It looks like Activision may be planning another remastered version of a classic Call Of Duty, and for a surprisingly reasonable price.
E3 isn’t going to have any secrets left at this point, if the latest video game leak is true.
It certainly sounds plausible: IGN Italia caught the Italian Amazon site listing Call Of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 Remastered for Xbox One and PlayStation 4, a listing which was then quickly taken down once everyone noticed.
The release date was April 30, which is surprisingly close. It’s also just a couple of weeks before the main reveal event for Black Ops 4. Although whether that makes it more or less believable is hard to say.
Was this a mistake or a leak?
The other key point is that it was down for just €19.99 (£17), which seems unusually reasonable given that the work put into the first remaster was actually quite substantial.
Although it can easily be found for not much more than £20 now, the first game is officially £34.99. It was also a PlayStation 4 exclusive on its initial release.
Of course, the controversy with the first remaster was that it was originally only sold as part of the expensive Legacy Edition that came with that year’s Infinite Warfare. But if this leak is true that’s not what’s happening with Modern Warfare 2.
So either Activision are completely changing their approach this time round or… the rumour isn’t true.
So I went and saw the new Tomb Raider film, it wasn’t terrible but it wasn’t particularly good either. For the most part I found the movie watchable but by far the best bits were sequences directly inspired by the 2013 game.
I don’t know why the people behind this film didn’t lift more from the game and make a stripped-down survival movie. I’m guessing they were restricted by budget, or common sense?
There are so many thrilling sequences in Tomb Raider 2013, the Hercules crash immediately springs to mind, why on earth wasn’t that in the new film?
I’ve seen online comments criticising the choice of Alicia Vikander to play Lara but I thought she was one of the better aspects of the movie, she nailed the accent and gave the rebooted Miss Croft athleticism and energy.
When Alicia Vikander was left alone and set against the elements, the new film actually threatened to be good. I hope the filmmakers make another Tomb Raider movie, all the inspiration and guidance they need is right there in the rebooted games.
My verdict: Moderately enjoyable but another missed opportunity, 6/10. msv858 (Twitter)
No fun at parties
The Tomb Raider games on PlayStation were one of the main reasons I got into gaming but I’ve found my interest in the series has waned over the years, to the point I’m not interested in the slightest about the prospect of the newly announced one.
I think the biggest problem for me is that I now prefer to play characters that I like and want to effectively ‘hang out’ with. I want a bit of personality and Lara has always lacked that, even more so with serious tone of the current games.
To the gamer currently off work with stress and anxiety, I would recommend just playing games on the easiest settings (so definitely have a break from Nioh!). There’s no shame in just having fun, and as someone who is also suffering from mental health issues I often do this just to escape and have an adventure without the extra pressure that harder difficulties can add. I do hope you feel better soon. LastYearsModel
Good State
I am really looking forward to State Of Decay 2. So I’ve finally started playing the original game. Having missed it on Xbox 360 I picked up the Xbox One remaster a while ago when it was on sale and have just got round to playing it. I’m enjoying it, really like the survival horror mechanics. Right now supplies are running low, two of my playable characters are dead, a woman is at death’s door, another guy twisted his knee so he’s out of action and another two of my survivors have morale issues for me to sort out. My house is in a real state of decay. So I have to go out, fight through the zombie hordes, clear out some of the infestation, and search for medical supplies and food and materials to build new facilities for our house.
The permanent death really makes me care about the characters, with them having different abilities and roles to play in the group like doctors and car mechanics. Some are influential leaders and some have military training, making them good at fighting off the zombies, so it’s a real blow losing one of them.
So I’m really looking forward to see how Undead Labs have expanded on these mechanics in the sequel and the game looks much better with a bigger budget and in Unreal Engine 4 on a more powerful console. State Of Decay 1 looks and plays a lot better on the Xbox One X and that’s without an official enhanced patch, just the console’s built-in features and extra power boosting everything whereas when I tried it on normal Xbox One it was very rough. Which is why I never got into it until now. Big Angry Dad82 (gamertag)
Do you know if the Fist of the North Star game that was recently released on PlayStation 4 in Japan will be getting a US or European release?
I wouldn’t mind trying to import it but I don’t think the game contains English subtitles.
I’ve been searching the Internet but cannot get any information. I contacted Sega UK and they told me to look at blogs that haven’t been updated in years or their website that has no info about the game. GD
GC: Bizarrely it’s some kind of crossover with Yakzua, so based on how its other spin-offs have been treated it’ll probably stay Japanese-only. Although it actually seems to be an unrelated game with similar gameplay, that uses existing Yakuza voice actors in different roles. The name Hokuto Ga Gotoku is a play on both the Japanese name for Yakuza (Ryu Ga Gotoku, aka Like A Dragon) and Fist of the North Star (Hokuto no Ken). It’s currently number one in Japan.
Extra support
Seeing as Resident Evil 7 VR is still yet to appear on PC it was a nice surprise to see Skyrim VR has not only a PC release date of the 3rd of April but lists Oculus Rift as a compatible headset.
Fallout 4 VR worked on Oculus but didn’t have gamepad or touch controller support, whereas Skyrim VR has gamepad support so I guess that’s why Oculus is listed as supported. I’m expecting there will still be no Touch controller support. Which is fine as the motion controls for Skyrim VR and Fallout 4 VR were pretty horrible.
It comes at a good time, as the momentum VR built at the end of last year with price cuts seems to have slowed dramatically this year. Moss is the only notable title so far with high profile PSVR releases Bravo Team and The Inpatient disappointing.
I’m hoping that the extra power of the PC will fix a lot of the technical problems that Skyrim VR had on PlayStation VR. I stop playing it early on that format and moved over to the Rift, in part to have a better VR experience from the extra horsepower. Fingers crossed too that Bethesda will finally add gamepad support to Fallout 4 VR as I’ll be happy to give it another go, after getting it refunded due to lack of Touch controller support, if I can sit down and use a pad to play. Simundo Jones
The naked eye
I know there’s some relatively good quality rumours about it now but I still can’t believe that Sony would think of releasing a PlayStation 5 for at least three or four years. There’s just no point. A lot of people still haven’t got a 4K TV and the PS4 Pro makes very little difference. Even PC graphics don’t seem to have advanced much in recent years, or at least I can’t remember the time I last looked at them and thought it would be completely impossible on a console.
I guess they might be Planning a Super PS4 Pro in a couple of years, but it’s pretty obvious that sort of thing is just a niche release for hardcore fans.
Perhaps I’m just seeing things the way I want to but what worries me is Sony getting obsessed about hardware again and side-lining the games. They were terrible for the first two years of this gen and Microsoft has been awful the whole time, and are maybe only getting it out of their system this year.
Just stop it with the endless new hardware! It makes much less difference than a good game that takes advantage of what it’s got. I mean, what would you rather have? Bloodborne 2, Horizon Zero Dawn 2, and a bunch of new franchises or virtually nothing and two years of arguing about hardware stats that make no difference to anything people can see with the naked eye? Grant
There’s no shame in it
I don’t know if this has been mentioned before, but in Poundland I have started seeing PlayStation 4 and Xbox One games. They are very old, like FIFA 16.
There may be a few bargains to be had, as I think I saw a copy of Deus Ex. Not sure which one but all these games were sealed but sadly not £1, the most was £5. Alek Kazam PS: Yes, I am poor for shopping at Poundland.
You’ve stated that you’ll probably re-visit Star Wars: Battlefront II after the various changes have been implemented, which is fair enough – I think you did this with a previous title but can’t remember if my memory is playing tricks on me.
Anyhow, got me thinking. If games as a Service becomes what the major publishers want it to be, how does that sit from a professional reviewer’s standpoint? If the model is to release a base game, that gets added to with free DLC funded by microtransactions, which materially changes the game over time, how do you review that?
You can only review what’s put in front of you at any given time, but if that model becomes more prevalent then it could make day one reviews, not redundant, but less relevant. This happens now, with quite a few games that have improved way beyond the initial release, but will probably become the rule rather than the exception, for the big budget titles at least.
I suppose this question is rhetorical, there’s probably no straight answer. And it’s most likely moot too, as Battlefront aside, there seems to be little correlation between critical and financial success when it comes to AAA games (affects Jim Sterling voice). TheTruthSoul (PSN ID) PS: I know you’re sci-fi film fans, have you seen Annihilation and Under the Skin? Both slow burn cerebral films that I’d highly recommend, albeit with the caveat that they’re Marmite, particularly the latter.
GC: We haven’t had time for Annihilation yet but Under the Skin is excellent. So is the book, although it’s very different. As for reviewing service games… day one is still the point at which you pay over the majority of your money, so in that sense the initial reviews are still important. But as you say, re-reviews and updates are inevitably going to become more commonplace.
Inbox also-rans
My children pooled some pocket money last week to get a used copy of Splatoon on Wii U. They’ve played it nearly constantly over the last few days, having great fun. Perhaps surprisingly, there’s still plenty of people playing it online so there’s lots of online matches. We’ll make sure we get the sequel when we get around to getting a Switch half_empty80 (PSN ID /NN ID)
I have an unwanted code for Assassin’s Creed Unity for Xbox One to give to any reader who’d like it. Karl S
GC: That’s very good of you (no matter what we think of the game). As usual we’ll give the code in exchange for a useable Inbox letter.
This week’s Hot Topic
The subject for this weekend’s Inbox was suggested by reader R1CH5TER, and asks what is your most played console or computer?
What video game format have you spent the most time on overall, over the years, and how comes? Do you count it as your favourite format and do you still have it plugged in, ready to play, today? Do you keep your old consoles and if not do you regret getting rid of them?
How interested are you in retro gaming and what benefits, if any, do you feel there are in owning the original console itself – instead of a replica or just an emulation of its games?
Resident Evil 4 was released in the UK exactly 13 years ago today, and a celebrates the fact by looking back at one of the best games ever.
On the 18th March Resident Evil 4 is 13 years old in the UK! I’d never been into the previous games in the series much but this new style, which seemed more action-packed, just grabbed my attention and I bought it (and a GameCube to play it on!) on launch day. Quite simply it blew my mind and still does today, even after countless playthroughs on multiple consoles over the years.
Here are some of the things that I think make it so special:
Perfect pacing I’d played a lot of games before it, and even more after it, but I can’t think of any other game that is so well paced. It’s constantly outdoing itself with new enemies and set pieces but considering it’s a pretty long, linear, single-player game (my first playthrough was well over the 10 hour mark) it never puts a foot wrong. Nothing ever gets repetitive or outstays it’s welcome, which I feel is a rarity in games.
Memorable encounters Some of these are traditional boss fights, others not, but Resident Evil 4 is packed with so many memorable encounters. The first one for me is meeting Dr Salvador (the iconic dude with a sack over his head as he wields a chainsaw!) near the start of the game. Then over the course of your adventure you also get to fight Del Lago, a beast of a fish, while you’re stuck in a little rowboat (which thoughtfully has an endless supply of harpoons); El Gigante, who’s a huge, hulking giant so he earns his name well; Chief Mendez who transforms into a grotesque monster who’s a pain to finish off (seriously, stop swinging about in those rafters!).
Then there’s the Garrador, who’s blind but has huge deadly claws; Colmillos (wolves with tentacles sprouting out of their backs!) that leap out at you as you navigate your way through a garden maze; Novistors, disgusting giant insects that can go invisible, walk on the ceiling and puke acid over you; Verdigo, which becomes a deadly game of hide and seek in the sewers; and Salazar, first you get chased by a giant clockwork version of him, then after battling up a tower you confront the little creep personally.
The sinister Regenerators live up to their name as when you shoot their limbs off they grow back (you need a lot of firepower to take them down or the thermal scope to shoot the parasites in them). And there’s Krauser, who you first go up against via a very cool QTE knife fight and then confront properly later on in a game of cat and mouse. The monstrous U-3, who mutates halfway through the fight to have a giant set of pincers, and finally the guy behind it all Saddler, who transforms into a weird spider-like creature.
Gandos Even the basic cannon fodder Ganados are brilliant, screaming and cursing at you in Spanish! I love how they react to your attacks: aim too long at their heads and they will cover their face with their hands or move themselves away from where you’re aiming, shoot them in a limb and they will react in pain and drop weapons. Then there’s the whole shoot their heads off and tentacles burst out – eek! Making these regular enemies so responsive really adds to the brilliant gameplay.
The Merchant Got a selection of good things on sale, stranger!
Even after all these years The Merchant is still one of my favourite non-player characters. In a world where almost everyone else is trying to kill you, having a friendly guy (with an awesome voice!) willing to trade with you makes for a little oasis of calm.
Two interesting facts about my favourite purveyor of armed goods:
He’s voiced by the same guy (Paul Mercier) who voices Leon (talk about vocal range!).
At times in the game he is showing the same red eyes as the Ganados! Is he infected too? I’m just glad he doesn’t turn murderous with all the weapons he has!
Leon S. Kennedy OK, so I know he’s got a ridiculous haircut, and he certainly isn’t the greatest or deepest video game character, but I like him! While Chris Redfield is so serious and brooding (probably the effect of having to put up with Sheva for a whole game!) Leon is far more laid back and has plenty of time for cheesy one liners, making his company far more enjoyable.
Salazar and Saddler These two are amongst my favourite antagonists. Salazar is like a Looney Tunes character: not very bright, prone to temper tantrums when things don’t go his way, and ridiculously funny. Saddler on the other hand is more controlled but is also so sarcastic, constantly sneering at Leon. When the time came for both of them to meet the business end of my rocket launcher, I was very pleased indeed!
Guns From basic pistols (including The Punisher you can win by shooting blue medallions that are hanging up around the place) to the crazy power of the rocket launcher and the Chicago Typewriter (a Tommy Gun with unlimited ammo), and not forgetting a wide assortment of shotguns, Magnums, sniper rifles, sub-machineguns, and even a mine thrower in between. Even after all this time every weapon is a joy to not only fire but reload (the reloading animation for the Broken Butterfly Magnum is so cool!) and you can also upgrade them as you go via the ever helpful Merchant.
The little touches It’s the little things that add atmosphere. Freeing that dog from a trap in the woods (the dog later returns and helps distract El Gigante while you fight him); the chickens on the farm that get all agitated and flap around if you get too close to them (they also lay eggs, which are good for your health and throwing at people!); going fishing, which usually means lobbing a grenade in the water but you can pick up the fish afterwards and use them for health; shooting at bird nests, which usually have ammo or money in them; and last but not least the shooting galleries provided by The Merchant, which are a lot of fun and can earn you a lot of cash.
The controls After playing games such as Uncharted, where you can run and gun, Resident Evil 4’s controls feel so incredibly rigid but that’s what makes it so special. If you could run around spraying bullets everywhere the game and its gunplay would lose so much of its brilliant tension.
The end is only the beginning Once you’ve completed the main game there’s so much more. Firstly there’s New Game+ where you can carry over all your awesome weapons, Assignment Ada is a separate mission playing as Ada Wong on the PlayStation 2 (and later editions). You also got five new missions in Separate Ways where again you got to play as Ada, this includes new weapons (explosive crossbow!) and a new environment which sees you sinking a battleship! Then last but certainly not least is the brilliantly addictive Mercenaries mode where you have a limited amount of time to rack up kills.
So that’s my thoughts on what is one of my most favourite games of all time, 13 years old and just as awesome as ever! Happy birthday Resident Evil 4!
By reader LastYearsModel09 (PSN ID)
The reader’s feature does not necessarily represent the views of GameCentral or Metro.
You can submit your own 500 to 600-word reader feature at any time, which if used will be published in the next appropriate weekend slot. As always, email gamecentral@ukmetro.co.uk and follow us on Twitter.
GameCentral readers discuss their favourite female characters, from Lara Croft to Aloy from Horizon Zero Dawn.
The subject for this week’s Hot Topic was suggested by reader Mesomex, following International Women’s Day earlier in the month. We wanted to know which female character you think is the most interesting and what you think of the representation of women in video games in recent years.
You can probably guess what some of the nominations were, although opinions were divided on the qualities of Lara Croft as a character. Bayonetta, Jade from Beyond Good & Evil, and the women of Uncharted were all popular though, with most readers feeling things are more positive now than they used to be.
Beaten by a woman
My favourite female game character is Chun-Li from the Street Fighter series. When I first saw her in the arcade days I wasn’t overly amazed by her but as I have used her in different iterations of the franchise, she has allowed one of my gaming dreams to come true.
She actually allowed me to essentially master the game and take my hobby to new heights. Unfortunately, I didn’t realise that when you beat someone online with Chun it is a real ego stealer. So the hate you get is monuMENTAL. Chun-Li is and always will be my favourite. Guile75
The anti-Lara
For me the answer is definitely Bayonetta. If you’ve never played the games you may get the impression she’s just a tawdry caricature for the male gaze but she’s absolutely not. Bayonetta is completely in control of her own games and does not rely, want, or need any man.
Not only that but she’s perfectly aware of how she looks and taunts those that would try and objectify her, including many fourth wall breaks where it’s obvious she’s addressing gamers themselves. I think she’s fantastic and the fact that her games are amazing too is just the icing on the cake.
I imagine the most popular answer is going to be Lara Croft but as far as I’m concerned that’s just name recognition. Ask yourself who is Lara Croft? What are her personality traits? Her likes and dislikes? Her famous lines of dialogue or most intriguing storylines? Her great loves and losses? Having trouble? That’s because she’s basically a blank slate.
She may as well be a customisable avatar for all the difference it makes and they often have much more personality anyway (see: Mass Effect). Bayonetta is like the anti-Lara Croft and that’s why I love her. Bailey
Believable people
I’m in the minority but I actually liked Camilla Ludington’s take on Lara Croft, I feel she did the best with what she was given but my favourites in a three way tie are Aloy (Horizon Zero Dawn) and both Chloe Price and Max Caulfield (Life Is Strange). All three are believable in their own situations and you can certainly feel empathy and sympathy for each character. The fact that Aloy and Chloe are voiced by Ashly Burch is testament to her voice acting talent.
I do think that females in gaming, both as characters and in life has got better over the last decade but I do think there should be more of them in prominent roles and if the rumours of a female lead in the next GTA are true then I’m all for it.
On another note, and while not quite gaming-related I’ve seen on social media a bit of a backlash to Alicia Vikander playing Lara Croft in the new Tomb Raider because her breasts are too small. Not only have I never heard anything more ridiculous like it’s still the ‘90s, but it’s an insult to Alicia as both a woman and an actress. Always seems to be one step forward and two steps back. Mr.Saveloy
GC: Just to note Chloe in Before The Storm is voiced by Rhianna DeVries, who we slightly prefer in the role.
The female character I am most interested in has to be without any doubt, Lara Croft. The reason for this is because of how much Lara has gone through with all of the Tomb Raider games and has still managed to come out strong. From the very first Tomb Raider game to the resent Lara has faced a great deal of many challenges and has fought against numerous odds and foes.
Adding to this, Lara Croft has won over the hearts of gamers and has even managed to win over the respect of a lot of male gamers with her overwhelming accomplishments. Lara Croft has been voiced by five people in the video games something not many female characters in games has done.
I personally think the representation of women in video games is acceptable but there are quite a few improvements that should be made, such as bigger interactions with characters and in open world games like GTA and Red Dead Redemption. As well as being given some small advantages that would allow female main characters to be given a more controversial role and to help gamers have a better understanding of female main characters.
Broken Sword 1: Director’s Cut, for example, allows you to play as a female main character called Nico from time to time, which at the time of its release was what I felt like a very cool feature and was decent of Revolution to do that.
A few other franchises that I feel could use more prominent female main characters are Dead Rising games as although Dead Rising 2 and Dead Rising 2 Off The Record did have Stacey and Rebecca players were never given a chance to play as them in co-op, to ensure they would have a more proactive role in the game and not just storyline based. gaz be rotten (gamertag)
East vs. West
I find it as hard to pick a favourite character, let alone a female one, in a game as it is to pick a single song (very hard). I could go on for a while of those that stay in the memory but would like to focus on the other part of the topic. Also, that said I have a personal favourite female character in a series of visual novels but don’t think that could be discussed here due to various reasons.
I see no issue with representation of females in video games at all, it may be an ‘issue’ in the West because certain groups take extremely selective examples, twist them and take to the more than willing gaming media to cry foul (because you can’t be sexy or be aimed at males anymore apparently) but has it ever been an issue really? Of all the games I grew up playing I did not care whether the character was male, female, dragon, car or whatever and I imagine the vast majority feel the same.
I think Japan has it down perfectly, they have by far the most diverse array of representation for all in their games and they do it because they want to not because they have to fill a quota or percentage. Take a look at Pokémon, Final Fantasy, or Dragon Quest, three of the biggest gaming franchise on the planet and from the beginning to this very day have interesting characters of both genders and all ages throughout. These are just a smidgen of an ocean’s worth of games including many from the western world.
They also cater to niches with visual novels, ecchi games that have sexy, fierce, intelligent, strong, weak, dangerous, etc. female characters and the like which are perfectly okay. They do the same with male characters in their otome games (though admittedly a smaller market). Some may scoff at these but they are popular and offer just about anything you could want. CerezoMask
Horribly effective
Even though she is an absolutely horrible person in the game, I actually quite like Irene Engel from Wolfenstein I and II. This is purely because I think she is an excellent villain, I can’t think of many other examples of villains in games where I really hate them.
Her actions over the course of both games allow you to build up a hatred for her so that any comeuppance she gets feels extremely satisfying. Nobody should look to her as a role model, but other developers and writers should look to her as a great example of a villain done well. Truk_Kurt (PSN ID)/trukkurt (Steam ID)/Angry_Kurt (Twitter) Now playing: Oxenfree (Switch)
Un-Jaded opinion
Jade from Beyond Good & Evil is a great woman for a gaming role model. Jade is friendly, not naturally violent but can handle herself, she has a great mind and cares greatly for the less fortunate who can’t defend themselves and never oversteps into an arrogance that borderlines overconfidence which turns into, ‘I do this better than you because I am better than you!’
I think that if more lead woman were like Jade, and less fan service like you get from anime-led games or Western games with the usual clichéd woman to excite teenagers or younger men, then the more interesting the storyline will be for all of us. Just as you get in the Uncharted series also.
Dialogue is important, and voice-acting to emphasise the character’s finer touches and the type of mind they have. I wish good voice-acting was not always so hit and miss in video games still, but unfortunately it still is. Character creation is good, and the world is your oyster when you can create any type of character you want, even though the storyline and character depth is not going to change because of it. But still, it’s good you get choice in creating a character that may be underused in gaming.
Personally speaking there is still an awful long way to go, but games like Horizon Zero Dawn and the Bayonetta series are good examples – both different types of characters but each a strong female that does not need the world of males to get them through difficult situations. And they’re both voice-acted beautifully, with a lot of depth and emotion.
I still think though, from what we have seen, the future looks a lot better than before and I think game developers know that. Alucard
Minecraft is a popular video game that’s sort of like virtual Lego. Players find and build stuff by themselves, or online with friends.
It’s a simple formula that’s attracted millions of fans — and Southern Methodist University professors.
Corey Clark, deputy director for research at SMU Guildhall, and John Wise, an associate professor of biological sciences, are part of a team hoping to take advantage of the game’s large user base in the search for better cancer-fighting drugs.
On their quest to disable a biological pump
Wise: These pumps are normally in our bodies, protecting us from exposures to toxins. They keep bad things out of our cells, and that’s a really good thing. But this good thing gets perverted in cancers. A cancer cell will over-express these pumps, and it will eliminate cancer chemotherapeutics from the cancer cells, which causes the cancer to become resistant. So the goal of our research at SMU is to — with high-performance computing facilities and biochemistry — discover compounds that will temporarily turn these pumps off during cancer chemotherapies.
On how Minecraft is helping the search for treatment
Clark: Video games themselves are all about learning — how to play a level, how to progress through a game — and so what we want to do is use that human intuition piece and take datasets from medical problems, like the chemotherapeutic problem, and then integrate that into the game, so it’s part of the natural game itself. Every time somebody does something in the game, it’s actually helping in the science. The idea that you’re making a positive impact is something the players really enjoy.
We visualize the data problems in exactly the same format as Minecraft. So there are colored blocks and you’re moving some blocks around to try to find specific properties of these compounds that John’s working with to see which of those properties are the most important in being effective in the treatments. When they’re playing the game, all of the data returns to the back-end of the platform for analysis.
On how hard it is to find new drugs
Wise: Discovering a molecule that has an effect in a biological system like this is the first step. In the last three years or so, we’ve probably found 20 different molecules that positively affect this problem. Getting those drug-like molecules — they’re not yet drugs — to the point where they could be entered in a clinic is difficult. The success rates of molecules that enter such a program and actually end up in people are maybe between 1 and 5 percent.
We’ve identified some really good compounds that we believe we can develop to be pharmaceutical-like compounds that we can put into animals and eventually, people. As I said before, maybe 1 percent of these molecules can make it to humans. That means at the beginning you need 100 of them. Finding those 100 starting molecules with what we’ve learned from Minecraft is going to be a really big deal to us.
Sonic is getting a new racing game, but will it have more in common with Sonic & Sega All-Stars Racing or the Saturn’s Sonic R?
A new Sonic-themed racing game by Sumo Digital has been rumoured multiple times, with the assumption that it would be a third entry in the Sonic & Sega All-Stars Racing franchise – just with more Sonic and less Sega.
The new teaser trailer below certainly seems to suggest exactly like that, but there is an unexpected wrinkle: the logo tease at the end looks very much like Sonic R on the Sega Saturn console.
Sonic R was a race game by Traveller’s Tales (who now make the Lego games) that was released in 1997. It wasn’t very good, but it did feature Sonic and co. racing around on foot.
The teaser clearly implies there will be actual cars in the new game, so it’s hard to reconcile the two. Unless being on-foot is going to be an option of some kind?
Sega’s less mysterious Sonic the Hedgehog announcement (at the SXSW event in the US, where they previously announced Sonic Mania and Sonic Forces) also involves references to obscure old games, with an expanded version of Sonic Mania called… Sonic Mania Plus.
The new version of the excellent original will feature two new playable characters: Mighty the Armadillo and Ray the Flying Squirrel. Both are taken from the obscure SegaSonic the Hedgehog coin-op, although they did cameo in Sonic Generations as well.
Sonic Mania Plus will also introduce a new Encore Mode, which adds ‘new ways to play, and new ways to explore’ for the existing levels. Sonic Mania’s split-screen multiplayer mode will also be expanded to allow four-players instead of just two.
And… that seems to be it. There’s no sign of any new levels, which is very disappointing, and it’s not clear what Sega is going to charge people that already have the original version.
They do have a natty looking retail edition planned though, so we think it’s more just a re-release to appeal to those that never got it, or heard of it, the first time round.
There’s no date for the Sonic racing game, although we’re willing to bet it’ll be out sometime this autumn. Sonic Mania Plus will definitely be out this summer for Xbox One, PlayStation 4, Nintendo Switch, and PC.
Sega’s final announcement at the weekend was confirmation that Yakuza Kiwami 2 will be getting a worldwide release on August 28, so fans in Europe will not have to wait any longer than anyone else.
Like the first Kiwami game (Kiwami means ‘extreme’ or ‘ultimate’) it’s a remake of one of the original PlayStation 2 releases, so if you’ve only got into the series recently it should be a good way to catch up on the story.
As usual though it’ll be a PlayStation 4 exclusive.
