Game: Sid Meier’s Civilization® VI Price: 44.99 to 13.49 The Discount Rate: 70% Link Store: Steam Offer Ends Up After : OCT 21

Name Game: Hell Let Loose Price: 29.99 to 23.99 The Discount Rate: 20% Link Store: Steam Offer Ends Up After : OCT 17

The maths is simple. Frankfurt and its biennial motor show lie 501 miles from Autocar Towers in Twickenham, according to Google Maps. This Jaguar I-Pace, Autocar’s long-term test car, has an official range of 298 miles. So you can work out for yourself how many re-charge stops might be needed – in theory – to get to Frankfurt. But we’re more interested in how such a road trip for one of the new breed of long-range electric cars like the I-Pace will pan out in practice. What makes the journey a feasible proposition this year is the growing number of fast-charging stations that promise to reload the I-Pace’s 90kWh battery in under an hour. We are going to use exclusively the fast-charger network run by Ionity, newly established by car makers as their version of Tesla’s Supercharger network and intended to facilitate exactly what Autocar is attempting: a cross-Continent journey by battery-electric vehicle (BEV). Planning the journey is a challenge in itself. Ionity’s chargers are placed around 85 to 100 miles apart and, given that the I-Pace’s real-world range appears to be 200 miles, it’s a tricky balance to decide how far to push the stops. OUR VERDICT Jaguar I-Pace Jaguar I-Pace 2018 road test review hero front It looks the part, promises 0-60mph in 4.5sec, has a near-300 mile range, and is among the first luxury EVs to arrive from an established brand. Can the I-Pace topple Tesla? Good news at the first Ionity charge-up on the M20 services at Maidstone. All goes well with the charger technology, which works smoothly after the New Motion RFID card unlocks the pump and electrons flow at a rate of just under 1kWh per minute. I pump in 36kWh in 48 minutes and then head towards Belgium with a 187-mile range, enough for a 60-mile buffer, and a confident feeling about the drive to Shell Wetteren. The sole glitch is locating the chargers inside the service area because there are no signs. This emerges as an ongoing challenge: none of the five charging areas I use has signs. It doesn’t matter at some because they can be seen easily, but at others, it’s a matter of driving around hoping to find them. Exiting the Chunnel, I feel a sense of relief that the Continental part of the journey can start in earnest and the I-Pace settles into the traffic at around 70-80mph, giving us a chance to absorb how brilliant a cruiser it is. The seats are really comfortable, the ride is supple yet planted and progress is super-quiet, with only the gentle rush of air over the body and a little tyre noise audible. It definitely feels like a luxury car. I arrive at Shell Wetteren with 50 miles of range and 25% battery, more confirmation that 200 miles is the real-world range to plan around. After six hours on the go, I decide on a longer stop than is maybe ideal for rapid progress. So with a relaxed 55-minute charge, the I-Pace gets 57kWh of charge and a 93% battery: 190 miles of range. At this point – 4pm on Sunday with another fast-charge in the schedule – I wish that my overnight stop in Liège, 92 miles away, had ‘destination charging’ for a slow overnight top-up. Instead, I must stop on the outskirts of Liège to take sufficient range for the 106-mile drive on Monday morning to my first charge-up in Germany. My mood sinks as I arrive at Ionity’s Bierset site near Liège airport. Located at a truck stop, the shop/toilet block is shut, the chargers are located on the truck side of the parking area and it feels unfriendly and desolate. The smell of the drains is also overpowering. I’m grateful the technology once more works smoothly, but putting myself in the mindset of the owner of an £80k cutting-edge BEV, I think I’d avoid this site in future. Unfortunately, I’m committed to using it on my return journey. Well rested overnight, I’m on the road by 7am on Monday, day two, with that immovable deadline of the press conference at 1.30pm. The I-Pace and Ionity charging network are now real business tools. Driving conditions are much more serious, too, with the autobahn packed with cars and trucks single-mindedly heading to their destinations. Heavy rush-hour traffic around Cologne puts me behind schedule and not for the first time do I curse the I-Pace’s slow-witted sat-nav as I struggle to locate Ionity’s Bad Honnef charging station, approached via a loop of local roads and tricky junctions, well away from the A9 autobahn south of Bonn. Again, the charger works a treat and the I-Pace drinks up the charge. This is a long stop as I take on 44kWh because my Frankfurt hotel has no destination charging so my return to the UK has to start with charge already picked up in Bad Honnef. The discrepancy between charging rates at different locations also comes into focus: Wetteren was a 55-minute charge for 57kWh; Bad Honnef is 51 minutes for 44kWh. We arrive at Frankfurt, and with work at the show out of the way, the next task is a photo shoot with Autocar snapper Olgun Kordal. This reduces the car’s range to 57 miles, with 44 miles to the first Ionity fast-charger on the return leg to the UK. I probably shouldn’t be concerned and should trust in the technology, but I can’t shake the range anxiety. Economy driving mode is selected alongside 80km/h (50mph) on the cruise control to preserve range. This works and I roll into Bingen services in euphoric mood – with 25 miles still in the battery! I’m learning lessons about cross-continent BEV driving. It may well be better to roll at a slower pace and save time otherwise taken up by charging. I just need an in-car app to do the maths for me. The drive across Germany now takes on a sweet rhythm. I’m on a northwesterly route home through the Eifel mountains, traffic is light and the speeds are good. On one derestricted and gently downhill section, there’s even a chance to max the I-Pace at an indicated 129mph, 4mph above the official top speed. Obviously, charge depletes at a faster rate, but there’s no ill effect on the three-stop strategy as I arrive in Ghent for a final overnight stop. A pleasant surprise comes in the shape of an unused 7kW charger in the hotel car park, so I grab a chance to ‘destination charge’, urged on by the hotelier, who is an electric car enthusiast, and top up the range to a full 200 miles for the run back to London, where I arrive at lunchtime on Thursday. In many ways, this trip was so very remarkable. Just two years ago, it would have been impractical. Yet the speed at which Ionity has set up its network now makes it a reality and the charging hardware worked 100% reliably for me. The cost was low, too. At €8 per charge, total energy costs were £64 for 1064 miles. A 50mpg diesel car would have cost twice that. Time is a concern, though. Seven hours were taken up by charging, but smarter planning might reduce that. Better signage would enhance ease of use and fewer truck stop locations would improve the experience. There’s also work to be done on intervals between chargers and I reckon at least two fewer stops would have been possible given a wider choice of locations. A long-haul trip like this would also be much more relaxing with guaranteed destination charging because that would have eliminated another two stops. But the biggest improvement in the future will be integrating in-car sat-nav with on-board range data and charger location finding to make planning the trip and responding on route to battery charge levels much easier. Right now, cross-Continental motoring is here and doable with the Ionity network. For Autocar readers who haven’t attempted such a trip, it’s a new challenge that’s worth accepting.

UK doctors are being told to stop prescribing four types of a heartburn medication called Zantac or ranitidine as a "precautionary measure". It follows concern in several countries that products may contain an impurity that has been linked to cancer. The four being recalled are Zantac 150mg/10ml Syrup, Zantac 50mg/2ml Injection, Zantac 150mg Tablets and Zantac 300mg Tablets. But patients should keep taking their prescribed medicine, officials advise. The Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) says the health risk of discontinuing the medicine is higher than the potential risk presented by the contaminant N-nitrosodimethylamine (NDMA). Anyone who is concerned about taking their medication should speak to their doctor or pharmacist. What is the recall about? NDMA is classified as a probable human carcinogen (a substance that could cause cancer) on the basis of animal studies. It is present in some foods and in water supplies but is not expected to cause harm when ingested in very low levels. The MHRA has asked manufacturers to quarantine all products which may contain the active pharmaceutical ingredient (API) that is potentially affected by this issue. The four in the recall are made by GlaxoSmithKline (GSK). Over-the-counter products (Zantac 75 Relief (PL 02855/0081 [GSL]) and Zantac 75 Tablets (PL 02855/0082 [P]), which people can buy in pharmacies without a prescription, are produced by a different company and are not affected by the recall. The MHRA is investigating other ranitidine medicines which may also be affected and will provide updates soon. Should I be concerned? Currently, there is no evidence that medicines containing this type of impurity have caused any harm to patients, say experts. Dr Andrew Gray, from the MHRA, said: "Whilst this action is precautionary, the MHRA takes patient safety very seriously. "We have asked companies to quarantine batches of potentially affected medicines whilst we investigate and we will take action as necessary, including product recalls where appropriate. "We have also requested risk assessments from the relevant companies which will include the testing of potentially affected batches." A spokesman for GSK said the company initiated a voluntary recall of all Zantac products "as a precautionary measure" and relayed its decision to the MHRA, which issued a UK-wide drug alert on Tuesday. He added: "GSK is continuing with investigations into the potential source of the NDMA... and have engaged with external laboratories to conduct tests on the API and finished product batches of Zantac."

Torrential rain and tornado-like winds are lashing large parts of Japan, as the country endures what could be its worst storm for 60 years. The eye of Typhoon Hagibis made landfall on Japan's main island shortly before 19:00 local time (10:00 GMT), in Izu Peninsula, south-west of Tokyo. It is now moving up the eastern coast, with wind speeds of 225km/h (140mph). One man was killed in Chiba, east of Tokyo, when his car overturned, and at least 60 people have been injured. In pictures: Typhoon Hagibis hits Japan More than seven million people have been urged to leave their homes amid severe flood and landslide warnings, but it's thought only 50,000 are staying in shelters Train services have been halted, and more than a thousand flights grounded. Thousands of homes lost power in and around the capital earlier on Saturday, though some were swiftly reconnected. Two Rugby World Cup games scheduled for Saturday have been cancelled and declared as draws - England-France and New Zealand-Italy. Formula 1 has also cancelled qualifying races for Saturday's Japanese Grand Prix. Japanese Grand Prix qualifying postponed Japan's Meteorological Agency (JMA) has warned that half a metre of rain could fall on the Tokyo area between midday on Saturday and Sunday. "Unprecedented heavy rain has been seen in cities, towns and villages for which the emergency warning was issued," JMA forecaster Yasushi Kajiwara told a press briefing. "The possibility is extremely high that disasters such as landslides and floods have already occurred. It is important to take action that can help save your lives." 'A blanket and a biscuit' Local resident James Babb spoke to the BBC from an evacuation centre in Hachioji, western Tokyo. He said the river near his house was on the brink of overflowing. "I am with my sister-in-law, who is disabled," he said. "Our house may flood. They have given us a blanket and a biscuit Andrew Higgins, an English teacher who lives in Tochigi, north of Tokyo, told the BBC he had "lived through a few typhoons" during seven years in Japan. "I feel like this time Japan, generally, has taken this typhoon a lot more seriously," he said. "People were out preparing last night. A lot of people were stocking up." Only last month Typhoon Faxai wreaked havoc on parts of Japan, damaging 30,000 homes, most of which have not yet been repaired. "I evacuated because my roof was ripped off by the other typhoon and rain came in. I'm so worried about my house," a 93-year-old man told Japan's national broadcaster NHK, from a shelter in Tateyama, Chiba Prefecture. What else do we know about the typhoon? Hagibis, which means "speed" in the Philippine language Tagalog, is forecast to hit the main Japanese island of Honshu. Hurricanes, typhoons and cyclones: What's the difference? It could be the strongest storm the country has faced since Typhoon Vera in 1959, which hit Japan with winds of 306km/h (190mph) and left more than 5,000 people dead or missing. By Saturday afternoon local time, footage and pictures showed many rivers were close to breaching their banks. Locals stocked up on provisions before the typhoon's arrival on the authorities' advice, leaving supermarkets with empty shelves.

INFO Metro: Last Light is a post-apocalyptic-themed, first-person shooter video game with stealth and survival horror elements. It was developed by Ukrainian studio 4A Games, published by Deep Silver, distributed by Square Enix in North America for Microsoft Windows, PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 in May 2013. A remastered version of the game was released for PlayStation 4 and Xbox One in August 2014 as Metro: Last Light Redux within the Metro Redux package. GAMEPLAY The shadows of the past linger. They appear as silhouettes on crumbling walls each time lightning bolts slash across the sky. They haunt you as you journey across annihilated cityscapes once teeming with life and love. Metro: Last Light is an exceptionally well-crafted first-person adventure that fills your mind with the regrets of time gone by, and understands the fear and uncertainty that arise from silence and stillness. The game's predecessor, Metro 2033, established this series' penchant for mystery and supernatural drama, but Last Light is in a class all its own. It's not just another frightening trek through the dark corridors of the metro, but a rhythmic symphony of surging dread and emerging hope. Last Light returns you to a Moscow devastated by nuclear war. Humanity, hoping to avoid the dangerous radiation and hideous mutants plaguing the surface, has banded together in the underground metro system. Depending on how you played, Metro 2033 might have allowed you to make an important choice at the game's conclusion.Last Light assumes you chose to destroy the creatures known as The Dark Ones, scorching their home with missiles and scouring them from the face of the Earth. But a creature remains, and as returning protagonist Artyom, you must find this remnant of a race thought extinct, this remnant of a decimated species, though it's unclear whether the right decision is to destroy it or to try to communicate with it. Your Ranger allies certainly desire its annihilation, but Artyom's unique connection to the Dark Ones gives him pause and he is nagged by guilt about the devastation he has wrought. Artyom's dilemma brings a sense of personal struggle to a game fraught with brooding emotion. Metro: Last Light punctuates your adventure with moments of dread and shock, as well as with occult visions that make the past come alive before your very eyes. Supernatural themes intertwine with conflicts between underground factions, the horrors of each element providing two equally macabre sides to a single coin. In the confines of the metro, betrayal is common and trust is a commodity. Here, your greatest enemies are your fellow humans, who are unafraid to cheat and steal if it means gaining favor from the right people. On the brutal surface, the beasts are your primary concern; at any moment, a wailing winged demon might snatch you with its talons, soar into the air, and drop you into the murky water, far from where your horrific flight began. There is mirth amid the madness, however. Characters react to each other in authentic ways, responding to one Ranger's pedantic soliloquies with jokes and insults, likely mirroring your own thoughts on the matter. The inhabitants of the underground are colorful and individual. They move about with purpose, speaking at length to each other about war and family, about love and lust. Men gone stir crazy seek the company of prostitutes, and so might you, should you desire a lengthy lap dance. Nudity occurs multiple times, and though it's certainly explicit, it doesn't seem superfluous or exploitative. Rather, Last Light's erotic themes emerge naturally from the despair, and sex in the underground has an air of desperation and urgency. If you prefer tamer pleasures, you may take in a lengthy and detailed variety show, where can-can dancers and an accordion act bring some joy to the melancholy po[CENSORED]ce. This is life in the metro. And it's an amazing display of narrative craftsmanship. Exquisite craftsmanship is also on display as you seek the remaining known Dark One on the irradiated surface, and as you avoid the wandering eye of your enemies in the depths beneath. Last Light is not a power shooter. You are not out to murder hundreds of nameless grunts without breaking a sweat, and in fact, the early hours are remarkably light on action. Instead, tension is carefully built in the conversations you have with your comrades, and in the cautious steps you take into the irradiated ruins above the tunnels. You feel the danger. Gnarled trees are twisted into vaguely humanoid shapes, and when you seek refuge from the rain, you hear the drops hammering on the flimsy tin roof above, mimicking the sounds of mutants' skittering claws. Your calling brings you here, but you know it's not a place anyone should be. A number of creatures menace your journey across the surface. Amphibious freaks move from water to land, threatening you two or three at a time. As you manuever away from their clammy assaults, you must be ever mindful of the squalid pools that surround you, lest you fall in and get dragged to your death by a mutant lurking beneath. Fierce predators pounce towards you, keeping you on the move while you avoid the harsh siren calls of the creatures that cling to nearby walls. You use a number of weapons to fend them off, all of which look and sound appropriately powerful, but none of which turn your adventure into a cakewalk. The surface brings a tenuous visual warmth, even though though the sunlight is diffused through dreary gray clouds. Out here, one companion in particular brings the harsh exterior an unexpected humanity, while diverse sequences, like one that has you escaping the brash onslaught of the wind, keep the pace from ever becoming too predictable. And even in this wasteland, there's visual variety that keeps Last Light from becoming too overbearing. There's beauty in its indigo skies and battered cityscapes, and even in the sunken, asymmetrical angles of a watcher's face. Battling several such beasts at once without any noticeable frame rate drops requires a beast of a machine, however; owners of ATI video cards in particular will notice that Metro: Last Light, while beautiful, is not beautifully optimized. But even if you're forced to lower the resolution (possible) and turn off advanced physics (almost certain), this ruined world is too grotesquely gorgeous not to appreciate. Metro: Last Light is not an endless barrage of bullets and beasts. It takes the time to let you breathe in the choking atmosphere and allow the chilling fog to seep into your bones. And when it finally comes time to aim your shotgun at mutated fiends, the payoff is grander for the eerie silence that came before. Last Light is notably superior to its predecessor, merging storytelling, shooting, and sneaking into a remarkable and cohesive whole. And through this harmony of game design comes the caustic dissonance of a world so torn asunder that a single possibility can bring with it endless hope. TRAILER

INFO Starlink: Battle for Atlas is an action-adventure video game developed by Ubisoft Toronto and published by Ubisoft. It was released for the Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4, and Xbox One on October 16, 2018 and for Microsoft Windows on April 30, 2019. The game also features optional toys-to-life elements. GAMEPLAY Starlink: Battle for Atlas is a game about flying through space, exploring new planets, and shooting a lot of aliens. Set in a seamless open-world galaxy, it sees you pushing back occupying forces by battling enemies, setting up outposts, and completing simple tasks set by your allies. For better and worse, it's a distinctly Ubisoft game, from the huge spaces (seven separate planets and the vast depths of space that separate them) to the maps overloaded with activities. But thankfully, Starlink is not quite so full that it feels bloated--just full enough so that there's always something for you to be working towards. Starlink is also Ubisoft's entry into the toys-to-life market--you're able to buy physical packs of pilots, weapons, and ships, all of which are interchangeable and have their own unique attributes and abilities. Constructing and attaching these models to your controller using a specialized mounting device will give you access to those characters and tools in-game, and while swapping between all these components isn't necessary, doing so brings distinct advantages. Starlink's combat is fun thanks to simple controls and the two weapon system--different enemies are weak against or impervious to different weapon types, and swapping the two weapons mounted on your ship will change your methods of attack and the kinds of elemental combos you can perform. Using a stasis missile on an enemy so that they float helplessly in mid-air, then setting them alight with a flaming minigun, never gets old. Every weapon can be leveled up individually and augmented with mods that you collect, so by the end of the game, your most-used guns will likely be able to absolutely rip through certain enemies, provided you have the foresight to equip them. When you're grounded on a planet, you'll be doing a lot of strafing and aiming for big glowing weak points, whereas fights in space are more freewheeling, with dogfights often pitting you against swarms of enemy fighters. These feel like all-range mode battles from Star Fox, and swinging around to land a precision assault on an enemy (often thanks to the game's rather generous auto-aim) is satisfying every time. The controls for each ship are the same, but there are minor differences between them; a light ship is better for maneuvering through a delicate situation on the ground, for instance, while a heavier ship can take more hits during battles. The one drawback to this structure, though, is that you're essentially taking on the same kinds of fights with occasional difficulty spikes. Taking out the game's three Dreadnaughts will make the final boss easier, and you can theoretically take on a Dreadnaught at its maximum strength regardless of how under-leveled you are. It's repetitive, but you also get a good sense of your progression, and the feedback loop of loot and rewards hits a good balance where you rarely feel like you're stuck grinding. The battles might repeat a lot, but they're consistently entertaining, and figuring out the best way to take down a huge enemy with the tools you have on hand is a satisfying challenge. The Dreadnaughts are particularly fun to take down--every time you take out one of their mounted guns a swarm of enemy ships will attack, leading to the game’s most intense dogfighting, and each encounter ends with a Star Wars-inspired "fly into the center and destroy the core" sequence. If you're playing on Nintendo Switch, you'll have access to Fox McCloud and his Arwing. He can call in one of the other members of Star Fox, complete with the Corneria theme from the original game, and if you're a fan it's very tempting to play as him the entire time. The Switch version consistently runs smoothly, although there's a visual trade-off. The planets are not particularly detailed, everything's a little fuzzier in handheld mode, and there's a lot of pop-in--it's weird to have an asteroid belt suddenly appear in front of you when you're flying towards a planet. But the Star Fox fan service throughout the game is a great bonus, especially in the mini five-mission campaign in which the team hunts down long-time antagonist Wolf O'Donnell. Wolf is a much more interesting enemy than Andross, as it turns out, and while this campaign is short it feels true to the spirit of the series. Fox and his team get integrated into the rest of the game, too, popping up in cutscenes with the rest of the Starlink crew. The ship models themselves look great, though, and while switching loadouts via the menus is always going to be the more convenient option, physically swapping out the components will pause the game the until your ship is completely decked out again. Changing pilots will require you to remove the entire ship first, but that's only a minor pain--the only real impediment is being able to remember which weapon does what by sight, but their designs are distinctive enough that this isn't an issue once you get accustomed to it to them. Starlink is an interesting and enjoyable open-world game, one that fully understands the appeal of exploring new planets and dogfighting in the cold depths of space. With a small fleet of ships at your disposal, it can be a lot of fun to progressively assault and weaken the Forgotten Legion's hold on the galaxy. It's just a shame that if you're interested in the physical models, you'll have to spend more to get the same experience as the digital version. TRAILER

INFO Dungeons of Dredmor is a roguelike indie game released on July 13, 2011 by Gaslamp Games. The game features tile-based graphics. A DLC release for the game entitled "Realm of the Diggle Gods" was also released later that year. A second DLC called "You Have To Name The Expansion Pack" was released on June 5, 2012. A third DLC called "Conquest of the Wizardlands" was released on August 1, 2012. The game has extensive support for user created modifications. GAMEPLAY Dungeons of Dredmor is a rogue-like dungeon crawler. You define your character by choosing several skills, then venture into the randomly generated dungeons, defeating enemies, looting, and working your way down through the dungeon's many floors. There are many different skill trees available, covering offensive, defensive and crafting. In terms of weapons, you can specialise in physical weapons such as sword, pole-arms, daggers, crossbows, projectiles (crossbows and thrown weapons), or rely on several types of magical masteries. Other skills include abilities to dodge, block, detect traps and more. The gameplay is turn-based, so when you move a square in the grid-like map, the enemies will then take their turn. This allows you to plan a strategy rather than frantically hammering buttons. The graphics are functional. The basic graphics work for what the game is trying to achieve, but the disappointment is that your character never changes from the boring stock avatar. No matter what type of character you are trying to play as, or what armour you have equipped; he/she is the same. It doesn't affect the gameplay, but it loses that customisation aspect. There are three difficulty levels, with the option of permadeath, so can be played by hardcore RPG fans, or a more casual gamer. You can also have smaller sized floors if you want to experience the game faster, where enemies give more XP to compensate. With a normal-sized dungeon, the game will last several hours which is a bit too long; given the appeal of a game like this is to replay with a different type of character. At first I thought the interface felt a bit fiddly and involved too many clicks to pick up items. In the menu you can configure it so clicking on an item instantly places it in your inventory. Also, you can configure an auto-loot setting so you certain items will be picked up when you walk over them. There's also a lot of items in the game and it can be a bit overwhelming to newcomers to understand how certain items are used, or what all the symbols and stats mean. A lot of the potions and mushrooms you find are either really beneficial, or can really hurt you. This is why I prefer to play without permadeath. You really don't want to be hours in to the game just to die by drinking a potion! There's a lot of humour in the game which can also make the descriptions nonsensical. The enemies have text pop-ups to show what they are saying. These are mainly jokes about RPG games. Graphics aren't much but if you get to play a couple of minutes you'll find that's very addictive roleplaying. I also enjoyed the humor put into this game. If you take the time to read the items description, very originally put. Fighting is turn based like but in a free way. You get the ocasionaly side quests from srhines and you go trough levels like in the First Diablo. Also you got a wide range of iteresting skils to chose from. Music is very good too, not that annoying repetitive tune that goes over and over again. Another point I enjoyed was crafting and smithing you can do plenty of stuff even concoct potions for you or to use on enemies. you gather items like iron steel gold and such that you can use tu forge armor or weapons. This is one of those games that goes under the radar. Roguelikes are not for everybody, but Dungeons of Dredmor breathes some new life to the genre. I've played through this umpteen times on "Rogue" (Hard) difficulty, on Permadeath, and still haven't beat it, refusing to look up any guides apart from what skills actually do. So believe me when I tell you, this game will grab hold of your balls and challenge the ever-loving sh*t out of you. So let's begin with the pros and cons, then I'll go into some deeper aspects of the game. PROS: Immersive, and amazingly so. There's a million ways to play this game, and it will give you *plenty* of opportunity to test out different builds. But, on the other side of the coin, it also gives you plenty of variety in difficulty, with 3 difficulty settings, a permadeath/ironman setting, and a setting to make the floors smaller but grant the same experience. You select each of these every time you make a character. Witty. This game would get the "not as funny as it thinks it is" award if it weren't for the clever use of deadpan references, most of which you'll get, and some of which you'll be like "heh, I got that, bet no one else did." The humor serves as a nice respite from the many servings of pain pudding this game can potentially give you. Really though, while some of the humor falls flat, most of it will make you smirk. Good graphics for its genre. Remember, this is a roguelike, and it's not meant to be flashy, but the sprites are well designed, well animated, effects look good and appropriate for what they do. Music is decent. A couple tracks are reminiscent of Castlevania, while others you might expect to hear in a bar on Tatooine. Some are a mix of both. Either way, while it gets a bit grating sometimes, they're well done and enjoyable for the most part. Similarly, sound effects are satisfying; not much else to say about that. Crafting system. Horrible UI for this. While the game even mocks itself for having an awful, unrefined crafting system, the UI for it is just atrocious. It does, however, get points for being very in-depth. Problem is... Inventory space. I am so damned tired of hearing "your inventory is full" I want to punch the screen sometimes. Fortunately, you get a little "pocket dimension" early on that you can teleport to at any time and store your goods (on the floor). Unfortunately... Bugs, particularly crashes. I'm positive one of them was a memory leak from me storing three inventory's worth of crap in my pocket dimension. The others, well, I dunno, but at least the game auto-saves fairly frequently to compensate. Lack of explanation. This adds to the difficulty, which I partly appreciate, but for the most part it's annoying. Granted, I didn't do the tutorial, but a lot of stuff seems to just go unexplained. Guess I can't say much since I didn't even play the tutorial though. Weak story. Not that this type of game is supposed to have much of a story, though, so I didn't take any points off for that. ----- Overall this game is just plain fun. It'll make you work, but you'll enjoy every minute of it. You'll welcome the torment. This game gets big points for being able to make you laugh and cry, with minimal storytelling involved--that's just from the gameplay. You can make it as easy or as hard as you want on yourself, and you can *definitely* make this game very, very hard. But it leaves it up to you. Dangles the challenge in front of you like so many carrots on a stick. Give it a shot, even if you've never played a game like this, it's all kinds of fun. TRAILER