It's the weekend, and in Destiny 2 that means it's time to make the weekly trip out to find Xur, the seller of Exotic wares. While players this week have been struggling to dig into the fresh content that comes with Destiny 2's latest expansion, The Black Armory, Xur's arrival means you can at least get a shiny new Exotic weapon or piece of armor. Here's what you need to know about where to find Xur and what he's selling this week.The arrival of The Black Armory might have added new ground to the Tower in the form of the Annex, but you'll find Xur this week in one of his old haunts. He's on the Tower on the Hangar side, down behind the Dead Orbit faction area.As usual, Xur is packing Exotics from the Year One collection--sorry, still no Forsaken Exotics for sale. His Exotic weapon this week is Suros Regime, along with one piece of Exotic armor for each of the three classes. Suros, a powerful auto rifle, packs two rates of fire. The first is a super-fast rate for firing from the hip, which increases the longer you hold down the trigger. Aim down the sights and you'll get a slower firing rate, but the gun will deal more damage, making it versatile in a lot of situations.Ophidia Spathe is Xur's armor offering for Hunters this week. The chest armor gives Hunters running the Gunslinger subclass a second throwing knife charge, which is especially cool with Way of a Thousand Cuts and its Playing With Fire cooldown perk. For Warlocks, there's the Crown of Tempests helmet, which increases the cooldown rate of your Arc abilities every time you get a kill with one of those Arc abilities--pretty great with Attunement of Control's Ionic Traces, which also reduce your ability cooldowns. Finally, Hunters get the ACD/0 Feedback Fence gauntlets, which is great for Titans who love melee attacks. Racking up melee kills builds up energy in the gauntlets, so when someone finally hits you with a melee attack, the collected energy explodes.Xur's arrival on December 7 also corresponds with two big changes to The Black Armory--first, the second of the four forges is now available. The first, the Volundr Forge, was a source of derision in the Destiny 2 community, as the Power level requirement for the three-player horde mode activity was too high for players to jump into at launch. Bungie lowered the Power requirement to make it a bit easier, but with the second forge available today, the grind in The Black Armory is in full swing.The second major development is The Black Armory's new Raid, Scourge of the Past. If it's anything like past raids, it'll be quite a few hours before the first team manages to work its way through it, and even longer for players to discover all its secrets.Info from Gamespot.com

Mobile gaming often gets a bad rap, but your phone is actually home to a wide variety of great games that are, of course, perfect for playing on the go. This includes the smaller, more self-contained games you're used to seeing on phones as well as games heavily inspired by (or even direct ports of) ones on consoles and PC. Some are even games you might sit down with and play for longer stretches, just because. While we're still playing Pokemon Go, the games eligible for this list were all released in the 2018 calendar year. In no particular order, these are the five best mobile games of 2018.Florence[Read more]Florence takes less than an hour to play from start to finish, but its story stayed with us all year. Its beauty is in its simplicity; Florence tells the story of an average relationship, with all its ups and downs, and relies on gorgeous art and music instead of tons of dialogue or complex mechanics to do it. In fact, one of its simplest gameplay elements is its most powerful: speech bubbles are broken into puzzle pieces, and you have to fit them together to progress a wordless conversation. At first, the bubbles are broken up into multiple pieces, but as the relationship develops, it becomes easier and easier to put the pieces together. While Florence's story is about one couple in particular, the intense emotion contained within is universal, and it hits you incredibly hard when the brief, beautiful tale is over.Donut County[Read the PS4 review]Though it came out on PS4 and PC as well, Donut County is at its best on mobile. Its laidback puzzle gameplay is well-suited to playing in short bursts--you control a hole in the ground that grows as more things fall into it, and all you have to do is move it around an area until everything has fallen in. You might clean up a beach, including the lifeguard tower, or swallow up an entire mountain after figuring out how to break it into pieces. The art is colorful and cartoony, and its star character is a delightful garbage fire of a raccoon who's easy to love despite his terrible judgment. Donut County also has some of the best-written "internet speak" we've ever seen in games, with plenty of humorous quips throughout to keep you smiling.Reigns: Game of Thrones[Read the review]Reigns: Game of Thrones is both a great use of A Song of Ice and Fire's world and a fun choose-your-own adventure in its own right. Like Reigns and Reigns: Her Majesty, you're put in the role of a ruler--this time, the king or queen of Westeros--and tasked with making binary decisions by swiping left or right on card prompts. These decisions carry a lot of weight, as you can and will die and you have no way of saving in order to reload after a risky choice goes south. The game's clever writing doesn't overly rely on references to the HBO series while still giving characters distinct personalities, and despite the serious nature of Game of Thrones, the Reigns adaptation still has a lighthearted air. Interesting, branching stories let you play out what-if scenarios, and improvements to the Reigns formula help Reigns: Game of Thrones stand out even if you aren't a big fan of the series.Pocket CityThe city-building genre can be difficult to scale down to mobile, as the many interconnected parts you need to manage can result in a busy UI (or at least a lot of menus and inputs). Pocket City is impressive not just because it's intuitive to play but because it has all the features you'd want in a city-builder--you manage power and water, fire and police departments, housing and job demands, natural disasters, and the struggles of expansion, with new buildings and features steadily unlocking as you improve your city and level up. There are also no microtransactions, so you can settle in and get building to your heart's content. Pocket City is the perfect way to unwind on the go, but it's also hard to stop playing once you've reached your destination.Part Time UFOBest known for the Kirby, Smash Bros., and Mother series, HAL Laboratory made a great mobile game in 2018: Part Time UFO. As the name implies, you play as a cute UFO--both in the alien sense and in the claw machine sense--and you take on odd jobs. The actual gameplay is very much inspired by crane games, both in its simplicity and the trickiness involved in trying to get a handle of its physics. To complete missions, the little UFO is asked to do things like pick up cargo that has fallen off a truck and put it back on--much harder than you might think when you're running out of time and those darned boxes keep swinging around--use the claw to grab up some fish to help a fisherman out, or stack cheerleaders into a winning pose. Part Time UFO is exactly the kind of charming game you'd expect from HAL Laboratory: easy to pick up, devilishly difficult to put down.GameSpot will be unveiling our picks for the best games and entertainment of 2018 throughout December. Head to our Best of 2018 hub to see all the winners so far.Info from Gamespot.com

Pokemon Let's Go, Eevee and Let's Go, Pikachu might have only just recently launched, but Nintendo Switch owners have another Pokemon game to look forward to in the coming months. The currently untitled "core RPG" for Switch is scheduled to launch next year, but what else do we know about it? Read on to find out.What Is Pokemon For Switch?The new Pokemon game for Nintendo Switch was announced at E3 2017. Tsunekazu Ishihara, president and CEO of The Pokemon Company, appeared during Nintendo's presentation to tease the game. He called it "a core RPG Pokemon title" developed by Game Freak for Nintendo Switch, saying it might not release for over a year. Game Freak has developed all the main Pokemon RPGs; the spinoff games are made by other studios.When Will Pokemon For Switch Launch?The Pokemon Company has confirmed that the core Pokemon RPG for Nintendo Switch is set to come out in the latter half of 2019. The announcement came alongside the reveals of Let's Go Pikachu, Let's Go Eevee, and Pokemon Quest, all of which have now been released.What Happens To My Old Pokemon?Asked whether Game Freak was looking at allowing Pokemon to move between Let's Go and the next core entry, Pokemon director Junichi Masuda assures that the development team is working to make that possible."We're definitely always thinking of that kind of forward-moving functionality, especially since we've introduced [Pokemon transfer service] Pokemon Bank," Masuda told GameSpot. "Now, up to Ultra Sun and Ultra Moon, you're able to store your Pokemon, and we know they're very important to everyone. I mean, obviously, people would be very sad if they couldn't use their Pokemon in a future game. So, it does get complicated when you talk about the details and we're still figuring it out, but we do have plans to find ways to let players use their Pokemon in the next game."Will It Signal A New Generation?Neither The Pokemon Company nor Game Freak have stated whether the new Pokemon game will be a brand-new entry--or entries--in the series, signaling the start of generation eight, or if it will simply be a remake or "upper version" of a previous game. However, since Let's Go Eevee and Let's Go Pikachu are themselves remakes of sorts of Pokemon Yellow, and the previous games, Ultra Sun and Ultra Moon for 3DS, are upper versions of Sun and Moon, it would be a surprise if the upcoming RPG was not a totally new game. With any luck, that means we'll get to explore a new region with all-new creatures in less than a year! Roll on 2019. Info from Gamespot.com

As part of GameSpot's year-end coverage, we're looking at different aspects of the game industry and pointing out any significant changes we noticed in 2018, such as the effect of microtransactions in video games. One of the more interesting changes we noticed this year is Nintendo Switch's game library, which looks a lot different in 2018 than it did in 2017.In 2018, Switch delivered the same type of bite-sized experiences that 3DS used to, but it also still has those major first-party titles that Nintendo fans crave. As 2018 comes to a close, the console feels like a haven for top-tier indies. We saw a bit of this in 2017 with Golf Story and Battle Chef Brigade, but the Switch really seemed to embrace this identity in 2018.A look back at 2017 shows Nintendo Switch coming out strong with The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild--a game that we gave a 10/10 to in our review and also awarded our Game of the Year. The console saw plenty of other sequels to other major first-party triple-A franchises in the months that followed, including Splatoon 2, Super Mario Odyssey, and Xenoblade Chronicles 2, as well as HD remasters of beloved Wii U games. 2017 even saw a new third-party title, Mario + Rabbids: Kingdom Battle, which was very popular.In comparison, 2018 hasn't seen nearly as many of Nintendo's noteworthy franchises get releases. Kirby Star Allies released in March, but Switch saw no more major properties get a sequel until June with Mario Tennis Aces. Switch got a new RPG though--Octopath Traveler--and more Wii U games were remastered for Switch. Most of these games were fairly well received, but none of them matched the popularity of what came out in 2017. Switch had to wait until the end of the year for its biggest hitters--Super Mario Party, Pokemon: Let's Go, Pikachu! / Let's Go, Eevee!, and Super Smash Bros. Ultimate--to release.None of this is to say that the Switch had a bad year, or that people turned to this year's indies because they had nothing better to do. Quite the opposite in fact. 2018 saw dozens of indie titles release on Switch, and plenty of them are really good. Most are ports of games that released in 2017 or earlier, but there were some new ones too--11 of which stand out and are listed below.Not every one of these 10 games started on Switch either. Several launched in the first half of the year on Xbox One, PS4, PC, or mobile and then were ported to Switch at a later date, and they found a better home. For games that were already popular and critically acclaimed, like Iconoclasts and Into the Breach, porting to Switch allowed them to reach a brand new audience of players. However, this move mostly seemed to help games that didn't garner much traction upon their original release, like Full Metal Furies and Forgotton Anne, find new life on a system that is increasingly becoming the best way to play smaller games. It certainly seems like developers are beginning to notice that indie games tend to have a much better track record on Switch than Xbox One and PS4, and it wouldn't be surprising at all to see the number of indies on Nintendo's console in 2019 be even higher than this year.As 2018 comes to a close, the Switch feels even less like a direct competitor to the powerhouse Xbox One X and first-party-exclusive-heavy PS4 Pro, and more like what the PlayStation Vita strove to be. We didn't see many grand adventures, like Breath of the Wild and Super Mario Odyssey, this year. Instead, the strongest stories told on Switch were small and personal, or experimental in how their gameplay directly related to the plot of the story.Into the Breach, a turn-based strategy game that released on PC in February and ported to Switch in August, best exemplifies this. The mechanics for Into the Breach are very simple and easy to learn, but they're used to make one of the most complex and challenging games of 2018. Into the Breach packs a fairly heavy emotional punch too, relying on small text bubbles to convey the fears and doubts of the mech pilots you command and citizens you're responsible for protecting.As the game relies on tiny pixelated sprites that are more difficult to discern at a distance, it works on Switch because you can play the console in handheld mode close to your face. It's possible Into the Breach could work on Xbox One or PS4, but considering the game feels better suited in the Switch's handheld mode as opposed to docked, those versions may require further tweaking, if they materialize.There have been some emotionally powerful indie games this year too--Celeste uses the act of climbing a mountain to metaphorically describe the hardships of living with depression and The Missing: J.J. Macfield and the Island of Memories uses body horror to convey the struggles of growing up both gay and transgender--these two, and many others, found their way onto Nintendo Switch. These games aren't very long, making them ideal for playing in 20- to 30-minute chunks, which you can do almost anywhere with Switch.The promise of a system geared specifically for indie games has been realized in the Switch. Going into 2018, it would have been fair to have been worried about Nintendo's console, what with so many major first-party titles scheduled for October or later. Yet the Switch didn't falter, even surpassing Nintendo's popular Wii console in sales this year. People are looking for a way to play games in small chunks throughout their day or between larger triple-A releases, and Switch's indie-filled 2018 has proven that it's the console best suited to fill that void. Nintendo will undoubtedly continue to produce sequels for franchises like The Legend of Zelda, Metroid, Super Mario, and Pokemon, but 2018 has proven that players are content with using the Switch solely for indie games--both old and new--for extended periods of time.11 Games That Launched In 2018 And Helped Define Switch As A Haven For IndiesCelesteIn our Celeste review, Oscar Dayus gave the game a 9/10, writing, "It's a testament to convincing writing and ingenious design that after playing Celeste I felt like I'd been on the same journey as Madeline. Her struggle is one made easy to empathize with, her low points painful to watch, and her high notes exhilarating to experience. Her tale is delicately told and beautifully illustrated, confidently coalescing with the satisfying, empowering game it lies within. Not bad for a game about climbing a mountain."ChasmIn our Chasm review, Tom Mc Shea gave the game an 8/10, writing, "...Chasm is a well-crafted adventure, and during the more than 12 hours I spent playing through my first time, I got lost only once. That's a huge bonus in a genre where getting lost is often the most frustrating aspect. Even after I finished, I was eager to venture forth on a new adventure, to test my combat mettle against harder foes and find the one secret that eluded me the first time through."Dead CellsIn our Dead Cells review, Daniel Starkey gave the game a 9/10, writing, "Dead Cells is a phenomenal effort to blend together some very disparate genres into a tight, cohesive whole. It's one of the better examples of how to remix ideas without losing their individual strengths."Forgotton AnneBeautifully animated and featuring an incredible musical score, Forgotton Anne is an emotional tale about a young woman learning that her world is not as black and white as she was led to believe. You'll have to navigate tough dialogue choices if you want the best possible ending for Anne and the characters she encounters, but you can also be merciless if you prefer and end the lives of all who oppose you. Regardless of how the story plays out for you, the ending's gut-wrenching impact will stick with you long after you've seen the credits roll.Full Metal FuriesIn our Full Metal Furies review, I gave the game an 8/10, writing, "So yes, Full Metal Furies is primarily a brawler, and a good one that promotes teamwork instead of button-mashing. But it's also a very hard puzzle game, one that challenges you to perceive each level, as well as the game's mechanics and characters, in new ways."The Gardens BetweenIn our The Gardens Between review, Peter Brown gave the game an 8/10, writing, "It may only take two to three hours to see everything The Gardens Between has to offer, but the warm and fuzzy feelings from start to finish ensure that your memories of playing it will live on. The expressive faces of the two teens and the relatable memories they share will speak to anyone who's ever had a close childhood friend, and while the puzzles won't go down as the most ingenious or demanding, they nevertheless give you more time to spend frolicking in a nostalgic and heartwarming world where friendship is all that matters."IconoclastsIn our Iconoclasts review, Matt Espineli gave the game a 9/10, writing, "After solving every puzzle and witnessing the finale of its poignant narrative, you can't help but reflect on the growth of [Iconoclasts'] characters and your impact onto the world. The game will shock and surprise you with how gripping its story is, and it's likely to do so again in subsequent playthroughs of New Game+ with your expanded knowledge of character histories and events."Into the BreachIn our Into the Breach review, Edmond Tran gave the game a 9/10, writing, "Into The Breach's focus on foresight makes its turn-based encounters an action-packed, risk-free puzzle, and the remarkable diversity of playstyles afforded by unique units keeps each new run interesting. It's a pleasure to see what kind of life-threatening predicaments await for you to creatively resolve in every new turn, every new battle, and every new campaign."The MessengerIn our The Messenger review, Alexander Pan gave the game an 8/10, writing, "The Messenger takes the best parts of the action-platformers it takes influence from and reinterprets them well. With clever writing, well-designed levels, and balanced difficulty curve, the game continuously hooks you with enticing skill-based challenges and satisfying payoffs.MinitIn our Minit review, Alessandro Barbosa gave the game an 8/10, writing, "[Minit is] a slickly presented adventure that continually manages to surprise you with every new area you uncover or item you procure, pushing you to pick away at its seams to uncover every drop of what it has to offer. With a delightful ending and more promised after its first run of credits, Minit is far more than just a collection of seconds."The Missing: J.J. Macfield and the Island of MemoriesIn our The Missing: J.J. Macfield and the Island of Memories review, David Wildgoose gave the game an 8/10, writing, "The Missing is smaller and more mechanically conventional than Deadly Premonition or D4, but its components remain focused on distinctly a Swery game: a dark, idiosyncratic experience that tells a deeply personal story that's as confronting as it is sincere." Info from Gamespot.com

The first trailer for Avengers 4 has finally arrived, delivering both a title--Avengers: Endgame--and a look at where many of the Marvel Cinematic Universe's characters stand after the devastating ending of Infinity War. For a trailer that runs nearly two and a half minutes long, it manages to not reveal a whole lot about the movie's plot. Instead, it's just left us with some big questions about where things are going.Things will undoubtedly be kept somewhat vague until the movie's release, and we've still got the release of another film, Captain Marvel, before Endgame arrives. That movie will likely address some things, like where Carol Danvers has been between the events of that movie and current events. It might also establish the possibility of some other theories (is Hawkeye a Skrull?) for what's going on. But in the meantime, let's have a look at our most pressing questions after this debut Endgame trailer, starting with the most important matter of all.Why Did Captain America Shave His Beard???It was one thing to end Infinity War with the gut punch that was Thanos's snap, but the Russo brothers wasted little time in providing another blow: the loss of Steve Rogers' beard. Following Tony Stark's touching message to Pepper Potts, we quickly learn that Cap has done away with his magnificent beard from Infinity War. This was not a mere trimming; the entire thing is just gone as if it never happened, and we can't help but wonder why. Did he think he fought more poorly with it? Does he blame Thanos's victory on the beard? Is he a fool? This will hopefully be addressed head-on in Endgame, perhaps with a pre-title, Star Wars crawl-esque recap.How Much Time Has Passed Since Infinity War?We get to see many of the surviving characters from Infinity War, but there's very little sense for how long it's been since the events of that movie. Tony is running out of resources on the ship he's on, but we don't know how long he's been floating there. Cap had time for a shave, but did that only come after another year with it on? Thanos has abandoned his armor, perhaps to serve as a scarecrow for his garden, but did he do so right away? Natasha recapping what Thanos did and Bruce reviewing survivors would presumably happen pretty soon after the last movie, but that's still not particularly helpful. Meanwhile, you'd expect Hawkeye's apparent transition into Ronin (more on that in a moment) to take some time, so just where does that leave us in the timeline?Why Has Hawkeye (Seemingly) Turned Into Ronin?A brief moment in the trailer revealed a new look for Clint Barton, who has seemingly abandoned his bow and Hawkeye name in favor of something new. Based on what we know from the comics, it seems likely he's adopted the name Ronin and picked up a sword as his new weapon. Assuming the MCU sticks with that name, the big question becomes what prompted Clint's change. We know he cut a deal after Civil War that allowed him to go home to his family, but were they victims of Thanos?How Did Scott Get Out of the Quantum Realm?We knew to expect both Hawkeye and Ant-Man in the fourth Avengers film after their Infinity War absence, but the events of Ant-Man and the Wasp left the latter in a precarious situation. When we last left him, he was stuck in the Quantum Realm, working with Hank Pym, Hope Van Dyne, and Janet Van Dyne, harvesting energy to cure Ava's affliction. In the Endgame trailer, he walks up to Avengers HQ as if nothing happened. That scene looks to be a comedic beat in the movie, but hopefully there's some attempt to address just how he got there.So, What's the Plan?Natasha and Cap talk about having some plan, which we can safely assume is meant to undo what Thanos has accomplished. But there's zero sense given of what that plan is. Do the two of them somehow become aware of Nick Fury's attempt to contact Captain Marvel? Did she leave on bad terms and they're concerned that reaching out to her is a mistake? We know she's set to play a part in the movie, but whether she's key to the big plan or someone who happens to show up to save the day, we'll have to continue waiting for answers.What's Going on With Thor? Is He in a Cell? Thor is surely upset with himself after failing to kill or stop Thanos when he had the chance, but we get only a single, brief glimpse of him in the trailer. You could be forgiven for thinking he's ended up in some kind of prison cell, perhaps to contain his rage after his Infinity War failure. We've got no evidence of this one way or the other, but it might be reassuring to know your brain isn't just playing tricks on you; the background of the room he's in does bear some resemblance to the cells we see on The Raft in Civil War. We don't think he's there, but it explains the jump some have made. He may not be in prison, but the isolated shot does suggest he might have broken off contact with the Avengers.Was Shuri Dusted?The trailer shows Bruce reviewing the status of various characters, specifically Scott Lang, Shuri, and Peter Parker. Scott is clearly labeled as "missing," and that appears to also be the case for the other two. We know Lang is just fine, but Parker was among the many characters to be dusted. Given that Shuri was in Wakanda with so many of the surviving Avengers, they presumably would know if she was alive and well. Does that mean Shuri was another of Thanos's victims?Where Is Korg?There are numerous characters to wonder about the fate of, but one closest to our hearts is Korg (he's made of rocks, but don't let that intimidate you). Taika Waititi's delightful performance as him in Thor: Ragnarok made him a fan-favorite along with his buddy Meek, and while things certainly did not look good for Ragnarok's survivors in Infinity War, we've got our fingers crossed he will ultimately make it out alive. Here's hoping we don't have to wait all the way until Endgame's release to be reassured. Info from Gamespot.com

Marvel Studios has been very cagey about revealing the title of the final Avengers movie and the sequel to Avengers: Infinity War. Thanks to a new trailer we've thoroughly broken down, we now finally know the movie is titled Avengers: Endgame, and the title itself is a pretty good indication why Marvel took so long to reveal it. It's a pretty big hint about where the final movie is going and a key piece of story information from Avengers: Infinity War."Endgame" is a major hint that confirms things fans have been suspecting since Infinity War was released. It's a direct reference to a line spoken by Doctor Strange (Benedict Cumberbatch) on Titan near the end of the film, when he tells Tony Stark (Robert Downey Jr.), "We're in the endgame now." Strange's line immediately follows the heroes' defeat at the hands of Thanos (Josh Brolin) moments earlier, when Strange gave up the Time Stone, the last of the six Infinity Stones, in exchange for Thanos sparing Tony's life.It's a major moment in Infinity War for a lot of reasons. First of all, Strange said earlier in the movie in no uncertain terms that he would not, under any circumstances, trade the Time Stone to save the lives of the other heroes. He tells Tony that if it comes down to his life, the life of Peter Parker (Tom Holland), Strange's life, or anyone else's, and the Time Stone, the Time Stone wins--because Thanos' goal is to wipe out half the life in the entire universe, and no single life is worth the potential damage.So it's not just a major moment when Strange saves Tony's life by giving Thanos the Time Stone; it's the exact opposite of what Strange said he'd do under the circumstances. Something changed between when Tony and Peter saved Strange from Ebony Maw (Tom Vaughan-Lawlor) and when they finally fought Thanos.That something is that Strange used the Time Stone to view potential futures. While Tony, Peter, and the Guardians of the Galaxy are developing a plan to stop Thanos, Strange uses the power of the stone to view more than 14 million potential outcomes to the battle. When he's asked if the heroes are successful in any of those futures, Strange has a cryptic and troubling answer: They only win in one.But as fans have suspected ever since, that means that Strange's actions are part of a larger plan--the circumstances required to bring that one possible future in which Thanos is defeated into existence. So when Strange tells Tony, "We're in the endgame," he definitely means that the battle isn't over, even though Tony thinks he and the others just lost. This is a step in Strange's plan, and there's a lot more yet to come.The fact that the follow-up to Infinity War is called Endgame all but confirms the idea that Strange's actions, and those of everyone else, were part of what we might call his overall "plan," or at least the circumstances needed to stop Thanos. Obviously, Strange turning over the Time Stone to Thanos was part of that as well, and we can further extrapolate that Thanos needed to "win" in Infinity War in order for the heroes to eventually defeat him. The battle is still raging, and this is Strange's endgame.Of course, we still don't know the particulars of how the Avengers will stop Thanos and undo the destruction he's wrought. There are plenty of theories based on the Avengers: Endgame trailer, though, and the fates of some characters are still up in the air. We also know that Captain Marvel will probably play a major role, giving the post-credits stinger in Infinity War and the fact that her origin movie is the final Marvel Cinematic Universe film before Endgame releases on April 26. And the trailer suggests that Ant-Man, aka Scott Lang (Paul Rudd), will also be essential to the story. We last saw him lost in the Quantum Realm at the end of Ant-Man and the Wasp, but he shows up in the Endgame trailer with the van that contained a shrunk-down quantum tunnel--so it seems likely the quantum realm will be part of the plan to stop Thanos, too. Check out all the rest of our Avengers: Endgame coverage for everything you need to know.Info from Gamespot.com

It's quite exciting to say that Crackdown 3 is almost here. After continuous delays and development hiccups, the Microsoft exclusive open-world action game will launch early in 2019 for Xbox One and PC. It was first announced at E3 2014 and simply revealed to be a follow up in the franchise using a similar art style with a cooperative campaign and multiplayer. Since then, Crackdown 3 faced numerous delays, but Microsoft has continued to show off the game and put out trailers to showcase its new destruction technology for multiplayer made possible with cloud-based computing.While that's all been nice to hear, we're more than ready to see it in action and get our hands on one of Microsoft's most anticipated games of this generation. So, we've rounded up everything we know about Crackdown 3 to get you prepared for what appears to be a wild ride.Table of Contents [hide]What Is Crackdown 3?What's Multiplayer Like?What's The Deal With The Cloud?What's Up With All Those Delays?How Will The Xbox One X Improve The Game?How Much Terry Crews Will There Be?Do I Need To Play The Previous Games?When Is It Launching? How Can I Get The Game?What Is Crackdown 3?For those unfamiliar, Crackdown 3 is an open-world third-person action game that focuses on large-scale environmental destruction. In past games, you played as an agent possessing superhuman capabilities, like immense strength to pick up cars and toss them at enemies or throw incredibly powerful punches. Traversing the open world was also made easy with the ability to jump high off the ground and leap great distances. An arsenal of assault rifles, rocket launchers, and more let you obliterate anything in sight--all in the name of justice. All that good stuff is returning in the new game as you're put in the shoes of new main character Commander Jaxon.A look at the neon-lit city skyline of New Providence.The series has historically used a cel-shaded art style that made it look like a graphic novel in motion. This style is returning in even higher fidelity, especially notable with the improvements made to environmental destruction model and the scope of its open world. A sci-fi aesthetic means bright neon lights litter the city skylines and high-tech equipment (like cars that transform into tanks) will be toys for wreaking havoc in either single-player or multiplayer scenarios.What's Multiplayer Like?During the X018 Showcase event, Crackdown 3 was shown to have a multiplayer ecosystem called Wrecking Zone, which pits teams of five against each other in a fully destructible arenas specifically built to be torn down by players. Two maps called Blackout Zone and Nova Station, and two game modes called Territories and Agent Station, were shown off during the reveal. You'll also be able to customize your own Agent with cosmetics, but the extent of that hasn't been detailed. Not much else has been said about the specifics of Wrecking Zone.A cooperative campaign will be part of the package as well; you'll be able to team up with friends to take down well-defended crime bosses, though few details have been laid out about the actual structure of these missions.What's The Deal With The Cloud?Cloud computing has been touted as the key to pulling off full-scale environmental destruction. Physics calculations are intense and impossible for local console hardware alone to support Crackdown 3's scope. So, those calculations are distributed to multiple cloud servers regardless of what platform you play on. As a consequence, full-scale destruction is only available to multiplayer sessions since players would have to be connected online to utilize the cloud servers.What's Up With All Those Delays?Announced in 2014, Crackdown 3 was originally set to launch sometime in 2016, but was pushed back to November 2017. It was then pushed to an unspecified date in Fall 2018, then finally solidified to release in February 2019.Microsoft came out and said that Crackdown 3 was announced a little too early. The development process has been a bumpy road, evident in the series of delays that the game has faced and the ever-changing status of the certain studios on the project. Sumo Digital is heading up development and was in collaboration with Reagent Games, but earlier this year it was confirmed that Reagent Games and series creator Dave Jones are no longer involved in Crackdown 3. Jones had also founded Cloudgine, which was doing tech for the game, but following acquisition by Epic Games, it's unclear how much it has affected the final product.In a tweet about Crackdown 3 in September 2018, Head of Xbox Phil Spencer said that he had been playing a full version of the game but that there was still more work that needed to be done. However, that February 2019 release date still seems solid at this point.How Will The Xbox One X Improve The Game?As expected, the power of the Xbox One X hardware will be put to good use in Crackdown 3. It'll have support for 4K resolution and HDR, and back in E3 2017, executive producer Peter Connelly said that there will be better textures, effects, and draw distances on the more powerful console.How Much Terry Crews Will There Be?The answer is likely to be: not enough. The main protagonist Commander Jaxon is voiced by Terry Crews, so we're expecting plenty of his emphatic delivery and personality to come through. He's been at the center of Crackdown 3's trailers and marketing push, some of which have been hilarious and inline with Crews' charismatic persona.Do I Need To Play The Previous Games?While you can expect references and connections to previous games, Crackdown 3 will tell a new, separate story of its own. But if you are interested in the original Crackdown, it's available as an Xbox One backward compatible game. Unfortunately, Crackdown 2 has yet to be made backwards compatible.When Is It Launching? How Can I Get The Game?As it stands, Crackdown 3 is set to launch on February 15, 2019. Pre-orders are currently open for the game, though there are currently no bonuses or special editions yet. Subscribers of Xbox Game Pass will have access to the game on launch day at no extra cost.In addition, Crackdown 3 is an Xbox Play Anywhere game, so regardless of how you purchase it, you'll be able to play it on Xbox One consoles or Windows 10 PCs. Info from Gamespot.com

It's safe to say the Crash Bandicoot N. Sane Trilogy remaster was a success in the eyes of publisher Activision. But while fans enjoyed reliving their memories of the 32-bit platformers, many also wanted a similarly remade version of the 1999 kart racer starring every gamer's favorite bandicoot. Their wishes have been granted: Crash Team Racing Nitro-Fueled is slated to release June 21 for PS4, Xbox One, and Nintendo Switch.This version of the game is rebuilt from the asphalt up and includes everything that came in the original game, plus new karts and tracks. Also, the whole thing has modern graphics, online play, and new character- and kart-customization options.If you're ready to lock down a copy of Crash Team Racing Nitro-Fueled for yourself, you probably want to know about the pre-order bonuses, different editions, where it's available, and how much it costs. Let's dive into the specifics.Pre-Order BonusesIf you pre-order Crash Team Racing Nitro-Fueled from the PlayStation Store, you'll get a Crash avatar, a Coco Racer avatar, and a Crash Team Racing pre-order PS4 theme.Pre-order from the Microsoft Store, and you'll get a "bonus in-game item" (presumably to be announced later) and a Crash Head Xbox One avatar mask.Standard EditionThe standard edition doesn't have any fancy collectibles or digital pack-ins, but the game is all you really need anyway.PlayStation 4Buy it from Amazon -- $40Buy it from Best Buy -- $40Buy it from GameStop -- $40Buy it from PlayStation Store -- $40Xbox OneBuy it from Amazon -- $40Buy it from Best Buy -- $40Buy it from GameStop -- $40Buy it from Microsoft Store -- $40Nintendo SwitchNo retailers have the Switch edition available for pre-order yet. We'll add it here when it appears.Nitros Oxide EditionWhile you can unlock Nitros Oxide and his kart as in-game rewards from Adventure Mode in the standard edition, the digital-only Nitros Oxide Edition comes with them unlocked from the start. It also comes with a Nitros character skin and kart, as well as character skins for Crash, Coco, and Neo Cortex, plus "additional digital content to be announced later." If that's worth $20 extra to you, this is the edition you'll want.PS4Buy it from PlayStation Store -- $60Xbox OneBuy it from Xbox Live -- $60Info from Gamespot.com

We've finally got a trailer for the highly anticipated (or dreaded, depending on who you ask) Avengers 4, now revealed to be titled Avengers: Endgame, which means it's time for a GameSpot tradition: a brand-new roundup of all the latest, greatest, and most terrifying updates about the film.With the power of obsessive fandom and uncomfortable attention to detail, news, every leaked detail, and every potential plot point, from character costume and code name changes to the ever evolving list of Snap-related casualties. We've got questions. We've got theories. We've got your most recent rundown, complete with facts and figures, for the biggest MCU film yet.We really are in the Endgame nowDespite some trolling from the Russos who said in an interview that the title of Avengers 4 was not a line from Infinity War, it turns out its been sitting right in front of our faces this whole time. As Doctor Strange explained while on Titan, he only saw one potential outcome in which the Avengers were successful against Thanos and, apparently, part of achieving that outcome meant sacrificing the Time Stone. "We're in the endgame now," if only we'd known how literal that was back in April.The release date was moved up a full weekOriginally slated for a May 3rd release, the trailer drop and poster confirmed one pleasant surprise. Endgame is coming to theaters a week earlier on April 26, 2019.We only see a small portion of the movie's massive castThe casts of Infinity War, and subsequently Endgame, are some of the biggest ever attempted by a franchise--and we only see a tiny fraction of what's in store for us in this trailer. The core team of Avengers is made up of some familiar faces. Here's who we've got confirmed so far: Robert Downey Jr. as Tony StarkChris Evans as Steve RogersChris Hemsworth as ThorScarlett Johansson as Natasha RomanoffMark Ruffalo as Bruce BannerPaul Rudd as Scott LangJeremy Renner as Clint BartonKaren Gillan as Nebula Missing from the trailer are some known Infinity War survivors like Don Cheadle Rhodey and Danai Gurira's Okoye.Steve Rogers shaved, and that sucksWe knew this day would come, but we didn't expect it to be so soon. The Endgame trailer feature an exclusively clean shaven Captain America. RIP to the best beard in cinematic history, taken from us much too soon.Hawkeye is Ronin now, reallyWe've had some theories about this going for a while, but the trailer solidified it. Clint Barton has left his Hawkeye persona behind, and taken on the decidedly more Batman-esque Ronin identity, complete with a rain-slicked fight scene on the streets of Tokyo and a cool looking katana.Tony has taken over the Milano, and it doesn't look goodTony and Nebula were the last remaining survivors on Titan after Thanos' snap, and it looks like they've taken the Guardians' ship, the Milano, to hightail it out of there. Unfortunately, as Tony explains, he's run out of food and water, and is rapidly running out of air. Where Nebula is during this process is a mystery.Scott Lang made it out of the Quantum Realm, but we don't know howLast seen in Ant-Man & The Wasp's post credits scene being well and truly stranded within the Quantum Realm, the trailer shows Scott arriving at the Avengers compound looking as though nothing happened. How'd he make it out and, more importantly, what does that mean for Steve and Natasha's vaguely referenced plan? Your guess is as good as ours.Steve and Nat do have a plan, though--and it's criticalIn a trailer full of bleak, ominous lines, Steve Rogers brings the drama. "This plan is going to work," Natasha says, to which he replies, "I know it is, because I don't know what I'm going to do if it doesn't." What plan are they talking about? Did they come up with it all on their own or did they have help from the other survivors? We know Thor is still around, but Okoye, Rocket, and Rhodey are all conspicuously absent from the trailer.Shuri may have been dustedBruce Banner briefly surveys a wall of photos, featuring Scott, Shuri, and Peter Parker. Given the (admittedly limited) context, it seems like the photos could be of people who are considered missing, meaning Shuri would have sadly been dusted after Infinity War. We didn't see her after her brief encounter with the Black Order while she was working with Vision, so it's certainly a possibility. The only other commonality the photos share is a connection to science--though Scott's is dubious at best--so there may still be hope. Info from Gamespot.com

After a long hiatus, Capcom is bringing the Devil May Cry series back to its core storyline and set of characters in serious style. Set for a worldwide release on March 8, 2019 on PC, PS4, and Xbox One, Devil May Cry 5 is the next major entry in the series, bringing back a sense of style and action that the series helped popularize since its debut in 2001. With multiple playable characters, new weapons systems, and a surprising number of callbacks to previous games, DMC5 looks to be the game that many long-time fans have been waiting for.Though we're still a few months away, we're still in the dark regarding the new game and what it's setting out to do with its current outing. Ever since its first reveal back at E3 2018, there was a lot to take in, so we've broken things down to a few key points. Here's everything we know about Capcom's upcoming return to stylish-action with Devil May Cry 5.Table of Contents [hide]What Is Devil May Cry 5?When Does It Release And How Can I Catch Up?The Reveal TrailerCan I Start With This Game?What's New In DMC5?How Does Nero Play?Where Does DMC5 Fit In The Series Timeline?Is This Related to DmC: Devil May Cry?The Gamescom 2018 TrailerIs There A Demo?How Does Co-Op Play Work?How Does Dante Play?Are There Microtransactions?Will There Be Post-Launch Updates?The TGS 2018 TrailerHow Does V Play?Is There A Special Edition?What Is Devil May Cry 5?Devil May Cry 5 is an upcoming action-adventure game. Developed by Capcom, the long-running DMC series has always been about fast, stylish action while using a variety of unique weapons. Over the last 16 years, the series has gone on to inspire a particular brand of action gameplay, where fast-paced action and challenging battles go hand-in-hand. With every game, the stakes and scope of the series has grown, and DMC5 looks to the most detailed and elaborate entry yet.DMC5 seeks to continue that tradition of stylish action by telling the next major story in the series. With three playable characters--Dante, Nero, and the newcomer V--you'll go through a main story slashing and shooting demons and other monsters. Running on the RE Engine, the same framework powering Resident Evil 7 and the Resident Evil 2 remake, the game will feature the most detailed and richly realized visuals the series has seen yet. According to the developers, DMC5 will be the biggest game in the series, and seeks to incorporate a number of new features and innovations into the core gameplay.When Does It Release And How Can I Catch Up?DMC5's release date on PC, PS4, and Xbox One is set for March 8, 2019. If you want to catch up and play the previous games, you can check out the DMC HD Collection compiling the first three games on PC, PS4, and Xbox One. Also, DMC4 Special Edition is available on the same platforms and offers a revised take on the game with a total of five unique characters to play as. DmC: Definitive Edition, an update of Ninja Theory's reboot, is also an excellent entry in the series. If you're interested in checking that out, the Definitive Edition is available on PS4 and Xbox One (no PC release, unfortunately).The Reveal TrailerAfter years of rumors and speculation, Devil May Cry 5 made its debut during Microsoft's E3 2018 press conference. The trailer began with an enigmatic voice-over talking over widespread carnage and bloodshed as a result of a demonic invasion. Afterward, we finally saw the return of Nero, riding around in his mobile headquarters with a neon blue Devil May Cry logo on the side. The trailer ended with a tease of Dante riding along on an strange, demonic motorcycle--giving a familiar smirk to the viewer.Can I Start With This Game?Though this game references storylines and characters from across the 17 year history, it's totally possible to jump straight into DMC5. Just like with previous games, there will be digest material to help you get up to speed. But more importantly, the game will work as a standalone title, and won't require you to know every single character and their relationships. With that said, the game's plot will make more of an impact if you're familiar with the series.What's New In DMC5?Though many details about DMC5 are still under wraps, the game focuses on offering the same thrilling moments of action--with some added twists. In addition to new weapons and tweaks to existing characters, DMC5 will also feature a new training level called the Void mode. In this practice area, which can be pulled up in between missions, you'll be sucked into a space that allows you to experiment with the different moves and weapons you have available for the three playable characters. Pulling from Capcom's wealth of experience from fighting games, you can apply a whole set of options to your sparring partner--adjusting AI, attack damage, and other options--allowing you to get a feel for what your character can do.How Does Nero Play?Returning from DMC4, Nero is one of the main leads in DMC5. However, some things have changed since his first appearance that was quickly apparent from watching the debut trailer. For starters, his primary moveset is largely the same, using his Blue Rose revolver and Red Queen sword in tandem, which can charged up for extra damage. However, the Devil Bringer from the previous game--allowing him to yank and grapple enemies from afar--is gone, and he'll now have to rely on the new Devil Breaker system.Crafted by series newcomer Nico, who works as a shopkeeper in their mobile headquarters, you'll be able to purchase upgrades and new items from her--including new Devil Breakers. Essentially, Devil Breakers are disposable arms that offer Nero different skills and modifiers to his moveset. For instance, the Gerbera arm will allow Nero to fire off projectile lasers, the Tomboy will amplify Nero's sword and gun strength (at the cost of disabling lock-on), and the Buster Arm will function similarly to his original Devil Bringer. There is a tradeoff to having these weapons, unfortunately. The arms are extremely fragile and will break once you've taken enough damage from enemies or if you want to switch over to another weapon--destroying the equipped arm. However, there are plenty of arms scattered around the levels, allowing to find a new one fairly easily.Where Does DMC5 Fit In The Series Timeline?Devil May Cry 5 is a direct sequel to the events of DMC4, which saw Nero and Dante face off against Sanctus and the Order of Sparda. While the previous games only seldom referenced past events, opting to keep things more in the moment, DMC5 will have some direct callbacks to past games--even explaining who crafted some of Dante's iconic weapons. Interestingly enough, Devil May Cry 2 will also play into the canon despite having been largely dismissed by fans and the developers in past years. Here's the current chronological order for the series.Devil May Cry 3Devil May Cry 1Devil May Cry 4Devil May Cry 2Devil May Cry 5Is This Related to DmC: Devil May Cry?DMC5 is a continuation of the story prior to Ninja Theory's reboot. Though DmC: Devil May Cry ended at a point that hinted at a another game, the upcoming DMC title is a direct sequel to 2008's Devil May Cry 4. There are no plans to continue on with Ninja Theory's reboot.The Gamescom 2018 TrailerIn this new trailer, we got to see more of Nero in action--including his time-stopping devil breaker Ragtime--while also getting a peak at Dante's new weapons and moveset. During the debut trailer, we got a tease at Dante riding a motorcycle, which is a constant throughout the series, but this video showed that it also serves a new weapon for him, called the Cavaliere-B. The weaponized motorcycle turns into two large chainsaws, allowing him to combo back and forth into the vehicle and weapon forms.Is There A Demo?Yes, the demo for DMC5 is out now on Xbox One. This demo, the same build from Gamescom 2018 and PAX West 2018, is a short mission with Nero fighting his way through the streets, culminating in a boss fight against Goliath. Unfortunately, it's only available at this time on Xbox One as an exclusive. However, in the months leading up to the release, a second demo will be made available for fans on multiple platforms.How Does Co-Op Play Work?Revealed during The Game Awards 2018, DMC5 will offer a feature called the Cameo System, allowing players to team up online. Interestingly enough, this is the second time that co-op has appeared in the series--the first appearance being in Devil May Cry 3 during a particular boss battle. Throughout the campaign, certain stages will allow for players to choose from multiple character to play as. If you're online, then you'll load into the same stage with another player who's picked a different character, and you'll be able to complete the level together. After the level's completion, you can even rate the style of their performance. If you're offline, then the game's AI will control the other players instead.How Does Dante Play?The original devil hunter makes a comeback, and he's exactly how you remember him from previous games. With the largest arsenal of weapons, Dante will be able to swap between a variety of swords, gauntlets, and other firearms on the fly--all while taking advantage of his signature devil trigger, which greatly amplifies his core damage and restores any lost health. After defeating major bosses throughout the game, Dante will acquire a new weapon for him to take advantage of, adding another deadly tool to his set.One of the newer innovations for Dante is the option to customize specific loadouts for his weapons. In the pre-mission menu, you can pick and choose which weapons you want to bring with you in mission. If you want to come in fully armed--with up to four melee and firearms each--then you can do so. But if you're feeling more traditional and want to stick with one melee and firearm, you can do that too.Are There Microtransactions?During TGS 2018, we learned from our demo that DMC5 will feature a form of microtransactions for players to take advantage of. Using a similar method from Devil May Cry 4: Special Edition, these purchases will only allow you access to Red Orbs--DMC's currency--and they won't throw the game's balance out of whack, according to Capcom. Many of the major abilities and upgrades you can find are tied to the story, thus requiring you to earn access to them.Will There Be Post-Launch Updates?During the recent news drop during The Game Awards 2018, Capcom revealed plans to release the game's survival mode Bloody Palace the month after launch. Since DMC2, Bloody Palace has been one of the game's toughest challenges, pushing players to fight through 100 floors of enemies. During certain milestones after completing 10 or so floors, you'll face off against a returning boss from the campaign. At launch, the Bloody Palace won't be available, and it'll arrive as a free update in April 2019.The TGS 2018 TrailerIn the most recent trailer, we saw Dante and Nero revealing more of their respective movesets and weapons. The original devil hunter also shows off a brand-new weapon known as the Balrog. This close-range, brawler-focused weapon features two distinct fighting modes channeling punches and kicks. At the end of the trailer, we also got another tease of the elusive third playable character referred to as V.How Does V Play?During the reveal of the new trailer at The Game Awards 2018, we finally saw gameplay of DMC5's new playable character V in action. In a stark contrast from Dante and Nero, V's combat skills focus primarily on his demonic familiars--returning DMC1 monsters Shadow, Griffon, and Nightmare. In the gameplay footage, we saw the character summon demons to fight against, with him staying at a distance as the beasts conjure up spikes, strike at close-range, and fire large energy beams against the enemies.However when it comes down to it, V is still capable of fighting at close-range. With his cane, he can finish off weakened demons and mount some of the larger beasts as well. Also, V is capable of using several fake out teleport attacks to lure enemies in to strike them from behind. This character is certainly a big change from the others, and it'll be interesting to see just how different his moveset becomes when he gains additional moves and abilities.Is There A Special Edition?Capcom plans to offer deluxe editions of Devil May Cry 5 on PC, PS4, and Xbox One. The Digital Deluxe Edition (priced at $80) comes with the full game, four unique Devil Breakers for Nero--including Mega Man's mega-buster--DLC song packs, and alternate color-schemes for characters and weapons. The US will also get a special Collector's Edition ($150) that comes with the Deluxe version, an artbook, enamel pins, a bumper sticker, and special model of the Nico's motorhome. You can read more about these in our DMC5 pre-order guide.However, if you're looking for the ultimate way to experience Devil May Cry 5, then you may to check out the Japan-only Limited Edition. Cost upwards of $8600, this edition comes with the deluxe edition and a replica leather jacket modeled after Dante's threads in-game. If you're a die-hard fan that won't miss spending several thousand dollars for video-game memorabilia, then you want to invest in this edition of the game.Info from Gamespot.com

Mutant Year Zero took me by surprise. When you tap the space bar to switch from the real-time exploration mode to the turn-based tactical mode, it's not considered activating combat. You're not entering into battle. The word “Fight!” doesn't leap out of the centre of the screen. Instead, the space bar is labeled “Ambush” and, while pressing it does indeed initiate a turn-based XCOM-style encounter, the semantics make all the difference.Road to Eden is all about using stealth to thoroughly scout dangers ahead, then applying that knowledge to maneuver your squad into position for the perfect ambush. Do your research and plan well, and you can take out your target without them (or their cohorts) even realizing what has happened. Proceed without caution and you'll soon be bleeding out, your impatience severely punished. Approached properly, Mutant Year Zero isn't a difficult game; it’s a tight, cohesive tactical masterclass that rewards the diligent player.Road to Eden depicts a post-apocalyptic Scandinavia where resources are scarce and knowledge of what the world used to be is even harder to come by. Stalkers are sent from the Ark, one of the few remaining hubs of human civilization, into the Zone to scavenge for scrap and fend off the bandits, ghouls, feral dogs and worse that now occupy the ruined towns and suburbs. Everyone, even those safe in the Ark, has been touched by mutation. But Dux and Bormin, the two starting playable stalkers, are different; they're mutated animals, a duck and a boar, respectively.At first glance, there's a lot you can do to customize each stalker and gear them up to specialize in certain fields, letting you mix and match your active squad based on the task at hand. The limited number of weapons and sheer expense of upgrades means you're forced to make tough choices. Should you spend literally all your weapon parts on the close-quarters effectiveness of Bormin's scattergun, or are you better served improving the ranged potency of Dux's crossbow? You can only afford one right now and, since there's no capacity for grinding, it may be some time before you can afford the other.Sometimes the decisions are easier. Up against robots? You'll want at least one stalker, probably two, with an effective EMP attack. Up against dogs? You'll want at least one stalker, probably two, with crowd control abilities to prevent their melee rush. If you've done your scouting properly, you'll know what's coming and know which stalkers to swap in and out before you tap that spacebar. But don't tap that spacebar just yet. You're not quite ready.The Zone is divided into a couple dozen maps networked across southwest Sweden. They're not especially large--bigger than an XCOM map, but hardly sprawling--and typically centered on an identifiable feature: a scrapyard, a school, a subway station, a fast food restaurant, and so on. When you first enter an area you're in exploration mode and free to walk around in real time. When you spot an enemy you can enter stealth mode by switching off your flashlight, thus slightly reducing your visibility but also greatly reducing the distance at which the enemy will spot you. You're still moving around in real time, just slower and more discreetly.The tension is ratcheted up during this pre-combat exploration phase, as you're tip-toeing into hostile territory, identifying how many enemies await you, what types they are, what levels they are, whether they're patrolling, where those patrol routes take them, where their vision cones intersect, and so on. You've noticed one enemy's patrol route takes him away from the others. You hit F to split up your party and guide them individually into position. Bormin has his back to a tree, Dux is on the roof of a nearby building, and Selma is crouched behind a rock at the end of the unsuspecting enemy's patrol route. He's there now. Time to hit the spacebar.It's all about the ambush. It's about analyzing each scenario in the exploration phase and identifying which enemies you can eliminate, one by one, without alerting others. But pulling off a series of clean hits isn't always possible. Inevitably something will go wrong--you'll miss that 75% chance shot you were counting on or fail to do quite enough damage before the enemy gets its turn and calls out for reinforcements--and suddenly the whole area is on alert and you're scrambling to improvise a new plan. In these moments of high chaos, when the rug is pulled out from under you, this is where the game really shines.The tactical combat engine borrows a lot from Firaxis' revival of XCOM and offers as much depth alongside a presentation that ensures all critical information is clearly communicated at all times. And you need to be well-informed, because most of the time--outside of the odd simple skirmish that introduces a new element--there's an awful lot to think about. Enemy variety is key; there are basic brutes who charge you in melee, snipers who hunker down on overwatch, shamen who can call in reinforcements, and medbots who can revive enemies, pyros who flush you out with molotovs, and that's just the early stages. Later, there are high-HP tanks who can ram your cover, priests who can buff fellow enemies or deliver chain lightning attacks, giant dogs who can knock you over and maul you for multiple turns, while others possess mind control powers and more. Tackling groups of enemies drawn from several of these types can be hugely challenging, even when you've culled their numbers with some decisive early stealth takedowns.The stakes are high, especially on the harder difficulty settings. Your stalkers' health will be measured in single and low-double digits for much of the game, meaning it only takes a couple of direct hits to put them down. Similarly, your weapons can only fire once, twice, or if you're lucky, three times before you need to use up valuable action points to reload. These limited resources echo the post-apocalyptic themes of scarcity and survival while also raising moment-to-moment tactical considerations in combat.Juggling all the demands of combat, from patiently surveying the field beforehand through to learning how to best counter each enemy type and improvising a new strategy when it all goes horribly wrong, make for an immensely satisfying tactical experience. But as enjoyable as the predefined encounters on offer over the course of Road to Eden's mostly linear story are, it's still a linear story. On a new playthrough, that same map will still feature the same enemies standing in the same spots or running the same patrol routes. Outside of testing yourself against the hardest difficulty and a permadeath mode (assuming you don't opt for these first time through) there's not a lot of replay value to be found.It's a shame, because the combat engine is so robust I would love to continue pitting myself against some sort of randomly generated map long after completing the main story. Mutant Year Zero's clever focus on stealth and pre-combat preparation reward your diligence, its turn-based combat encounters are complex, and they help bolster its all-encompassing post-apocalyptic atmosphere. It is a superb tactical combat campaign that you shouldn't let sneak past.Info from Gamespot.com

They say there's no such thing as a free lunch, but whoever said that obviously doesn't play PC games. While you can't eat them, games often go free for a limited time on Steam. Case in point: this weekend you can grab the real-time strategy game Company of Heroes 2 for free. It's yours to keep and play forever, no strings attached.Company of Heroes 2 is a WWII-set RTS that first launched in 2013 (its fifth anniversary is the reason for the giveaway). The single-player campaign puts you in the boots of a Soviet commander in the Red Army tasked with pushing back against German invaders. Enemy forces aren't all you have to worry about, as inclement weather can kill off your troops just as easily as a mortar team. The game also features meaty multiplayer modes that pit you against either AI or real opponents online.In our Company of Heroes 2 review, Kevin VanOrd awarded the game 7.5/10, writing, "This is not a real-time strategy revolution, but a fun revival of enduring mechanics that pulls you into the trenches of the eastern front... Its barrage of online and offline skirmishes doesn't always hit its mark. But when it finds its target, Company of Heroes 2 delivers a loud and mighty payload."If you try it and enjoy it, you can also pick up three of the DLC mission packs for 75% off, bringing them down to just a few bucks each. Company of Heroes 2 goes back up to regular price on December 10, so make sure to grab your free game by then.Info from Gamespot.com

The idea of what the Super Smash Bros. games are, and what they can be, has been different things during the series' 20-year history. What began as an accessible multiplayer game also became a highly competitive one-on-one game. But it's also been noted for having a comprehensive single-player adventure, as well as becoming a sort of virtual museum catalog, exhibiting knowledge and audiovisual artifacts from the histories of its increasingly diverse crossover cast. Ultimate embraces all these aspects, and each has been notably refined, added to, and improved for the better. Everyone, and basically everything, from previous games is here--all existing characters, nearly all existing stages, along with the flexibility to play and enjoy those things in different ways. Super Smash Bros. Ultimate is a comprehensive, considered, and charming package that builds on an already strong and enduring fighting system.If you've ever spent time with a Smash game, then you likely have a good idea of how Ultimate works. Competing players deal damage to their opponents in order to more easily knock them off the stage. The controls remain relatively approachable for a competitive combat game; three different buttons in tandem with basic directional movements are all you need to access a character's variety of attacks and special abilities. There are a large variety of items and power-ups to mix things up (if you want to) and interesting, dynamic stages to fight on (also if you want to). You can find complexities past this, of course--once you quickly experience the breadth of a character's skillset, it allows you to begin thinking about the nuances of a fight (again, if you want to). Thinking about optimal positioning, figuring out what attacks can easily combo off of another, working out what the best move for each situation is, and playing mind games with your human opponents can quickly become considerations, and the allure of Smash as a fighting game is how easy it is to reach that stage.Complexity also comes with the wide variety of techniques afforded by Ultimate's staggeringly large roster of over 70 characters. Smash's continuing accessibility is a fortunate trait in this regard, because once you understand the basic idea of how to control a character, many of the barriers to trying out a completely new one are gone. Every fighter who has appeared in the previous four Smash games is here, along with some brand-new ones, and the presence of so many diverse and unorthodox styles to both wield and compete against is just as attractive as the presence of the characters themselves. In fact, it's still astounding that a game featuring characters from Mario Bros, Sonic The Hedgehog, Pac-Man, Metal Gear Solid, Final Fantasy, and Street Fighter all interacting with each other actually exists.On a more technical level, Ultimate makes a number of under-the-hood alterations that, at this early stage, seem like positive changes that make Smash feel noticeably faster and more exciting to both watch and play. Characters take more damage in one-on-one fights; continuous dodging is punished with increased vulnerability; fighters can perform any ground-based attack, including smash moves, immediately out of a running state; and short-hop aerial attacks (previously a moderately demanding technique) can be easily performed by pressing two buttons simultaneously. Refinements like these might go unnoticed by most, but they help define Ultimate's core gameplay as a tangible evolution of the series' core mechanics.A number of Ultimate's more superficial changes also help Smash's general quality-of-life experience, too. Some make it a more readable game--additions to the UI communicate previously hidden elements like meter charges and Villager's captured items, a simple radar helps keep track of characters off-screen, and a slow motion, zoom-in visual effect when critical hits connect make these moments more exciting to watch. Other changes help streamline the core multiplayer experience and add compelling options. Match rules can now be pre-defined with a swath of modifiers and saved for quick selection later. Stage selection occurs before character selection, so you can make more informed decisions on which fighter to use.On top of a built-in tournament bracket mode, Ultimate also features a number of additional Smash styles. Super Sudden Death returns, as does Custom Smash, which allows you to create matches with wacky modifiers. Squad Strike is a personal favorite, which allows you to play 3v3 or 5v5 tag-team battles (think King of Fighters), and Smashdown is a great, engaging mode that makes the most of the game's large roster by disqualifying characters that have already been used as a series of matches continues, challenging your ability to do well with characters who you might not be familiar with.The most significant addition to Ultimate, however, lies in its single-player content. Ultimate once again features a Classic Mode where each individual fighter has their own unique ladder of opponents to defeat, but the bigger deal is World of Light, Ultimate's surprisingly substantial RPG-style campaign. It's a convoluted setup--beginning as Kirby, you go on a long journey throughout a huge world map to rescue Smash's other fighters (who have incidentally been cloned in large numbers) from the big bad's control. Along the way, you'll do battles with Spirits, characters hailing from other video games that, while not directly engaging in combat, have taken control of clones, altered them in their images, and unleashed them on you.Though there is some light puzzling, the world is naturally filled with hundreds upon hundreds of fights--there are over 1200 Spirit characters, and the vast majority have their own unique battle stages that use the game's match variables to represent their essence. The Goomba Spirit, for example, will put you up against an army of tiny Donkey Kongs. Meanwhile, the Excitebike Spirit might throw three Warios at you who only use their Side+B motorbike attacks.It may seem like a tenuous idea at first, but these fights are incredibly entertaining. It's hard not to appreciate the creativity of using Smash's assets to represent a thousand different characters. Zero Suit Samus might stand in for a battle with The Boss from Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater by donning a silver-palette costume and fighting you in a flower-filled Final Destination, but she also stands in for the spirit of Alexandra Roivas from Eternal Darkness by using a black-palette costume and fighting you in the haunted Luigi's Mansion stage, with a modifier that makes the screen occasionally flip upside down (Eternal Darkness was a GameCube horror game whose signature feature were "Sanity Effects", which skewed the game in spooky ways to represent the character's loosening grip on reality). If I knew the character, I often found myself thinking about how clever their Spirit battle was.Defeating a Spirit will add it to your collection, and Spirits also act as World of Light's RPG system. There are two types of Spirit: Primary and Support. Primary Spirits have their own power number and can be leveled up through various means to help make your actual fighter stronger. Primary Spirits also have one of four associated classes, which determine combat effectiveness in a rock-scissors-paper-style system. These are both major considerations to take into account before a battle, and making sure you're not going into a fight at a massive disadvantage adds a nice dimension to the amusing unpredictability of this mode. What you also need to take into account are the modifiers that might be enabled on each stage, which is where Support Spirits come in. They can be attached to Primary Spirits in a limited quantity and can mitigate the effect of things like poisonous floors, pitch-black stages, or reversed controls, or they can simply buff certain attacks.There are a few Spirit fights that can be frustrating, however. Stages that are a 1v4 pile-on are downright annoying, despite how well-equipped you might be, as are stages where you compete against powerful assist trophies. On the flip side, once you find yourself towards the end of the campaign, there are certain loadouts that can trivialize most stages, earning you victory in less than a second. Regardless, there's a compulsive quality to collecting Spirits, and not just because they might make you stronger. It's exciting to see which obscure character you run into next, feel validated for recognizing them, and see how the game interprets them in a Spirit battle. There's also just a superficial joy to collecting, say, the complete Elite Beat Agents cast (Osu! Takatae! Ouendan characters are here too), even though these trophies lack the frills of previous Smash games.Some hubs in the World of Light map are also themed around certain games and bundle related Spirits together to great effect--Dracula's Castle from Castlevania, which changes the map into a 2D side-scroller, and the globe from Street Fighter II, complete with the iconic airplane noises, are personal standouts. Despite the dramatic overtones of World of Spirit's setup, the homages you find within it feel like a nice commemoration of the games and characters without feeling like a pandering nostalgia play. One of the most rewarding homages of all, however, lies in Ultimate's huge library of video game music. Over 800 tracks, which include originals as well as fantastic new arrangements, can all be set as stage soundtracks as well enjoyed through the game's music player.There is one significant struggle that Ultimate comes up against, however, which lies in the nature of the console itself. Playing Super Smash Bros. Ultimate in the Switch's handheld mode is simply not a great experience. In situations where there are more than two characters on screen, the view of the action often becomes too wide, making the fighters too small to see properly, and it can be difficult to tell what you or your opponent is doing. The game's penchant for flashy special effects and busy, colorful stages doesn't help things at all, and unless you're playing a one-on-one match, you'll likely suffer some blameless losses. This is a situational disadvantage and may not affect all players, but it puts a damper on the idea of Smash on the go.The need to unlock characters also has the potential to be an initial annoyance, especially if your goal is to jump straight into multiplayer and start learning one of the six brand-new characters. In my time with the game, I split my attention between playing World of Light (where rescuing characters unlocks them everywhere) and multiplayer matches, where the constant drip-feed of "New Challenger" unlock opportunities (which you can easily retry if you fail) came regularly. I naturally earned the entire roster in roughly 10 hours of playtime, but your mileage may vary.Super Smash Bros. Ultimate also features online modes, but they were not active during Ultimate's pre-launch period. The game features skill-based matchmaking, private lobbies, and voice chat via Nintendo's smartphone app. It also features a system where defeating another player will earn you their personalized player tag, which can be used as a currency to unlock spirits, music, and costume items for Mii fighters. I'll begin testing these features once the service launches with the game's public release and will finalize the review score once I've had substantial time with the matchmaking experience.Situational downers don't stop Super Smash Bros. Ultimate from shining as a flexible multiplayer game that can be as freewheeling or as firm as you want it to be. Its entertaining single-player content helps keep the game rich with interesting things to do, as well as bolstering its spirit of loving homage to the games that have graced Nintendo consoles. Ultimate's diverse content is compelling, its strong mechanics are refined, and the encompassing collection is simply superb. Info from Gamespot.com

Ring of Honor's Jay Lethal is on top of the world right now: He's ROH World Champion, has what will be an epic match with Cody coming up on December 14 at Final Battle, and has a backlog of video games he needs to catch up on. However, Lethal is a huge Pokemon fan and has plenty of tips on how to catch those pesky pocket monsters in Pokemon Go.Lethal travels quite a bit as a professional wrestler, and in doing so, ends up playing a whole lot of Pokemon Go while travelling the world. Of course, a champion like Lethal is going to have some tips to catch them all. "Number one tip from Lethal is you gotta just be lucky, which is the way I live my life," he jokingly told GameSpot.Photo credit: Ring of Honor"I think you gotta load it with berries," Lethal continued. "I really haven't had too many issues where I had trouble catching anything. Although there's some nightmare stories of my buddy, he just couldn't catch anything. I've gotten lucky too because I got a couple shiny Eevees too. Back when they were doing a shiny Eevee program. I got maybe 20 of them. But my buddy who's always next to me and in the same spots that I was, he didn't get any."Lethal explained that he loves using psychic type Pokemon in the game, with Abra and Kadabra being his favorites. He's not much of an electric type player, which may explain why he attacked a Pikachu statue. "I actually have a picture of me super kicking a Pikachu," Lethal recounted. "There was a little Pikachu statue in Miami. Some convention I was there for, and there was a Pikachu, and I said I'll take a picture. And I pretended to super kick it, and that was my profile picture for awhile."Photo credit: Ring of HonorWhen it comes to collecting or attacking Pokemon or just life in general, Lethal's tip remains to just be lucky. "There are plenty of other wrestlers out there who I feel are better than me. There's always someone better, but I've been lucky with the opportunities presented to me. I've been in the right place at the right time to be Ring of Honor World Champion for the second time. To get to do some of the things I've done: hang out with Lanny Poffo, talk to the Macho Man, work with Ric Flair, meet Hulk Hogan, wrestle Kurt Angle live on pay-per-view. I've just been very, very lucky, and I've had a great wrestling career so far. I really feel like I won the lottery. Yeah, to say that my biggest tip, not only for Pokemon go but for life is to be lucky is an understatement."You can see Jay Lethal defend his world title against The Elite member Cody next week at Ring of Honor's Final Battle PPV, which airs live from New York City on Friday, December 14. The show will start at 8 PM ET / 5 PM PT on PPV, free for HonorClub VIPs, a 50% discount for HonorClub Standard, and on FITE TV. Check out ROH Wrestling or the ROH app for more details.For more on Jay Lethal, check out our full interview from earlier this year, where the champ discusses playing Nintendo Switch and his infamous segment with Ric Flair. Info from Gamespot.com

The landscape of multiplayer games has changed significantly as more developers take on the games-as-a-service approach. So many multiplayer games look and feel much different in their current states compared to the launch product as new content, balance tweaks, and seasonal events transform the original experience. It's what entices player bases to stick around for the long-haul and how these games continue to stay relevant well after release.So, with our Best Evolving Multiplayer Games category, we look back at five games that underwent meaningful changes in 2018 and highlight what made these great experiences even better. For this category, initial release date and status as a final product were not factors, but rather our criteria was based on what made these games stand out and how they went above and beyond in the calendar year. In no particular order, the following are the five best evolving multiplayer games of 2018.Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six Siege[Read the review]Ubisoft has been ambitious with its approach to sustaining its tactical first-person shooter Rainbow Six: Siege, and it's been paying dividends big time. Following a mild launch in 2015, Ubisoft stuck with it by serving the player base with constant patches and major content drops which helped elevate the game's great foundation. In 2018 alone, Rainbow Six Siege had four major content updates: Chimera, Para Bellum, Grim Sky, and Wind Bastion. Collectively, these updates brought eight operators, two new maps, major map changes, and numerous tweaks to how existing equipment and operators work. Ubisoft has been able to maintain a delicate balance even when introducing additional operators who bring new abilities and tactics to the table.No two matches are the same with environmental destruction, countless tactical possibilities, and unique in-match situations. Siege continues to thrive by supporting its community, being transparent with its roadmap, and delivering a distinct, deep competitive shooter experience that keeps on giving.Fortnite: Battle Royale[Read the review]If you had to point to the biggest story in all of games in 2018, you'd point to Fortnite. The free-to-play battle royale game has become a cultural phenomenon with the largest active play base in all of games, and propelled Epic Games to new heights of success. Fortnite separates itself from the pack by incorporating the building elements from the original Save The World mode which leads to so many tactical possibilities and unpredictable combat scenarios. But its rise in 2018 can be attributed to the impactful changes that come with each new season. Fortnite has been running on seasons which are broken into 10-week increments (its currently on season seven), and in this year alone, we've seen significant changes to the map, new weapons, different modes, inventive challenges, and wacky twists (like the limited time event that let you play as Marvel villain Thanos and use the Infinity Gauntlet to tear up opponents).Sure, Fortnite still only has one map, but large swaths of it are hardly recognizable from its original layout as they've been reworked to fit a loose narrative that comes with each season. At one point rifts appeared that teleported players across the map, at another, a mysterious meteor came down to obliterate a whole town, and the swamp area eventually turned into a desert paradise. Fortnite has gone in so many different and intriguing directions already,, and it just keeps growing.Overwatch[Read the review]Since its release in 2016, Overwatch established itself as a premier competitive shooter. It might not be much of a surprise considering Blizzard's pedigree and history of finely crafting multiplayer experiences, but it was its first foray into first-person shooters. In 2018, Overwatch continued the tradition of seasonal festivities with new character skins, thematic changes to it presentation, and occasional modes to fit the event. For example, the annual Summer Games took place in Overwatch with its vaguely-Olympic theme and included new cosmetics and the return of Lucio Ball, the 3-on-3 Rocket League-esque game mode. Lunar New Year and brought a whole assortment of creative skins, and the Winter Wonderland event is happening this month. Overwatch Archive: Retribution brought back the four-player cooperative PvE mode from last year's Uprising, but made some tweaks and offered new pieces of narrative. And of course, new heroes are always changing how the game is played; 2018 introduced Brigitte, Wrecking Ball, and Ashe, all characters with their own backstories and unique abilities. Between its updates, additional content, and competitive spirit, Overwatch isn't slowing down any time soon.Warframe[Read the review]Warframe is a prime example of how a game can completely transform itself into something greater over time. The free-to-play cooperative third-person shooter had two expansions in 2018, designated The Sacrifice and Fortuna. These updates delivered a slew of content and reworked several elements of the core game. The Sacrifice in particular had a whole solo-only campaign questline and rewarded players with the Excalibur Umbra warframe. However, Fortuna brought more significant changes to the game by introducing an entirely new open-world planet to explore with a neon-lit city below its snowy surface. Traversal also changed with the K-Drive hoverboard which players can customize to zip around the surface in fashion. For the more quiet moments, Fortuna has fishing and mining, and the new hunting activity. It's Warframe's biggest expansion yet that's on PC and will soon be on PS4 and Xbox One. Speaking of platforms, Warframe is now available on Nintendo Switch; although it's made some concessions to run properly, there's nothing quite like it on that console-handheld hybrid.Pokémon Go[Read the review]Pokémon Go is a unique experience that extends beyond the game itself. It's very much that mobile AR game that got you up and out in the real world to catch Pokémon scattered throughout your city, but continual support has kept it alive and more active than ever before. This year, the game ushered in Gen 3 Pokémon (which brought over 130 additional creatures to collect) and have begun to rollout Gen 4 Pokémon along with a whole wave of super-rare Shiny forms. There's also a weather system that accounts for the actual conditions in your environment; there are a number of status effects and boosts to certain types depending on the weather, like with rain that boost Bug, Electric, and Water type Pokémon.Community events around the world have brought so many players together face-to-face to party up in real life to go on raids and catch new Pokémon. 2018 introduced Community Days that happen monthly and offer an exclusive move for a particular Pokémon that spawns at a higher rate and a shiny version of it to catch.Info from Gamespot.com