HOOOOOOLD!

Publisher Koei Tecmo, alongside developer Omega Force, has announced that it has delayed the release of Dynasty Warriors 9 Empires. Origi?nally scheduled to launch in "Earl??y 2021," the warfaring sequel will now launch at a non-specified later date.

Koei Tecmo announced the delay on Twitter with the following statement.

"Although Dynasty Warriors 9 Empires was initially announced as an early 2021 release, the team is still working hard on delivering the best game possible, so we wanted to let our fans know the current situation and will announce the new launch window in future updates. We apologize for the delay and appreciate your continued support. In the meantime, check out this first lo?o??k at a scene from our opening movie. (pictured below) Just a taste of what’s to come as we get closer to finishing the game."

Dynasty Warriors 9 Empires is in develo?pment for PS4, PS5, PC, Xbox One, Xbox Series X, and Switch.

The post Dynasty Warriors 9 Empires delayed from its ‘early 2021’ release appeared first on Destructoid.

The Baron is Back

ININ Games has announced that retro-infused release Bubble Bobble 4 Friends: The Baron is Back is headed west later this month. The multipl?ayer take on the classic single-screen platformer will arrive on PS4 and Nintendo Switch on November 17.

Additionally, players who own the vanilla edition of Bubble Bobble 4 Friends will receive a free download the same day adding the new Baron is Back content free of charge. Bubble Bobble 4 Friends includes over 200 stages of classic arcade action and features four-player co-operative play, online scoreboards, and the return of terrifying villain Baron von Blubba. As a bonus, Taito's original 1986 edition of Bubble Bobble is also included as part of the package.

The post Bubble Bobble 4 Friends headed west on PS4 and Switch N?ovemb??er 17 appeared first on Destructoid.

Good planning is half the battle

Koei Tecmo has announced the next game in the expansive musou series Dynasty Warriors. As revealed at Tokyo Game Show this weekend, Dynasty Warriors 9 Empires is currently in devel??opment for PC, as well as current and next-gen console platforms. It is expected ??to release in 2021.

Described as an evolution of typical DW warfare, Dynasty Warriors 9 Empires eschews its predecessor's open-world approach for more strategic gameplay. Players will use violence, diplomacy, and careful planning in perfect balance in order to capture or ally with armie?s and kingdoms throughout t??he land, growing in dominance as their power and influence spreads throughout ancient China.

Dynasty Warriors 9 Empires will launch in 2021 on PS4, PS5, PC, Xbox One, Xbox Series X and Nintendo Switch. You can c?heck out a teaser trailer for the new game below.

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Even though support has been there for years

Here's a big ol' whoopsie from Hangar 13. When the developer released "definitive editions" of both Mafia II and Mafia III last week, it inadvertently stripped out Mafia III enhancements for? the high-end consoles. Or, it forgot they existed in the first place. It's all very confounding.

Digital Foundry discovered that Mafia III: Definitive Edition doesn't have support for PS4 Pro and Xbox One X enhancements (as reported by its sister site Eurogamer). The base game has had upscaled 4K support and?? other features on PS4 Pro since December 2016 and on Xbox One X since November 2017. Now, there's a 10GB Definitive Edition patch -- it's a free upgrade on all platforms for owners of the base game, and it includes all the DLC at no extra cost -- but it accidentally removes PS4 Pro and Xbox One X features.

As a result, playing Mafia III on Xbox One X has the game running at 900p instead of 1728p. That's a s?ignificant downgrade. Players have opened support tickets with 2K Games complaining of blurry and muddy visuals.

2K tells Eurogamer "The development team supporting Mafia III: Definitive Edition is aware of this issue and is working to restore support for Xbox One X and PlayStation 4 Pro as soon as possible.?"

Mafia 3 Definitive Edition currently lacks PS4 Pro, X??box One X enhancements [Eurogamer]

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Limited edition console launching June 19 for $400

Sony and Naughty Dog aren't just releasing The Last of Us Part II on June 19 – they're also coming out with a limited edition logo-filled PlayStation 4 Pro bundle the same day for $400 USD and $500 CAD.

_{The 2TB Seagate Game Drive is sold separately for $90 USD and $115 CAD.}

Just i??n case you don't recognize that fern engraving, it's Ellie's new-for-the-sequel arm tattoo.

According to Naughty Dog art director John Sweeny, they "considered a few different ideas" with designer Angel Garcia, but "kept coming back to Ellie's tattoo. By that point, it had become a symbol of the game and for the community – much like the Firefly logo in the first game. It was the clear choice, but we wondered: what if it could be engraved? It hadn't been done before, so we weren't sure it was even possible, but thanks to the in?credible efforts of the teams at PlayStation, we found a way."

I'm having flashbacks to that killer Mondo poster designed by Kevin Tong in 2016 for Outbreak Day.

The "steel black matte" Last of Us Part II-themed DualShock 4 controller will go for $65 USD and $75 CAD as a standalone product. If you're all-in on Naught??y Dog, the gamepad is also included in the PS4 Pro bundle along with a physical copy of the game and a code for a dynamic theme and avatars.

Slapping a big Last of Us Part II logo onto the middle of the DualShock 4 feels heavy-handed, but I don't mind seeing it on the front of the console as much. That said, I feel like this PlayStation 4 Pro was designed to sell vertical stands. The?? linework is too nice to obscure in a ho??rizontal media console slot.

I almost missed it, but there's a giveaway for the PS4 ??Pro an??d also a Cosmic IPA six-pack. I'm in.

The post The Last of Us Part II PS4 Pro is rocking Ellie’s tattoo appeared first on Destructoid.

Fragile

In today's contest we've got PSVR copies of Paper Beast to give out!

Virtual reality has come a long way since the days of the Virtual ?Boy. Why'd I choose that? Because that's sadly what I think is the general impression people get when they hear about VR. As a proud PSVR own?er, I can attest that -- whew boy -- it's pretty surreal. Good stuff!

To show off what the platform can do, we're giving away copies of the PSVR exclusive title Paper Beast! Read all about it bel?ow, and strap in for this un??ique, artsy adventure.

I'm not? ?going to spoil it with my stupid words, so read about it.

Somewhere hidden in the vast memory of data servers, an ecosystem is born, Paper Beast. As the first explorer of this virgin land, explore a world inhabited with endearing paper creatures. Interact with quirky animals and shape the environment to overcome obstacles and solve challenging puzzles. Unravel the deepening mysteries of Paper Beast in this unique VR odyssey.

Features:

• From the creative mind of renowned game designer Eric Chahi (Another World, Heart of Darkness, From Dust).
• A full ecosystem set in a living, breathing dynamic virtual universe.
• An organic origami art style captures the world of Paper Beast.
• An extensive physic simulation system lies at the core of Paper Beast, powering everything from creature locomotion to terrain deformation, playing an active part in many of the puzzles adventurers encountered.
• Immersive ambient OST by Roly Porter and TsuShiMaMire making full use of a binaural audio direction.

Just don't get a papercut.

To enter to win your copy, use the widget below to leave you name and email addre??ss. You can enter daily. Click around in the widget?? for ways to earn bonus entries.

We have five PS4 NA c??opies of the game to give away; winners will be drawn Monday, March 30. Keep in mind this game is only compatible in VR, so you must have a PSVR rig to pl?ay!

Paper Beast is available now for PSVR.

Contest: Give your PSVR rig some love with ???a copy of Paper Beast

The post Contest: Give your PSVR rig some love with a copy of Paper?? Beast appeared first on Destructoid.

PSVR, Steam, and Oculus Store keys!

Today's contest features a life-ruining experience -- take care of cats with a PSVR or PC copy of Kitten'd!

Cats are assholes. They are. But honestly, I'm coming around. I've left my old place with my roommate's asshole cat and moved in with a beautiful, wonderful, incredible woman (shout out to Heston on this one)...and her two cats. I was nervous at first, sure, but Frank and Dean have become my children. It's w??eird and wonderful, and folks -- I'm becoming a cat person.

Celebrate my ?transformation into a cat lover by winning a VR copy of Kitten'd, the recently-released cat-ownership simulator. We've ??got some PSVR and PC copies to give away so you, too can join me in holy catrimony.

Read this description of the game, and let your anxiety flare up?? at the thought of?? your new kids barfing behind the couch!

Take care of cute kittens - lots and lots of cute kittens! Get points for keeping them happy and lose points for everything they destroy. Use points to upgrade your tools. Get an automatic food dispenser or clean up poop faster with the PoopScoop 3000! What awaits inside the next box?! Or jus??t hang out and play with lots of cute kittens in the more relaxed sandbox mode.

The idea for Kitten'd is loosely based on a recurring dream one of our developers had. In this dream more and more kittens entered his apartment from a hole in the wall. As the number of kittens grew so did the stress of this poor dev??, but he also felt very happy because, you know, free kittens! This was later turned into the idea of an arcade-style game where? you take care of a lot of kittens for a short time and get scored on your performance when the time runs out.

• Take care of an overwhelming amount of kittens!
• 8 super cute kitten breeds with unique characteristics.
• 28 wacky levels on 4 worlds.
• Rewarding fast-paced family friendly gameplay.
• Relaxed sandbox mode! Take care of your own virtual pets.
• See the kittens eat, play and destroy your home in stunning VR.

The story behind this one is really great, so I'm glad I got t??o share that with everyone. Also, cats destroying your home is a key feature of this game. Sounds about right!

To? enter to win your copy, use the widget ??below to leave your name and email address. You can enter daily. I've also litter[box]ed the widget with other ways to earn bonus entries, so have fun!

We have three PSVR (NA and EU) keys, as well as three Steam and three Oculus Store keys to gi?ve away. Winners will be drawn Mond??ay, December 2. Meow!

Kitten'd is available now for PSVR, Steam, and Oculus.

Dtoid Contest: Let these cat?s ruin your life in VR with a free copy of Kitten'd

The post Contest: Let these cats ruin your life in VR with a free copy of Kitten’d appeared first on Destructoid.

They've stolen my heart

Sony Interactive Entertainment and Atlus have partnered up to announce a trio of limited edition PlayStation 4 consoles, celebrating the upcoming release of JRPG Persona 5 Royal.

The three slickly-designed units consist of one white PS4 Pro and two standard PS4 consoles - the latter available in both black and white options. All three consoles feature unique visual designs, emblazoned on both the main unit and its DualShock 4 controller. Each console comes with a selection of special art postcards and will release on October 31, Persona 5 Royal's Japanese street date.

Of course, as yo??u might have guessed, there is currently no word on these consoles seeing the light of day outside of Japan, which is the modus operandi for most of these limited edition machines. If you want one for your??self, then the expensive import route is likely your best/only choice.

The PlayStation 4 Pro Persona 5 Royal 1 TB Limited Edition costs ¥44,980 (roughly $420) and is available for pre-order from the Japanese Sony store.

The PlayStation 4 Persona 5 Royal Limited Edition costs ¥39,980 for the 1TB model (around $370) or ¥34,980 for the 500GB model (around $325) and is also available to pre-order from the Japanese Sony store.

The DualShock 4 Persona 5 Royal Wireless Controller is also available for purchase separately at a cost of ¥7,480 (around $70) you can pre-order the controller in either colour at the Japanese Sony store.

Persona 5 Royal launches in Japan on PS4 October 31, before head??ing? west in spring 2020.

Perso??na 5 Royal unveils limited edi??tion PS4 consoles [Siliconera]

The post Persona 5 Royal ??limited edition PS4 consoles coming to Japan appeared first on Destructoid.

This really should be a standard option, especially for next-gen

Would you rather have a higher resolution or a higher frame rate when playing video games? I'm sure you don't even need to ??ponder that question. We all seem to have our own set-in-stone preferences.

Much to my delight, Gearbox Software has confirmed that Borderlands 3 will offer two different graphical settings on PlayStation 4 Pro: "favor resolution," which is capped at 30 frames per second, and "favor performance," which is cap?ped at 60 f??rames per second. I'll always choose the latter.

There's supersampling support, too. Even if you only have a 1080p television, you can still benefit from the "favor resolution" mode – "the game will supersample from the higher resolution using the console's hardwar?e," so "the 1080p output will look sharper in ??this mode than it normally would."

 Borderlands 3 will be capable of 4K resolution and high-dynamic range (HDR), as is becoming commonplace, but interestingly, you can configure this stuff individually, meaning you could, in theory, "play the game in 1080p HDR." As for what to expect fro?m HDR,  "nightfall is rendered in much darker blacks, and the? killer sky boxes really pull you into the world." Basically, the game looks more "crisp."

On a related note, Gearbox previously said that Borderlands 3 will have these ?same sorts of ?graphical options on Xbox One X and that the development ??team is "shooting for 60 frames per sec??ond."

It has taken a while given the mid-console-cycle rollout of the PS4 Pro and Xbox One X, but I'm glad to see more console games let players choose between 1080p / 60fps and 4K / 30fps where applicable. I hope to see that momentum carry into PS5 and?? the next Xbox. Don't force us down a single path!

Behind the Sce?nes: How Gearbox Built Borderlands 3 for PS4 and PS4 Pro [PlayStation Blog]

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Liu Kang and Kung Lao need to check themselves

In case you had any doubt, Liu Kang, Kung Lao, and Jax will be playable in the upcoming Mortal Kombat 11. A new trailer shown during Sony's "State of Play" stream?? gave us glimpses of gameplay from the trio and a decent story trailer cut to Ice Cube's "Check Yourself." There's a blink and you'll miss it fatality of Liu Kang summoning a fire dragon, Kung Lao sli?cing a guy in half, and Jax doing the usual "GOTCHA" grab.

That's really it, too. It was a fun trailer, but we learned nothing else from it. I guess Sony is holding off on the big announcements for future streams because it would have been great to confirm some of the long-standing rumors around Mortal Kombat 11. At least we mostly know the main roster, now.

The post Mortal Kombat 11 ?welcomes some more series veterans to the roster appeared first on Destructoid.

Hopefully it doesn't die twice

The past few years have seen some really great looking themed PS4 consoles. We had that awesome Yakuza 6 one, the stellar God of War console, the legendary "500 Million" edition Pro, and now a suitably dark Sekiro console. Exclusive to Dutch retailer Game Mania, fans will have a chance of winning this beast by pre-ordering Sekiro on PS4 from the chain's online store.

After your pre-order, you'll be given a box containing chopsticks. If the chopsticks are golden, you'll be the lucky owner of the bamboo themed device. The game's titl?e is engraved in a maple wood effect on the top of the console while the controller displays it in English on the touchpad. It probably expels demons, as well. I don't know, I just want it.

As mentioned above, this will be exclusive to the Netherlands and Belg??ium. I don't think Activision or Sony will be producing multiple units, so this will likely go down as one of the rarest? PS4's around. I envy the people that get one.

Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice Limited Edition PS4 Pro Console Looks Amazing [DualShockers]

The post This Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice PS4 Pro looks ab??solutely incredible appeared first on Destructoid.

It's out in Japan this month

With ?over 80 million units sold worldwide, I guess Sony isn't afraid of pushing a new hardware variant nearly every month. As revealed through Sony's Japanese PlayStation site, a new copper DualShock 4 and another 2TB PS4 Pro are in the pipeline. They'll arrive on November 21 in Japan, and the copper remote completes the silver and gold set that was previously released.

The 2TB PS4 Pro is kind of a bigger deal. 2TB models were hard to come by given that Sony only had them available as a limited edition type deal, but this new release will ??now become the standard PS4 Pro. In other words, November 21 will be the first time worldwide where getting a 2TB PS4 Pro is as easy as going to the store and picking it up.

Sometimes I forget I even have a Pro, but the small performance increase is worth it when it does kick in. I'd defin?itely spring for more space too as 1TB is just not enough.

PS4 Pro [PlayStation via Siliconera]

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Still off track

In the year since its release, Gran Turismo Sport has seen quite a few substantial updates. A new career mode, more tracks, a crapton of cars and even microtransactions: Sport is a much heartier title than its 2017 incarnation. Even with those additions, though, t?he core of the game still feels off.

I booted up the game a week ago to see just how substantial all of these additions would be. In my review from last year, I ended up scoring Sony’s premier racing franchise a 6/10 and citing a lack of content as my chief complaint. While the content factor has definitely been increased, I think the real heart of my problems with GT Sport is just that it puts so ?ma?ny odd restrictions on the player.

Despite having what Polyphony Digital has deemed a career mode now, GT Sport still demands players have a persistent online connection. With more cars coming into the fray, players are still limited in the online “Sport” mode to which vehicles they can drive. Worse still, the “Safety Rating” sy??stem has not seen any noticeable change, making for some seriously frustrating moments of tapping a rival and tanking your safety score.

In our modern era of post-launch updates and bug fixes, I figured stepping back into the world of GT Sport would yield something more. The ga?me isn’t without its moments, but this is still a shallow shell of what the series’ past had on offer for players. For all the strides made with car customization and minute stat tracking, you still only get around seven cars per manufacturer and no dynamic/alternate time of day settings for tracks.

In all honesty, I feel like Polyphony Digital and Sony have failed to bring the racing series up to next-generation standards. The content on offer does match that of Gran Turismo 3, but that game came out 16 years ago. No amount of restarting development or focus on specific game modes should have come to the conclusion that axing series staples was appropriate for the series’ PS4 debut. Despite now boasting 233 cars and 48 courses (a number that is bloated by having alternate versions as different tracks), the game still feels like a tech demo for a proper Gran Turismo 7.

I definitely appreciate Polyphony taking a fine-toothed comb to its car models and creating photo-realistic environments. While the game doesn’t really hold my attention for long, I am still quite impressed? with how excellent the visual design is, especially on PS4 Pro. You can tell nailing the look, sound, and feel of each vehicle was a labor of love from the design team. Everything comes ??off super accurate and captures the essence of what racing is all about. That being said, what does this offer for fans that have been there for every entry?

Certain concessions might need to happen to evolve a series, sure, but to cut out basic genre options? Did FIA regulations really force the odd online restrictions, thus eliminating offline play? What reason was there to excise different classes in favor of focusing purely on sports cars??? These are still questions?? I can’t quite figure out, though you can now drive a Volkswagen bus around tracks.

My only real conclusion is that online play was mandated so that microtransactions could come into play. For some wild reason, GT Sport now gives players the option to purchase individual cars for around one?? to three dollars apiece. This only really impacts the added “career” mode, since “Sport” mode has harsh restrictions on which make, model, and year of vehicle you’ll be driving in. With a super convoluted menu system and some odd requirements the farther you get in, the whole system just seems like a way to strangle people out of cash.

The game doesn’t give you an option to buy the car needed for a career event from the career menu, so you’ll need to click an exclamation point, discover which models are allowed and then back all the way out to the main menu. After that, you’ll navigate the “brands” feature to find the particular manufacturer and then buy whichever car you’ll need. On one occasion, I bought an entirely different ca?r because I confused the model and I had to repeat the process.

Maybe allowing the quick purchase of a car was something that just couldn’t be done in GT Sport. Loading most menus brings up ??a full-scale model of the vehicle and ther??e could be a possible reason doing that from within career mode wasn’t optimal. What I really think, though, is that the menu was purposely made tedious to trick people into wasting credits on the wrong car for the job. Why else would microtransactions be added?

At least in the case of money, credits are given out?? so regularly that I can’t even envision a scenario where someone runs out of cash. Since career mode wasn’?t even a thing for my review, I had a spare 1 million credits laying around for me to make mistaken purchases with. For people starting out, though, this could end up with scenarios where you’ll be making some progress and then get halted because the car you need is far too expensive. You could just slip a few singles over to Polyphony Digital, though, and get right back into the action.

That is mostly a nit-pick, however. In all honesty, the career mode is so forgettable and barebones that it might as well not exist. It is the bare minimum one would have to do to bring a feature into a game and it still acts mostly as a way to prepare you for online competition. That is the true focus of GT Sport and not much else has changed. The lobby system for custom races is still ridiculously dead ??and the &ldquo?;Sport” mode doesn’t fill up the way it used to.

Even with all of these additions to the core game, GT Sport is still just limp. Really and truly, I think Gran Turismo’s days are well behind it. It would take a radical re-invention of the series to bring it up to speed for whatever Sony’s next console ends up being. If GT Sport 2 is just this game but with more that really won’t be good enough. More content is nice, but an actual reason to interact with that content would be better. That is truly what is missing from GT Sport and always has been.

The post Has a year of updates finally?? made Gra??n Turismo Sport worth playing? appeared first on Destructoid.

PSVR Exclusive

With fans eagerly awaiting news of Borderlands 3, 2K Games and Gearbox have finally announced a new Borderlands related project. Time to dust off that PSVR headset of yours, because on December 14, 2018, you'll be able to return to the world of Pandora in Borderlands 2 VR. Yup, this is? totally not the sequel fans have been waiting for!

Retailing for $49.99 (!), pre-orders will net you a dynamic PS4 theme featuring the four heroes of the game. There is no mention if this is the GOTY version with all the extra exp?ansions, though I imagine it would be. One new feature is something Gearbox is calling BAMF (Bad Ass Mega Funtime). This will allow players to slow down time and better aim their shots. Teleporting is also a feature or those using the PS Move controllers.

Apart from those small additions, this is basically just Borderlands 2 again. Maybe VR dramatically changes the exper??ience, but I'm not sure how m??any people are dying to get up close and personal with Clap-Trap.

The post Return to Pandora with Borderlands 2 VR appeared first on Destructoid.

It's out on launch day for $400

Sony is wise to put out a Red Dead Redemption 2 PS4 Pro bundle, but if you're looking for an aesthetic twist like the dazzling limited-edition red and white Spider-Man console, you won't find it here.

It's simply a black 1TB PlayStation 4 Pro, a standard controller, and Red Dead Redemption 2 on disc. The bundle lau??nches October 26 for $399.99 USD and $499.99 CAD, with pre-orders set to open today.

In the UK, Sony is offering the PS4 Pr?o bundle as well as a 500GB PS4 bundle.

I would've liked to see what sort of Red Dead-inspired design the te?am might have come up with, but as far as pack-in games go, new consoles owners and folks upgrading to Pro can do a whole lot worse.

Introducing the Red Dead Redemption 2 P??S4 Pro Bundle [PlayStation Blog]

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Amazing Spider-Man

Spider-Man will be joining the ranks of God of War and Horizon: Zero Dawn as it will be getting a post-launch "New Game Plus" mode. While this isn't an exact confirmation, a fa??n asked developer Insomniac Games on Twitter about the feature and they responded wi??th, "Yes working on it now and polishing it up!"

There isn't any timeframe as for when that mode will be coming, but with a full DLC season in swing, we're likely to receive the feature alongside one of the City That Never Sleeps packs. I'm not in a rush to have such a fe??ature, but it would be nice for people that just want to max Spidey while re-enjoying the main campaign.

Insomniac Games [Twitter]

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The Prettygoodlands

Virtual r??eality is one of those things that you kind of accept is going to be a slightly handcuffed experience.

The nature of the beast dictates that what you gain in immersion and wow-factor you lose in control and full autonomy over movement, mostly because one way or another you're tethered either via cables or camera facing one direction giving the illusion of a freedom. Certain games, like Resident Evil 7, abs??olutely stand out as anomalies, but for the most part you just know concessions must be made in order to make the w??hole thing tick.

But that doesn't ?mean you can't still have a damned fun game that knows the mediu??m's weaknesses and plays to its strengths.

Hopalong: The Badlands (PC, PS4 [reviewed])
Developer: From the Future LLC
Publisher: From the Future LLC
Released: November 21, 2017 (PC), July 17, 2018 (PS4)
MSRP: $14.99 (PC), $24.99 (PS4)

Hopalong: The Badlands is an arcad??e shooter at heart -- which is the highest compliment I think I can pay it. As the sheriff of the town, y?ou're tasked with hunting down The Dynamite Gang, a group of brigands intent on doing something or another that you don't like for some reason involving you being good and them being bad. If you're here for a story, I'm afraid you'll be let down as this is as bare-bones Western as you can get. The law is on your side, and you've gotta shoot all the bandits in order to bring law back into town. That's it, and it doesn't need anything else.

What the game lacks in story, it makes up for everywhere else. Simply put, this is a clas??sic arcade shooter you could find a dozen copies of at Aladdin's Castle in the late 90s distilled into a home VR experience. You'll ride, shoot, use special powers, and not much else as you make your way from desert town to cave back to desert town. If that sounds sh??allow, it's because it is -- it knows what's fun about the genre and tells the rest to fuck off in favor of keeping the pace moving right along.

I don't need to explain how you'll point at things and shoot them with your Move controllers. I do need to explain the locomotion in this game. You'll use your dominant hand to sho??ot (an option when you first boot up the game) and use your other hand entirely for movement. The game features an incredibly intuitive movement system: Your left (for most of us) hand acts as the rein over your horse, and you'll hold down the trigger and bob your hand up and down, simulating the movement of a horse in order to move forward or backward. The X and O button on the Move controller rotate the camera in 45 degree increments in either direction to allow you to turn as you ride, giving a pretty close approximation to full movement. It takes a bit of getting used to, but once you get the hang of it it's an incredibly clever way of handling movement in the VR space.

Normally aesthetics would be its own category later, but I have to specifically mention how your horse isn't a real horse, but instead a stick horse that you more or less pretend to ride. In fact, all enemies in the game also ride variations of the stick horse which does nothing but add to the whimsical arcade nature of the game. I love it to death.?? It's not super serious, and it doesn't take itself that way; you'll shoot dynamite back at stick horse-riding baddies as they shout, "Dern it!" as if the game is winking and nodding back at you. It's part Muppets and part Three Stooges, and hits that perfect balance of tone and subject matter.

The desert landscape gets the job done with its canyons and cacti, and overall the game looks really great in motion. The enemies are just robotic enough to not venture into uncanny valley, and environments pop with cartoony fun despite the la??rgely tan scenery. Some of the cave interiors are a bit too dark and one level in particular is a chore due to its labyrinthine layout of samey walls and rocks, but there's not much to complain about as far as?? visuals go.

In fact, the biggest complaint I have about the game is it's sometimes too arcadey at times. There are early sections when you're still learning the controls that are especially tough if you don't know exactly where the enemies are coming from, leading to some memorization of parts and placements to survive. Inversely, once you get a handle on the controls you'll be zipping and dodging like a pro, leading to some parts being a breeze. The difficulty never quite finds that balance despite the game doing its b?est to ramp up with bigger and tougher enemies as you go along.

There are a few glitches here and there and the final level is more frustrating than it probably needs to be, but when you're speeding by a gang of dynamite-wielding hooligans shooting shotguns and smacking them with a pickaxe, you'll forget all about the minor small annoyances. Hopalong: The Badlands is a fun and intuitive arcad??e shooter that l??asts just long enough for you to feel like you've truly mastered its controls, but not too long to overstay its welcome.

And you ride a stick horse! Did I ?mention how dam??n adorable that is?

_{[This review is based on a retail build of the game provided by the publisher.]}

The post Review: Hopalong: The Badlands appeared first on Destructoid.

All clothed, presumably

With how cryptic Kojima has been about Death Stranding, any chance to get new information gets me incredibly excited. At the Tokyo Game Show this year, Kojima will be present with the entire Japanese cast of his upcoming naked Norman Reedus simulator to hopefully present some new information about the game. If not a trailer, I'm sure we'll?? get some weird ass info about how we'll be crying ourselves to sleep after ripping toenails out.

From the official Kojima Productions Twitter account, the stage show will be happening on September 23 (the last day of the event). With this and potentially a brand new series from Ryu Ga Gotoku Studios (Yakuza devs) at TGS, it's a good time to be a fan of odd Japanese titles.

Kojima Productions [Twitter]

The post Death Stranding’s Japanese cast will be on stage at TGS 2018 appeared first on Destructoid.

Is Vita possible?

An icon for Final Fantasy XV: Pocket Edition HD has appeared on the UK PlayStation store today. Some eagle-eyed users noticed the icon earlier and decided to check it out. W?hen clicked, the page redirects to an error message, but given how the cut-down version ??eventually appeared on the Windows store, signs are now pointing to a console port in the future.

What I don't understand is the title. Just because the port was scaled back doesn't mean the game wasn't already in HD. Most smartphone and tablet screens are beyond the resolution capable of last-gen consoles, so the HD moniker seems misplaced. Regardless, if you aren't one to tackle larger scale games on your phone and don't want to deal with Windows 10, this could be your way to try out the decentish Pocket Edition.

Final Fantasy XV: Pocket Edition HD icon appears on PlayStation Store [Gematsu]

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Sony does what Microsoft don't...

Just days after the announcement that Turn 10 Studios would be removing loot boxes from Forza 7, Polyphony Digital has announced that Gran Turismo Sport will be receiving microtransactions for its in-game store. I'm kind of baffled at the flip-flopping that is going on between these two games. Gran Turismo Sport seemed to be on a good path with its added "GT League" career mode and free extra cars, but now we're heading back int?o nonsense territory.

For the most part, the new July update is actually chock full of good stuff. I'm mostly in awe of how Sony just casually throws in the mention that you can outright buy cars in GT Sport now. Anyway, the biggest addition has to be the new "Circuit de Sainte-Croix" circuit that comes in three configurations along with more events for "GT League." As well as that, seven new cars are available (and not avail??able through microtransactions). They are as follows:

• Mercedes AMG F1 W08 EQ Power+ 2017 (Gr.X)
• Mazda 787B '91 (Gr.1)
• Ford GT LM Spec II Test Car (Gr.3)
• Ferrari 250 GTO CN.3729GT '62 (Gr.X)
• HONDA S660 '15 (N100)
• Honda Beat '91 (N100)
• Daihatsu Copen Active Top '02 (N100)

As for the microtransactions, all cars that cost less than 2,000,000 in-game credits can be acquired directly through the PlayStation Store. The service will launch tomorrow in Asia and America while it won't launch unti??l August 2 in Europe, Africa, the Middle East and Oceania.

You can catch a trailer below for a look at the new cars in motion. I suppose the added microtransactions aren't horri?ble, but it just leaves a bad taste in my mouth.

Introducing the "Gran Turismo Sport" July Update: The Mercedes? F1 and a New Track Joi??ns the Lineup [Gran Turismo]

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$400, pre-orders open today

Sony pulled out the big guns at San Diego Comic-Con as far as promoting Spider-Man goes. Accompanying an incredible story trailer, Sony has revealed a new Spider-Man-themed PlayStation 4 Pro bundle.

This $400 bundle includes a PS4 Pro with a 1TB hard drive, the Spider-Man game, and a red and white controller. The most obvious reason for buying this particular model is its flashy Spider-Man logo splashed across t??he front of the console. Insomniac's white spider logo is a divisive look for Spidey's costume, but it seems like a better fit smack dab on top of a b??right red PS4.

Sony says that pre-orders will open today for the Spider-Man PlayStation 4 Pro bundle, but no one has it available at time of writing. Camp this page if you're interested in buying in. It should show up on September 7 -- the day that Spider-Man launches. Anyone w??ho's in need of an ??extremely red console couldn't ask for anything better.

If you need a closer look, all the pack sho??ts are included in the gallery below.

Introducing the Limited Edition Marvel's Spider-?Man PS4 Pro Bundle [PlayStation Blog]

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Still no Kenny Loggins

A little over a year ago, Three Fields Entertainment graced us with a sort of reboot of the Burnout series by a different name. Danger Zone, as it was called, focused on the Crash mode from Criterion’??s heyday and it was a pretty damn fun time. The experience was too short and didn’t exhibit any of the polish of its forefather, but it made a great first impression and gave me hope for the future.

I was excited to hear that we’d be getting a Danger Zone 2, mostly because this could be a direct mirror of the Burnout series. The original Criterion racer was a solid tech demo, but Burnout 2: Point of Impact prov??ed that Criterion wasn’t just developing a gimmicky racer?.

While Danger Zone 2 improves on its predecessor in a lot of key areas, it sadly has too many technical hurdles h??olding it back from greatness.

Danger Zone 2 (PC [reviewed], PS4, Xbox One)
Developer: Three Fields Entertainment
Publisher: Three Fields Entertainment
Released: July 13, 2018
MSRP: $19.99

The general concept of Danger Zone 2 is basically the same as the first: you’re some renegade car that has had enough of everyone’s bullshit and is going on a crash spree. I may have made up that part, but this is a recreation of the Burnout series’ Crash mode without any flavor text or backstory. You just crash cars, watch things explode, and accumulate high scores. The biggest change from the first Danger Zone i??s that you’re no longer confined to drab, sterile environments.

Danger Zone 2 takes you to the streets of the United States and actually places you on real highways. While these are clearly not modeled after actual roads, the in?flux of color and lively backgrounds makes the action far more tantalizing. You won&rsquo??;t be staring at the same nonsense for too long as each region gives you multiple highways to crash your way through.

In a nice touch, if you have any kind of familiarity with Burnout or the previous Danger Zone, you can completely skip the tutorial sections and get right to crashing. I actually completed the entirety of this game’s three regions before noticing I skipped the introduction. That being said, there are a few new mechanics in Danger Zone 2 that even veterans of Criterion and Three Fields Entertai??nment’s titles would do well to ??go over.

For starters, traffic checking is back (where you ram into cars from behind to send them flying), but you can now guide them in a specific direction by holding X or A on your gamepad (Square or Circle, for PS4 users). Since there are now different vehicles, Boost Chaining makes a return from Burnout ?and allows you to continuously boost if you don’t smack into anything heavy. Finally, the run-up to each Danger Zone on specific levels has a goal you can meet to increase your score, which adds an extra layer of complexity on top of causing chaos.

These are all great additions, fleshing out the core driving of the original and making Danger Zone 2 feel like a better-realized vision. Coupled with those diverse backgrounds, I got a lot of flashbacks to Burnout 3 and Burnout Revenge while I was playing. It’s great to hit your preliminary objective, smash into cars, deploy your Smashbreaker (Danger Zone’s take on the Burnout series’ Crashbreaker) and then start ??collecting various tokens in the environment to raise your score.

Danger Zone 2 is still a more puzzle-focused take on Crash mode just like the first Danger Zone. This isn’t purely about slamming into cars and causing mass mayhem, because you&rsq??uo;ll rarely hit the score total for a platinum medal if you avoid collecting the tokens sc??attered about each intersection. You’ll need to make careful consideration of where your car is heading and how you’re completing each run-up objective to score success.

Some of the levels are also not just straight crash segments. A few will require you to speed past traffic in an F1 car and reach the main intersection in time for a mega crash. Others will see you occupy a semi-trailer and plow through traffic in a reckless display of violence. Danger Zone 2 tries its best to mix up the proceedin?gs and it certainly wor?ks to keep you entertained at every corner.

Where this starts to falter is that the general score thresholds on each level are really low. While $1 million in damage sounds like a lot, any Burnout veteran is going to demolish Danger Zone 2 in a little less than three hours with basically nothing else to do. There is no multiplayer to speak of and Three Fields Entertainment has relegated any kind of racing mode to its upcoming Dangerous Driving spin-off. This was a problem with the first g?ame, ??but it becomes a little harder to ignore the second time around (and with an increased price tag, to boot).

I think the biggest issue is that there is only one of each token on every level. The first Danger Zone littered each test zone with multiple tokens to collect, meaning you could miss some and need to rely on raw destruction to up your score. In Danger Zone 2, you’re screwed if you don’t pick them up, but nabbing them all i??s a lot easier and basically guarantees that you’re going to pass every level with the ??highest score.

That is if you can consistently nab all the tokens. For some odd reason, Danger Zone 2 exhibits more technical issues than its predecessor. Built on an updated Unreal Engine 4, there is a whole slew of graphical enhancements in Danger Zone 2, but t?here is also the int?roduction of some wild glitches and bugs. I can’t tell you how many times I collided with some cars expecting to crash, yet had my vehicle do a 180 and speed off in the opposite direction.

The collision detection on certain parts of the environment can be finicky, sometimes sending you flying through the air and other times putting your car on its side. You’ll hit ramps and crash, for some reason, or fly with the proper arc that Three Fields intended. There are also some objectives where you’ll ?need to collide with a vehicle in mid-flight, but then that car’s physics will stop on a dime and completely screw up the intended solution.

This could be resolved if your Smas??hbreaker had the ability to deploy at will, but you need to first crash before that can happen??. Since hitting a car isn’t a guaranteed crash, you’ll race into an intersection with a clear plan and then have an entire run wasted because your car decided to be impervious that time. Don’t even get me started on the cars that materialize out of thin air, especially when the draw distance shows cars beyond their position.

This does a great disservice to the action Danger Zone 2 does its damnedest to change up. I want to love those fast-moving F1 segments, but if cars are literally appear??ing out of thin air, how am I supposed to maximize my time and score? I want to applaud moving outside of a generic test facility, but if basic collisi??on detection on ramps is so awkward, was the change in scenery really worth it?

To top it off, the general visuals are just bland. I suppose one could ignore the soft filter that is applied to everything, making the camera appear as if it was dipped in Vaseline, but how do the cars still not have proper destruction mapping? I want to see the body of my sedan fold in when I careen into a trailer, not just lightly dent and smoke. I may have excused this the first time out (since it was the first attempt at recreating Burnout), but sequels should improve instead of regress.

The general polish of Danger Zone 2 is a downgrade compared against its predecessor. That it actively starts to affect the gameplay is where I draw the line. I had no problem recommending everyone grab the first game because it was cheap, delivered on its promise, and brought us back to the glory days of arcade racers. Danger Zone 2, though, is mostl??y the same thing in a worse package.

The real killer is that you can grab the absolute best Burnout game, Burnout Revenge, on Xbox 360 for $9.99 on the Xbox Live marketplace and it has backward compatibility on Xbox One. For half the price of Danger Zone 2, you’ll get not only a fully featured racing component and online multiplayer but five?? times the amount of crash junctions.

Danger Zone 2 isn’t a bad game, but it falls apart under the weight of its technical issues. If there wasn’t already a better version of this game by the same devs (disregarding the Burnout series), I might be more forgiving of some of these flaws. I simply can’t i??gnore the shortcomings, though.

Danger Zone 2 has all the groundwork set to make an explosive comeback for Burnout, but Three Fields Entertainment just needs to up?? its quality control. Also, how do we still not have Kenny Loggins on the soundtrack?!

_{[This review is based on a retail build of the game ?provided by the publisher.]}

The post Review: Danger Zone 2 appeared first on Destructoid.

'We're going to tell a story that we hope is universal'

In a recent interview with VentureBeat, co-founder of Sucker Punch productions Chris Zimmerman made it very clear that the developer is working extra hard to nail the accuracy of its upcoming samurai game Ghost of Tsushima. "This is important to many people at Sony, that we get this right," Zim?merman states. "We have a lot of support both from people in Japan and native Japanese people working in the states. We’re a multicultural studio as well so that always helps."

Zimmerman then goes on to clarify that Tsushima will be tackling some subjects like the amorphous style of religion in Japanese life, making sure that things like fighting styles with swords are nailed correctly and how they are strivi?ng to accurately portray the way conversations were held in 1200's Japan. "We’ve worked hard to make sure we’r??e bringing in appropriate people to help. Whether that’s talking about syncretism in Japanese religious life, or getting the details of a conversation right or making sure the swords are accurate, it’s been great to assemble the team we have."

The main goal isn't to make a story that can be enjoyed only by Japanese players. Sucker Punch is looking to create a more universal narrative that happens to be set during the Mongol Invasion of Japan. "We’re going to tell a story that we hope is universal," Zimmerman says, "that everyone can relate to, that’s our take on this time and place. We hope we can take people back th?ere, and I think we’ve been relatively successful so far."

Ghost of Tsushima, for me, was the best game at E3. We didn't necessarily get to see a whole lot of it, but it looks to accurately capture the vibe and style that made Jidaigeki films so memorable. Even if Sucker Punch wasn't founded in Japan, it is nice to see the studio be so accommodating to people of different backgrounds. Hopefully this means Ghost of Tsushima ends up being as thrilling as ??its E3 trailer was.

The DeanBeat: Why outsid??ers see us better ??than we can see ourselves [VentureBeat]

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Along with digital pre-orders

If you've been itching to get a taste of Yakuza Kiwami 2, then boot up your PS4 and get to the store. Sega has just unleashed a demo that lets you take a look at the remade Sotenbori district from the original (which was also in Yakuza 0 and 5). Much like the Japanese demo, this is a short sampler that won't let you carry progress to the main game (unlike the Yakuza 6 demo).

If you like what you play and intend to grab the game digitally, Sega ??has now put digital pre-orders live. Along with that, you'll get a "Dragons" theme for your console and a bonus "Special Item Pack" for use in the main game. Tha??t pack includes the demonfire blade, a one million yen bonus, a comedian costume for Kiryu, a couple of bonus cards for the "Clan Creator" mini-game and the absolutely wonderful Ono-Michiyo hostess.

To get yourself hyped for the August 28 release date, Sega has uploaded a new trailer that sets the stage for the story. It is remarkably faithful to the direction of the original Yakuza 2's cutscenes, which is sure to please fans.

The post Yakuza Kiwami 2’s demo is now available appeared first on Destructoid.

PS4 version still has some issues

THQ Nor??dic is one of the more generous publishers around. T?hey like to reward PC gamers for buying its titles years prior. For basically every remaster of a last-generation title that has jumped to PS4, Switch, and Xbox One, there has been a free PC upgrade for owners of the previous iteration. I don’t know if the older PC versions even needed tweaking, but you can’t really argue with a free upgrade.

After seeing how shoddy Red Faction Guerrilla Re-Mars-tered turned out on PS4, though, I was worried the PC edition was going to be just as lackluster. Free is nice, but if the remaster is a step down with regards to the previous “Steam Edition,” what would be the point? Well, you can let out a sigh of relief, because Re-Mars-tered is absolutely fine on PC.

Basically, none of the issues I encountered with the PS4 version are present. The framerate is rock solid, the game doesn’t crash?? every other mission (or at all) and the controls are surprisingly solid. I actually don’t mind how the vehicles handle on a keyboard, though I’m beginning to wonder if they were programmed with digital inputs in mind. It is almost a complete night and day comparison between this new PC version and the PS4 port.

As for graphics options, this is probably the only part where Re-Mars-tered isn’t solid. Everything you can tweak is pretty limited and there is not an option for uncapped framerates. You’re simply getting 60 FPS with or without Vsync. I’ll take that over the PS4’s “High Performance” mode, but it would be nice to see Guerrilla running at something obscene like 240 FPS. At least the PC version includes an FOV slider, though I think the values are off. I typically play first-person shooters with 90 FOV, but the max selection of 85 in Guerrilla was tremendously pulled back.

This shouldn’t come as a surp??rise to anyone since the previous PC version offered basically all these same features. The main thing was that the original launched with the godforsaken “Games for Windows Live” se??rvice, but that was changed out for a “Steam Edition” in 2014. Multiplayer got migrated to the far more reliable Steam servers and everything was kosher. I’m guessing this release mainly happened because THQ Nordic worked on the console ports and decided to release an update for loyal PC users.

??If for some reason you dislike the remaster, you’ll also receive the original PC port with a purchase on Steam. There really isn’t any reason to not give it a shot, which is kind of mind-blowing to me. A lot of these remasters would be completely unnecessary if console manufacturers would just include backward compatibility, but that is a different debate altog??ether. I’m just happy that this PC version isn’t a technical mess.

As for how the PS4 ??version is faring, a patch came out the day before release. I played through the?? entire game on version 1.00 for review, but as soon as my review went live, 1.01 was available for download. I always try to be as thorough and transparent about my review process as possible, so I didn’t want to leave my 5/10 score up and ignore a potential game saver. Sadly, this 1.01 doesn’t really correct the numerous framerate issues.

I played through the DLC campaign, Demons of the Badlands, and it was virtually the same as my regular playthrough. The game can hit 60 FPS but typically doesn’t. Explosions cause the framerate to drop and it looks unsightly in motion. To clarify, I made sure I was playing on the “High Performance” mode, so I really don’t understand why 60 FPS isn’t attainable on a PS4 Pro. The FMVs?? are also oddly more compressed than the main game and exhibit a lot of screen tearing, which is rather ugl?y. At least the worst issue (frequent game crashing) seems to be mostly gone.

I sat down for about three hours and finished the DLC in one sitting and didn’t encounter a single crash. When I realized I was done (the DLC is really underwhelming), I figured I would do some side quests. As soon as I jumped in a car ??and started ?to speed to my next location, the game locked up on me. Ugh. Still, that is a marked improvement over the 1.00 version, so you’re likely to not encounter as many crashes as I did.

Seeing as how the game is now available in stores, I figured I would actually tackle multiplayer to give some impressions. I don’t know why no one was playing it pre-release, but now there are actual players and you can experience the wild multiplayer mayhem that Guerrilla absolutely nails. At least the PS4 version is good for something because the online experience is solid. There are still framerate issues, but the more condensed maps don’t ?see them rear their ugly head that frequently. There i?s literally no lag that I could spot, but I also have my PS4 wired to my router.

As far as the multiplayer goes, the PS4 version is good. It wouldn’t be my preferred way to play, but the budget pricing on the remaster means you won’t have to break the bank just to get some destruction going with friends. I do hope that THQ Nordic can iron out those performance issues and eliminate whatever is causing the game to crash because I do really enjoy Guerrilla.

Nothing is going to change the ludicrous AI or lame plotline, but playing Guerrilla with a rock solid 60 FPS on PC made me appreciate it just? as much as I did eight years ago. The game does hold up, for the most part, it just got a seemingly rushed port to PS4. I honestly wonder how the Xbox One version is, now.

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Smash, Crash, Repeat

As far as games worthy of a remaster go, Red Faction: Guerilla is a prime candidate. The game didn’t sell abysmally, but it never got the attention it so rightfully deserved in 2009. Released at a time where hype for upcoming sequels was at a fever pitch, Guerrilla was brushed aside by the gaming masses for bearing the name of a decent-ish series. That was a crying shame because Guerrilla was one of the best open-world g?ames of the last gener?ation.

While this remaster gives the title a second chance at success, I wish I could say the port was up to snuff. Sadly, Red Faction Guerrilla: Re-Mars-tered is a pretty sub-standard re-release.

Red Faction Guerrilla: Re-Mars-tered (PC, PS4 [reviewed on PS4 Pro], Xbox One)
Developer: Volition, KAIKO
Publisher: THQ Nordic
Release: July 3, 2018
MSRP: $29.99, Free (PC owners of original version)

The story of Red Faction: Guerrilla is set 50 years after the first game in the series. You assume the role of Alec Mason, a man traveling to Mars to reunite with his brother and start a new life. Within minutes of arriving, your brother is attacked by the Earth Defense Force (EDF) and killed for being a conspirator with the Red Faction. The Re??d Faction is a ragtag group of insurgents that are fighting against the EDF’s control of Mars with the hopes of one day reclaiming the planet. Since Alec is a miner and has a predilection for destroying buildings with various tools, he joins up with the Red Faction to fight the goo??d fight and avenge his brother.

While there are nods to the first game strewn about, Guerrilla requires basically no knowledge of prior events. The one thing that truly links the games together is the use of Volition’s patented “Geomod” technology. In the original, Geomod allowed ?you to blast ??through literally everything and create your own path through the environment. Due to the limitations of seventh generation consoles, Volition had to drop the ability to destroy terrain. In return, we were given some seriously hardcore destructible buildings.

I’m still in awe of how the Xbox 360 and PS3 even managed to run Guerrilla with how many pieces of debris can go flying ?at a moment’s notice. Take one swing with your hammer and dust will kick into the air, stone will crumble and pieces will collapse from the point of impact in a very realistic display of destruction. There is an unadulterated joy in just getting frustrated wit?h trying to shoot an enemy and opting to take the whole damn building down instead.

For a decent chunk of the campaign, this destruct?ibility is actually factored in quite well. Since the Red Faction is (essentially) a terrorist organization, you’re often tasked with causing mass havoc to the EDF by destroying everything they operate with. This means taking your sledgehammer and doing your best M.C. Hammer impersonation or chucking a few remote bombs and setting them off. Missions will send you all around Mars with the goal being to destroy all the EDF’s armories, bring down fuel depots and obliterating vehicle factories.

It is in the missions that try to further develop the story where Guerrilla completely deflates i?tself. Sometimes the game will throw you into scenarios where you’ll have to directly confront enemies and the gunplay is just not up to snuff. The very odd control scheme can make aiming feel imprecise and the nigh on suicidal N??PC AI makes firefights frustrating. The real killer is just the overall lackluster presentation.

I can excuse the low-quality FMVs as being a product of their time, but the way the game completely freezes the world and bombards you with incessantly dry narration of your current mission is just baffling. It feels so amateurish next to the impressive technology that powers the game and feels either like a cut corner or a rushed addition. Couple that with missions that don’t have an auto-restart option for failing, bafflingly limited checkpoints and the occasional game-crashing glitches and getting through the campaign in Guerrilla can be a test of patience.

I just wish the AI wasn’t so hell-bent on destroying you. Playing on anything above “Normal” difficulty is just asking to have a bad time, but even selecting the easiest setting can sometimes have missions where the enemy will be on top of you from the moment you hit start. As early as the fifth mission in the game, I was driving my car to smash some EDF sensors and I could swear my vehicle was made of magnets. The AI was on top of me almost the entire way through and I would attempt to jump out and switch vehicles only to get lost in the ?sea of cars plowing over me.

It just keeps getting more and more frustrating, too. Later missions have enem??ies with pinpoint accuracy and in such overabundant numbers that you’re constantly sprinting away from everything since there isn’t a point to cover. The open-world design means foes will come from literally everywhere, so you might as well haul ass and try to finish objectives as fast as possible. It really starts to make you hate the structure of these missions and how utterly bland the plotline really is. There isn’t much reason to keep plowing through other than to witness buildings crumbling to the ground.

What does work is the plethora of side content available. Not everything is a winner, mind you, but they almost all feed back into the central premise for the game and include some way to further destroy the buildings around you. My favorite has to be the small puzzle-like destruction missions that task you with toppling a particular building with specific stipulations. Trying to figure out what the game wants you to do with the tools available is a real treat and highlights exactly what Guerrilla gets so right.

The various collectibles also do this, requiring you to break propaganda signs or smash ore deposits. This then feeds back into the upgrade system, which works by having Alec collect scrap from his impromptu demolition sprees. Topple a building, ?grab some scrap and upgrade your guns. It really is a well-thought-out system with some meaningful extra content scattered throughout.

What does suck is the driving in the game. It wouldn’t be an open-world game on the 360/PS3 without some kind of driving and holy cow does Guerrilla not get this right. Maybe Mars just has radically different gravity than Earth, but each vehicle feels floaty, imprecise and utterly devoid of pep. Even the fast cars barely move and it feels like you’re almost standing still with how sorry the sound design is. I like hearing the roar of the engine and the screech of tires, but the cars in Guerrilla are pretty damn quiet.

Even with those flaws (and the hopelessly repetitive missions), Guerrilla still remains a solid title. I don’t know if it is worth it to 100% the game, but you’re bound to have a good time with Guerrilla in 2018. That is if you can play the thing without it cras?hing all the time. I’m very surprised at how lackluster this port is because it took me quite a few entire system restarts to make it through the campaign mode.

During a few missions, I would encounter bugs where the game would just freeze while the audio kept going. I could circumvent this by quitting the application, but other times the game would hang during the load screens along with my PS4. I did actually test o??ut leaving it sit for 15 minutes and the game would eventually load, but other times that wasn’t the case. I would have a black screen and nothing going on, necessitating a restart. At other moments, my PS4 would throw up an error message and automatically close the game for me, causing me to lose some progress since my last auto-save.

Even if these problems weren’t as numerous as they are, the framerate issues are truly confusing. I know the 360 and PS3 couldn’t properly handle Guerrilla, but you’d figure a PS4 Pro would have no problem running this game in 1080p. Sadly, if you blow up too much stuff at once, the game will chug hard. Couple that with some weird controller lag I would occasionally encoun?ter and I have no idea what went so wrong with this remaster.

The actual graphics look pretty nice, at least. The new lighting model adds a lot of depth to each area of Mars and helps give the game a more defined look. Cars have been given some slightly better polygon counts and there are new normal maps added to each texture. The general resolution of everything has seen a nice increase, looking very sharp and clean. There are definitely some things that still feel like a last generation game, but you could mistake Re-Mars-tered for being a current-gen project.

With regards to extra content, the multiplayer mode has made the cut. Even the DLC is here, which means you’re getting the complete Red Faction: Guerrilla experience and t?hat is awesome. I still don’t understand why some developers will opt for a remaster of a hit game and then ax game ?modes that people enjoyed.

I just wish all the performance issues were resolved before shipping. In all good faith, I can’t recommend you rush out and grab this immediately with how shoddy the performance can be. It would be one thing to deal with a crummy framerate, but having the game crash as often as it did is no good. I want to destroy?????????????????????????? buildings, not sit through boring-ass dialogue, have my game crash and then sit through that chatter again.

Hopefully, some patches bring this remaster up to par, because it would be unforgivable to have Guerrilla fail a second time due to a rushed port.

_{[This review is based on a retail build of the game provided by the publisher.]}

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New cars, events and a new track

It's been quite some time since I thought about Gran Turismo Sport, but developer Polyphony Digital has been trucking along with updates to the game. The newest patch hitting the game, the "May 2018" update, will be landing on May 30 and introduce a whole slew of new content to chug through. In addition to one new track, the famed Circuit de la Sarthe, Sport will receive new GT League events and n??ine new ?cars.

This?? trailer lays out the new rides you'll be seeing. While I'm not particularly big on any of them, I know Destructoid's own Dan Roemer is interested in the Fiat 500 F. Maybe I can finally play this game with a friend, though waiting around for online even??ts to start is a bit of a drag.

Gran Turismo Sport - May Update 1.19 | PS4 [PlayStation via YouTube]

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I am unstoppable, boy

Can God of War be stopped? In addition to being Sony's fastest selling PS4 exclusive and the best selling game of April 2018, God of War has now broken the five million copy mark. While this isn't the best selling game on the platform, it would put it in the top 20 (according to VGChartz). The news comes from Sony's "Investor Relations Day" report where John Kodera, Sony's Boss, announced the figure alongsid??e a bunch of other PlayStation data.

I'm just astounded at how well this game is doing, though I really shouldn't be. Gamers have been crying out for a single-player game that respects their time for a long while, but a lot of greedy publishers haven't been listening. Leave it to Sony to have a diverse portfolio of titles on its platform that caters to everyone without compromising the quality of individual games. I've said it before, but God of War should stand as a testament to how ?focused, linear games can still sell like crazy.

God of War Sales Top 5 Million in the First Month [IGN]

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Tokyo: Become Human sounds a lot better, honestly

Sony Japan has uploaded a short film to promote Quantic Dream's upcoming Detroit: Become Human. Set in Tokyo and aptly titled Tokyo: Become Human, the film appears to cover the same kind of dilemmas you'll face in the main game. I didn't realize Quantic Dream's games had big appeal in Japan, bu?t apparently Sony is doing its ??damnedest to promote this title.

I can't actually tell what is happening, though, as the thing is entirely in Japanese without subtitles. Even with the language barrier, I'm in awe at the production values for this. A short film of this caliber gets me way more excited for Detroit than the short demo on PSN ever could.

Now I just ho??pe a fan translates the thing, bec??ause I'm interested in seeing what the hell is going on.

Tokyo: Become Human 『Detroit: Become Human Spin off movie』[ResetEra]

The post Sony Japan pr?omotes Detroit: Become Human with a mini-film appeared first on Destructoid.

The constant gardener

A recent-ish patch for The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt added HDR support, but it also brought new issues for Pl?ayStation 4 Pro users. As captured by YouTube user Qbon83, the update has been causing problems with the game's draw distance and foliage, leading to some rather immersion-breaking pop-in.

It's the kind? of thing that can grate on you enough to put your adv?enture on hold.

The pop-in problem only affected certain users (namely, people running The Witcher 3 ?at 4K on PS4 Pro), but it was still u?nfortunate to see. Today, CD Projekt RED released a hotfix for those players.

The new hotfix for The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt is now available on PS4 and PS4 Pro! This update increases draw distance for foliage, while using 4K on PS4 Pro and applies to both, Vanilla and GOTY versions of the game. pic.twitter.com/wYvPDSkhUD

— The Witcher (@witchergame) May 16, 2018

I've yet to find a good before-and-after comparison, but presumably thing??s are back in order.

The Witcher [Twitter]

The post There’s a fix for The Witcher 3’s foliage issues on PS4 Pro appeared first on Destructoid.