Monthly Archives: May 2021

Mass Effect: Legendary Edition Review

It's been a whole console generation since we last saw Shepard, Tali, Garrus, and the rest of the Normandy crew. Mass Effect: Legendary Edition remasters BioWare's space opera RPG trilogy for the new generation of consoles, enhancing the visuals, implementing quality of life improvements, and making welcome adjustments to certain content for all three games. In those adjustments, Legendary Edition occasionally draws unwanted attention to parts of the trilogy that haven't aged gracefully, but as a whole, this remaster is a good way to see what all the fuss is about if you missed out on the first three Mass Effect games the first time around, or are just looking for a reason to dive into them again.

The core of Mass Effect is its choice- and consequence-driven narrative. As Commander Shepard, the first human to be given the role of a Spectre (basically a space cop) in the interspecies Milky Way government, you are put into many situations where you have the final say on how things go down. Your choices in the first game can influence how characters perceive you or how events transpire in the second, which then can domino effect into the third. It's up to you to decide whether you wish to be a paragon of virtue or a results-oriented renegade in your mission to defend the entire Milky Way's galactic society from a large number of conflicts, while an even greater threat looms on the horizon.

While this consequence-driven system seems to allow a great deal of agency in how you resolve certain conflicts, it's rigid in its design, basing the entirety of Shepard's morality on a binary system of Paragon and Renegade choices. Its simplicity does make the system fairly approachable, reducing the complexity of every decision to a "morally good" and "morally bad" choice for those looking to play through the trilogy entirely Paragon or Renegade. Additionally, from an accessibility standpoint, splitting Shepard's choices into a rigid binary helps with better understanding the underlying nuance to certain dialogue choices before picking them.

Continue Reading at GameSpot

Mass Effect: Legendary Edition Review

It's been a whole console generation since we last saw Shepard, Tali, Garrus, and the rest of the Normandy crew. Mass Effect: Legendary Edition remasters BioWare's space opera RPG trilogy for the new generation of consoles, enhancing the visuals, implementing quality of life improvements, and making welcome adjustments to certain content for all three games. In those adjustments, Legendary Edition occasionally draws unwanted attention to parts of the trilogy that haven't aged gracefully, but as a whole, this remaster is a good way to see what all the fuss is about if you missed out on the first three Mass Effect games the first time around, or are just looking for a reason to dive into them again.

The core of Mass Effect is its choice- and consequence-driven narrative. As Commander Shepard, the first human to be given the role of a Spectre (basically a space cop) in the interspecies Milky Way government, you are put into many situations where you have the final say on how things go down. Your choices in the first game can influence how characters perceive you or how events transpire in the second, which then can domino effect into the third. It's up to you to decide whether you wish to be a paragon of virtue or a results-oriented renegade in your mission to defend the entire Milky Way's galactic society from a large number of conflicts, while an even greater threat looms on the horizon.

While this consequence-driven system seems to allow a great deal of agency in how you resolve certain conflicts, it's rigid in its design, basing the entirety of Shepard's morality on a binary system of Paragon and Renegade choices. Its simplicity does make the system fairly approachable, reducing the complexity of every decision to a "morally good" and "morally bad" choice for those looking to play through the trilogy entirely Paragon or Renegade. Additionally, from an accessibility standpoint, splitting Shepard's choices into a rigid binary helps with better understanding the underlying nuance to certain dialogue choices before picking them.

Continue Reading at GameSpot

Famicom Detective Club Review — The N.E.S. Murders

When you think of a private detective, you might see a tough guy in a felt fedora, cigarette perched above his chiseled jaw, puffing moodily in an office chair with the blinds drawn. If Nintendo has anything to say about it, though, next time you picture a gumshoe it will be a skinny, teenage boy who can't remember his own name.

That's because the publisher has resurrected both Famicom Detective Club outings: The Missing Heir and The Girl Who Stands Behind. This pair of adventure games debuted on the NES in the late ‘80s and cast players as a kid sleuth solving crimes in rural Japan. These remakes are impressively thorough, eschewing the pixelated graphics of the originals for a striking anime-inspired look and full Japanese voice acting. Mechanically, both titles are still products of their time and, as a result, progressing through the story can sometimes be frustratingly opaque. But, the stories themselves--particularly The Missing Heir's--are compelling enough that I was willing to put up with some outdated design to see them through to their twisty conclusions.

No Caption Provided

In Famicom Detective Club: The Missing Heir, your 17-year-old protagonist wakes up at the foot of a cliff with no memory of how he got there or who he is. With a little help from the man who found him, he heads back to his job as an assistant sleuth at the Utsugi Detective Agency. The eponymous detective is nowhere to be found so our forgetful friend--who I dubbed Philip Marlowe, after Raymond Chandler's PI--must work to solve a case with his fellow assistant detective, Ayumi Tachibana. The case in question involves the death of Kiku Ayashiro, matriarch of the rich and powerful Ayashiro clan and chairwoman of the corporation that made them rich and powerful in the first place. While the autopsy results suggest that Kiku died of natural causes, the family butler Zenzou suspects foul play. Prior to your amnesia, he had hired you to investigate her death. As you begin again, you have two mysteries to solve: who murdered Kiku, and who were you before you lost your memory.

Continue Reading at GameSpot

Famicom Detective Club Review — The N.E.S. Murders

When you think of a private detective, you might see a tough guy in a felt fedora, cigarette perched above his chiseled jaw, puffing moodily in an office chair with the blinds drawn. If Nintendo has anything to say about it, though, next time you picture a gumshoe it will be a skinny, teenage boy who can't remember his own name.

That's because the publisher has resurrected both Famicom Detective Club outings: The Missing Heir and The Girl Who Stands Behind. This pair of adventure games debuted on the NES in the late ‘80s and cast players as a kid sleuth solving crimes in rural Japan. These remakes are impressively thorough, eschewing the pixelated graphics of the originals for a striking anime-inspired look and full Japanese voice acting. Mechanically, both titles are still products of their time and, as a result, progressing through the story can sometimes be frustratingly opaque. But, the stories themselves--particularly The Missing Heir's--are compelling enough that I was willing to put up with some outdated design to see them through to their twisty conclusions.

No Caption Provided

In Famicom Detective Club: The Missing Heir, your 17-year-old protagonist wakes up at the foot of a cliff with no memory of how he got there or who he is. With a little help from the man who found him, he heads back to his job as an assistant sleuth at the Utsugi Detective Agency. The eponymous detective is nowhere to be found so our forgetful friend--who I dubbed Philip Marlowe, after Raymond Chandler's PI--must work to solve a case with his fellow assistant detective, Ayumi Tachibana. The case in question involves the death of Kiku Ayashiro, matriarch of the rich and powerful Ayashiro clan and chairwoman of the corporation that made them rich and powerful in the first place. While the autopsy results suggest that Kiku died of natural causes, the family butler Zenzou suspects foul play. Prior to your amnesia, he had hired you to investigate her death. As you begin again, you have two mysteries to solve: who murdered Kiku, and who were you before you lost your memory.

Continue Reading at GameSpot

Uncharted Movie: The Saga of Whether Sully Has a Moustache Rolls On

Update 05/24/2021: People are, once again, confused and upset by the apparent lack of a single moustache in the Uncharted movie.

After Mark Wahlberg seemingly teasingly showed that his take on Sully (the Uncharted games' facially haired father figure) would come rocking a moustache, a new image from the New York Times seems to show the opposite.

The image – which shows Tom Holland's Nathan Drake and Wahlberg's Sully seemingly peering for clues in a church scene – reveals that, at least for this section of the film, Sully wears an entirely naked upper lip. The internet has been scandalised as a result.

[caption]Source: The New York Times / Sony Pictures Entertainment.Source: The New York Times / Sony Pictures Entertainment.[/caption]

"I already had very low expectations but they are somehow even lower now after seeing this...they couldn't even do the bare minimum and let Sully have his mustache," wrote Ericka on Twitter. James Cowan agreed: "The fact they couldn’t even use stick on a moustache for Sully doesn’t really inspire confidence."

Fellow Twitter user Jason summed up the confusion around the disappearing 'tache: "I could've sworn there was a BTS photo Mark posted with the mustache and I'm so confused as to why it isn't there. Sully ALWAYS has his stache. It's literally a part of him and adds so much to his character. This is such a weird choice."

Of course, there's always the chance that the movie covers a timespan long enough for Wahlberg's Sully to either grow a moustache – or maybe even shave it off in a fit of treasure-related despair. As ZacharyMitzel puts it, "I swear to god if they incorporate the mustache into sully’s arc".

[widget path="global/article/imagegallery" parameters="slug=uncharted-movie-images&captions=true"]

With the Uncharted movie getting steadily closer to its February 18, 2022 release date, we'll likely see more and more of Sully as time goes on. We do at least know that Tom Holland's Drake will eventually sport the character's most familiar clothing, so it may well be that Sully gets to wear his own iconic look by the end. By the looks of social media timelines today, a lot of the internet will definitely be hoping so.

[poilib element="accentDivider"]

Update 10/25/20: Mark Wahlberg, on his Instagram, may very well have given us our first look at his version of Victor "Sully" Sullivan in the upcoming Uncharted movie that also stars Tom Holland as a younger Nathan Drake, who also gave us a first look at his character earlier this week.

The original story follows.

[poilib element="accentDivider"]

Few things in life are certain, but one of my unshakeable beliefs was that Sully from Uncharted has had a moustache his whole life – probably since birth. That was until today when set photos from the in-production Uncharted movie possibly revealed that Mark Wahlberg's take on the character is clean-shaven, and now I don't know what to believe anymore. The massed ranks of the Internet were similarly rocked by the revelation.

Shared on Twitter, the images were reportedly taken on-set in Berlin, showing Tom Holland's young Nathan Drake and Wahlberg's Sully, both dressed in suits. But what really stood out to fans is the lack of facial hair on display:

In the Uncharted game series, Sully - an "American treasure hunter, fortune seeker and businessman, as well as a friend, mentor and father figure to Drake - is shown as both a younger and older man sporting a moustache. With the Uncharted movie acting as an origin story for Nathan Drake, many expected Wahlberg to sport Sully's younger look from the games, but based on these images, that maybe not be the case.

There are some caveats here. It's not entirely clear if these pictures were taken during active filming - there's the chance that what's seen above is a test shot, and Wahlberg will wear a false moustache for the filming. For the sake of those working on the film, I hope so, because the initial reaction has been a mixture of shock, disbelief and gifs:

Are we looking at the newest moustache-related controversy in popular culture, after Superman's CGI-ed top lip in Justice League? Only time will tell.

Then again, perhaps we should be happy to see any Uncharted movie news at all, given the film has had seven different directors attached at one time or another. Now that production has finally begun, Tom Holland says it's "everything I dreamed it would be".

[widget path="global/article/imagegallery" parameters="slug=live-action-versions-of-video-game-characters&captions=true"][poilib element="accentDivider"]

Joe Skrebels is IGN's Executive Editor of News. Follow him on Twitter. Have a tip for us? Want to discuss a possible story? Please send an email to newstips@ign.com.

Uncharted Movie: The Saga of Whether Sully Has a Moustache Rolls On

Update 05/24/2021: People are, once again, confused and upset by the apparent lack of a single moustache in the Uncharted movie.

After Mark Wahlberg seemingly teasingly showed that his take on Sully (the Uncharted games' facially haired father figure) would come rocking a moustache, a new image from the New York Times seems to show the opposite.

The image – which shows Tom Holland's Nathan Drake and Wahlberg's Sully seemingly peering for clues in a church scene – reveals that, at least for this section of the film, Sully wears an entirely naked upper lip. The internet has been scandalised as a result.

[caption]Source: The New York Times / Sony Pictures Entertainment.Source: The New York Times / Sony Pictures Entertainment.[/caption]

"I already had very low expectations but they are somehow even lower now after seeing this...they couldn't even do the bare minimum and let Sully have his mustache," wrote Ericka on Twitter. James Cowan agreed: "The fact they couldn’t even use stick on a moustache for Sully doesn’t really inspire confidence."

Fellow Twitter user Jason summed up the confusion around the disappearing 'tache: "I could've sworn there was a BTS photo Mark posted with the mustache and I'm so confused as to why it isn't there. Sully ALWAYS has his stache. It's literally a part of him and adds so much to his character. This is such a weird choice."

Of course, there's always the chance that the movie covers a timespan long enough for Wahlberg's Sully to either grow a moustache – or maybe even shave it off in a fit of treasure-related despair. As ZacharyMitzel puts it, "I swear to god if they incorporate the mustache into sully’s arc".

[widget path="global/article/imagegallery" parameters="slug=uncharted-movie-images&captions=true"]

With the Uncharted movie getting steadily closer to its February 18, 2022 release date, we'll likely see more and more of Sully as time goes on. We do at least know that Tom Holland's Drake will eventually sport the character's most familiar clothing, so it may well be that Sully gets to wear his own iconic look by the end. By the looks of social media timelines today, a lot of the internet will definitely be hoping so.

[poilib element="accentDivider"]

Update 10/25/20: Mark Wahlberg, on his Instagram, may very well have given us our first look at his version of Victor "Sully" Sullivan in the upcoming Uncharted movie that also stars Tom Holland as a younger Nathan Drake, who also gave us a first look at his character earlier this week.

The original story follows.

[poilib element="accentDivider"]

Few things in life are certain, but one of my unshakeable beliefs was that Sully from Uncharted has had a moustache his whole life – probably since birth. That was until today when set photos from the in-production Uncharted movie possibly revealed that Mark Wahlberg's take on the character is clean-shaven, and now I don't know what to believe anymore. The massed ranks of the Internet were similarly rocked by the revelation.

Shared on Twitter, the images were reportedly taken on-set in Berlin, showing Tom Holland's young Nathan Drake and Wahlberg's Sully, both dressed in suits. But what really stood out to fans is the lack of facial hair on display:

In the Uncharted game series, Sully - an "American treasure hunter, fortune seeker and businessman, as well as a friend, mentor and father figure to Drake - is shown as both a younger and older man sporting a moustache. With the Uncharted movie acting as an origin story for Nathan Drake, many expected Wahlberg to sport Sully's younger look from the games, but based on these images, that maybe not be the case.

There are some caveats here. It's not entirely clear if these pictures were taken during active filming - there's the chance that what's seen above is a test shot, and Wahlberg will wear a false moustache for the filming. For the sake of those working on the film, I hope so, because the initial reaction has been a mixture of shock, disbelief and gifs:

Are we looking at the newest moustache-related controversy in popular culture, after Superman's CGI-ed top lip in Justice League? Only time will tell.

Then again, perhaps we should be happy to see any Uncharted movie news at all, given the film has had seven different directors attached at one time or another. Now that production has finally begun, Tom Holland says it's "everything I dreamed it would be".

[widget path="global/article/imagegallery" parameters="slug=live-action-versions-of-video-game-characters&captions=true"][poilib element="accentDivider"]

Joe Skrebels is IGN's Executive Editor of News. Follow him on Twitter. Have a tip for us? Want to discuss a possible story? Please send an email to newstips@ign.com.

Biomutant Review — A Flawed Mutation

Biomutant's post-apocalyptic open world differs from the norm, even if it's guilty of adhering to a few familiar tropes. The remnants of its neglected towns are still populated by dilapidated buildings and roaming bandits, and its overgrown roadways are littered with the burnt-out husks of abandoned vehicles. But Biomutant also utilizes a vivid color palette that makes its verdant fields and picturesque red mountains pop with the kind of striking vibrancy that's rarely associated with the apocalypse.

Throw in some furry anthropomorphic creatures, and Biomutant's character design and general style is certainly atypical of the genre. Yet it also consists of a mishmash of fairly obvious influences, from a Breath of the Wild-esque structure to combo-driven combat that's similar to Devil May Cry, and other familiar elements from the likes of Fallout, Max Payne, and Borderlands. It's a flavorful petri dish, for sure, and there are plenty of uneven and drab aspects to its overall design and structure. The mixture between old and new ideas doesn't always sit right, but Biomutant also manages to carve out its own identity amid its many inspirations.

This begins with the character creator, as you step into the flocculent skin of one of the aforementioned creatures--an odd hybrid between a squirrel, rat, and any other scurrying critter that comes to mind. Choosing a breed affects your starting stats to a certain degree, and you can pump points into specific attributes if you fancy, say, dealing more melee damage or increasing your chances of bartering with merchants. If this sounds like your typical by-the-numbers RPG progression system, it's because it is. There's some personality to the character creator, as your body shape will change depending on which stats you opt to emphasize--big head for intellect, big biceps for strength. Ultimately, however, your starting attributes aren't especially significant. You're able to put 10 points into a category each time you level up, so it's easy to build a fairly well-rounded character within a few hours.

Continue Reading at GameSpot

Biomutant Review — A Flawed Mutation

Biomutant's post-apocalyptic open world differs from the norm, even if it's guilty of adhering to a few familiar tropes. The remnants of its neglected towns are still populated by dilapidated buildings and roaming bandits, and its overgrown roadways are littered with the burnt-out husks of abandoned vehicles. But Biomutant also utilizes a vivid color palette that makes its verdant fields and picturesque red mountains pop with the kind of striking vibrancy that's rarely associated with the apocalypse.

Throw in some furry anthropomorphic creatures, and Biomutant's character design and general style is certainly atypical of the genre. Yet it also consists of a mishmash of fairly obvious influences, from a Breath of the Wild-esque structure to combo-driven combat that's similar to Devil May Cry, and other familiar elements from the likes of Fallout, Max Payne, and Borderlands. It's a flavorful petri dish, for sure, and there are plenty of uneven and drab aspects to its overall design and structure. The mixture between old and new ideas doesn't always sit right, but Biomutant also manages to carve out its own identity amid its many inspirations.

This begins with the character creator, as you step into the flocculent skin of one of the aforementioned creatures--an odd hybrid between a squirrel, rat, and any other scurrying critter that comes to mind. Choosing a breed affects your starting stats to a certain degree, and you can pump points into specific attributes if you fancy, say, dealing more melee damage or increasing your chances of bartering with merchants. If this sounds like your typical by-the-numbers RPG progression system, it's because it is. There's some personality to the character creator, as your body shape will change depending on which stats you opt to emphasize--big head for intellect, big biceps for strength. Ultimately, however, your starting attributes aren't especially significant. You're able to put 10 points into a category each time you level up, so it's easy to build a fairly well-rounded character within a few hours.

Continue Reading at GameSpot

Charlie Bit My Finger Is Being Taken Offline to Become an NFT

"Charlie Bit My Finger," one of the most viral YouTube videos of all time, has been auctioned off as an NFT (non-fungible token), and will now be taken offline.

According to Insider, the family behind the home video sold the original clip as an NFT (an asset that uses blockchain technology to allow definitive ownership of digital commodities) at an auction over the weekend, where the bids steadily escalated until the auctioneer's hammer eventually landed on the winning price of $760,999. The official auction page confirms that the original video, originally posted on May 22, 2007, will soon be deleted from YouTube.

"Bid to own the soon-to-be-deleted YouTube phenomenon, Charlie Bit My Finger, leaving you as the sole owner of this lovable piece of internet history (while also getting the chance to say Charlie bit your finger, if you want to see what all the hype is about)," reads the auction listing, which also offers the winner an opportunity to "create their own parody of the video featuring the original stars."

[ignvideo url="https://www.ign.com/videos/2021/03/12/jpg-sells-for-record-69-million-at-auction"]

The original 55-second clip featured Harry and Charlie, two brothers, sat on a chair together as Harry, who was three at the time, playfully puts his finger into his sibling's mouth after Charlie, aged one, grabbed his hand and raised it up to his chops. After biting down, Harry utters his famous line, "Charlie bit my finger," while Charlie breaks out into a mischevious giggle. Altogether, the video amassed over 882 million views on YouTube.

NFTs are on the rise, with more and more people wanting to gain ownership of digital assets. A JPG file made by the digital artist known as Beeple sold for a record $69.3 million earlier this year. As a result, it became the third most expensive piece of artwork to be sold by a living artist at auction. "I believe we are witnessing the beginning of the next chapter in art history, digital art," Beeple noted after the sale.

If you would like to part of this exciting new digital world, check out our beginner's guide on how to create and sell your own NFTs.

[poilib element="accentDivider"]

Adele Ankers is a Freelance Entertainment Journalist. You can reach her on Twitter.

Charlie Bit My Finger Is Being Taken Offline to Become an NFT

"Charlie Bit My Finger," one of the most viral YouTube videos of all time, has been auctioned off as an NFT (non-fungible token), and will now be taken offline.

According to Insider, the family behind the home video sold the original clip as an NFT (an asset that uses blockchain technology to allow definitive ownership of digital commodities) at an auction over the weekend, where the bids steadily escalated until the auctioneer's hammer eventually landed on the winning price of $760,999. The official auction page confirms that the original video, originally posted on May 22, 2007, will soon be deleted from YouTube.

"Bid to own the soon-to-be-deleted YouTube phenomenon, Charlie Bit My Finger, leaving you as the sole owner of this lovable piece of internet history (while also getting the chance to say Charlie bit your finger, if you want to see what all the hype is about)," reads the auction listing, which also offers the winner an opportunity to "create their own parody of the video featuring the original stars."

[ignvideo url="https://www.ign.com/videos/2021/03/12/jpg-sells-for-record-69-million-at-auction"]

The original 55-second clip featured Harry and Charlie, two brothers, sat on a chair together as Harry, who was three at the time, playfully puts his finger into his sibling's mouth after Charlie, aged one, grabbed his hand and raised it up to his chops. After biting down, Harry utters his famous line, "Charlie bit my finger," while Charlie breaks out into a mischevious giggle. Altogether, the video amassed over 882 million views on YouTube.

NFTs are on the rise, with more and more people wanting to gain ownership of digital assets. A JPG file made by the digital artist known as Beeple sold for a record $69.3 million earlier this year. As a result, it became the third most expensive piece of artwork to be sold by a living artist at auction. "I believe we are witnessing the beginning of the next chapter in art history, digital art," Beeple noted after the sale.

If you would like to part of this exciting new digital world, check out our beginner's guide on how to create and sell your own NFTs.

[poilib element="accentDivider"]

Adele Ankers is a Freelance Entertainment Journalist. You can reach her on Twitter.