Star Wars Outlaws Is Simultaneously Astounding And Busted, The Minecraft Movie Knows Its Audience, And More Of The Week's Takes

I was staring at a wall. It was an early mission in Ubisoft’s latest behemothic RPG, Star Wars Outlaws, in which I was charged with infiltrating an Empire base to recover some information from a computer, and this wall really caught my attention. - John Walker Read More

As the Minecraft movie trailer broke yesterday afternoon, the internet was immediately abuzz with cynicism and disappointment, as adults across the world simultaneously expressed one thought: “Who is this film even for?” What almost every single one of them forgot is that they’re not nine-year-olds. - John Walker Read More

Remember when we all played Astro’s Playroom, which came pre-installed on every PlayStation 5, and enjoyed a collective nostalgia trip through Sony’s video game history, coupled with a great deal of hope for the future of our shiny new consoles? The platformer pays tribute to PlayStation’s past with cute little robot cameos representing nearly every video game hero from every era remotely associated with the brand. It was more or less a guided tour through the legacy of one of the big three, and after the PS4 solidified Sony as top dog in the console landscape, I was certainly in the mood to look back at how we got here when the PS5 launched in 2020. Now we have Astro Bot, the excellent follow-up that builds upon all the tight platforming, adorable robo aesthetics, and PlayStation nostalgia of that pack-in game. But it’s been four years since the PS5 launched with Astro’s Playroom installed and the new game also inadvertently spotlights the fact that, despite four trips around the sun, the system has remarkably little to show for it. - Kenneth Shepard Read More

PAX West continues to be one of North America’s most prolific gaming conventions. It’s not only a great place for the gaming community to gather and celebrate our favorite pastime, but also an excellent opportunity to check out the upcoming slate of games coming this year and early in 2025. Coming hot on the heels of Gamescom, PAX West 2024 showcased a substantial suite of games from big favorites like Nintendo, Square-Enix, and Bandai Namco, along with some under-the-radar releases that have the potential to become someone’s next sleeper hit. - Alessandro Fillari Read More

The Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 multiplayer beta weekend is over, but I’m still a little shell-shocked from it. The sixth installment in the long-running Activision sub-franchise is faster than ever before, and full of players who have already gotten the brand-new omnimovement system down to a science, which means every match goes one of two ways: fun or frustrating. Luckily, most of my time spent playing Black Ops 6 this weekend was fun, though I worry that as more and more people get a chance to go hands-on with the shooter ahead of its October 25 release, the worst parts of Call of Duty multiplayer will take over. - Alyssa Mercante Read More

It’s 1913 and young Nancy Maple, an amateur geologist, travels from Toronto to the remote Canadian town of Crimson to investigate the discovery of a large diamond. However, things are more perilous than they initially seem, and before long our plucky heroine finds herself investigating an apparent murder instead. Released on August 15, The Crimson Diamond is a brand-new adventure game from developer Julia Minamata, and it is exceptional. With its design, Minamata excavates a once-common element of early adventure games that has long fallen by the wayside, dismissed as if it were no longer of any value. However, The Crimson Diamond brilliantly demonstrates that, when used effectively, this device can actually enhance our connection to a game. Let me explain. - Carolyn Petit Read More

Last week saw the surprise release of Castlevania Dominus Collection, a great compilation that (finally!) gives us a way to play the series’ three Nintendo DS releases on modern hardware. Castlevania fans have their strong opinions on which of these are the best, but the fact that Dawn of Sorrow, Portrait of Ruin, and Order of Ecclesia are now far more accessible is a win for everybody. Still, it was another inclusion in the collection that made my jaw drop when I saw the release trailer in last week’s Nintendo Direct: Haunted Castle Revisited, a brand new remake of a little-known Castlevania arcade game. And folks, it is absolutely gorgeous. - Carolyn Petit Read More