Monthly Archives: June 2019
Empire of Sin’s 1920s Chicago Is Big and Full of Deadly Surprises
During its captivating 30-minute hands-off demo, Empire of Sin co-developers Romero Games and Paradox Interactive stressed the importance of having plenty of "money" and "alcohol" in their new single-player strategy game. Set in 1920s prohibition-era Chicago, Empire of Sin lets you control one of 14 crime bosses as you attempt to create your very own criminal empire. Simply put, the game is massive in terms of its combat system and the myriad of ways you can achieve criminal mastery over your enemies.
A Strong Attention to Detail
From the very beginning of the demo, it was apparent that the developers are not only trying to create a game that's fun to play, but also an experience that has a certain level of historical accuracy. “Our bosses
Cris Tales Is Like Paper Mario With Persona 5’s UI
Much like its inspirations, Cris Tales is a stylish game. Its cheerful characters and world could have jumped straight out of a Saturday morning cartoon, its timing-based combat and 2D-style borrow some of the best parts of Paper Mario, and its sharp combat menus immediately pay homage to the anything-but-bland UI in Persona 5. But underneath those surface-level similarities is an RPG that uses time travel in a unique and exciting way that made it stand out from everything else I played at E3 this year.
While Cris Tales’ quest-driven exploration and turn-based combat might be fairly straightforward, it’s spiced up by your main character’s ability to alter time. Time travel in games isn’t exactly revolutionary on its own, but this isn’t a simple back and forth sort of thing - in fact, I’m not sure I’ve seen it presented in quite the same way anywhere else before.
What Were The Most Popular Games of E3 2019?
E3 2019 has come and gone, but most of the games we saw are still on the horizon, and the excitement for them is still growing strong.
Based on article traffic, we’ve determined what the most popular games from E3 2019 were for IGN readers. We also made a separate list of the most preordered E3 games based on our data tracking. Continue on to see which games made the cut, and what some of our readers had to say in our comments sections.
1) Marvel’s Avengers
Reactions to Marvel’s Avengers from Crystal Dynamics and Eidos Montreal have varied from person to person, but it undeniably caught the attention of a huge amount of IGN readers. Marvel’s Avengers was shown off at the end of Square Enix’s E3 2019 press conference with a flashy and dramatic trailer, and the publisher ultimately revealed its release date: May 15, 2020.
Spider-Man: Far From Home’s Zendaya Pays Homage to MJ Watson
Zendaya, who portrays Michelle “MJ” Jones in Spider-Man: Far From Home, has paid homage to the classic look of Mary Jane Watson on social media.
Posted on Instagram, Zendaya (who began her career as a model and dancer) shared a picture of herself with MJ’s classic red hair, along with the caption “Face it, Tiger...” a reference to MJ’s most famous line "Face it, Tiger... you just hit the jackpot!"
Source: Zendaya’s Instagram.
Monster Hunter World: Iceborne PS4 Beta Dates Announced
Monster Hunter World’s massive upcoming Iceborne expansion is still three months away, but PlayStation 4 players will be able to jump into an open beta to test it out as early as next week.
The first beta will be exclusive to PlayStation Plus subscribers and take place from June 21 to June 24, starting and ending at 3am PDT/11am BST. All PS4 players will then be able to join in a second beta the following week from June 28 to July 1. Better still, you won’t need to own Monster Hunter World to join in on the beta, and preloading will be available in the days leading up to each.
You can also watch the extensive new "tour" video released today above.
Arrow Season 8, Supernatural Season 15 Premiere Dates Announced
The premiere dates for The CW Network's lineup of fall 2019 have been announced, including dates for the final seasons of Arrow and Supernatural.
Variety reports Supernatural will begin its 15th and final season on Thursday, October 10 followed by the second season of Legacies. Arrow will see the last of its quiver begin to empty when Season 8 kicks off a few days later on Tuesday, October 15.
These aren't the only shows of note from CW to be renewed or to commence in October. Fellow DC series Batwoman and Supergirl will start airing on October 6. For those that can't make the Batwoman premiere, which sees Game of Thrones director David Nutter direct the pilot, the first episode will also air the day after on October 7 as an encore.
Details on Gears 5 Escape Mode’s Story and New Characters
Gears 5’s Escape is the newest game mode in the franchise, and it comes with a whole new side story. Three new characters are on a suicide mission to help rid Swarm hives from Sera, and though their story doesn’t directly impact the mode, it is an interesting bit of worldbuilding that enriches the Gears universe further.
Lahni, Keegan, and Mac are Hivebusters. As we see in Escape’s gameplay, their mission is to get caught by Snatchers to infiltrate the heart of a hive, plant a venom bomb, then escape as the hive dies. Though there are some in-game details about the Hivebuster, including banter between them while you’re playing through Escape, the best way to learn about their story is through the new Gears of War: Hivebusters comic.
If You Missed Cyberpunk’s E3 2019 Booth Check Out The Sci-Fi Dive Bar Now
Last year, Cyberpunk 2077's E3 demo had us visit (IRL) a hip nightclub overlooking Night City. This year, it takes us down into a grungy underground dive covered wall-to-wall with awesome references to CD Projekt Red's dystopian future.
The nightclub appears to be called Totentanz, German for "The Dance of Death", and features posters from all sorts of live performances, plus a guitar "once owned" by the man himself, Johnny Silverhand.
Check out the club in the slideshow above, and get all the new gameplay details from this year's E3 demo right here.
LEGO Star Wars: The Skywalker Saga May Add Grunting Voice Work
LEGO Star Wars: The Skywalker Saga may offer players the option to use a classic ‘grunting’ voice track instead of full voice acting.
Over the past few days, fans of LEGO Star Wars have been tweeting that they would like to see grunts in LEGO Star Wars: The Skywalker Saga, the upcoming entry in the long-running series from TT Games. In the replies to a recent tweet from the developer, many have been expressing their wish that the game would use the grunts, grumbling, and other sounds to represent characters talking, as they did in the original games, rather than full voice acting.
At E3 2019, IGN spoke to TT Games’s Head of Design Arthur Parsons, who said that the classic grunts may not be out of the question: “At the minute the plan is that the game is fully voiced, But we are talking to the team about having an additional mode for grunts.”
Dr. Mario World Is Now Available on iOS and Android
UPDATE (7/9/2019) - Dr. Mario World has been released a day early and is now available on iOS and Android.
Thanks to Wario64 for the heads up.
Original story follows.
Nintendo has announced that the mobile game Dr. Mario World has a release date of July 10.