Dan Gilroy made a huge splash when his directorial debut, Nightcrawler, premiered at the Toronto Film Festival to rave reviews. After a sophomore slump in Roman J. Israel, Esq., Gilroy is back with a vengeance by going full horror with Velvet Buzzsaw, a bonkers supernatural slasher disguised as an art film where instead of horny teens, it’s pretentious and greedy art snobs getting murdered.Gilroy returns to the morally compromised Los Angeles, only instead of dark and gloomy city streets, Velvet Buzzsaw is a gleaming and colorful satire of the art world. We begin at an art show where we are introduced to a parade of zany and ridiculous characters that are completely unaware of their ridiculousness. Jake Gyllenhaal reunites with Gilroy to play Morf Vandewalt, a powerful art critic that never turns off his criticisms. Josephina (Zawe Ashton) is a receptionist with ambitions working under the commanding punk artist turned gallery owner, Rodora (Rene Russo). Jon Dondon (Tom Sturridge) left Rhodora's teaching to become her biggest rival. There's also the art advisor with wealthy clients, Gretchen (Toni Collette). Rounding up the main cast is John Malkovich as a once great artist whose newfound sobriety ruined his artistic vision, and the one good-hearted and normal member of the ensemble, Coco (Natalia Dyer), a receptionist who keeps getting hired by people right before they die.It’s a stellar cast (even Daveed Diggs and Billy Magnussen show up) filled with terrible people waiting to be slaughtered. After an old man dies in Josephina’s building, she snoops into his apartment and finds hundreds of paintings made by the dead man. As with every other character in the film, the deceased man had a ridiculous name, Ventryl Dease, and apparently, he really wanted his paintings to be destroyed once he died. Why? Well, for one they are creepy as hell. Fiery pits of hell surrounding screaming children with blacked out eyes, twisted limbs and other hellish images surround the sinister apartment. Gilroy and cinematographer Robert Elswit find beauty in the macabre, with striking city vistas and sinister interior shots, and of course, every murder looks like a work of art--there’s even a crime scene that gets mistaken for an exhibit.There is a sense of levity and a real satirical tone to Velvet Buzzsaw, especially in the first act, which takes pleasure in showing how insane and preposterous the art world is. Each character is crazier and more terrible than the last, and as if their lives weren’t crazy enough, the various art installations seen in the movie range from creepy to outright hysterical--there’s a particularly funny installation in the form of a robot called Hoboman, who says nonsensical sentences like “I once built a railroad.” If Dan Gilroy had wanted to stop the film right there and just make it a comedy about awful people being funny, it would have worked. But then the murders happen…After finding the creepy paintings, the ambitious would-be art agent Josephina does the logical thing and steals a few of them. When Morf declares the paintings to be masterpieces and Rhoroda expresses her desire to help sell them for a profit, more and more characters join in one way or another, getting intense acclaim and vast profits in the process by being close to the disturbing paintings. Of course, the disturbing paintings aren’t only that, as Rhodora and the greediness gang discover a sinister and possibly supernatural history tied to Dease’s art, which then start *checks notes* literally killing people.Gilroy, who also wrote the script, takes full advantage of the over-the-top world of obnoxious art snobs and mixes it with the camp of a slasher film that results in a film with some relevant and articulate comments on the art world, told with the subtlety of a knife to the throat, all played with morbid humor that somehow works like gangbusters. The death scenes are numerous, each more absurd and gorier than the last. Killed by monkeys from a painting? Check. An exhibit where you stick your hand in a hole and suddenly your arm is cut in the bloodiest way? Check. A soundproofed room that suddenly starts torturing you with negative criticism? Sure, why not! Nothing is too preposterous or weird for Dan Gilroy, and the film is better for it.Speaking of weird and preposterous, Jake Gyllenhaal is game for all of the film’s craziness and is fantastic at playing the snobby Morf, who can’t seem to be able to speak without criticisms. Even before having sex or at a funeral, he is commenting and critiquing his environment while constantly posing his hand under his chin, looking for new snarky lines. Meanwhile his Nightcrawler co-star Rene Russo perfectly captures the greed of doing anything for the almighty dollar, and Zawe Ashton is outstanding as Josephina, who has the widest turn from sympathetic to ruthless and greedy.Velvet Buzzsaw may seem like a critique on greediness and our relationship to art on the surface, but what Dan Gilroy has created in nothing short of a surreal, campy and bonkers and entertaining ride through hell.Velvet Buzzsaw is available on Netflix on February 1.The GoodThe wacky performances.Jake Gyllenhaal is unchained.The balls on this film for going as crazy as it does!Most bonkers deaths since the roller coaster in Final Destination.Info from Gamespot.com

Super Smash Bros. Ultimate isn't the only Switch game receiving a major update this week. Nintendo is also rolling out a new patch for Mario Tennis Aces. The update is slated to arrive on January 31 and will make a range of balance adjustments, kick off another Co-Op Challenge, and add a new playable character: Boom Boom.Beginning February 1, players will be able to unlock the classic Super Mario Bros. 3 mid-boss by competing in the game's Online Tournament mode; everyone else, meanwhile, will unlock him automatically after March 1. You can get a look at Boom Boom in action in the trailer above.In addition to Boom Boom, Nintendo is bringing back the Boo Hunt Co-Op Challenge until March 2, giving players another opportunity to unlock special alternate costumes for Boo. This particular challenge uses Swing Mode and has players teaming up online to hit the ball at as many Boos within the time limit.Beyond that, Nintendo is adding a Hosted Match mode for online and LAN play. AI is also being improved, and a number of characters are receiving balance adjustment. You can read about all of the changes in the full patch notes.A number of new characters have been added to Mario Tennis Aces since the game's launch, including Shy Guy, Diddy Kong, Petey Piranha, and most recently Luma, who arrived at the beginning of January. The game's next free character will be Pauline, and she'll be available in March.Info from Gamespot.com

The Los Angeles Rams will take on the New England Patriots at the Super Bowl this weekend. But for many viewers, Super Bowl Sunday is about the spectacle. The year's biggest game, biggest half-time show, and of course, the biggest commercials. Advertising during the Super Bowl guarantees a massive audience and the prestige of sharing airtime with some of the most iconic ads ever created.This year, companies like Amazon, Doritos, and Budweiser have already begun to show off teasers for ads that will air on February 3. Some of these are versions of the final ads themselves, but many are Internet-ready ads for the ads that we'll see during the big game. Check out all that we know about for sure below. We also expect to see some movie trailers, including a likely look at some upcoming Marvel films.Amazon AlexaAmazon is advertising its Alexa virtual assistant with a series of ads, centered around a fictional Beta Testing program reserved strictly for celebrities like Harrison Ford. If anyone knows how to deal with smart-aleck robots, it's him.Avacados from MexicoWho doesn't love some guac to go with those chips? Avacados from Mexico, a marketing group for the tree fruit import business, created a commercial using that mainstay of advertising success: cute dogs.Bon & Viv Spiked SeltzerIn one of the more high-concept ads we've seen so far, a group of mermaids pitch their spiked seltzer, Shark Tank style, to a gang of actual sharks.Bubly Flavored WaterSinger Michael Bublé has riffed on his very adjective-like name before, and now the crooner is playing at being a bit miffed at the similarity with the flavored water brand Bubly.BudweiserThe self-proclaimed King of Beers has become somewhat known for its Super Bowl commercials, so of course it's planning to show up this year. This year it's tipping its hat to sustainable energy, promoting its use of wind power with the help of its iconic clydesdale horses and (why not?) a cute dog.DoritosPerpetual football snack Doritos uses all that tortilla money to bring Backstreet back (alright), as the 1990s heartthrobs give Chance the Rapper a shot at joining their crew. We've only seen teasers so far so the big day will likely bring a longer ad spot.M&MsChristina Applegate stars in a teaser for the little candy confections, as a frustrated woman locked out of her car by someone--or something--on the inside.Planters PeanutsA brief teaser for Planters shows the company's monocled mascot tossing peanuts into the mouth of baseball great Alex Rodriguez.SkittlesSkittles is very consciously making a point of not showing an ad during the game, instead advertising that it is hosting a full-blown Broadway musical. It stars Michael C. Hall and will play to an actual live audience in New York concurrent with the Super Bowl itself, with ticket proceeds and a matching donation going to Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS.Stella ArtoisIn an ad for Stella Artois beer, fictional characters known for their associations with particular alcoholic beverages decide on a change of pace and instead order a Stella. Those include Carrie Bradshaw of Sex in the City eschewing her cosmo and The Dude rejecting a White Russian. This ad strategy may have backfired slightly for Stella, though, as the initial vague teaser starring Jeff Bridges raised hopes for a Big Lebowski sequel. Sorry, fans of The Dude.Info from Gamespot.com

The private beta for The Division 2 is almost here, and we've outlined all the information you need to know in order to participate. Ubisoft has announced that new content will become available later in the demo, so you'll need to check in past the first day to see everything.The Division 2 leaves the New York City setting of the first game for a story told in Washington DC. The loot-driven RPG elements and third-person cover-based shooter mechanics from The Division return, but this sequel promises a larger focus on how a player's choices will impact the in-game world. The popular Dark Zone from the first game has been multiplied into three in The Division 2, and how they work has also changed.The Division 2 launches on March 15 for Xbox One, PS4, and PC. The PC version, previously scheduled for Steam, is now releasing on the Epic Games Store instead.When Is The Division 2's Private BetaThe Division 2 private beta starts on February 7 at 1AM PT / 4AM ET / 9AM UK and ends February 11 at 1AM PT / 4AM ET / 9AM UK. The beta will be available on Xbox One, PS4, and PC.How To Participate In The Private BetaIn order to participate in the private beta, you'll need to be invited. You can get an invite in one of two ways. You can either pre-order The Division 2 or you can register on the game's main website for a chance to win an invite. Pre-ordering the game is the only guaranteed way to participate.You can preload the game 24 hours before it becomes available. If you plan on playing on PC, Ubisoft's recommended PC specs--which put the game at 1080p and 60fps--requires an AMD Ryzen 5 1500X or Intel Core I7-4790 that's paired with 8 GB of RAM and either an AMD RX 480 or Nvidia Geforce GTX 970 with 4 GB of VRAM.What Can You Do In The Private BetaThere seems to be a fair bit of content available in The Division 2 private beta. On February 7, you'll have access to a couple main missions, several open-world activities, one of the PvP modes, and one of the three Dark Zones.Of the two main story missions, the first will take place in Grand Washington Hotel, while the second is located at Jefferson Trade Center. While exploring the world, you'll find five additional side missions. If you want, you can also participate in The Division 2's new Skirmish PvP mode or journey into Dark Zone East. You'll be able to rank up to level seven throughout your time in the private beta, and unlock new skills to use.Starting February 8, endgame content will be unlocked in the private beta. You'll be able to try a level 30 agent, as well as one of the three new specializations. There's also an endgame Invaded mission available.Info from Gamespot.com

The Super Bowl is almost here, and the one thing just as exciting as the big game is the commercials that air during the event. And one company that everyone has their eyes on this year is none other than Marvel, which has two big movies coming out in the first half of the year. But what can we expect from Marvel this Sunday?2019 is going to be a big one for Marvel. In addition to what's coming from the Marvel Cinematic Universe, both Dark Phoenix and The New Mutants--formerly Fox properties--should be released under the Marvel banner with the buyout of 20th Century Fox coming to a close. That means that this year, Marvel will be releasing five movies. Here is what Marvel has planned for the upcoming year.Marvel's 2019 Movie Schedule:Captain Marvel - March 8Avengers: Endgame - April 26Dark Phoenix - June 7Spider-Man: Far From Home - July 5The New Mutants - August 2Chances of anything being shown for New Mutants--an X-Men movie that's been pushed back, delayed, and riddled with problems--is a long-shot, simply because it's not high-profile enough for Disney to drop significant money on. And again, the problems that have plagued this movie's production will have undoubtedly affected the final product.Spider-Man: Far From Home just got its first trailer, and because it takes place in a post-Endgame world, don't expect a new video for the movie. We may see the recent trailer again during the game, but don't expect anything new. And the same goes for Dark Phoenix.Marvel will likely be pushing both Captain Marvel and Avengers: Endgame during the Super Bowl, if the company does in fact have ad space. More than likely, we'll get another Captain Marvel trailer, which may or may not have any new footage, for a final push before the March release.Then, there's Avengers: Endgame. Plenty of people and news outlets are speculating we will get a brand-new trailer for the April film. CBS ad execs have been keeping it tight-lipped when it comes to what movie studios will be represented for commercial spots, according to AdAge. And some of these spots cost up to $5.3 million. So even though there is zero confirmation, people are speculating we will get an Avengers: Endgame trailer during the NFL Championship. But why?If you remember back to last year's Super Bowl, Marvel dropped an Infinity War trailer during the game. Alongside that, Disney also dropped a trailer for Solo: A Star Wars Story as well, so the company has no problem dropping large amounts of money on ad spots for its larger movies.So on February 3, during the big game, there is a pretty good chance we'll get Captain Marvel and Avengers: Endgame, but more than likely, it will be a surprise with no confirmation prior to the event. For more on the Super Bowl, check out some halftime show options. Info from Gamespot.com

Bandai Namco is kicking off a new season of DLC for Dragon Ball FighterZ this week with the release of two new playable characters: Jiren and Videl. The pair will go on sale on January 31, and ahead of their arrival, the publisher has shared a new gameplay video showcasing both fighters in action.The video, which you can watch above, pits Jiren and Videl against each other in a standard three-on-three bout, giving fans a closer look at each one's fighting style. Jiren looks like a real powerhouse, knocking Super Saiyan Blue Goku out with ease. Videl, meanwhile, favors close-range combat, and as we saw in her reveal trailer, she can call in Gohan (dressed as Great Saiyaman) for certain attacks.Jiren and Videl will each retail for the same price as other Dragon Ball FighterZ DLC characters: $5. Both are also included in the FighterZ Pass 2, which costs $25 and grants access to four additional characters, two of whom will be Super Saiyan Blue Gogeta and Broly from the new Dragon Ball Super movie. The remaining two fighters have yet to be announced.Ahead of Jiren and Videl's release, Bandai Namco has rolled out an update for Dragon Ball FighterZ across all platforms. This one primarily makes various balance adjustments. You can read the full patch notes on Bandai Namco's website.In other Dragon Ball news, Bandai Namco recently revealed the first trailer for its new Dragon Ball Z action RPG. The game is being developed by CyberConnect 2 (Asura's Wrath, Naruto Shippuden: Ultimate Ninja Storm Trilogy) and is slated to launch later this year for PS4, Xbox One, and PC via Steam. Bandai Namco hasn't shared many other details about the title yet, but it will be a retelling of the series and star Goku.Info from Gamespot.com

CBS has announced the premiere date for the new The Twilight Zone. The TV series will debut on CBS All Access, and be exclusive for subscribers.The Twilight Zone is scheduled to premiere on April 1, and no that's not an April Fool's Day joke. Two episodes will be available for subscribers on Monday, April 1, with new ones releasing on a weekly basis starting Thursday, April 11. The new series comes from the mind of Jordan Peele, who is also the host and narrator of the show. His production company, Monkeypaw, is set to produce the series.Other cast members for the The Twilight Zone include Ike Barinholtz, John Cho, Lucinda Dryzek, Taissa Farmiga, Greg Kinnear, Luke Kirby, Sanaa Lathan, Kumail Nanjiani, Adam Scott, Rhea Seehorn, Alison Tolman, Jacob Tremblay, Jefferson White, Jonathan Whitesell, Jessica Williams, DeWanda Wise and Steven Yeun. A reimagined version of the original The Twilight Zone's "The Wunderkind" episode is already confirmed for this new series, but details have not yet been released for other episodes.It's a great day to be a fan of #TheTwilightZone! We're celebrating the 59th anniversary of the classic series AND the official start of production on the reimagining coming to CBS All Access in 2019! @JordanPeele pic.twitter.com/evuQQDOp6P — CBS All Access (@CBSAllAccess) October 2, 2018This new The Twilight Zone follows the format of the original show, which ran from 1959 to 1964. The original series is a collection of short stories, each about a mysterious dimension that its narrator refers to as "not only of sight and sound, but of mind." Episodes covered a wide variety of supernatural and science fiction events that befell ordinary people, which range from a frantic driver being pursued by a mysterious hitchhiker to a beautiful woman born in a society that values ugly facial features.Alongside news of the The Twilight Zone's premiere date, we also learned that Stephen King's The Stand is set to become an All Access series, while The Good Fight Season 3 also get a release date.Disclosure: CBS is GameSpot's parent company.Info from Gamespot.com

Blizzard has announced a new map for Overwatch is now live on the PC test servers. Called Paris, the new map takes place in the French city.Paris is a new Assault map and it contains many narrow streets and corridors. Despite taking place in the city of love, the new map looks as if it's structured to funnel players into fierce firefights as they battle it out for capture points. Noticeable landmarks on the Paris map are the Cabaret Luna, the Pâtisserie Galand, and the Maison Marat--a palace in the center of the city.Overwatch's latest event, the annual Lunar New Year celebration, is still live across all systems. Modeled after Chinese culture, each celebration adds new content to Overwatch that makes reference to the country's historical and cultural figures. This year's event, titled the Year of the Pig, will continue until February 8.The Year of the Pig event largely pays homage to Chinese generals and famous figures during the Han dynasty, especially with all its new skins. For example, Reaper, Hanzo, Reinhardt, Torbjor, Zenyatta, and Tracer have new Lu Bu, Huang Zhong, Guan Yu, Zhang Fei, Zhuge Liang, and Hong Gildong skins respectively. Orisa also has a new Epic Sanye skin, and Brigitte has a new Epic General skin. Past Overwatch Lunar New Year event skins are available again too.The Lunar New Year also brings along a patch and balance changes. There's nothing major, although armor now works a little bit differently. Damage reduction is now only -3 instead of -5, so you will see a difference when shooting armored targets with heroes that have burst-fire attacks. Previously, automatic weapons had a noticeable advantage over burst-fire when shooting armored targets, but now the latter should perform a lot better.Overwatch is available on Xbox One, PS4, and PC. Although Paris is only live on PC's test server, it will make its way onto other platforms eventually. To access the test server, go to the Battle.net client and click on the drop-down menu for Region/Account. From there, you'll see an option to install the test server.Info from Gamespot.com

Like every game in the series before it, Kingdom Hearts 3 begins by playing its theme, Dearly Beloved, over the title screen. Composed by acclaimed musician Yoko Shimomura, it perfectly captures the sentimentality at the heart of the series. The song is at once tender and melancholic, wistful and adventurous, somber and uplifting--a reminder of a history that'll leave longtime fans dewy-eyed. I wish I could properly convey the impact of hearing it, but the best I can do is to say that it is overwhelming.The only way to really understand the emotions Dearly Beloved stirs is to have connected with the franchise and its characters; to have followed their journeys over its 17-year history, for better or worse. The nostalgia for and investment in Kingdom Hearts as a franchise is incredibly powerful, so much so that it helped me push through the rougher patches in what is overall an enjoyable, if uneven, third entry in the core series. Kingdom Hearts 3 is preoccupied with fan service to a fault, and it also struggles to stay coherent under the weight of its own convoluted lore. But it's also everything fans love about the series: a thrilling action-RPG that celebrates Disney and Pixar, all the while ensuring themes of friendship, heroism, and pure-hearted goodness shine bright.At times, those themes can be difficult to discern, particularly when the game is intent on telling the grander story of Kingdom Hearts as opposed to the smaller tales centered around Disney's iconic characters or Sora’s innocent idealism. Given it's the concluding chapter in a massive story arc, it can't be faulted for having this fixation, but the execution is frustrating nonetheless. Kingdom Hearts 3 is bogged down in the finer details of its lore, so much so that--for all but the most clued-in fans--it can be difficult to get a sense of what our three main heroes are actually trying to accomplish.At its broadest, the story of Kingdom Hearts 3 involves Sora, Donald, and Goofy preparing for an upcoming war against the forces of darkness by gathering the Guardians of Light. This is oversimplification to its most extreme, but to delve into the finer details would require lengthy explanations of numerous confounding concepts and characters. It is undoubtedly messy, but for fans who have committed to playing all the games and been studious enough to join the dots along the way, it makes sense. For those that aren't as well-versed in Kingdom Hearts, the essentials of the story aren't laid out nearly as clear as they need to be.The bloated state of Kingdom Hearts’ lore is the result of numerous spin-offs and sequels that introduced new characters to explore back- and side-stories. Contained in their own games, these characters had the room to breathe, establish themselves, and have full narrative arcs. However, when united in one game, each is diminished in both characterization and impact. Kingdom Hearts 3 attempts to take all the disparate narrative threads from across its many games--and the characters tied up in them--and weave them together into one concluding story, and the result is incoherent to say the least. It doesn’t help that numerous characters look the same, or that some are time-travelling versions of themselves. Others, meanwhile, are reincarnations that have taken on a new form or exist inside the heart of yet another character. There are also a few that used to have one name, but now have another, but both names are used depending on who is talking about them. Before long all of these characters are elbow to elbow, vying for screen time and pulling the story in so many different directions that it becomes difficult to find its center again. The handful that are critical to the plot inevitably become lost among the many bit-parters that feel like they're in the game as fan service, instead of being meaningful to the story.If Kingdom Hearts 3 had stronger writing it may have been possible to highlight key details and figures for the player to latch onto; a chance to see through the crowd of faces and pick out the ones most important. However, the writing largely makes proceedings even harder to follow. The villains in particular--many of which are members of Organization XIII--spout inane lines that are purposefully vague. Presumably this was to build mystery, but it only serves to muddy motivations and further obscure the crux of the story. Otherwise, they're delivering cheesy dialogue that feels at odds with the sincere melodrama happening around them.At its core, Kingdom Hearts 3 is a heartfelt tale of enduring friendship, and the narrative is at its strongest when it narrows its focus to just thisThis is a shame because, at its core, Kingdom Hearts 3 is a heartfelt tale of enduring friendship, and the narrative is at its strongest when it narrows its focus to just this. Sora, the hero of the series, continues to be plucky and lovably naive. His greatest facets are his strength of heart, his ability to make friends with anyone, and his devotion to them--he is the archetypal wholesome good boy. Joining him once again is Donald Duck, stuffy and prone to outbursts but a trustworthy companion; and Goofy, slightly dimwitted but also the emotional anchor of the group.The endearing trio's adventures through the Disney and Pixar worlds featured in Kingdom Hearts 3, as well as the interactions they have with the characters within them, are a reminder that beneath the tortuous lore are smaller stories that resonate. By keeping the bigger Keyblade Wars story in the periphery and having minimal involvement from all those involved with it, these stories are clearer and more concise. The underlying themes of Kingdom Hearts harmonize with those of Disney's own properties so well that each new world Sora journeys to delivers an impactful moment of storytelling. In Toy Box, Sora helps Woody, Buzz, and the gang find their missing friends, as they also grapple with the idea that they live in a world where Andy doesn't exist. In Arendelle, he meets Anna, who is desperately trying to reconnect with her sister, Queen Elsa, and gets caught up in the family drama. In San Fransokyo, Sora assists Hiro and the Big Hero 6 team as they battle Microbots and find a forgotten friend. Admittedly, some of these stories retread old ground, but whether it's Tangled, Pirates of the Caribbean, Winnie The Pooh, Monsters Inc., or Hercules, experiencing them again through the lens of Kingdom Hearts 3 still packs an emotional punch. It's hard not to get swept up by the exaggerated displays of heroics or earnest reminders that your friends exist in your heart.One of the strengths of Kingdom Hearts 3 is the care and attention it pays to bringing Disney's worlds to life, which, in turn, makes being in them all the more exciting. You get to wander around Andy's bedroom as a diminutive toy version of Sora, scaling his walls and jumping on his toys, before making a trip to the mall. There you visit various toy shops, leaping on top of display units and between shelves as you battle the enemy Heartless. Returning to Kingdom Hearts 2's Twilight Town comes with a wave of nostalgia, as you hang around in the square watching a Mickey Mouse movie projected on a wall or visit the mansion where Namine stood at the window all those years back. Venture to the Pirates of the Caribbean world and the game adopts a striking, realistic visual style, swapping Sora and friends from their usual vibrant visages to a muddier tone in line with the movies' color palette. It then gives you command of your own ship with Jack Sparrow at your side. 100 Acre Wood shifts to the warmer pastels of a storybook aesthetic, as you help Rabbit tend to his garden so that Pooh can get some honey. San Fransokyo makes great use of verticality and Sora's ability to effortlessly run up buildings and glide between rooftops. At night it transforms into a blinding neon cityscape, inviting you to fly between floating blimps and grind rails with Baymax flying in tow. Monsteropolis has you working with Sully and Mike to stop Randal seizing control of Monsters Inc., and all the while Boo adorably potters along next to you.Many of the worlds offer extra gameplay activities to engage with after the story within them is wrapped up. Toy Box puts you in a Final Fantasy XV parody where you're in a mech destroying enemies and chasing high scores. Traverse Town has a cooking mini-game which involves collecting ingredients from across the worlds and then bringing them to Ratatouille's Remy to make meals. Pirates of the Caribbean lets you sail the open sea in search of treasure and do battle with enemy ships, or defend Port Royale in a wave-based mini-game. The amount of gameplay variety in Kingdom Hearts 3 is impressive, and although the extras may be short-term distractions, for those who want to spend more time in their favourite worlds, they're a fun reason to make the return trip.Not all worlds maintain that high bar, however, as some feel either empty or lacking in what they offer. Arendelle's snow-covered terrain, for example, feels quite bland, and the main mission involves climbing a mountain multiple times. Port Royale is an entire location used primarily for an item hunt. Toy Box's mall is devoid of life beyond the toys and enemies--it would have been nice to have people around to make it feel more alive, instead of like an after-hours shopping center. The same can be said of San Fransokyo which, on ground level, feels eerily deserted for a metropolis.The bulk of Kingdom Hearts 3's gameplay, however, is in its sword-swinging, magic-conjuring combat, which feels fast, frenetic, and spectacular in its cinematic flourishes. Its combat mechanics are an evolution of Kingdom Hearts 2's, which themselves have been tweaked and refined in the various spin-off titles. The most noticeable change is in its fluidity; Sora moves between enemies quickly, delivering a barrage of attacks, seamlessly transitioning into casting Fira to set enemies ablaze or Cura to recover health. There's a pleasing forward momentum to all the battles, as you zip around dispatching enemies in quick succession.There are numerous layers on top of the basic combat mechanics which, while not adding a great deal of depth or strategic considerations, make for more exciting skirmishes. Keyblades now come in a number of flavours to match the Disney worlds they're unlocked from. As part of this, they also have Formchanges, which are exactly what they sound like. As you land attack buttons, a meter builds up, and you are eventually given the option to transform your Keyblade into more over-the-top forms, where more powerful attacks and abilities become available. The game shows creative flare in these transformations too; Wheel of Fate, unlocked in the Pirates world, becomes an oversized spear and then the mast of a ship with the flag attached. Happy Gear, found in Monsters Inc., transforms into a set of high-speed claws and then a pair of yo-yos. Hunny Spout morphs into a pair of twin pistols and then a launcher, both firing honey at enemies.The amount of gameplay variety in Kingdom Hearts 3 is impressive ... for those who want to spend more time in their favourite worlds, [mini-games] are a fun reason to make the return tripMagic works similarly, with repeated use of a spell eventually making a Grand Magic version available at no additional mana cost. Throughout, Donald and Goofy will call to Sora for a team-up attack. For the former this could be a salvo of colorful fireworks that damage everyone in your vicinity. For the latter you can leap into the sky and throw Goofy at an enemy, with his shield causing an explosion on impact. These are characters that have fought many battles side by side, so having these back and forths are a nice representation of the camaraderie between them and their growth across the series--not to mention they're eye-catching cinematic moments.Feeding into the Disney milieu further are attractions such as tea cups, water rafts, bumper cars, and a rollercoaster that can be summoned to dish out damage. Each one controls differently, either through timed button presses, using the analogue stick to guide their path, or becoming a first-person shooter to pinpoint specific enemies, injecting a different style of combat gameplay into the action at regular intervals. Other Disney characters such as Simba, Stitch, and Ariel can also be called into battle, functioning similarly to Final Fantasy's summons to unleash devastating special attacks. Their inclusion is welcome, in lieu of giving them their own worlds, as some have had in past games. Beyond that there's Flowmotion, which builds a sense of speed by encouraging you to dash into objects in the environment to swing around, or at walls to parkour along. It can be tricky to get a handle of, but once you're able to work these moves into the flow of combat, you build a sense of prowess over the battlefield.Watching battles unfold, you'd be forgiven for thinking that combat is a complicated dance of fingers across buttons, but everything is actually achieved with one or two taps. Kingdom Hearts 3 is simple to play, which works in its favour. It prioritizes spectacle above all else and delivers tremendously. Instead of having to focus too much on what you're pressing and when, you can enjoy the madness unfolding on screen. This is a game that shows off and wows you with dazzling lights, explosive sounds, and high-octane action, and you don't want to miss a second of it. That's not to say it's completely devoid of strategic considerations, but you'll need to play on the harder Proud difficulty level if you want the game to challenge you. Otherwise--barring a few end game bosses--the enemies are pushovers.Another feature that makes its return from Kingdom Hearts of old is the Gummi Ship. Sora and his crew are able to pilot a spaceship as they travel to new worlds, at which point the game becomes a shoot-em-up of sorts. While Gummi Ship segments in the past were on-rails, this time you have full freedom to fly where you please, using wormholes and boost pads to explore quicker. Space is littered with treasures to find, but you'll often have to battle enemies to acquire them. The shooting in the Gummi Ship, while serviceable, isn't satisfying. The combination of lackluster visual and auditory feedback makes it hard to tell whether you're actually doing any damage, and for the most part I found myself absentmindedly holding the fire button down and waiting for things to explode. It is possible to create your own ships and outfit them with more weapons and augmented support abilities, but the fundamental shooting remains unchanged and uninteresting.As the game reaches its conclusion, the balance shifts heavily in favour of non-Disney worlds, where the main story of Kingdom Hearts can play out and resolve itself. Many of the environments this happens in are striking, from a pristine white city to strange modular arenas that can be turned upside down at the whim of an enemy. But in these locales the game trades the heart and whimsy of the worlds up until that point for heavy-handed storytelling that inevitably culminates in battles that are impressive set-pieces but feel cheap and spammy to play. With the finish line in sight, the game disrupts the pace with one arduous boss fight after another--not challenging in any way, just more of slog. The payoff, meanwhile, isn't entirely worth it, as Kingdom Hearts 3 wraps up its story in an incredibly unfulfilling way.But the story of Keyblade wars, time-travelling villains, body-hopping also-rans, and world-ending darkness isn't what I'll remember about Kingdom Hearts 3 or the series as a whole. What sticks with me is the exciting battle against elemental titans with Hercules, taking Rapunzel out into the unfamiliar wide world for the first time, snapping selfies with Winnie the Pooh, and going toe to toe with Davy Jones. In 2002, as Sora, I left Destiny Islands to travel across the universe and make new friends. In 2019 I brought old ones home, and I had so much fun doing it.Editor's note: Now that you've read the review, check out our review discussion, in which Tamoor breaks down how he approached the review--how do you review a game you've been waiting over a decade for? Let us know what you think!Info from Gamespot.com

Earlier this week, publisher Deep Silver announced it will offer the PC version of Metro Exodus exclusively through the Epic Games Store--a move that Valve, the company behind Steam, decried as "unfair." Deep Silver parent company THQ Nordic GmbH tried to distance itself from the controversial decision, and now its parent company--THQ Nordic AB--has issued a response in support of the move.Following the announcement that Metro Exodus would be skipping Steam, THQ Nordic took to Twitter to explain it had no involvement in the decision. "The decision to publish Metro Exodus as a timed Epic Store exclusive was made entirely on Koch Media's side as Metro is their intellectual property. They are a sister company of THQ Nordic (Vienna), which is the reason why we can and will not comment on this matter," the company wrote.In a follow-up tweet, THQ Nordic said: "We do not want to categorically exclude the possibility of timed exclusives for any of our games in the future, but speaking in the here and now, we definitely want to have the players choose the platform of their liking and make our portfolio available to as many outlets as possible."Now, THQ Nordice AB, which owns THQ Nordic GmbH, released a statement of its own supporting Deep Silver's decision. "I believe it's in the group's, and ultimately the consumers', best interest that business decisions are made close to the market and this is the group's consistent business model," CEO Lars Wingefors said. "I firmly believe that Deep Silver and Koch Media have carefully considered the advantages and disadvantages, opportunities and risks in their decision to go solely with Epic Games Store. The decision has my full support."Metro Exodus was available to pre-order on Steam before Deep Silver decided to bring it exclusively to the Epic Games Store, and while it is no longer available on Valve's storefront, any Steam pre-orders will still be honored. According to Deep Silver CEO Klemens Kundratitz, Epic's more appealing revenue split--the storefront gives developers 88% of their revenue while Epic only takes 12%--was one of the deciding factors behind the move."Epic's generous revenue terms are a game changer that will allow publishers to invest more into content creation, or pass on savings to the players," Kundratitz said. Indeed, in the US, the PC version of Metro Exodus will retail for $50--$10 cheaper than the $60 price tag the game carried on Steam while it was still available.Metro Exodus isn't the only big game skipping Steam entirely. Ubisoft recently announced that The Division 2 will likewise only be available through the Epic Games Store, in addition to its own storefront.Info from Gamespot.com

Dead or Alive 6 director Yohei Shimbori has announced that the upcoming fighting game will have a free-to-play version that only includes the "core fighters." This additional version of the game was previously hinted at after a posting for "Dead or Alive 6 Core Fighters" appeared on the Microsoft Store, before quickly being taken down."First of all, about the listing on the Microsoft Store, that was a mistake from the development team," Shimbori said in an interview with Siliconera. "We do have plans to make a free-to-play version, but we haven’t announced when it will be available. We can promise it will be out post-launch of the full game. We can’t talk about it yet since we don't have concrete details about what will be included yet. But, it will be similar to what we had with Dead or Alive 5: Core Fighters."Dead or Alive 5: Core Fighters is a free version of the fifth DoA mainline game. It only gives you four playable fighters, with the option to unlock a few costumes. It was followed by two other versions of Dead or Alive 5, a complete collection of the main game and all DLC called Ultimate and a HD remaster called Last Round.Team Ninja hopes that Dead or Alive 6 can be a point of transition for the fighting game series. The developer wants the game to be an esports contender, and also get more people to jump into the franchise. To help with the latter goal, new fighting mechanics have been added to the game to streamline combos and counters for less experienced players. Team Ninja is also trying to tone down on the sexual fan service present throughout the franchise, and deliver a more compelling narrative in the single-player campaign.Dead or Alive 6 was originally scheduled for release on February 15--alongside half a dozen other games--before being delayed to March 1. The game will be available on Xbox One, PS4, and PC.Info from Gamespot.com

Phoenix Labs has announced that its Monster Hunter-like game, called Dauntless, will move from its own current launcher to the Epic Games Store. Also, when the game releases on consoles and mobile later this year, Dauntless will support both cross-platform multiplayer and progression on all systems.There hasn't been an official confirmation as to when Dauntless current launcher will be retired, but it's probable that the PC version of the game will move to the Epic Games Store prior to or around the Xbox One and PS4 release. Phoenix Labs aims to have every player's saved data for Dauntless be tied to their Epic accounts, so when they transition to another system, their data goes with them. This system will apply to the Nintendo Switch and mobile versions of the game that launch later this year as well, allowing for total cross-play.Phoenix Labs has also announced the release of Hunt Pass Season Two, which is now live in Dauntless and continues until March 13. This second season is Valentine's Day-themed, and introduces new limited-time rewards, such as platinum bundles and romantic emotes. The pass has a free Basic track, and an Elite track that costs 1,000 platinum. Both tracks have 50 levels, but going Elite will net you special Ace chips and notes, exclusive transmogs, and more.Dauntless is currently still in open beta on PC. When it launches on the Epic Game Store, your progress will carry over, regardless of which platform you choose to play on. Dauntless is scheduled for an April release on Xbox One and PS4, and will also launch on Switch and mobile before 2020.Dauntless is simply the latest in a long long of exclusive titles that Epic has managed to secure. Although the new PC game store started out with smaller exclusives, such as Ashen and Hades, it has recently been making larger moves. For example, both Metro Exodus and The Division 2 are launching exclusively through Epic, and Ubisoft has confirmed that more of its 2019 titles are scheduled to only release through the PC game store as well.Info from Gamespot.com

In Kingdom Hearts III, you learn early on in your adventure about Lucky Emblems, which are Mickey Mouse symbols that you’re encouraged to photograph with your Gummiphone. The reward for photographing Lucky Emblems isn’t made entirely clear at first, but know that doing so will net you the secret ending. If that entices you, then we encourage you to always be on the lookout. Sora, Donald, and Goofy often note when a Lucky Emblem is nearby, so take the time to investigate. They’re usually hidden behind objects, on walls, or somewhere up above.Depending on the difficulty level you've chosen, the number of Lucky Emblems you need to get the secret ending will vary. If you're playing on easy, you need to get them all, but any difficulty level above that requires less. We've yet to collect the full data on how much you need for each difficulty level, but just know that you should start making a habit of snapping shots of these cleverly hidden symbols.Seeing as you're here, the importance of this task isn't lost on you! To help you nab that secret ending, we've collected the locations of every Lucky Emblem below. It helps to know that the game organizes all the Lucky Emblems on your Gummiphone in order of where you find them in the world, so if you're missing one but have the others around it, try covering the ground in-between the two. But if the shots below aren't enough to point you in the right direction, refer to the video above for further clarification on where each one is.It's worth noting that getting all the Lucky Emblems also nets you Orichalcum+, an essential synthesizing material required to craft the best Keyblade in the game, the Ultima Weapon. Photographing all 80 Lucky Emblems is but one of the few ways to get an Orichalcum+; you need seven to craft the Keyblade.If you’re looking for more Kingdom Hearts 3 guides, be sure to check out our beginner's tips feature. You can also read our review for our full thoughts about the game.Table of Contents [hide]OlympusTwilight TownToy BoxKingdom of CoronaMonstropolisArendelleHundred Acre WoodSan FransokyoThe CaribbeanOlympusOlympus is a great sampler of the open design of the game's maps. When you start your journey here alongside Hercules, you unfortunately aren't made aware of Lucky Emblems, but you might've noticed their presence. Aside from the one hidden in the Forge to the north of the Realm of the Gods save point, most of the Lucky Emblems are found along its multiple pathways. For further clarification on where to find them all, jump to the "00:20" mark in the video above.Twilight TownTwilight Town covers a relatively small area, which makes getting all nine of its Lucky Emblems a cinch. They're mostly hidden in easy-to-miss spots and places up high. But if you haven't been back to Twilight Town in ages, you can jump to the "03:12" mark in the video above for additional clarification.Toy BoxThe Toy Box world has pretty clear delineations between its few areas. That said, most of its Lucky Emblems are cleverly hidden in spots you wouldn't expect. For additional guidance, jump to the "05:41" mark in the video above.Kingdom of CoronaWith such a lush forest filling up the majority of its runtime, it's a bit surprising that most of the Kingdom of Corona's Lucky Emblems are actually located in town. Finding these should be no trouble, but if you need assistance, jump to the "08:10" mark in the video above.MonstropolisMonstrolpolis is another area where you might have trouble locating its Lucky Emblems. Clever visual tricks make spotting them all a chore for the untrained eye. These shots should help clear things up, but you're welcome to jump the "10:46" mark in the video above if you're lost.ArendelleWhile Arendelle is a beautiful winter wonderland, it's rather difficult to find many of its Lucky Emblems given how its copious amounts of snow makes a few of its areas look rather similar to each other. If you're struggling, refer to the "13:19" mark in the video above for more explicit directions on where to find each Lucky Emblem.Hundred Acre WoodWinnie the Pooh and friends have the smallest world in Kingdom Hearts III. Its three Lucky Emblems are tucked away in unexpected corners. You can see the locations in more detail at the "17:20" mark in the video above.San FransokyoThere's a lot of vertical space in San Fransokyo, which makes finding its Lucky Emblems difficult. Just know that you're going to find the majority of them at the world's highest points. But if the constant climb upwards is waring you down, jump to the "17:52" mark in the video above for additional reference.The CaribbeanThe Caribbean is by far the largest area in the game, which makes it rather tough to root out all of its Lucky Emblems. A bunch of islands make up the sum of its massive map, so if you're having trouble pinpointing where everything is, we've made notes starting at the "20:44" mark in the video above.Info from Gamespot.com

It's not often that fans' calls for a new entry in a series are ignored, only for an unrelated developer to come along with the perfect answer. And yet that's precisely what we have in Wargroove, an apparent facsimile of the Advance Wars series, which has has been dormant for more than a decade. But while its immediate appeal lies in filling a gap that few games have in recent years, Wargroove introduces smart improvements and impressive custom content tools that make this an experience that stands on its own as a terrific strategy game.Wargroove's most basic gameplay is nearly indistinguishable from that of Advance Wars (a point of comparison that developer Chucklefish itself hasn't avoided). It's a turn-based tactics game set on a tile-based map in which you assemble an army, take control of structures that can build units or generate gold, and (usually) work to eliminate or destroy a particular target. Every action is a significant commitment; because units can't stack on the same tile and buildings can only produce one thing per turn, you have to carefully think through your strategy on each turn. The same is also true of engaging in combat; because damage is dictated by the amount of health a unit has, being aggressive can help ensure you take less damage later. None of this is new, but it serves as a solid base that Chucklefish improves upon.Wargroove rekindles not just the classic gameplay of Advance Wars, but also its visual style. The pixelated, cartoonish maps are filled with small flourishes that help them to feel alive; birds fly overhead, fires burn, and the shadows cast by clouds slowly move along the ground. When combat begins, the action shifts to a 2D side view depicting the two units squaring off and showcasing a great-looking set of animations. The best of these belongs to the dog commander, Caesar, who exhibits a frankly impressive level of nonchalance, scratching himself and enjoying his time as his crossbow-wielding attendants do all the work. (Commendably, despite the presence of dog units--battlepups!--the amount of whining they do when taking damage is kept to a minimum.) For as nice as it all looks, I did find the breakdown of units' strengths and weaknesses--which consists of small, often similar-looking portraits--needlessly difficult to read.Aside from swapping Advance Wars' firearms, jets, and tanks for swords, dragons, and magic, the most obvious change is how commanders work. Rather than serving only as a special ability that can occasionally be wielded, commanders are powerful units on the map you control like any other. In most cases, eliminating the other team's commander is one of the available victory conditions, so you always want to keep yours safe. But what makes commanders so interesting are the ways in which you're encouraged to use them aggressively.Commanders each have a unique ability--the titular Grooves--such as healing nearby units, allowing adjacent units to act again during the current turn, summoning a friendly unit, and so on. These build up passively but are gained much more quickly by eliminating enemies with your commander, who unlike standard units also regains a small amount of health each turn. As a result, you're often wise to push forward with your commander in order to maximize how often you can use your Groove. But this presents you with difficult choices. Does it make sense to hurt but not kill a strong unit with your commander to mitigate the damage it can do and kill a weak enemy with another unit? Or should your commander secure that final blow to get your Groove that much faster, but risk suffering the strong unit's next attack doing heavier damage? Units each have enemies that they are strong and weak against, and terrain can provide defensive buffs or nerfs to account for. Along with that, commanders offer an additional consideration that make even a simple engagement into something you have to more thoughtfully examine.The same can also be said for Wargroove's critical-hit system. Rather than being something that happens randomly, each non-commander unit has a specific criteria for when a critical hit will occur. Pikemen get critical hits when adjacent to a friendly pikeman, rangers when they attack without first moving, trebuchets when their target is at the edge of their attack range, and so on. As a result, you sometimes have to weigh the risk of overextending yourself to get a critical hit against the risk of leaving yourself in a more vulnerable position. In one case, you might put a spearman in danger just to ensure another one lands a critical hit; in another, you might retreat slightly with a knight on one turn so that on the next they can utilize their maximum movement range (triggering a critical hit) to kill an enemy and avoid suffering a counter-attack. The logic behind critical hit requirements is uninspired in some cases--those for naval units merely ask you to be in a certain type of water tile--but they add another welcome layer of depth to combat and an extra point of differentiation for units.How you heal your damaged units is another tricky decision. The primary method requires you to move next to a structure you own and then pay gold that would otherwise be used to buy units or activate certain abilities. But healing like this comes with the downside of trading health from that structure (which slowly regains health each turn) to the unit (which does not). At times this means you won't necessarily be able to heal everyone, even if you have the gold to cover the cost. It also can mean leaving your buildings--and thus your source of income and additional units--susceptible to being lost. There are no easy choices here, and the aforementioned health regeneration of commanders provides you with the risky option of letting them tank damage and hoping they can recover from it for free.Despite having so much to juggle, the action is rarely overwhelming. That's due in part to a manageable number of unit types being available; Wargroove's four factions are different in appearance only, although each has three commanders with their own unique Groove. While it's disappointing to realize the introduction of a new faction means very little, there are enough unit types and systems at play to keep things interesting. Having to account for dozens of additional unit types would have slowed each turn to a crawl as you try to remember how they all work.Despite having so much to juggle, the action is rarely overwhelming.What does unfortunately slow the action down is the process of determining the danger zone in which you can be attacked. Rather than allowing you to see the full potential attack range of the enemy team, you're only able to see it unit by unit. Especially when managing expensive aerial units who can be easily downed if they end a turn within range of certain anti-air specialists, it's essential to carefully check and re-check these ranges. This adds an unnecessary layer of tedium to every turn, particularly in the large-scale battles that see significant numbers of units in play simultaneously. As a result, turns take more time than they otherwise would in order to facilitate this busywork.Those match times proved to be frustrating on occasion in the campaign. While I found myself having trouble in only a small handful of missions, those I failed often came near the end of 20- to 30-minute matches. With no way to create a mid-mission save, a loss can be dispiriting, especially if it comes as a result of an accidental click (it's far too easy to end a turn or order a unit to wait by mistake) or because you didn't notice an enemy unit and thus didn't account for its attack range.Some of my frustration in those failures stemmed from the fact that I was eager to see what the next mission held. Most offer some new wrinkle, like the introduction of a new type of unit or a different overall mission structure (such as assisting in a retreat). While dialogue is funny at times, the story is forgettable, consisting of a string of conflicts that could be avoided if characters made a real effort to explain why they aren't enemies. The story is not a major part of the experience, though, and much of the world's lore is consigned to a codex. Besides, the consistently fresh ideas the action itself offers are all the reason you need to see the campaign through.Even after completing the campaign, there are plenty of other ways to keep playing. Arcade mode presents you with a series of five battles and a light narrative wrapper for each commander, giving you a light campaign of sorts that you can see through in a single sitting. Puzzle mode more intriguingly presents you with a level that must be completed in a single turn, forcing you to ensure every move maximizes your damage output. Four-player multiplayer, with support for both local play and online, works well and presents a more worthwhile, unpredictable challenge than what the AI can muster. However, the lack of online support for private matches and AI players (available offline) are unfortunate omissions.Wargroove's greatest potential lies in its custom creation tools. These allow you to make not just maps but entire campaigns filled with main missions, side missions, and cutscenes. These can be easily shared and downloaded right through the game. While the creation aspect of Wargroove is initially overwhelming--you're left to discover the many tools at your disposal with zero direction--the end result is the ability to create a campaign on par with the one that the game ships with. Diving into this creation suite won't be for everyone, but everyone stands to benefit from those who do. One minor gripe with this setup: There's no way to jump directly into a new map when browsing for new content, and failing on a standalone map unceremoniously boots you back to the main menu.Outside of campaigns and standard missions, there's also the opportunity for map creators to develop entirely new ways to play. One example of this is baked right into the game with the Chessgroove map, which lines up two teams in a standard chess formation and permits players only a single move per turn. It's an intriguing concept, but one that quickly grows tiresome; because units aren't instantly killed as in chess, you can't quickly evaluate potential moves, turning what should be a relatively fast-paced affair into a boring slog. As disinterested as I was in playing Chessgroove again after my first match, it does offer a glimpse at what kind of outside-the-box concepts people might be able to come up with.That's good news, because Wargroove is a delight to play, and the possibility of an endless supply of content for it is a tantalizing prospect. Chucklefish could have offered up a prettied-up take on Advance Wars with online multiplayer and called it a day. Instead, it's made meaningful improvements that make this both a satisfying answer to starved Advance Wars fans' wishes and a genuinely great experience on its own merits.Info from Gamespot.com

It would be remiss to talk about Mage's Initiation: Reign of the Elements without considering its overt inspiration: Quest for Glory, a series of Sierra games from the early '90s. Quest for Glory was an ambitious hybrid of point-and-click adventures and Dungeons & Dragons-inspired role-playing featuring multiple classes, real-time combat, comprehensive statistic-based character building that all affected and changed the way you approached the game's obstacles. It remains a concept very few games have directly replicated, but Mage's Initiation proudly embraces this influence at every turn and draws liberally from the Quest for Glory template. It feels like a spiritual successor in many ways, but while the fantasy adventure it creates is enjoyable in its own right, its attempts to execute Quest for Glory's RPG-inspired diversity in its different playstyles aren't as robust and meaningful as they might initially seem.Mage's Initiation follows D'arc, a teenager residing in a magic boarding school, as he faces his initiation to, well, become a mage. His big test requires him to overcome three major trials that ask him to deal with the mythic and fantastical, and along the way he hits some unexpected twists and uncovers a greater conspiracy. At the beginning of the game, you're given the opportunity to choose from four different mage classes, each focused around an element (fire, earth, wind, water) which will determine the selection of spells D'Arc will have at his disposal for both puzzle solving and combat. The path to overcoming the trials involves conversing with a diverse cast of characters, hunting for items and information, solving puzzles with logic and the environment, and fighting enemies with both force and wit.Much of what Mage's Initiation does is enjoyable without the context of its influences. It's a well-paced adventure game throwback with solid voice acting, an intriguing mystery, and satisfying puzzles. As someone whose formative years were defined by endless replays of Quest for Glory, it's exciting to see the game trade so heavily on nostalgia for those games. Almost every element of Mage's Initiation can be immediately identified as a connection to Sierra adventure games. The beautifully illustrated environments, character portraits, and interface perfectly evoke the aesthetic, most obviously. But there are also parallels like attempts at Quest for Glory's signature pun-heavy humor, exotic character archetypes, and unique dark fantasy atmosphere. There's also the blatantly anachronistic, maze-like structure of the wasteland and forest areas that encouraged me to draw my own real-life maps to get around--just like I did playing Quest for Glory as a kid.The issue with Mage's Initiation is that in a lot of cases, the clear ambitions to ape its source material don't reach the same meaningful depths of that source material, and as a result, the existence of some of these elements eventually feels like window dressing--whether you're aware of its influences or not. The aforementioned maze-like areas are fun to map out initially, but unlike Quest for Glory, you don't really need to internalize them because you don't have to navigate them regularly--key locations in Mage's Initiation are mostly clustered together in a straightforward manner. As a result, these environments feel strangely tacked on, an excessive obstacle you need to overcome to find a couple of quest items.In a similar fashion, the four classes provide some minor variations in how you solve puzzles, but few of them actually feel like fundamentally different approaches. For example, to find a way into a particular second story window, you can use the air mage's levitating spell, use the water mage's water jet to activate a water wheel to ride, or grow a vine to climb as an earth mage. But the fact that these solutions are all just spells activated in the same manner never made me feel like I was thinking in a drastically different way for each mage or using a different set of tools--merely changing the location I pointed the cursor. This aspect becomes especially apparent upon multiple playthroughs.Similarly, the classes' combat abilities fail to be fundamentally distinct. Each starts with comparable projectile attacks corresponding to their element, as well as defensive abilities that mitigate damage. None of these skills feel particularly unique in practice. Toward the end of the game, each class gets more powerful and varied spells, but their presence highlights another issue with combat: The high mana cost of these powerful skills rarely made using them feel worthwhile. I found it most effective to simply cast the low-cost basic projectiles repeatedly for basically all of the game's combat encounters, which rarely felt challenging or tense. This is due in part to the game's convenient auto-saving before any hostile encounter, which has the unfortunate effect of making it unnecessary to ever upgrade your character's constitution stat--I could just reload to the start of the encounter if I died.There are a few major branching paths and decisions that affect the outcome of your relationship with certain characters and events of the plot, but these aren't tied to your class. Many of the more devilish roadblock puzzles that need to be cleared before you can progress, while satisfying to solve, have the same solution in each playthrough. The major point of difference between the adventures is that each class has its own unique side quest, which are interesting, but they're completely optional, easily missed, and feel like an afterthought because of that.Some of the game's unique additions don't quite hit the mark, either. An entire economy of gems you can equip to augment your combat capabilities is initially interesting, but they're too bountiful, and easy to forget about because of the exploitable nature of combat. And for all the beautiful art in the game, there are a few key cutscenes that take a jarring deviation from the game's visual direction and a strange dip in quality, detracting from revelations they portray.I ultimately enjoyed my time following D'arc through his journey, and Mage's Initiation left me curious about the events still to come. It's an entertaining adventure game, but its ambitions to incorporate a meaningful diversity of role-playing options fall disappointingly flat and feel inconsequential. Mage's Initiation is a fair appropriation of a hybrid formula that I was happy to consume, but its shortcomings made me more eager to revisit the series that inspired it for another run-through. Info from Gamespot.com