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Star Wars: Skeleton Crew Episode 4 Review

Filed Under: ENTERTAINMENT, IGN

This review contains full spoilers for Star Wars: Skeleton Crew Season 1, Episode 4.

Who said Skeleton Crew was just Star Wars Goonies? Because this episode offers up another beloved reference point, and – for once – it’s not even from the ‘80s. In this, Skeleton Crew’s best episode so far, the show actually goes for something more akin to Doctor Who, complete with a trip to a planet with one central thematic gimmick (two factions, the Troik and the Hattan, are locked in a self-perpetuating, generation-spanning conflict) and even a lesson that the characters can take home (that real strength is sometimes found in kindness and not in fighting).

It helps that the episode centers on the best member of the Skeleton Crew (though that’s apparently a rare opinion): Neel, the elephant boy. The kids of the Crew remain pretty one-note, and while the young actors are all doing their best with what they’re given, there are one or two who could still stand to be given more. Neel gets more in this episode, spending some time with a warrior girl named Hayna who initially takes his reluctance to join his friends in playing around with guns as a snobbish attitude toward weapons that aren’t as big as a bus.

Hayna’s intrigued when she learns that Neel’s actually just nice and doesn’t like fighting, even with his tiny siblings. Learning about him and his homeworld at least plants the idea in Hayna’s head that fighting a meaningless war forever is kind of stupid – a particularly poignant lesson for Neel to impart, considering that, as we learned last week, these kids don’t even know that the Galactic Civil War happened. It took something like eight movies before anyone else in Star Wars questioned whether or not the whole thing was a mistake (and the conclusion that time was “no, it wasn’t”).

This all happens on a planet called At Achrann, which is where the coordinates the crew got last week actually sent them instead of their homeworld of At Attin. At Achrann, it turns out, is identical to At Attin, it’s just been ravaged by endless wars. This switch-up reveal has the potential to be so terrifying that it’s probably smart that the show doesn’t lay it on too thick. That’s not to say it doesn’t feel unnerving, though. Locations that the kids recognize – most notably their school – are creepy, bombed-out ruins. What does that say about At Attin? It’s another good hook to pull us all along with the central mystery.

The shift to a sort of Evil Dead-style direction seems unusually artful for this or indeed any Star Wars show.

That great, spooky twist leads to a couple of others, like the fact that SM-33 has been to this planet before and that his oft-repeated utterance of the episode’s title line (“Can’t say I remember no At Attin”) is some kind of Agents Of S.H.I.E.L.D.-style memory wipe trigger phrase (remember that?). This bit was a little predictable, but Skeleton Crew wisely doesn’t linger on it as some kind of unthinkable betrayal. SM-33 was always kind of off-putting, and the crew shouldn’t have trusted him in the first place.

The shift to a sort of Evil Dead-style direction when 33 turns bad (with, seemingly, a camera strapped to a physical droid puppet) is also a little off-putting, since it seems unusually artful for this or indeed any Star Wars show. This episode was directed by Daniel Kwan and Daniel Sheinert (a.k.a. directing duo Daniels from Everything Everywhere All At Once), and even if it seems weird, it’s nonetheless nice to get a bit of auteur-ish flair in a Star Wars project.

Also, with SM-33 becoming a bad guy, Jude Law’s Jod Na Nawood has the “I don’t trust this guy” burden removed from his shoulders and he’s free to spend the episode goofing off. He fires off a couple of solid gags in this episode, including immediately surrendering to the Hattan militia and requesting that they just kill him, and then him considering whether or not there’s a number of animal hides he’d be willing to trade the kids for. A lingering question after last week was whether or not it would remain fun to watch him play off of the Crew, and hey, it still is!

As a matter of fact, this is all still fun, and the crew is making just enough progress getting home each week that it doesn’t feel like anyone is wasting time.

Need for Speed Turns 30: The Lasting Legacy of EA’s Fastest Franchise

Filed Under: ENTERTAINMENT, IGN

It’s December 1994. The Santa Clause, Miracle on 34th Street, Pulp Fiction, and Forrest Gump are duking it out at the global box office. Boyz II Men’s On Bended Knee is about to (temporarily) cede the number one spot on the Billboard Hot 100 to Here Comes the Hotstepper by lyrical gangster Ini Kamoze. In video games, the original PlayStation has just launched in Japan.

But forget the PlayStation for a moment, because December 1994 also marked the arrival of another interactive icon: The Need for Speed, on the ill-fated 3DO home game console. The 3DO, despite being lauded as Time Magazine’s 1993 Product of the Year, was ultimately a flop. There was no ‘3DO II’. The Need for Speed, however, was not a flop. There was a Need for Speed II. And III. And a fourth, fifth, sixth, and so on.

In fact, 30 years later the Need for Speed series is still with us.

And it’s become one of the best-selling game series of all time.

3DOh Yeah

“Need for Speed is actually one of the most successful game franchises ever,” notes Criterion Senior Creative Director John Stanley. Stanley has been with Criterion for 14 years working across multiple EA series, from Battlefield to Battlefront, but his predominant focus is Need for Speed. “So it’s a very big honour and mantle to be lifted each time.”

15 years ago, sales figures for the franchise hit 100 million copies. A decade ago they’d rocketed past 150 million. Precisely what they sit at today is not known, but what’s clear is Need for Speed’s success and longevity make it a monster within the racing genre.

Need for Speed is actually one of the most successful game franchises ever.

It certainly got off to a flying start. The original Need for Speed was an immediate critical hit, despite the 3DO’s own particular woes. Fortunately, subsequent ports to PC, PlayStation, and Sega Saturn would go on to make The Need for Speed a commercial smash as well.

Presented by Road & Track Magazine and developed by EA Canada, The Need for Speed’s 3DO debut boasted just eight cars – a modest mix of European exotics and 1990s sports icons from the US and Japan. It also featured a total of three tracks. Yes, that’s paltry by later standards, but it’s worth keeping in mind that this was entirely typical for the time – at least, until the original Gran Turismo arrived several years later with a garage pumped up to unprecedented proportions.

It’s also important to note that EA Canada had previously been known as Distinctive Software. Prior to its acquisition by EA in the early ’90s, Distinctive Software was responsible for the influential original Test Drive, its follow-up The Duel: Test Drive II, and cult, early 3D racing favourite Stunts (known as 4D Sports Driving in some regions). That high-speed experience was abundantly evident in The Need for Speed. Like the early Test Drive games that came before it, The Need for Speed asked players to dodge traffic as fast as they dared while outrunning the pursuing police. Electronic Gaming Monthly called it “the racing game to beat on the 3DO.” Edge Magazine declared it featured “the richest 3D environment ever seen on a home system.” GamePro was similarly full of praise, positing that “[i]f you dream of racing exotic sports cars, it doesn’t get any better than this incredible game.”

Raising the (High) Stakes

Of course, it did get better. Need for Speed built itself into a true racing juggernaut throughout the remainder of the ’90s, and it lapped Test Drive as the premier purveyor of playable police pursuits and illegal street racing. The series became the place to find the greatest exotics of the era: the Lamborghini Diablo and Ferrari 512TR. The Jaguar XJ220 and McLaren F1. Down in my own native Australia, the games were even localised with their own, regional-exclusive covers, and injected with the hottest homegrown sports sedans of the time. That was truly something, as a teenager; to be stalking a games store and see the sickest Australian cars on the street staring back at me from the shelves. That was unique to Need for Speed during this era.

But perhaps more than anything, Need for Speed carved itself out a reputation as a series that celebrated not just racing, but risk.

“I argue it’s the forerunner, or has been and still is the forerunner, in the only franchise really delivering on consequence,” says Stanley. “That thrill of the chase. I think nothing else out there in the racing game genre does that.”

By asking people to outrun police, and eventually even place their pink slips on the line, Need for Speed was a series that pushed its players to take risks. For clarity, by the time Need for Speed came around, we’d admittedly already faced the long arm of the law in 1987’s Test Drive, and many of us would’ve already lost rides to rivals after racing for slips in 1989’s Street Rod. But even if it wasn’t the first, Need for Speed was an extremely early adopter of these philosophies of risk – and it certainly became the most recognisable.

Tuna, No Crust

As the years went on, the property eventually found itself taking risks of its own. Firstly, with 2003’s radically reinvented Need for Speed Underground, and then with 2005’s Need for Speed Most Wanted – which is still the best selling game in the whole series.

“Oh man, they’re my beloved,” grins Justin Wiebe, who jokingly describes himself as the “old fossil” EA dug up for this chat. Currently Studio Design Director at Ripple Effect, Wiebe’s history with the Need for Speed series dates back to Hot Pursuit 2 in 2002.

“They’re like my crown jewels, to be honest with you,” he continues. “I’ve had a long career here and boy am I proud of having a chance to work on those games.”

On Underground, Wiebe explains the team didn’t quite know what they had on their hands at the time, but they were all hooked.

“It was so addictive to play,” he says. “It was the introduction of things like drag racing for the first time, where it was a completely new way of playing at high speed. And we were starting to explore other new, emerging racing genres – like drift racing and stuff like that – and starting to bring all of these new and cutting edge ideas, and then mixing in customisation. We were pioneering at that time.”

EA followed Underground with a direct, open-world sequel – the first open world in the series – but the bigger question was where to take it next.

“We kept asking ourselves, ‘Well, what do we do now? How do we one-up this? What are we gonna do?’” says Wiebe. “And we had an exceptional executive producer at that time, Mike [Mann], who came in and he basically said, ‘I want to make it the most elicit experience that we’ve done to date. I want to bring in the cops, and I want to make them feel so threatening, like they are the real world.’”

So that was the mandate to me: take these cops and make everyone absolutely terrified of them.

“So that was the mandate to me: take these cops and make everyone absolutely terrified of them.’ And I said, ‘Then, Mike, I gotta take away people’s cars that they earned; I’m gonna impound them, and they’re gonna lose them for a while.’ And he’s, like, ‘Do it.’

“[Need for Speed is] a franchise which is big, but it’s also unafraid to try to take risks. To do things differently. To challenge the norm. And that’s what I love about working on the franchise.”

In an entertaining twist, Wiebe even found himself in Need for Speed Most Wanted as the racer Taz – number 14 on the Blacklist – after one of the actors failed to show up for a photoshoot.

“They started wandering around the office trying to see, like, ‘Who’s the most shifty-looking person we have here?’, and then they’re, like, ‘You!’” chuckles Wiebe, stabbing his finger in the air. “So yeah, they just grabbed me and did a couple of shots and there I am. It was a good time.”

According to Stanley, within the corridors of Criterion, Most Wanted remains a revered example of the series at the peak of its power.

“I cite Most Wanted so much within the studio,” he says. “Just around the way that it managed to weave together the narrative, the gameplay, the progression. Everything comes together in this.”

“A term that I use a lot, and now I’ll have to drink a shot for this: ludonarrative harmony. Because actually executing on that in a game? So important. And Most Wanted is a masterclass in that, and something that I definitely cite a lot.”

On: The Run

It’s been almost two decades since Need for Speed Most Wanted, and the series has continued to evolve.

“If you look at it, Need for Speed’s never remained the same,” says Criterion Producer Patrick Honnoraty, who’s worked on every Need for Speed since 2012 – from Criterion to Ghost and back to Criterion. “From one iteration to the next, it’s always had something that was different.”

“For good and for bad – because those things don’t always work and they don’t always resonate with players – but we guarantee that we’ll always be doing something different.”

Things don’t always work and they don’t always resonate with players – but we guarantee that we’ll always be doing something different.

“‘For good and for bad’ is a great example,” says Wiebe. “For example, my experience on creating Need for Speed: The Run. We really tried to break some new ground there. We talked about getting out of the car, and we had all these grandiose visions for how it was going to be more than just racing; the character’s going to get out of the car. But then we realised very quickly, ‘Well, we can’t really do that’, so we introduced some quicktime events.”

“Yeah, we all love quicktime events, right?” he adds with an ironic smile.

However, Wiebe believes they ultimately created “a grand racing adventure.”

“We wanted it to feel like your life is on the line,” he says. “That it’s more humanised than ever before about the character and the story that they’re in, racing from coast to coast. I’ll be the first to stand up and say that didn’t really work, but I’m proud of the fact that we tried it.”

“I was actually on a fan forum a few months ago and I actually was shocked at how highly-rated some of the fans actually made that game. I had thought, ‘Well, that’s a bit of a lump of coal in my resume.’ But it turns out that it actually has a massive cult following, and there are certain people that absolutely adore that game. And that brought a little joy to my heart; that we took a risk and there are some people that really found something to love about it.”

That brought a little joy to my heart; that we took a risk and there are some people that really found something to love about it.

Honnoraty has noticed the same thing.

“I think every Need for Speed I’ve worked on, when it’s come out it’s been, ‘Oh my god, it was no good; it was rubbish,” he says. “People didn’t like it. And then years pass and it’s, like, ‘Ah, it was so good! It had these great elements to it. It was the best Need for Speed. Why don’t you go and make one back like that?’”

“Need for Speed is always too ahead of its time, is my thing. Every time we bring one out. Every time we bring one and it doesn’t strike, people look back on them so fondly.”

Defining the Series

30 years on, building a Need for Speed game is an exponentially more complicated task than it ever was, and more challenging than ever. For Senior Vehicle Artist Frankie Yip the work required is significant, but he wouldn’t have it any other way.

“The cars in Need for Speed are far more intricate now compared to the earlier days of the franchise,” explains Yip, who has worked on the franchise for the entirety of his 20-year career in the gaming industry. After picking up a copy of Need for Speed Underground for PlayStation 2 as a teenager, Yip got so hooked he took a 3D modelling course and was soon living his dream, making cars for Need for Speed Underground 2.

“I actually thought I was going to fail in the 3D school,” says Yip. “All the assignments? All I did was just model cars. And they’re, like, ‘That’s not part of the assignment.’ I don’t care; I like cars. So my portfolio was just all cars.”

I actually thought I was going to fail in the 3D school. All the assignments? All I did was just model cars.

According to Yip, dealing with the vast amount of content produced for each car is not as straightforward as it may seem.

“I’ll give you an example, just to break it down,” he begins. “Bodykits, for example. Say a car has three bodykit designs. That’s three front bumpers, three rear bumpers, three sideskirts, three front fenders, so on and so on. That tallies up to 15, 20 individual parts. But allowing the player to seamlessly and smoothly mix and match those parts? Yeah, it sounds simple, but it actually involves a significant amount of work. You run into issues; like, this part doesn’t fit with this. This part doesn’t fit with that.”

“There’s different variations in bumper widths, fender shapes, fender sizes; the list goes on. Panel lines, shut lines; nothing lines up. So, how do we make this all work? We actually have to build out every single part combination out there. You take that 15 to 20 individual parts I mentioned, and you multiply it to an additional 60, or well over a hundred. It depends on the car. Like, every car is a different shape. It is a ton of work, but what this does allow is it allows the player to have thousands of part combinations. And who doesn’t want that?

“So now you know why, in earlier Need for Speed titles, we just restricted the body kit to be equipped as one whole unit. But honestly, where’s the fun in that?”

For Criterion Vehicle Art Director Bryn Alban, there’s a bigger-picture challenge; that is, what defines Need for Speed to its massive and multi-generational audience.

“It means so much to so many people, and everybody’s got a different opinion as to what a good Need for Speed is,” says Alban, who’s been around since the days of Need for Speed Shift and brings the experience of building his own Skylines over the past 20 years to his role on the franchise. “So trying to appease everybody at all times is super difficult. Even down to the nitty gritty details of what customisation we put on our cars; it’s so divisive a subject for our players that it’s almost impossible for us to get it a hundred percent right, all the time.”

“So when we do get things somewhat correct, it’s great. But when you see those comments where you’ve missed something, it really hurts. It hurts to your core. You’re, like, ‘Oh yeah, I forgot that we should’ve added that to the game.’ So, yeah, it’s really tricky and tough to get that balance of making the perfect Need for Speed, really.”

So when we do get things somewhat correct, it’s great. But when you see those comments where you’ve missed something, it really hurts. It hurts to your core.

For what it’s worth, I’ve been missing Australian cars in the Need for Speed series since they stopped featuring back in the early 2000s, and Alban agrees it could be time for the series to circle back and include them again.

“Yeah, that’s a very valid point, and I think it’s true that Australian cars have been underrepresented in Need for Speed in its most recent history,” he says. “I can’t give you a reason why that is the case, but it’s definitely something that we should take a look at in the future moving forward, to see if we can redress that balance a little bit.”

“When you look at things like Holden, they’re very iconic within Australia,” adds Honnoraty. “They’re very interesting things; the utes that you have. So I think those are interesting examples for us to look at. And I’m sure, Bryn, you’d tell me there’s plenty of them in the drift scene as well?”

“Yeah, you see them crop up,” Alban responds with his finger clearly on the pulse. “I mean, just this last week there’s the Drift Matsuri that’s happening in Japan, and I saw that there were a couple of Ford Falcons over there in Japan doing their thing. So there’s definitely opportunities to tap into that, I think.”

It’s obvious Alban knows his cars. There’s also a fun synergy in the fact that the first Instagram video I’d watched of the very Falcons Alban is referencing features one cruising through a Tokyo tunnel to Get Low by Lil Jon & The East Side Boyz. It should go without saying that anyone who played Need for Speed Underground has that song seared into their synapses.

To the Window, to the Wall

Need for Speed itelf has cruised both high and low over the last three decades but, while the team seems conscious that the series hasn’t always been at its best, there’s a clear feeling that it’s always remained faithful to being fun and approachable above all else.

“I think the trajectory has been bumpy, actually, in some cases,” admits Honnoraty. “But what’s happened – and I think what’s been most important – is if you think about the first inception of what The Need for Speed was, it was really accessible.”

“I remember going to what was probably the local video game shop, or computer shop, at the time, and me and my friends saw it on the 3DO. We were like, ‘What’s this?’ We all jumped on it, on the 3DO, and you felt badass. Being able to drive it, being chased by the cops; there wasn’t an experience that was really like it at the time.

I think today the biggest challenge we face is literally the age of the franchise, and what it’s been.

“I think it’s really tried to stay true to that formula. It’s still accessible today; a lot of car racing games are not so easily accessible, so people still have the option to jump in and have fun with a Need for Speed game. It makes you feel like you’re just a bad-arse… It’s really inside of the DNA; it’s always there.

For Honnoraty, what makes handling Need for Speed tricky today are the side effects of how long the series has survived.

“I think today the biggest challenge we face is literally the age of the franchise, and what it’s been,” Honnoraty continues. “It’s been so many different things and appeals to so many different people.”

“We even see the debates between players: which is the best game, and why is it the best game? You look at [Underground and Most Wanted]. The divisive debate that happens between which one of those is better and why – and how different they really are and what they were looking at – means that we sit in a place where Need for Speed means many different things to many different people.”

Honnoraty gives an example where, after speaking to attendees of the Need for Speed Payback booth at EA Play, some players compared the demo to Most Wanted, and others were adamant it reminded them of Underground.

“And I’m, like, ‘How? What? They’re completely different!’ he says. “So I think it’s just that people carry with them the feeling that they had when they played those games… I think that’s the hardest thing today; it’s honestly reconciling what Need of Speed means to players. And you’ve seen it; when we go in one direction with something that doesn’t quite work, and it doesn’t appeal to certain sorts of players. Or we go in another direction, so it’s a real thing that we have to tackle with, day in and day out. But John [Stanley] and I work with it constantly. We think we’ve nearly cracked it, so we’ll see.”

“Don’t forget the Porsche Unleashed crowd that would argue that that is the number one Need for Speed of all time!” adds Wiebe.

“Exactly! Exactly!” smiles Honnoraty. “We have a very vocal member in our player council that’s very vocal on Porsche Unleashed.”

“And then the Carbon crowd, the ProStreet crowd,” lists Stanley.

“The list goes on,” replies Honnoraty.

The list goes on indeed. So too, we hope, will Need for Speed.

To the window, to the wall, ‘til the sweat drop down… well, you get the idea.

Luke is a Senior Editor on the IGN reviews team. You can track him down on Bluesky @mrlukereilly to ask him things about stuff.

Indiana Jones and the Great Circle Update Dramatically Improves Lighting Effects on Xbox

Filed Under: ENTERTAINMENT, IGN

Bethesda and MachineGames have just released a new update for Indiana Jones and the Great Circle that appears to have dramatically improved the lighting effects on Xbox consoles.

In a blog post, MachineGames announced the release of Update 2 for Indiana Jones and the Great Circle that among other things includes general gameplay and bug fixes. However, an Xbox-specific fix seems to have added big improvements to how Global Illumination appears in game.

Here are two images MachineGames released highligthing the before and after differences of the udpate.

As you can see from the Before and After pictures, the update appears to have removed some of the washed out look of the pre-patch version. With the update and improvements to Global Illumination, Indiana Jones looks much more natural, with deeper shadows, and more accurate colors.

Indiana Jones and The Great Circle is one of the best Xbox games to have come in some time, and evokes the feeling of a truly great Indiana Jones movie, while also providing the excellent gameplay MachineGames is known for with games like Wolfenstein. The new update looks to make a great looking game even better.

Here’s a full copy of the Update 2 patch notes below. Be sure to check out IGN’s Indiana Jones and the Great Circle review for our full take on the new Xbox game.

Matt Kim is IGN’s Senior Features Editor. You can reach him @lawoftd.

These Last Minute Video Game Deals Will Ship to You By December 25: Super Mario, Sonic, Star Wars, and More

Filed Under: ENTERTAINMENT, IGN

If you’re shopping for last minute video games for the holidays, surprisingly you’re not too late. There are plenty of deals on PS5, Xbox Series X, and Nintendo Switch video games that can still be delivered to you before December 25. Many (but not all) of these deals are actually as good as the ones we saw during Black Friday and Cyber Monday. They’re mostly limited to retailers that have nearby retail locations like Best Buy and Target, but you should still be able to choose delivery and receive it with time to spare.

Nintendo Switch Video Game Deals (Arrives by 12/25)

PS5 and Xbox Video Game Deals (Arrives by 12/25)

Super Mario RPG

Super Mario RPG is a remake of the 1996 SNES classic. It was one of the best games to grace the console back then amidst a sea of other incredible titles, and Nintendo did a great job of staying faithful to the game’s charm and fun factor. A whole slew of improvements have been implemented to bring this game up to modern day standards, including updated visuals, music, gameplay mechanics, and several small yet welcome quality-of-life UI improvements. In our Super Mario RPG review, Tom Marks wrote that “Super Mario RPG is considered a classic for a reason, and this faithful remake makes it easy for anyone who missed it in the SNES era to see why.”

Pikmin 4

Pikmin 4 for the Nintendo Switch is the latest in the Pikmin franchise and arguably the best one. Pikmin 4 is incredible, and feels like the full realization of where the Pikmin franchise started heading in Pikmin 3. It has tons of content, is insanely charming, and is just overall a blast to play. In our Pikmin 4 review, Jada Griffin wrote that “Pikmin 4 adds variety to the series’ traditional gameplay by offering options other than the grab-and-throw formula of the past, and brings an extra helping of top-tier levels after the credits roll.”

Super Mario Odyssey

Super Mario Odyssey is still one of the best games available on Nintendo Switch. From the stunning Kingdoms to the numerous new gameplay elements, this is a title any Switch owner should have in their collection. Odyssey is best known for its Capture mechanic, which allows Mario to use Cappy and take over different enemies and objects in the environment. In our Super Mario Odyssey 10/10 review, Ryan Mccaffrey wrote that “Super Mario Odyssey is a brilliant adventure and love letter to the series that made Nintendo a household name.”

Ring Fit Adventure

Do you want to work out but simply don’t enjoy working out? Ring Fit Adventure is one way to get around this hurdle. Ring Fit incorporates a huge variety of excellent workout exercises disguised as an RPG game. An epic adventure awaits you slaying monsters and dragons, tackling new levels, traversing different environments, acquiring powerups and skills, all the while toning your abs and burning calories. In our Ring Fit Adventure review, Jonathon Dorbush wrote that “Ring Fit Adventure is a marathon, not a sprint, just like adapting a healthy lifestyle should be. The last couple of weeks haven’t altered my life or made me look like The Rock all of a sudden, but as a way of getting into (or back into, in my case) a pattern of healthy living, it’s been a solid push in the right direction.”

Star Wars Outlaws

Star Wars: Outlaws was released only three months ago and it’s already 33% off for Black Friday. Maybe Ubisoft is trying to boost sales after a lackluster launch, but that means you get to enjoy a AAA title at a great discount. IGN’s Tristan Ogilvie gave it a 7/10 review, which is still good, but I’ve beaten the game and immensely enjoyed it, so I would have given it an 8. It definitely has an “Assassin’s Creed game in a Star Wars skin” vibe, and there’s nothing wrong with that.

Metaphor: Refantazio

Metaphor: ReFantazio is the latest game from Persona 3, 4, and 5 Director Katsura Hashino and the team at Atlus’ Studio Zero. For the first time since launch, you can score the game at a discount, saving $20 this Black Friday. In our 9/10 review, Michael Higham wrote that “Refining the Atlus RPG formula of weaving tough turn-based combat into compelling social sim mechanics, Metaphor: ReFantazio doesn’t just send a powerful message across its political drama, it becomes a beautiful expression of the real impact storytelling can have on all of us.”

Sonic X Shadow Generations

Sonic X Shadow Generations is easily one of the best Sonic games in recent history. In our 9/10 Sonic X Shadow Generations review, Jada Griffin wrote that “Sonic X Shadow Generations takes an already excellent game and spring jumps it to new heights with a creative Shadow campaign and an appreciable graphical upgrade.” This game is actually a collection of two games in one: a remaster of the 2011 Sonic Generations and – the highlight – a brand new, original campaign starring Shadow the Hedgehog.

Eric Song is the IGN commerce manager in charge of finding the best gaming and tech deals every day. When Eric isn’t hunting for deals for other people at work, he’s hunting for deals for himself during his free time.

The New AMD Ryzen 7 9800X3D Is the Best Gaming CPU, and It’s Back in Stock at Amazon

Filed Under: ENTERTAINMENT, IGN

Update: Back in stock for a limited time

If you’re in the process of building out a new gaming PC and you’re looking for the best gaming processor, this is it. Right now, the recently released AMD Ryzen 7 9800X3D AM5 desktop processor is back in stock at Amazon at its retail price of $479 shipped. This is the official launch price with zero markup, and it’s not bundled with anything you don’t want or need.

The AMD Ryzen 7 9800X3D is the best gaming processor currently on the market and a much better option than the new Intel Core Ultra 9 285K. If you’re waiting for a discount on this processor for Black Friday, though, don’t hold your breath. It’s very unlikely the price will drop before the end of the year.

Highlight: AMD Ryzen 7 9800X3D Desktop Processor

AMD’s X3D series processors are optimized for gaming. In that respect, they bench better than even the most expensive of AMD’s standard lineup of CPUs thanks to AMD’s 3D V-Cache technology. Although perfectly capable of handling multitasking, rendering, and creation, the limited number of cores means they aren’t the ideal processors for those tasks. At its retail price of $479, the 9800X3D is $110 cheaper than the Intel Core Ultra 9 285K ($589) and $170 cheaper than the AMD Ryzen 9 9950X, even though it outperforms both of them in gaming. Unless you’re a staunch Intel fan, or you’re still on AM4 and don’t want to upgrade all of your components, the 9800X3D is the obvious choice for your next gaming rig.

CrucialÂŽ DDR5 Pro OC Gaming DRAM

Black Friday Deal: RTX 4070 for $499

If you’re looking for a good graphics card, this one happens to be on sale right now for Black Friday. The card is easy-to-install, powerful enough to play most FPS games, and is powered by a standard 8-pin cable. Definitely one to keep an eye on during peak sales season on Amazon.

When Is Black Friday 2024?

The actual date of Black Friday in 2024 falls on November 29, but the holiday deals season already started. Plenty of retailers have been dropping deals online since 11/22. More and more deals will roll out leading up to Cyber Monday, which culminates in massive discounts on tech. Retailers will not reveal their biggest deals until the big day on Friday, Nov 29, but many deals will be available well in advance.

Eric Song is the IGN commerce manager in charge of finding the best gaming and tech deals every day. When Eric isn’t hunting for deals for other people at work, he’s hunting for deals for himself during his free time.

The Simpsons: “O C’mon All Ye Faithful” Review

Filed Under: ENTERTAINMENT, IGN

“O C’mon All Ye Faithful” is now streaming on Disney+.

Let’s get something out of the way first. No, The Simpsons isn’t the boundary-pushing, trend-setting, conversation-starting animated sitcom it was at the beginning of the 1990s. That being said, the iconic animated comedy has found ways to stay entertaining for three and a half decades, like experimenting with its format by doing more horror episodes outside of the annual Treehouse of Horror anthology and noncanonical episodes like the fantastic “A Serious Flanders.” It’s fitting, then, that for its 35th anniversary, The Simpsons would go back to where it all began – a Christmas special – and hit the yuletide jackpot all over again.

In “O C’mon All Ye Faithful,” British mentalist Darren Brown visits Springfield to try and bring the Christmas spirit back to the town. Unfortunately, things go awry when Brown hypnotizes Homer in an attempt to make him a better gift-giver and ends up making him believe he is Santa Claus. Guest stars on The Simpsons can be very hit or miss, but one of the big surprises of “O C’mon All Ye Faithful,” is how well used Brown is. Not only is he a good enough voice actor (he never sounds like just another celebrity doing the self-promotion rounds), but his character fits within the world of the show as just another out-of-town weirdo trying to capitalize on the established characters’ goodwill. Brown is not a distracting presence, and if you have no idea who he is, you’d be excused for thinking he’s just another Lyle Lanley trying to trick the town with a rather elaborate con.

Though The Simpsons has done two-part episodes in the past, Disney is advertising “O C’mon All Ye Faithful” as the series’ first double episode. That in itself is a bit of a ruse: This is 43 minutes of The Simpsons neatly divided into two parts. The first is all about Brown accidentally making Homer believe he’s Santa. It’s a clever, funny, and heartfelt story where Homer actually brings joy to Springfield before things quickly spiral out of control and the town turns the holiday into a nightmarish, cultish tribute to jolly old Father Christmas.

It’s just the kind of silly and cartoony scenario The Simpsons continues to do well, one that never loses sight of an essential truth: Homer may be an idiot, but he’s a well-meaning idiot who genuinely loves his family. He (surprisingly) doesn’t go mad with power once the town is convinced he’s Santa, because all he wants is just to bring joy to people and to give almost magically thoughtful gifts. The special’s best gag involves Homer giving Smithers a thimble, which he then gives to an overenthusiastic Mr. Burns who is so ecstatic over the gift that his Grinch heart grows three sizes… and sends him to the ER for an emergency cardiac reduction.

The second half of the special involves Ned Flanders connecting the dots between cults and his own beliefs and giving up on religion. This is the real meat of the story, which is less of a comical series of Springfield shenanigans and more of a classic American Christmas story about finding the meaning (both the secular and religious one) of the holidays. Flanders has had crises of faith before, but not like this, because this time he doesn’t just stop believing in God – he stops believing in hell and eternal punishment, too. This throws him over the edge, destroying his identity as well as those of his sons, Rod and Todd. Overnight, Flanders goes from keeping a bible in his medicine cabinet to actually using the space for its intended purpose (keep your eyes out for “Better Than Prayer” Aspirin), while the kids quickly go from not wanting toys for Christmas to trading threats like “I’ll Cain-and-Abel you in your sleep.”

Flanders’ crisis of faith comes from a poignant place: the loss of his two wives, Maude and Edna. It’s part of the nature of this show and its floating timeline that the past doesn’t really exist for the characters; The Simpsons rarely references things that happened prior to the current episode, because that’d mean time marches forward – and the show can’t. When we do get these types of references, it’s usually part of a joke – like Homer recounting past jobs or international incidents involving the family – rather than an acknowledgement of dead characters. When Flanders starts talking about how he keeps putting on Post-it notes in the bathroom because Maude liked that, or how he still sends silly text messages to Edna, it comes across as one of the most emotional things The Simpsons has attempted in years. It works in no small part due to Harry Shearer’s performance. After 35 years of The Simpsons, it shouldn’t come as a surprise that some of the performances aren’t as good as they used to be. Actors age, or they become less enthusiastic about the job. Here, however, we get the rawest Flanders has been since his snap in season 8’s “Hurricane Neddy,” a breakdown not of anger, but of the soul, a story of pure heartbreak that Shearer captures beautifully.

Flanders’ story is one of the most emotional things The Simpsons has attempted in years.

During Flanders’ crisis, it’s not Reverend Lovejoy – the spokesman for corporate, mindless faith – who comes to help, but rather Professor Frink, bringing with him an appreciation for the underwater world (and a great joke about the danger of deep-diving submarines). Though there’s no doubt that Flanders will eventually rekindle his faith, it’s nevertheless nice to see that the writers remembered Lisa’s Buddhist beliefs and has them come into play in the special, whose message is ultimately about appreciating the beauty of a world defined by randomness.

Verdict:

Score: 8

Short blurb:

Amazon Renews Secret Level for a Second Season

Filed Under: ENTERTAINMENT, IGN

Following what Amazon says is the largest debut for a new animated series on Prime Video, the company has announced it has renewed Secret Level for another season.

The animated anthology series tells short animated stories set in different video game franchises like Armored Core, PlayStation, Warhammer 40K, and even Pac-Man. The latter of which is even getting its own tie-in video game from Bandai Namco.

Given the apparent success of the series, Amazon seems eager for more episodes. Knowing that it will likely maintain the anthology format, we’re curious to find out which games will be adapted for the second season. Dark Souls, maybe? Or something left field like Dig Dug? Given the bredth of games adapted for Secret Level already, it could literally be anything.

Secret Level premiered on December 10, with the rest of the episodes from the first season arriving on December 17. The series was created by Deadpool director Tim Miller and the studio behind LOVE, DEATH + ROBOTS and featured a star-studded voice cast that includes Keanu Reeves, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Ariana Greenblatt, Gabriel Luna, Laura Bailey, and more.

Our review for Secret Level was middling, saying that the episodes were too short to do justice to any of the video games the series adapts. Given that it is an anthology series, some episodes are better than others, but on the whole it couldn’t keep our full interest.

For a full list of all the video games adapted for the first season of Secret Level, check out our handy breakdown here and let us know which games you want to see in the next season.

Matt Kim is IGN’s Senior Features Editor. You can reach him @lawoftd.

The Best Black Friday Xbox Controller Deals Are Back (Including the Xbox Elite)

Filed Under: ENTERTAINMENT, IGN

Today, Best Buy and Target are matching the lowest prices I saw for Xbox Series X|S wireless controllers on Black Friday. Right now you can get one in either Carbon Black or Robot White for only $34.99. Best of all, your order will arrive by December 25. These controllers are compatible with Xbox Series X and S and PC.

Xbox Controllers for $34.99

Aesthetics aside, these Xbox wireless controllers are identical to the one that’s bundled with the Xbox Series X and S console. Standard features include textured grips, hybrid D-pad, button mapping with the Xbox app, a 3.5mm audio jack that works with any wired headset, and a Share button to upload screenshots and video.

The controller supports both Xbox wireless and Bluetooth connectivity. That means you can use it for your PC or mobile device. In fact, we think this is the the best PC controller you can get. If your PC doesn’t have Bluetooth, you can still use it in wired mode with a USB Type-C cable or go out and buy a Bluetooth or Xbox wireless adapter.

Xbox Controller Ghost Cipher Edition for $45.49

If you want a color scheme that’s sure to grab yours and other people’s attentions, check out the Ghost Cipher Limited Edition Xbox Series X|S wireless controller. It’s down to $45 at Target and arrives by December 25. The Ghost Cipher Edition is an absolutely gorgeous controller, with a translucent clear top case, rubberized ash gray grips, metallic bronze triggers and D-pad, and a solid white back. The interior components are colored silver to match the overall theme.

Xbox Elite Wireless Controller Series 2 for $124

Includes component pack

Want something even more premium? Right now, you can pick up the professional-grade Xbox Series X Elite Series 2 Wireless Controller for only $124.00 after a 30% off instant discount. That’s a great deal for the original Elite Series 2 controller that includes the component pack. The newer Elite Series 2 Core controllers in White, Blue, and Red do not include the component pack and they normally retail for $140. The component pack itself retails for $59.99.

The Xbox Elite Series 2 Core controller features better build quality and lots more customizability than the stock controller that comes with the Xbox Series X console. Some of the more significant pro gaming features include adjustable-tension thumbsticks, wrap-around rubberized grip, and shorter hair trigger locks. The component pack, which is bundled with this controller, includes an extra sets of paddles, thumbsticks, D-pad, and case.

Eric Song is the IGN commerce manager in charge of finding the best gaming and tech deals every day. When Eric isn’t hunting for deals for other people at work, he’s hunting for deals for himself during his free time.

CES 2025: What to Expect From the Giant Tech Expo

Filed Under: ENTERTAINMENT, IGN

CES 2025 is looming around the corner, and while the annual tech show is usually full of high-tech goodies, this year is going to be especially important for gamers. Nvidia’s Jensen Huang is hosting the big CES keynote this year, so you can expect Team Green to be going big. Likewise, we haven’t seen new graphics cards from AMD, so it’s a very strong possibility that CES is going to usher in an entirely new generation of graphics hardware.

The show officially kicks off on January 7, 2025 in Las Vegas, and we’ll be on the ground to get hands on with the tech that we’ll be using over the next year or so. While we’re still a couple weeks away from the show, we can make some educated guesses about what’s going to be at CES 2025.

CES 2025: When is it Happening?

CES 2025 officially kicks off on January 7, 2025. However, the real show starts a day earlier, on January 6, when Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang takes the stage for the CES 2025 keynote at 6:30pm PST. CES 2025 will wrap up around January 10.

We expect announcements to happen throughout the week, as the hundreds of tech companies all vie for attention. Companies like Intel, AMD, Samsung and Sony all have their own keynotes scheduled, likely brimming with announcements of their own. There’s going to be a lot of stuff.

What is CES?

CES, or the Consumer Electronics Show, is an annual tech convention, where tech companies big and small show off concepts and new products for the new year. Unlike some other trade shows, a big part of CES has always been concepts that give a glimpse into the future, rather than just the products we’ll see at our local Best Buy later in the year – though the latter is still a huge part of the show.

You can expect everything from gaming laptops to flying cars to make an appearance at CES, though this year we suspect the former is going to be the star of the show.

What to Expect From CES 2025

While CES usually has a wide variety of technology on offer, and likely will this year too, the thing we’re most interested in is new GPUs. After all, Nvidia’s Jensen Huang is hosting the big keynote that kicks the event off, and I couldn’t imagine Team Green not taking that opportunity to announce something big.

We’re overdue for new graphics cards anyway. Typically, new graphics cards – both from AMD and Nvidia – release on a roughly two-year cycle. Given that the RTX 4090 launched in October 2022 and the Radeon RX 7900 XTX launched in December of the same year, we’re officially overdue for a new generation of graphics cards. It doesn’t hurt that Intel beat both of these companies to the punch with its new graphics card, the Intel Arc B580, either.

With the Intel card already out in the wild, and with the company’s disappointing Core Ultra 200S processors already out, it’s less clear what Intel will have to bring to the table. The Lunar Lake architecture behind AI PCs has been out since September, and it’s unlikely that Team Blue will have a follow-up to that architecture already. However, we are still waiting on a new generation of H-series processors from the company. H-series processors are typically reserved for gaming laptops, and offer substantially better performance than the chips behind your thin and light devices.

If AMD does announce new graphics, it’s possible that we might at least get a sneak peak at the AMD Z2 – or whatever the follow-up to the Z1 Extreme will be called. Handheld gaming PCs have blown up over the last year or so, with hits like the Asus ROG Ally X and the Lenovo Legion Go really taking the idea popularized by the Steam Deck and running with it. MSI is heading into the show with the MSI Claw 8 AI already up for preorder, and we can’t imagine it’s the only manufacturer with a handheld to show. After all, we’re still waiting for Alienware to make its Concept UFO from CES 2020 a reality. Given that it’s been 4 years, we wouldn’t be surprised to see it make an appearance.

Beyond PC gaming, though, Sony and Samsung both have major press conferences at the show. While it’s exciting to see Sony at the show, it’s likely that the company is going to focus primarily on their non-gaming segments – think TVs, audio, etc. Likewise, I don’t expect Samsung to announce new phones at the show, though with the Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra being nearly a year old at this point, we could be surprised.

Like any year, though, there’s no way to predict everything that will be at the show. There are hundreds of companies showing off what they’ve been cooking up, and there is always something huge that takes everyone by surprise. Luckily, because we’ll be on the ground, we’ll be updating this article with all the cool stuff we see in Las Vegas in January, so be sure to keep this page bookmarked.

Jackie Thomas is the Hardware and Buying Guides Editor at IGN and the PC components queen. You can follow her @Jackiecobra

Pre-Order the Helldivers 2 Original Game Soundtrack Vinyl Now on IGN Store!

Filed Under: ENTERTAINMENT, IGN

The battle for democracy in Helldivers 2 made it one of the biggest games of 2024. Many fans found the gameplay and multiplayer nature of the game fun, enthralled by the fast action and triumphant soundtrack. For the first time ever, you can take home the sound of freedom with the Helldivers 2 Original Soundtrack Vinyl, which is available to pre-order now at IGN Store.

Pre-Order the Helldivers 2 Original Game Soundtrack Vinyl Now on IGN Store!

This vinyl is the ultimate collector’s item for any Helldivers fan. Composed by Wilbert Roget, II with additional music by Ross Tregenza, the Helldivers 2 soundtrack is the perfect soundtrack to listen to in the fight for freedom. A total of 11 tracks are included on this 1LP release, which we’ve outlined below.

Side A

1. Ode to Liberty
2. Welcome to the Fight
3. The Super Destroyer
4. Hellpods Primed
5. A Cup of Liber-tea (Helldivers 2 Main Theme)
6. The Terminid Horde

Side B

7. Track 11
8. The Automaton Legion
9. No Diver Left Behind
10. March of the Helldivers
11. Super Earth National Anthem

The yellow translucent vinyl is unmistakeably Helldivers, and the front of the package features the key art from the game. The vinyl is packed in a single-pocket jacket with a credit insert, which includes a note from the composer Wilbert Roget, II. The Helldivers 2 Original Soundtrack Vinyl will ship out starting February 2025. Pre-orders are now open on IGN Store, so don’t miss your chance to grab this unique collector’s item!

About IGN Store

IGN Store sells high-quality merch, collectibles, and shirts for everything you’re into. It’s a shop built with fans in mind: for all the geek culture and fandom you love most. Whether you’re into comics, movies, anime, games, retro gaming or just want some cute plushies (who doesn’t?), this store is for you!