She’s an Icon, She’s a Legend, and She Is the Moment

Confirming leeks leaks, Hatsune Miku officially joins Fortnite as the Festival Season 7 Icon.

The virtual singer will not only arrive to the stage with appropriately themed outfits, instruments, and even more songs, but she will also be joining the game at the same as the arrival of a pair of iconic kaiju for an upcoming Godzilla x Kong collaboration.

Ubisoft’s Unending Issues

Ubisoft announced another delay for Assassin’s Creed Shadows. The game, originally due out November 15, 2024, was initially pushed to February, and is now rescheduled again to release on March 20, 2025.

Ubisoft also stated that they have “appointed leading advisors to review and pursue various transformational strategic and capitalistic options to extract the best value for stakeholders.” This sounds like a good thing a healthy company does (John writes with sarcasm).

Because meanwhile, Indonesian support studio Brandoville Studios, who have been instrumental in Shadows’ development, have been outed by allegations of workplace abuse in a report by People Make Games. The support studio ultimately shuttered in 2024, and an Ubisoft spokesperson otherwise expresses their vague “condem[nation]” of the accounts.

The Los Angeles Wildfires

The ongoing Los Angeles wildfires have destroyed numerous homes and displaced hundreds of thousands of individuals. With LA being a sprawling point of the United States’ entertainment industry, a few celebrity homes and landmarks have been destroyed, and several anticipated events have been postponed.

Located near an evacuation warning zone, Riot Games has closed its Santa Monica office for all but “critical functions”. CEO Dylan Jadeja writes that, “Riot will be ready to stand up for Los Angeles and give back in every way [they] can.”

Dungeons & Dragons web series Critical Role has also postponed broadcast, with many of its performers based in impacted areas. The company has donated to a wildfire recovery fund.

As the path of the fire continues to be actively monitored, neighboring communities also continue to be subjected to smoke and strong winds, as Insomniac Games senior writer Nick Folkman comments.

This is a list of several funds you can donate to that aim to help support the victims of the fires.

For Californian residents, here’s a spreadsheet compiling numerous resources and local community hubs that are offering free necessities and shelter. Sorted by location, some of these spaces are seeking volunteers as well. The sheet is being updated and maintained by the Mutual Aid LA Network and are receptive to feedback.

Medical suppliers like Planet Halo Health are also taking requests for free respirators and face masks for community-based or individual distribution.

Through 211 LA, Airbnb is also providing temporary housing for those displaced.

In other news…

A remake of The House of the Dead 2 has been announced. Due out in Spring, the latest return to the light gun franchise will release on Switch, PlayStation, Xbox, Steam, and GOG.

Splash Damage’s co-op shooter Transformers: Reactivated has been canceled.

Sony has announced Horizon: Zero Dawn and Helldivers films, which means they’re pretty much just remaking Starship Troopers at this point. The second season of HBO’s The Last of Us series is also starting in April.

RetroRemake has announced the “first affordable FPGA gaming console” with the SS One, a device modeled after the PS One. The console will support PS1 games, memory cards, and controllers, and can also do anything the MiSTer can handle. The first run will cost $149, and future runs will be more expensive, but with a promise it will be at or under $220.

FuturLab, developers of PowerWash Simulator, has announced that support for the VR version of the game is going on indefinite hiatus. In the post announcing this, their CEO Kirsty Rigden said that the VR version wasn’t breaking even, and when job openings for the non-VR version became available, the decision was made to move the VR team over to those jobs so they could have job security.

This year’s Evo lineup has seemingly leaked thanks to an accidentally uploaded YouTube thumbnail. The games this year will be Street Fighter 6, Tekken 8, Guilty Gear Strive, Granblue Fantasy Versus: Rising, Under Night In-Birth 2, Mortal Kombat 1, Fatal Fury: City of the Wolves, and Marvel vs Capcom 2. The thumbnail may have been out of date, so this may not be 100% accurate, but it makes sense.

And finally, bunch more of Switch 2 leaks happened, and Nintendo still hasn’t announced the friggin’ thing. Sources are claiming the console will be announced on the 16th, with a release sometime in May or June.

They did, however, announce that a LEGO Game Boy kit will release in October.

The post The Bulletin: Miku Monday appeared first on Gamesline.

Bobby Kotick Departs Activision Blizzard

As of the end of December 2023, Robert “Bobby” Kotick has officially retired from his role as CEO of Activision Blizzard.

Kotick’s departure leaves behind a legacy of controversy and potential complicity to the company’s toxic and hostile workplace issues in his wake, and is part a series of many leadership and policy changes to the company in response to the long, grandstanding saga of the acquisition of Activision Blizzard by Microsoft. As another subsidiary under Microsoft, Jill Braff has been named head of studio for Bethesda and ZeniMax. Microsoft’s acquisition of Blizzard was officially finalized in October 2023.

The state of California ended up settling the Blizzard’s gender discrimination lawsuit for about $54 million, the very case that has pushed the series of dominoes that catalyzed the acquisition of the company in motion back on July 2021.

In its initial filings of the suit, California’s Civil Rights Department (CRD) alleged that the company had a “frat boy” culture, but has went on to now conclude that “no court or any independent investigation has substantiated any allegations” of sexual harassment at Activision Blizzard in the suit’s settlement text. If the court approves of this settlement, the payout will go to “cover direct relief to workers and litigation costs” and “a settlement fund dedicated to compensating workers.”

While being pushed back by the ABK Workers Alliance union, Blizzard will also be ending hybrid work for QA employees starting this year. The union believes that the in-office accommodations that have been offered due to this decision will not adequately meet the needs of its membership and that it will cause “many, many more employees being forced out of the company and into a desperate situation.”

As Blizzard will be continuing to face turbulence and ongoing changes under a new coat of paint, Microsoft pulls back from their VR projects as consumer trends shown interest in the medium dipped in 2023.

Leaving the Year With Leaks

Insomniac Games had the misfortune of experiencing a severe cyberattack credited to ransomware group Rhysida, who claims to have taken over 1.67 terabytes of data from the company.

After a deadline has passed demanding a ransom of $2 million dollars, Rhysida went on to leak a plethora of internal data and sensitive employee information, such as HR documents, screenshots of private messages, and unreleased images and assets of future projects, and even a playable build of one of those projects. Sony experienced a data breach by a different group in October that same year.

Insomniac has went on to respond to how demoralizing the attack has been, but nonetheless has vowed that teams will resume to push on and that work will continue on the projects that have been leaked. The leaked playable build contains a warning against piracy, which could result in legal action from Insomniac. Downloading it also potentially comes with the threat that it contains implanted malicious software after the hack’s tampering.

Allegedly, Rhysida has sold a tiny portion of this data to an unknown buyer, but a significant portion of 98% of the data allegedly has been released.

In less concerning news, sensitive military documents have been leaked on the War Thunder forums —again.

The Blockchain Is Not for Babies

While the Epic Games Store still won’t necessarily list games in its catalog with the Adults Only rating, the platform has adjusted its policy to now allow exceptions for games utilizing blockchain technology.

The ESRB board has been labeling games using blockchain technology with the AO rating, determined on “assess[ing] whether products may reward real money, prizes with real world value, or something that can be exchanged for or converted to real money.” NFT-based game Gods Unchained was removed from the Store for its AO rating, but has since been relisted on the platform after this policy update.

Government Goes After Gacha

Reguators China are attempting to introduce new policies to curb spending and monetization practices in online games.

Per several other past initiatives in an effort to reduce play time and addiction to games, some of the terms of these regulations include imposing spending limits on players, disallowing in-game items to be auctioned or used as speculative assets and that all Chinese games must be ran in servers based within China.

Researcher Leon Y. Xiao has further found that the policies will require that loot boxes shouldn’t make their contents exclusive and that unspent currency must be refunded to players if a game shuts down.

While in Korea, the Korean Fair Trade Commission has fined Nexon for changing and reducing the loot box probability rates without transparency across their published titles that contain this equivalent mechanic.

The New York Times Sues OpenAI and Microsoft

On top of an ongoing string of other lawsuits pushing back against the exploitative use of the technology, The New York Times sues OpenAI and Microsoft, opening what might possibly be one of the largest lawsuits against AI thus far by for copyright infringement.

The publication alleges that the AI technology used has been illegally pulling from the Times’ archive to train ChatGPT. Data that that plaintiff has currently reported has found the Times as one of the largest sources that the technology has pulled from, arguing that ChatGPT is for-profit that now directly competes with the Times’ own services.

Wizards of the Coast deservedly catches flack again, this time for the use of AI art going unchecked in a recent social media campaign for Magic: The Gathering.

In other news…

Teenager Willis Gibson is the first human player to fully complete a version of Tetris on the NES. Going by “Blue Scuti” on his YouTube channel, the run lasted for about 38 minutes.

Devolver Digital capped off the holiday season with a quick Public Access Holiday Special that showcased several upcoming indie titles, such as The Plucky Squire, Pepper Grinder, and Baby Steps.

Actor James McCaffrey passed away. McCaffrey has starred in various film and television roles, and provided his voice for the titular role in the Max Payne series and was a regular talent for Remedy Entertainment’s various characters, such as Alex Casey in the Alan Wake games.

Publisher Versus Evil laid off its entire staff, effectively shutting down. Versus Evil was acquired by TinyBuild in 2013, and effectively all titles of their library, such as The Banner Saga games, have been moved under TinyBuild’s ownership.

Ubisoft’s The Crew will be going offline. The game has already been delisted from all online stores and will remain playable until March of this year.

While Sea of Stars has much to celebrate following their win of Best Independent Game at the 2023 Game Awards and achieving a 4 million player milestone, the game is removing the cameo appearance of Jirard Khalil. Also known as The Completionist, Khalil was met with allegations of financial fraud against his family-founded charity to support dementia research, the Open Hand Foundation.

Publisher Bushiroad Games and developer Eighting announced the production of a Hunter x Hunter fighting game. Bushiroad has published various titles based on anime and manga IPs, and was responsible for bringing the multimedia musical franchises Love Live! School Idol Festival and BanG Dream! Girls Band Party! into the mobile games market.

As even its own cast awaits an official greenlighting of a sequel to Illumination’s animated The Super Mario Bros. Movie, rumors suggest the animation studio has pitched the idea of potentially also adapting the Smash fighting games into a film.

Likewise, Jack Black won’t be waiting for his next gig for too long as he is reportedly to play Steve in the Minecraft adaptation.

Meanwhile, the Paramount television series adaptation of Halo has been confirmed for a second season.

While the official server of MMO City of Heroes was shut down way back in 2012, NCSoft officially granted a license to a long active, private-run server Homecoming. Players are reassured that accounts will remain untouched and that the gameplay will continue to be free, hoping to be supported by donations.

Fans of Baba Is You will be pleasantly surprised by the release of Mobile Suit Baba, a tactical mission-based puzzle game that revisits the same quaint Baba characters and setting.

The post The Bulletin: Bye Bye Bobby appeared first on Gamesline.

It’s a long one this week as special guest LumberJackson joins John and Maverick to talk about the week in games. John’s been playing Alan Wake, the new Pokémon Scarlett/Violet DLC, and Granblue Fantasy Versus: Rising while Jackson has experienced Half-Life for the first time. Maverick had a big one with Spider-Man 2, Xenoblade Chronicles 2, God Of War: Ragnarok: Valhalla, and the original version of Yakuza.

In the news, The Last of Us 2‘s Multiplayer was cancelled, Insomniac was hacked with a whole bunch of stuff leaking, and A24 is making a Death Stranding movie. We go over everything from the Game Awards, the controversy around Jerard the Completionist, the layoffs at Hasbro, and E3 officially dying. The team also goes over Twitch’s ToS changes that lasted for a single day and the wild story of The Day Before.

You can find Jackson on twitter @LumberJack2on and follow him on twitch at LumberJackson.

You can support us on our Patreon, and follow us on Twitter @TheGamesline, @john_michonski, and @MaverickDrifter.

Also, don’t forget to rate and review us on iTunes, and tell a friend about the show! If you want to send in questions send them to our ask box at gamesline.tumblr.com/ask.

You can also join our Discord channel at thegamezone.zone!

Our theme song is “Crush” by Melt Channel, from the album Magic is Real.

Subscribe via Apple Podcasts, Pocket Casts, Spotify, Amazon Music, or directly to our RSS feed.

Edited by Lorelai

The post The Gamesline Podcast Ep. 28: Wrap It Up w/ LumberJackson @LumberJack2on appeared first on Gamesline.

What A Thrill. . .

Metal Gear Solid Δ: Snake Eater (pronounced “Delta”) has been announced. This remake has been described by the development team to be a “faithful recreation of the original story and game design” with evolution to both gameplay and visuals. Konami has confirmed that this remake will use the original voice cast for Snake Eater. This will mark David Hayter’s return to voice Naked Snake since Metal Gear Solid: Peace Walker in 2013.

Alongside this announcement comes the news of Metal Gear Solid: Master Collection Volume 1. This first volume will include the original Metal Gear Solid with VR Missions included alongside the HD Collection versions of Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty and Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater. PSN has confirmed that this volume will also include the original Metal Gear and Metal Gear 2: Solid Snake. One small note is that Konami stated there would be “minimal edits to copyrighted content,” which most likely pertains to the stock footage used in some cutscenes. Konami Spain has confirmed that this would collection would also see a physical release when the game releases Autumn 2023 for PS5, PC, and Xbox One.

Back In The New York Groove

Marvel’s Spider-Man 2 will be releasing later this fall for PS5. Insomniac’s follow up to the 2018 open world game features several new villains and mechanics for players to immerse themselves in. The trailer shows Kraven the Hunter planning to invade New York City and hunt down various Marvel heroes and villains. This plan leads them to hunt down Dr. Connors – The Lizard – but not without a fight from Peter Parker. This game will also incorporate the alien Symbiote, so expect an appearance from Venom in this sequel. Gameplay features the chance to play as both Parker and Miles Morales in different sections of the game along with an updated UI. Further news will develop in anticipation of this sequel’s 2023 release.

The Other PlayStation News

Other announcements from the showcase include Bungie’s Marathon, a Tarkov-styled shooter set in space, a first for Bungie. Square Enix has Final Fantasy XVI releasing June 22nd along with the announcement of Foamstars, a new area-based shooter akin to Splatoon. I’m sure the SMP freaks will love this one! Capcom’s letting the real heads know what’s up by releasing custom skins and other pre-order bonus content for Street Fighter 6 along with another trailer for Dragon’s Dogma 2. Revenant Hill is a game about Twigs the cat needing to pay rent and building a community in 1919. This is the first game by The Glory Society, a co-op studio founded by Night in the Woods co-creators Bethany Hockenberry and Scott Benson which will be available for both PS4 and PS5. You can catch the other releases from this showcase below.

Truly More Like Nintendon’t

Nintendo’s put out a new firmware update for the 3DS and it’s primed to take hackers down. The update Ver. 11.17.0-50 released on Monday, with hacking groups noticing this update ruined many documented methods to homebrew the handheld. However, community members have quickly been able to document what options are available for 3DS owners post-update. With the closure of the e-shop earlier this year, the 3DS’s ease to hack has been all the more appreciated. Maybe Nintendo will take a hint about library access given how it’s still easy to hack the dang thing.

Nintendo also blocked an indie game about mischievous little guys because it might teach kids about gambling (it doesn’t). Sunshine Shuffle is a game about playing Texas Hold ‘Em with a group of bank robbers. Xalavier Nelson Jr., developer of the game, has talked at length about Nintendo blocking the store page on accusation of teaching kids how to gamble, something Nintendo definitely doesn’t want happening. Sunshine Shuffle is available on Steam, so go ahead and give these adorable critters some love!

Life Is Strange, Unfortunately Layoffs Aren’t

In more pressing news, Deck Nine, developers of 2021’s Life is Strange: True Colors, laid off 30 members of its staff. Narrative designer Elizabeth Ballou tweeted about the layoffs on May 19th noting that several leads were affected as well. This news comes ahead of their next game in collaboration with Telltale Games, The Expanse: A Telltale Series, set to release in July. While no reason for the layoffs has been given, the studio states that those affected are “talented people who did nothing wrong,” for whatever that’s worth. Solidarity to the leads who chose to take the brunt of this impact, and best of luck to them getting back on their feet.

In More Hopeful Worker’s News

Unions! Successful ones are becoming more prevalent, so here’s updates on two that have moved forwards! Paizo, the studio that creates TTRPGs such as Pathfinder, has made a tentative agreement with their union. The union will be meeting in the coming weeks to go over the contract and potentially approve of it.

Similarly, Bandcamp has formed their own union, the first union under Epic Games. Bandcamp’s union still needs to be recognized and negotiation must still occur, but this is a major step towards a fair work environment at the best place to buy music on the web.

A Marvelous News Update

Marvelous Inc. released their own game showcase on Thursday. This presentation mentions a Story of Seasons entry with potential multiplayer features in the near future. We also saw news about Rune Factory: PROJECT DRAGON, a spinoff of the franchise with a traditional Japanese aesthetic, as well as a true Rune Factory 6. Fashion Dreamer is a design game made by the creators of the original Style Savvy series set to release later this year. In new IP developments, Loop8: Summer of Gods is a JRPG with a “unique, emotional AI” that will respond to the actions and decisions you make in game. Loop8 is set to release June 6th with Story of Seasons: A Wonderful Life and Rune Factory 3 Special also slated for release this year. Tune into the showcase below to see what other news might pique your interest! We’ve certainly got folks on staff who know their way around a farm sim or JRPG.

Looks Like We’re Gonna Have to Wishlist on Steam!

Dangeresque: The Roomisode Triungulate! will be available to play later this summer. Play as Dangeresque, Strong Bad’s famous action movie persona, as you point and click your way through various trials and tribulations. This will feature the original flash game released in 2008 with full voice over and revamped scenes. Two other “roomisodes” will also be available, sure to be chock full of thrills, chills, and totally authentic stunts! The game will release on Steam, itch.io, and “maybe iOS.” Be ready to fight the law, and also fight the crime but not as much. Dangeresque!

The post The Bulletin: Guys In The Goop appeared first on Gamesline.

If the web swinging doesn’t feel right in an open world Spidey game, the whole game feels off. Thankfully, Insomniac absolutely nailed it with Spider-Man, building perhaps the best web-swinging system of any of the Spidey title. Spider-Man 2, Ultimate Spider-Man, and Spider-Man: Web of Shadows are all some of my favorite games because they’ve got amazing open world traversal, and Spider-Man manages to nail every aspect from those three games that makes the swinging incredible, and then build from there to create the best high-speed web-swinging possible.

The web slinging controls are simple, with R2 being your “go” button. Holding it while running allows you to freerun, showing off Peter’s parkour skills. When airborne, the same button is used for basic web-swinging; it’s been mentioned dozens of times by Insomniac that they knew the webs had to attach to buildings, and while they do seem to attach towards a building, they definitely feel a bit fast and loose in that regard. Some swings go much longer than should be possible – but this helps achieve that feel they were going for with the traversal, and it feels amazing. Along with the swinging, R2 can be used for a wallrun, which Spider-Man will fluidly switch to if you bump into a building mid-swing. There’s also a general web-zip with the X button for gaining some forward moment, and R2 and L2 together can be used to zip to a specific point. These four options keep the movement very simple, but incredibly stylish at high speeds – though slower and more precise traversal suffers a bit as wall-crawling feels finicky.

I actually handed the controller to my friend, who hadn’t touched the game before (and doesn’t play too many video games to begin with), gave them a brief rundown of the controls, and let them swing around New York – and it only took a couple minutes before their swinging was as stylish as mine. It’s such a simple system that transforms the usual monotony of simply going from point A to point B in an open world to one of the most fun aspects of the game. It manages to somehow be both exciting and oddly zen – part of the reason that I spent the entirety of release day playing non-stop is because I spent several hours swinging around and nabbing the collectible backpacks. I actually ended up collecting all 55 of them in my first day of playing, which is unheard of for me. I almost never go out of my way for collectibles!

Simply getting to these collectibles was definitely a huge factor in my desire to grab every single one of ‘em, but another was the items in said backpacks. Each one has an item from Spidey’s past eight years superhero-ing – a vast majority of which are callbacks to older pieces of Spider-Man media, like the old school under-arm webbing wings Spidey wore back in the 60s. There is clearly a ton of love for the character from the writing team at Insomniac, as the game is packed full of references to Spidey’s past adventures in comics and on the big screen. A personal favorite of mine is a bit where he attempts to stop a runaway train using his webs to hold it back, before his webs snap and he remarks that, “that worked last time,” referencing the runaway train in Sam Raimi’s Spider-Man 2.

With the sheer vastness of Spider-Man’s history, it’s almost necessary to respect just how many costumes the web-slinger has donned in his 50+ years of comics. The game features 26 suits (27 if you include the battle damaged variant of the classic suit, which is roughed up in the very beginning of the game) from throughout Spidey’s history – three of which are original suits, designed by Insomniac. The suits range from ones recognizable to casual and newer fans, such as the three MCU suits used in Spider-Man: Homecoming and Avengers: Infinity War, and the wrestling costume from the early days of Pete’s superpowers (Which fans may recognize from the Sam Raimi films, even though this specific costume is actually the design from the Ultimate Spider-Man comics), to designs that – as Stan Lee would put it – true believers would immediately recognize such as Ben Reilly’s Scarlet Spider suit, Spider-Man 2099, or the the Electronically Insulated suit Peter designed to defeat Electro in Amazing Spider-Man #425. There’s even some pretty deep cuts, like the Spirit Spider or the Last Stand suit. It’s clear that Insomniac dove deep into Spidey’s long history to pull costumes that could cater to any level of fan. Each suit has an associated special suit power (such as the AOE Web Blossom, a stealth field, or a power that briefly makes Spidey bullet-proof) and in an effort to let you be the Spider-Man you want to be, once a suit is unlocked, any suit power can be attached to it, allowing you to mix and match suit powers you like to the costume you’d prefer to be looking at, which is an invaluable feature.

The script is full of excellent quips from Spidey, which is an ever important aspect of Peter Parker that has in the past proven to be difficult for some writing teams. While not every line is a banger (and a handful are even a bit eyeroll-y), plenty of moments are genuinely very funny, like a moment where the Vulture disappoints Spider-Man by not understanding his Rocky reference – only for Electro to hit him with his best Ivan Drago impression, all in the middle of a boss fight. It’s such a fantastic piece of banter that really makes Spidey feel like the loveable, talkative hero that he should be.

Where the line-to-line writing excels, the story falls somewhat flat. Now, don’t get me wrong – the story as a whole is great. But there are some elements of the story that feels like “this has been done before.” The entire latter half revolving around The Devil’s Breath (which I won’t elaborate on, because spoilers) feels a lot like some Spidey stories in the past – even the plot of some of the games, such as the video game tie-in for The Amazing Spider-Man and, to an extent, Web of Shadows. Along with this sense of déjà vu, many of the villains feel pretty two-dimensional. Martin Li/Mr. Negative’s motives feel a bit half-baked, and the secret villain, who was hinted at towards the end of the E3 2018 gameplay demo (No spoilers!), feels as though they didn’t receive the character development to properly lead into villainy. The motives are there, but the descent into becoming a villain feels incredibly rushed. Even their plots feel absurdly quick. Everything that happens involving them becoming a villain, and all of their villainous deeds happens almost overnight.

While some characters feel rushed, the supporting cast sometimes feels as though they are better written than their comic counterparts. I love Miles Morales. There’s plenty of potential for his character, and a lot of writers just can’t do him any justice, writing him just as Peter Parker 2. Mary Jane falls into a similar situation in the comics, typically being written literally as “Peter Parker’s wife,” with no substance behind her character. Where the comics (usually) fail to do anything interesting with these two, Insomniac’s Spider-Man does a fantastic job with them. MJ’s a take-no-bullshit photojournalist who will bluff her way out of any situation she sneaks herself into, and Miles finally feels like his own person. He idolizes Spider-Man, but when he’s in a dangerous situation he doesn’t fall back on the mantra of “What would Spider-Man do?” It’s a small step, but a great one. The stealth sections for these two characters are definitely fun – even intense at times – if a bit dry. They don’t leave a lot of room for creativity for your approach to sneaking. Sneak here, hide behind this box, push over this toolbox to distract the goon with the machine gun, rinse, repeat. Later, lures and a Watchdogs-esque hacking feature are introduced, but the sneaking portions still feel very railroaded. Maybe I’m spoiled by dedicated stealth games like Metal Gear Solid V allowing a free-form approach to sneaking, but I definitely prefer stealth portions to be a bit more cerebral.

Meanwhile, stealth as Spider-Man is excellent. The web-zip with R2+L2 allows a lot of creativity with your approach, letting you fly around the top of a room with ease, webbing up bad guys while no one’s looking. With a click of the right stick, you use Spidey’s lenses to enter a mode similar to Arkham’s detective mode – highlighting guards and interactive objects. This mode also includes a vital feature: If your target is within eyeshot of someone else, the HUD will mark them with “DANGER.” When it’s safe to take them out, it informs you with “SAFE.” With this, taking out guards one by one becomes much less stressful.

Alongside the excellent stealth, combat is near-perfect. Spidey’s attacks are fluid and acrobatic, and controlling him as he zips from goon to goon is the most fun I’ve had in an action game in some time. Utilizing his entire toolset feels simple, without breaking up the flow of combat. By holding L1, you slow time to access a weapon-wheel for Spidey’s eight unlockable gadgets, all fantastic for keeping encounters feeling fresh. Each of these gadgets is a different style of web shooter – all firing off something to incapacitate or stun baddies – such as the web-bomb’s area of effect webbing, the web-tripwire that sticks to a surface and pulls anyone who passes by, and the electric web, which fires what is essentially a taser bolt to stun opponents – which chains to nearby foes as well. Using these gadgets in conjunction with the acrobatic combat does wonders for putting the player in the shoes of a more experienced Spider-Man. Switching web shooters and sticking to someone to a wall in the middle of a combo with a heavy hitting impact web is quick and easy, and almost comical. The “focus bar” that builds as you deal damage is a nifty addition, as it allows you to either dole out intense finisher-moves, or to heal yourself, allowing you options for defense or offense. It’s a great system for keeping combat flowing even when you’re at low HP. Instead of having to retreat a fight to regain health over time or find a pickup, you can just heal in the middle of a fistfight. Yes, it can make encounters a bit on the easier side, but it’s excellent for keeping combat flowing during the entirety of a fight.

One of the biggest charms to Spider-Man is the amount of little details Insomniac poured into it. When you knock baddies off a roof, they fall a bit before being zipped to the nearest wall, saving them from splattering against the ground (I haven’t noticed if Spidey actually attaches a gadget to do this or if it’s just convenient excuse, but the sentiment is there and I greatly appreciate it.) On his radio show, J. Jonah Jameson reacts to not only story beats, but to the random events and side stories you complete, and even has a bit about the Spider-Punk costume if you wear it long enough. (I’ve yet to see if this happens with any other costumes, but I was so excited when he started complaining about that one in particular.)

Along with these little details, there’s one of the most incredible uses of voice acting I’ve seen in a video game in some time: Yuri Lowenthal – the voice actor for Spidey – recorded two takes for any phone conversations that take place in the overworld. One, for when Spider-Man is at a standing position, and one for when he’s swinging about, exerting himself. It’s a little detail that really helps sell the immersion of the game, and it’s a testament to Yuri Lowenthal as both a fantastic Spider-Man, and an amazing voice actor in general. He’s easily one of my favorite voice actors of all time, and I can wholeheartedly say that this game may be one of his absolute best performances. He absolutely knocked it out of the park as Peter Parker, delivering some intense emotion towards the endgame. Alongside Lowenthal’s spectacular Spider-Man, the supporting cast deliver strong performances all around, with industry veterans Travis Willingham and Laura Bailey as Wilson Fisk and Mary Jane Watson, and relative newcomers to larger roles like Nadji Jeter as a perfectly anxious Miles Morales, and Steven Oyoung as an enraged Mr. Negative. It seems like every voice is directed and performed excellently, without any real weak points to be found in the supporting cast.

Spider-Man is everything I could have hoped for. It’s not perfect – no game is. But there’s so much appreciation for the character poured into this game, and it truly feels like a love letter to the beloved hero, and to Stan Lee and the late Steve Ditko. Since I was a child, I’ve wanted to be Spider-Man. And right now? Insomniac’s Spider-Man is as close as it possibly gets.

The post Spider-Man Review appeared first on Gamesline.

After the footage and some other trailers, Sony presented a live demo, showing off their open world map of New York City. The player swings and wall runs around buildings smoothly, with movement that looks polished and legitimately fun. The demo shows off a small area, a construction site filled with goons that the player takes out with an array of gadgets including a web trip wire. He also throws a few enemies off the building which seems notoriously un-Spider-man-like, but hey, new vision of the character I guess. The game seems to have captured a real sense of speed and fluidity that’s made me very excited to see more. The game releases September 7th, 2018 on PS4.

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As seen in the videos below, the gameplay is a familiar mix of mechanics and weapons from accross the Ratchet and Clank and Ratchet and Clank Future franchises. New weapons like the Pixelizer (which does exactly what the name implies) will also be added to the game’s massive arsenal. Those who preorder the game will get exclusive access to classic weapon The Bouncer. Memorable moments from the original game like battling the Blargian Snagglebeast show up, with new worlds and bosses set to appear as well.

In a world where far too many HD games fail at properly using color pallettes that aren’t muddy and drab, it’s definitely refreshing to see a game as pretty and fluid as this get made, let alone promoted so heavily. Assuming I’m able to pick up a PS4 by the time it comes out, Ratchet and Clank will definitely be on my list of games to buy.

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