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What is Dragon Ball Z: Kakarot?

Developed by Bandai Namco Entertainment and CyberConnect2, the latter of which is famed for a number of fighting games in the anime world, Dragon Ball Z: Kakarot is a fully-fledged RPG experience based on Akira Toriyama’s legendary property. 

Dragon Ball Z: Kakarot trailer – How does it look?

Dragon Ball Z: Kakarot release date – When is it coming out?

Bandai Namco has confirmed that Dragon Ball Z: Kakarot will be launching across PS4, Xbox One and PC on January 17, 2020, acting as one of the first major blockbusters to emerge next year. 

Dragon Ball Z: Kakarot Preview

The gaming medium is no stranger to anime adaptations, with Toei Animation’s Dragon Ball franchise arguably being the most prolific of all-time. Countless titles have been created based on Akira Toriyama’s beloved manga. It’s as iconic as they come, whether you’re referring to power levels, glowing golden hair or Master Roshi’s perverted magazine obsession. 

Kakarot (also the name of our protagonist) is a faithful retelling of the Dragon Ball Z narrative stretched out into a sprawling RPG adventure. This is no small undertaking given the over-the-top, intricate mountain of epic battles and compromising lore Bandai Namco will need to work through. 

However, from the few hours I’ve played, they’re off to a good start. While ropey in places, Kakarot has more than enough going for it to please fans and newcomers alike. Just prepare yourself for a complete disregard of physics alongside plenty of monkey tails and absurd hairstyles.

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Kakarot doesn’t make the finest of first impressions. Given the great heights it managed to reach in its first few hours, Bandai Namco spends much too long meandering through bland, archaic missions that don’t express the level of power our heroes possess. It’s admirably quaint as you gather apples and carry Gohan across the planes of planet Earth.

Its storytelling intentions are pure, but starting your hugely ambitious open-world RPG with a mediocre escort mission had me groaning hard. The following 30 minutes are equally as cumbersome as you lumber between small locations chatting with non-player characters and navigating tutorials at a snail’s pace. Many of Kakarot’s systems feel needlessly obtuse or poorly explained, leaving the player to work things out for themselves or delve through a thick in-game encyclopaedia.

Once you’ve regained solid ground after its rocky tutorials, Kakarot’s appeal finally makes itself known. Playing as a variety of different characters ranging from Goku to Gohan, you’re free to explore the vast rendition of Dragon Ball’s world taking on quests, duking it out with baddies and hoovering up collectibles. It’s hugely inviting, even more when you can jump into the air like an unstoppable superhero at a moment’s notice. It feels excellent, and the combat echoes the grandiose wonder of anime conflicts perfectly.

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Each combat encounter is instanced as you transition seamlessly into battle while navigating the world. The camera draws in close, mimicking the brutal perspective of the animated series, as fists and Ki blasts fly wayward in equal measure. One button is dedicated to close-ranged melee attacks, while another is used to fire projectiles based on a meter which decreases with each Ki Blast. You can boost this by going on the offensive, wailing on foes the second a window of oppurtunity appears.

Special attacks can be executed by pressing the shoulder buttons and choosing from a selection of commands. These are either long-ranged beams of energy like the iconic Kamehameha or closer, more intimate strikes which slam enemies into the ground with a satisfying pulp. Encounters like this feel wonderful, expressed with such a frenetic speed that it can be hard to keep up, although this havoc is exactly what fans will adore.

Boss battles are a clear highlight. Kakarot will go through many of the original show’s memorable encounters, although I only experienced one major confrontation during my hands-on time. This particular fight involed Raditz (yes, all of the major characters are named after food), a Sayan who has arrived on Earth to uncover why Goku is slacking on his quest to eliminate humanity. Turns out its amnesia.

Unlike battles against generic monsters and robots, boss encounters are lengthy, complimented by dialogue and cutscenes which feel like they’ve been pulled directly from Dragon Ball Z. They look fantastic, and elevate themselves above your usual skirmish with sequences akin to bullet hell shooters as you dodge deadly attacks, waiting for the perfect moment to strike.

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Outside of combat, the open-world offers a variety of activities for the players to partake in. These range from fairly generic side quests to optional battle challenges which are excellent for grinding experience ahead of surprisingly difficulty story missions. While they don’t offer anything innovative, side missions are a great oppurtuity to converse with characters and learn more about the Dragon Ball universe, piling more fan service atop an already delectable serving of the stuff.

Given that the majority of characters can fly, the world is filled with collectible orbs placed in a way that act as bespoke obstacle courses for Goku and company to blitz through. If I’m honest, the flying controls aren’t the best, simply a means to an end for reaching your objective. Kakarot is trying to present players with a fully-realised world to call their own, so it’s shame navigating such a place doesn’t feel as good as it should.

The exact purpose of the aforementioned orbs and other collectibles in the open world are poorly explained, as are a few of the game’s major mechanics. Community Board is the biggest offender, a clever system of enhancing your attributes by connecting icons of different characters. Those with close relationships or rivalries in the world of Dragon Ball Z will lead to unique bonuses, rewarding players for experimenting and going out of their way to collect additional icons through quests outside the main story.

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Outside of a few lacklustre side excursions, my other major qualm with Kakarot is its habit of pulling the player between different character perspectives, while the isolated mission design works against the RPG format it’s trying to convey. In the opening hours there’s rarely a chance to stop and smell the roses, as you’re constantly barraged by cutscenes, character introductions or tasks which demand you abide by a strict method of completion. It’s suffocating in a genre that should be anything but, and I hope it’s just a teething symptom like many other games of this ilk.

First Impressions

Dragon Ball Z: Kakarot’s fiercely ambitious vision of recreating such an iconic anime through the perspective of a sprawling RPG is incredibly impressive, yet arguably held back by the mechanics and technology behind it.

It’s a gorgeous, visually captivating experience with excellent combat and storytelling, yet many of its other elements feel somewhat underbaked. Launch is only a couple of months away and I’d love to see things refined, especially if Bandai Namco hopes to capture an audience outside of the hardcore who have already signed on for everything Kakarot has to offer.

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Previously a staple of a console generation, Guitar Hero has vanished into obscurity. Plastic instruments can seldom be found on shelves with oodles of main entries and spin-offs just begging for you and your friends to get immersed. Instead, rhythm experiences have become a more muted affair, often relegated to independent releases where creativity is free to express itself without boundaries – Avicii Invector is one such outing.

The game takes a number of mechanics from Harmonix’s iconic formula and crafts it into a fast, visually captivating thrill ride that takes the musical stylings of late artist Avicii (Tim Bergling) and blends it into something really special.

This is an emotional love letter born before Avicii’s passing, and it takes that legacy and morphs it into something that almost had me tearing up. 

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Avicii Inventor is a fairly simplistic affair when it comes to rhythm games – taking the core principle of Audiosurf and blending it with the multicoloured notes and varying speed of Guitar Hero. You play as a spaceship, coasting across a lane filled with prompts roaring towards you. Commands range from pressing the face inputs and shoulder buttons, or switching directions at random to hit notes waiting on the sides or ceiling. 

Having to constantly switch directions to accommodate the beat of each song is frequently thrilling, offering a fairly robust challenge even on regular difficulty. Fast loading times ensure that retrying songs you might end up failing is trivial, much like the Guitar Hero games that clearly inspired it. 

Build up a combo and you’ll increase your multiplier, which can be doubled when activating a special ability by shaking the controller on PS4. This increases the track speed massively, meaning you’ll need to hone your own reflexes to earn a higher score. The majority of songs will transition into a brief platforming section, with the player’s ship abandoning the track and soaring into a glorious mixture of bright neon lights and reactive environments. 

To keep up your streak it’s necessary to fly through a series of purple hoops, all of which match the rhythm being struck in the background. You’ll explore different zones throughout the brief campaign – ranging from ice-drenched caverns to futuristic cities. They fit the music and thematic elements wonderfully, with the journey being one of mourned self acceptance. 

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The campaign takes place across multiple worlds where you’ll be required to complete a set amount of songs to progress. Between songs you’ll stumble upon the occasional cutscene, adding a bit of depth to the sparse narrative. You follow a young girl making her way across the galaxy, forced to content with a fussy vehicle that has a habit of breaking down. She’s always complaining, but there’s a clear bond between the two which delves into deeper themes of loss, acceptance and a clear, passionate love of music.

I’d love to have seen a little more development on the characters or wider plot, since it touches on some brilliant ideas but seldom executes them. What’s here is still excellent though, acting as a clear love letter to Avicii and his untimely passing. The themes of mental health and suicide prevention are clear, with the game being marketed in a way to support these causes in some wonderful ways. Any awareness of these issues is a positive in our eyes.

Fans of Avicii will be delighted by the selection of songs on offer here. No stone has been left unturned when it comes to ensuring all his hits have been included. Wake Me Up, Hey Brother and Levels are present and accounted for alongside 22 others. There’s also a few bonus tracks featuring the likes of Coldplay’s Chris Martin. It’s unfortunate that once the campaign is over, there’s little more to do beyond grinding harder difficulties or taking on local multiplayer modes.

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Should you buy Avicii Invector?

Avicii Invector is a delightful surprise to round out the end of this year, a solid entry in a genre that arguably doesn’t receive enough praise in the mainstream. While it’s a little on the short side, Hello There Games has crafted a loving tribute to an artist who was taken from us far too soon, ensuring the themes of mental health and suicide prevention are placed at the forefront.

It’s heartbreaking that Avicii isn’t around to experience a project that he had so much passion for come to fruition, but he’d be proud of what’s been accomplished here. It harkens back to rhythm gaming greats while scorching ahead on a path of its own, and for a good cause to boot.

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If you’re a fan of the iconic XCOM franchise, Phoenix Point has likely been top of your games or Christmas wish list for quite some time.

Developed by a team at Snapshot Studios with Julian Gollop – the father of the original XCOM games – as lead designer, Phoenix Point has been described and marketed as the “spiritual successor” to XCOM and generated quite a lot of hype over the last year.

Having finally gotten my hands on the game, and played/failed my way through three story campaign attempts, I can safely say that this is a modest description of the game. Make no mistake, if you like XCOM then you’re going to love Phoenix Point, even though its current state is buggier than an ant hill.

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Phoenix Point is distinctly XCOM to start

Powering up the game, everything will feel immediately familiar to XCOM fans. Click the new game button and you’ll see a cutscene that’s pretty much scene-for-scene identical to the openings of past XCOM games, and for good reason.

You’re taking control of the Phoenix Project, a clandestine military force that was founded after the Second World War to protect humanity. You take the reins just after it has reactivated to take on a new threat, the Pandoravirus – a weird pathogen that can mutate any life form it touches into hostile alien life forms – which has already decimated civilisation as we know it.

Sound familiar? It should, if you swapped Phoenix Project for XCOM and Pandoravirus for Aliens the plot would be identical to Enemy Unknown. This familiarity continues when you jump into the game tutorial. From here you take control of a group of soldiers, which are grouped into the Standard, Assault, Heavy and Sniper classes you’ll find in pretty much every turn-based strategy game, and be tasked to go toe-to-toe with a bunch of Pandoravirus mutants.

Combat and movement is all suitably intuitive and matches the tropes of the genre. Each soldier has a certain number of action and willpower points that you can spend to move them, shoot enemies, throw grenades and use special abilities – which are pretty cool and involve things like jetpack jumps and custom war cries. Once spent the enemies then get their turn and the cycle begins again.

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The only differences are minor tweaks, like the ability to manually aim and target specific parts of enemies, which have different armour ratings and weaknesses, and take down whole structures across the procedurally generated maps, granting an advantage over enemies if you blow through terrain and open up an essential avenue of fire.

Upon finishing the tutorial, things retain a familiar feel as you’re introduced to the game’s base building and resource management mechanics. Each base is split into blocks where you can spend resources to build things like labs, living quarters and power generators. Each facility comes with its own benefits – labs speed up research, living quarters raise the max number of soldiers you can have on staff, and so on.

Research and soldier development are also near identical. Research projects let you do things like dissecting fallen aliens to unlock new weapon types – of which there are many – and squad development lets you unlock new abilities and customise soldiers appearance as they level up mission-to-mission.

The only real difference is the addition of exploration elements in the global map (known as the Geoscape in-game). Unlike X-COM, where missions just appear randomly on a world map, in Phoenix Point you have to explore the area by scanning the map and then manually flying a group of soldiers to any location you find and want to visit. The exact nature of each location isn’t revealed until you get there, so each time there’s an element of risk – sometimes you’ll find a ruin full of useful tech, other times you’ll be ambushed by enemies, if you’re really lucky you’ll find an abandoned Project outpost you can reclaim.

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But it gets so much better

So far, so familiar. But as I played through the game I found minor changes that have been made to the XCOM formula begin to add up and make for a very different experience. This becomes clear after spending a few hours exploring the world, meeting each of the main human factions that dominate the game’s story. Phoenix Point’s broken world is controlled by three main human factions: New Jericho, the Disciples of Anu and the Synedrion. Each one falls into a standard sci-fi archetype.

New Jericho are the game’s purist Starship troopers. Setup and run by an autocratic arms-dealing billionaire they, initially, are the simplest to understand; they want to eradicate all alien life and “reclaim” the world for humanity. Next up you have the body-modding Disciples of Anu. These guys are a weird cult run by a charismatic leader that wants to “perfect” human biology using the virus. Finally, Synedrion is a technologically advanced society that’s ran as a radical free thinking collective. It’s only goal is to build a better world “where everyone is equal” out of the old order’s ashes.

How you interact with each faction is a nuanced affair that has huge implications on how your campaign will develop. The three factions bounce off each other and have, at times, competing interests. Help the Disciples examine some alien biology to mod themselves and New Jericho’s going to pull a frowny face, for example. Annoying a faction doesn’t just lead to decreased trade, or mean you’ll only get to see one part of the story – it’ll also directly affect what missions you take, which soldiers you can recruit and what type of tech you can develop.

Each faction has different weapons armour, soldier types and special ability trees. They also act as trade posts where you can swap resources and recruit new soldiers. The latter point is particularly important as there’s no other way to bolster your ranks.

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Taking in new soldiers lets you commence new research projects that reverse engineer their weapons and armour. Because of this, you’ll find yourself thinking about which faction you piss off and building protective inclinations for certain faction’s outposts. If one has a tendency to produce solid soldiers or an excess of a resources you regularly need to trade for then you’ll instinctively want to protect it. If you properly fall out with one faction the only way you’ll be able to get their tech is to raid one of their outposts, which is basically an act of war and will lead to a swift, and often violent, response.

Making friends with one faction will always impact how the other reacts to you and if you form a formal alliance the entire dynamic of the game will change as the other factions react. Further pushing one will also lead to new “diplomatic” missions, which in my experience are way more interesting than the standard “kill everything”, protect-this-thing XCOM objectives that you find in most turn-based strategy games.

These are missions that see you covertly sneak into a rival faction’s base to do things like assassinate a local leader or sabotage its research efforts. Not giving away any spoilers but the vast array of objectives on offer is a breath of fresh air that makes the game feel significantly more varied. I’m also a big fan of the ability to embrace the Project’s clandestine roots and become a nefarious, machiavellian organisation, rather than a dull white knight.

The underhand requests and battle for dominance between the three factions gives the entire game a darker, more compelling feel than XCOM’s — let’s be honest even in XCOM 2: War of the Chosen, the story was still very black and white.

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The stellar narrative is also a little more nuanced, giving you an incentive to replay the game to see what developments and characters you’ll find buddying up with different factions. Whichever side you ally with, if any, you’ll find a pleasingly deep plot underlying their motives and actions, which often fall into morally grey areas and get a very different ending if you complete the campaign. The small changes to gameplay also become more and more noticeable as the Phoenix point’s campaign progresses.

For example, the ability to free aim and target specific parts of an enemy feels like a novel, but slightly unimportant detail, at first. But after you discover your first boss fight, it becomes an invaluable tool. Boss fights are a nifty addition that see you and your squad take on giant behemoth monsters that look like they came straight out of HR Geiger’s night terrors.

The bosses have a variety of attacks and abilities that are tied to specific parts of their body. Once you learn their patterns picking which order and parts you need to disable is an essential skill that adds a welcome added level of variety to the game’s dynamics. Be warned though, they’re tough as hell and I’m yet to do one without some serious squad casualties.

The level of variety is further aided by the enemies’ “evolution” mechanic. All the creatures you face are procedurally generated. As you progress the game will actively try and tweak which parts it uses to match/hamper your playstyle. The choices you make also impact the types of foes you’ll face. This means you’ll constantly find yourself in unexpected situations where your tried and tested tactics are no longer effective, as a new combination has appeared. This is frustrating and invigorating in equal measure.

Exploration mechanics also switch things up. This is because, every time you leave homebase you have to pick which soldiers you want to bring with you. There’s no way to switch them out on the fly. As well as informing how you organise the team, the mechanic informs how you build your bases.

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Unlike XCOM you don’t have a shared pool of soldiers. If they’re not in a plane they are stuck in a specific base. There’s also no fast movement, so if you want to switch which soldier is in which base, you have to fly them over yourself. This sounds insignificant, but with the game’s added stamina and health mechanics it forces a level of management you won’t find in XCOM.

Soldiers only heal at a decent rate when they’re in a base, and even then the process is fairly slow. Even if they’re not healthy, every mission you take them on without rest drains their stamina gauge, which when low heavily impacts their performance. So if they get wounded or tired you have to go back and swap out your wounded for healthy troops.

This means you have to strategically litter your troops over your network of bases or risk running into a rock and a hard place situation, as I did on my first campaign attempt. Here, I found myself tasked to get to the other end of the map to complete a time sensitive rescue mission, but with a team full of wounded soldiers in-flight.

These may sound like small details, but they add up to make the game feel significantly more immersive than competing turn-based strategy games.

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The Pandoravirus isn’t the only bug you have to worry about

All sound great? Generally it is, but the superb intricacy of the game’s systems are a double edged sword that makes the broken, buggy parts all the more noticeable. From the get go it’s clear Phoenix Point has been developed with love, and a shoestring budget. This is evident in the number of odd bugs you’ll encounter.

It took me four attempts to complete the tutorial because clicking on any action or menu other than the one it instructed me to would break the system and make the game refuse to let me progress to the next stage of the lesson, even if I followed the commands afterwards.

The controller support also feels a little broken and on more than one occasion the Xbox pad would stop recognising my commands mid-game. Being fair, I only moved from my mouse and keyboard to see how intuitive the controller inputs were, and I can’t see many people playing the whole campaign on a gamepad. But the sheer number of small bugs like this quickly add up and can become a serious frustration. There’s nothing more annoying than getting halfway through a mission only to find a serious bug blocking your path, or  a crash forcing you to restart it.

Should you buy Phoenix Point?

If you like XCOM then you’ll love Phoenix Point. For the first few hours it feels very much like a re-skinned XCOM rather than a “spiritual successor”. But as you play it the wealth of small tweaks and improvements Snapshot Studios has made begin to shine through. This plus the ridiculous amount of attention to detail the writers have given the game’s plot, which at first glance is fairly by the numbers Sci-Fi, make it one of the most compelling turn-based strategy games on the market and a thoroughly fun play, if you can put up with the bugs.

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A fully-fledged console iteration of Game Freak’s Pokemon series has been a long time coming. Fans have waited decades to see how the RPG series would fare on a platform with more power, no longer held back by the constraints of a handheld – Pokemon Sword and Shield is that long-awaited evolution.

The duo of titles push the series further than it’s ever gone before. However, in the end, isn’t quite enough to blaze the futuristic trial it must walk going forward. 

However, what we have here is a new benchmark for the series, evolving the formula with ample quality of life improvements and a sprawling world I’ve spent hours exploring. Sword and Shield is a triumph for the franchise, even if it doesn’t push the envelope far enough. 

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The opening moments of Sword and Shield are everything you would expect. After creating an ambitious young trainer you’re given the usual exposition of Pokemon, their integral role in society and how they exist alongside humans in a world that prospers from their presence. They’re one big happy family, even hours are spent making them fight in elaborate combat tournaments. 

From here, you pick between three new starters – Sobble, Scorbunny and Grookey. We’re #TeamSobble here at Trusted Reviews, but there isn’t a wrong choice to be made. This trio are just a few among hundreds of new Pokemon you’ll encounter across Sword and Shield. The majority of the original catalogue of pocket monsters is sadly absent, a controversy which has had fans in uproar ahead of release. But, if I’m brutally honest, I seldom missed them. 

Sword and Shield innovates within the franchise on so many levels it doesn’t need to hang desperately to the legacy of what came before it, carving a path in the region of Galar all of its own. Inspired by the United Kingdom, the continent you explore is positively vast, with massive cities, quaint towns and humble countryside plains being just some of the locales you’ll stumble upon. For the most part, it looks lovely, boasting a fully three-dimensional experience which brings Pokemon to life like never before.

However, it can look somewhat rough in places, with textures on distant buildings and foliage looking particularly irksome in docked mode. It’s far from a dealbreaker, and the overall art design shines through, but the visual benchmark set by the likes of Breath of the Wild and Super Mario Odyssey isn’t reached here. Game Freak’s origin as a portable game developer is very clear, with Sword and Shield awash with its fair share of teething problems. 

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Even with a handful of graphical quirks, Galar is a beautiful addition to the Pokemon universe with every corner filled with British cultural references and cutesy colloquialisms that poke fun at the nation. Your room has a ‘telly’ while you’ll stumble upon ‘coppers’ on your travels eager to do battle. Even the trains are delayed in the opening hours, painting an eerily accurate picture of everyday life. 

Starting in an adorable little town inspired by Scotland, travels will eventually take you to gargantuan castles pulled straight from a Welsh fairytale or a boulevard deliberately aping Piccadilly Circus. This isn’t the first time Game Freak has recreated real-life locations in Pokemon, and certainly won’t be the last, but seeing them envisioned with such vivid detail never gets old. So, it’s doubly unfortunate that many of the building interiors you visit feel like weak copy-and-paste jobs of the same room. Aside from tiny snippets of dialogue and the occasional item, there’s rarely a good reason to explore every nook and cranny of each location.

Given how often Sword and Shield enjoys holding your hand through irksome tutorials, it’s best to push on until you’re given more control over everything after the first handful of gym encounters. This is a game designed for children and adults alike, so the hand-holding makes sense to a degree, but cripples the pacing in a way that makes certain aspects a slog. 

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The battle system in Pokemon Sword and Shield hasn’t changed, which I definitely think is for the best. It’s the tried-and-true turn-based affair we’ve enjoyed for decades, refined with additional animations and menu alterations that simply make it easier to digest. Actions such as throwing PokeBalls and using items are now hotkeyed, saving you from digging into the bag to search for the same thing again and again during the same encounter. 

Aside from small improvements it’s business as usual. Victory is easily achieved by countering your opponent’s Pokemon type or carefully juggling the use of moves and items to ensure your team never suffers from an unpredictable fatality. The context in which you participate in combat throughout Sword and Shield is what makes it so compelling. The biggest change comes in the form of Wild Areas – vast, open spaces where you can participate in Raid Battles and capture Pokemon far beyond your current level requirements. 

Raid Battles follow you and a handful of fellow trainers as you take on an incredibly powerful ‘Dynamax’ Pokemon, which essentially means they’ve grown to gargantuan size and require more than a single individual to take them down. One player can Dynamax their own Pokemon to even the odds, working alongside their team by throwing out a blistering wave of attacks. Communication is key here, so the distinct lack of it can make Raid Battles outside of a local setting difficult to parse. 

Catching a rare Pokemon at the end of Raids is more than worth it, though. My biggest gripe is the underutilisation of Dynamax throughout Sword and Shield. They emerge in Raid Battles and Gym encounters, occasions that are frequent enough that the mechanic feels thoroughly fleshed out, but restrictive in a way that Mega-Evolutions in previous games simply weren’t. I can’t help but feel some of these ideas aren’t being used to their full potential. 

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While exploring Galar you can set up Pokemon Camps – a makeshift base of operations where Pokemon are free to explore and befriend one another while you’re busy cooking up a delicious dish for everyone to feast on. This is where the Currydex comes in – an encyclopaedia that chronicles your cullinary efforts. It’s a wonderfully silly addition adorned with adorable animations each time you and a partner sit down to eat – happiness or scorn depicted on their faces depending on the quality of each dish. Cooking rewards you with experience and a few other bonuses, too.

Should you buy Pokemon Sword and Shield?

Pokemon Sword and Shield is an excellent entry in Game Freak’s iconic franchise, pushing the series forward in some exciting ways while never forgetting the roots that made it so loved in the first place. While it underwhelms in its visuals and underbaked use of new ideas, the act of exploring Galar and catching creatures remains as delightfully compelling as it’s ever been – and that’s what really matters in the end.

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You arrive atop a tree, a big yellow beast in a uniform crops up and rants at you. You flee – tumbling down a slippery jungle. You bounce, wall run and scarper until… a large bird Pokémon* crashes out of the sky to save the day. Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order has so many wonderful moments like this, and despite its flaws, you’ll still have an absolute forcing blast. (*It isn’t really a Pokémon and, no, it isn’t a spoiler.)

Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order is a melting pot of genres and mechanics pioneered by other games – some of which are born out of the previous exploits of this game’s developer – Respawn Entertainment.

This latest foray into Disney’s universe brings mixed results when it comes to the titles it draws from but – across the course of the game – manages to merge them into an experience all of its own.

The real flaws of Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order comes in its performance and pacing. Fallen Order may leave you cold in the beginning – frustrated by the magically appearing enemies and inviting introductory levels. However, stick with it and you’ll be rewarded with gameplay and cinematic moments that combine to create the best Jedi simulator ever made.

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The main crux of Fallen Order is its combat – there’s plenty of Respawn-patented traversal, but we’ll get to that later. On a scale of complexity and flow, the combat falls somewhere in between Assassin’s Creed Odyssey and Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice.

Lightsaber-wielding definitely takes some getting used to and – if you approach Fallen Order like either of the aforementioned games – you could find yourself flat on your back more often than not. Yet, this isn’t a hard and fast rule – with some enemies charging in is your best bet, while others require a methodical parry and dodge approach.

The first hurdle you’ll encounter with the lightsaber is timing – it’s weird. The animations of your blocking movements are slow when compared to similar titles and you’ll often find yourself feeling like your perfectly timed parry was ineffective. 

Fallen Order asks you to consider the extra split second it takes you to raise your lightsaber for a block – it’s different but you learn to adapt as your trek amongst the stars goes on. Similar to Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice, you can’t spam parry either. If you furiously hammer said button, the enemy will take no notice of your attempts at self-defence.

While parrying is the best way to do some serious damage, Fallen Order is a game where you should embrace dodging and rolling. Enemies often carry out long attack sequences and if you can shimmy out of the way you can land several devastating blows.

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Fallen Order offers a decent range of enemies for you to dispatch with your newfound combat skills. From more advanced staff-wielding officers of The Empire to blundering monsters who pound and slam with little care for their surroundings. 

The difference in adversaries encourages you to adapt for maximum effectiveness – this plays out the most when you are tasked with a mish-mash of enemy types and, while it can be exhilarating to get it right, it also introduces one of the adventure’s bigger flaws.

Early on, you will find yourself surrounded by several enemies and your instinct will be to try to pull one away to make it more of a fair fight. Unfortunately, this doesn’t work well as enemies easily catch up and can attack simultaneously. The issue is more pronounced in tighter areas when you can feel at a loss as to what to do and the camera is rarely your friend.

All is not lost however and the game introduces some mechanics relatively early on that allow you to better combat these situations (You can also do a tad more exploration to level up sooner). The early problems inhibit your learning of the base combat style and so introducing these mechanics earlier – even in a weakened form – would be a welcome change.

Despite these flaws, the lightsaber battles  are a triumph. They really come into their own in some of the harder boss fights when you’ll dodge, parry and use your powers at a blistering pace with some exhilarating visual results.

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While a lot of the excitement of Star War Jedi: Fallen Order comes from duelling and defeating a plethora of iconic foes, the platforming is another pivotal addition – even if it isn’t quite top-tier.

As you traverse the worlds in Fallen Order, you’ll be introduced to a fairly simplistic platforming style akin to an Uncharted or a Tomb Raider – with some puzzling along the way to boot. There is an added layer of complexity with a requirement to grab onto walls and vines as you first ascend a wall, and this can lead to some unwelcome deaths.

The basic platforming is mostly some fun downtime in between fighting but it shines when Respawn looks to its own past – in the form of Titanfall 2 – for inspiration. The sci-fi shooter invited you to charge through platforming levels with a faltering foothold or rabid enemy at your back. 

This frantic pace is alive and well in some of Fallen Order’s best moments. You’ll wall run, vine swing and skid at heart-racing speed and – when you pull it off – you’ll feel like you’ve been on a galvanising rollercoaster ride.

While it does allow you to explore some stunning settings almost at will, the narrative is linear. As such, the bar is set high for what people will expect from the story and its characters, and Fallen Order doesn’t live up to these expectations.

Related: Everything we know about PS5

The story focuses on one overarching mission with sprinkles of character development in between. The wider tale isn’t something to hate but it is ultimately quite pedestrian and it isn’t aided by plainer than plain protagonist Cal Kestis.

While Cal is the driving force of the plot thanks to his powers, much of the interesting characterisation and story moments come courtesy of his companions and their history. The same goes for the range of antagonists in the game – they provide the most interesting dialogue and some Star Wars-related philosophical points to ponder.

Throughout Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order, the game feels like a honed experience – from some exciting cinematic traversal sequences to the interesting take on parry-and-dodge combat. Unfortunately, this refinement goes out of the window when it comes to some startling bugs and performance issues.

It’s littered with problems where you’ll intermittently witness enemies popping in, sporadically dying for no reason or eternally falling on the spot, some of which was unintentionally hilarious to watch.

Related: Project xCloud

Cal Kestis isn’t safe from the bugs either – occasionally becoming stuck inside a wall while scaling it or being able to jump onto areas where you clearly aren’t meant to go.

Thankfully, most of these bugs aren’t game-breaking. I experienced one crash during my whole playthrough – you’ll also have to sit through some substantial loading screens (even on a console like the PS4 Pro).

Its overall sheen is also let down by a weirdly mixed bag of asset quality. Cal Kestis’ character model looks impressive most of the time while some of his companions can look far more cartoony.

However, it isn’t a hard and fast rule that Cal is the only refined model, as some folks you meet throughout Fallen Order also look extremely detailed.

The graphical quality is extended to many settings you visit. You’ll explore some Star Wars locales that you will have never seen before and some landscapes are truly stunning – Respawn has knocked it out of the park in that respect.

Should you buy Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order?

Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order is far from a masterpiece, but to say it could’ve been one without some of its basic flaws may not be so far fetched. As it is, you can look past the tame story and inconvenient bugs instead revelling in joyous combat, awe-inducing cinematics and fluid platforming.

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What is Google Stadia? 

It’s getting more and more expensive to be a gamer, with console prices climbing so high that the PS5 and Xbox 2 are expected to cost over £400 come launch in 2020. Google Stadia is a more cost-effective alternative, currently costing just £8.99 per month – with the optional £119 Stadia Premiere Edition bundle bagging you a controller and a Chromecast Ultra required for TV play.

Google’s been able to keep prices low because there’s no need for high-spec hardware with Stadia. With a fast enough broadband connection, you’ll be able to stream games on your smartphone, laptop or TV, regardless of the specs of the hardware. 

Google is the first to officially launch its cloud-streaming service – Xbox’s upcoming Project xCloud and Nvidia GeForce Now are both still in beta – but with an abundance of missing key features and an underwhelming launch lineup, Stadia is a long, long way from being the ‘future of gaming’ that Google promised. 

Google Stadia – Multiple ways to play

There are three ways to play Stadia: on a TV via Chromecast Ultra, on a computer/laptop/tablet via a Google Chrome browser and on your smartphone via the dedicated Stadia app. 

No gaming platform preceding Stadia has ever offered such versatility, and being able to swap between each method of play is incredibly liberating and seamless. Stadia allows for a 5-minute changeover time so you can pick up exactly where you left off without the need for saving progress. 

Unfortunately, there are issues with every method of play at launch. For TV play, only Chromecast Ultras bundled with Stadia Founder’s Edition or Premiere Edition will be compatible at launch. That means without the help of a computer, it’s impossible to play Stadia on your TV without investing in one of the bundles. Google has clarified Chromecast Ultra devices sold separately will eventually be patched to support Stadia, but it’s real head scratcher that we have to wait on that feature.

The second issue with TV play is that only the official Stadia controllers will work. Google has long boasted you’ll be able to use any popular gaming controller with Stadia, be that a PS4, Xbox One or Switch Pro pad, but it turns out that’s not the case when playing via the Chromecast Ultra.

Then we come to the Google Chrome browser. This is my personal favourite, as it allows you to play Stadia whether you’re at home, at the office or at a hotel or friend’s house – all you need is a decent internet connection and a laptop. However, for some absurd reason, 4K resolution isn’t supported via a PC at launch.

Finally, you can play Stadia on your smartphone via the dedicated app. You’d think a smartphone screen would be far too small for gaming, but I had a great time blasting aliens on Destiny 2 via the Pixel 3a. Plus, some smartphones have a display over 6 inches which aren’t too far away from equalling the screen size of the Nintendo Switch. 

The downside here is that only Google’s Pixel 2, 3, 3a and 4 (including XL editions) are compatible so far. Google has confirmed more phones will be compatible in the future, but that doesn’t make it any less disappointing for many Stadia subscribers at launch. 

Google Stadia UI – All about the app

The Stadia smartphone app – available on both Android and iOS – is the beating heart of the interface for the cloud-streaming service. It’s here where you set up your account, configure your settings, store in-game screenshots and even purchase games. The app is very easy to navigate with touchscreen controls, while the large grid of games in your library is pleasant to the eye and easily digestible. 

Stadia’s storefront has similar benefits, although there doesn’t seem to be a search function just yet. That’s not currently an issue with so few games available to buy, but it will become a compulsory addition once more titles become available. 

Click on a game in the store, and lots of useful information will pop up underneath, including age rating, whether it supports keyboard/mouse input and, for the likes of Destiny 2, even links to loot box drop rates. It’s a subtle feature, but I can see it being very useful for parents when deciding whether a game is appropriate for their child. 

There are negative points too, most notably that you can only buy games through Google’s own digital store, which means prices aren’t competitive. The Stadia Store currently prices Mortal Kombat 11 at £49.99 (not final), despite being available for less than £30 on PS4 and Xbox One via Amazon. Steam shares this issue with Stadia, but the former remedies this by slashing game prices in seasonal sales. It remains to be seen whether Google will adopt the same solution. 

It’s also slightly annoying you can only access the store via the mobile app, and not through your laptop or TV. That said, pulling your smartphone out of your pocket and opening the app hardly takes much time. Plus since you don’t have to wait for downloads or updates with Stadia, you can start playing a new game far quicker than you can with the PS4 and Xbox One. 

Google Stadia Performance – Gaming via the cloud

The biggest concern with cloud streaming is latency, which would prove a massive issue for shooters and action games where timing is key. During my time with Stadia, latency never really proved a problem, even in online shooter Destiny 2. 

I did notice the odd performance blip or lag when playing via Wi-Fi in my bedroom, but since my internet connection saw download speeds below 10Mbps (Google’s minimum recommended internet speed), it was a marvel the game was running at all. 

Rather than latency, I found the biggest issue with Stadia was achieving a connection secure enough for a high resolution. When I was wired in via Ethernet, seeing download speeds of 20Mbps, my stream still frequently became grainy with the resolution seemingly dropping down to 720p. 

I say ‘seemingly’ because Stadia refuses to give you any information regarding your connection or game resolution besides the ‘solid’, ‘good’ and ‘great’ performance statuses, which aren’t very helpful. Stadia does provide little 4K logo in the menu when the connection is fast enough for Ultra HD gaming, but I don’t understand why Google hasn’t done something similar for a Full HD or Quad HD visuals. 

When my internet connection was good enough to achieve a Full HD picture, the likes of Shadow of the Tomb Raider still don’t look quite as good as they do on my standard PS4. This is likely due to compression, which is inevitable with cloud streaming, reducing the detail of the video footage.

Despite this, 4K game visuals still looked jaw-droppingly good when I started playing in the Trusted Reviews office where we see download speeds well above the 35Mbps requirement. Provided you have fast enough Broadband, Stadia looks to be the cheapest option for 4K gaming.

One of the biggest downsides of Stadia is the absence of an offline mode. Since competitors such as GeForce Now and xCloud are tied to existing ecosystems (Steam and Xbox respectively), you’ll be able to play any game in your library offline or via cloud streaming with a single purchase. Stadia lacks this versatility, so you really need to make sure you have a fast internet connection before subscribing.

Google Stadia Controller – Choose your weapon

The official Google Stadia Controller is a decent pad, clearly inspired by the chunky Xbox controller since it shares the same button layout. The Stadia controller’s triggers aren’t quite as snappy though, and the D-Pad feels slightly too spongy for my liking.

The great thing about Stadia though, is that you can pick whatever controller you please. The PS4, Xbox One and Switch Pro pads are all supported here. Better still, when you connect them up to Stadia, in-game button prompts immediately switch over to your new controller’s format, avoiding a lot of confusion in tutorials. 

Disappointingly though, third-party controllers won’t work when playing Stadia on the TV. As mentioned above, only the official Stadia controller can be used with this method since it connects directly to the Wi-Fi instead of using Bluetooth.

Bizarrely, Google is yet to patch in the capability to link two controllers to Stadia simultaneously, which means local multiplayer is off the table at launch. This is a big disappointment, especially since the multiplayer-focused Mortal Kombat 11 is part of the launch lineup. 

Google Stadia Games – Slim pickings 

Google has confirmed many games will be coming to Stadia, including future AAA releases such as Cyberpunk 2077, Marvel’s Avengers and Watch Dogs Legion.

Unfortunately, Stadia only has 22 games available at launch, all of which you can see below:

• Assassin’s Creed Odyssey
• Attack on Titan: Final Battle 2
• Destiny 2: The Collection
• Farming Simulator 2019
• Final Fantasy XV
• Football Manager 2020
• Grid 2019
• Gylt
• Just Dance 2020
• Kine
• Metro Exodus
• Mortal Kombat 11
• NBA 2K20
• Rage 2
• Red Dead Redemption 2
• Rise of the Tomb Raider
• Samurai Shodown
• Shadow of the Tomb Raider: Definitive Edition
• Thumper
• Tomb Raider: Definitive Edition
• Trials Rising
• Wolfenstein: Youngblood

It’s a decent lineup, but is dwarfed in comparison to Microsoft’s xCloud, which has over 50 titles available despite still being in beta. Xbox has a big advantage here, with decades worth of exclusives and licencing deals to take advantage of. Google is effectively starting from scratch. 

I’m unsure why games that have already been released on other platforms – including Borderlands 3, Doom, The Division 2 and Tom Clancy’s Ghost Recon Breakpoint – failed to hit the launch lineup deadline, but it makes Stadia’s launch feel a little underwhelming. Something like Call of Duty: Modern Warfare, FIFA 2020 or Fortnite at launch would have made a massive difference. 

It’s also worth mentioning you’ll have to pay for the games you play – this is not the ‘Netflix of Gaming’ as many assume. Similar to Xbox Games with Gold and PlayStation Plus though, subscribing to the Stadia Pro subscription will bag you a free game every month, with the very first being Destiny 2: The Collection and Samurai Shodown.

Another feature to miss launch day is achievements. Google has iterated Stadia will be recording what achievements players are earning from launch, but players won’t be able to see this right now. 

Should you buy Google Stadia?

There’s a lot of good things to celebrate about Stadia. The cloud-streaming technology is genuinely a game-changer, not only removing the need for pricey high-powered hardware, but also providing oodles more freedom by allowing us to carry on gaming wherever there’s a strong Wi-Fi connection. 

However, the huge number of significant features missing at launch – including 4K on PC, local multiplayer, achievements and support for non-Pixel smartphones – is simply unforgivable.

Google’s plan to gradually roll out these features shows a lot of naivety and only emphasises how far Stadia is behind PlayStation and Xbox in building a successful ecosystem. I’ve no doubt Stadia will improve significantly over the next few months (and I will update the review and verdict once it does), but the rushed launch has done more harm than good.

Google has certainly convinced me that cloud streaming is the future, but Stadia has a long, long way to go if it’s ever going to usurp PlayStation and Xbox as the go-to gaming platforms. 

Verdict

Google Stadia shows a lot of promise, and could be a great option for those who want to game without spending a fortune on a console. But with lots of missing features at launch, it’s got a long way to go to become a serious challenger to PlayStation and Xbox.

The post Google Stadia Review: The future of gaming? appeared first on Trusted Reviews.

I feel the need – the need to knock off a superior racing franchise. Need for Speed has been in a rut for years now, with the last few games being poorly received by critics and fans alike. But after a few stalls on the grid, EA have finally surged into contention with a winning strategy – just making a street racing version of Forza Horizon.

While it sounds like I’m damning with faint praise, Need For Speed: Heat is a welcome return to form for an iconic series that has languished for so long. And, if you’re going to knock someone off, it might as well be the best. Need For Speed: Heat takes place in a vast open-world playground of Palm City. This obvious homage to Miami and its surrounding countryside is scattered with races, time trials, drift zones, speed traps, and all the other stuff you’d see in Forza Horizon.

The heavily destructible scenery even made the trip over, so you’ll be barrelling through trees, lamp posts, and stonewalls as your cruise around town. Most of them anyway – some objects won’t budge and it’s not always visually obvious which trees are made of tissue paper and which were forged from the heart of a dying star.

The plot is the usual nonsense. Cops are bad and street racers are a bunch of righteous dudes living on the edge. The problem with street racers as the heroes is that they suck – they’re petty criminals endangering lives for kicks. So, to make them the heroes, you have to make the cops into hilariously excessive supervillains, which is exactly what they’ve done. The cops are unhinged psychopaths running a car snatching ring, impounding cars to sell them for mad profit.

Related: Cyberpunk 2077

There’s plenty of Dawson’s Creek level drama; a feisty racer looking to prove herself, her brother who quit racing because he “couldn’t handle the heat”, corrupt cops, all that good stuff. Your character is a nameless avatar chosen from a selection of premade ones – mine was the spitting image of Brendan Fraser and I’d love to think that since he disappeared from Hollywood, he’s just been tearing it up on the underground street racing scene.  In the end, it’s difficult to side with, or care about, any of the characters in this Fast & Furious-style angst fest.

Thankfully, nobody comes to a racing game for the Oscar-worthy performances. We’re here for the driving and I’m happy to report that they’ve nailed it with Need for Speed: Heat, for the most part. Your starting car feels like it’s forged from depleted uranium and has the turning circle of Jupiter, but you’ll quickly replace or upgrade it to mitigate these issues. In reality, the heavy steering is to encourage drifting. Need for Speed: Heat is all about drifting and, as a result, it plays more like Mario Kart than any other racer on the market. By lifting off, turning, and then hitting the gas again, your car will transition into buttery-smooth drifts that make cornering a breeze. It’s unrealistic, obviously, but thoroughly entertaining.

When you’re not dealing with those meddlesome corners, Need for Speed: Heat manages to feel quicksilver on the straights. You’d hope so for a game called Need for Speed, but it’s a bizarre and all too common failure of racers – struggling to impart that vital feeling of velocity. Need for Speed: Heat has no such issues – streetlights blur, air rushes over your car, and you almost feel like you’re activating a hyperspace drive when you trigger your nitrous.

Related: Halo Infinite

As any petrolhead knows though, it’s not all about what’s under the engine – your ride needs to look the part too and Need for Speed: Heat certainly holds up in that regard. The vast roster of cars is stunningly recreated, while Palm City offers wide array of environments to race through from city streets to backwater swamps. The weather effects are beautifully rendered, though limited to just varieties of rain (I don’t think Florida sees much snow, so fair enough). The night-time lighting is particularly gorgeous, filling your periphery with a blurry collage of neon lights and as you tear through the city streets.

As I mentioned earlier, you can buy upgrades and cars with the cash you earn provided your reputation is high enough. There are a ton of cosmetic options, as you’d expect. Don’t worry street racing fans, you can ruin your cars with gaudy spoilers and purple underlighting. On the mechanical side of the garage, cars stats are simplified allowing you to tailor your wheels to suit different race types. So, you’ll likely end up with a drift car, an off-road car, and a street racer in your regular circulation, all of which will need to be kept up to date with the latest mods. This is where the grind starts to kick in.

Campaign progression is a bit stop-start as you’re gated by your reputation, but it’s a racer and you grind by racing so it’s hard to complain. The real issue comes when you top out your car’s performance and need to upgrade, as new cars come with stock gear. So, in addition to the cost of that car, you also need to upgrade it a ton before it’ll be better than your current ride. This results in some real lurches in the pacing as you need to essentially build up a new car from scratch, which costs a bomb.

Related: Project Resistance

Since we’re knocking off Horizon here, Need for Speed: Heat is a fully online, shared world racer and the feature is as vestigial here as it was in Playground’s racer. You’ll rarely bump into another racer in the overworld and the amount of travelling and load screens you must endure means that HFS: Heat is poorly suited to multiplayer action. It’s a nice option for groups of friends who want to play together at least. Mercifully, you can just play in offline mode, which also means you can actually pause the game. I’ll take a pause button over friends any day.

Need for Speed: Heat’s main unique addition to the Horizon formula is with its day and night system. There’s a driving festival in town, so during the day you can take part in legal races to earn cash. But, because demand for parts is so high you won’t be able to spend any of that cash until you build your reputation up in illegal street races at night. If you can ignore the glaring logic holes in this concept, it’s a rather elegant system and the ability to swap at the touch of a button results in a slick experience.

The titular heat system also only comes into play at night. This is basically a wanted level ala Grand Theft Auto, with police becoming more aggressive and numerous the higher your heat level is. However, your heat level also applies an XP multiplier to your reputation gains, which resets when you visit a garage to end the night. This makes for an interesting risk versus reward balance as you race to build your reputation since you lose the entire multiplier if you get busted.

You can keep racing for even greater rewards, or cash in your reputation and start afresh the next night. This leads to some frantic escape sequences as you scramble away from the law, using every trick in the book to try and lose them to save your night’s work. These moments are infrequent but inject some genuine tension into your criminal activities. 

Related: PS5

At low heat levels, a single cop car is easy enough to shake off or wreck, but when you start getting hounded by four cop cars at once it can become next to impossible to shake the fuzz. As a result, in the early game you’re often better off just cashing in your reputation after a couple of street races. Later upgrades can kit your car out for wrecking cops or escaping them if you want to go to war with the five-o.

Despite all my complaints and niggles, Need for Speed: Heat is fun and offers a ton of content. Real content too, not Ubisoft content. The driving feels lightning quick, but also accessible and easy to master. It’s ripping off Forza Horizon hard, but if you’re going to emulate someone, it might as well be the best in the business. Need for Speed: Heat isn’t quite on Horizon’s level yet, but this is a welcome return to form for a series that has been lagging at the back of the pack for a while now.

Should you buy Need for Speed: Heat?

I feel like an accessory to the crime by awarding Need for Speed: Heat such a high score, given the blatant theft of Forza Horizon’s entire schtick. But, at the end of the day it works and the few additions that Heat does bring to the formula help it stand apart. Need for Speed: Heat is a return to form for the series, and a great foundation to rebuild the tattered franchise on.

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