Monthly Archives: January 2017
Comic Book Reviews for January 18, 2017
It was another big week of comics, as Batman bonded with Catwoman in Batman #15, a major Power Rangers mystery was solved in Mighty Morphin Power Rangers #11, Justice League vs. Suicide Squad reached its penultimate chapter and the Marvel Monsters were unleashed.
Scroll down to check out our reviews for these and various other new releases, and be sure to let us know your favorite books of the week in the comments below.
DC COMICS
Written by Tom King | Drawn by Mitch Gerads
Battling XCOM 2: Long War 2’s Biggest Changes
I’m by no means an elite XCOM 2 player, but I’m no slouch: my proudest achievement is completing a Commander-level Iron Man run. But Long War 2, an upcoming mod from Pavonis Interactive (formerly known as Long War Studios, developers of XCOM: Enemy Unknown’s Long War mod) makes me feel like a rookie again. After a few dozen hours of playing on Veteran difficulty and learning its ins and outs, I’m barely scratching the surface of what is, as the name suggests, a greatly extended campaign – and it’s scratching my surface right back.
This huge, game-changing mod ties together the Pavonis team’s previous mods (Perk Pack, Laser Pack, Toolbox, Leader Pack, Alien Pack, and SMG Pack) adds some additional new content, and completely rebalances everything to create a new semi-official version of XCOM 2 that requires entirely new and deep tactics on both the combat and strategy levels, and makes it feel fresh and brutally challenging.
Shovel Knight Confirmed for Switch Launch Window
Yacht Club Games has confirmed that Shovel Knight: Treasure Trove and Shovel Knight: Specter of Torment will arrive in Nintendo Switch’s launch window, ahead of their release on other consoles.
No specific release date was announced and Yacht Club didn't hint how close to Nintendo Switch's March 3 launch the release will be, but a blog post did confirm Treasure Trove will be available for $24.99, while the standalone Specter of Torment will be $9.99.
Specter of Torment and Shovel Knight’s two-player co-op mode will be playable on Switch on the show floor at PAX South, which takes place in San Antonio, Texas from January 27-29.
Obsidian Teases a New Game, The Internet Loses Its Mind
Obsidian has teased its next game, code-named Project Louisiana.
At this point there isn’t much to go on. Only a lonely image and a quote (shown below). Needless to say, that hasn’t stopped the Internet coming up with some theories as to what Obsidian could be teasing.
First up, the possibility of Fallout 4: New Orleans. In July of 2014, Fallout: New Vegas director Josh Sawyer talked about how he’d love to revisit the Fallout series, and some of the places he’d like to visit. Here’s an excerpt:
New Logan Trailer Features Cussing, Cutting and Comic Books
Fox has released the second trailer for Logan, and it's not one for the kids.
Showing off its newly R-rated status, there's not a great deal of extra story detail (aside from the two blades in new character Laura's hands confirming she's a take on the comics' X-23 character), but there are certainly some surprising moments.
Have a watch (and make sure to watch until the last line, trust me):
Even among the graphic violence and strong language from unexpected sources, perhaps the biggest oddity is the fact that X-Men comics now exist in the X-Men universe.
It also shows that the film might be a little more light-hearted than its downbeat first trailer suggested.
Sniper Elite 4: Taking Aim at Nazi Privates
Sniper Elite 4 is all about choice. By that I mean, ‘Do you want to shoot a guy in the head, or do you want to shoot a guy in the eyeball?’
Yes, I’m being a bit facetious, but make no mistake: even though Sniper Elite 4’s wide-open campaign levels are tactical, fun, and primed for experimentation, this game is all about pulling the trigger and the thrill of what comes after. An eye shot is different from a headshot, as confirmed by a zoomed-in, x-ray, slow-motion camera. You can score intestine shots or testicle shots too, if you’d like. I don’t remember getting a heart shot or a kidney shot, but maybe that’s because I have bad aim.
The opening campaign level takes place on San Celini, an island off the coast of Italy. Intel confirms Nazis there have crafted a “wonder weapon,” which doesn’t sound as bad as a “weapon of mass destruction” but almost certainly is. After they destroy your reconnaissance ship, you’re sent in to assassinate a high-ranking German officer and learn more about their weaponry, with optional objectives to kill other Nazi top brass and destroy some cameras. After a brief cutscene, you’re dropped into a place where you can be untouchable one second and plate-ready prey the next.
Ubisoft Reveals Details of Upcoming For Honor Beta
Ubisoft has revealed details of the closed beta test for For Honor, running from January 26 to January 29, 2017.
The beta will be available across all platforms - PC, PlayStation 4, and Xbox One - and offer "new multiplayer content, new maps and new playable Heroes".
Players will be able to choose from nine of the 12 different Heroes from the three factions of Knights, Samurai, and Vikings, with each offering a different play-style, armour, skills, weapons, and progression. Three of the five "fast-paced and intense multiplayer modes" are available - Dominion 4v4, Brawl 2v2, and Duel 1v1 - across three all new maps.
For the first time, players will also be able to sample Faction War, a "global, persistent and cross-platform event that brings to life the ongoing war between For Honor’s three factions, the Knights, the Vikings and the Samurai".
The Binding of Isaac: Afterbirth+ Is a Switch Launch Title
Publisher Nicalis has announced that The Binding of Isaac: Afterbirth+ will be a launch day title for Nintendo Switch, priced at $39.99 USD.
The horrible, brilliant twin-stick dungeon crawler was confirmed for March 3 on the Binding of Isaac blog - it will be available as a boxed and digital release in the US, with a digital release expected worldwide (Nicalis has also teased a European physical release).
Nicalis' Tyrone Rodriguez also teased something mysterious for those going for a boxed version: "You might want to consider pre-ordering as the first few thousand copies may come backed in with something special"
Final Nioh Demo Will Let You Unlock Special Items at Launch
The final Nioh free trial will take place this weekend, January 21 to January 22, and offers some loot for those who go on to purchase the full version.
This is the last chance to try out the dungeon crawler before its release on February 9 exclusively for PS4, and will be the build playable at PlayStation Experience at the tail end of last year.
Players who complete the trial’s main mission unlock the Ogress Headgear, while finishing the Twilight Mission grants the Mark of the Conqueror and Mark of the Strong DLC packs (which appear to include multiple items). Just don’t delete your save data between now and then as you’ll need it to receive the items at launch.
You can preload the final trial ahead of this weekend over on the PlayStation store.
Let’s Work Out What All the 1-2 Switch Minigames Are
Last week, we were invited to play six of the minigames included in upcoming Nintendo Switch collection/tech showcase, 1-2 Switch. Aside from "who thought of the Milk one, and are they alright?", the biggest question we came away asking was, "how many more of these are there?"
As it turns out, we've already been shown quite a few - for a split-second or two at least. During a Nintendo Treehouse stream, it was revealed that the cutesy, colour-coded lifestyle shots from the 1-2 Switch trailer (below) were taken from the minigames' tutorials, which means we can reasonably assume that every shot we saw is a different game.