What We Played #464 – Microsoft Flight Simulator, Peaky Blinders: Mastermind & PGA Tour 2K21

I have spent this week playing 'Microsoft Flight Simulator Troubleshooting Simulator' and let me tell you, it's the worst game of the year so far. I have a pretty decent PC, that plays nice with pretty much everything, but not this. It just crashes, usually just as it's loading, and it's driven me to distraction. I think it might have actually removed any love for gaming that I have.

Well, maybe not quite as I've been playing No Straight Roads for review, as well as continuing to give the Wii U some much needed attention with Wind Waker HD and Paper Mario Color Splash, but it's been a close run thing.

Thankfully, so that we can actually have a feature about the game, Tef has had far more success with Microsoft Flight Simulator, which he's happily dabbled with while playing 'Microsoft Flight Simulator Tech Support' and come up with a bunch of new troubleshooting things I can try. He's not had much luck with that.

Now that Nic B has got the internet, he's been storming through Ogre Tale — a weird 2D beat-em-up that asks what happens if you took Japan and vomited Japan all over it, with Nic telling us "It's an interesting play, if very try-hard in its writing." Gareth meanwhile has been playing Is it Wrong to Pick Up Girls in a Dungeon? for review. He's also mopped up some side missions in Ghost of Tsushima, which in any other year would likely be his GOTY, but The Last of Us 2 released this year. He's also jumped into some Beat Saber with the newly released Linkin Park pack.

On the watching front he's on the second season of Umbrella Academy this week, "which was good except for a few moments that relied on poor writing and nonsensical character choices to progress. Other than that, I continued to watch 30 Rock and, much to my delight, discovered that I had misremembered how many seasons it has. I have two seasons left! It's excellent, if you haven't seen it."

Aside from his usual grind on FFXIV, Reuben has been sinking some time into surviving the Siberian wilderness in Rise of the Tomb Raider and soaring through Aokana for a review too. He also says "I haven't been watching a whole lot, unless you count my millionth rewatch of Friends as background noise."

Jim hasn't really thrown himself into one game this week, juggling a few, dipping in for a couple of hours here and there. He tells us "I'm still slaying away with Dauntless, having almost maxed the new Hunt Pass and unlocked almost all the Indiana Jones adventurer-esque cosmetics. Fall Guys has obviously been in my rotation but I've probably spent more time with Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 5. I don't have much history with the series at all, so maybe I'm not catching the same flaws fans butt their heads against. I'm really enjoying it, firing up a session then completing a handful of missions before ducking back out."

Nick P has been mostly playing PGA Tour 2K21 for review, as well as some Ghost of Tshushima, CoD Warzone, Fall Guys and the Marvel Avengers Beta. "For things I've watched, I saw two movies, Invisible Man and Us which I quite enjoyed. I also started watching Brooklyn 99! I don't know where all this time has come from haha!"

Jason has been playing more some Halo multiplayer, saying "it's nostalgic and lets me pretend the world isn't on fire around me. I've also been spending a lot of time with Dreamscaper, which is a really cool roguelike game with some light Persona social stuff thrown in."

Over the other side of the pond, Miguel played Spiritfarer and Kandagawa Jet Girls for review. "My friends and I picked up Remnant as a co-op thing so i played the tutorial last night. I've also been doing a bunch of Final Fantasy XIV now that the Yokai Watch event is kicking off. I found out that the Regular Show creators new show Close Enough FINALLY came out so I watched that this week alongside some of Kaiji season 2 and my usual weekly anime business."

Ade thoroughly enjoyed his time reviewing Peaky Blinders Mastermind, to the extent that he's tempted to go and watch the TV show, and did a new Playing with History researching the gang's real origins. He also played the Avengers Beta and said, "it was alright," before returning to the EDF franchise and playing EDF 5 with his girlfriend – "The best in the series yet, we reckon."

Steve turned up to say that he played BPM: Bullets Per Minute, Battletoads and Metamorphosis and just got the platinum for the lovely Ni no Kuni II. He's going to watch the film with his kids over the weekend.

Finally, Aran played Death Stranding and got bored, saying "I just could not get into it at all". He also played more Fall Guys "which is a great game to unwind with", some and UFC 4 online. He's been watching more The Good Place and also watched 1917, saying "what a great film that is."

That's all from us, but what about you? Let us know what you've been playing in the comments.

Lair of the Clockwork God is coming to Switch & Xbox One in September, and "ASAP" to PS4

The quite excellent platformer point & click hybrid adventure of Lair of the Clockwork God is coming to Nintendo Switch and Xbox One on 4th September, with a PlayStation 4 version coming "ASAP" in 2020.

There's no word on if the games will be coming to next-gen platforms PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X, but if they do, hopefully there will be free cross-gen upgrades and just loads of really pointless ray tracing effects that make everything super reflective. The port to current gen has been handled by Ant Workshop.

Lair of the Clockwork God sees the classic point & click loving characters of Ben and Dan return for another adventure, except this time Dan has decided that he wants to be an indie darling platformer, much to Ben's chagrin. They stumble their way into a new adventure trying to convince a guardian computer that humanity is worth saving from all the apocalypses that are happening outside. Oh dear.

it's a genuinely funny adventure that's sometimes borders on being a bit too smart for its own good. In our Lair of the Clockwork God review, I wrote:

Lair of the Clockwork God is a genre mash-up that probably shouldn't work, and yet it does. It feels a little unrefined, intentionally so, but there's plenty of comedic fodder in indie platformers, modern gaming and life for Ben and Dan to riff off through the lens of classic LucasArts style adventures.

The game is out now for PC, with that Switch and Xbox One release now penned in for 4th September, and coming to PlayStation 4 sometime in 2020 after all that businessy stuff has been sorted out.

Source: Dan

Marvel's Iron Man VR update 1.06 adds New Game Plus and new weapons

Camouflaj has announced the contents of Marvel's Iron Man VR's 1.06 update, and there are some big additions. The first is that Iron Man VR will now have a new game plus mode so you can replay the campaign with all of your unlocked gear. Alongside that, there is a new Ultimate difficulty which will be much tougher to get through than Marvel's Iron Man VR's Invincible difficulty mode. To help out four new weapons are available with those being the micro swarm, gravity bomb, EM charge cannon, and the continuous beam repulsor.  There are also some new custom armour decorations to get from the Armor Station.

As well as gameplay additions there have been some quality changes too. Load times should drastically improve when going into the Shanghai missions, with reports of times being reduced by up to 30 seconds. When you replay a mission you will be able to skip the cinematics if you wish to. There are also two missions in the game that are now skippable following player feedback. When you skip them they will be marked as completed in the campaign, but any trophies associated with them will remain locked until you go back and complete the mission properly.

In our review for Marvel's Iron Man VR, Dom wrote:

Marvel's Iron Man VR is a brilliant superhero adventure, and one that replicates its star's physicality in VR in a truly incredible way.
You can read the full Marvel's Iron Man VR review here.
Source: PS Blog

Griefhelm Review

Looking to recreate the tense thrills of medieval duelling, Griefhelm will feel strangely familiar to those who have played local multiplayer masterpiece, Nidhogg. It's a fighting game almost stripped down to the barest essential with 2D movement, simplified controls, and one-hit kills by default. While easy to pick up and play, Griefhelm requires a mix of tactical cunning and razor sharp reflexes to master.

Let's quickly dive into how Griefhelm's combat works. You'll combine timing, reach, and footwork to deliver killing blows using a small medieval arsenal of weaponry, from flails and poleaxes to clubs and claymores. Battles in Griefhelm can be over in a matter of seconds if one knight manages to land their attack perfectly.

When going toe to toe with an opponent, each weapon has three attacks for each stance – high, mid, and low – which you can swap between by simply moving the right stick. This can be done with a mouse or directional keys though Griefhelm encourages you to plug in a gamepad for the best duelling experience.

Hacking away is a tactic that will only suffice for the first AI difficulty tier. You'll quickly learn to use parries (you'll automatically parry an attack by matching their stance and remaining idle) as well as throwing in the occasional shove.

Overcoming this early learning curve presents a pretty brutal difficulty spike. Rounds can be lost in the blink of an eye and the only way you can become a Griefhelm parry master is to have lightning fast reactions, learning the different attack animation wind-ups for the various weapons.

Compared to the zanier Nidhogg, Griefhelm is grittier and has more immediate depth to its combat. At the same time it's not as demanding to learn as traditional fighting games. Each weapon feels different enough for you to settle on a couple of favourites without requiring a radical shift in playstyle to wield.

Griefhelm can be played solo or in groups of up to four, whether sparring online or locally. There's a campaign mode too (which you can also tackle with friends) where most players are likely to spend the bulk of their time. At least initially.

Diving into a campaign will present you with a branching tree of combat encounters, each bookended by loose snippets of story. Battles can vary from simple head-on clashes to the very Nidhogg-esque Tug of War in which defeated opponents are pushed back towards their half of the screen until vanquished for a final time. There's also a Horde mode in there too as well as the more challenging leader battles against Griefhelm's bosses.

What makes the campaign dynamic is its replay value. These battles are strung together randomly in terms of the game mode, who you're fighting, where, and the rewards up for grabs. Each playthrough will see you amass different weapon and armour loadouts as well as consumable perks which can help give you an advantage, though the campaign will be reset if you run out of lives. The perks are particularly interesting – fights can get repetitive so having these introduce modifiers to a fight can help spice things up.

Griefhelm isn't exactly pushing for hyper-realism with its visuals. The game's character models and backdrops have a simple yet distinct art style that seem almost deliberately understated in order for players to focus purely on the arc of each sword swing and hammer fall.

Crysis Remastered releases for PC, Xbox One, and PS4 in September

Crytek has confirmed that Crysis Remastered will be available for PS4, Xbox One, and PC via Epic Games Store from September 14th. It will be a digital release that will cost £26.99 / $29.99 / EUR 29.99.  Crytek released a new trailer for Crysis Remastered that shows a side by side comparison of the original release and the remastered version with ray tracing in the PC, PS4 Pro, and Xbox One X versions of the game.

Crysis Remastered will focus on the game's single player campaign, so don't expect to see Crysis multiplayer return, and will feature remastered graphics and engine optimisations. The remaster is being co-developed by World War Z studio Saber Interactive, who've been in the limelight for excellent porting work on The Witcher 3 for Nintendo Switch. Together, they'll be updating the original game with "high-quality textures and improved art assets, an HD texture pack, temporal anti-aliasing, SSDO, SVOGI, state-of-the-art depth fields, new light settings, motion blur, and parallax occlusion mapping".

Crysis Remastered was delayed for PC, Xbox One, and PS4 after the original trailer leaked, and it was not received well. After seeing the feedback Crytek took the decision to take more time with development, though the Switch version of Crysis Remastered was released in July. A couple of weeks ago the PS4 trophy list for Crysis Remastered appeared online.

Source: Press Release

Ghost of Tsushima 1.07 update improves stick tolerance, fixes bugs

If you plan on firing up Ghost of Tsushima this weekend, you will notice that there's a new update available.

Sucker Punch have rolled out a post-launch patch for the open world samurai sim with Ghost of Tsushima version 1.07 now live and ready to download.

Compared to previous updates for the PlayStation exclusive, 1.07 doesn't make too many changes or introduce new content. In fact, if you're ready the patch notes via the Ghost of Tsushima icon on your PS4 home menu, you get a template message about general bug fixes.

Sucker Punch have explained that some changes have been made to the game. Most notably, the developers have added an option to "increase stick tolerance" to combat drift and deadzone issues. They also confirmed that other bug fixes have been rolled into 1.07.

Patch 1.05 added a new "lethal" difficulty option to Ghost of Tsushima, while 1.06 reworked the Traveler's Attire, helping players to better locate collectables using this armour set – pretty handy if you're looking to get that platinum trophy.

Source: Twitter

Ghost of Tsushima Guides & more from TheSixthAxis

Animal Crossing: New Horizons version 1.4.2 just fixes some bugs

Not every game update needs to be full of new content, nor do they always need to revise huge tracts of game code to fix thousands of bugs. Animal Crossing: New Horizons version 1.4.2 has been released today, and it fixes just a handful of things that were known issues from the last few update.

So, without much further ado, here they are:

Animal Crossing: New Horizons 1.4.2 Patch Notes:

General updates

The following issues have been addressed:

From Ver. 1.4.1:

  • Fixed issue where the "sumo ring" would not display properly.

From Ver. 1.4.0:

  • Fixed issue where the game would shut down under certain conditions when dreaming.
  • Fixed issue where shining soil would improperly appear behind buildings and other places.
  • Fixed issue where specific message cards sent from animal residents the player is close friends with would not arrive in the player's mailbox as intended.

From Ver. 1.3.0:

  • Changed the MTU when playing with others from 1364 to 1240 in order to investigate an issue where players cannot play with others in certain network environments.

It's been a busy couple of months for Nintendo, who've fed in a number of major features into the game through the two waves of summer updates. The first update added swimming, diving and sea creature collecting in July, but that almost pales in comparison to the addition of island backups, dreaming to visit other people's islands, and firework shows of the second update.

Animal Crossing: New Horizons has raced past 20 million game sales in just a few months, the game chasing after the current best-selling Switch game, Mario Kart 8 Deluxe. Will it catch and pass Mario Kart by Christmas? It seems pretty likely!

Source: NIntendo

Animal Crossing Guides from TheSixthAxis

Inertial Drift's seven modes revealed along with an animated trailer

PQube and Level 91 have released details about Inertial Drift's seven modes that players will be able to experience as they drift around the tracks. Those seven modes are Practice, Ghost Battle, Race, Time Attack, Duel, Endurance, and Style. The details of each mode can be found below the brand new trailer released for Inertial Drift, with the footage being the animated intro for the game. Have a watch of that now.

As promised here are the mode details:

  • Practice – Practice makes… you know the rest. This mode keeps things simple – just you, your car and the road. It's the perfect way to get used to the handling of a brand new car for the first time, without having to compete for track-space with rivals.

  • Ghost Battle – Like practise mode, this is another great place to hone your craft, only this time you'll be racing against the ghosts of other players. Unlike in a full 1v1 race, Ghost Battles allow you a valuable insight into the way your opponents approach a track. Keep an eye out for their glowing skid-trails to help you study their lines and knock valuable seconds off your lap times.

  • Time Attack – Those who have already checked out the Inertial Drift: Sunset Prologue will be more than familiar with this mode. The objective is simple – record the fastest lap. Achieving it will be another matter…

  • Race – Intense, head-to-head racing in some of the most exciting cars you'll ever get behind the wheel of. All cars are fitted with the Phase Shift Impact Prevention System, so all you and your opponent need to do is focus on your lines. But don't make the mistake of thinking there won't be any crashes – the 20 tracks will demand total concentration and no shortage of skill to navigate safely.

  • Duel – As well as a traditional race, you can also take on drivers in Duel mode. Score points by putting distance between yourself and an opponent – and the first driver to fill up their bar wins! The race lead can swing frequently from one driver to another in Inertial Drift, so every second you can stay ahead is vital.

  • Endurance – In this mode you'll race solo, attempting to reach each checkpoint before the timer runs out. Sure, the first lap might be easy enough – but how long will you be able to keep it up?

  • Style – Every drifter knows that it's not always about speed. This mode rewards those who are willing to take a risk in the pursuit of style. Race on the very limits of the track and earn points for nose skims, dirt drops and more. You can chain up moves for a greater reward, but be warned: you will be penalized for crashing.

Inertial Drift will be released for PS4, Xbox One, PC, and Switch on September 11th.

Source: Press Release

Ogre Tale Review

Everyone in Japan knows the tale of Momotaro, of the boy born from a giant peach (hence his name, which literally translates as 'Peach Boy'), who journeyed to recover his village's treasure that had been stolen by ogres. It's a story as ubiquitous in Japan as Jack and the Beanstalk is in the UK.

As the tale goes:

There was once an old man and an old woman who lived in a village in the mountains. One day, the woman found a giant peach floating down river by their house. She took it home to her husband, but when they tried to eat it, a boy came out. The man said "He came out of a peach, so let's call him Momotaro (Peach Boy).

Momotaro grew big and strong, but he was a kind and gentle boy. One day, ogres came to the village and stole the village treasure. Momotaro vowed to get the treasure back, so he set off to Onigashima (Demon island), where the ogres were hiding. He stocked on kibidango (a type of dumpling) and set off.

Along the way, he met a dog. "Woof, woof", said the dog. "Please give me one kibidango."

Momotaro gave the dog his first kibidango and the dog became his friend.

Then he met a monkey. "Eek, eek", said the monkey. "Please give me one kibidango."

Momotaro gave the monkey his second kibidango and the monkey became his friend.

Then Momotaro met a pheasant. "Squawk, squawk", said the pheasant. "Please give me one kibidango."

Momotaro gave the pheasant his last kibidango and the pheasant became his friend.

Momotaro arrived at the island with his friends and confronted the ogres. "Woof, woof! Eek, eek! Squawk, squawk! Give it back!!" they shouted.

The noise was so loud that the it hurt the ogres' heads. They said "we're sorry", and gave the treasure back. They promised not to be naughty again.

However, just as with Grimm's tales, there are darker version where Momotaro travels the land and kills the ogres. Ogre Tale takes this more violent interpretation of this story and flips it on its head. Then vomits Japan all over it.

Momotaro has become the bad guy. His desire to kill has become insatiable, and he is no longer the kind and gentle boy who fell out of a peach. He has all but wiped ogres out of existence, and your clan — the Onigashimas — is all that's left. Your mission is to kill Momotaro.

This reversal of the famous Japanese tale is what drew me to the game, but it leans very heavily into Japanese tropes and stereotypes. It's like if Jack and the Beanstalk was set in 1800s London, riffed off every stereotype of Brits you could think of, and then padded it out until a quarter of the four-hour game is pure try-hard, fourth wall-breaking dialogue.

On the surface, Ogre Tale is a side-scrolling, button mashing beat 'em up. You play as one of the last three descendants of the Onigashima clan — the sisters Hana, Ran and Yume — whipping, slashing or clubbing your way through Japan. You visit Tokyo, Kyoto, Miyajima and Mt Fuji — all places with extreme historical and cultural significance.

But there is a second layer of Japanese-ness that has been thrown into the mix, like every Saturday morning anime you know has been blended together and slathered over the deep and rich history of Japan.

Much like the real-life country, there is a peculiar mix of old and new. However, that's not to put the country and game in the same league — the game only works because of how dichotomous the country is. Unlike Japan, which has a seamless beauty in the way that tradition and modernity come together, Ogre Tale is an incongruous mishmash of stale tropes and standalone references.

The story itself is fine, but it's so snarky and text heavy that the game calls itself out for its poor writing multiple times. The characters know they're in a game, they know the scripting and pacing are off, and they know they're so verbose they risk the player getting bored. Think Deadpool if they turned it up to 11.

Mechanically, the game gets there, though if you start playing with a keyboard, "press any key" actually just refers to the letters B and J. I was sitting there tapping every key just trying to get into the damn game. Once you get past that, and plug in a controller, it plays much better. Not perfectly, but better.

Ogre Tale has the usual combat mechanics you'd expect in a beat 'em up, with close attacks and ranged attacks, and attack styles changing between characters. You can pick up and upgrade weapons, and level up your characters separately. If you prefer to play online, there's an option to do so. So far, so good.

However, the difficulty leaves a little to be desired — the easiest difficulty (Normal) still sees you swarmed by enemies that spam-lock you until you die in the corner. Fortunately, dying simply resets you to the nearest checkpoint (minus any ammo you've used), which means you can simply brute force your way through the game. The difficulty throughout story mode is pretty linear, right up until you fight Momotaro. You then have to go and grind half a dozen levels on side missions — which exist primarily so you can get cash — until you can squash the last boss like an overly ripe peach.

Cash, which seems to be included mostly so they could jam in a reference to stripping, is pretty much useless. I wound up with over a million yen, unable to buy a better weapon than one I found halfway through the game.

One of the best things about the Ogre Tale, I'd wager, is actually the soundtrack. It's nothing that will stick in your head, but the shamisen twanging away in the background as you fight your way west is utterly perfect for the game. This is hardly a stunning endorsement though, is it?

Planet Zoo Australia Pack arrives next, update 1.3 detailed

Frontier Developments has announced a brand new DLC pack for Planet Zoo, and this one is the Australia Pack. As you can guess animals from the Land Down Under are the focus of the Australia pack, with the Koala, Red Kangaroo,Dingo, Southern Cassowary, and the Eastern Blue-Tongued Lizard all being part of it. There will also be new foliage and scenery as part of the pack, as well as new scenarios. The Australia Pack will be available from August 25th.

Alongside the paid content the free 1.3 update for Planet Zoo will be released. In update 1.3 there will be more colour variations for animals and descriptions will be improved for colour blind players. Animal colours will be dependant on genetics and will allow more differentiation between individual creatures. 6% of the Jaguar population will be black, Albinism or Leucism in birds and reptiles will be much more noticeable. An animal food management page will also be added so players can see the grade of food being given to animals, the costs of feeding the animals, how many keepers have been assigned to each area, and whether the animals are hungry.

A new sandbox map will be added in update 1.3 too, as well as a timed scenario in Estonia. Vending machines will be available to place in zoos as well, though items from machines will not be as satisfying as those from shops for guests. Scenery lights can be turned on at any time too. When it comes to staff management players will be able to multi-select staff members meaning training and pay rises can be done in bulk, as well as assigning and firing them. Zoo alerts will also be dismissable.

In our review for Planet Zoo, Dom wrote:

Planet Zoo is simply wonderful; a bright and breezy park builder that gushes with enthusiasm for its charges. There's depth to spare here, pushing further than either of Frontier's most recent management games have, and it leans into its own identity, with a keen eye for the importance of education, animal welfare and preservation.
Source: Press Release

Martha Is Dead revealed for Xbox Series X and PC, watch the disturbing trailer here

Wired Productions and LKA have announced a brand new psychological thriller called Martha Is Dead, and the game has been confirmed for PC and Xbox Series X. A release in 2021 is expected. The games is set in Italy during 1944 where the body of a woman called Martha is found by a lake. Her twin sister sets out to find how Martha ended up there and she will have to travel along a very dangerous path. Before hitting play on the trailer I will warn you that there are some disturbing images in it, like a face being peeled away.

Luca Dalco, Founder & Director of LKA, said:

 

"At LKA, we start with a story. Often it's uncomfortable, not painless and based in truth. We learned a lot with The Town of Light, and Martha is Dead is taking everything we know, and turning it up to 10. Martha is Dead is set in a really interesting and distressing period of history, with Italy at this time torn between two major powers fighting for the future. Martha's brutal murder brings with it a mirrored sense of misery. This game will shock, make players question the truth and like The Town of Light, help continue a conversation around subject matters that still carry much stigma."

Leo Zullo, Managing Director at Wired Productions, said:

"After two years of development, we're happy to start unveiling more information about Martha is Dead.The range of Wired releases continues to grow, and our aim is to always publish incredible games with undeniable quality that deserve to be played. It's a journey that started with our signing of The Town of Light in 2016, so to continue to support LKA and the studio's storytelling is something I'm very happy Wired has been able to do."

Martha Is Dead is being built using Unreal Engine 4, and will be a first person narrative.

Source: Press Release

Black Myth: Wu Kong announced by Game Science Studio for PC and consoles

A new action RPG called Black Myth: Wu Kong has been revealed by the Chinese studio Game Science Studio, and the game is set to be released on PC and consoles. There is no release date yet, however. The announcement was made through a 13 minute gameplay video showing off the combat Black Myth: Wu Kong as well some areas of the environment that players will travel in. There are not too many details though going by the official site the inspiration does seem to be the 16th century Chinese novel Journey to The West by Wu Cheng'en.

In an FAQ on the Black Myth: Wu Kong's website, the developers have stated that the game will be a single purchase title but will not rule out additional DLC after the launch of the game. While a launch date is yet to be confirmed, Game Science Studio has also confirmed that there are other titles planned for the Black Myth series, though the release of those would likely depend on the success of Black Myth: Wu Kong.  The reason Game Science Studio released the footage of Black Myth: Wu Kong was partly because the team needs more members. The studio is looking for people join them to develop the game further.

Source: YouTube

EKSA Air Joy Pro Gaming Headset Review

The marketplace for our gaming ears has become steadily more competitive over the last few years. Where it was once the choice between Turtle Beach and what felt like nobody else, there's now manufacturers from every corner of the globe aiming to send some sweet sounds of video games down our respective lugholes.

EKSA hail from China, and are a relatively new and up and coming brand in the UK. We've previously reviewed the EKSA E900, and EKSA E900 Pro, both of which boasted impressive build quality at a budget price, and now they've returned with an ultra-light headset designed to be worn effortlessly no matter how long you sit staring at your computer.

How light is ultra-light? The Air Joy Pro weighs in at 162g, making it the lightest over-ear gaming headset we've ever covered, beating the Roccat Noz out by a whole 58g. In your hands, and on your head, that translates to very little in the way of resistance, and you'll soon forget you're wearing them in the midst of whichever flavour of digital world you're currently inhabiting.

In an effort to keep the gram count down, the Air Joy Pro is mostly made of matte black plastic. It's put together in a fairly non-descript kind of way, barring the adornment of each earpiece with four red light strips, and four red claw marks (similar to what an old Mad Catz piece of kit might have had) as well as twinned, terrible logos that read "No Burden" and "Just Joy".

Personally I think they look utterly awful, ruining what is otherwise a pretty standard headset that you could wear at home and on the go. As it stands I wouldn't be seen dead with them outside the house, as the decals simply make them look cheap. EKSA's previous headsets showed a keen ability to craft something that looked far more premium than what its pricing would have you believe. There's no sign of that here.

The headband itself has been slimmed to within a millimetre of its life in an effort to lose a few more grams, but despite my best efforts – and those of my four-year-old – it withstood a remarkable amount of twisting and pulling thanks to the metal strip running through it, coming out of our combined testing with no sign of breaking or cracking.

Comfort-wise there's a thin layer of memory foam in the headband. Without any real weight to pull it onto your head, it's more than enough to offset any downward force and the extra-soft woven earpieces are plush and comfortable. While lengthy sessions did see my ears becoming slightly warm, they never reached uncomfortable levels.

The left earpiece sports the Air Joy Pro's minimalist controls, with a volume wheel and clickable mute button at least unburdening you from accidentally hitting the wrong thing. They also thankfully do the jobs asked of them. Besides that there's the socket for the removable microphone to slot into, and the USB-C socket that serves as your main connection.

It's not got the strongest or most immovable boom arm, and it definitely feels pretty cheaply made, but the bi-directional, noise cancelling microphone itself is a functional piece of gear that will let your friends – and enemies – hear your innermost thoughts. It definitely sounds a little thin, but it will serve its purpose for cutting through the sound of Fortnite or Warzone's bullet fire.

The Air Joy Pro's hideous decals are even less worthwhile if the audio isn't up to scratch, but this is the area where the headset manages to claw back a couple of points. Despite the lightweight design, there's some genuine heft to the audio that they're able to kick out. From a standard 3.5mm connection, you'll find a satisfyingly wide soundstage accompanied by well-balanced tuning that ensures the top end details are clear while the low end reverberates without overwhelming everything else.

With both 3.5mm and USB-A cables provided to plug into the USB-C port, you can hook the Air Joy Pro up to a great number of different devices, from PC and Mac through to PS4, Switch and your smartphone. Both provide similar audio response, though I think the 3.5mm connection edges it, giving a slightly airier tone to your stereo audio.

There's also the option of 7.1 Surround Sound, but Mac owners should be aware that even though there's a giant "MAC" sign on the front of the box, and their website skirts the question of whether you can use 7.1 surround sound, it is in fact solely PC owners who get to access EKSA's drivers. To be honest, they're not missing out on all that much. It's a solid enough effort, with a good sense of space, but it's not of the same calibre as either Windows Sonic or Dolby Atmos. You'll be better off not bothering to install EKSA's drivers and sticking with those options built into Windows.

There's a decent level of passive noise isolation from the earpieces without an ear-cramping clamp, and pretty much every device you can think of will be able to make good use of them thanks to their 30 ohm impedance. If they hadn't put horrendous claw marks on them, the Air Joy Pro could have been a real winner at this low pricepoint.

Call of Duty: Modern Warfare and Warzone update changes some weapon stats, patch notes here

Infinity Ward has released a new patch for Call of Duty: Modern Warfare and Call of Duty: Warzone, with this patch addressing weapon stats. Those weapons include the 12-Gauge Deputy underbarrel shotgun, the Bruen MK9, and 725 Sawed Off. The patch also fixes an exploit that was found near Prison in Warzone, and also changes the High Alert perk slightly. The patch notes are listed below.

  • Warzone: 12-Gauge Deputy underbarrel shotgun:
    • Clamped close lethal damage
    • Fixed damage falloff for the FR 5.56 underbarrel shotgun
  • Bruen MK9:
    • Reduced upper torso damage
    • Base weapon – Increased recoil
    • 60 Round Mag – Additional increased recoil
  • ISO:
    • Reduced movement penalty for drum mags
    • Increased base ADS movement speed
  • 725 Sawed-Off Barrel:
    • Small increase to ADS time
    • Small decrease to movement speed
    • Reduced close lethal damage range
  • Fix for an exploit near the Prison in Warzone
  • Removing the VO from the High Alert perk

Call of Duty: Modern Warfare's spot in the limelight may soon be ending. Activision recently confirmed Call of Duty Black Ops: Cold War and that it would get a full reveal on August 26th. Typically, the Call of Duty series has been juggled between three Activision studios, churning out one annualised sequel on a three-year development cycle. World War II and Advanced Warfare team, Sledgehammer Games, were originally due to release their next Call of Duty title this year but Treyarch have now taken the reins of development after reports of internal struggles of Sledgehammer's game. Since 2010, they have continued to work on the Black Ops branch of the Call of Duty franchise, and this means that a new Black Ops game is coming just two years after the last, instead of the expected three.

The full reveal next week will likely give us a release date, details about the current gen and next gen versions of Call of Duty Black Ops Cold War, whether there will be a free upgrade path, cross play, and of course story and multiplayer details. Call of Duty games release in October or November so it would be likely to see Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War be on the PS5 and Xbox Series X day one.

Source: Infinity Ward

Marvel's Avengers beta patches 1.4 and 1.5 released, read the notes here

Ahead of this weekend's Marvel's Avengers open beta, Crystal Dynamics has released two updates with those being patches 1.4 and 1.5. Together these patches address multiple crash issues, decreases the time it takes for loot to drop, improves matchmaking, and decreased the amount of motion blur. On Steam, update 26.1 will reduce stuttering and lag in Marvel's Avengers as well as improving graphical issues. The full patch notes can be found below.

Marvel's Avengers 1.4 and 1.5 update patch notes

Beta Update 1.4.0 – PS4 and Xbox One 

  • Added an option in Settings to adjust Camera Shake Sensitivity
  • Decreased amount of motion blur during sprint and flight
  • Multiple improvements and optimizations made to matchmaking
  • Changed default settings to wide combat camera distance, heavy targeting assistance and matchmaking disabled
  • Improvement to vaulting
  • Fixed several reported crashes
  • Fixed issue with multiple Super Heroes spawning
  • Decreased delay of loot drops
  • Save game optimizations

 

Beta Update 1.5.0 – PS4 and Xbox One 

  • Fixed rare issue of players losing certain gear
  • Additional matchmaking improvements
  • Rare crashes fixes
  • Moved Enable Matchmaking prompt to occur after the War Table is unlocked
  • Added a link to 1st Party store to main menu

 

Beta Update 26.1 – Steam

  • We have seen how some people struggled with severe stutters/lag and irregular performance and we have made several fixes that will solve or at least improve those.
  • A variety of fixes for crashes seen during last weekend have been implemented, which includes certain older systems not being able to launch at all, but also some that occurred rarely during gameplay.
    • We will keep monitoring for other crashes and will release updates as we have them.
  • Multiple improvements and optimizations made to matchmaking.
  • Changed default settings to wide combat camera distance, heavy targeting assistance (for gamepad) and matchmaking disabled.
  • Added an option in Settings to adjust Camera Shake Sensitivity.
  • Decreased amount of motion blur during sprint and flight.
  • We have made fixes for issues surrounding microphone handling and muting other players.
  • We have addressed some graphical issues, for example when using SSSR while having TAA turned off.
  • We have solved issues with the Dynamic Screen Resolution feature, especially when it was combined with HBAO+.
    • With those fixes we recommend turning on Dynamic Screen Resolution again (at your desired minimum frame-rate) to ensure you are able to stick to your desired frame-rate no matter how hectic the game gets.
  • Improvements to vaulting.
  • Decreased delay of loot drops.
  • We have brought in some initial improvements to our support for ultra-wide and super-ultrawide screens, with us planning more for launch.
  • Various other smaller fixes and improvements.

Recently, a leak seemed to confirm that the likes of Black Panther, Doctor Strange, Captain Marvel, and the Winter Soldier would be some of the additional characters added to Marvel's Avengers post-launch. So far the only confirmed post-launch characters are Hawkeye and Spider-Man, though Spider-Man will be a PlayStation exclusive character.

Source: Crystal Dynamics

UFC 4 update 2.02 fixes takedown issue and addresses perks, patch notes here

EA has released update 2.02 for UFC 4 and the new update addresses issues such takedown defences not being properly implemented. Before the patch denying a takedown could be missed while moving or throwing a strike, but that should not be the case anymore. Update 2.02 also tunes some perks and damage points to make fights more balanced. AI has been modified too so it goes for fewer clinches, and various fighter movesets have also been updated. You can read the full patch notes below.

UFC 4 2.02 update patch notes

Patch 2.02 Notes:

  • Fixed issues that could prevent denying takedowns while moving or striking

    • Previously, if a user held the movement input for too long (even for only one frame) after they had already pressed low block to deny a takedown, it would count as an attempt to deny a takedown turn that had not happened yet and would result in a successful takedown for their opponent. This only occurred in cases of "late" (partial) denials, including some cases where the fighters hadn't made contact yet.

    • Previously, pressing striking modifier buttons, such as for throwing hooks or overhands, could cause them to be interpreted as an attempt to apply a reversal to a takedown that had already started. A denial attempt made after that would then count as a late reversal attempt and, therefore, fail.

    • Those two issues were affecting all shooting takedowns, including the power takedowns. The fix will help users deny more driving and late denials on takedowns.

  • Fixed an issue with Imanari Roll being available in 'Stand and Bang' and KO modes

  • Fixed exploit with Cage Back Clinch drives

  • Fixed an issue with Von Flue Choke stamina

    • The stamina for the attacker and defender was swapped and the fighter with less stamina had the advantage.

  • Tuned Marathoner Perk

    • The effect of perk is drastically reduced. This was a major component of some of the issues with stamina being reported by the community.

  • Tuned Cage Guillotine chain progress

    • The Cage Guillotine was granting too much progress to the attacker when they hit the chain. We reduced the amount of progress granted by that chain to be a similar amount to the other chains. The team is still investigating changes to balance as it relates to the Standing Guillotine.

  • AI Improvements

    • In guard and half guard, AIs will now avoid striking with the hand holding the opponent's head down.

    • Reduced AI clinch frequency

  • Tuned Side Control strike damage

    • Significantly reduced damage of all strikes from Dominant Side Control.

  • Tuned Body strike damage

    • Slightly Increased base damage of body jabs, straights, hooks, and uppercuts.

    • The damage is proportional to the stamina drain and the stamina cost so this change indirectly impacts the stamina drain for your opponent and the cost of throwing these strikes.

    • Landing a body shot is always a net positive for the attacker, but be careful not to miss as the increased cost will punish missed strikes more.

  • Updated moves and perks for some fighters

    • Gaethje moveset updates

    • Sandhagen moveset updates

    • Amanda Nunes moveset updates

    • Germaine de Randamie moveset updates

    • Paulo Costa moveset updates

    • Ronda Rousey moveset updates

    • Valentina Shevchenko moveset updates

    • Johnny Walker moveset updates

    • Dan Hooker moveset updates

    • Eddie Alvarez moveset updates

    • John Lineker moveset updates

  • Updated Archetype movesets

    • Added Imanari and osotogari to Archetypes Shark and Vanguard

    • Added osotogari to Engine

  • Updated fighter records based off of recent events that took place before Aug 14th

  • Updated Kimbo Slice's grappling ratings

In our review for UFC 4, I wrote:

UFC 4 is an evolution over UFC 3. A much better and more cohesive online, a better system for advancing your created fighters, a career mode that has a bit more depth, and gameplay that opens up the series to more people, makes UFC 4 the game that UFC 3 should have been.
You can read the full review here.
Source: Reddit

Marvel's Avengers will add Black Panther, Wasp & more according to leak

When Marvel's Avengers launches next month on PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and PC, the hotly anticipated superhero action game will give players access to a roster of their comic book favourites including Captain America, Thor, Iron Man, Hulk, Black Widow, and Ms. Marvel.

Although each hero comes with their own unique playstyle, movesets, abilities, costumes, and upgrades, the game's community are already obsessing over which other Marvel characters will make an appearance. We already know that Hawkeye will be joining the team after the game's September launch, with Spider-Man being an exclusive PlayStation add-on reportedly coming in March 2021.

With players having gotten their hands on Marvel's Avengers during the recent beta tests, one Reddit user, u/6plus4equals52, has been meticulously scouring the game's data files for clues. In their datamining efforts, they may have uncovered an entire roster of future playable Marvel icons.

Followed up by a subsequent post (both of which have now been removed from Reddit), here are the Avengers characters who have been outed so far, including many of the usual suspects:

  • Ant Man
  • The Wasp
  • Vision
  • Black Panther
  • Doctor Strange
  • Falcon
  • Mar-Vell
  • Mockingbird
  • Quake
  • Winter Soldier
  • Scarlet Witch
  • Captain Marvel
  • Kate Bishop
  • She-Hulk
  • War Machine

From what we've seen of Marvel's Avengers ahead of release, some of those heroes seem like much more likely fits than others. Ant Man and his Pym Particle tech have already been introduced into the game's universe via a video shown at E3 2019. It's not hard to imagine Wasp tagging along for the ride.

Vision and Scarlet Witch also both seem like natural additions to the roster, hopefully adding more abstract abilities to Marvel's Avengers which is currently dominated by melee and tech-based heroes, Thor adding some much-needed magic. Speaking of, Doctor Strange also seems like a given as well as Black Panther, Winter Soldier, and Captain Marvel, all of whom have seen a surge in popularity followed their debuts in the Marvel Cinematic Universe.

Our impressions of the beta have been mostly positive. Marvel's Avengers manages to bring together a diverse array of characters, placing them all in the same open arenas with plenty of shooting and brawling action. Some are still a little confused about the split between solo/co-op content with the loot and upgrade systems also causing some initial headaches. We'll be able to deliver our final verdict when Marvel's Avengers assembles on September 4th.

Source: Reddit 1, 2

Skully Review

There's not enough games nowadays about balls. Now, I'm not talking the sporty, ultra HD, annually updated EA and 2K kind of balls, but instead the old school Marble Madness or Super Monkey Ball kind of balls. Given the ubiquity of proper analogue controllers in today's market, this omission feels like even more of an oversight. I have vivid memories of fighting with the joystick-based original Marble Madness and would love a proper update with decent, responsive controls. When I first saw the early footage of Skully, I thought to myself, "Finally! The game about balls I've been dreaming off!"

There is something unmistakeable old school about Skully. Whilst not the ugliest game, there is little here stylistically that wouldn't be out of place in an early 360 or PS3 release. The levels are not particularly distinctive, background details often feel repetitive, and cutscenes are static rather than animated. The latter detail is a real shame, since the claymation aesthetic is crying out for a proper sense of movement. While the characters are adequately voice acted (the mute Skully excepted) the storyline just feels lacking in effect in large part due to this choice.

You play as the titular Skully, unimaginatively named by Terry, a mysterious but wild-looking figure with apparent powers over Earth (hence the name – stemming from terra). He asks you to help him in seeking out his brother and sisters to unite the elements. At first you have no abilities over than being able to roll around the landscape and jump (the latter is never really explained as you have no limbs or obvious propulsive power) and a fairly basic, but well designed opening section helps you to become familiar with these controls.

The use of the analogue sticks allows for some responsive control, even when you build up speed. Throughout the game it was these sections that were the most successful. Sure, the camera occasionally struggles to keep up, but you have control over it with the right stick. This was more of an issue when platforming rather than rolling, an aspect not helped by the small shadow that Skully casts making judging the distance of jumps more difficult.

It isn't long before the game transforms into a very different beast – one that is devoid of balls. Pools of mud that serve as checkpoints also enable you to shift forms and become golem-esque creatures with additional abilities. There are three of these to unlock as you progress, beginning with a strong form able to break through cracked walls. The secondary ability here can be used to fight off the balls of elemental goo that serve as your enemies whilst later in the game you also unlock a skill that allows you to throw Skully across large distances. The range of abilities here is impressive and well thought out, but it feels more like a last generation game like Kameo than the game I was expecting.

In later levels you unlock a speedy form and a double jump form, both of which can manipulate some blocks to help form platforms. The speedy form can move these horizontally whilst the jump one can lift them up. As you can summon three forms simultaneously, there are some complex puzzles that involve combining their abilities to navigate.

It is these puzzles that really form the bulk of the game's playtime, which to me felt like a missed opportunity. This style of 3D platforming feels dated, the camera becomes increasingly problematic as you progress, and everything just feels like a lost game from a decade ago. Now I know this may seem like it doesn't fit with my lamenting the lack of old school marble rollers, but the truth is that many of the style of 3D platformer and character switching puzzles that actually make up Skully were left behind for good reasons. Manipulating blocks and then trying to throw Skully onto them with no real precision is just not that fun – especially as these passages invariably feature instadeaths and irregular checkpoints.

I would like to say that the boss fights with the elemental siblings mix things up and provide a welcome change of pace, but they are pretty one-dimensional and dull. Alongside these bosses there are a couple of chase sequences too which quickly become a matter of trial and error and route memorisation. I wasn't expecting an into the camera chase this side of the next Crash Bandicoot game and I wouldn't have missed it were it not included here.

Hitman 3 will be an Epic Games Store exclusive on PC – Dartmoor murder mystery level revealed

If you've been playing the Hitman series on PC via Steam up until this point, you'll have to hop storefronts if you want to conclude the trilogy. IO Interactive have announced that, as they self-publish for the first time, they've struck a deal to make Hitman 3 a 12-month timed exclusive to the Epic Games Store.

Thankfully, you will still be able to carry over your current progression and unlocks from Hitman 2 in Steam, and you'll also be able to import locations from the first two games into Hitman 3 from other storefronts. "We want to make it a seamless process for our PC players to enjoy Hitman 3 on a different PC platform and continue to enjoy the benefits of our World of Assassination," IO write.

To help in that regard, the first game in the trilogy will be a free game on the Epic Games Store from 27th August to 3rd September, alongside Shadowrun Collection.

IO also revealed a new location and mission. Set in Dartmoor, England and called The Thornbridge Mystery, it evokes many a classic British whodunnit, with a murder mystery for Agent 47 to solve… on his way to committing another murder.

Nick Price, Lead Writer on Hitman 3 said, "HITMAN missions are very complicated affairs with plenty of moving parts and lots of characters you are able to interact with in a huge variety of ways. In Dartmoor's murder mystery, we are dialing all of that up to 11.

Every member of the family is a possible suspect and it's been quite the challenge to make sure everything doesn't fall apart just because the player wants to play around. In fact, that sort of behaviour should be rewarded in a HITMAN game, so we have been working hard on making sure that depending on what a player discovers during their investigation, outcomes might differ. It's going to be great fun to see how everyone tackles this particular problem next year."

Hitman 3 will be out for PlayStation 5, PlayStation 4, PlayStation VR, Xbox Series X, Xbox One, Google Stadia and PC via the Epic Games Store in January 2021. Presumably it'll then pop up on Steam in January 2022.

Source: IOI

The PlayStation 5's first TV advert is here

The first TV spot for the PlayStation 5 is here, as Sony try to describe to people what it will feel like to play games on their next-gen console, wrapping together things like 3D audio, haptic feedback and adaptive triggers.

It's quite a high concept video, showing a woman adventuring in a weird and mysterious world. The opening line says, "Welcome to a world where you can feel more," and this is a key part of Sony's pitch for the next generation. The DualSense controller features adaptive triggers to relay different pressures to your fingers, while more advanced haptic feedback is to be incorporated to add more nuance compared to the rumble motors found in the DualShock 4. 3D audio with advanced HRTF processing to simulate different ear shapes will also aim to make audio more immersive and spatial, regardless of whether you're hearing sound from a TV, set of headphones or an existing surround sound set up.

All of this is completely intangible to end users at the moment. Literally the only person to have ever touched a DualSense up until this point is Geoff Keighley – I'm obviously being quite hyperbolic there – with the Covid-19 pandemic preventing the wider games press from going hands on at trade shows or smaller private events, and no possibility of public demo booths for fear of the DualSense becoming contaminated and helping to spread the virus.

What's curious about the trailer is that there isn't any sign of actual gameplay that could show off the raw power of the PS5 to deliver next gen graphics at ultra HD resolutions. Thatd would feel much more tangible for people passively watching something on a TV screen, but I guess Sony's focus is on trying to describe the console's other advantages. If this airs during this weekend's Champions League final, it will get those three talking points across to millions of viewers.

Of course, there's also no hint of a release date, let alone a price, with Sony and Microsoft locked in a seemingly endless game of chicken over who will announce the price of their next-gen games console first, so that one of them can try to undercut the other one or something.

The wait continues…

Source: Sony

PGA Tour 2K21 Review

It's the final hole and I'm tied at six under par for the tournament. Big Boy Billy shot his last hole and now it's up to me to finish. The pressure is on. If I can just make this 18 foot putt…

HB Studios and 2K are back after a two year break, transforming The Golf Club into the fully fledged and licensed PGA Tour game with all the bells and whistles you'd expect. Straight away, you are thrown into the character creator to craft your legend with quite a few options on hand – hundreds, in fact. Naturally, I made a version of myself, complete with man bun, before diving into the wide range of licensed clothing. I ended up opting for a shirt/tie/waistcoat combo with a porkpie hat, which made me look absolutely spiffing. If you fancy your Addidas or Polo Ralph Lauren branded apparel, they are of course there with some options being locked until you unlock them through gameplay.

Then, it's onto look at your Golf Bag and the 14 clubs you take with you during your games. You can unlock and buy new clubs with varying stats for different situations, although I'm yet to find a reason to change out my max power driver which I started with. Also, your clubs can be customised with different shafts and handles if you really want to stand out.

All this character creation was immediately followed by a short and fairly robust training session to teach you the basics of swinging that stick to get the maximum distance on your shots.

Pulling back on the right stick brings your club back and then pushing forward once it's reached the power you want in the gauge will see your golfer smack the ball. I thought this would be easy, but there is an art to it. You need to be accurate. An image of the ball with a white line down the middle shows you how precise your stroke is using a blue line, and mine was all over the place. I didn't realise how inaccurate I was!

The problem I had was every time I pushed the stick forward, I always went up and to the right, so naturally, my balls were flying off to the right. It took some real time and patience before I started to nail down the basics. But this a sports sim and that level of learning should be expected.

I jumped straight to a career after that and that's where the salt began. I thought after one training session I was ready to go. I picked the easiest option which was Q-School and spent my first 18 holes embarrassing myself in front of the other up and comers. I ended up 11 over par and failed my first season. I then failed my second.

Back to training.

Another round of truly reading the mechanics and practicing hard saw me finish in the top 50 during my third run, letting me qualify to play amongst the big wigs. I was actually improving. That's one of the main selling points of 2K21 for me, actual trackable self improvement. All of a sudden, I was hitting birdies, reading the wind correctly, judging the lay lines on my putting. It's all mechanically there and it's all very well desgined.

The true shot mechanic is fantastic. The game does a very good job of catering toward beginners by making sure you are recommended a club and shot style to use for every shot (which can be turned off), but if you want to take a risk and push that ball a little further, then the true shot will help you experiment a little. It's as simple as striking the ball in a certain spot to either increase or decrease the loft, enabling you to slice through harsh winds, or adjusting that attack angle to gain a few extra yards.

Before long, you'll be promoted to the PGA tour proper, and that's when the career mode begins to open up. You unlock sponsor goals, which level up your relationship with them, unlocking rewards like new clubs and apparel. The goals are also quite simple, like hit six birdies on your next tournament or hit so many greens in regulation. You can only have one sponsor active at a time, but there are plenty of goals to complete.

The point of all of this is to aim for the FedExCup. Completing events during the tour awards you FedExCup points based on how well you do. Along the way, you can actually strike up rivalries with some of the biggest names in golf like Bryson DeChambeau and Jim Furyk.

When you unlock the first rival, Cameron Champ, the next time you meet him in a tournament, you'll need to score five rival points to complete the rivalry and unlock the set reward. I did this through one tournament on my first go, scoring points for beating him in areas like the total score on the front nine holes, how many Birdies I shot and whether or not I went a full round without any Bogies. It's a fine feature, but I really wasn't trying to do anything out of the ordinary but play my best game. Once that's done, you just unlock the next rivalry in the queue. This feature overall feels a bit undercooked. I would have preferred to have a proper rivalry with another golfer throughout the course of a year, telling a story of how we went toe to toe all year. Instead it's like you have one good game and suddenly you're declared the winner. I doubt Cameron's that fussed, to be honest.

The main problem is that the career just feels a little empty and lacking a little soul. There's no player progression outside your own improving skill, the rivalries feel empty, and so you never feel like you're building anything. You're just playing events to get a trophy in the cabinet. Even the commentary doesn't help, and while Luke Elvy and Rich Beem will sound utterly authentic for US golf fans, the gents consistently made out of place comments, praising me for bad shots and sighing when I scored a Birdie.

Perhaps you can inject some more life by playing with other people. There's a bunch of different game types and online multiplayer, While we were unable to test this before launch, the game also features Societies, where you can set up a golf club with your friends and get together to compete in a relaxed environment. You can make people admins and have them set weekly events if you like.

What we did get to play with was the detailed course designer, which is easily one of the better features in PGA Tour 2K21 and builds off the ones found in previous The Golf Club games. You start off by picking the number of holes and how many par 3's or 5' you want to include before choosing an environment to set it in. I went for the desert because, why not? The freedom you have in this mode is pretty wild. From simple things like weather and time of day, to plonking giant townhouses and crocodiles on the course. With enough time, you could set up some really fun and pretty courses. Then you have the added bonus of being able to upload and share them with the community, which is always great to see.

505 Games explain why only Control Ultimate Edition will get free next-gen upgrades

Last week, 505 Games and Remedy announced a new Control Ultimate Edition release of the hit 2019 game, bundling together all of the existing content with free cross-gen upgrades to PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X. However, this comes at the cost of leaving behind anyone who already purchased the game on PlayStation 4 and Xbox One.

You will not be able to upgrade – free, paid of otherwise – those versions of the game. Quite a few people are understandably a bit narked about this, and so 505 Games have now tried to explain the decision:

We spent several months exploring all of our launch options for Control Ultimate Edition and no decision was taken lightly. While it is challenging bringing any game to next gen platforms, we quickly realised it was even more difficult to upgrade our current user base to next gen with full parity across platforms with our year-old game.

Every avenue we pursued, there was some form of blocker and those blockers meant that at least one group of players ended up being left out of the upgrade for various reasons. As of today, we can't offer an upgrade to everyone, and leaving any one group out feels unfair. We understand that is not what you want to hear.

As explanations go, that's as clear as mud.

For those hoping to play the game on PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X, the two options are: play the original current-gen release via backward compatibility, or purchase the Ultimate Edition which will have next-gen enhancements and includes the content of the original release and its DLC expansions.

Outside of the free next-gen upgrade, there's no difference in content between the upcoming Ultimate Edition and buying the current Deluxe Edition or base game with a Season Pass. The major difference is price. Though it has been on sale as low as £15.99, Control is currently sat at its RRP of £49.99, and the Season Pass for £19.99 and the Deluxe Edition for £64.99. The Ultimate Edition is not on sale until 10th September digitally for PS4 and Xbox One, and will cost £29.99 at that time.

I own the Control base game and Season Pass. Is this not the same as Control Ultimate Edition?
The objective of Control Ultimate Edition was not to release new exclusive content on the next gen platforms, but to offer the full Control gameplay experience to new Control players in a single, easy-to-find product. The PlayStation 5/Xbox Series X versions of Control contain the same content as the current gen game, though they do take full advantage of the power and features provided by these new consoles.

The upgrade path that we are offering is only possible when upgrading from the same version of the game. As we are only doing additional development on Control Ultimate Edition on the next gen platforms, we are unfortunately unable to offer an upgrade path to all existing Control players. We understand how this might upset a number of players but you will still be able to play the 2019 edition of Control and each Expansion on the new platforms.

All of this has left me scratching my head a little. Sure, there's Microsoft's assertion to developers that upgrades should be free and not paid DLC, and so that has ruled out the possibility that 505 might have wanted to explore of charging a nominal fee for upgrading. However, Microsoft have a number of games that will or have launched before Series X and get free cross-gen upgrades via Smart Delivery. Developers must enrol to the programme early, but the option is there to gain access to dedicated infrastructure.

While 505 Games have not described what any of the "blockers" are (meaning that they haven't really explained much of anything, it's possible that they might have wanted to explore of charging a nominal fee for upgrading to pay for the additional dev time required. However, Microsoft's assertion to developers that upgrades should be free and not paid DLC probably put paid to that.

If the company wanted to offer the upgrades for free across the board, that is obviously possible, with Microsoft offering Smart Delivery cross-gen upgrades for new and existing games, and Sony accommodating similar upgrade paths without a concerted branding effort.

But basically, 505 have heard that people are a bit miffed about this, but they're not about to U-turn like they've handed out a bunch of duff A-levels to people.

Source: 505 Games

Peaky Blinders: Mastermind – did the infamous gang really exist?

Peaky Blinders: Mastermind has managed the herculean feat of being a licensed video game that doesn't absolutely suck. In fact, perhaps shockingly, it's actually very good indeed, providing both a satisfyingly fresh take on the real time strategy genre as well as being a meaningful addition to the Peaky Blinders continuity.

For those who haven't checked out our Peaky Blinders: Mastermind review yet, this is a heist movie done as a video game. A compelling and brain taxing experience that sees six members of the Peaky Blinders crew pull off near impossible missions thanks to a neat time rewinding mechanic. But as I played through the game it got me thinking – risky, I know – who were the real Peaky Blinders?

The game, and the TV series of course, are based on a sprinkling of people and events from real-life to pepper the drama with a sense of authenticity. But where does fact end and fiction begin? Were the Peaky Blinders a bit like Robin Hood and his Merry Men, protecting the people of Small Heath from rival gangs and authoritarian police? Did the Peaky Blinders really use hats with razor blades secreted in the rim as an offensive weapon?  Did Thomas Shelby really exist, and did he have beautiful piercing blue eyes that seem to gaze into the very depths of your soul through the TV screen? And could the Peaky Blinders control space and time as if they had their own personal Infinity Gauntlet? I set to finding out.

First things first, some back story. Yes, the Peaky Blinders were a real gang that operated in the city of Birmingham from the late 19th century, and such was their rise to power that their name became synonymous with all criminal activity in Birmingham. Indeed, it was the state of the city during the latter half of the 19th century that provided the necessary environment for a criminal organisation to flourish and gain such power. Life in Victorian Britain was hard, and Birmingham was certainly consistent with this rule. The population was exploding. Not literally. I'm not suggesting that Queen Victoria detonated all over Prince Albert – though, that's quite the mental image – but rather the population was booming, with people flocking to the cities seeking work and a better life.

Most didn't find that. There weren't nearly enough places for everyone to live, resulting in crazy overcrowding and deeply unsanitary conditions. There was contaminated drinking water and so diseases were easily spread, leading to horrific child death rates. Birmingham saw epidemics of smallpox in 1871 to 1872, 1874, and 1883. Then there were a pair of epidemics of scarlet fever in 1878 and 1882. Considering this suffering and poverty, it's no surprise that discontent grew and the crime rate rose significantly. The result? More and more draconian policing and public punishment as a deterrent. Those convicted of heinous crimes would be publicly hanged, possibly even tortured too.

These factors – and others which are far too complicated for me to understand – led to even greater discontent, anger and anti-social behaviour. The exact type of anti-social activity that we're interested in for the purposes of the Peaky Blinders is 'slogging'. Slogging is basically stoning but with a much more fun name; sloggers would throw stones – and mud and brickbats and the occasional dead dog – at passers-by, buildings and property. Gangs of young men would roam the street, becoming emboldened through the fear and chaos they sowed; they attacked members of the public during the day and scuffled with the police at night. Slogging became so prevalent that entire riots involving hundreds, sometime thousands, of people would break out over the city.

Gangs began to further establish themselves over time, they became more hierarchical and operated within territories. Some of these slogging gangs grew to become the Peaky Blinders. The Blinders fought and defeated other gangs to establish their territory – notably seeing off The Cheapside Sloggers – to then operate various protection rackets as well as conducting robberies, assaults, fraud, hijacking, smuggling and racketeering.

So, with a predilection to violence and outright criminal activity against anyone and everyone, the real Peaky Blinders were unlikely to have operated with the Robin Hood mentality portrayed in the TV show or the game, nor have the popularity amongst the local population of Small Heath that the game suggests.

How about fashion? Were the real Peaky Blinders as dapper and well-dressed as Tommy Shelby and his cohorts? Absolutely! The Peaky Blinders considered their impeccable style to be very important; it demonstrated both power, wealth and a collective identity. Gang members wore tailored jackets, leather boots, immaculate brass buttoned waistcoats and 22 inch bell-bottom trousers. They also wore a distinctive scarf, called a silk daff, which was twisted twice around the neck and then tied together at either end. Like a shoelace for the head. Then there was their iconic head wear; the peaked flat cap.

These have recently filtered their way back into the wardrobes of fashion conscious men, though historians vary considerably in their opinions of whether they were indeed used as weapons. Perhaps the legends are true, that the Peaky Blinders kept razor blades in the brim of these cap. Whilst it's unlikely they would use the cap to slash and injure their foes as Peaky Blinders: Mastermind depicts, they perhaps could have used the blade to accentuate the severity of an unfriendly head-butt. The bladed skull kiss would cause blood to run down over the eyes of their unfortunate victim; thus the name Peaky Blinders.

Historian, and author of several books on the Peaky Blinders, Carl Chinn, thinks that's an unlikely explanation though. He told Birmingham Live:

(Razor blades) were only beginning to come in from the 1890s and were a luxury item, much too expensive for the Peaky Blinders to have used. And any hard man would tell you it would be very difficult to get direction and power with a razor blade sewn into the soft part of a cap. It was a romantic notion brought about in John Douglas's novel, A Walk Down Summer Lane.

So why the name Peaky Blinders? One theory is that the peaked hat helped hide the wearer's identity. Another is that as the gangsters were dressed so fancily they were considered 'blinding to the eye'. Another – to me fairly ridiculous – idea, is that Peaky Blinders were named as such because they snuck up behind their victims and pulled their hat down over their head. But that sounds more school prank than violent assault. Anyway, let's face it, the razor blade thing is much more exciting for TV and video games.

So what of Tommy Shelby, the genius big brained heist planner of Peaky Blinders: Mastermind. Did he exist? Back to Carl Chinn again:

"There was no real Tommy Shelby."

Yeesh! Thanks for that anticlimactic reveal, Carl! The whole article was building up to that and it went off like a wet firework.

No Tommy Shelby then. And also (and this took me by surprise) no time manipulating super powers for the Peaky Blinders either. Real life, eh? Who'd choose that? I'd rather have my time-travelling, anti-hero, heist conducting, razor blade hat wielding Peaky Blinders any day of the week. Back to playing Peaky Blinders: Mastermind for me then.

Playing with History is our ongoing series spotlighting video games and the real-world people and events that inspire them. From the harrowing historic backdrop fuelling Hellblade: Senua's Sacrifice, to the existence of zombies in Days Gone, and a deep dive into Jurassic World Evolution's T-Rex, join us as continue to expand our timeline. Why not explore the real-world history behind Ghosts of Tsushima, or learn just how authentic the game is, according to a samurai expert.

Rocksteady post an "unsolicited letter" from their current female employees

Rocksteady were the subject of a report in The Guardian on Monday which accused them of ignoring sexual harassment claims, followed by a emotional video from Kim MacAskil, Senior Writer at the studio until 2019.

Rocksteady have now posted an "unsolicited letter" from seven out of the ten women who signed the original letter which complained about sexual harassment.

Rocksteady have used Twitter's new feature that stops anyone from replying to their tweets, but here are some of the comments from across Twitter.

Peaky Blinders: Mastermind Review

Wouldn't it be awesome to be able to rewind a life? To correct all the big mistakes you've ever made, with the benefit of irritatingly perfect 20/20 hindsight, and make things right? Now, that would be a super power I'd definitely choose. Funnily enough, it's a timey wimey ability that the entire criminal gang of Peaky Blinders possess. Who knew, huh? Forget the Quantum Realm, Shelby and his pals can travel back to the past with the tap of a button.

It's this mechanic the forms the gameplay backbone of Peaky Blinders: Mastermind. This is a real time strategy game based on a popular TV franchise, but it's also a title that attempts to smash together the cinematic genre conventions of an Ocean's 11 heist movie with the try, try and try again structure of the under-appreciated Tom Cruise-athon that is Edge of Tomorrow.

Peaky Blinders: Mastermind casts you as the puppet master pulling the virtual strings of the Peaky Blinders gang. Think of Tommy, Polly, Arthur and the rest as being akin to an overly violent and morally far more questionable version of Robin Hood and his Merry Men; they seek to protect the denizens of Small Heath just as much as they aim to fill their own pockets. Mastermind is set before the events of Peaky Blinders Season 1 – perfect for someone who hasn't watched the show, like me – with Tommy and the other leaders returning to Birmingham having managed to survive the war. The family business is suddenly under attack from a sinister conspiracy, so it's up to Tommy, with his big brain and beautiful blue eyes, to orchestrate a series of elaborate heists and save the day.

It's a simple, but satisfying story, one that is elegantly told by some chunky artwork and well written text. The story really does come secondary to the game play, because this time travelling heist is a joy from beginning to end. Played from a top-down perspective, Peaky Blinders: Mastermind has you take control of up to six members of the gang at once. You must safely guide everyone though brilliantly intricate levels, each filled with sublime puzzles that weave together with a style and pace that seems almost effortless. The true genius of developers Futurlab is by providing the player with the power to manipulate time.

Mastermind may look like a Commandos or Desperados, but the way it plays is entirely different. You can only take control of your gang members independently, using their special abilities to make progress through the labyrinthian environments. Each Peaky Blinder must use their unique skills in concert with the others. For example, Teeny tiny boy burglar Finn can crawl through narrow gaps or clamber through tiny windows to pick pocket an unsuspecting guard, though to achieve this, the alluring femme fatale Ada best be distracting the dim-witted NPC at the same time. The player plots in all of Finn's movements as far as they can before rewinding time to program Ada's, and then letting proceedings play out in real time as the perfect pocket picking ensues.

Futurlab build on this simple example, adding layers and layers of complexity until all six members of the gang are moving through the level independently but cohesively, each requiring the others to overcome their obstacle at precisely the right time so progress can be made.

It's a brilliant gameplay device, one that smartly side-steps the issue that plagues many real time strategy and tactics games – that of having to constantly quick save in case things go awry – whilst also avoiding the tedium that can come with a turn based title. This is a strategy game that manages to both challenge the 'ole brain box whilst also remaining pacey and exciting. It's also a supremely accessible experience; everything is efficiently and clearly communicated to the player, from the manner in which the developers gradually build up the challenge from level to level, to the fact that all an NPC can see is communicated by a 'so bright you can't miss it' line of sight cone.

Now, if you can just rewind time and undo any mistake, you'd be forgiven for wondering where does the actually challenge of the game come from? That would be the fact that each level has a strict time limit, and the player must use their rewind powers to shave seconds off each sequence and solve each puzzle with the most efficient approach possible. The restrictions imposed by these time limits are explored inventively by the game; one level sees you having to track and block an enemy's progress through town, The Peaky Blinders needing to work together to obstruct the villain by orchestrating events so that a van reverses to block his path or a Policeman misplaces his gate keys at the most appropriate time.

I found it so wonderfully liberating as I leapt between protagonists, plotting in all their movements before finally getting to watch the entire escapade play out before my eyes. To witness a massive level being crushed in mere minutes as the team work together in perfect unison is one of the most satisfying gaming experiences I've had this year. In fact, I was having such a great time that it came as a bit of a shock that after ten levels the game came to what felt a rather premature end.

Whilst Futurlab have done a cracking job of cranking up the complexity as they introduce new Peaky Blinders, it comes at the cost of only the final level featuring the entire gang. The game really would have benefitted from a few more levels operating with all these characters in play. Instead I was definitely left wanting more, and not entirely in a good way.

There's some replay value to be had here. There's collectables to find in each level, as well as the opportunity to repeat missions and complete them in less time to unlock gold medals. The problem is that there's only really one way to solve each puzzle, so once you've released those feel good endorphins by successful problem solving, there's not as much motivation to return and try again. All you're doing is finding way to trim seconds off your time by carrying out the solution, rather than finding entirely new methods.

Battletoads Review

It's no surprise that nostalgia is big business these days. People love to cast their minds back to beloved childhood memories and dig out games, films, and toys from the attic, even in the best of times. I've certainly spent more time with my vintage Star Wars collection than in the past couple of decades. Gaming is certainly not immune to this outbreak of nostalgia as reboots, remasters, and remakes seem to dominate most of the release schedule.

One of the most surprising, and eagerly anticipated amongst retro circles, was the return of the Battletoads. This amphibious trio had a glorious few years in the early 1990s, finding infamy for unforgiving games featuring cutting edge graphics and a refreshing variety of genres. Well, the series' revival certainly looks, feels, and plays like a Battletoads game but is this a good thing in 2020?

Seeing the Rare logo on bootup still evokes fond memories of N64 greats for me, especially as I haven't really played their more recent Microsoft output. Though Dlala Studios handled the game's development, it was done in partnership with Rare, and it's great to see such a storied developer able to revisit one of their foundational series.

Graphically, Battletoads really hits the ambition of playing a cartoon that we all dreamed of way back when. Character design, backgrounds, and animations are slick and colourful, levels are bursting with character, and the story cutscenes suggest that the swiftly cancelled animated series is still fresh in the team's minds. The only downside is that the bright and bulky characters can lead to the screen becoming overly busy at times, which can in turn lead to taking unfair damage.

Just like the original titles, Battletoads contains a wide range of different genres across its four acts. The mix of game styles helps to keep things feeling fresh, but does have the unintended side-effect of making much of the game feel somewhat throwaway at times.

The core scrolling beat 'em up gameplay is clearly the main focus, and where you'll be spending most of your time. Combos and special moves are nicely varied and pretty easy to pull off, whilst enemy combinations are well judged to force you to mix things up. If this had been released last year it would have felt like a real breath of fresh air in a relatively under-appreciated genre, but it doesn't stand up to Streets of Rage 4. Obviously they are not direct competition but Axel and co really show up the relative limitations of the Battletoads.

How much you enjoy your time with the Toads will heavily depend on how you find the humour. Combining a heavy dose of ironic 90s attitude with a fair few gross out jokes and some knowing digs at the series' legacy produces a heady mix that certainly isn't afraid to poke fun at itself. I did feel that there was a strange disconnect between the game's presumably adult audience and the very child-friendly aesthetics, but looking back this is actually quite close to the originals (and peers like the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles). I've been playing the game with my 8-year-old son as well, and he's enjoying it on his own level too. The multiplayer works well most of the time, although it did want to auto-select the keyboard which caused issues skipping through tutorial messages.

The adventures of Rash, Pimple, and Zitz take you through a wide range of the aforementioned genre shifts, some more successful than others. A few are disposable and do little more than continue the story, whilst a couple are just plain annoying. Thankfully none overstay their welcome too much, aside perhaps from a couple of jetbike levels that feel as if they are deliberately hard as an injoke at the earlier game's expense. These sections proved clunky to control, with irregularly spaced checkpoints and too much trial and error involved.

These levels may be enough to turn some players off, so it's good to see that some more contemporary quality of life features have been included. Dying lots of times unlocks an invincibility mode (optional for the more stubborn players) that can help you get through the occasional roadblocks, whilst some fiddly puzzles can be skipped after several failures, which is particularly handy playing with youngsters. They're is a welcome addition, although it almost feels like a betrayal of all that the series stands for.

Ironically, it is these quality of life improvements that expose how relatively slight the game itself is. I'll always take an enjoyable short game over hours of unnecessary frustration, but four hours doesn't feel like long at all. There is replayability through difficulty levels and the local multiplayer but I'm not sure that this entry will achieve the notoriety and fame of the earlier series.

Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War officially announced

Activision has finally confirmed Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War with a two minute history reel that looks back at some of the events from that era. It is more of a teaser trailer, with Activision confirming the full reveal will take place on August 26th in Call of Duty: Warzone.You can watch the teaser below which is not exactly uplifting.

Earlier this year, a mysterious listing titled "The Red Door" appeared on the Xbox Games Store before disappearing. The Red Door was referenced in a similar listing that cropped up on the PlayStation Store with the file name "COD2020INTALPHA1". After that Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War leaked through a promotional pack of Doritos, so this is not exactly a huge surprise.

Typically, the Call of Duty series has been juggled between three Activision studios, churning out one annualised sequel on a three-year development cycle. World War II and Advanced Warfare team, Sledgehammer Games, were originally due to release their next Call of Duty title this year but Treyarch have now taken the reins of development after reports of internal struggles of Sledgehammer's game. Since 2010, they have continued to work on the Black Ops branch of the Call of Duty franchise, and this means that a new Black Ops game is coming just two years after the last, instead of the expected three.

The full reveal next week will likely give us a release date, details about the current gen and next gen versions of Call of Duty Black Ops Cold War, whether there will be a free upgrade path, cross play, and of course story and multiplayer details. Call of Duty games typically release in October or November so it would be likely to see Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War be on the PS5 and Xbox Series X day one.

Source: YouTube

Total War Three Kingdoms : The Furious Wild arrives in September

SEGA has confirmed the first expansion for Total War: Three Kingdoms, and that expansion is The Furious Wild, The new expansion will be launching on September 3rd, and it will bring with it four brand new factions, and a map expansion bringing in the jungles of Southern China. The four new leaders are Meng Huo, King Mulu, Lady Zhurong, and King Shamole, who will each have their own strengths to protect their land. Those will include laming mace and blowpipe units, elephants and tigers.

The features include:

  • Four new playable factions embodying the best and bravest of a new culture; the Nanman
  • 25+ new units including exciting and formidable animal units
  • Expanded map showcasing the lush but deadly jungles of southern China
  • A new tech tree and faction mechanics
  • Unique missions and narrative events bespoke for the Nanman culture
  • Playable in 190 and 194 start dates

A free update will also be released alongside The Furious Wild, and that will add new Han Warlord Shi Xie, flame-firing Juggernaut artillery, and Gate Battles. In our review for Total War: Three Kingdoms Jim wrote:

"Three Kingdoms is another solid instalment in the Total War franchise, but lacks a certain wow factor. Creative Assembly has made some clever refinements around the edges of that enduringly addictive strategic core, allowing fans to steep themselves in yet another historic saga. However, there's a chance that some won't gel with this new setting or the way Guanzhong's epic has been adapted. It's another fun and rewarding take on the series, though we'd struggle to call it a must-buy."
You can read the full Total War: Three Kingdoms review here.
Source: Press Release

Fast & Furious Crossroads Review

There is an infamous scene in Fast & Furious 6 where the team of ex-street-racers-come-vigilantes try to prevent bad-guy 'Shaw' (Luke Evans) from taking off in a plane. They do this by driving cars alongside said plane for 13 minutes. This means the runway would have to be around 26 miles in length.

It makes no sense. The stunts defy both physics and logic. The dialogue is cliché after cliché. But, that's kind of the point. No one watches a 'The Fast Saga' film expecting a deep period drama.

Fast & Furious Crossroads takes the essence of this scene and boils it down into a video game. Which sounds like exactly the sort of enjoyable romp you need after a hard day at work. Cars, action and more plotholes than a block of Emmental, it should be time to crack open the Doritos and Mountain Dew, sit back and relax. Except, Crossroads managed to take the best elements of the movies, makes them slightly worse and then garnish them in a sprinkle of unedifying failures.

The game tries to be a seamless cinematic experience. There are cut scenes that feature the voice talent and visual representation of Vin Diesel, Michelle Rodriguez and Tyrese Gibson who star in the films, but the plot centres around a bunch of new-to-the-series misfits – whose character models are significantly worse than the Hollywood stars – getting caught up with the deadly Tadakhul gang. This then intertwines with the established stars.

The dialogue in Crossroads is no worse than that of a Fast & Furious film, with "Ooooh, shit!" being the most poignant thing spoken. Much like the films though, you don't play Crossroads for a Christopher Nolan-style labyrinthine plot; you'll want to play it for the explosions and set pieces.

This makes the decision to almost split the game into what feels like a 40:60 ratio between cut scenes and gameplay a rather strange one. The flow is interrupted most of the time by loading screens interjected between the two, which is more jarring than a headbutt from Jason Statham. Gameplay consists of simply fetch quests, two stealth-ish missions and lots of big set pieces like trying to stop a train with roof-mounted RPG or evading the police during a car chase.

Most levels are very short, and when they get longer in the game's final throes, the elongation of gameplay looks desperate. There are visible elements of an underground tunnel, for example, which just seem to be copied and pasted to make it longer. Likewise, during the damp squib of a finale, the level is stretched out seemingly for the sake of it.

Initially, I assumed that the locations were open world – they certainly look that way at first glance – but in truth you are confined to set paths. One mission will have you driving into Barcelona's city centre, the next will have you driving back out, along the same route in reverse. Then you'll do this a further two or three times at night. At one point, a character mentions the familiarity of the route. If this was meant to be a clever quip, it falls flat on its face.

The biggest letdown is the way the cars drive. I was expecting something along the lines of Need for Speed or Burnout, where there's a satisfaction in holding a lurid slide. Alas not. Drifting around the corner feels as if you are on ice, the net result that you will smash into a wall at almost every turn. Being smooth simply isn't an option. At least there is a variety of cars, from an electric Jaguar I-PACE through to the latest Ford GT.

That's a problem, because a lot of the time you are hurtling down a busy road filled with traffic. The imprecision of the controls means avoiding oncoming cars is mostly luck. If you do hit one though, they are lighter than a packet of Quavers, simply being smashed out of the way. Unless you hit a parked car, which is rock solid and will stop your vehicle. Nice consistency, there.

Away from the main campaign, there is also online multiplayer. This is entitled 'Online Ops' and involves three teams – Heroes, Villains and Cops – with three players on each team. You complete missions, such as trying to protect or attack a tank as it tries to reach a location. I found it very difficult to find enough players to get games going and when the requisite number arrived, it took over three and a half minutes for all the players to load into the level.

Here, weirdly, the levels are much more open compared with single-player. There were clearly plans for this to be a signature element, as you can earn XP to rise through levels, unlock new cars and even receive 'drops' with new machines. There's even a season pass plus plenty of online-related trophies. The chances of it building a sustained online community are slim.

I actually believe that Fast & Furious lends itself very well to being a video game. I could see a story-driven single-player action title, a free-to-play multiplayer heist game or an open world Grand Theft Auto rival, but trying to crunch down all of those ideas into one game simply hasn't worked. I don't know of the challenges the development team faced when creating Crossroads, but if I were to guess, it would be scope creep, budget constraints and an ever-oppressive deadline to try and release alongside a now-delayed movie.

Xbox Series X will have a new UI after all, but it's being shared with Xbox One, PC and Mobile apps

Microsoft have opened up a little bit more about what they have planned for the system software of the Xbox Series X when it launches this November, and how that will be part of a unified visual style and approach across generations and platforms.

As explained previously, Xbox Series X will actually share its system software and user interface with the Xbox One, but that has not meant that it is not changing. Microsoft have loved to tinker with their Xbox One system software over the past seven years (probably a bit too much), and later this year will be evolving that further, bringing in the new Fluent Design that Microsoft have recently settled upon.

According to Microsoft, this will mean that "Text is more readable, elements on screen are easier to understand at a glance, and accomplishing your tasks is faster than ever. This includes tile shape, fonts, an updated illustration style, and more. The overall layout of most of the console pages remains familiar, just faster and more focused."

The design language and layout of certain elements will be shared across Xbox mobile apps, Xbox Game Pass on PC and Xbox One and Xbox Series X consoles.

The Xbox Series X will have some unique advantages though. Within that unified UI and UX, the Home screen will load over 50% faster than on Xbox One, and it will be 30% faster when returning from a game. There's also Quick Resume that will let you switch between multiple games on the fly.

We can already see this UI in action, with the overhauled Microsoft Store that has been fed out to Xbox One users promising a two second app launch time. On PC, there's also a new Xbox app that's currently in beta and has been designed specifically for Xbox Game Pass users.

Other elements have been tested in Microsoft's Xbox Insider program, such as new illustration styles in the Game Bar welcome screen and light theme in the Family Settings App. Further design tweaks will be demoed for Insiders in coming weeks, leading up to the Xbox Series X launch in November.

So evolution, not revolution is the name of the game at Microsoft. Meanwhile in the land of Sony, we're still almost completely in the dark as to what the PlayStation 5 system software has in store… Surely they'll reveal this soon as well?

Source: Xbox